My Pedigree (Pushkin)
Division into sections is editorial.
Pushkins defense: a citizen, not an aristocrat
The poem opened with the narrator responding to criticism from fellow Russian writers who mockingly called him an aristocrat. He rejected this label with scorn, declaring he held no official positions or titles.
Court Coachman not I, nor assessor,
Nor am I nobleman by cross;
No academician, nor professor,
I'm simply of Russia a citizen.
He acknowledged understanding the corruption of the times and admitted that Russian nobility was relatively recent. However, he emphasized that despite being from humbled races, he was not alone as a descendant of ancient lords. Throughout this opening section, he repeatedly insisted on his identity as a simple citizen of Russia.
The narrator contrasted his lineage with those of newly elevated nobles, emphasizing that his grandfather did not trade in cakes, was not a newly-made prince, did not sing in church choirs, nor polish the boots of the Tsar. He questioned how he could be considered an aristocrat when his origins were so different from these social climbers.
True ancestry: the ancient Pushkin lineage
The narrator traced his family history back to ancient times, describing how his ancestor served in warlike service.
My grandsire Radsha in warlike service
To Alexander Nefsky was attached.
The Crowned Wrathful, Fourth Ivan,
His descendants in his ire had spared.
The narrator explained that even the fearsome ruler spared his descendants. The Pushkins moved about the Tsars, and more than one acquired renown when battling against the Poles. He described them as plain citizens of Nizhny Novgorod during those conflicts.
When treason and falsehood were conquered and the storm of war subsided, the nation called the Romanoffs to the throne by its Charter. The Pushkin family laid their hands upon the throne, and the martyred son favored them. There was a time when their race was prized, but the narrator remained merely an obscure citizen.
Family history: service and conflicts with tsars
The narrator reflected on how the stubborn spirit of his family played tricks on them. His father, described as the most irrepressible of his race, could not get along with the ruler and suffered the ultimate consequence for this inability to conform.
Our stubborn spirit us tricks has played;
Most irrepressible of his race,
With Peter my sire could not get on;
And for this was hung by him.
The narrator offered this as a lesson, noting that rulers do not love contradiction. He observed that not all could be like certain privileged nobles, and that only the simple citizen was truly happy.
The narrator recounted how his grandfather remained faithful to the fallen ruler during the palace rebellion at Peterhof, like others who stayed loyal. While some came to honor during this upheaval, his grandfather was sent to fortress prison. The stern race grew quiet after these events, and the narrator was born merely as a citizen.
Personal conclusion: a writer and citizen
Beneath his crested seal, the narrator kept the roll of family charts. He declared he was not running after new magnates and had subdued his pride of blood. He identified himself as an unknown singer, simply bearing his family name without pretension, drawing his strength not from court favor but from his own abilities as a writer and citizen.
I'm but an unknown singer
Simply Pushkin, not Moussin,
My strength is mine, not from court:
I am a writer, a citizen.