Early this week, we translated some of the love poetry of Alexander Pushkin (Александр Сергеевич Пушкин) – probably the most famous Russian poet. We are now releasing more of his poetry. This time, it’s just one poem – Monument, which is, arguably, one of his works most profoundly representative of Russian literature.

Monument is commonly understood as Pushkin’s poetic testament. This is what Professor Catriona Kelly (New College; Oxford University) had to say about the poem in her book on Russian literature:

In only five stanzas and twenty lines, the poem raises seven themes of universal resonance in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian culture. These are: memorials to the famous as expressions of state power and cultural authority; a writer’s ‘monument’ in the sense of his posthumous reputation; other writers as a writer’s ideal readers; a writer’s role as teacher to his nation; the writer as a member of polite society; the part played by literature in colonizing, or civilizing, barbarian nations; the relationship between writing and religious experience.

Professor Kelly discusses these themes in the rest of her book, but here’s the poem for you to see and analyse (and Professor Kelly also suggested a few annotations for some words in the translation – hover your mouse over underlined words to see them):