In Pushkin\u2019s poems \u201cArion,\u201d \u201cThe Poet,\u201d and \u201cExegi Monumentum,\u201d there was a remarkable consistency in message surrounding the role and power of the written word. In \u201cArion,\u201d Pushkin depicts himself as a \u201csecret singer\u201d on a boat with a \u201cskillful helmsman\u201d. When the ocean suddenly becomes rough \u201call were lost\u201d except for Pushkin, who is able to peacefully \u201cdry in the sun\u201d. The fact that the only differentiator between Pushkin and the rest of the crew is his ability to \u201csing [his] anthems,\u201d seems to indicate that this quality is the one that saved him from the storm. Pushkin goes more explicitly into the power of his words in \u201cThe Poet\u201d and \u201cExegi Momentum\u201d. He describes a poet\u2019s sensibilities saying, \u201cYet once the god-engendered word\/But touches on the vivid senses,\/The poet\u2019s soul awakens.\u201d However, the impact of this \u201cawakening\u201d is that \u201cBefore the idol of the nation\/He is too proud to bend his knees.\u201d The contrast between the words \u201cgod\u201d and \u201cidol\u201d are telling, especially the fact that Pushkin equates \u201cgod\u201d with the poet\u2019s word and \u201cidol\u201d with the nation. The \u201cword\u201d is the truly divine, while the \u201cnation,\u201d and therefore the Tsar, is a false god that definitionally should not be worshipped. Pushkin expands on this potentially heretical and treasonous idea in \u201cExegi Momentum\u201d. He states describes his theoretical monument stating, \u201cCzar Alexander\u2019s column it exceeds\/in splendid insubmissive height.\u201d The fact that a creation of Pushkin\u2019s not only \u201cexceeds\u201d that of the Czar but does so \u201cinsubmissively\u201d is an indisguised act of defiance. Pushkin then makes clear that his \u201cmonument\u201d is related to his mastery of language by stating that his \u201csprit will survive,\/and my sublunar fame will dwell as long\/as there is one last bard alive.\u201d Here, the \u201cbard\u201d harkens back to the \u201csinger\u201d in \u201cArion,\u201d and has a similar type of power. Pushkin\u2019s \u201cspirit\u201d and \u201cfame\u201d will live on as long as there is a \u201cbard\u201d to preserve them. This image also returns to the life-giving nature of story-tellers also brought up in \u201cArion\u201d. In \u201cArion,\u201d \u201cThe Poet,\u201d and \u201cExegi Momentum,\u201d Pushkin simultaneously praises the divine, life-giving nature of the poetic word while placing it above the Tsar\u2019s own divinity and power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Pushkin\u2019s poems \u201cArion,\u201d \u201cThe Poet,\u201d and \u201cExegi Monumentum,\u201d there was a remarkable consistency in message surrounding the role and power of the written word. In \u201cArion,\u201d Pushkin depicts himself as a \u201csecret singer\u201d on a boat with a \u201cskillful helmsman\u201d. When the ocean suddenly becomes rough \u201call were lost\u201d except for Pushkin, who is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unit-7-romanticism-and-folk-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}