[Carl Copeland]

Thanks, Glenn and Barbara!

Originally Posted by Glenn Wright

This piece is written in what seems to me to be a friendly, casual, dishabille tone, while at the same time observing strict metrical requirements.

Originally Posted by Barbara Baig

I'm completely captivated by the language in this poem, so down-to-earth, yet so evocative; for instance, the neighbor with his hunting party--no adjectival frills; he and his friends are simply there. And in S5: I’m drawn as to a child whose family show her no affection.--again, such simple language creating such a strong emotional effect.

You’ve both sensed Pushkin’s trademark style: clarity, elegance, concreteness, sparing use of figurative language, natural wording (at times mixed playfully with high style), sympathy for all things human and natural.

Originally Posted by Glenn Wright

I had difficulty understanding exactly what was happening in S3. Is the “sharp iron” referring to cleated horseshoes that are put on the horses pulling a sleigh?

He’s talking about skating, as Barbara guessed.

Originally Posted by Glenn Wright

I wondered whether Pushkin wrote this piece deliberately to seem unfinished, like Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” or whether he left it unfinished because he died or never got around to finishing it. Do you know the story on that?

The twelfth stanza was longer in an earlier draft:

Hurrah!.. Where shall we sail?... What shores
shall we now visit: the colossal Caucasus,
or the parched meadows of Moldavia,
or the wild cliffs of dreary Scotland,
or the glistening snows of Normandy,
or the pyramidal landscape of Switzerland?

But he decided against it. Michael Wachtel writes: “The title and subtitle are Pushkin’s own. He is here referring to the Romantic usage of the term ‘fragment’ as a work that is intentionally unfinished, because essentially unfinishable.” The ending is very effective as is, I think, and Pushkin did publish other “fragments,” so I’m inclined to agree. He never published this one, though, so I suppose we’ll never know.

Originally Posted by Barbara Baig

Not knowing Russian, I can't speak to the translation …

I never tire of saying that you don’t have to know the original language to be helpful in this forum. You don’t even have to glance at the crib. It’s a huge help to know how a translation reads as English poetry. That’s just what you’ve done.

Originally Posted by Barbara Baig

I especially love the sensual language of S7.

You’ve picked out the most famous stanza in a very famous poem. I recently heard my friend’s 10-year-old son memorizing those lines as a school assignment.