SOURCE: Garrard, John. “Narrative Poems.” In Mikhail Lermontov, pp. 93-123. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1982.

In the following essay, Garrard examines Lermontov's narrative poems, tracing the poet's gradual transition from Romanticism to Realism and his developing ability to handle problems of narrative stance over the course of his writing career.

Traditionally, Lermontov's two most famous narrative poems have been The Novice and The Demon.¹ Both belong to the most Byronic portion of the Lermontov canon and offer quintessential examples of the Byronic hero. Precisely these qualities made the works so popular throughout the nineteenth century, but twentieth-century readers have generally valued them less highly. In much the same way, the popularity of Byron's most “Byronic” works (Lara, The Corsair) has declined, while his ironical and satiric poems, especially Don Juan and Beppo, have gained in public favor.

Although The Novice and The Demon were completed only toward the end of...