A Brief Summary of "I Love You" by Alexander Pushkin

A brief summary of “I Love You” by Alexander Pushkin

The poem ‘I Love You’ by Alexander Pushkin was originally written in the Russian language. Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Great Russian poet born in Moscow. He was incredibly intelligent and started writing poems at childhood days. Pushkin used his poems to express his frank opinion about the Russian politics of his period and he had to face opposition and enmity from many political leaders. At the age of 27 Pushkin married Natalya Nikolayevna Goncharova  who was only 16 in the year 1826 and they had two kids. Pushkin got into great debt due to his wife’s luxurious life and Pushkin was shot to death by his brother-in-law whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife, when he confronted him about it.

The poem ’I love you’ is addressed to his lady love. This unknown lady is a silent listener throughout the poem.  There are hundreds of ‘love poems’ written by many eminent poets in the world. Matthew Arnold, P.B. Shelley, Shakespeare, John Keats, Pablo Neruda and others. But the love poem of Alexander Pushkin surpasses these love poems in its depth and beauty of love felt by a ‘hopelessly mute lover’.  It is as mysteriously graceful as the masterpiece, Mona Liza of Leonardo da Vinci. Newer and yet newer meanings come out just as the tender petals of a lotus blossom out when we re-read every line of the short poem.

The narrator of the poem says that he is ‘a mute offender’. But he is quite fascinated by the beauty and personality of the girl. He confesses his deepest and warmest feelings towards this girl. The mood of the poem is neither sad nor happy one. It is a one way traffic love.  The girl, it seems, has no feelings towards him. The narrator knows well that she can never love him. Yet he loves her. He says that he loved her and the embers of his past love are still burning bright in his heart. This feeling still gives him not only comfort but also elixir of life. In spite of her rejection of his love, he enjoys the true love that emerges from the dreams about her.  Every love of human being always brings sorrow and pain in the end. But the narrator feels neither boredom nor pain. On the other hand his love for her brings him spiritual joy and beauty.

The author holds a very respectful attitude for his love that seems to have lost. From line ”let my love no longer trouble you” the feelings of the poet seem quite sincere in the manner in which they are expressed. He truly wishes his lady love happiness, and while expressing it, his heart suffers great mental pain by the loss of his love. But doesn’t this pain give him aesthetic pleasure, because self sacrifice brings back to its owner certain joy?  We find altruism in this love.

The narrator is not a selfish love because he does not want to possess her against her will.  He wants to be “a silent and hopeless lover” of his ladylove for ever so that he can enjoy his love for her and that love never gets old and tired. Instead such love is still fresh and green forever and ever. Thus the lover makes it a divine love.

 He thinks of her happiness and therefore willing to surrender his love and happiness for the sake of her happiness and joy. His prayer is that God grants another man to love her who can love her with such a deep and sincere love just as he had given her.  The narrator knows well that no other man in this world can give her such “a love as deep as this, as true, as tender.” Therefore it is certain that she is always in the sanctum sanctorum of his heart forever and ever!!.

Kjt/09-02-2017