Russian Critical, Translational, and Creative Reception of William Blake’s “Milton”

This article offers a comprehensive examination of the diverse trajectories of Russian reception of William Blake’s epic poem Milton (1804–1811). The critical reception of the poem is analyzed in detail, beginning with its first mention in Russian scholarship in 1897 in an article by Z. A. Vengerova, followed by brief discussions by Soviet-era scholars such as M. N. Gutner, A. A. Elistratova, and E. A. Nekrasova. The poem was later subjected to more thorough study by T. N. Vasilieva in the 1960s and G. A. Tokareva in the 2000s, both of whom placed it within the broader context of Blake’s oeuvre. The article traces the evolution of scholarly approaches: whereas Soviet criticism emphasized Blake’s affiliation with “progressive Romanticism,” contemporary research is increasingly focused on the poet’s mythology, particularly as it is manifested in Milton, which has attracted the attention of traditionalist thinkers. The creative reception of the poem is also explored, with particular attention devoted to its earliest object of artistic reinterpretation — the passage beginning with the famous lines “And did those feet in ancient time…”. The article establishes clear allusions to this passage in S. Ya. Marshak’s poem “Jerusalem” (1918) and in N. S. Gumilev’s “In Memory” (1920). Furthermore, the translational reception of Milton is shown to have commenced with Marshak’s interpretation of this very excerpt in 1918, followed by subsequent translations of selected fragments — primarily the same passage — by other Russian literary figures. It is noted that the first complete Russian translation of Milton was undertaken by D. N. Smirnov and published only in 2021 as a bilingual edition, accompanied by extensive commentary.

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