Primary sourceBook1823-1831
Eugene Onegin
Alexander Pushkin · 1823-1831
Pushkin's novel in verse about a bored dandy, the woman who loves him, and a fatal duel, considered his masterpiece.
This novel in verse is Pushkin's own masterwork, written entirely by him over nearly a decade.
About this source
What it is
Eugene Onegin is a novel written entirely in verse by Alexander Pushkin, composed between 1823 and 1831. It is built from hundreds of fourteen-line stanzas in a pattern Pushkin invented, now called the Onegin stanza. The first complete edition appeared in 1833.
Why it matters
The story follows Onegin, the poet Lensky, and the sisters Tatyana and Olga through love, rejection, a duel and years of regret. It became the model for the Russian realist novel and shaped how later Russian writers portrayed ordinary life and character. The narrator is close to Pushkin's own public voice, so the book also reveals how Pushkin saw the society around him.
Look closer
- Why might Pushkin have chosen to write a novel entirely in rhymed verse rather than prose?
- What does Onegin's rejection of Tatyana, and his later regret, suggest about the social rules of the time?
- How does the narrator's presence change how we trust the story being told?
This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Alexander Pushkin on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
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