Lenski the stroke could not sustain,
At womankind he growled a curse,
Departed, ordered out his horse
And galloped home.
At womankind he growled a curse,
Departed, ordered out his horse
And galloped home.
Pushkin - Eugene Oneigin
Like gentle dames
We glide along a floor of wax.
However, the mazurka lacks
Nought of its charms original
In country towns, where still it keeps
Its stamping, capers and high leaps.
Fashion is there immutable,
Who tyrannizes us with ease,
Of modern Russians the disease.
XLIII
Bouyanoff, wrathful cousin mine,
Unto the hero of this lay
Olga and Tania led. Malign,
Oneguine Olga bore away.
Gliding in negligent career,
He bending whispered in her ear
Some madrigal not worth a rush,
And pressed her hand--the crimson blush
Upon her cheek by adulation
Grew brighter still. But Lenski hath
Seen all, beside himself with wrath,
And hot with jealous indignation,
Till the mazurka's close he stays,
Her hand for the cotillon prays.
XLIV
She fears she cannot. --Cannot? Why? --
She promised Eugene, or she would
With great delight. --O God on high!
Heard he the truth? And thus she could--
And can it be? But late a child
And now a fickle flirt and wild,
Cunning already to display
And well-instructed to betray!
Lenski the stroke could not sustain,
At womankind he growled a curse,
Departed, ordered out his horse
And galloped home. But pistols twain,
A pair of bullets--nought beside--
His fate shall presently decide.
END OF CANTO THE FIFTH
CANTO THE SIXTH
The Duel
'La, sotto giorni nubilosi e brevi,
Nasce una gente a cui 'l morir non duole. '
Petrarch
Canto The Sixth
[Mikhailovskoe, 1826: the two final stanzas were, however,
written at Moscow. ]
I
Having remarked Vladimir's flight,
Oneguine, bored to death again,
By Olga stood, dejected quite
And satisfied with vengeance ta'en.
Olga began to long likewise
For Lenski, sought him with her eyes,
And endless the cotillon seemed
As if some troubled dream she dreamed.
'Tis done. To supper they proceed.
Bedding is laid out and to all
Assigned a lodging, from the hall(61)
Up to the attic, and all need
Tranquil repose. Eugene alone
To pass the night at home hath gone.
[Note 61: Hospitality is a national virtue of the Russians. On
festal occasions in the country the whole party is usually
accommodated for the night, or indeed for as many nights
as desired, within the house of the entertainer. This of
course is rendered necessary by the great distances which
separate the residences of the gentry. Still, the alacrity with
which a Russian hostess will turn her house topsy-turvy for
the accommodation of forty or fifty guests would somewhat
astonish the mistress of a modern Belgravian mansion. ]
II
All slumber. In the drawing-room
Loud snores the cumbrous Poustiakoff
With better half as cumbersome;
Gvozdine, Bouyanoff, Petoushkoff
And Flianoff, somewhat indisposed,
On chairs in the saloon reposed,
Whilst on the floor Monsieur Triquet
In jersey and in nightcap lay.
We glide along a floor of wax.
However, the mazurka lacks
Nought of its charms original
In country towns, where still it keeps
Its stamping, capers and high leaps.
Fashion is there immutable,
Who tyrannizes us with ease,
Of modern Russians the disease.
XLIII
Bouyanoff, wrathful cousin mine,
Unto the hero of this lay
Olga and Tania led. Malign,
Oneguine Olga bore away.
Gliding in negligent career,
He bending whispered in her ear
Some madrigal not worth a rush,
And pressed her hand--the crimson blush
Upon her cheek by adulation
Grew brighter still. But Lenski hath
Seen all, beside himself with wrath,
And hot with jealous indignation,
Till the mazurka's close he stays,
Her hand for the cotillon prays.
XLIV
She fears she cannot. --Cannot? Why? --
She promised Eugene, or she would
With great delight. --O God on high!
Heard he the truth? And thus she could--
And can it be? But late a child
And now a fickle flirt and wild,
Cunning already to display
And well-instructed to betray!
Lenski the stroke could not sustain,
At womankind he growled a curse,
Departed, ordered out his horse
And galloped home. But pistols twain,
A pair of bullets--nought beside--
His fate shall presently decide.
END OF CANTO THE FIFTH
CANTO THE SIXTH
The Duel
'La, sotto giorni nubilosi e brevi,
Nasce una gente a cui 'l morir non duole. '
Petrarch
Canto The Sixth
[Mikhailovskoe, 1826: the two final stanzas were, however,
written at Moscow. ]
I
Having remarked Vladimir's flight,
Oneguine, bored to death again,
By Olga stood, dejected quite
And satisfied with vengeance ta'en.
Olga began to long likewise
For Lenski, sought him with her eyes,
And endless the cotillon seemed
As if some troubled dream she dreamed.
'Tis done. To supper they proceed.
Bedding is laid out and to all
Assigned a lodging, from the hall(61)
Up to the attic, and all need
Tranquil repose. Eugene alone
To pass the night at home hath gone.
[Note 61: Hospitality is a national virtue of the Russians. On
festal occasions in the country the whole party is usually
accommodated for the night, or indeed for as many nights
as desired, within the house of the entertainer. This of
course is rendered necessary by the great distances which
separate the residences of the gentry. Still, the alacrity with
which a Russian hostess will turn her house topsy-turvy for
the accommodation of forty or fifty guests would somewhat
astonish the mistress of a modern Belgravian mansion. ]
II
All slumber. In the drawing-room
Loud snores the cumbrous Poustiakoff
With better half as cumbersome;
Gvozdine, Bouyanoff, Petoushkoff
And Flianoff, somewhat indisposed,
On chairs in the saloon reposed,
Whilst on the floor Monsieur Triquet
In jersey and in nightcap lay.
