Selected Poetry

by Alexander Pushkin, Antony Wood (Translator)

A new collection of Pushkin's great narrative and lyric verse, translated by Antony Wood

Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman is the second-most famous poem in Russian literature after his Eugene Onegin, and notoriously difficult to translate. This new translation, described by Robert Chandler as 'truly wonderful', is accompanied here by Pushkin's greatest shorter verses. They range from lyric poetry to narrative verse, based on traditional Russian stories of enchanted tsars and magical fish. Together, they show the dazzling range and achievement of Russia's greatest poet.

Genres: Poetry, Russia, Classics, Russian Literature, Literature, 19th Century

336 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2020

About the author

Works of Russian writer Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin include the verse novel Eugene Onegin (1831), the play Boris Godunov (1831), and many narrative and lyrical poems and short stories.

See also:
Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин
French: Alexandre Pouchkine
Norwegian: Aleksander Pusjkin
Spanish:Aleksandr Pushkin

People consider this author the greatest poet and the founder of modern literature. Pushkin pioneered the use of vernacular speech in his poems, creating a style of storytelling—mixing drama, romance, and satire—associated ever with greatly influential later literature.

Pushkin published his first poem at the age of 15 years in 1814, and the literary establishment widely recognized him before the time of his graduation from the imperial lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo. Social reform gradually committed Pushkin, who emerged as a spokesman for literary radicals and in the early 1820s clashed with the government, which sent him into exile in southern Russia. Under the strict surveillance of government censors and unable to travel or publish at will, he wrote his most famous drama but ably published it not until years later. People published his verse serially from 1825 to 1832.

Pushkin and his wife Natalya Goncharova, whom he married in 1831, later became regulars of court society. In 1837, while falling into ever greater debt amidst rumors that his wife started conducting a scandalous affair, Pushkin challenged her alleged lover, Georges d'Anthès, to a duel. Pushkin was mortally wounded and died two days later.

Because of his liberal political views and influence on generations of Russian rebels, Pushkin was portrayed by Bolsheviks as an opponent to bourgeois literature and culture and a predecessor of Soviet literature and poetry. Tsarskoe Selo was renamed after him.

Reviews

[E. G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chronology
Introduction & Notes, by Antony Wood
Translating Pushkin
Further Reading

I. Lyric Poems

St Petersburg, 1814-20

--To a Young Beauty who has Taken Snuff (1814)
--The Rose (1815)
--To Baroness M. A. Delvig (1815)
--To Princess V. M. Volkonskaya (1816)
--The Singer (1816)
--The Window (1816)
--Liberty: An Ode (1817)
--To Chaadayev (1818)
--O. Masson (1819)
--A Good Revel (1819)
--Renaissance (1819)
--You and I (1820)
--To Yuryev (1820)

Exile, 1820-26

--'The light of day has faded' (1820)
--The Nereid (1820)
--'I have outlived desires' (1821)
--The Prisoner (1822)
--A Songbird (1823)
--Night (1823)
--'I went alone before the dawn' (1823)
--[On Vorontsov] ('Half trade, half grand seigneur') (1824)
--'Zephyrs share / The midnight air' (1824)
--To *** ('It comes to me again, that moment') (1825)
--'Late blooms I find more pleasing' (1825)
--Winter Evening (1825)
--Prose Writer and Poet (1825)
--Mniszek's 'sonnet', from Boris Godunov (1825)
--Confession (1826)
--The Prophet (1826)

Moscow and St Petersburg, 1826-30

--[To my Nanny] ('My dear companion of past times') (1826)
--Winter Road (1826)
--To I. I. Pushchin (1826)
--'Deep in the Siberian mines' (1827)
--Arion (1827)
--The Angel (1827)
--The Poet (1827)
--19 October 1827 (1827)
--The Talisman (1827)
--Recollection (1828)
--Thou and You (1828)
--'My beauty, sing to me no more' (1828)
--Portrait (1828)
--The Drowned Man (1828)
--The Upas Tree (1828)
--'Raven flies to raven' (1828)
--The Poet and the Crowd (1828)
--A Flower (1828)
--'City of splendour, city of poor' (1828)
--Signs (1829)
--'Once there lived a humble knight' (1829)
--'The mists of night enfold the Georgian hills' (1829)
--From Hafiz (1829)
--'The drums of reveille sound . . .' (1829)
--The Monastery on Mount Kazbek (1829)
--'Winter. The country' (1829)
--Winter Morning (1829)
--'I loved you: in my heart, perhaps' (1829)
--'I walk the crowded thoroughfare' (1829)
--'Inscribe my name? What good--' (1830)
--'No, I have lost the taste for stormy pleasure' (1830)
--To the Poet (1830)
--Madonna (1830)
--Demons (1830)
--Elegy (1830)
--To the Bust of a Conqueror (1830)
--Rhyme (1830)
--Invocation (1830)
--Mary's Song, from A Feast during the Plague (1830)
--Master of the Revels' song, from A Feast during the Plague (1830)
--'Bound for your distant homeland' (1830)

Married Life, 1831-6

--To the Slanderers of Russia (1831)
--My Pedigree (1831)
--For the Album of Princess Anna Abamelek (1832)
--The Beauty (1832)
--Autumn (A fragment) (1833)
--'It's time, my love, it's time!' (1834)
--[from Anacreon:] A fragment (1835)
--'. . . I see again / That corner of the earth' (1835)
--'The ready power of suffering' (1835)

The Stone Island Cycle:
--From Pindemonte (1836)
--'The desert fathers and unblemished women' (1836)
--Imitation of the Italian (1836)
--Secular Power (1836)
--'When, alone with my thoughts, I leave the city' (1836)

--'I have made myself, but not with hands, a monument' (1836)

II. Narrative Poems (Poemy)

--The Fountain of Bakhchisaray (1823)
--The Gypsies (1824)
--The Bridegroom (1825)
--Count Nulin (1825)
--A Little House in Kolomna (1830)
--The Bronze Horseman (1833)

III. Fairy Tales (Skazki)

--The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1831)
--The Tale of a Fisherman and a Little Fish (1833)
--The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Champions (1833)
--The Tale of the Golden Cockerel (1834)

Abbreviations
Glossary of Metrical Terms
Notes
Acknowledgements

[Mārtiņš Birkmanis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vajadzēja tomēr iemācīties to krievu val alfabētu

“But I have no desire, dear friends, to die;
I wish to live, to suffer and to think;
I know that griefs and cares will burden me -
But pleasures also life will surely bring.”

[AcademicEditor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent selection of Pushkin's lyric poetry, translated by Anthony Wood. He strives to replicate meter and rhyme in addition to capturing the sense of Pushkin's often-complex verse. Here is his rendering of the final verse of Ode to Liberty, the 1817 poem that got Pushkin exiled:

Learn then, rulers of the world:
No dungeon, no reward,
No piety, no punishment
Can be your faithful guard.
But if you are the first to bow
Before the trusted Law,
The People’s peace and liberty
Will keep your throne secure.

And the original:

И днесь учитесь, о цари:
Ни наказанья, ни награды,
Ни кров темниц, ни алтари
Не верные для вас ограды.
Склонитесь первые главой
Под сень надежную Закона,
И станут вечной стражей трона
Народов вольность и покой.

The edition also includes a helpful chronology of Pushkin's life that would be very useful in the classroom. There are also notes and explanations to help even non-Russophile readers understand more background.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always thought that it doesn't make much sense to read the poems of some poets unless they are in their original language, and after reading the translator's foreword to this Puskin's collection in English, my idea has only been confirmed.
Apart from that, I have only read the actual poems, leaving aside the ballads and short stories in lyrical form, and they are certainly beautiful, but the predominant feeling remains the regret of not having learned Russian.

Ho sempre pensato che non avesse molto senso leggere le poesie di alcuni poeti se non in lingua originale, e dopo aver letto la premessa del traduttore a questa raccolta in inglese di Puskin la mia idea non si é che confermata.
A parte questo, ho letto soltanto le poesie vere e proprie, lasciando perdere le ballate e i racconti in forma di lirica e sicuramente sono bellissime, ma il sentimento predominante resta il dispiacere di non conoscere il russo.

[Illiterate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wood’s versions of Pushkin (here and elsewhere) are super. Hidden gems: a couple of untitled lyrics 1829-30.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Pushkin has been on my to-do list for ages, and this was an easy entry of a translation with helpful, relevant, historical explanations.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pushkin's poems are dramatic, romantic, alive, and vivid. I found his poems about love, the life of a poet, and fairy tales most memorable. I recommend for anyone interested in Russian literature/culture.

Introduction and translator's note were long so I skimmed those to get to the poems, but they gave context on his life and historical events at the time. The notes at the back of the book were really helpful for explaining terms and references so I could follow along.

Favorite quotes:

"Why? Youth is freer than a bird;
You'll try to hold back love in vain;
Happiness comes to all in turn,
And what has been won't come again."
(The Gypsies)

"Not all of me shall die - for in my cherished lyre
My soul shall outlive my dust, it shall escape decay
In the sublunary world my fame shall be unending
As long as a single poet holds sway."
(Exegi monumentum)

"It's time, my love, it's time! The heart seeks peace
Day chases day, the hours and minutes seize
Fragments of our existence; you and I
Make plans for life - and suddenly, we die.
There is no happiness on earth; but freedom
And peace there are. Long have I dreamt of Eden
A weary slave, long meditated flight
To some far realm of work and pure delight."

"Late Autumn is continually berated:
That sentiment, dear reader, isn't mine;
I love it for its quietly glowing beauty.
As to a child unloved by its own kin,
I am distinctly drawn to it - yes, Autumn,
Of all the seasons, is my favourite one.
I am no vainglorious lover: truth to tell,
My love of it has something whimsical."
(Autumn (A Fragment))

"You judge the Apollo Belvedere
By weight, to you that's all that's real.
Not that divinity in marble!
To you the cooking pot's the marvel,
The means by which you get your meal."
(The Poet and the Crowd)

"The moon breaks through the drifting cloud
And on the dismal winter road,
On glades of gloom, pours dreary light.
In a swift troika-sleigh I ride;
Unceasingly the little bell
Gives out its loud and tedious peal."
(Winter Road)

"And suddenly my heart beats faster,
For once again I have
Divinity and inspiration,
And life, and tears, and love."
(To ***)

"Poet, you must not prize the people's love:
Its shouts of praise die down a moment after.
Be always tranquil, steadfast and aloof
From fools' critique and public's heartless laughter.

You are a tsar: live, then, alone. And walk
At will the open highway of ideas,
Bring forth the fruits your free mind cherishes,
And do not seek reward for perfect work.

It lies in you. You are your truest critic;
You judge your work more sternly than the rest.
Exacting artist, are you contented with it?

Are you? Then let the rabble raise its fist
And spit upon the flame that lights your sanctum
And shake your tripod in its childish tantrum."
(To The Poet)

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously I can only speak as an anglophone monoglot but pushkin appears to suffer from the goethe problem = their poetry (according to their proselytisers) so limpidly and purely plays on the potential of the language it comes out as largely facile a lot of the time when little more than its literal meaning is transposed into another. Wood rhymes most of his translations here, a dubious enough proposition even before he lets himself throw it out as necessary (frequently)

[Cait · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly, this didn't include some of my favourite Pushkin works - still, it was an enjoyable read. I particularly liked the skazki selection. There isn't much to say about Pushkin's ability as a poet: he's Pushkin!

[Te Aniwaniwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no God but God, and his name is Alexander Pushkin.

[agenbiteofinwit · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’m so sure that i ain’t no big fan of pushkin, cause his poems are usually full of narratives, and that is of little match to my taste. i can say there’s glimpses of excitement when i was reading some of his shorter ones, but on the whole his tone is a bit too dramatic for me, and the core idea usually revolve around the vanity and stuff, and i think I’m not super convinced by that. and for sure i appreciate his greatness.

[kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

baby’s first pushkin

[PedroFN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.10

[Danielle Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I continue on as a devoted Pushkin fan. He impresses me in every style of poetry he chose to represent. Alas...if only I could read Russian.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Russian literature, and Puskin in general, so I was happy to see a Penguin Classic of one of the most influential writers in Russian history. Penguin Classic has always been my go-to edition for classic lit. The poems were organized by type then chronologically which I think is the best way to go and I appreciated the detail in Wood's "Translating Pushkin". The introduction is helpful and detailed and provides a great introduction to Pushkin and Russian poetry in general. Overall a great addition to Penguin Classics and I look forward to grabbing a physical copy when it's released.

Many thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[David Bisset · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully translated by Antony Wood. The lyric poems were a revelation.

[Miba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely poems in translation but it makes me wonder what the actual Russian might be like.