Eugene Onegin

by

Alexander Pushkin

Vladimir Lensky Character Analysis

Vladimir Lensky is a passionate young man with ambitions to be a great poet who becomes friends with the older Eugene when he moves to the countryside. Although at times the narrator satirizes Lensky, suggesting that he may not be the great poet that he attempts to be, Eugene is genuinely charmed by him, and Olga also falls in love with Lensky at one point. Still, the passion that motivates Lensky’s poetry also becomes his fatal flaw, as he gets so angry at Eugene over a joke that he challenges him to a duel. Lensky’s death in the duel goes on to haunt Eugene for the rest of his life, while Lensky’s own legacy is reduced to a humble gravestone in the forest. Lensky represents the passions of youth, and his death shows how these passions often don’t survive into adulthood and can even be self-destructive.

Vladimir Lensky Quotes in Eugene Onegin

The Eugene Onegin quotes below are all either spoken by Vladimir Lensky or refer to Vladimir Lensky. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Youth, Regrets, and the Passage of Time Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

Another squire chose this season
To reappear at his estate
And gave the neighbours equal reason
For scrutiny no less irate.
Vladimir Lensky, just returning
From Göttingen with soulful yearning,
Was in his prime—a handsome youth
And poet filled with Kantian truth.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

‘Your Olga’s look is cold and dead,
As in some dull, Van Dyck madonna;
So round and fair of face is she,
She’s like that stupid moon you see,
Up in that stupid sky you honour.’
Vladimir gave a curt reply
And let the conversation die.

Related Characters: Eugene Onegin (speaker), The Narrator (speaker), Vladimir Lensky, Olga Larin
Related Symbols: The Moon
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

How oft have tearful poets chances
To read their works before the glances
Of those they love? Good sense declares
That no reward on earth compares.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin, Olga Larin
Related Symbols: Books
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:

Oh, blest is he who lives believing,
Who takes cold intellect for naught,
Who rests within the heart’s sweet places
As does a drunk in sleep’s embraces,
Or as, more tenderly I’d say,
A butterfly in blooms of May;
But wretched he who’s too far-sighted,
Whose head is never fancy-stirred,
Who hates all gestures, each warm word,
As sentiments to be derided,
Whose heart… experience has cooled
And barred from being loved … or fooled!

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin, Olga Larin
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

But no, she can’t. What explanation? …
Well, she’s just promised his good friend
The next dance too. In God’s creation!
What’s this he hears? Could she intend? …
Can this be real? Scarce more than swaddler—
And turned coquette! A fickle toddler!
Already has she mastered guile,
Already learned to cheat and smile!
The blow has left poor Lensky shattered;
And cursing woman’s crooked course,
He leaves abruptly, calls for horse,
And gallops off. Now nothing mattered—
A brace of pistols and a shot
Shall instantly decide his lot.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin, Olga Larin
Page Number: 129
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Our Lensky’s seat, there lived and thrived
In philosophical seclusion
(And does so still, have no illusion)
Zaretsky—once a rowdy clown,
Chief gambler and arch rake in town,
The tavern tribune and a liar—
But now a kind and simple soul
Who plays an unwed father’s role,
A faithful friend, a peaceful squire,
And man of honour, nothing less:
Thus does our age its sins redress!

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Zaretsky
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:

‘Approach at will!’ Advancing coldly,
With quiet, firm, and measured tread,
Not aiming yet, the foes took boldly
The first four steps that lay ahead—
Four fateful steps. The space decreasing,
Onegin then, while still not ceasing
His slow advance, was first to raise
His pistol with a level gaze.
Five paces more, while Lensky waited
To close one eye and, only then,
To take his aim…. And that was when
Onegin fired! The hour fated
Has struck at last: the poet stops
And silently his pistol drops.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Zaretsky (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:

I’ve learned the voice of new desires
And come to know a new regret;
The first within me light no fires,
And I lament old sorrows yet.
O dreams! Where has your sweetness vanished?
And where has youth (glib rhyme) been banished?
Can it be true, its bloom has passed,
Has withered, withered now at last?
Can it be true, my heyday’s ended—
All elegiac play aside—
That now indeed my spring has died
(As I in jest so oft pretended)?
And is there no return of youth?
Shall I be thirty soon, in truth?

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky
Page Number: 153
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

‘What can I do? Tatyana’s grown,’
Dame Larin muttered with a moan.
‘Her younger sister married neatly;
It’s time that she were settled too,
I swear I don’t know what to do;
She turns all offers down completely,
Just says: “I can’t”, then broods away,
And wanders through those woods all day.’

Related Characters: Dame Larin (speaker), Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin, Olga Larin
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:

The night has countless stars to light her,
And Moscow countless beauties too;
And yet the regal moon shines brighter
Than all her friends in heaven’s blue;
And she, whose beauty I admire—
But dare not bother with my lyre—
Just like the moon upon her throne,
Mid wives and maidens shines alone.
With what celestial pride she grazes
The earth she walks, in splendour dressed!
What languor fills her lovely breast!
How sensuous her wondrous gazes! …
But there, enough; have done at last:
You’ve paid your due to follies past.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin
Related Symbols: The Moon
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

When one becomes the butt of rumour,
It’s hard to bear (as you well know)
When men of reason and good humour
Perceive you as a freak on show,
Or as a sad and raving creature,
A monster of Satanic feature,
Or even Demon of my pen!
Eugene (to speak of him again),
Who’d killed his friend for satisfaction,
Who in an aimless, idle fix
Had reached the age of twenty-six,
Annoyed with leisure and inaction,
Without position, work, or wife—
Could find no purpose for his life.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
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Vladimir Lensky Quotes in Eugene Onegin

The Eugene Onegin quotes below are all either spoken by Vladimir Lensky or refer to Vladimir Lensky. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Youth, Regrets, and the Passage of Time Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

Another squire chose this season
To reappear at his estate
And gave the neighbours equal reason
For scrutiny no less irate.
Vladimir Lensky, just returning
From Göttingen with soulful yearning,
Was in his prime—a handsome youth
And poet filled with Kantian truth.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

‘Your Olga’s look is cold and dead,
As in some dull, Van Dyck madonna;
So round and fair of face is she,
She’s like that stupid moon you see,
Up in that stupid sky you honour.’
Vladimir gave a curt reply
And let the conversation die.

Related Characters: Eugene Onegin (speaker), The Narrator (speaker), Vladimir Lensky, Olga Larin
Related Symbols: The Moon
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

How oft have tearful poets chances
To read their works before the glances
Of those they love? Good sense declares
That no reward on earth compares.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin, Olga Larin
Related Symbols: Books
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:

Oh, blest is he who lives believing,
Who takes cold intellect for naught,
Who rests within the heart’s sweet places
As does a drunk in sleep’s embraces,
Or as, more tenderly I’d say,
A butterfly in blooms of May;
But wretched he who’s too far-sighted,
Whose head is never fancy-stirred,
Who hates all gestures, each warm word,
As sentiments to be derided,
Whose heart… experience has cooled
And barred from being loved … or fooled!

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin, Olga Larin
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

But no, she can’t. What explanation? …
Well, she’s just promised his good friend
The next dance too. In God’s creation!
What’s this he hears? Could she intend? …
Can this be real? Scarce more than swaddler—
And turned coquette! A fickle toddler!
Already has she mastered guile,
Already learned to cheat and smile!
The blow has left poor Lensky shattered;
And cursing woman’s crooked course,
He leaves abruptly, calls for horse,
And gallops off. Now nothing mattered—
A brace of pistols and a shot
Shall instantly decide his lot.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin, Olga Larin
Page Number: 129
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Our Lensky’s seat, there lived and thrived
In philosophical seclusion
(And does so still, have no illusion)
Zaretsky—once a rowdy clown,
Chief gambler and arch rake in town,
The tavern tribune and a liar—
But now a kind and simple soul
Who plays an unwed father’s role,
A faithful friend, a peaceful squire,
And man of honour, nothing less:
Thus does our age its sins redress!

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Zaretsky
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:

‘Approach at will!’ Advancing coldly,
With quiet, firm, and measured tread,
Not aiming yet, the foes took boldly
The first four steps that lay ahead—
Four fateful steps. The space decreasing,
Onegin then, while still not ceasing
His slow advance, was first to raise
His pistol with a level gaze.
Five paces more, while Lensky waited
To close one eye and, only then,
To take his aim…. And that was when
Onegin fired! The hour fated
Has struck at last: the poet stops
And silently his pistol drops.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Zaretsky (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:

I’ve learned the voice of new desires
And come to know a new regret;
The first within me light no fires,
And I lament old sorrows yet.
O dreams! Where has your sweetness vanished?
And where has youth (glib rhyme) been banished?
Can it be true, its bloom has passed,
Has withered, withered now at last?
Can it be true, my heyday’s ended—
All elegiac play aside—
That now indeed my spring has died
(As I in jest so oft pretended)?
And is there no return of youth?
Shall I be thirty soon, in truth?

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky
Page Number: 153
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

‘What can I do? Tatyana’s grown,’
Dame Larin muttered with a moan.
‘Her younger sister married neatly;
It’s time that she were settled too,
I swear I don’t know what to do;
She turns all offers down completely,
Just says: “I can’t”, then broods away,
And wanders through those woods all day.’

Related Characters: Dame Larin (speaker), Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin, Olga Larin
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:

The night has countless stars to light her,
And Moscow countless beauties too;
And yet the regal moon shines brighter
Than all her friends in heaven’s blue;
And she, whose beauty I admire—
But dare not bother with my lyre—
Just like the moon upon her throne,
Mid wives and maidens shines alone.
With what celestial pride she grazes
The earth she walks, in splendour dressed!
What languor fills her lovely breast!
How sensuous her wondrous gazes! …
But there, enough; have done at last:
You’ve paid your due to follies past.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky, Tatyana Larin
Related Symbols: The Moon
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

When one becomes the butt of rumour,
It’s hard to bear (as you well know)
When men of reason and good humour
Perceive you as a freak on show,
Or as a sad and raving creature,
A monster of Satanic feature,
Or even Demon of my pen!
Eugene (to speak of him again),
Who’d killed his friend for satisfaction,
Who in an aimless, idle fix
Had reached the age of twenty-six,
Annoyed with leisure and inaction,
Without position, work, or wife—
Could find no purpose for his life.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis: