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''The Prisoner of the Caucasus'' (russian: «Кавказский пленник» ''Kavkázskiy plénnik''), also translated as ''Captive of the Caucasus'', is a
narrative poem
Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be s ...
written by
Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
in 1820–21 and published in 1822. Dedicated to his friend General
Nikolay Raevsky
Nikolay Nikolayevich Raevsky (; — ) was a Russian general and statesman who achieved fame for his feats of arms during the Napoleonic Wars. His family left a lasting legacy in Russian society and culture.
Early life
Nikolay Raevsky was born i ...
, it was inspired by the poet's time spent in
Pyatigorsk
Pyatigorsk (russian: Пятиго́рск; Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody where there is an international airport and about ...
during his southern exile.
The poem is about a
Byronic
The Byronic hero is a variant of the Romantic hero as a type of character, named after the English Romantic poet Lord Byron. Both Byron's own persona as well as characters from his writings are considered to provide defining features to the char ...
Russian officer who is disillusioned with elite life and decides to escape by seeking adventure in the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
. He is captured by
Circassian tribesmen but then saved by a
beautiful Circassian woman. Despite its
Romantic
Romantic may refer to:
Genres and eras
* The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries
** Romantic music, of that era
** Romantic poetry, of that era
** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
and
Orientalist themes, Pushkin's use of academic footnotes and reliable ethnographic material gave it credibility in its day. It was highly influential on popular perceptions of the Caucasus for its time. The poem remains one of Pushkin's most famous works and is often referenced in
Russian popular culture, in films such as the Soviet comedy ''
Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
''Kidnapping, Caucasian Style'' (russian: link=no, Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика) is a 1967 Soviet comedy film dealing with a humorous plot revolving around bride kidnapping, an old t ...
''.
English translations
* Roger Clarke, in
See also
*
Russian conquest of the Caucasus
* ''
The Prisoner of the Caucasus'', a short story by
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
* ''
A Journey to Arzrum'', a later work by Pushkin on the Caucasus
References
External links
* The text of
The Prisoner of the Caucasus at Russian
Wikisource
Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually rep ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prisoner of the Caucasus, The
1821 poems
Narrative poems