Chakhrukhadze, the author of the "Tamariani," a long poem in honour
of Queen Tamara; it is composed entirely of epithets, thus:--
"Tamartsknari, shesatsknari, khmanarnari, pirmtsinari,
Mse mtsinari, sachinari, tskalimknari, momdinari,"
i.e.
"Tamara, the mild, the pleasing, the sweetly speaking, the
kindly smiling,
The sunlike shining one, the majestic, the gently moving, like
a full river."
Shavteli was even more highly prized than Rustaveli, but his greatest
work is lost. Khoneli and Tmokveli, the former in "Daredjaniani,"
the latter in "Visramiani" and "Dilariani," have left us romances of
chivalry and adventure which are still much admired, and are well
worthy of comparison with the best European literature of the same
class. About the same time the national chronicle, called "Kartlis
tzkhovreba," i.e. Georgia's Life, was written.
This period of literary activity was brought to an abrupt close by
the terrible invasion of Genghis Khan, and for about four centuries
the incessant wars in which the country was engaged gave plenty of
opportunity for acting romances, but little time for writing them.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century Prince Sulkhan Orbeliani
described his "Journey through Europe," and wrote a collection of
fables and folk-tales, lately published in Russian. Orbeliani had lived
at the court of Louis XIV., and was very friendly with La Fontaine,
who is indebted to the Georgian prince for some of his fables. His
greatest service to his country was, however, the compilation of a
dictionary, containing 25,000 words, which has formed the basis for
all later lexicographical works.
In 1712 King Vakhtang VI. opened a printing office in Tiflis, and
issued the chief poems and romances of the Tamarian period at such
a price as to make them attainable by all his subjects. Irakli II.,
of glorious memory, continued to act as the Augustus of Georgian
literature, and in the Catholicos Antoni it found a Mæcenas or
Pollio. The chief writers of the eighteenth century were Prince
Vakhusht, son of Vakhtang VI., who compiled a "History of Georgia"
and a "Geography of Georgia," and the Catholicos Antoni, who published
many educational and religious works. Guramoshvili and Savatnava sang
the triumphs of Irakli in powerful lyrics which are still familiar
to every peasant.
The following serenade belongs to this period; it was copied down by
Pushkin in 1829, and he says of it, "There is in it a certain Oriental
inconsequence which is not altogether devoid of poetical worth."
"Soul newly born in Paradise!
Soul made for my delight!
From thee, thou deathless one,
I wait for life.
From thee, thou flowery springtide, moon but two weeks old,
From thee, my guardian angel,
I wait for life.
With joyous smiles thy face doth shine.
I would not change thy glance against the throne of all the world.
From thee I wait for life.
Rose of the mountain, wet with the dew of dawn!
Nature's chief favourite! Hidden treasure house!
From thee I wait for life."
It was not, however, until the present century was well begun, that
Georgian poetry abandoned the "Oriental inconsequence" to which I
have just referred; the literary awakening which began about sixty or
seventy years ago was largely due to the work of Western poets, such
as Byron, with whom the Georgians became familiar chiefly through
Pushkin and Lermontov. Prince Alexander Chavchavadze (1786-1846),
a general in the Russian service, was the founder of the modern
school; his song is all of love and wine. The influence of Western
romanticism is still more clearly visible in the earlier productions
of Baratashvili (1816-1846), but he succeeded in throwing off the
gloomy misanthropy of his youth, and had the courage to acknowledge
that he had been deluded by that "evil spirit" of Byronism.
To Prince Giorgi Eristavi fell the task of familiarizing his countrymen
with the poetical literature of Europe. He was exiled to Poland
for his share in a plot against the Russian government, and spent
his leisure in studying Mickiewicz, Schiller, Petrarch, and Pushkin,
selections from whose works he published in his native tongue. On his
return to Tiflis he founded a National Theatre, for which he himself
wrote many comedies. With Eristavi sentimentalism died, and the poets
who succeeded him sought inspiration in patriotic ideals.
Prince Grigor Orbeliani (1801-1883), sang the past splendour of his
fatherland, and bewailed the low estate to which it had fallen. In his
"Ode to Tamara's portrait" he beseeches the great queen to look down
with pity on Georgia, and bless her sons with strength and wisdom;
he despairingly asks:--
"Shall that which once was wither'd, ne'er again
Enjoy the fragrance of its former bloom?
Shall that which fell, for ever fallen remain,
O'erwhelm'd in an unchanging, cruel doom?"