Fables of I. Krylov

Ivan Andreevich Krylov 1769-1844 - a Russian poet-fabulist, translator, academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. He was born into the family of a retired officer. Due to numerous relocations, he attended educational institutions very little, learning literacy at home;... later, thanks to his natural inclination towards reading, languages, and sciences, as well as self-discipline, he became one of the most educated people of his time. In 1789, he began publishing the satirical magazine "Postal Spirits," and from 1792 the magazine "Spectator." As a fabulist, I.A. Krylov made his mark in 1805 by translating two fables of La Fontaine into Russian. Soon after, his own works appeared: "Lesson for Daughters," "The Lazy Man," etc. A fable is a poetic or prose literary work of a satirical nature that contains a moral - a brief instructive conclusion. In a fable, human vices are mocked in an allegorical form. This is one of the oldest literary genres, with Aesop, who lived in the 6th century BC, being considered the first fabulist. I.A. Krylov was one of the most famous fabulists in Russian literature, having written more than 200 fables during his lifetime, the most famous of which are "The Swan, the Pike, and the Crab," "The Grasshopper and the Ant," "The Quartet," "The Crow and the Fox." The author, almost incidentally, uses witty hints to ridicule human flaws: pride, selfishness, vanity, foolishness. Many lines from I.A. Krylov's fables have become proverbs and winged expressions: "And you, friends, however you sit, you are not suitable for musicians," "Sing, little light, do not be ashamed!", "The strong always blames the weak," "The cuckoo praises the rooster for praising the cuckoo," and many others.