|
Although it is not apparent if age or personality is ridiculed, phrases like "one civilian was admitted into our society" ("The shot", pg. 1) or "the thought that his honor had been tarnished [.] prevented me from treating him as before" ("The Shot, pg. 4-5) show the superficiality of the character and the sarcasm of the author. At the same time, in "The Snowstorm" Pushkin himself characterizes Marya Gavrilovna as having "been brought up on French literature, and consequently [having been] in love" ("The Snowstorm", pg.1), a stringent note of ridicule. Being so single minded, and solely "romantic" the protagonists' entire lives are characterized by a single event, which asks for compassion and leads to derision. Hopelessly romantic, Pushkin's central characters are presented with a linearity of many other protagonists from before and after Pushkin's time. Whether trying to embrace the practice, or mock it, the author has mainly created two bedtime stories with a touch of quizzical sarcasm for those who want to contemplate some more before sleeping.
|
|
|
Remembrance
by Aleksandr Pushkin
When the loud day for men who sow and reap
Grows still, and on the silence of the town
The unsubstantial veils of night and sleep,
The meed of the day's labour, settle down,
Then for me in the stillness of the night
The wasting, watchful hours drag on their course,
And in the idle darkness comes the bite
Of all the burning serpents of remorse;
Dreams seethe; and fretful infelicities
Are swarming in my over-burdened soul,
And Memory before my wakeful eyes
With noiseless hand unwinds her lengthy scroll.
Then, as with loathing I peruse the years,
I tremble, and I curse my natal day,
Wail bitterly, and bitterly shed tears,
But cannot wash the woeful script away.
--Translated by Maurice Baring
From "World Poetry," edited by Katharine Washburn, John S. Major and Clifton Fadiman (W.W. Norton: 1,338 pp.) |
