The Gypsies (poem)
Encyclopedia
The Gypsies is a narrative poem
by Aleksandr Pushkin
, originally written in Russian
in 1824 and first published in 1827
. The last of Pushkin's four 'Southern Poems' written during his exile
in the south of the Russian Empire, The Gypsies is also considered to be the most mature of these Southern poems, and has been praised for originality and its engagement with psychological and moral issues. The poem has inspired at least eighteen opera
s and several ballet
s.
and a colorful, lively description of the activities of a gypsy camp there:
(Between the wheels of the carriages / hanging carpets folded over in two / burns a flame, and the family around it / cook their supper; in the fresh field / the horses are at pasture; beyond the camp / a tame bear lies uncaged.)
The poem is written almost exclusively in iambic tetrameter
, and this regular metre is established from the outset:
(ll. 9 - 10)
(Burns a flame, and the family around it / Cook their supper; in the fresh field.)
Once the scene is set, the characters are introduced: an old man is waiting for his daughter Zemfira to return home while his dinner grows cold. When she arrives, she announces that she has brought home a man with her, Aleko, who has fled the city because the law is pursuing him.
At this point the narrative style
changes: the omniscent narrator steps asisde and the majority of the rest of the poem takes the form of a dialogue, following the tradition of closet drama
. The Old Man and Zemfira welcome Aleko, but he retains lingering doubts about the possibility of happiness at the Gypsy camp:
(The youth looked around him in despair / at the empty plain / and the secret reason for his sadness / he did not dare to seek to discover.)
Aleko is established as a Romantic hero
: the narrator describes him as a tormented victim of passion and sounds an ominous note that his passions will return.
(But God! How did passions play/ With his obedient soul / With what force did they boil up inside him / In his tormented chest / Was it long ago that he conquered this passions, how long would they be at peace? / They will awake: just wait!)
Zemfira asks Aleko if he misses the splendor of his homeland, but he responds that his only desire is to spend his life with her in voluntary exile. (ll. 174-176). The Old Man warns that although Aleko loves the Gypsy life, this feeling may not last forever, and tells a story of a man that he knew who spent his entire life with the Gypsies but who eventually pined for his homeland and asked to be buried there. (ll. 181 - 216). This is thought to be a reference to the Roman poet Ovid
, who was banished to Tomis in 8 AD.
Two years pass (l. 225) and Aleko remains with Zemfira in the Gypsy camp. However, Zemfira begins to sing a love song about an adulterous affair which shocks and scares Aleko (ll. 259 - 266). At this point the poem switches from iambic tetrameter and is less consistent with fewer feet.
The Old Man warns Aleko that he has heard this song before from his wife Mariula who later left him. Aleko is upset by the song and falls asleep, and Zemfira is angry when she hears him pronounce another woman's name in his sleep (l. 327). The Old Man warns Aleko not to expect Zemfira to be faithful (ll. 287 - 299), and tells him in detail about how Mariula left him after only a year (ll. 370 - 409). Aleko, however, insists on his "rights" (l. 419), or at least the possibility of getting the pleasure of revenge (l. 420).
Zemfira meets her lover at night and, just as they are parting, Aleko catches them together. In a scene of extremely fast-moving dialogue, he kills them both. The Old Man tells him to leave the Gypsies because his understanding of law, freedom and order are different from his (ll. 510 - 520):
(Leave us, proud man! / We are wild and have no laws / We do not torture or punish - / We have no need of blood or moans - / But we won't live with a murderer... / You are not born for the savage life / You want freedom only for yourself.)
The poem closes with an Epilogue
narrated in the first person, who warns that the gypsy encampments offer no freedom from the "fateful passions" and problems of life.
(In the deserts you were not saved from misfortune, / And fateful passions are found everywhere / And there is no defence against fate.)
, an idea which had gained popular currency in the Romantic Age which held that those people who live further from "civilization" live "in harmony with nature and a more simple, childlike and blessed life" than the alienated and unhappy people in European cities.. Aleko's failure to integrate with the gypsies and his continued insistence on the moral standards of the city in the gypsy encampment challenge the notion that happiness can be found by reverting to nature. The poem closes with a clear attack on the idea of the noble savage: "But even among you, poor sons of nature, there is no happiness! Tormenting dreams live below your bedraggled tents". [Но счастья нет и между вами, / Природы бедные сыны!... / И под издранными шатрами / Живут мучительные сны.] (ll. 562 - 565)
The Gypsies is the last of Pushkin's "Southern Poems", and is usually considered to be the most mature and sophisticated of these works. The "Southern Poems" are indebted to Byron: they use exotic and orientalized settings, rapid transitions, and chart sexual and military conquest. However, critics agree that The Gypsies, while inheriting much from the Byronic tradition, also strives to move away from it. Michael Wachtel argues that "the grim, fatalistic acceptance of life as a tragedy and of individual experience as endless repetition brings the work closer to Antiquity than to Byron". Antony Wood suggests that The Gypsies is a parody of both Rousseau's Noble Savage idea and Byron's verse tales, pointing out that "Aleko, pursuing the ideal of the Noble Savage, himself comes to present the spectacle of an ignoble citizen." John Bayley argues that The Gypsies "shows the problem of a poet as naturally classical as Pushkin in an epoch fashionably and self-consciously romantic."
(1893), Ruggero Leoncavallo's Gli zingari (1912), and Vasily Kalafati
's Gypsies [Tsygany] (1941).
It is speculated that The Gypsies was the inspiration for Prosper Mérimée
's novella Carmen
written in 1845, on which Georges Bizet's opera Carmen
was based in 1875. Mérimée had read the poem in Russian by 1840 and translated it into French
in 1852.
Narrative poetry
Narrative poetry is poetry that has a plot. The poems that make up this genre may be short or long, and the story it relates to may be simple or complex. It is usually nondramatic, with objective regular scheme and meter. Narrative poems include epics, ballads, idylls and lays.Some narrative...
by Aleksandr Pushkin
Aleksandr Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....
, originally written in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
in 1824 and first published in 1827
1827 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Bernard Barton, A Widow's Tale, and Other Poems* Robert Bloomfield, The Poems of Robert Bloomfield...
. The last of Pushkin's four 'Southern Poems' written during his exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
in the south of the Russian Empire, The Gypsies is also considered to be the most mature of these Southern poems, and has been praised for originality and its engagement with psychological and moral issues. The poem has inspired at least eighteen opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s and several ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
s.
Outline of the poem
The poem opens with an establishment of the setting in BessarabiaBessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
and a colorful, lively description of the activities of a gypsy camp there:
Между колесами телег,
Полузавешанных коврами,
Горит огонь; семья кругом
Готовит ужин; в чистом поле
Пасутся кони; за шатром
Ручной медведь лежит на воле. (ll. 7 - 12)
(Between the wheels of the carriages / hanging carpets folded over in two / burns a flame, and the family around it / cook their supper; in the fresh field / the horses are at pasture; beyond the camp / a tame bear lies uncaged.)
The poem is written almost exclusively in iambic tetrameter
Iambic tetrameter
Iambic tetrameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line consisting of four iambic feet. The word "tetrameter" simply means that there are four feet in the line; iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iambs...
, and this regular metre is established from the outset:
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| Гор- | ит | | | ог- | онь- | | | семь- | я | | | круг- | ом |
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| Гот- | ов- | | | ит | уж- | | | ин | в чист- | | | ом | пол- | е |
(Burns a flame, and the family around it / Cook their supper; in the fresh field.)
Once the scene is set, the characters are introduced: an old man is waiting for his daughter Zemfira to return home while his dinner grows cold. When she arrives, she announces that she has brought home a man with her, Aleko, who has fled the city because the law is pursuing him.
At this point the narrative style
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
changes: the omniscent narrator steps asisde and the majority of the rest of the poem takes the form of a dialogue, following the tradition of closet drama
Closet drama
A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud in a small group. A related form, the "closet screenplay," developed during the 20th century.-Form:...
. The Old Man and Zemfira welcome Aleko, but he retains lingering doubts about the possibility of happiness at the Gypsy camp:
Уныло юноша глядел,
На опустелую равнину
И грусти тайную причину
Истолковать себе не смел. (ll. 94 - 98)
(The youth looked around him in despair / at the empty plain / and the secret reason for his sadness / he did not dare to seek to discover.)
Aleko is established as a Romantic hero
Romantic hero
The Romantic hero is a literary archetype referring to a character that rejects established norms and conventions, has been rejected by society, and has the self as the center of his or her own existence. The Romantic hero is often the protagonist in the literary work and there is a primary focus...
: the narrator describes him as a tormented victim of passion and sounds an ominous note that his passions will return.
Но боже! как играли страсти
Его послушною душой
С каким волнением кипели
В его измученной груди
Давно ль, на долго ль усмирели?
Они проснутся: погоди! (l. 140 - 145)
(But God! How did passions play/ With his obedient soul / With what force did they boil up inside him / In his tormented chest / Was it long ago that he conquered this passions, how long would they be at peace? / They will awake: just wait!)
Zemfira asks Aleko if he misses the splendor of his homeland, but he responds that his only desire is to spend his life with her in voluntary exile. (ll. 174-176). The Old Man warns that although Aleko loves the Gypsy life, this feeling may not last forever, and tells a story of a man that he knew who spent his entire life with the Gypsies but who eventually pined for his homeland and asked to be buried there. (ll. 181 - 216). This is thought to be a reference to the Roman poet Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
, who was banished to Tomis in 8 AD.
Two years pass (l. 225) and Aleko remains with Zemfira in the Gypsy camp. However, Zemfira begins to sing a love song about an adulterous affair which shocks and scares Aleko (ll. 259 - 266). At this point the poem switches from iambic tetrameter and is less consistent with fewer feet.
The Old Man warns Aleko that he has heard this song before from his wife Mariula who later left him. Aleko is upset by the song and falls asleep, and Zemfira is angry when she hears him pronounce another woman's name in his sleep (l. 327). The Old Man warns Aleko not to expect Zemfira to be faithful (ll. 287 - 299), and tells him in detail about how Mariula left him after only a year (ll. 370 - 409). Aleko, however, insists on his "rights" (l. 419), or at least the possibility of getting the pleasure of revenge (l. 420).
Zemfira meets her lover at night and, just as they are parting, Aleko catches them together. In a scene of extremely fast-moving dialogue, he kills them both. The Old Man tells him to leave the Gypsies because his understanding of law, freedom and order are different from his (ll. 510 - 520):
Оставь нас, гордый человек!
Мы дики; нет у нас законов,
Мы не терзаем, не казним --
Не нужно крови нам и стонов --
Но жить с убийцей не хотим...
Ты не рожден для дикой доли,
Ты для себя лишь хочешь воли. (ll. 510 - 516)
(Leave us, proud man! / We are wild and have no laws / We do not torture or punish - / We have no need of blood or moans - / But we won't live with a murderer... / You are not born for the savage life / You want freedom only for yourself.)
The poem closes with an Epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
narrated in the first person, who warns that the gypsy encampments offer no freedom from the "fateful passions" and problems of life.
В пустынях не спаслись от бед,
И всюду страсти роковые,
И от судеб защиты нет. (ll. 566- ll. 569)
(In the deserts you were not saved from misfortune, / And fateful passions are found everywhere / And there is no defence against fate.)
Analysis
The poem addresses and interrogates the concept of the noble savageNoble savage
The term noble savage , expresses the concept an idealized indigene, outsider , and refers to the literary stock character of the same...
, an idea which had gained popular currency in the Romantic Age which held that those people who live further from "civilization" live "in harmony with nature and a more simple, childlike and blessed life" than the alienated and unhappy people in European cities.. Aleko's failure to integrate with the gypsies and his continued insistence on the moral standards of the city in the gypsy encampment challenge the notion that happiness can be found by reverting to nature. The poem closes with a clear attack on the idea of the noble savage: "But even among you, poor sons of nature, there is no happiness! Tormenting dreams live below your bedraggled tents". [Но счастья нет и между вами, / Природы бедные сыны!... / И под издранными шатрами / Живут мучительные сны.] (ll. 562 - 565)
The Gypsies is the last of Pushkin's "Southern Poems", and is usually considered to be the most mature and sophisticated of these works. The "Southern Poems" are indebted to Byron: they use exotic and orientalized settings, rapid transitions, and chart sexual and military conquest. However, critics agree that The Gypsies, while inheriting much from the Byronic tradition, also strives to move away from it. Michael Wachtel argues that "the grim, fatalistic acceptance of life as a tragedy and of individual experience as endless repetition brings the work closer to Antiquity than to Byron". Antony Wood suggests that The Gypsies is a parody of both Rousseau's Noble Savage idea and Byron's verse tales, pointing out that "Aleko, pursuing the ideal of the Noble Savage, himself comes to present the spectacle of an ignoble citizen." John Bayley argues that The Gypsies "shows the problem of a poet as naturally classical as Pushkin in an epoch fashionably and self-consciously romantic."
Adaptations
Boris Gasparov estimates that The Gypsies has inspired some eighteen operas and half a dozen ballets, including Sergei Rachmaninoff's AlekoAleko (opera)
Aleko is the first of three completed operas by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The Russian libretto was written by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and is an adaptation of the poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin. The opera was written in 1892 as a graduation work at the Moscow Conservatory, and it won the...
(1893), Ruggero Leoncavallo's Gli zingari (1912), and Vasily Kalafati
Vasily Pavlovich Kalafati
Vasily Pavlovich Kalafati was a Russian composer and pedagogue.Kalafati was a pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and would also teach composition and music theory there between 1907 and 1929, having been promoted to professor in 1923. His own students included...
's Gypsies [Tsygany] (1941).
It is speculated that The Gypsies was the inspiration for Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée was a French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.-Life:...
's novella Carmen
Carmen (novella)
"Carmen" is a novella by Prosper Mérimée, written and first published in 1845. It has been adapted into a number of dramatic works, including the famous opera by Georges Bizet.-Sources:...
written in 1845, on which Georges Bizet's opera Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
was based in 1875. Mérimée had read the poem in Russian by 1840 and translated it into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
in 1852.
Sources
- Briggs, A.D.P. (1982) Alexander Pushkin: A Critical Study Duckworth: London.
- Briggs A.D.P. (2004) "Did Carmen come from Russia?" in English National Opera Programme.
- Gasparov, Boris. (2006) "Pushkin in music" in The Cambridge Companion to Pushkin, ed. Andrew Kahn. Cambridge: CUP
- Hammond A. Music Note in programme for Carmen. Royal Opera House Covent Garden, 1984
- Pushkin, A.S. and Bondi S.M. (ed.) (1960) Sobranie sochinenii A.S. Pushkina v desiasti tomakh. Moscow. http://www.rvb.ru/pushkin/01text/02poems/01poems/0789.htm
- Pushkin, Aleksandr, Antony Wood and Simon Brett. (2006) The Gypsies & Other Narrative Poems. Boston, MA: David R. Godine.
External links
- Partially complete English translation of "The Gypsies" The text of Цыганы at Russian WikisourceWikisourceWikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, it has...