Vissarion Belinsky - The Poetry of Reality

Belinsky comments on realistic poetry as the "true and genuine poetry of our time" emphasizing the importance of the connection between nature and art.

• Realistic poetry does not create life but instead, recreates it - "like a convex glass, mirrors in itself, from one point of view, life's diverse phenomena"
• The "eternal hero" of realistic poetry is a human being - the source of its inspiration
• The final product is an attempt by the human being to understand "the curious riddle of himself, the final question of his own mind, the ultimate enigma of his own curious aspirations"
• "We demand not the ideal of life, but life as it is. Be it good or bad, we do not wish to adorn it, for we think that in poetic presentation it is equally beautiful in both cases precisely because it is true, and that where there is truth, there is poetry.
• Belinsky believed that realistic poetry is "more understandable and accessible to all, more in agreement with the spirit and needs of our time"