Pushkin question

[Katya Hokanson]

Dear SEELANGtsy,

I have been trying to find the source of the phrase:   "Bol'noi,  
rasslablennyi koloss" in Pushkin's 1831 "Borodinskaia godovshchina."   
It clearly refers to Russia and is italicized in the original.  A  
variant was "Bol'noi izmuchennyi koloss."  Lednicki says it responds  
to a phrase in the Franco-Polish committee's manifesto calling Russia  
"cette puissance colossale."  That no doubt is correct, but the  
italicization of the whole suggests to me that it plays off some  
other fixed phrase or well-known quotation.  I include the entire  
stanza in which the phrase appears for reference.

Thanks in advance for any insight,

Katya Hokanson
University of Oregon

Но вы, мутители палат,
Легкоязычные витии,
Вы, черни бедственный набат,
Клеветники, враги России!
Что взяли вы?... Еще ли росс
Больной, расслабленный колосс?
Еще ли северная слава
Пустая притча, лживый сон?
Скажите: скоро ль нам Варшава
Предпишет гордый свой закон?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------