Apollon Maykov

1821–1897 · Russian lyric poet

Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov (1821–1897) was one of the foremost Russian poets of the generation after Pushkin, known for classical, landscape and religious lyric verse. He published this quatrain in 1878 under the conceit of translating a 2nd-century Gnostic poet, “Apollodorus the Gnostic” — a figure Maykov later admitted he had invented (in Russkaya Starina, 1899), saying he left even philologists believing such a poet existed.

Traced to source

1 quote we’ve traced

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars, the deeper the grief, the closer is God!”

Disputed

Did they really say it?

Thought Apollon Maykov said something else?

Type a quote you think Apollon Maykov said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.