Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin 1799-1837

I have a co-worker and friend who loves books as much as I do. When I first started to teach Advanced Placement (AP) English, she and I would get together to plan for the class and have the most lively discussions about books.

She told me about this book that she read with her class titled Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, and she told me that I would love it.

One day, I was sitting in my classroom, and a student delivered a copy of Eugene Onegin to me with a note that stated to "Enjoy," and I truly enjoyed this book.

Onegin is written in verse which means that the entire novel is written in the form of poetry. The stanza takes the place of the paragraph, and each stanza is written as a sonnet. A sonnet has fourteen lines, and Pushkin uses iambic tetrameter with the unusual end rhyme scheme of  AbAbCCddEffEgg which makes the book read with a lot of rhythm and this helps to make the storyline quite exciting. (Excuse me if you are not following me, but you know that English teachers love this stuff!)

Puskin is the 3rd person narrator of this story, and he is quite delightful. He tells the story to the reader in a manner that made me feel like he and I were in his house, and he was excitingly telling me this fascinating story about someone whom I just might know. At times, Pushkin would say something like:

"Just now though, friends, I feel to tired
 To tell you how this meeting went
 And what ensued from that event;
 I've talked so long that I've required
 A little walk, some rest and play;
 I'll finish up another day."

(Quite delightful right?)

So, here is how the story goes!

Tatyana falls in love with Onegin, but he does not love her back. Years later, Onegin, just by chance, runs into Tatyana, and now he falls in love with her. However, she admits that she still loves him, but she is married and will remain faithful to her husband......

There is more to this story, but you can see that it is an incredible love story.

Next year, I will definitely be reading this book with my students. What a clever way to get students to understand poetry and its many layers........

Read Eugene Onegin; I think that you will be pleasantly surprised!!!!

Also, if you want to get smarter, this is the type of book that requires higher level thinking, and it helps the reader to get smarter and smarter and smarter!

My next read is The Giver by Lois Lowry!

Happy Wednesday, My People!