Комментарии к «Евгению Онегину» Александра Пушкина

   And you, young inspiration,
   stir my imagination,
   the slumber of the heart enliven,
 ⁸

 into my nook more often fly,   let not a poet's soul grow cold,
   callous, crust-dry,
   and finally be turned to stone
¹² in the World's deadening intoxication,
   amidst the soulless proudlings,
   amidst the brilliant fools,

XLVII

   amidst the crafty, the fainthearted,

   crazy, spoiled children,
   villains both ludicrous and dull,
 ⁴ obtuse, caviling judges;
   amidst devout coquettes;
   amidst the voluntary lackeys;
   amidst the daily modish scenes,
 ⁸ courtly, affectionate betrayals;
   amidst hardhearted vanity's
   cold verdicts;
   amidst the vexing emptiness
¹² of schemes, of thoughts and conversations;
   in that slough where with you
   I bathe, dear friends! >>

41. Lyovshin, author of numerous works on rural econ omy. >>

42. Our roads are for the eyes a garden:
   trees, ditches, and a turfy bank;
   much toil, much glory,
 ⁴

 but, sad to say, no passage now and then.   The trees that stand like sentries
   bring little profit to the travelers;
   the road, you'll say, is fine,
 ⁸ but you'll recall the verse: “for passers-by!”
   Driving in Russia is unhampered
   on two occasions only:
   when our McAdam — or McEve — winter —
¹² accomplishes, crackling with wrath,
   its devastating raid
   and with ice's cast-iron armors roads
   while powder snow betimes
¹⁶ as if with fluffy sand covers the tracks;
   or when the fields are permeated
   with such a torrid drought
   that with eyes closed a fly
²⁰ can ford a puddle.

(The Station,

by Prince Vyazemski) >>

43. A simile borrowed from K., so well known for the playfulness of his fancy. K. related that, being one day sent as courier by Prince Potyomkin to the Empress, he drove so fast that his épée, one end of which stuck out of his carriage, rattled against the verstposts as along a palisade. >>

44. Rout [Eng.], an evening assembly without dances; means properly crowd [tolpa]. >>

FRAGMENTS OF ONEGIN'S JOURNEY

The last [Eighth] Chapter of Eugene Onegin was published [1832] separately with the following foreword:

“The dropped stanzas gave rise more than once to reprehension and gibes (no doubt most just and witty). The author candidly confesses that he omitted from his novel a whole chapter in which Onegin's journey across Russia was described. It depended upon him to designate this omitted chapter by means of dots or a numeral; but to avoid ambiguity he decided it would be better to mark as number eight, instead of nine, the last chapter of Eugene Onegin, and to sacrifice one of its closing stanzas [Eight: XLVIIIa]:

   'Tis time: the pen for peace is asking
   nine cantos I have written;
   my boat upon the joyful shore
 ⁴

 by the ninth billow is brought out.   Praise be to you, O nine Camenae, etc.

“P[avel] A[leksandrovich] Katenin (whom a fine poetic talent does not prevent from being also a subtle critic) observed to us that this exclusion, though perhaps advantageous to readers, is, however, detrimental to the plan of the entire work since, through this, the transition from Tatiana the provincial miss to Tatiana the grande dame becomes too unexpected and unexplained: an observation revealing the experienced artist. The author himself felt the justice of this but decided to leave out the chapter for reasons important to him but not to the public. Some fragments [XVI–XIX, l–10] have been published [Jan. 1, 1830, Lit. Gaz.] ; we insert them here, subjoining to them several other stanzas.”

E. [sic] Onegin drives from Moscow to Nizhni Novgorod: