Pushkin’s time at the Lycée stimulated his strength of voice and unreservedness in his poetry, so his early poetry is more liberal and where his most overt political commentaries are found. Pushkin wrote his first revolutionary poem “Ode to Liberty” in 1817 when he was only eighteen. “The ode [of the traditional eighteenth-century] was most often employed for panegyric purposes…but it was also used didactically—to complain or warn against civic injustice,” (Vickery 21). Other Petersburg poets before Pushkin (during the time of Catherine II) used the latter form of the ode. Accordingly, Pushkin wrote his “Liberty” in the same tradition and was no way trying to hide the poem’s purpose. The poem’s relatively brash tone (compared with later Pushkin poetry) openly rails against tyrannical abuse: “Tyrants of the world! Tremble!/ And ye, take heart like men and hearken,/ Rise up, fallen slaves!.” This line may be an inference to the ruthless Tsar Paul I, suggesting that his tyrannical rule perpetuated his assassination. “The moral is that abuse of power by the monarch must lead to lawless acts and crimes perpetuated by his subjects,” (22) hence the message of inciting the slaves to rise up against their lawless ruler. The poem ends basically advising the ruler to cast away his tyrannical regime, recognize that he is not above the “eternal law” of God, and by doing so, will gain the love and trust of his people. It undoubtedly seemed a blasphemy that any eighteen-year-old would have the audacity to tell the Tsar how to rule his people. As a result of this poem, and in addition to his other liberal poetry, Pushkin was indeed sent into exile.
That there are subtle political undertones in many of his works should really come as no surprise to those who know Pushkin’s works well, since he produced a large portion of his most famous pieces during his six-year exile. Politics, the very theme that forced him away from his home, inevitably weighed heavy on his mind. Eugene Onegin, a novel in verse of which he wrote half while still in exile is a good example of oblique societal commentary. His characterization of Onegin as “the last of an old noble house,” is a reflection of Pushkin’s focus and frustration on the decline of Russian nobility. Onegin appears to have no political basis and indeed Pushkin denies placing any political satire in the work. However in letters to fellow poet Alexander Bestuzev he intimates his fears of “the Embankment” (the Winter Palace) detecting political undertones, thus possibly inferring that he does try to subtly add political commentary. However in Onegin, the mere choice of the protagonist’s class creates a political aspect (Driver 53).
The Bronze Horseman, written in 1833, is one of Pushkin’s most beloved works, especially in Petersburg. Indeed the poem is subtitled “A Tale of Petersburg.” In his introduction Pushkin paints a picture of Petersburg as a magnificent creation of Peter the Great’s, a “window to the West,” and he expresses his love for the city. The rest of the story is grim and disturbing, using the real historical event of a Petersburg flood. Pushkin’s story is about the mental breakdown of a young plebian, who loses everything of importance in his life during the flood. Pushkin’s poem mainly speaks on the autocracy of Russian rulers. In part it is a commentary about the autocrat’s oppression over the poor. When at the end of the poem Eugene faces the Bronze Horseman (the site where he clung in fear to the lion’s neck), he confronts Peter the Great’s statue seemingly accusing him for his suffering.The metaphor of the horseman chasing after Eugene is symbolic of the continued oppression and brutality by the autocracy towards the vulnerable lower classes. In another sense the poem points out the fallibility of the autocrats to the whims of nature: “…our famed late sovereign still was sitting/ on Russia’s throne—he sadly here/ upon his balcony did appear/ And owned: ‘For tsars there is no pitting/ their power against the Lord’s,’” (Lines 200-204). Pushkin is talking about Tsar Alexander I, showing that even an absolute ruler such as he is powerless under the forces of nature. The poem shows the tsar as a ruthless bully, one who takes advantage of poor unfortunate souls such as Eugene, when he is just as human as any other man.