Question 1:
Pushkin provides a detailed history and analysis of the city of Saint Petersburg. He describes the city as possessing a “view of stern and grace” (44) and further describes the city as a stunning with its “stronghold guns’ thunder and smoke” (76). The city is initially described as having a stern and gracious look with “quiet winters” but the poet later describes the city as being a stronghold of gun thunders and smoke. While describing how the city will act as a route to the extended world, the poet described it as the place where “ships of all flags will come” (19), the poem tends to contradict how the city will nurture the business environment views itself while portraying itself as a warlike city (67). In the introduction section of the poem, the city portrays an image of quietness and serene for people from all walks of life. It stands as a unique place and one that cannot be pulled down even by the mightiest powers that rule. However, beyond the introduction, the city appears in a different way as what had been described earlier. Despite the praise for the Neva River flowing through the city in a “regal procession” (45), the banks of the same river haunt back by flooding through the city.
Question 2:
The sorry state of the city he once described as one that could open up the routes to Europe and one that he thought had the muscle to withstand all calamities has been ruined by a flood and this situation is one he cannot just withstand. The statue presents the disaster that has just struck the city. To the poet, the imagination of the city before the plight is like a nightmare that he imagines on the form of the statue. While the city may have undergone a lot of destruction, it cannot be imagined in its former state. However, the city has been able to recapture its customary order and as well looking to return to its normal state (238).
