1835
(Из Анакрео́на) Отры́вок – (From Anacreon) An Excerpt Pushkin translated this and the following two poems from Anacreon on the same day, apparently intending to include them in a (never completed) prose piece that has come to be known as “Повесть из Римской жизни” (“A Tale from Roman Life”). Pushkin did not read ancient Greek and could only have known the Anacreontic poems in translation. Like many previous translators, he changes the final line of this particular poem, which in the original Greek is somewhat illogical (Cooper, –). Given the wealth of translations available to Pushkin (in both French and Russian), it is difficult to say whom he consulted. His formal choices follow Russian tradition rather than French, since the latter opted to render these poems in prose. Pushkin’s meter (trochaic tetrameter) fits in squarely with eighteenth-century Russian renditions of Anacreontic poetry. The presence of rhymes is unusual though not unprecedented in Russian Anacreontics. (Derzhavin and Lomonosov had used them.) Here Pushkin’s rhyme scheme is that of an octave. However, two features make it unlikely that any comparison with traditional octaves was intended: the trochaic meter and the fact that the entire poem consists of only eight lines. This particular poem is remembered largely because it is cited repeatedly (if inaccurately) by the vapid but charming Stepan Oblonsky in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. коне́й рети́вых – fleet steeds. The expression is common. По их выжженным тавра́м – by the brands burned into them парфя́н – Parthians. (The Parthians were an ancient civilization covering modern day Iran.) По высо́ким клобука́м – by their high tiaras (i.e., high hats). The Russian word is Turkish in origin. Ода LVI (Из Анакрео́на) – Ode LVI (From Anacreon) Like the preceding poem, this translation was to be included in the prose work about ancient Rome. The concluding lines of the poem (in both original and translation ) are uncharacteristically dark. Once again, Pushkin’s poem is written in trochaic tetrameter, a standard Russian meter for Anacreontic poetry. The poem is astrophic, but breaks into two quatrains of alternating rhyme (with the even-numbered lines all rhyming on the same syllable), followed by a quatrain of ring rhyme. (In a variant, Pushkin altered the final four lines, giving them the same pattern of alternating rhyme as in the first eight lines.) 1835 в дёснах – in gums Сладкой жизни – of sweet life Парка счет ведёт им строго – The Parca strictly keeps an account for them. The Parca (or Moira) was one of the three goddesses also known as the Fates. The antecedent of “им” is the days of the previous line; the dative pronoun here is standard Russian usage. Тартар тени ждёт мое́й – Tartarus awaits my shade. Tartarus was the land of the dead in Greek mythology. (It also appears in Roman mythology, though there as a place for sinners, which is probably not implied in this poem.) из-под спуда – from this hidden (closed-off) place Нет исхо́да уж отту́да – there is no exit from there. The “уж” is here emphatic. Ода LVII – Ode LVII Yet another translation from Anacreon, this one praising the virtues of moderation . As in the previous two poems, Pushkin follows convention by using trochaic tetrameter (here with alternating rhymes) to convey the Anacreontic meter. Что же сухо в чаше дно – Why is the bottom in the cup dry – Только пьяное вино́ / Раствори́ водо́ю (=водой) трезвой – Only mix the intoxicating wine with sober water скифы – Scythians. In the Greek context (this reference is found in the original Greek poem and presumably whatever translation served as Pushkin’s source), the Scythians were barbarians. There is perhaps an irony here, in that the Scythians were a nomadic tribe who lived in a broad area that covered parts of southern Russia (as well as Ukraine and Central Asia). In other words, Russian readers might understand the Scythians as a synonym for Russians. (For an example of this, see “К вельможе,” line .) бесчи́нно – in an unseemly fashion за чашей – while a cup „Юношу, горько рыда́я, ревни́вая дева брани́ла“ – “Bitterly weeping, the jealous maiden scolded the youth” The poem recalls both in form (elegiac distich) and genre “Царскосельская статуя.” That poem was definitely an ekphrasis (a poetic depiction of a work of visual art), and this poem may also be one, though no specific statue has been adduced. Like that other poem, this one begins with a narrated action and finishes with the motif of permanent flow (here of tears, there of water). [3.140.185.123] Project MUSE (2024-04-20 04:34 GMT) сон его лёгкий леле́я – tenderly guarding his not deep sleep лия́ – pouring. Note the echo on “лелея” and the numerous alliterative “л” sounds. „Что беле́ется на горе́ зелёной“ – “What shows white on the green mountain” A partial translation of the “Hasanaginica,” perhaps the most famous Serbian folk poem. The poem was not part of the Vuk Karadžić collection that Pushkin owned, but it was translated so many times (see Yovanovitch, –) that it is difficult to determine which...
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