Poetry
სადღეგრძელო
Not translated into English
Grigol Orbeliani · 1827
Synopsis
A night of feasting, after a battle, on the outskirts of Yerevan. The poet raises the cup, following the order of the Georgian toast, to those who fell defending their country, to the heroes of the past and to the greatness of the homeland; the feast of the living becomes a song for the dead and for a national glory that is mourned.
Context
The full title specifies the place and the moment of the banquet. The poem dates from 1827, written during the fighting around Yerevan by a twenty-three-year-old officer; it bears the mark of Zhukovsky, whose poem on the war of 1812 served as a model. The author returned to it several times afterwards, and it is not known when he stopped. Historians of the Georgian table regard this cycle as a source of the modern feast tradition. There is no French translation.
Who it is for
A long poem, in classical Georgian, with no French translation; one must know that the Georgian toast is a codified genre, in which each cup is raised to a named object.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the best poem by its author, and the text in which the Georgian word for the toast appears in writing for the first time.