Oriental Pushkin: "A Prisoner in the Caucasus" and later poems
Questions for Reading Roger Clarke has supplied a useful and
economically worded biography of Pushkin along with some
historical details, which I have included for your reading
pleasure and information. If you have questions about any of
this, let me know. (Some of the names will recur in future
readings.) (As will Pushkin himself.) "A Prisoner in the
Caucasus" has also been translated as "Captive of the Caucasus";
the original title, "Кавказский пленник," means literally
"Caucasian Captive/Prisoner." QUESTIONS FOR READING "A PRISONER
IN THE CAUCASUS" 1. The original work is a poem, though Clarke
has decided to give us only parts of the original in poetic
form. (Note the one section, "The Circassian song," which he
renders in verse, pp. 143-44. It's not as if he can't do it! And
a lot of the prose phrasing is very poetic in its effect.) What
is the effect of reading a poem that has been translated as
prose? How does it compare to reading "The Foun