Selected Poetry

by Alexander Pushkin

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, Classics, Russia, Russian Literature, Fiction

Paperback

Published April 23, 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

[Mesoscope · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is truly one of the best collections of translated poetry I've ever read, and also includes some wonderful short fiction. It is a terrific introduction to this Cervantes-sized titan of world literature, who is essential for understanding and contextualizing all of the great Russian masters of the nineteenth century. It's also a great, a very great, an enormous pleasure to read. This is a fantastic volume, and it's extremely sad that it's apparently out-of-print and can be difficult to find.

[Aviendha · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Işıltılı eğlenceleri uzak dursun!
Sevgi olmayan yerde, olmaz neşe de.
Kızlarsa... Sen onlardan çok daha hoşsun
Gösterişli giysilerden yoksun,
İnciler, gerdanlıklar yokken göğsünde!
Değişme sen, benim canım, sevecenim!
Bense... Yaşamda aşkı ve özgürlüğü
Seninle paylaşmak biricik dileğim.
Paylaşmak bu gönüllü sürgünlüğü!”

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pushkin is So Horny and i love how he gets tired of his long poems and just ends them like “and then i got drunk and went upstairs to bed”

[Brunhilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I can really say, I wish I knew Russian so I could read it in the original language. I feel like something is lost in the translation, but I really did enjoy his poetry. The Bronze Horseman really is amazing.

[Michell Holladay gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the love story of all love stories! I was captivated from the very beginning. Alexander and Tatiana were meant to be together, but could not be together. Love has a way of working itself out, or not. But their story is touching and beautifully written.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection more than I originally thought, and I would rate it 4 stars except, every now and again, a poem with strange/disturbing content would pop up and ruin the mood. So, three stars it is.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Bronze Horseman" foils well "Peter the Great."

[Chris Fluit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. It's not often you read a book of poetry so good that you want to read it out loud to whoever else is sitting in the room. Pushkin's wit shines through.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

DM Thomas’s translation of The Bronze Horseman, along with a wide selection of Pushkin’s other poetry, is absolutely outstanding. It fully lives up to the assertion made by many that Pushkin was probably the greatest of all poets. Perfectly rendered, beautiful, moving and frequently hilarious. Pushkin was clearly a poetic genius and he’s finally been gifted a genius of a translator. Get hold of a copy!

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are invited to Know and Learn about Peter the Great, Empire, environs and local folk, via the Tsar's dedication, The Bronze Horseman.

[Diknballs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I run through her streets till she drown in my city

[Ryu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't find an option for D.M. Thomas' translation so I suppose I'll put this here.

A few poems I enjoyed
- The Prophet [1826]; for its Old Testament kind of religious imagery that (unintentionally? intentionally? borders on at LEAST a LITTLE homoerotic
- What comfort for you in my name [1830]
- For the shores of your distant home [1830]
- Lines Written at Night During Insomnia [1830] is a big mood
- Fountain at Tsarskoye Selo [a830]; short, simple, but with a poignant message on the passage of time and our inevitable oblivion

Pushkin's narrative poems are all really interesting but I think Rusalka is my favourite. Mozart and Salieri after that.

I've always been wary of reading translated works because I feel like alot of the nuance that is present in different languages is removed during translation to English (a more emotionless language) which I feel is probably the case in my copy of his poetry (I'm not faulting the translator here, this is just an inevitable occurrence for translated works). Anywho, in my opinion this more 'simplistic' style is a very welcome change from usual meandering Romantic verse (Byron, I am looking at you. This is about Childe Harold's Pilgrimage). ALSO can I just say I expected Pushkin to be more like Keats but he turned out to be SUCH a Byron?? The fact that this man obviously fucks around is really obvious lmao but I really appreciate how his zest for life is evident in many of his poems; his enthusiasm cheers me up :)

[R. G. Nairam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really a poetry person, so I'm still surprised at how much I enjoyed this, with one notable exception: Christians will likely want to avoid "The Gavriliad" as it is obscene and sacrilegious.

On the whole I liked the "regular" poems over the narratives/dramas, but it was interesting to see something a bit Shakespeare-like in the dramas with more than one speaking character.

[David Bisset · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a magnificent translation of Pushkin's masterpiece by Antony Wood..It is remarkable that the poem was not published in its entirety until the Soviet Era. I have never forgotten seeing the status in St. Petersburg with a newly we'd couple standing beneath it. The Russians revere Pushpin and his poetry.

[Angie Land · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!

[Daria Dmitrieva · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can be better then to read some Pushkin's poetry?!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not one for poetry. However, Pushkin has a sarcastic (sometimes crude) sense of humor that he doesn't attempt to hide. It makes for a rather refreshing read.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent insight into the relationship between Peter the Great and the Little Man Russian literature archetype.