The Execution Of Stenka Razin Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEDAFEAGHEDIFEJDK EDDDDELDMNOPQDDERDRS STFUDAGEHPVWDXVWYYZX A2YDB2ADDC2AD2C2YAE2 F2WDEG2FH2TI2FDDJ2DD K2DFL2EGPDFM2DGWXWDD FDN2FK2DGDFDO2FJEGDI DP2Q2DAR2E2 S2

In Moscow the white walled capitalA
a thief runs with a poppy seed loaf down the streetB
He is not afraid of being lynched todayC
There isn't time for loavesD
They are bringing Stenka RazinE
The tsar is milking a little bottle of malmseyD
before the Swedish mirror he squeezes a pimpleA
and tries on an emerald seal ringF
and into the square They are bringing Stenka RazinE
Like a little barrel following a fat barrelA
a baby boyar rolls along after his motherG
gnawing a bar of toffee with his baby teethH
Today is a holiday They are bringing Stenka RazinE
A merchant shoves his way in flatulent with peasD
Two buffoons come rushing at a gallopI
Drunkard rogues come mincingF
They are bringing Stenka RazinE
Old men scabs all over them hardly aliveJ
thick cords round their necksD
mumbling something dodder alongK
They are bringing Stenka RazinE
And shameless girls alsoD
jumping up tipsy from their sleeping matsD
with cucumber smeared over their facesD
come trotting up with an itch in their thighsD
They are bringing Stenka RazinE
And with screams from wives of the Royal GuardL
amid spitting from all sidesD
on a ramshackle cartM
he comes sailing in a white shirtN
He is silent all covered with the spit of the mobO
he does not wipe it away only grins wrylyP
smiles at himself 'Stenka Stenka you are like a branchQ
that has lost its leavesD
How you wanted to enter MoscowD
And here you are entering Moscow nowE
All right then spit Spit SpitR
after all it's a free showD
Good people you always spitR
at those who wish you wellS
I so much wished you wellS
on the shores of PersiaT
and then again when flyingF
down the Volga on a boatU
What had I known Somebody's eyesD
a saber a sail and the saddleA
I wasn't much of a scholarG
Perhaps this was what let me downE
The tsar's scribe beat me deliberately across the teethH
repeating ferventlyP
'Decided to go against the people did youV
You'll find out about against 'W
I held my own without lowering my eyesD
I spat my answer with my bloodX
'Against the boyars trueV
Against the people no 'W
I do not renounce myselfY
I have chosen my own fate myselfY
Before you the people I repentZ
but not for what the tsar's scribe wantedX
My head is to blameA2
I can see sentencing myselfY
I was halfway against thingsD
when I ought to have gone to the very endB2
No it is not in this I have sinned my peopleA
for hanging boyars from the towersD
I have sinned in my own eyes in thisD
that I hanged too few of themC2
I have sinned in this that in a world of evilA
I was a good idiotD2
I sinned in this that being an enemy of serfdomC2
I was something of a serf myselfY
I sinned in this that I thought of doing battleA
for a good tsarE2
There are no good tsars foolF2
Stenka you are perishing for nothing 'W
Bells boomed over MoscowD
They are leading Stenka to the place of executionE
In front of Stenka in the rising windG2
the leather apron of the headsman is flappingF
and in his hands above the crowdH2
is a blue ax blue as the VolgaT
And streaming silvery along the bladeI2
boats fly boats like seagulls in the morningF
And over the snouts pig faces and ugly mugsD
of tax collectors and money changersD
like light through the fogJ2
Stenka saw facesD
Distance and space was in those facesD
and in their eyes morosely independentK2
as if in smaller secret VolgasD
Stenka's boats were sailingF
It's worth bearing it all without a tearL2
to be on the rack and wheel of executionE
if sooner or laterG
faces sprout threateninglyP
on the face of the faceless onesD
And calmly obviously he hadn't lived for nothingF
Stenka laid his head down on the blockM2
settled his chin in the chopped out hollowD
and with the back of his head gave the orderG
'Strike ax 'W
The head started rolling burning in its bloodX
and hoarsely the head spoke 'Not for nothing 'W
And along the ax there were no longer shipsD
but little streams little streamsD
Why good folk are you standing not celebratingF
Caps into sky and danceD
But the Red Square is frozen stiffN2
the halberds are scarcely swayingF
Even the buffoons have fallen silentK2
Amid the deadly silenceD
fleas jumped overG
from peasants' jackets onto women's robesD
The square had understood somethingF
The square took off their capsD
and the bells struck three times seething with rageO2
But heavy from its bloody forelockF
the head was still rocking aliveJ
From the blood wet place of executionE
there where the poor wereG
the head threw looks about like anonymous lettersD
Bustling the poor trembling priest ran upI
wanting to close Stenka's eyelidsD
But straining frightful as a beastP2
the pupils pushed away his handQ2
On the tsar's head chilled by those devilish eyesD
the Cap of Monomakh began to trembleA
and savagely not hiding anything of his triumphR2
Stenka's head burst out laughing at the tsarE2
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Translated by Tina Tupikina Glaessner Geoffrey Dutton and Igor Mezhakoff Koriakin revisedS2

Yevgeny Yevtushenko



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