Alexander Pushkin

The Saddened Crescent

The Saddened Crescent - meaning Summary

Moon and Dawn Contrasted

This short lyric contrasts a pale, saddened crescent moon with a radiant, youthful dawn. The speaker observes the celestial pair as emblematic states: one cold and dying, the other fresh and joyous. The image becomes personal when the speaker equates this encounter to meeting Elvina once, suggesting a memory of a brief, bittersweet intimacy where beauty and loss coexist. The poem compresses mood and metaphor into a single evocative moment.

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The saddened crescent, in the morning skies, Meets the young dawn full of the utter gladness, One is in flames, another cold like ice. The dawn shines like a bride, the young and blameless, By her a crescent in the deathly paleness – Dear Elvina, thus I’ve met you once. Translated by Yevgeny Bonver

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