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PUSHKIN'S POEMS

HomeLermontov Other Pushkin Onegin Book I Book II Book III Book IV Book V BookVI BookVII BookVIII Next stanzas Previous stanzas

EUGENE ONEGIN

(In this edition he is called Yevgeny Onegin).


BOOK II    Stanzas 31-33.

 

Beauty of the 18th century


A fashionable beauty of the late 18th Century.

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XXXI

Как он, она была одета
Всегда по моде и к лицу;
Но, не спросясь ее совета,
Девицу повезли к венцу.
И, чтоб ее рассеять горе,
Разумный муж уехал вскоре
В свою деревню, где она,
Бог знает кем окружена,
Рвалась и плакала сначала,
С супругом чуть не развелась;
Потом хозяйством занялась,
Привыкла и довольна стала.
Привычка свыше нам дана:
Замена счастию она .

 

 

XXXI


Like him she dressed up to the nines
Both fashionably and nattily,
But, never asking her advice
They read to her the marriage lines.
In order to dispel her grief
Her thoughtful husband quickly took her
To his estate, where she was plunged
In God knows what society.
She pined and wept at first, of course,
Nearly insisted on divorce,
Then took up household management,
Grew habituated and became content.
Habit is given us by heaven's bequest:
It is almost as good as happiness.

 XXXII

Привычка усладила горе,
Неотразимое ничем;
Открытие большое вскоре
Ее утешило совсем:
Она меж делом и досугом
Открыла тайну, как супругом
Самодержавно управлять,
И всё тогда пошло на стать.
Она езжала по работам,
Солила на зиму грибы,
Вела расходы, брила лбы,
Ходила в баню по субботам,
Служанок била осердясь -
Все это мужа не спросясь.

 

XXXII


Habit, then, sweetened her agony,
For nothing else would have overcome it;
And then came a great discovery
Which reconciled her absolutely.
For, in the midst of work and leisure,
She found the secret (which gave her pleasure)
How to rule her husband autocratically,
And all else then ran sweet and smoothly.
She went about her daily tasks,
Salted the mushrooms for the winter,
Kept her accounts, shaved those recruited,
On Saturdays went to the bathhouse,
Beat a servant girl when in a fit,
And never asked what her husband thought of it.

XXXIII

Бывало, писывала кровью
Она в альбомы нежных дев,
Звала Полиною Прасковью
И говорила нараспев,
Корсет носила очень узкий,
И русский Н как N французский
Произносить умела в нос;
Но скоро все перевелось;
Корсет, Альбом, княжну Алину,
Стишков чувствительных тетрадь
Она забыла; стала звать
Акулькой прежнюю Селину
И обновила наконец
На вате шлафор и чепец.


 

XXXIII

In the past she used to write in blood
In the album of some tender friend;
She called Praskovya Pauline,
And musically her speech she blended,
And wore a corset that was very tight.
Her Russian Ns were not quite right,
But pronounced like French ones, nasally.
But soon the whole lot was thrown out:
The corset, album, Princess Aline,
The book of sentimental rhymes,
She forgot them, and began instead
To use old fashioned Russian names,
And wore at last, first having sworn at it,
A quilted housecoat, and a bonnet.

     


Lermontov Other Pushkin Onegin Book I Book II Book III Book IV Book V BookVI BookVII BookVIII Next stanzas Previous stanzas
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