Eugene Onegin / Евгений Онегин
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14
Refers to Dictionary of the Academy, compiled during the reign of Catherine II under the supervision of Lomonossoff.
15
Elvine, or Elvina, was not improbably the owner of the seductive feet apostrophized by the poet, since, in 1816, he wrote an ode, “To Her,” which commences thus: “Elvina, my dear, come, give me thine hand,” and so forth.
16
i.e. the milkmaid from the Okhta villages, a suburb of St. Petersburg on the right bank of the Neva chiefly inhabited by the labouring classes.
17
Apropos of this somewhat ungallant sentiment, a Russian scholiast remarks – ”The whole of this ironical stanza is but a refined eulogy of the excellent qualities of our countrywomen. Thus Boileau, in the guise of invective, eulogizes Louis XIV. Russian ladies unite in their persons great acquirements, combined with amiability and strict morality; also a species of Oriental charm which so much captivated Madame de Stael.” it will occur to most that the apologist of the Russian fair “doth protest too much.” the poet in all probability wrote the offending stanza in a fit of Byronic “spleen,” as he would most likely himself have called it. Indeed, since Byron, poets of his school seem to assume this virtue if they have it not, and we take their utterances under its influence for what they are worth.
18
The midsummer nights in the latitude of St. Petersburg are a prolonged twilight.
19
Refers to Mouravieff's “Goddess of the Neva.” at St. Petersburg the banks of the Neva are lined throughout with splendid granite quays.
20
A street running parallel to the Neva, and leading from the Winter Palace to the Summer Palace and Garden.
21
The strong influence exercised by Byron's genius on the imagination of Pushkin is well known. Shakespeare and other English dramatists had also their share in influencing his mind, which, at all events in its earlier developments, was of an essentially imitative type. As an example of his Shakespearian tastes, see his poem of “Angelo,” founded upon “Measure for Measure.”
22
The poet was, on his mother's side, of African extraction, a circumstance which perhaps accounts for the southern fervour of his imagination. His great-grandfather, Abraham Petròvitch Hannibal, was seized on the coast of Africa when eight years of age by a corsair, and carried a slave to Constantinople. the Russian Ambassador bought and presented him to Peter the Great who caused him to be baptized at Vilnius. Subsequently one of Hannibal's brothers made his way to Constantinople and thence to St. Petersburg for the purpose of ransoming him; but Peter would not surrender his godson who died at the age of ninety-two, having attained the rank of general in the Russian service.