Riassunto
Riassunto di Evgenij Onegin
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love tales of love, pride and missed chances, and anyone drawn to Russian country estates, romantic poets and a witty narrator whose voice moves between laughter and sorrow.
Che cos’è questo libro
Eugene Onegin is a novel told in verse. Aleksandr Pushkin wrote it over about eight years, from 1823, and it was printed chapter by chapter before it appeared complete in 1833. It has eight chapters, and almost every stanza has fourteen lines with one fixed rhyme pattern, a form Pushkin made for this book. The plot is simple on its face. A bored young nobleman, a shy country girl and an idealistic poet meet in the Russian provinces, and what they choose shapes the rest of their lives.
Pushkin began the poem in the south of Russia, where he had been sent away from the capital because of his political verses. He wanted to put real Russian life on the page, with its balls, estates, gossip, nurses, novels and weather, in a language that sounded like the speech of educated people. The poem is also full of its narrator. He jokes, wanders off, talks about his own youth and his friends, and speaks to you as if over dinner. That voice is as much a part of the book as the story itself.
What you get here is the opening movement of the plot, the people who drive it, and a sense of how the poem works. You will see a love that arrives at the wrong moment and a friendship that goes wrong over something small. Let us begin in St Petersburg, with the young man who gives the book its name.
In questo riassunto
- 1Onegin lives fast and grows boredFree
- 2A country estate cannot cure restlessness
- 3Lensky brings poetry and friendship
- 4Two sisters, one dreamy and one bright
- 5Tatyana writes the first letter
- 6Onegin answers kindly and says no
- 7A dream, a name day and a dangerous quarrel
- 8Love, time and the cost of missed chances
- 9A narrator who talks, and a stanza that sings
Punto chiave 1 di 9
Onegin lives fast and grows bored
The poem opens with Eugene Onegin on his way to the country. His uncle is dying, and Onegin must go and sit at the bedside. He grumbles the whole way, wishing the old man would simply be done with dying. Before he learns what awaits him, the narrator stops and tells us how Onegin came to be this kind of young man.
Onegin grew up in St Petersburg in a noble family that had spent more than it owned. A French tutor taught him a little of everything, with no great effort on either side. He learned to dance easily, to speak French, to bow and to flatter. He read some Adam Smith, enough to talk about the wealth of nations at parties, and he knew just enough Latin to quote a line or two.
Then the narrator walks us through his days. Onegin rises late, reads his invitations, goes out for a stroll on the boulevard, dines at a fashionable restaurant, and arrives at the theatre when the ballet is under way. He goes on to a ball and comes home at dawn, as the city wakes up and the workers go by. The picture is vivid, funny and a little sad, because none of it means anything to him.
The real trouble is inside Onegin. Pleasure has worn out its charm. He has had love affairs, flirtations and many nights of company, and now he feels only a cold, restless weariness that the Russians of the day called spleen. The poem treats this fashionable boredom with both sympathy and a smile.
Why does the opening matter? Pushkin is showing a man who has seen the world too young and feels nothing for it. That emptiness will decide how he treats the people he meets next. Notice too that the narrator is Onegin's friend, and seems to like him despite everything. That is where the story starts to turn toward the countryside.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Eugene Onegin
- A bored young nobleman who inherits a country estate, befriends Lensky, and attracts Tatyana's love.
- Tatyana Larina
- Olga's quiet, thoughtful elder sister, whose imagination is shaped by fiction and whose heart turns toward Onegin.
- Vladimir Lensky
- A romantic young poet educated in Germany, he becomes Onegin's friend and is engaged to Olga.
- Olga Larina
- Tatyana's cheerful younger sister is Lensky's fiancée, enjoying company and attention more readily than her reserved sister.
- The Narrator
- A witty poet and self-described friend of Onegin, he interrupts the narrative with memories, opinions, and affectionate observations.
- Filipyevna
- Tatyana's trusted nurse shares folk tales with her and helps her send her letter to Onegin.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 40,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 40 min
- Listening time4 h 25 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Evgenij Onegin
What is Eugene Onegin about?
It follows a bored young nobleman, Onegin, who moves to the Russian countryside and meets a poet, Lensky, and a girl, Tatyana. A letter of love, a refusal and a quarrel set their fates, and the poem looks at missed chances.
Why is Eugene Onegin written in verse?
Pushkin chose to write a novel in poetry, using a fourteen line stanza he devised. The form lets the narrator joke, digress and shift tone quickly, and it gives the story a musical, conversational voice.
What is the Onegin stanza?
It is a stanza of fourteen lines in iambic tetrameter with a fixed rhyme scheme of alternating, paired and enclosing rhymes, ending in a couplet. Pushkin created it for this poem, and later poets have imitated it.
Is Eugene Onegin hard to read?
The story is easy to follow, with a simple plot and eight chapters. Many readers enjoy it most for the narrator's voice, which jokes and chats as if over dinner.
When was Eugene Onegin written and published?
Pushkin began it in 1823 and worked on it for years. The chapters appeared one at a time from 1825, and the complete poem was printed in 1833. It is fiction set in the Russia of his own day.