The Bronze Horseman

The poem argues that the needs of the individual—the common man, exemplified by the lowly clerk Yevgeny—often conflict with the power of the state, which is represented by Tsar Peter the Great, the visionary leader responsible for the construction of Saint Petersburg. Peter has created a world-caliber city, but with little care about how its ordinary citizens would be affected by the decision to base Saint Petersburg at the mouth of a river prone to floods. Yevgeny is the antithesis of the tsar, a powerless and poor worker who resents the unfairness of society and contrasts his own situation with “that select / Fraternity of men” who are “set over / The common folk” and “live in clover, / Though lazy, not to say inept” (Part One, Lines 36-39). Yevgeny has very modest desires. All he really wants is to marry his sweetheart Parasha, and have children and grandchildren with her.

When the flood comes, Yevgeny climbs atop one of the marble lions not far from the statue of the Bronze Horseman. As Yevgeny despairs at not seeing Parasha’s hut, the Bronze Horseman rises far above the waters, indifferent. As translator John Dewey notes in his commentary, Pushkin takes care to provide his common man hero with some dignity when set against the mighty Peter the Great. On top of the lion, Yevgeny, just like Peter, has his elevated perch from which he can survey the entire scene. However, already we can see how little the absolute ruler Peter cares about peons like Yevgeny: In a key detail, the tsar’s statue is turned away from the man suffering near him.

The flood costs Yevgeny his beloved Parasha and his grip on reality. When he sees the statue once more, he is overwhelmed by Peter’s power: “His figure awesome to behold!” (Part Two, Line 155) since he is “Fate’s mighty master!” (Part Two, Line 161). Yevgeny understands that Peter’s modernizing efforts “reined Russia back from vaulting / Into the bottomless abyss” (Part Two, Lines 163-64). Yet Yevgeny turns in fury on the Bronze Horseman, angry that Peter’s vision has meant misery for the lower classes: “You … builder of grand schemes! I’ll come / And get you!” (Part Two, Lines 178-79).

The conflict now erupts, with Yevgeny representing the common man in rebellion against the powerful state. Russia may be stronger and more respected as a result of Peter’s actions—he responded to the collective need of the nation—but what about the many lives that have been lost in the process, to floods and before that to the building of the city itself? Readers would have known that Peter the Great was a ruthless autocratic ruler who put down revolts without mercy. Yevgeny imagines a terrifying response to his challenge: The bronze statue pursues the poor distressed man with such relentlessness that Yevgeny never again challenges him.

Though the narrator praises Peter, his sympathies lie with Yevgeny, “my poor, hapless brother” (Part Two, Line 89). Pushkin could not afford to be too explicit about endorsing rebellion against an autocratic tsar—his work was subject to the censor’s approval—but he was certainly in favor of social reform. His elevation of the common man marks this as a poem in the high Romantic tradition.