The Gypsies (poem) - Outline of The Poem

Outline of The Poem

The poem opens with an establishment of the setting in Bessarabia and a colorful, lively description of the activities of a gypsy camp there:

Между колесами телег,
Полузавешанных коврами,
Горит огонь; семья кругом
Готовит ужин; в чистом поле
Пасутся кони; за шатром
Ручной медведь лежит на воле. (ll.7–12)

(Between the wheels of the carriages / hanging carpets folded over in two / burns a flame, and the family around it / cook their supper; in the fresh field / the horses are at pasture; beyond the camp / a tame bear lies uncaged.)

The poem is written almost exclusively in iambic tetrameter, and this regular metre is established from the outset:

х	/		x	/		x	/		x	/
Гор-	ит	|	ог-	онь-	|	семь-	я	|	круг-	ом

х	/		x	/		x	/		x	/	x
Гот-	ов-	|	ит	уж-	|	ин	в чист-	|	ом	пол-	е—(ll.9–10)

(Burns a flame, and the family around it / Cook their supper; in the fresh field.)

Once the scene is set, the characters are introduced: an old man is waiting for his daughter Zemfira to return home while his dinner grows cold. When she arrives, she announces that she has brought home a man with her, Aleko, who has fled the city because the law is pursuing him.

At this point the narrative style changes: the omniscent narrator steps asisde and the majority of the rest of the poem takes the form of a dialogue, following the tradition of closet drama. The Old Man and Zemfira welcome Aleko, but he retains lingering doubts about the possibility of happiness at the Gypsy camp:

Уныло юноша глядел,
На опустелую равнину
И грусти тайную причину
Истолковать себе не смел. (ll.94–98)

(The youth looked around him in despair / at the empty plain / and the secret reason for his sadness / he did not dare to seek to discover.)

Aleko is established as a Romantic hero: the narrator describes him as a tormented victim of passion and sounds an ominous note that his passions will return.

Но боже! как играли страсти
Его послушною душой
С каким волнением кипели
В его измученной груди
Давно ль, на долго ль усмирели?
Они проснутся: погоди! (l.140–145)

(But God! How did passions play/ With his obedient soul / With what force did they boil up inside him / In his tormented chest / Was it long ago that he conquered this passions, how long would they be at peace? / They will awake: just wait!)

Zemfira asks Aleko if he misses the splendor of his homeland, but he responds that his only desire is to spend his life with her in voluntary exile. (ll.174–176). The Old Man warns that although Aleko loves the Gypsy life, this feeling may not last forever, and tells a story of a man that he knew who spent his entire life with the Gypsies but who eventually pined for his homeland and asked to be buried there. (ll.181–216). This is thought to be a reference to the Roman poet Ovid, who was banished to Tomis in 8 AD.

Two years pass (l.225) and Aleko remains with Zemfira in the Gypsy camp. However, Zemfira begins to sing a love song about an adulterous affair which shocks and scares Aleko (ll.259–266). At this point the poem switches from iambic tetrameter and is less consistent with fewer feet.

The Old Man warns Aleko that he has heard this song before from his wife Mariula who later left him. Aleko is upset by the song and falls asleep, and Zemfira is angry when she hears him pronounce another woman's name in his sleep (l.327). The Old Man warns Aleko not to expect Zemfira to be faithful (ll.287–299), and tells him in detail about how Mariula left him after only a year (ll.370–409). Aleko, however, insists on his "rights" (l.419), or at least the possibility of getting the pleasure of revenge (l.420).

Zemfira meets her lover at night and, just as they are parting, Aleko catches them together. In a scene of extremely fast-moving dialogue, he kills them both. The Old Man tells him to leave the Gypsies because his understanding of law, freedom and order are different from his (ll.510–520):

Оставь нас, гордый человек!
Мы дики; нет у нас законов,
Мы не терзаем, не казним –
Не нужно крови нам и стонов –
Но жить с убийцей не хотим...
Ты не рожден для дикой доли,
Ты для себя лишь хочешь воли. (ll.510–516)

(Leave us, proud man! / We are wild and have no laws / We do not torture or punish – / We have no need of blood or moans – / But we won't live with a murderer... / You are not born for the savage life / You want freedom only for yourself.)

The poem closes with an epilogue narrated in the first person, who warns that the gypsy encampments offer no freedom from the "fateful passions" and problems of life.

В пустынях не спаслись от бед,
И всюду страсти роковые,
И от судеб защиты нет. (ll.566–ll.569)

(In the deserts you were not saved from misfortune, / And fateful passions are found everywhere / And there is no defence against fate.)