What happens in Pushkin’s poem The Bronze Horseman?

In Aleksandr Pushkin’s poem The Bronze Horseman, the narrative explores the conflict between the ambitions of a great leader and the life of an ordinary individual.12

Set against the backdrop of the devastating 1824 flood in St. Petersburg, the story follows a "little man" named Yevgeny. After his sweetheart drowns in the flood, Yevgeny is driven to madness by his grief. He eventually encounters the famous bronze statue of Peter the Great seated on a rearing horse.2

Realizing that the tsar—who built the city upon the river—is ultimately responsible for his suffering, Yevgeny threatens the statue. In a climactic sequence of horror, the statue comes to life and pursues Yevgeny through the streets of the city. The poem is widely regarded as one of the greatest works in Russian literature for its profound emotional power and its examination of the "little man" crushed by historical ambition.21