What is Tatiana Larina about? How is it that a young country girl, whose appearance is hardly noteworthy and whose intelligence and judgment are suspect, has fascinated literary culture and come to be regarded as the "Mona Lisa of the Russians" according to one prominent scholar of Russian literature (Hasty, 1999) )? Any sensible reader should root against his impulsive and deranged love, yet there is something irresistibly captivating and engaging in his innocent desire that tugs at the heartstrings of even the most callous cynic. How is this accomplished? It is the charming eloquence of Pushkin's most delicate love poetry in CHAPTER III, STANZA XV, XVI – where Tatiana first admits her love obsession to her nurse Filatyevna – that fully captures the dearest traits of our heroine and helps explain the unwarranted attraction he intrinsically feels towards her. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In STANZA XV Pushkin offers Tatiana his fateful warning; the verse opens with a threatening appeal “Tatiana, dear Tatiana!; Now I cry with you (Pushkin, Eugene Onegin, 1964).” The reader gets the sense that Pushkin's appeal is doomed to fail as he continues: “Dear, you will perish; but first, in dazzling hope, you evoke the dark bliss, you learn the sweetness of life…” (CHAPTER III, XV, 5-8 (Pushkin, Eugene Onegin, 1964)) Pushkin continues with his helpless request to Tatiana's senses, using a series of portentous juxtapositions: to perish in dazzling hope, in dark bliss and in sweetness (derived from the Russian negu which connotes “dangerous euphoria” (Pushkin, Eugene Onegin: Commentary One to Five, 1964)). Pushkin's masterful contrasts serve not only as a premonition of Tatiana's fate, but also as a commentary on young love in general and on the two sides of the coin of infatuation. A certain idealistic sense of dazzling hope, happiness and euphoria consumes every young lover, but the sobering reality – that love is a dangerous pursuit, especially when its gamble is not fully understood – can take an unsuspecting lover by surprise and leave him defeated. , broken and dying. Pushkin concludes his admonition by emphasizing the degree to which Tatiana has been left vulnerable and consumed by her love for Onegin: “everywhere, everywhere before you; he is your fateful seducer (Pushkin, Eugene Onegin, 1964).” The burning passion inside Tatiana can no longer be quenched through her sanguine reflections; her beloved is inescapable in her mind, but that has stopped satisfying her. He longs for concrete interaction and a tangible relationship to replace his imaginative optimism. Tatiana retreats to a moonlit garden to dwell on her grief before finally confiding to her nurse the “passionate anguish,” the “painful love” that keeps her awake (CHAPTER III, STANZA XIV, LINES 9-10 (Pushkin , Eugene Onegin, 1964)).The setting of STANZA XVI is extraordinarily effective in enticing the reader to root for the unfortunate fantasies of Tatiana. Immediately after his plea for her to reconsider an impulsive and doomed romance, Pushkin follows Tatiana to a fictionalized garden where "the nightingale sings sonorous songs" and "the moon patrols the distant vault of heaven" (Pushkin, Eugene Onegin , 1964). The inspiring presence of the picturesque moon causes the reader to accept Tatiana's wishes, against our better judgment. After all, isn't it right to root for young love? Pushkin goes on to hint at Tatiana's innocent and fervent sexuality, as well as her recklessness in lines 5-9: "...her breasts haverelieved, his cheeks are covered with an instant flame, his breath is dead on his lips, and there is a singing in his ears, a flash before his eyes..." (CHAPTER III, XVI, 5-9 (Pushkin , Eugene Onegin, 1964))Nobokov, in his commentary on Eugene Onegin, reminds us that 'flashing' connotes "a well-known photomatic phenomenon, typical of the slight madness of adolescence". This, then, is another blow to the nature of Tatiana's reckless and extravagant love; and the double meaning of the word, as a kind of celestial illumination or starlighting, further suggests the romanticized nature of the setting. In creating such a highly dramatic and sexualized scene, in the context of an Edenic and almost clichéd garden, Pushkin evokes sympathy for Tatiana's innocent naivety. Indeed, the garden scene seems contrived in its resemblance to a fairytale garden, where the animals, trees, and celestial bodies all cry out in unison for the heroine to act on her impulses, no matter how reckless they are known to be . . Pushkin's poetry so skillfully pushes its goals that, despite the reader's foreknowledge of the impossible fate of his foolish, hasty fantasies, we cannot help but root for them. Furthermore, even if Pushkin introduces and defines Tatiana as: “lacking fresh and rosy tone/a wild, sad, thoughtful creature/and shy (CHAPTER III, STANZA XXV (Pushkin, Eugene Onegin, 1995))” the reader is willing to we compromise all these pathetic characteristics and instead focus on the traits we admire such as his courageous initiative, imagination, innocence and self-determination. Finally, after a lonely walk through the garden, Tatiana confides her feelings to the senile, but good- - said Filat'evna, which brings to mind an unpleasant reminiscence of her nurse's past. Indeed, Filatyevna spends much more time talking in this exchange, and as her story progresses monotonously it lends itself to the suspense the reader shares with Tatiana – who has slipped into fantasizing about her own perception of love, rather than about elderly woman and non-idealized notions presented by her nurse. The dialogue ends with ROOM XX, with some of Pushkin's most touching love poems. “'Oh, I'm in love,' she pleaded with her old friend once again. 'My little dove, you're just not well, you're overheated.' 'Oh, leave me alone now... I'm in love.' ”(CHAPTER III, XX, 1-4 (Pushkin, Eugene Onegin, 1995))Tatiana's insistent independence is accentuated in this exchange. The same goes for his innocent idealism. He repeats the phrase "I'm in love" twice in this stanza (and once in the previous stanza), which suggests that he is trying to reinforce the legitimacy of his love, while also trying to convince himself that he is actually in love. Furthermore, the reader gets the sense that Tatiana enjoys the prospect of being in love as much as the act of actually loving; in his adolescent state, the word "love" seems to roll off his tongue with mature, ennobling overtones. As he begins to understand the meaning of love, he falls deeper and deeper into it. This is reflected in his reiteration of his love. Here the first declaration of love seems to be its realization; the second, its defense; and the last one, her conclusion, whereby she is certain that she is in love, that she has made a decision and that she cannot go back. Also interesting to note in ROOM XX is Pushkin's second mention of the moonlit setting. This familiar scenario suggests a sense of enchantment and comfort for the lovelorn Tatiana as she decides that she must be bold in action as she courts Onegin. Pushkin ends the stanza with a picture..