a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented a specific genre -- hussar poetry noted for its hedonism and bravado – and spectacularly designed his own life to illustrate such poetry. Davydov's poems read like a diary of the hussar and bon-vivant that he was. Admired by Belinsky for their organic quality and Russianness, they address such themes as courage in battle, harlots, vodka, and the value of true friendship. In them he sings the praise of reckless valor, on the field of battle as well as before the bottle.
