Poems: With Introduction and NotesPushkin, Aleksandr Sergeevich
General
Poems: With Introduction and Notes
Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeevich
Russian poetry -- Translations into English
10. I have already stated that Pushkin is a subjective writer. The
great feelers must ever be thus, just as the great reasoners must ever
be objective, just as the great lookers can only be objective. For the
eye looks only on the outward thing; the reason looks only upon the
outward effect, the consequence; but the heart looks not only upon the
thing, but upon its reflection upon self,--upon its moral relation,
in short. Hence the subjectivity of a Tolstoy, a Byron, a Rousseau,
a Jean Paul, a Goethe, who does not become objective until he has
ceased to be a feeler, and becomes the comprehender, the understander,
the seer, the _poised_ Goethe. Marcus Aurelius, Pascal, Amiel, look
into their hearts and write; and Carlyle and Ruskin, even though the
former use "Thou" instead of "I," travel they never so far, still
find their old "I" smiling by their side. But the subjectivity of
Pushkin, unlike that of Walt Whitman, is not only not intrusive, but
it is even delight-giving,--for it paints not the Pushkin that is
different from all other men, but the Pushkin that is in fellowship
with all other men; he therefore, in reporting himself, voices the
very experience of his fellows, who, though feeling it deeply, were
yet unable to give it tongue. It is this which makes Pushkin the poet
in its original sense,--the maker, the sayer, the namer. And herein is
his greatness,--in expressing not what is his, in so far that it is
different from what is other men's, but what is his, _because_ it is
other men's likewise. Herein he is what makes him a man of genius. For
what does a genius do?
11. What is it that makes the water, when spouting forth in a smooth
stream from the hose, such a power? What is it that makes the beauty
of the stem and curve of the body of water, as it leaps out of the
fountain? It is the same water which a few yards back we can see
flowing aimless in stream or pond. Yes, but it is the concentration
of the loose elements into harmonious shape, whether for utility, as
in the case of the hose-spout, or for beauty, as in the case of the
fountain. Nought new is added to the _mass_ existing before. This is
precisely the case of genius. He adds nought to what has gone before
him. He merely arranges, formulates. A vast unorganized mass of
intelligence, of aspiration, of feeling, becomes diffused over mankind.
Soon it seeks organization. The poet, the prophet, the seer, cometh,
and lo, he becomes the magnet round which all spiritual force of the
time groups itself in visible shape, in formulated language.
12. Pushkin, then, is self-centred; but it is the self that is not
Pushkin, but man. His mood is others' mood; and in singing of his life,
he sings of the life of all men. The demon he sings of in the poem
called "My Demon" is not so much his demon alone as also yours, mine,
ours. It is his demon because it is all men's demon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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