Denis Davydov

Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (27 July [O.S. 16 July] 1784 – 4 May [O.S. 22 April] 1839) was a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented the genre of hussar poetry, characterised by hedonism and bravado. He used events from his own life to illustrate such poetry. He suggested and successfully pioneered guerrilla warfare in the Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon.

Biography

Davydov stemmed from a family of Russian nobility . After gaining celebrity as a guerrilla leader in the Russian Patriotic War, see his memoirs, he became one of the most popular men in the country. Young men of Pushkin's circle viewed him as a model romantic hero and the Decembrists prized his company as well.

He was high-spirited, healthy, virile, unromantic, and shallowish. He was great wits and fond of fun, in life as well as in literature. His early and most popular verses are in a style of his own making, known as the “hussar style.”