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# In the closing stanzas of "The Little House in Kolomna", Pushkin makes an unexpected remark on the subject of gender
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-poslednikh-strofakh-domika-v-kolomne-pushkin-delaet-neozhidannoe-vyskazyvanie-na-gendernuiu-temu/
- Published: 2024-04-22T20:04:44.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T09:21:07.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Books, Observations, Humour

In the closing stanzas of "The Little House in Kolomna", Pushkin makes an unexpected remark on the subject of gender. The jocular ending looks like a parody of the moralising pronouncements that were customary in the conclusions to depictions of the passions in his day, but in our own times the joke sounds quite different.

— “So that is where the octaves were leading us!  
Why raise such an alarm,  
Summon the host and march out with such bragging?  
A fine road you have chosen for yourselves!  
Could you find no other subjects?  
Have you at least some moral to offer?”  
— “No… or yes: a moment’s patience…  
Here is your moral: in my opinion,  
It is dangerous to hire a cook for nothing;  
**And whoever was born a man,** 
**It is strange and futile for him to dress up in a skirt:** 
**Someday he will have to** 
**Shave his beard, which does not accord** 
**With the nature of a lady…** Nothing more  
Will you squeeze out of my tale.”

*Literal translation*