Boileau — Voltaire — Pushkin: About the poem “French rhymers’ strict judge…”

Abstract

Pushkin’s unfinished poem “French rhymers’ strict judge…” (1833) is an epistle addressed to Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, the famous theorist of French classicism. In 1820s–1830s, when the Russian literary milieu was fascinated by romanticism, the significance of Boileau’s works was being reassessed and his name began to be perceived as a symbol of the false idea of art. Pushkin, on the contrary, calls him to be his “guide”. The poem is intentionally written in classic Alexandrine verse, in the form of a classicist appeal to a grand master. At the same time, the poet calls for support on another great classic, Voltaire, imitating his satirical “Épître à Boileau”. Like Voltaire, Pushkin praises the addressee and like Voltaire, he does it with irony. Pushkin chooses a typical classical genre, satirical epistle. Voltaire, the brightest figure of the Enlightenment, worshiped the culture of the 17th century. Pushkin, although his works contain many motifs of romanticism, cannot be viewed as an adherent of this movement, as he did not consider it possible to sacrifice logical precision or the sense of proportion for the sake of greater expressiveness. Interestingly, criticism of romanticism, the “new school”, is complemented in the poem by condemnation of “commercial literature”, which was gaining strength in the 1830s. The poet points out at condemnation of consumer attitudes by Voltaire and Boileau. Pushkin’s epistle is a clear expression of his attitude towards the two main literary movements of the 1830s. Referring to two great classics, Boileau and Voltaire, he gives his preference to classicism.

Keywords:

Pushkin, Boileau, Voltaire, classicism, satirical epistle