His poetry is chiefly the poetry of figures and events, of solemn, loudly trumpeted victories and feats, descriptions of banquets, festivals, noisy social life, and endless hymns of praise to the age of Katherine II.

It is not very rich in inward contents or in ideas.

But he possessed one surpassing merit: he, first of all among Russian poets, brought poetry down from its lofty, classical flights to the every-day life of his fatherland at that age, and to nature, and freed Russian poetry from that monotonous, stilted, tiresome, official form which had been introduced by Lomonosoff and copied by all the latter's followers.
Derzhavin's language is powerful, picturesque, and expressive, but still harsh and uneven, the ordinary vernacular being mingled with Church-Slavonic, and frequently obscuring the meaning; also, and owing to his deficient education, he often had recourse to inelegant, tasteless forms.

If we compare him with Lomonosoff and Sumarokoff, it is evident that Russian poetry had made a great stride in advance under him, both as to external and internal development, in that he not only brought it nearer to life, but also perfected its forms, to a considerable degree, and applied it to subjects to which his predecessors would never have dreamed of applying it.

His famous ode "God" will best serve to illustrate his style: GOD[5] O Thou eternal One! whose presence bright All space doth occupy, all motion guide; Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight; Thou only God! There is no God beside! Being above all beings! Three in One! Whom none can comprehend and none explore; Who fill'st existence with _thyself_ alone: Embracing all,--supporting,--ruling o'er,-- Being whom we call GOD--and know no more! In its sublime research, philosophy May measure out the ocean deep, may count The sands or the sun's rays--but God! for Thee There is no weight nor measure:--none can mount Up to Thy mysteries; Reason's brightest spark, Though kindled by Thy light, in vain would try To trace Thy counsels, infinite and dark: And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high, Even like past moments in eternity.
Thou from primeval nothingness didst call, First chaos, then existence.