The Bronze Horseman

The introduction is a hymn of praise to Peter the Great and his creation, Saint Petersburg. The narrator, looking back from his present (that is, sometime in the early 1830s), sees Peter as a practical visionary and a great patriot who secured Russia against any potential threat from Sweden by building a marvel of a city.

The first section of the Introduction shows the tremendous obstacles Peter faced. Before construction began, the marshy area around the Neva was just “swamp and forest” (Introduction, Line 22) where only poor Finns lived. Peter’s dream was to open a “window to the West,” (Introduction, Line 16) a phrase that reflects the tsar’s desire to create a modern, Westernized city establishing Russia as a European power.

The second part of the Introduction leaps forward a century. The poem’s narrator writes enthusiastically about the greatness of the city, which now fulfills Peter’s vision. There is a certain irony, however, in the description of the “granite-cased” (Introduction, Line 35) banks of the river—the story the narrator is about to tell will dispel the implication that the river has been subdued. In any case, the narrator emphasizes the beauty and splendor of the city. As the capital of Russia—Peter made it the capital city in 1712—it quite eclipses the old capital, Moscow.

So moved is the narrator by his love for the city that in the third section of the Introduction, he speaks to it directly—a literary device called an apostrophe, or when an abstract nonliving thing is addressed as if it were alive. In a sincere and loving tribute, the poem’s speaker, a long-time inhabitant of the city who knows how to enjoy it to the full, loves the views the city offers him, the effects of different kinds of light on its architecture, its vibrant cultural life, and even the city’s harsh winters. He hopes that the elements, including the “Finnish waves” (Introduction, Line 88) coming from the Gulf of Finland, will not “disturb great Peter’s ageless sleep!” (Introduction, Line 91), once again presenting Peter as a national hero. The Introduction’s theme is the triumph of the order established by human creativity, ingenuity, and labor over the chaos and turbulence of nature.

Part One of the poem depicts the return of chaos as nature forces its way out of the boundaries that humans created for it. It refuses to obey the demands of human civilization. Tsar Alexander, a descendant of Peter the Great, is helpless in the face of nature’s assault: “The Tsar is no commander / Of God’s own elements.” (Part One, Lines 110-11). As the human ruler admits his weakness, the poem personifies the raging water as a living force with ill intentions toward the city and its inhabitants.

Part One introduces the second main character in the poem, a poor man named Yevgeny, a complete contrast to Peter the Great. Peter is an emperor, a man of power destined for glory, while the lowly Yevgeny powerlessly moves through his life resenting his poverty and position. Peter represents the power of the nation and the state; Yevgeny stands for the simpler desires and needs of the common man. The contrast comes out strongly and poignantly in the Part’s last two verses. Yevgeny sits on top of one the marble lions in Peter’s Square, fearful of the fate that might have befallen his sweetheart Parasha, while the bronze statue of Peter the Great stands behind him, “Unshakeable, as if suspended / On high” (Part One, Lines 160-61). Significantly, the great man is “turned away from him [Yevgeny]” (Line 158). Peter endures though Yevgeny’s world is crumbling.

Part Two characterizes the river as a malevolent being that is proud of its rebellion against human civilization. It is now a predator attacking its prey. When the water retreats, it leaves devastation and death everywhere. The poem moves from the abstraction of mass casualties to making the loss of life personal: Yevgeny finds to his horror and grief that the house where Parasha lived has been swept away.

This tragic event leads Yevgeny into a desperate confrontation with the Bronze Horseman. As the city starts to return to normal after the flood, there can be no resumption of normal for Yevgeny. In despair, he wanders around for months, sleeping outside and living off charity. One summer night, rainfall triggers his memories of the flood, and he trudge to Peter Square, where he once more contemplates the statue. Yevgeny feels the tsar’s power—“His figure awesome to behold!” (Part Two, Line 155)—and regards Peter as “Fate’s mighty master!” (Line 161). Frustration and anger, however, soon take hold of him, and the common man rebel against the leader whose actions on behalf of the nation control his fate and yet have no regard for his individual welfare, throwing out a wild challenge: “You … builder of grand schemes! I’ll come / and get you!” (Part Two, Lines 178-79). Yevgeny rejects Peter’s grad scheme, concentrating on the effect the city’s location has had on Yevgeny as an individual: unlike the poet’s speaker, who contemplates Saint Petersburg as a wonder, Yevgeny blames Peter the Great for the flood that has taken the life of his beloved.

What follows is a dramatic scene in which Yevgeny, suddenly fearful, runs away. He thinks that the statue of Peter has slowly turned its face toward him and now is chasing him through the streets all night, still with its arm extended. Yevgeny’s rebellion is soon over. Whenever he returns to the square, although he feels anguish and distress, he never again challenges the great man. Eventually, Yevgeny dies a lonely, anonymous death. Ironically, he does end up being close to his beloved but not in the way that he envisioned. Meanwhile, even though Yevgeny has passed from the scene, the Bronze Horseman remains, indifferent to personal tragedies. The legacy of Peter the Great endures.