Ivan Dmitriev

Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev (; – ) was a Russian statesman. He was also a poet associated with the sentimentalist movement in Russian literature.

Dmitriev was born at his father's estate in the government of Simbirsk. In consequence of the revolt of Yemelyan Pugachev, the family had to flee to Saint Petersburg, and there Ivan was entered at the school of the Semenov Guards, and afterwards obtained a post in the military service. On the accession of Paul I to the imperial throne, he quit the army with the rank of colonel; and his appointment as procurator for the senate was soon after renounced for the position of privy councillor.

During the four years from 1810 to 1814 he served as minister of justice under the Emperor Alexander I; but at the close of this period he retired into private life, and though he lived more than twenty years, he never again took office, but occupied himself with his literary labors and the collection of books and works of art.

...And you, our champion, will live for the ages, As our honor, our glory, and a paragon to all! There, where the mountains prop up the clouds, A multitude of sonorous rivers will spring up, And from the millstone a mighty forest emerge; Verdant gardens will burgeon upon the plains And cities will arise and vanish, with time; An infinity of new marvels nature will create; Be they revealed to our astonished gaze; A new light will illuminate the cosmos, And the warrior, heartened by your blood, Remembering you, will become in his pride Greater ingrained, and further, further confirmed In his unshakable love for our fatherland!