Saith the Czar explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Political Satire

  The poem satirizes the czar's autocratic indifference to his people's suffering and his hypocritical fear of the very freedom he denies them.

• Hypocrisy and Corruption

  The czar's refusal to address starvation while claiming to consider freedom, and his ironic wish to be delivered from autocracy, highlight the corruption and hypocrisy of absolute power.

Key passages

• “My people come to me and make their moon: 'We starve, your Majesty—give us a stone.' That's flat rebellion!—how the devil dare They starve right in my capital?”

  The czar views his subjects' plea for food as an act of rebellion, blaming them for daring to starve in his capital.

  The czar's response reveals his detachment and cruelty, treating starvation as a personal affront rather than a crisis.

• “What happened to my ancestor who freed The serfs? His grateful subjects duly flung Something that spoke to him without a tongue. So he was sacrificed for Freedom's sake, And gathered to his fathers with a rake.”

  The czar recalls that his ancestor, who freed the serfs, was assassinated by those he liberated, implying that granting freedom leads to ingratitude and death.

  This alludes to Tsar Alexander II's assassination, using dark humor to justify the current czar's refusal to grant freedoms.

• “I from Autocracy my people free? Ah, would to Heaven they could deliver me!”

  The czar sarcastically questions whether he would free his people from autocracy, then wishes they could free him from his own oppressive role.

  The final line reveals the czar's self-pity and ironic desire for liberation, underscoring the absurdity of his position.