Lyrics: Volume 4

by Alexander Pushkin, Various (Translator)

The founding father of modern Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin has exerted--through his novel in verse Eugene Onegin , his plays, his short stories and his narrative poetry--a long-lasting influence well beyond the borders of his motherland. A slightly lesser-known, but by no mean less important aspect of his writing is his vast production of shorter verse, a genre at which he excelled and arguably still remains unsurpassed.

This volume, part of Alma's series of the complete poetic works of Alexander Pushkin, collects the poems Pushkin wrote during his exile in Mikhaylovskoe and his subsequent return to St Petersburg, at a time when he was working on Eugene Onegin and many others of his most celebrated works, and includes some of his lyrical masterpieces, such as "To -"--arguably the most famous love poem in the Russian language--"A Flower," "Saint Petersburg" and "My Autograph," each presented in a verse translation opposite the original Russian text. Enriched with notes, pictures and an appendix on Pushkin's life and works, this will be essential reading for anyone wishing to delve deeper into the Russian bard's genius.

Genres: Poetry

448 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2023

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

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexander Pushkin is my favourite Russian author so of course I enjoyed his poetry too.

[Eliza Bracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

- Good for beginners wanting to get into Russian literature
- For fans of William Shakespeare
- Favourite Russian author