Composition "Eugene Onegin. Creativity of the Decembrist poets. Themes and artistic originality of the lyrics of K. Ryleev Poetry K.F. Ryleeva
The formation of a civil, or social, current of Russian romanticism is directly related to the creation of the Union of Salvation (1816-1817), the Union of Welfare (1818-1821), the Northern and Southern secret societies (1823-1825). The documents of these societies contained political guidelines relating, in particular, to belles-lettres. Thus, the Welfare Union formulated its tasks in the field of art and literature as follows: “To find means for the fine arts to give the proper direction, which consists not in pampering the senses, but in strengthening and exalting our moral being.” In general, the Decembrists assigned a secondary role to literature and viewed it as a means of agitation and propaganda of their views. This, however, did not mean that they did not pay attention to the quality of literary production or that they all had the same literary tastes and predilections. Some accepted romanticism, others disavowed it. The Decembrists understood romanticism itself in different ways: some accepted the lessons of the "school of harmonic accuracy", while others rejected them. Among them, based on the definition given by Yu.N. Tynyanov, were "archaists" - supporters of the traditions of high civil lyrics of the 18th century, views on the literary language of Shishkov, and "innovators" who mastered the stylistic principles of the poetic language of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov. Among the "archaists" are P.A. Katenin, V.K. Kuchelbecker, to the "innovators" - A.A. Bestuzhev (Marlinsky), K.F. Ryleev, A.I. Odoevsky and others. A variety of literary tastes and talents, interest in various topics, genres and styles does not prevent us from highlighting the general tendencies of Decembrist romanticism, which gave a face to the civil, or social, trend in Russian romanticism during the heyday of the Decembrist movement, i.e. until 1825 The tasks of Decembrist literature were to educate readers' civic feelings and views. This reflects its connection with the traditions of the 18th century, with the Enlightenment. From the position of the Decembrists, human feelings are brought up not in a narrow friendly, family circle (as, for example, in V. Zhukovsky, K. Batyushkov), but in the public arena, on civil, historical examples. This forced the Decembrists, following the writers of the first years of the 19th century. (for example, V. Popugaev, who wrote the articles “On the Necessity of Historical Knowledge for Public Education”, “On History as a Subject of Political Education”, etc.) turn to national history. The historical past of different peoples (Russia, Ukraine, Livonia, Greece, both modern and ancient, ancient Rome, ancient Judea, etc. ) most often becomes the object of the image in the works of the Decembrists. Some periods of Russian history, from the point of view of the Decembrists, are key - they vividly expressed the common features of Russian national identity. One of these periods is the formation and then the tragic death of the veche republics of Novgorod and Pskov (historical ballads by A. Odoevsky "Ambassadors of Pskov", "Zosima", "The Elder Prophetess", A. Bestuzhev's story "Roman and Olga", etc. ). The veche republics were presented to the Decembrists as a model of civil order, the original form of life in Russian society. The Decembrists contrasted the history of the republics of Novgorod and Pskov with the history of Moscow, which personified the despotic tsarist rule (for example, the story "Roman and Olga" is based on this opposition). In the history of the Time of Troubles (XVIII century), the Decembrists found confirmation of their idea that without clear moral and civic guidelines in a difficult, transitional time, a human person cannot take place (A. Bestuzhev’s story “The Traitor”, V. Kuchelbeker’s drama “Prokofy Lyapunov " and etc.). The personality of Peter and the era of Peter's transformations were ambiguously assessed in the Decembrist (as well as in subsequent) literature. The most significant works on this topic, expressing opposing positions, are the thoughts and poems of K. Ryleev “Peter the Great in Ostrogozhsk”, “Voynarovsky”, on the one hand, the novels and articles of A. Kornilovich “Prayer for God, but service does not disappear for the king ", "The morning is wiser than the evening"; “The customs of Russians under Peter I” (“On the private life of Emperor Peter I”, “On the entertainment of the Russian court under Peter I”, “On the first balls in Russia”, “On the private life of Russians under Peter I”) - on the other. The Decembrists were especially interested in such historical figures of Ukraine as Bogdan Khmelnitsky, Mazepa, Voinarovsky, and others (the story "Zinovy Bogdan Khmelnitsky" by F. Glinka, the thought "Khmelnitsky" and the poem "Voinarovsky" by K. Ryleev, etc.). The history of the Livonian states became the subject of depiction in the historical stories of the Decembrists: in the cycle of “Castle stories” by A. Bestuzhev (“Castle Eisen”, “Castle Wenden” (1821), “Castle Neuhausen”, “Reval Tournament” (1824), in the story N . Bestuzhev "Hugo von Bracht" (1823), etc.). The artistic historicism of the Decembrist literature is peculiar. The task of the artist-citizen is to "understand the spirit of the times and the purpose of the century" (K. Ryleev). From the point of view of the Decembrists, "the spirit of the times and the purpose of the century" turn out to be similar for many peoples in different historical periods. The dramatic struggle of the tyrant-fighters against tyranny, the demand for a structure of life on the basis of firm and reasonable laws, constitute the content of various historical epochs. Historical themes provided an opportunity for the manifestation of the active character of the hero of the Decembrist literature, therefore, historical works embodied in various genres (lyric epic, epic, dramatic) are most common in their work. The genre-species range of the Decembrists' works is extremely wide. The creative heritage of the Decembrist writers embodied the genres of lyrical (from elegy, friendly message to ode), lyrical epic (from ballad, thought to lyrical poem), epic (from fable, parable to story), dramatic (from comedy to historical drama). The Decembrists sharply raised the question of the national identity of literature, of the development of nationally distinctive forms. A. Bestuzhev in the article “A Look at Russian Literature during 1824 and the Beginning of 1825” wrote: “We have sucked with milk the lack of people and surprise only to someone else. Measuring our works with the gigantic yardstick of other people's geniuses, we see our own smallness even smaller from above, and this feeling, not warmed by people's pride, instead of arousing the zeal to create what we do not have, tries to humiliate even what we have. The desire to find fresh, original and, most importantly, nationally original forms for Russian literature, corresponding to the growing national self-consciousness, is characteristic of the genre searches of the Decembrists. For example, the appearance in the 1810s of ballads by V.A. Zhukovsky was an important event in Russian literature. However, the Decembrists perceived Zhukovsky's ballads "as a genre stylization, the transfer of ready-made things", as translations from English, German and other languages. This could not satisfy the writers who aspired to national original literature. The Decembrist ballad (P. Katenin, A. Odoevsky, V. Kuchelbeker) was consciously oriented to the themes of Russian, often historical life, to the national hero, to the use of imagery and style of folklore, works of ancient Russian literature. In the 1820s, K. Ryleev began to master the genre of duma, which was close to the ballad, but was an independent art form dating back to Ukrainian and Polish literature. An important aspect of the stylistic manner of the Decembrists was the use of word-signals in the works. The word-signal is a certain poetic sign, with the help of which mutual understanding is established between the writer and the reader: the writer gives the reader a signal about the indirect meaning of this or that word, that the word is used by him in a special civil or political sense. This is how the Decembrists create their own stable poetic vocabulary, their own stable imagery, which have quite definite and immediately recognizable associations. For example, the words high (“Slaves, dragging fetters, Do not sing high songs!”), saint (“Holy love for the motherland”), sacred (“A sacred duty to you ...”) imply not only a strong and solemnly expressed feeling, but before of all the feeling inherent in a patriotic citizen, and are synonymous with the word civil. The word Slav evokes associations of civic prowess and freedom-loving ancestors. The Decembrists often call themselves to them, opposing those contemporaries ("reborn Slavs") who forgot about civic duty. The words slave, chains, dagger, tyrant, law, etc. were filled with civic content. The names of Cassius, Brutus (Roman politicians who led the republican conspiracy against Caesar), Cato (the Roman republican who committed suicide after the establishment of Caesar's dictatorship) became significant for the Decembrists, Riegi (the leader of the Spanish revolution of the 19th century), N.I. Panin (a Russian statesman who tried to limit the power of Catherine the Great), N.S. Mordvinov (a member of the State Council, who believed that the power of the tsar should be limited by the constitution), etc. The Decembrists saw the path of national development of literature in turning to Russian or common Slavic subjects, putting forward in them an acutely conflict situation in which they could most advantageously show his best civic-patriotic qualities and freedom-loving feelings are a positive hero, a socially active and courageous person. In this regard, the Decembrists made an attempt to create an updated system of genres, in which the "medium" (elegies, messages, ballads, thoughts, poems) and even "low" ("subject" and other songs) genres would be filled with high, meaningful content, and " high” genres would be animated by a lively personal, intimate feeling (hence such rapprochements are understandable - “joyful blood”, “love burns for freedom”, “joyful hour of freedom”, “And the glory of magnificent sweet freedom”). Thus, the Decembrists violated genre thinking and contributed to the transition to thinking in styles. Even if subjectively they denied romanticism (Katenin), they nevertheless objectively acted as real romantics, proclaiming the ideas of nationality, historicism (however, without rising to true historicism), and individual freedom.
Poetry K.F. Ryleeva
One of the brightest Decembrist poets of the younger generation was Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev. His creative life did not last long - from the first student experiments in 1817-1819. until the last poem (early 1826), written in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Widespread fame came to Ryleev after the publication of the ode-satire "To the temporary worker" (1820), which was written in a completely traditional spirit, but was distinguished by its bold content. Initially, in Ryleev's poetry, poems of different genres and styles coexist in parallel - odes and elegies. The "rules" of the then piitiks weighed heavily on Ryleyev. Civil and personal themes are not yet mixed, although the ode, for example, is acquiring a new structure. Its theme is not the glorification of the monarch, not military prowess, as was the case in the lyrics of the 18th century, but ordinary civil service. The peculiarity of Ryleev's lyrics is that he not only inherits the traditions of civil poetry of the last century, but also assimilates the achievements of the new, romantic poetry of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, in particular the poetic style of Zhukovsky, using the same stable verse formulas. Gradually, however, the civic and intimate streams in the poet's lyrics begin to intersect: elegies and messages include civic motifs, while ode and satire are imbued with personal moods. Genres and styles begin to mix. In other words, in the civil, or social, course of Russian romanticism, the same processes take place as in the psychological course. The hero of elegies, messages (genres that were traditionally dedicated to describing intimate experiences) is enriched with the features of a social person (“V.N. Stolypina”, “On the Death of Byron”). Civil passions receive the dignity of living personal emotions. This is how genre barriers collapse, and genre thinking suffers significant damage. This trend is characteristic of the entire civic branch of Russian romanticism. Typical, for example, is Ryleev's poem "Will I be in a fateful time ...". On the one hand, the features of ode and satire are obvious in it - high vocabulary (“fatal time”, “citizen of dignity”), iconic references to the names of heroes of antiquity and modernity (Brutus, Riego), contemptuous accusatory expressions (“pampered tribe”) , oratory, declamatory intonation, designed for oral pronunciation, for public speech addressed to the audience; on the other hand, an elegiac reflection imbued with sadness about the fact that the younger generation does not enter the civil field. Dumas . Since 1821, a new genre for Russian literature began to take shape in Ryleev's work - thoughts, a lyrical epic work similar to a ballad, based on real historical events, legends, devoid, however, of fantasy. Ryleev especially drew the attention of his readers to the fact that the thought is an invention of Slavic poetry, that as a folklore genre it existed for a long time in Ukraine and Poland. In the preface to his collection Dumy, he wrote: “The Duma is an ancient heritage from our southern brothers, our Russian, native invention. The Poles took it from us. Until now, Ukrainians sing thoughts about their heroes: Doroshenko, Nechai, Sahaidachny, Paley, and Mazepa himself is credited with writing one of them. At the beginning of the XIX century. this genre of folk poetry became widespread in literature. It was introduced into literature by the Polish poet Nemtsevich, whom Ryleev referred to in the same preface. However, not only folklore became the only tradition that influenced the literary genre of the Duma. In the duma, one can distinguish signs of a meditative and historical (epic) elegy, ode, anthem, etc. The poet published the first duma - "Kurbsky" (1821) with the subtitle "elegy", and only starting with "Artemon Matveev" does a new genre definition appear - the thought . The similarity with the elegy was seen in the works of Ryleev by many of his contemporaries. So, Belinsky wrote that “a thought is a trinity for a historical event or simply a song of historical content. Duma is almost the same as an epic elegy. Critic P.A. Pletnev defined the new genre as "a lyrical story of some event." Historical events are comprehended in Ryleev's thoughts in a lyrical way: the poet is focused on expressing the inner state of a historical personality, as a rule, at some climax of life. Compositionally, the thought is divided into two parts - a biography into a moral lesson that follows from this biography. Two principles are connected in the Duma - epic and lyrical, hagiographic and propaganda. Of these, the main thing is lyrical, agitational, and biography (hagiography) plays a subordinate role. Almost all thoughts, as Pushkin noted, are built according to one plan: first, a landscape, local or historical, is given, which prepares the appearance of the hero; then, with the help of a portrait, the hero is displayed and immediately delivers a speech; from it the background of the hero and his current state of mind become known; What follows is a summary lesson. Since the composition of almost all thoughts is the same, Pushkin called Ryleev a "planner", referring to the rationality and weakness of an artistic invention. According to Pushkin, all thoughts come from the German word dumm (stupid). Ryleev's task was to give a broad panorama of historical life and create monumental images of historical heroes, but the poet solved it in a subjective-psychological, lyrical way. Its purpose is to excite the patriotism and love of freedom of contemporaries with a high heroic example. At the same time, a reliable depiction of the history and life of the heroes faded into the background. In order to tell about the life of the hero, Ryleev turned to the sublime language of civil poetry of the 18th - early 19th centuries, and to convey the feelings of the hero - to the poetic style of Zhukovsky (see, for example, in the thought "Natalya Dolgorukaya": "Fate gave me joy In my sad exile…”, “And into the soul, compressed by melancholy, Involuntarily poured sweetness”). The psychological state of the heroes, especially in a portrait, is almost always the same: the hero is depicted only with a thought on his forehead, he has the same postures and gestures. Heroes of Ryleev most often sit, and even when they are brought to execution, they immediately sit down. The environment in which the hero is located is a dungeon or a dungeon. Since the poet portrayed historical figures in his thoughts, he faced the problem of embodying a national historical character - one of the central ones both in romanticism and in the literature of that time in general. Subjectively, Ryleev was not at all going to encroach on the accuracy of historical facts and "correct" the spirit of history. Moreover, he strove to observe historical truth and relied on Karamzin's History of the Russian State. For historical persuasiveness, he attracted the historian P.M. Stroev, who wrote most of the prefaces-comments to the thoughts. And yet this did not save Ryleyev from taking a too free view of history, from a peculiar, albeit unintentional, romantic-Decembrist anti-historicism. The Genre of Thought and the Concept of Romantic Historicism of the Decembrists . As a romantic, Ryleev placed the personality of a freedom-loving patriot at the center of national history. History, from his point of view, is the struggle of freedom lovers with tyrants. The conflict between the adherents of freedom and despots (tyrants) is the engine of history. The forces involved in conflict never disappear or change. Ryleev and the Decembrists do not agree with Karamzin, who asserted that the past century, having left history, never returns in the same forms. If this were the case, the Decembrists, including Ryleev, decided, then the connection between times would break up, and patriotism and love of freedom would never reappear, because they would lose their parental soil. As a result, love of freedom and patriotism as feelings are not only characteristic, for example, of the 12th and 19th centuries, but are also the same. The historical person of any past century is equated to a Decembrist in his thoughts and feelings (Princess Olga thinks in a Decembrist way, talking about the “injustice of power”, Dimitry Donskoy’s soldiers are eager to fight “for liberty, truth and law”, Volynsky is the embodiment of civil courage). From this it is clear that, wanting to be true to history and historically accurate, Ryleev, regardless of personal intentions, violated historical truth. His historical heroes thought in terms of Decembrist concepts and categories: patriotism and love of freedom of the heroes and the author did not differ in any way. And this means that he tried to make his heroes at the same time what they were in history, and his contemporaries, thereby setting himself contradictory and, therefore, impossible tasks. Ryley's anti-historicism aroused a strong objection from Pushkin. Regarding the anachronism committed by the Decembrist poet (in the duma “Oleg the Prophetic” the hero Ryleev hung his shield with the coat of arms of Russia on the gates of Constantinople), Pushkin, pointing to a historical mistake, wrote: “... during the time of Oleg, there was no Russian coat of arms - and the double-headed eagle is Byzantine and means the division of the empire into Western and Eastern ... ". Pushkin understood Ryleev well, who wanted to shade Oleg's patriotism, but did not forgive the violation of historical authenticity. Thus, the national-historical character was not artistically recreated in the thoughts. However, the development of Ryleev as a poet went in this direction: in the thoughts "Ivan Susanin" and "Peter the Great in Ostrogozhsk" the epic moment was noticeably enhanced. The poet improved the transfer of national color, achieving greater accuracy in describing the situation (“a slanting window” and other details), his narrative style also became stronger. And Pushkin immediately responded to these shifts in Ryleev's poetry, noting the thoughts "Ivan Susanin", "Peter the Great in Ostrogozhsk" and the poem "Voinarovsky", in which he, not accepting the general plan and character of historical figures, especially Mazepa, appreciated the efforts Ryleev in the field of poetic narration.
Poem "Voynarovsky". The poem is one of the most popular genres of romanticism, including civil or social.
Ryleyev's poem "Voynarovsky" (1825) was written in the spirit of romantic poems by Byron and Pushkin. The basis of the romantic poem is the parallelism of pictures of nature, stormy or peaceful, and the experiences of an exiled hero, whose exclusivity is emphasized by his loneliness. The poem developed through a chain of episodes and monologues of the hero. The role of female characters in comparison with the hero is always weakened. Contemporaries noted that the characteristics of the characters and some episodes are similar to the characteristics of the characters and scenes from Byron's poems "Gyaur", "Mazeppa", "Corsair" and "Parisina". There is also no doubt that Ryleev took into account Pushkin's poems "The Prisoner of the Caucasus" and "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai", written much earlier. Ryleev's poem has become one of the brightest pages in the development of the genre. This is due to several factors. First, the love story, so important to the romantic poem, is relegated to the background and noticeably muted. There is no love collision in the poem: there are no conflicts between the hero and his beloved. Voinarovsky's wife voluntarily follows her husband into exile. Secondly, the poem was distinguished by its accurate and detailed reproduction of pictures of the Siberian landscape and Siberian life, revealing to the Russian reader a natural and everyday way of life largely unknown to him. Ryleev consulted with the Decembrist V.I. Shteingel about the objectivity of the painted pictures. At the same time, the harsh Siberian nature and life are not alien to the exile: they corresponded to his rebellious spirit (“I was pleased with the noise of the forests, I was pleased with the bad weather, And the howling storm and the splashing of the ramparts”). The hero was directly correlated with the natural element related to his moods and entered into complex relationships with it. Thirdly, and most importantly, the originality of Ryley's poem lies in the unusual motivation for exile. In a romantic poem, the motivation for the hero's alienation, as a rule, remains ambivalent, not entirely clear or mysterious. Voinarovsky ended up in Siberia not of his own free will, not as a result of disappointment, and not in the role of an adventurer. He is a political exile, and his stay in Siberia is forced, determined by the circumstances of his tragic life. In the exact indication of the reasons for the expulsion - Ryleev's innovation. This both concretized and narrowed the motivation for romantic alienation. Finally, fourthly, the plot of the poem is connected with historical events. The poet intended to emphasize the scale and drama of the personal destinies of the heroes - Mazepa, Voinarovsky and his wife, their love of freedom and patriotism. As a romantic hero, Voinarovsky is ambivalent: he is depicted as a tyrant-fighter, thirsting for national independence, and a prisoner of fate ("I was promised cruel fate"). The poem revealed in the process of evolution an attraction to the epic, to the genre of the story in verse, evidence of which was the strengthening of the narrative style in the poem "Voinarovsky". He was noticed and approved by Pushkin, especially praising Ryleev for his "sweeping style." Pushkin saw in this Ryleev's departure from the subjective-lyrical manner of writing. In a romantic poem, as a rule, a single lyrical tone dominated, the events were colored by the author's lyrics and were not of independent interest to the author. Ryleev broke this tradition and thereby contributed to the creation of verse and stylistic forms for an objective image. His poetic searches corresponded to Pushkin's thoughts and the needs of the development of Russian literature.
"Eugene Onegin" is the first realistic novel in Russian literature, in which "the century was reflected and modern man is depicted quite correctly." A. S. Pushkin worked on the novel from 1823 to 1831. “Now I am not writing a novel, but a novel in verse - a diabolical difference,” he wrote in a letter to P. Vyazemsky. “Eugene Onegin” is a lyrical-epic work in which both principles act as equals. The author freely moves from plot narrative to lyrical digressions that interrupt the course of the “free novel”.
What makes this novel unique is the fact that the breadth of coverage of reality, the multiplot, the description of the distinctive features of the era, its coloring acquired such significance and authenticity that the novel became an encyclopedia of Russian life in the 20s of the last century. Reading the novel, as in an encyclopedia, we can learn everything about that era: about how they dressed and what was in fashion (Onegin’s “wide bolivar” and Tatyana’s crimson beret), the menu of prestigious restaurants, what was going on in the theater (Didelot’s ballets).
Throughout the course of the novel and in lyrical digressions, the poet shows all layers of Russian society of that time: the high society of St. Petersburg, noble Moscow, the local nobility, the peasantry. This allows us to speak of "Eugene Onegin" as a truly folk work. Petersburg of that time collected the best minds of Russia. Fonvizin “shone” there, people of art - Knyazhin, Istomina. The author knew and loved St. Petersburg well, he is accurate in his descriptions, not forgetting either the “salt of worldly anger”, “neither the necessary impudent ones”. Through the eyes of a resident of the capital, Moscow is also shown to us - the “fair of brides”. Describing the Moscow nobility, Pushkin is often sarcastic: in the living rooms he notices "incoherent, vulgar nonsense." But at the same time, the poet loves Moscow, the heart of Russia: “Moscow ... how much this sound has merged for the Russian heart” (it should be doubly pleasant for a Muscovite to read such lines).
The image of Eugene Onegin is another feature of the novel. It opens up a whole gallery of “superfluous people”. Following Pushkin, images of Pechorin, Oblomov, Rudin, Laevsky were created. All these images are an artistic reflection of Russian reality.
“Eugene Onegin” is a realistic novel in verse, as it presents the reader with truly living images of Russian people of the early 19th century. The novel gives a broad artistic generalization of the main trends in Russian social development. One can say about the novel in the words of the poet himself - this is a work in which "the century and modern man are reflected." “The encyclopedia of Russian life” called Pushkin's novel by V. G. Belinsky.
In this novel, as in an encyclopedia, you can learn everything about the era, about the culture of that time: about how they dressed and what was in fashion (”wide bolivar”, tailcoat, Onegin’s vest, Tatyana’s crimson beret), menus of prestigious restaurants (” bloody steak”, cheese, bubbly ai, champagne, Strasbourg pie), what was going on in the theater (Didro’s ballets), who performed (the dancer Istomina). You can even draw up the exact daily routine of a young man. No wonder P. A. Pletnev, a friend of Pushkin, wrote about the first chapter of “Eugene Onegin”: “Your Onegin will be a pocket mirror of Russian youth.”
Throughout the course of the novel and in lyrical digressions, the poet shows all layers of Russian society of that time: the high society of St. Petersburg, noble Moscow, the local nobility, the peasantry - that is, the whole people. This allows us to speak of "Eugene Onegin" as a truly folk work.
Petersburg of that time was the habitat of the best people in Russia - the Decembrists, writers. There “shone Fonvizin, a friend of freedom”, people of art - Knyaznin, Istomina. The author knew and loved St. Petersburg well, he is accurate in his descriptions, not forgetting either “the salt of worldly anger”, “necessary fools”, “starched impudent ones”, and the like.
Through the eyes of a metropolitan resident, Moscow is shown to us - the “fair of brides”. Moscow is provincial, somewhat patriarchal. Describing the Moscow nobility, Pushkin is often sarcastic: in the living rooms he notices "incoherent vulgar nonsense." But at the same time, the poet loves Moscow, the heart of Russia: "Moscow ... How much has merged in this sound for the Russian heart." He is proud of Moscow in the 12th year: “Napoleon, intoxicated with his last happiness, waited in vain for Moscow kneeling with the keys of the old Kremlin.”
Contemporary Russia is rural, and he emphasizes this with a play on words in the epigraph to the second chapter. This is probably why the gallery of characters of the local nobility in the novel is the most representative. Let's try to consider the main types of landowners shown by Pushkin. How a comparison immediately suggests itself with another great study of Russian life in the 19th century - Gogol's poem Dead Souls.
The handsome Lensky, “with a heart straight out of Goettingham,” a German romantic, “an admirer of Kant,” if he hadn’t died in a duel, could, according to the author, have the future of a great poet or, in twenty years, turn into a sort of Manilov and end his life the way old Larin or Uncle Onegin.
The tenth chapter of Onegin is completely devoted to the Decembrists. Pushkin unites himself with the Decembrists Lunin and Yakushkin, foreseeing "in this crowd of nobles the liberators of the peasants." The appearance of Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin" had a huge impact on the further development of Russian literature. The penetrating lyricism inherent in the novel has become an integral feature of The Nest of Nobles, War and Peace, and The Cherry Orchard. It is also important that the protagonist of the novel, as it were, opens up a whole gallery of “superfluous people” in Russian literature: Pechorin, Rudin, Oblomov.
It should also be noted an important compositional feature of the novel is the openness of the finale. There is no clear certainty in the denouement of both the first and, in part, the second storylines. Thus, the author suggests two possible paths for Lensky, if he had survived, and had not been killed in a duel:
Maybe it's for the good of the world
Or at least for glory was born ...
Or maybe that: a poet
Ordinary was waiting for fate ...
The author leaves Onegin at the most difficult moment for him, after an explanation with Tatyana:In a minute, evil for him,
Reader, we will now leave,
For a long time... forever.
In addition to the unusual denouement, one can note how the novel “Eugene Onegin” is built. The basic principle of its organization is symmetry and parallelism.Symmetry is expressed in the repetition of one plot situation in the third and eighth chapters: meeting - letter - explanation.
At the same time, Tatyana and Onegin change places. In the first case, the author is on the side of Tatyana, and in the second, on the side of Onegin. “Today is my turn,” Tatyana says, as if comparing two “love stories”.
Onegin has changed and says things of a completely different nature than the first time. Tatyana remains true to herself: “I love you (why dissemble)” ...
The composition of letters is parallel, since we can talk about the similarity of the following points: writing a letter, waiting for a response and explaining. Petersburg plays a framing role here, appearing in the first and eighth chapters. The axis of symmetry of these plot situations is Tatyana's dream. The next feature of the composition of the novel can be called the fact that the parts of the novel are opposed to each other, in some way even subject to the principle of antithesis: the first chapter is a description of St. Petersburg life, and the second is a show of the life of the local nobility.
The main compositional unit is the chapter, which is a new stage in the development of the plot.
Since the lyrical and the epic are equal in the novel, lyrical digressions play an important role in the composition of the novel.
Usually lyrical digressions are associated with the plot of the novel. So, Pushkin contrasts Tatyana with secular beauties:
Composition is the construction of a whole from separate parts. In any literary work, the exposition of the work is assumed, that is, a description of the scene, acquaintance with the characters, the beginning of the plot, its climax and denouement.
In accordance with strict literary canons, the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" was also written. The novel has 8 chapters. Chapter one outlines the exposition. It begins with the thoughts of the protagonist - Eugene Onegin, who is on his way to his uncle's village. The road is long, and the author allows himself lyrical digressions that help the reader understand at what time the events of this novel take place. Thus, the time and place of action are planned. At the same time, Pushkin introduces us to his hero, talks about his upbringing, interests, and character.
The second chapter continues the exposition, it introduces readers to other heroes of the story described by Pushkin - the Larin family, Vladimir Lensky, who are to become the main characters of this work.
In the 3rd chapter, the plot starts. Onegin, who managed to make friends with a young landowner and an enviable groom, first suggests himself, and then comes to visit the Larins. Here he is noticed by the eldest daughter of the Larins, Tatyana, who falls in love with him. In the same, third chapter, she writes a letter to Onegin. The plot starts to develop.
In the fourth chapter, Onegin's explanation with Tatyana takes place, in which Eugene, in fact, rejected the tender feelings of a provincial girl. Tatyana indulges in sadness, Vladimir Lensky, on the contrary, is happy with.
So winter comes, Christmas time approaches. The climax of the novel is approaching - its most intense moment. Preceding the climax. He seems to be preparing the reader for the upcoming events in the novel: the name day, Lensky's quarrel with Onegin, and the duel in which Lensky was killed.
Onegin understood that everything could be corrected, that he was wrong about Lensky. Let Lensky show ardor, he is young, and he can be forgiven. But he, Onegin, is older and wiser. Everything could be fixed, but...
in this matter
The old duelist intervened;
He is angry, he is a gossip, he is a talker ...
Of course, there must be contempt
At the cost of his funny words,
But the whisper, the laughter of fools ... "
And here is the public opinion!
Spring of honor, our idol!
And that's what the world revolves on!
And this same public opinion did not allow Onegin to take a step towards reconciliation.
Onegin fired first. It looked like he wasn't even aiming. Or turned out to be a more experienced shooter? Be that as it may, Lensky died before he could fire his shot.
The climax is followed by the denouement of the plot. And it should be noted that the denouement is very tense, especially the last verses, which describe the meeting of Onegin and Tatyana in private. However, we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Chapter seven tells about the Larin sisters, about what happened to them after the death of Lensky. soon she married a lancer and went with him to his place of service. Tatyana was left alone. She visited the Onegin estate several times, where, with the permission of the housekeeper, she used his library, read books with his notes. And this pastime in Onegin's estate allowed her to understand the soul of the person she loved.
In the meantime, relatives and neighbors were concerned that Tatyana had stayed up in girls, and it was time for her to get married. At the family council, they decided to take her to Moscow to the bride fair.
The last 8th chapter tells about the meeting of Tatyana, who became the wife of an elderly prince close to the court, a general of the tsarist army, and Onegin. The same chapter tells about Onegin's love for Tatyana. The novel ends with Tatiana's conversation with Onegin, during which the young society lady taught Onegin a lesson.
I got married. You must,
I ask you to leave me;
I know that there is in your heart
And pride and direct honor.
I love you (why lie?),
But I am given to another;
I will be faithful to him forever.
The novel ends with the ringing of the spurs of the returning prince. In this ringing, one can hear the readiness of the owner of the house at any moment to defend the honor of his name, and his beloved wife.
The history of the creation of "Eugene Onegin" - "the fruit of the mind of cold observations and the heart of sad remarks" - by the outstanding Russian classic Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin does not resemble a blitzkrieg. The work was created by the poet in an evolutionary way, marking his formation on the path of realism. The novel in verse as an event in art was a unique phenomenon. Before that, only one analogue was written in the same genre in world literature - the romantic work of George Gordon Byron "Don Juan".
The author decides to brainstorm
Pushkin went further than the great Englishman - to realism. This time, the poet set himself the most important task - to show a person who can serve as a catalyst for the further development of Russia. Alexander Sergeevich, sharing the ideas of the Decembrists, understood that a huge country should be moved, like a locomotive, from a dead end path that led the whole society to a systemic crisis.
The history of the creation of "Eugene Onegin" is determined by the titanic poetic work in the period from May 1823 to September 1830, the creative rethinking of Russian reality in the first quarter of the 19th century. The novel in verse was created during four stages of Alexander Sergeevich's work: southern exile (1820 - 1824), stay "without the right to arbitrarily leave the Mikhailovskoye estate" (1824 - 1826), the period after exile (1826 - 1830), Boldinskaya autumn (1830)
A.S. Pushkin, "Eugene Onegin": the history of creation
Young Pushkin, a graduate in the words of Emperor Alexander I, “who flooded Russia with the most outrageous verses,” began writing his novel while in exile in Chisinau (thanks to the intercession of friends, transfer to Siberia was avoided). By this time he was already the idol of Russian educated youth.
The poet sought to create the image of a hero of his time. In the work, he painfully searched for an answer to the question of what should be the bearer of new ideas, the creator of the new Russia.
Socio-economic situation in the country
Consider the social environment in which the novel was created. Russia won the War of 1812. This gave a tangible impetus to public aspirations for liberation from feudal fetters. First of all, the people thirsted for. Such his release inevitably entailed the restriction of the powers of the monarch. The communities of guards officers that formed immediately after the war in 1816 in St. Petersburg form the Decembrist Union of Salvation. In 1818, the "Union of Welfare" was organized in Moscow. These Decembrist organizations actively contributed to the formation of liberal public opinion and waited for an opportune moment for a coup d'état. There were many friends of Pushkin among the Decembrists. He shared their views.
Russia by that time had already become a recognized European power with a population of about 40 million people, within it the sprouts of state capitalism were ripening. However, its economic life was still determined by the rudiments of feudalism, the nobility and the merchant class. These social groups, gradually losing their social weight, were still powerful and enjoyed influence on the life of the state, prolonging feudal relations in the country. They were champions of a society built according to the obsolete Catherine's noble principles, inherent in Russia in the 18th century.
There were characteristic signs of the social and the whole society. There were many educated people living in the country who understood that the interests of development required great changes and reforms. The history of the creation of "Eugene Onegin" began with the poet's personal rejection of the environment, in the words of Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky, the "dark kingdom"
Rising after a powerful acceleration, set and dynamism during the reign of Empress Catherine II, Russia at the beginning of the 19th century slowed down the pace of development. At the time of Pushkin's famous novel, there were no railroads in the country, no steamboats sailed along its rivers, thousands and thousands of its hardworking and talented citizens were bound hand and foot by the bonds of serfdom.
The history of "Eugene Onegin" is inextricably linked with the history of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century.
Onegin stanza
Alexander Sergeevich, “the Russian Mozart of poetry”, treated his work with special attention. He developed a new line of poetry specifically for writing a novel in verse.
The words of the poet do not flow in a free stream, but in a structured way. Every fourteen lines are combined into a specific Onegin stanza. At the same time, rhyming is unchanged throughout the novel and has the following form: CCddEffEgg (where uppercase letters denote female endings, and lowercase letters denote male endings).
Undoubtedly, the history of the creation of the novel "Eugene Onegin" is the history of the creation of the Onegin stanza. It is with the help of varying stanzas that the author succeeds in creating an analogue of prose sections and chapters in his work: moving from one topic to another, changing the style of presentation from reflection to the dynamic development of the plot. Thus, the author creates the impression of a casual conversation with his reader.
Roman - "collection of motley chapters"
What makes people write works about their generation and their native land? Why, at the same time, do they devote themselves to this work completely, working as if they were possessed?
The history of the creation of the novel "Eugene Onegin" initially obeyed the author's intention: to create a novel in verse, consisting of 9 separate chapters. Experts on the work of Alexander Sergeevich call it “open in time” due to the fact that each of its chapters is independent, and can, according to its internal logic, complete the work, although it finds its continuation in the next chapter. His contemporary, professor of Russian literature Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin, gave a classic description of "Eugene Onegin" not as a work with a rigid logical structure, but rather as a kind of poetic notebook filled with direct iridescent overflows of bright talent.
About the chapters of the novel
The chapters of "Eugene Onegin" were published from 1825 to 1832. as they were written and published in literary almanacs and magazines. They were expected, each of them became a real event in the cultural life of Russia.
However, one of them, dedicated to the journey of the protagonist to the area of the Odessa pier, containing critical judgments, the disgraced author preferred to withdraw in order to avoid reprisals against himself, and then destroyed its only manuscript.
In the same way, fully devoting himself to work, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak later worked on his Doctor Zhivago, Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov also wrote about his generation. Pushkin himself called his more than seven years of work on this novel in verse a feat.
Main character
The description of Eugene Onegin, according to literary critics, resembles the personality of Pyotr Yakovlevich Chaadaev, the author of the Philosophical Letters. This is a character with powerful energy, around which the plot of the novel unfolds and other characters manifest themselves. Pushkin wrote about him as a "good friend." Eugene received a classical noble education, completely devoid of "Russianness". And although a sharp but cold mind burns in him, he is a man of light, following certain opinions and prejudices. The life of Eugene Onegin is poor. On the one hand, the morals of the world are alien to him, he sharply criticizes them; and on the other hand, he is subject to its influence. The hero cannot be called active; rather, he is an intelligent observer.
Features of the image of Onegin
His image is tragic. First, he failed the test of love. Eugene listened to reason, but not to his heart. At the same time, he acted nobly, treating Tatyana with respect, letting her know that he was not able to love.
Second, he failed the test of friendship. Having challenged his friend, the 18-year-old romantic youth Lensky, to a duel, he blindly follows the concepts of light. It seems to him more decent not to provoke the slander of the old note duelist Zaretsky than to stop a completely stupid quarrel with Vladimir. By the way, Pushkin scientists consider the young Kuchelbecker to be the prototype of Lensky.
Tatyana Larina
The use of the name Tatyana in the novel Eugene Onegin was a know-how from Pushkin. Indeed, at the beginning of the 19th century, this name was considered common and irrelevant. Moreover, dark-haired and not ruddy, thoughtful, uncommunicative, she did not correspond to the ideals of the beauty of the world. Tatyana (like the author of the novel) loved folk tales, which her nanny generously told her. However, her particular passion was reading books.
Heroes of the novel
In addition to the aforementioned plot-forming main characters, secondary ones pass before the reader. These images of the novel "Eugene Onegin" do not form the plot, but complement it. This is Tatyana's sister Olga, an empty secular young lady with whom Vladimir Lensky was in love. The image of Tatyana's nanny, a connoisseur of folk tales, has a clear prototype - the nanny of Alexander Sergeevich himself, Arina Rodionovna. Another nameless hero of the novel is Tatyana Larina's newfound husband after a quarrel with Eugene Onegin - an "important general".
The host of landlords seems to be imported into Pushkin's novel from other Russian classical works. These are the Skotinins (“Undergrowth” by Fonvizin), and Buyanov (“Dangerous Neighbor” by V. L. Pushkin).
Folk work
The highest praise for Alexander Sergeevich was the assessment given to the first chapter of "Eugene Onegin" by the man whom the poet considered his teacher - Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The opinion was extremely laconic: “You are the first in Russian Parnassus ...”
The novel encyclopedically correctly reflected the Russian reality of the beginning of the 19th century in verse, showed the way of life, characteristic features, the social role of various strata of society: the St. Petersburg high society, the nobility of Moscow, landowners, peasants. Perhaps that is why, and also because of the all-encompassing and subtle display by Pushkin in his work of the values, customs, attitudes, fashion of that time, the literary critic gave him such an exhaustive description: “a work of the highest degree folk” and “an encyclopedia of Russian life”.
Pushkin wanted to change the plot
The final idea of the work was formed by the author only in 1830. He was clumsy and worn out. In order to give a traditional solid look to his creation, Alexander Sergeevich decided to either send Eugene Onegin to fight in the Caucasus, or turn him into a Decembrist. But Eugene Onegin - the hero of the novel in verse - was created by Pushkin on one inspiration, as a "collection of motley chapters", and this is his charm.
Conclusion
The work "Eugene Onegin" is the first realistic novel in verse in Russian history. It is emblematic of the 19th century. The novel was recognized by society as deeply folk. The encyclopedic description of Russian life is side by side with high artistry.
However, according to critics, the main character of this novel is not Onegin at all, but the author of the work. This character has no specific appearance. This is a kind of blind spot for the reader.
Alexander Sergeevich, in the text of the work, hints at his exile, saying that the North is “harmful” to him, etc. Pushkin is invisibly present in all actions, summarizes, makes the reader laugh, enlivens the plot. His quotes hit not in the eyebrow, but in the eye.
By the will of fate, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin reviewed the second complete edition of his novel in verse in 1937 (the first was in 1833), being already mortally wounded on the Black River near the Komendantskaya dacha. A circulation of 5,000 copies was planned to be sold throughout the year. However, readers bought it out in a week. In the future, the classics of Russian literature, each for its time, continued the creative search for Alexander Sergeevich. They all tried to create a hero of their time. And Mikhail Lermontov in the image of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin ("A Hero of Our Time"), and Ivan Goncharov in the image of Ilya Oblomov ...