TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL RUSSIAN, BY THOMAS B. SHAW, B.A. OF
CAMBRIDGE, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE IMPERIAL
ALEXANDER LYCEUM, TRANSLATOR OF "THE HERETIC," &c. &c.
In offering to the public the following specimens of Púshkin's poetry in
an English dress, the translator considers it part of his duty to make a
few remarks. The number and extent of these observations, he will, of
course, confine within the narrowest limits consistent with his
important duty of making his countrymen acquainted with the style and
character of Russia's greatest poet; a duty which he would certainly
betray, were he to omit to explain the chief points indispensable for
the true understanding, not only of the extracts which he has selected
as a sample of his author's productions, but of the general tone and
character of those productions, viewed as a whole.
The translator wishes it therefore to be distinctly understood that he
by no means intends to offer, in the character of a complete poetical
portrait, the few pieces contained in these pages, but rather as an
attempt, however imperfect, to daguerreotype--by means of the most
faithful translation consistent with ease--_one_ of the various
expressions of Púshkin's literary physiognomy; to represent one phase of
his developement.
That physiognomy is a very flexible and a varying one; Púshkin
(considered only as a _poet_) must be allowed to have attained very high
eminence in various walks of his sublime art; his works are very
numerous, and as diverse in their form as in their spirit; he is
sometimes a romantic, sometimes a legendary, sometimes an epic,
sometimes a satiric, and sometimes a dramatic poet;--in most, if not in
all, of these various lines he has attained the highest eminence as yet
recognised by his countrymen; and, consequently, whatever impression may
be made upon our readers by the present essay at a transfusion of his
works into the English language, will be necessarily a very imperfect
one. In the prosecution of the arduous but not unprofitable enterprise
which the translator set before himself three years ago--viz. the
communication to his countrymen of some true ideas of the scope and
peculiar character of Russian literature--he met with so much
discouragement in the unfavourable predictions of such of his friends as
he consulted with respect to the feasibility of his project, that he may
be excused for some degree of timidity in offering the results of his
labours to an English public. So great, indeed, was that timidity, that
not even the very flattering reception given to his two first attempts
at prose translation, has entirely succeeded in destroying it; and he
prefers, on the present occasion, to run the risk of giving only a
partial and imperfect reflection of Púshkin's intellectual features, to
the danger that might attend a more ambitious and elaborate version of
any of the poet's longer works.
Púshkin is here presented solely in his _lyrical_ character; and, it is
trusted, that, in the selection of the compositions to be
translated--selections made from a very large number of highly
meritorious works--due attention has been paid not only to the intrinsic
beauty and merit of the pieces chosen, but also to the important
consideration which renders indispensable (in cases where we find an
_embarras de richesses_, and where the merit is equal) the adoption of
such specimens as would possess the greatest degree of novelty for an
English reader.
The task of translating all Púshkin's poetry is certainly too dignified
a one, not to excite our ambition; and it is meditated, in the event of
the accompanying versions finding in England a degree of approbation
sufficiently marked to indicate a desire for more specimens, to extend
our present labours so far, as to admit passages of the most remarkable
merit from Púshkin's longer works; and, perhaps, even complete versions
of some of the more celebrated. Should, therefore, the British public
give the _fiat_ of its approbation, we would still further contribute to
its knowledge of the great Russian author, by publishing, for example,
some of the more remarkable _places_ in the poem of "Evgénii Oniégin,"
the charming "Gypsies," scenes and passages from the tragedy of "Bóris
Godunóff," the "Prisoner of the Caucasus," "Mazépa," &c. &c.
With respect to the present or _lyrical_ specimens, we shall take the
liberty to make a few remarks, having reference to the principles which
have governed the translator in the execution of the versions; and we
shall afterwards preface each poem with a few words of notice, such as
may appear to be rendered necessary either by the subject or by the form
of the composition itself.
Of the poetical merit of these translations, considered as English
poems, their writer has no very exalted idea; of their _faithfulness as
versions_, on the contrary, he has so deep a conviction, that he regrets
exceedingly the fact, that the universal ignorance prevailing in England
of the Russian language, will prevent the possibility of that important
merit--strict fidelity--being tested by the British reader. Let the
indulgent, therefore, remember, if we have in any case left an air of
stiffness and constraint but too perceptible in our work, that this
fault is to be considered as a sacrifice of grace at the altar of truth.
It would have been not only possible, but easy, to have spun a
collection of easy rhymes, bearing a general resemblance to the vigorous
and passionate poetry of Púshkin; but this would not have been a
_translation_, and a translation it was our object to produce. Bowring's
_Russian Anthology_ (not to speak of his other volumes of translated
poetry) is a melancholy example of the danger of this attractive but
fatal system; while the names of Cary, of Hay, and of Merivale, will
remain as a bright encouragement to those who have sufficient strength
of mind to prefer the "strait and narrow way" of masterly _translation_,
to the "flowery paths of dalliance" so often trodden by the
_paraphraser_.
In all cases, the metre of the original, the musical movement and
modulation, has, as far as the translator's ear enabled him to judge,
been followed with minute exactness, and at no inconsiderable expense,
in some cases, of time and labour. It would be superfluous, therefore,
to state, that the number of lines in the English version is always the
same as in the original. It has been our study, wherever the differences
in the structure of the two languages would permit, to include the same
thoughts in the same number of lines. There is also a peculiarity of the
Russian language which frequently rendered our task still more arduous;
and the conquest of this difficulty has, we trust, conferred upon us the
right to speak of our triumph without incurring the charge of vanity. We
allude to the great abundance in the Russian of double terminations, and
the consequent recurrence of double rhymes, a peculiarity common also to
the Italian and Spanish versification, and one which certainly
communicates to the versification of those countries a character so
marked and peculiar, that no translator would be justified in neglecting
it. As it would be impossible, without the use of Russian types, to give
our readers an example of this from the writings of Púshkin, and as they
would be unable to pronounce such a quotation even if they saw it, we
will give an illustration of what we mean from the Spanish and the
Italian.