reflect the anger and powerlessness upper-class women felt in the face
of such betrayals.^37
Five of the women poets we have been considering wrote ballads orpoems with strong balladic elements. Some of these follow male norms
in depicting faithless, evil, or victimized women. For example, in Gare-
lina’s “Za reshetkoiu v temnitse” (Behind the grille in the dungeon,
1870 ), a prisoner sees in a prophetic dream his beloved being unfaithful
to him. In Khvoshchinskaia’s “Blednaia deva: Videnie: Ballada” (The
pale maiden: A vision: A ballad, f. 541 , no. 1 , ed. kh. 3 , 33 , 1842 , RGALI),
a knight meets a belle dame sans merci.Other ballads by women, like those
by men, narrate men’s stories, for example, Pavlova’s “Ballada,” ( 1841 ).
Several, however, tell very different stories. Mordovtseva follows Tur-
chaninova in questioning the military ethic. Her “Ballada” ( 1870 ) tells
of a young man who leaves his fiancée to go to war, where he is killed.
The fiancée is left with only a medal and some poems. Many of Pavlova’s
ballads tell even less conventional stories. Her “Doch’ zhida” (The Jew’s
daughter, 1840 ), for example, depicts a recently captured woman in a
harem about to murder the emir with a knife she has hidden. Byron’s
Gulnare in “The Corsair” also kills the sultan who has held her captive,
but only after many years, when she has met another man (Conrad)
whom she prefers. Pavlova’s captive also contrasts with another harem
captive, Pushkin’s Mariia in Bakhchisaraiskii fontan(The fountain at
Bakhchisarai, 1822 ). Although, like Mariia, Pavlova’s heroine remains
pure, unlike Mariia, whom the khan’s jealous favorite murders, Pavlova’s
heroine is not victimized by another woman. In “Starukha” (The old
woman, 1840 ) Pavlova presents an old woman who, in contrast to
Zhukovsky’s repulsive starushka,captivates a beautiful young man
through her ability to tell him stories, that is, her power as an artist. In
“Ogon’“ (Fire, 1841 ) a male, rather than a female, succumbs to the temp-
tation of an evil serpent—here in the guise of a fire—destroying an
Eden-like idyll.
Garelina also presents an unusual ballad subject: a woman in an un-happy marriage. In “Mama! Chto ty vse vzdykhaesh’?” (Mama, why
are you always sighing? 1870 ) a woman is anxiously asked by her child
why she is sighing over a man’s portrait. The woman comforts and asks
the child to pray for her. Shakhova appears to comment on men’s and
women’s ideas of altruism in “Dva sna, Ballada” (Two Dreams, a Ballad,
1849 ). A husband says he would let his children drown to save his wife.
She says she would sacrifice herself and their children for her husband.^38
Gender and Genre 73