Peter the Great in Bronze Horseman: Character Analysis
Analyzing Pushkin 's portrayal of Peter the Great in “Bronze Horseman”
Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman opens up as an ambiguous poem at first sight. In the Prologue Pushkin sets up positive perspective toward Peter the Great and the poem in general, however his tone starts to change by the end of the Prologue foreshadowing a change. Throughout part one and part two, the poem continues to spiral downward. The dark imagery throughout the poem emphasizes Pushkin’s negative view and the sullen nature of St. Petersburg and Peter the Great.
The opening of the Bronze Horseman portrays Peter the Great standing by the river Neva. He is gazing into the distance and is in deep thoughts about his upcoming plans. As it becomes clear in the second stanza, he is planning to build a great city on this land. The city is St. Petersburg which Tsar Peter I founded in 1703. As of now the place consists of dark forest and empty space. Peter aims to build a city by the river Neva that is located on the Gulf of Finland. The city will be a port city attracting ships from every country, and competing with its neighboring cities across the river. He is planning on westernizing Russia and destroying the old traditions by which it was ruled before. After westernizing St. Petersburg, Peter wants other nations to come and visit the new improved Russia: “all flags will come, to be our guests”(118). As we see in the third stanza the new St. Petersburg becomes the heart of Russia, even the old capital Moscow can’t be compared to the beauty of St. Petersburg, “old Moscow paled before this other metropolis; its just the same as when a widowed Empress-Mother bows to a young Tsaritsa’s claim”(119). The last line of the prologue gives a sense of foreshadowing and changes the mood of the rest of the poem: “grievous the tale will be” (120).
Pushkin emphasizes his negative perspective of Peter the Great through telling Yevgeny’s, the main characters story. Yevgeny is a common man of St. Petersburg.
Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman opens up as an ambiguous poem at first sight. In the Prologue Pushkin sets up positive perspective toward Peter the Great and the poem in general, however his tone starts to change by the end of the Prologue foreshadowing a change. Throughout part one and part two, the poem continues to spiral downward. The dark imagery throughout the poem emphasizes Pushkin’s negative view and the sullen nature of St. Petersburg and Peter the Great.
The opening of the Bronze Horseman portrays Peter the Great standing by the river Neva. He is gazing into the distance and is in deep thoughts about his upcoming plans. As it becomes clear in the second stanza, he is planning to build a great city on this land. The city is St. Petersburg which Tsar Peter I founded in 1703. As of now the place consists of dark forest and empty space. Peter aims to build a city by the river Neva that is located on the Gulf of Finland. The city will be a port city attracting ships from every country, and competing with its neighboring cities across the river. He is planning on westernizing Russia and destroying the old traditions by which it was ruled before. After westernizing St. Petersburg, Peter wants other nations to come and visit the new improved Russia: “all flags will come, to be our guests”(118). As we see in the third stanza the new St. Petersburg becomes the heart of Russia, even the old capital Moscow can’t be compared to the beauty of St. Petersburg, “old Moscow paled before this other metropolis; its just the same as when a widowed Empress-Mother bows to a young Tsaritsa’s claim”(119). The last line of the prologue gives a sense of foreshadowing and changes the mood of the rest of the poem: “grievous the tale will be” (120).
Pushkin emphasizes his negative perspective of Peter the Great through telling Yevgeny’s, the main characters story. Yevgeny is a common man of St. Petersburg.
Cited: 1. Rzhevsky, Nicholas. An Anthology of Russian Literature. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1996. 118-130. Print.