title: The Dancing Ploughman: Tolstoi’s Views on Poetry and His Writings in Verse
abstract: In this chapter, Eric de Haard continues his long-standing research into the use of poetry in prose by nineteenth-century Russian writers, sometimes in mixed forms, such as prosimetrum, or as verse insertions, quoted from others or of their own making. Unlike most of his forerunners and contemporaries (but like Dostoevskii), apart from some verse insertions, poetry plays a marginal role in Tolstoi's overall work. This is partly a matter of individual predisposition, partly it can be considered a