Eugene Onegin. A Romance of Russian Life in Verse

II

Thus mused a madcap young, who drove

Through clouds of dust at postal pace,

By the decree of Mighty Jove,

Inheritor of all his race.

Friends of Liudmila and Ruslan,(1)

Let me present ye to the man,

Who without more prevarication

The hero is of my narration!

Oneguine, O my gentle readers,

Was born beside the Neva, where

It may be ye were born, or there

Have shone as one of fashion's leaders.

I also wandered there of old,

But cannot stand the northern cold.(2)

[Note 1: Ruslan and Liudmila, the title of Pushkin's first important work, written 1817-20. It is a tale relating the adventures of the knight-errant Ruslan in search of his fair lady Liudmila, who has been carried off by a kaldoon, or magician.]

[Note 2: Written in Bessarabia.]

III

Having performed his service truly,

Deep into debt his father ran;

Three balls a year he gave ye duly,

At last became a ruined man.

But Eugene was by fate preserved,

For first 'madame' his wants observed,

And then 'monsieur' supplied her place;(3)

The boy was wild but full of grace.

'Monsieur l'Abbe,' a starving Gaul,

Fearing his pupil to annoy,

Instructed jestingly the boy,

Morality taught scarce at all;

Gently for pranks he would reprove

And in the Summer Garden rove.

[Note 3: In Russia foreign tutors and governesses are commonly styled 'monsieur' or 'madame.']

IV

When youth's rebellious hour drew near

And my Eugene the path must trace—

The path of hope and tender fear—

Monsieur clean out of doors they chase.

Lo! my Oneguine free as air,

Cropped in the latest style his hair,

Dressed like a London dandy he

The giddy world at last shall see.

He wrote and spoke, so all allowed,

In the French language perfectly,

Danced the mazurka gracefully,

Without the least constraint he bowed.

What more's required? The world replies,

He is a charming youth and wise.

V

We all of us of education