[Carl Copeland]

Pushkin’s “Monument” raised the question of his politics, and “From Pindemonte,” written seven weeks earlier, gives a good idea of where his head was politically in the last year of his life. The idea of rights without guarantees seems naïve to us, but Pushkin’s indifference toward political power is common in Russia to this day: the sense that an individual can or should have a say in government is very weak.

Pushkin originally titled the poem “From Alfred Musset,” but crossed that out in the manuscript and substituted the Italian poet Pindemonte (1753-1828). The title is usually thought to be a mystification designed to slip the poem past the censors as a translation, though Pushkin does seem to have had lines from Musset and Pindemonte in mind (see Wachtel’s note below). Pushkin underlined “words, words, words” and added the footnote “Hamlet.”


(From Pindemonte)

I set no store by loudly vaunted rights
that stir so many minds to giddy heights.
I never grumble that the gods refuse
me pleasures of debating revenues
or keeping kings from warring endlessly.
It matters little if the press is free
to lead fools on, or keen censorial eyes
may look askance at publishing designs
of some buffoon—it’s all just words, words, words.
For other, better rights my spirit yearns
and other, better freedoms. We depend
on rulers or the people—in the end,
what difference is there? Let them be.
                                                       To none
to give account, to serve yourself alone
and never bend your conscience, thought or knee
to gain a livery or authority,
and at your whim to roam from place to place,
in awe before divine creation’s grace,
and tremble with a rapturous elation
at wonders of the arts and inspiration—
that’s joy, and those are rights! …


Edit
And what do I care > It matters little


Crib

(From Pindemonte)

I don’t dearly value loud rights
which have made more than one head spin.
I don’t grumble that the gods have denied
me the sweet lot of disputing taxes
or hindering kings from warring with each other;
and I’m little troubled if the press freely
deludes simpletons, or keen censorship
restricts a buffoon’s journalistic designs.
It’s all, you see, words, words, words.
Other, better rights are dear to me;
another, better freedom is my need:
to depend on a king, depend on the people—
isn’t it all the same to us? Let them be.
                                                       To no one
to give account, to serve and please
only oneself; for power, for a livery,
not to bend [one’s] conscience, thoughts or neck;
at one’s whim to roam here and there
feeling wonder at the divine beauties of nature,
and, before creations of the arts and inspiration,
trembling joyfully in raptures of emotion.
That’s happiness! Those are rights …


Original

(Из Пиндемонти)

Не дорого ценю я громкие права,
От коих не одна кружится голова.
Я не ропщу о том, что отказали боги
Мне в сладкой участи оспоривать налоги
Или мешать царям друг с другом воевать;
И мало горя мне, свободно ли печать
Морочит олухов, иль чуткая цензура
В журнальных замыслах стесняет балагура.
Все это, видите ль, слова, слова, слова.
Иные, лучшие, мне дороги права;
Иная, лучшая, потребна мне свобода:
Зависеть от царя, зависеть от народа —
Не все ли нам равно? Бог с ними.
                                                  Никому
Отчета не давать, себе лишь самому
Служить и угождать; для власти, для ливреи
Не гнуть ни совести, ни помыслов, ни шеи;
По прихоти своей скитаться здесь и там,
Дивясь божественным природы красотам,
И пред созданьями искусств и вдохновенья
Трепеща радостно в восторгах умиленья.
Вот счастье! вот права…


Note from Michael Wachtel’s Commentary to Pushkin’s Lyric Poetry, 1826-1836

Pushkin may have been paraphrasing – though not translating – passages he found in both Pindemonte and Musset … The opening passage of Pindemonte’s “Le opinioni politiche” (“Political Opinions”) reads:

Sotto qualunque reggimento uom viva
Benché regni il terror, benché la gente
Frenin tiranne Leggi, o Re tiranni,
Quanto de’ mali, onde il cor nostro geme,
Scarsa parte è ciò mai, che i Re, o le Leggi,
O ponno in noi causare, o sanar ponno!

(Under whatever regime man lives / Whether terror reigns, whether the people / Are curbed by tyrant Laws or tyrant Kings, / How much of the evils, from which our heart groans / How small a part it is that Kings or Laws / Can cause in us or remedy.)

The relevant Musset poem, “La Loi sur la Presse” (“The Law on the Press”), first published in September 1835, begins “Je ne fais pas grand cas des hommes politiques” (“I don’t think much of politicians”).