As an absurd fantasy Dead Souls is a very funny skewering of Gogol's characters. They become highly exaggerated caricatures of the Russian types Gogol wishes to highlight (or ridicule.) The polite are polite beyond all reason and their compliments and greetings become increasingly drôle as they stretch to outdo each other. The greedy are hilarious as they bargain for the best price on a dead soul, listing attributes to boost the value, or wanting a second bidder in order to compare prices. Such earnest negotiations mock the worthlessness of the goods in the transaction. If one loses sight of the idea that Dead Souls is basically a ridiculous construct, then a reader might find the plot somewhat macabre. However, if the absurd basis of the story is accepted, then the reader can enjoy the exaggerations and perhaps glimpse the grain of truth that inspired them.
The poetry may be in the elegant deftness of Gogol's mockery and in the the carefully noted details that build his case. It is difficult, though, to say that a translation is poetic; I think we have to be able to read the original Russian text to make that judgement.
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