Outline of The Poem
The poem opens with an epigraph from Byron's 1819 Mazeppa, which depicts the Hetman as a Romantic hero, exiled from Poland for conducting a love affair with a married noblewoman. Pushkin follows this epigraph with a passionate dedication to an anonymous loved one. The first edition carried a foreword in which Puskhin objects to the heroic presentation of Ivan Mazepa in works by other writers and his intention to correct them by depicting him as he actually was.
The poem itself is divided into three parts - or "songs" - of roughly equal length. Part I opens by setting the scene in the estate of the nobleman Vasily Kochubei, and describing the beauty of his daughter Maria. Maria has fallen in love with the Hetman Mazepa, who is her godfather and much older than she is: therefore they keep their love secret. However, they are quickly discovered, and are forced to elope, which brings shame on the family and leaves their parents scared.
The narrative then switches to a description of the political trouble in Ukraine: there is a significant support for a break with Russia; Mazepa is supporting the rebels. Kochubei vows to take revenge upon Mazepa for breaking the bond of trust between them and eloping with Maria. He has remained loyal to the Tsar sends a messenger to denounce the Hetman to the Tsar.
Most of Part II is written as a dramatic dialogue in the tradition of closet drama. Mazepa is focused on his plans to rebel against the Tsar, and Maria is worried that he no longer loves her. He asks her to promise that she would always choose him over her father, but declines to tell her of his betrayal of the Tsar.
Meanwhile, Kochubei has been captured by the rebels and he is tortured and interrogated by Orlik. The rebels demand to know where he has hidden his money but he declines to reply. Maria's mother comes to find her and help her save her father; but they arrive too late: Kochubei has already been executed. Mazepa is tormented on discovering Maria's disappearance and sets out to look for her.
Part III switches back to a single third-person narrator. Mazepa's mental and physical health is failing and he falls for the last rites, while King Charles XII of Sweden is preparing for battle against Peter I. Peter I and his cavalry arrive and defeat the Swedish army and the Ukrainian rebels. Mazepa does little fighting and flees the battlefield as fast as he can. He finds he can no longer sleep and sees Maria again, although the poem leaves it unclear whether this is a hallucination or an actual event. In a memorable passage, Maria no longer recognizes him, because she sees him for what he truly is: a ridiculous and horrible old man.
The poem closes with a reflection by the narrator after one hundred years, claiming that while Mazepa is now forgotten, Peter I, the hero of the battle, has created an enormous monument for himself. The narrator tells us that he does not know the fate of Maria.
Read more about this topic: Poltava (poem)
Famous quotes containing the words outline of the, outline of, outline and/or poem:
“The outline of the city became frantic in its effort to explain something that defied meaning. Power seemed to have outgrown its servitude and to have asserted its freedom. The cylinder had exploded, and thrown great masses of stone and steam against the sky.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“The beginning of an acquaintance whether with persons or things is to get a definite outline of our ignorance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“I am fooling only myself when I say my mother exists now only in the photograph on my bulletin board or in the outline of my hand or in the armful of memories I still hold tight. She lives on in everything I do. Her presence influenced who I was, and her absence influences who I am. Our lives are shaped as much by those who leave us as they are by those who stay. Loss is our legacy. Insight is our gift. Memory is our guide.”
—Hope Edelman (20th century)
“A poem is one undivided, unimpeded expression fallen ripe into literature, and it is undividedly and unimpededly received by those for whom it was matured.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)