He reacquired his own name, Shenshin, in 1875, by presenting the proper documents, whereupon an imperial order restored it to him.

From 1844 to 1855 he served in the army, continuing to write poetry the while.

Before his death, in 1892, he published numerous volumes of poems, translations from the classics, and so forth.

Less talented than Count Alexei K.
Tolstoy, Apollon Maikoff, and other poets of that school, his name, in Russian criticism, has become a general appellation to designate a poet of pure art, for he was the most typical exponent of his school.

Most of his poems are short, and present a picture of nature, or of some delicate, fleeting psychical emotion, but they are all filled with enchanting, artistic charm.