Eugene Onegin ( without commentary )

XIII

My friends, what sense is there in this? Perhaps, by heaven's will, I'll cease to be a poet; a new demon 4 will enter into me; and having scorned the threats of Phoebus, I shall descend to humble prose: a novel in the ancient strain 8 will then engage my gay decline. There, not the secret pangs of crime shall I grimly depict, but simply shall detail to you 12 the legends of a Russian family, love's captivating dreams, and manners of our ancientry.

Eugene Onegin