Tatyana's Inquisitive Gaze

Tatyana's Inquisitive Gaze

Eugene Onegin: "Reading Fashion"

Tatyana's introduction in Eugene Onegin, presented as more poised than her sister, Olga. 
 

Elizabeth LaFave

Text: Alexander Pushkin; Eugene Onegin 
Image: Middleton Album, Hillwood Estate, Museum and Garden

Text: Oxford's World Classics

«Итак, она звалась Татьяной.

Ни красотой сестры своей,

Ни свежестью её румяной

Не привлекла б она очей.

Дика, печальна, молчалива,

Как лань лесная боязлива,

Она в семье своей родной

Казалась девочкой чужой» (2, XXV, 47). 


“So she was called Tatyana, reader.

She lacked that fresh and rosy tone

That made her sister’s beauty sweeter

And drew all eyes to her alone.

A wild creature, sad and pensive,

Shy as a doe and apprehensive,

Tatyana seemed among her kin

A stranger who had wandered in” (Chapter 2, Stanza 25, Page 47).