When a poet is truly talented, his poetry is all-encompassing and it is very difficult to isolate the main themes of his work. So it is with the poetry of A. Blok. As a symbolist in early work, he considers three themes: Life, Death, God. In one form or another, these themes are interpreted in different periods of creativity and appear now in the vague images-symbols of the cycle "Poems about the Beautiful Lady", then in the ironic lines of later poems. Typical images-symbols of the early Blok were the star, spring, fog, wind, half-darkness, shadows and dreams. All this, used in a metaphorical sense, became symbols with the help of which the poet learns the eternal mystery of life. But after the blue mists of early creativity comes a romantic admiration for the purely earthly features of life. This is how the Stranger appears - the embodiment of Femininity, accessible not only to the Soul of the World, but also to a real woman.
It is interesting that A. Blok also portrays the Motherland as a woman. So in the verses "Rus", "Russia", "On the Kulikovo field" we meet the image of Russia-Woman, Rossi-wife. Homeland for him is hope and joy. He believes in her resilience, as he believes in the steadfastness and courage of a Russian woman who is able to love recklessly, forgive generously and endure life's trials with dignity. So the theme of the Motherland is intertwined with the eternal themes of Life, Death, God.
Blok also says a lot about love as the basis of being. The poet objects to the gross interference of any calculations in the poetry of love, love is an element, it is a storm. It is no coincidence that it was precisely these images-symbols that Blok conveyed it. The search for harmony in the poet's life is associated with images of love. The problems of morality in society are solved through the search for unity with the world. Duality, the search for balance sometimes lead to sad conclusions: "That happiness was not needed, that this pipe dream was not enough for half a lifetime." However, a connection with the world has been found. And in the later verses of A. Blok, the question of the meaning of being, of Life, Death and God is again resolved. These themes are eternal, no matter how they appear in the work of A. Blok.
“After all, the topic is mine, I now know it firmly, without any doubt - a living, real topic; she is not only bigger than me, she is bigger than all of us and she is our universal theme ... I consciously and irrevocably devote my life to this theme ”.
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok completely, entirely, immensely loved Russia, gave her soul as a beloved woman. His life was forever intertwined with the Motherland, he sacrificed a part of himself to her, and she healed his soul with her “healing space”.
Blok saw Russia as Gogol saw it - above-cloud and beautiful. She is Gogol's child, his creation. “She opened up to him in beauty and music, in the whistle of the wind and in the flight of an extravagant troika,” wrote AA. Block in the article "Child of Gogol". The poet sits in the same troika, in it he flies through boundless fields, the blurry and dirty ways of Russia. And on the way, Blok sees what squeezes his heart - the wretchedness and humiliation of the Fatherland.
And in the rags of her rags
Souls hide my nakedness.
The poet's soul is naked, as the country is naked. “This is the harmonious dance of Russia, which has nothing to lose; She gave her whole body to the world and now, freely throwing her hands into the wind, she went to dance throughout her aimless expanse, "Blok wrote in his article" timelessness. " And it is precisely with aimless expanse that Russia heals a person. We must love her, "we must travel around Russia," Gogol wrote before his death.
I will cry over the sorrow of your cornfields,
I will love your space forever ...
Take shelter in immense distances!
Us and live and cry without you.
A.A. Blok created his own commandment of love: “If a Russian only falls in love with Russia, he will also love everything that is in Russia. Without disease and suffering, which have accumulated in so many in her and of which we are guilty, none of us would have felt compassion for her. And compassion is already the beginning of love ... ”Blok lived with love for Russia, and this gave him strength.
In the poetry of Blok, prophetic predictions and a sense of the fate of the Fatherland in the past sound. The verses "Scythians" and "On the Kulikovo field" are of great importance. The poem "Rus" is saturated with magical and fabulous motives. Before us there is such a Russia as Gogol created it, full of rituals and secrets. Russia for the Blok is a special country doomed to endure horrors and humiliation, but half the winner. The key to A.A.'s victory Blok saw in the revolution, in it, as he believed, high ideals. He viewed the revolution as an element capable of changing the world. But this did not happen, and the poet's dream was dispelled like an obsession, leaving in his soul only a bitter residue of hopes that did not come true.
"Fatherland is life or death, happiness or death." For the Bloc, living according to this principle is not fanaticism, but canceled its complete devotion to Russia. The poet believed that the time will come when a ray of the sun will fall on the country, and it will sparkle with all the colors of the rainbow. Today, at the turn of the third millennium, only we can choose between life and death and thus determine our destiny.
A.A. Block. The main motives of the lyricsAt the same time, he was far and close to our era ... He was looking for merging with space, not with humanity. He lived with a presentiment of mystery and miracle ... PS. Kogan
For creativityA.A. Blok (1880-1921) was seriously influenced by Russian romantic poetry, Russian folklore, and the philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov. A significant mark in his poetry was also left by a strong feeling for L.D. Mendeleeva, who in 1903 became his wife. Blok's lyrics appear as a single work, unfolded in time:“... I am firmly convinced that this is due and that all the poems together are a“ trilogy of incarnation ”(from a moment of too bright light - through the necessary swampy forest - to despair, curses,“ retribution ”and ... to the birth of a person of“ public ", An artist who bravely looks into the face of the world ...)" - this is how Blok characterized the stages of his career and the content of the books that made up the trilogy.
The wind brought from afar
Songs of spring hint
Somewhere light and deep
A patch of sky opened.
In this bottomless azure
In the twilight of the approaching spring
The winter storms were crying
Starry dreams were coming true.
Timid, dark and deep
My strings were crying.
The wind brought from afar
Your sonorous songs.
I anticipate you ...
And the heavy sleep of everyday consciousness
You shake off, longing and loving.
Vl. Soloviev
I anticipate you. The years pass by -
All in one guise I foresee You.
The entire horizon is on fire - and unbearably clear,
And I wait silently - longing and loving.
The whole horizon is on fire, and the appearance is near,
But I'm scared: you will change your appearance,
And insolently arouse suspicion
Changing the usual features at the end.
Oh, how I fall - both sad and low,
Not having overcome deadly dreams!
How clear is the horizon! And radiance is near.
But I am afraid: you will change your appearance.
I enter dark temples
I am performing a poor rite.
There I am waiting for the Beautiful Lady
In the flickering of red lamps.
In the shadow of a tall pillar
Trembling from the creak of doors.
And he looks into my face, illuminated,
Only an image, only a dream about Her.
Oh, I'm used to these vestments
The Great Eternal Wife!
Run high on the cornices
Smiles, fairy tales and dreams.
Oh, Saint, how sweet the candles are,
How gratifying are Your features!
I hear no sighs, no speech,
But I believe: Sweetheart - You.
I am scared to meet you.It is more terrible not to meet you.I began to wonder at everythingI caught the seal on everything.Shadows walk down the streetI don’t understand - they live or sleep.Clung to the church steps,I'm afraid to look back.They put their hands on my shouldersBut I don't remember the names.There are sounds in my earsThe recent big funeral.And the gloomy sky is low -The temple itself was also covered.I know: You are here. You are close.You are not here. Are you there.
However, in the first volume of poems, social motives were also reflected. In the cycle "Crossroads" (1903), completingfirst volume , the theme of the Beautiful Lady is combined with social motives - the poet seems to turn his face to other people and notices their grief, the imperfection of the world in which they live ("Factory", "From newspapers", "A sick man trudged along the shore", etc.)
Zsolty windows in the neighboring house.
In the evenings - in the evenings
Pensive bolts creak
People are approaching the gate.
And the gate is deafly locked,
And on the wall - and on the wall
Immobile someone, black someone
He counts people in silence.
I hear everything from my top:
He calls with a brass voice
Bend over exhausted backs
The people gathered below.
They will come in and scatter
Pile coolies on their backs.
And in the yellow windows they will laugh
That these beggars were led away.
"From newspapers" Alexander Blok
Got up in the radiance. Baptized children.
And the children had a joyful dream.
She laid it down, bowing her head to the floor,
The last bow to earth.
Kolya woke up. He sighed happily
I'm still glad to wake up to a blue dream.
The glass rumble rolled and froze:
The door rang slammed down below.
Hours passed. A man came
With a tin plate on a warm hat.
A man knocked and waited at the door.
Nobody opened it. Played hide and seek.
There were merry frosty Christmastide.
They were hiding my mother's red scarf.
In the morning she left in a scarf.
Today I left my scarf at home:
Children hid it in the corners.
Twilight crept up. Baby shadows
They jumped on the wall in the light of lanterns.
Someone was walking up the stairs, counting the steps.
I counted. And he began to cry. And knocked at the door.
The children listened. They opened the doors.
A fat neighbor brought them cabbage soup.
She said: "Eat." Kneel down
And, bowing like a mother, baptized the children.
Mommy doesn't hurt, pink kids.
Mom lay down on the rails herself.
To a kind person, a fat neighbor,
Thank you, thank you. Mom couldn't ...
Mom is good. Mom died.
A sick man trudged along the shore.
A line of carts crawled beside him.
A booth was being carried to the smoking city,
Beautiful gypsies and drunken gypsies.
And they poured jokes, squealed from the carts.
And a man was dragging along with a bag.
He moaned and asked for a ride to the village.
The gypsy girl gave a swarthy hand.
And he ran up, hobbled as he could,
And he threw a heavy bag into the cart.
And he overstrained himself, and foam at the lips.
A gypsy woman took his corpse in a cart.
I sat down in a cart with me,
And the dead swayed and fell on his face.
And with the song of freedom I drove to the village.
And she gave her dead husband to her wife.
Also in this cycle appears Hamlet's motive ("Song of Ophelia").
Parting with a sweet maiden,
Friend, you swore to love me! ..
Leaving for the hateful land,
To keep the oath! ..
There, beyond Denmark happy,
Your shores are in the darkness ...
Val is angry, talkative
Washes away tears on the rock ...
The dear warrior will not return
All dressed in silver ...
It will stir up heavily in the coffin
Bow and black feather ...
Looking intently at the world around him, the lyrical hero notices his distress, comes to the conclusion that the elements rule life in this world. This new look is reflected insecond volume , in the cycles: "Unexpected Joy" (1907), "Free Thoughts" (1907), "Snow Mask" (1907), "Land in the Snow" (1908), "Night Hours" (1911). In parallel with these cycles, A. Blok creates a number of lyric dramas: "Balaganchik", "Stranger" (1906), "Song of Fate" (1908), "Rose and Cross" (1913). Creaturesecond volume coincided with the revolutionary events in the country. The poet's thoughts about the fate of the Motherland resulted inpoems about Russia , about his attitude to her past, present and future ("Autumn Will", "Rus", "Russia", etc.).
"Autumn Will" Alexander Blok
I go out on a path open to eyes,
The wind bends elastic bushes,
Broken stone lay on the slopes,
Scanty yellow clay.
Autumn walked in wet valleys,
Has laid bare the graveyards of the earth
But dense rowan trees in the villages
Red will glow from afar.
Here it is, my fun is dancing
And it rings, rings, disappeared in the bushes!
And in the distance, in the distance waving invitingly
Your patterned, your colored sleeve.
Who lured me to the familiar path,
Smiled at me at the jail window?
Or - drawn by a stone path
A beggar singing psalms?
No, I'm on my way, not invited by anyone,
And let the earth be easy for me!
I will listen to the voice of Russia drunk,
Relax under the roof of the tavern.
Will I sing about my luck
How I ruined my youth in hops ...
I will cry over the sorrow of your cornfields,
I will love your space forever ...
There are many of us - free, young, stately -
Dies not loving ...
Take shelter in immense distances!
How to live and cry without you!
RUS
You are extraordinary in a dream.
I won't touch your clothes.
And in secret - you will sleep, Rus.
Russia, surrounded by rivers
And surrounded by wilds,
With swamps and cranes,
And with the dim gaze of a sorcerer,
Where are the diverse peoples
From edge to edge, from valley to valley
There are night dances
Under the glow of burning villages.
Where is the witchs with a fortunei mi
Grains enchant in the fields
And witches play with devils
In road snow pillars.
Where the blizzard sweeps violently
Up to the roof - fragile housing,
And a girl on an evil friend
Under the snow sharpens the blade.
Where are all the paths and all the crossroads
Exhausted with a living stick,
And the whirlwind whistling in the bare rods
Sings the traditions of antiquity ...
So - I learned in my slumber
Country dear poverty,
And in the rags of her rags
Souls hide my nakedness.
A sad, night path
I stomped to the churchyard,
And there, spending the night in the cemetery,
He sang songs for a long time.
And he himself did not understand, did not measure,
To whom I dedicated songs
What god did you passionately believe in
What girl he loved.
I rocked my living soul
Russia, in your open spaces you
And now - she has not stained
Initial cleanliness.
I doze - and there is a secret behind the doze,
And Russia rests in secret.
She is extraordinary in dreams,
I won't touch her clothes.
Russia
Again, like in golden years,
Three worn out straps,
And painted knitting needles stuck
In loose ruts ...
Russia, impoverished Russia,
I have your gray huts,
Your wind songs to me, -
Like the first tears of love!
I don't know how to feel sorry for you
And I carry my cross carefully ...
What sorcerer you want
Give back the robber beauty!
Let it lure and deceive, -
You will not be lost, you will not perish,
And only care will cloud
Your beautiful features ...
Well? One more concern -
With one tear the river is noisier
And you are still the same - a forest, but a field,
Yes, the boards are patterned up to the eyebrows ...
And the impossible is possible
The road is long and easy
When the road shines in the distance
Instant glance from under the handkerchief
When it rings with grief
Deaf song of the driver! ..
Blok's lyrical hero is bound up with the Motherland by inseparable ties. The poet creates the initial image of Russia in the mainstream of folklore tradition: Russia is a mysterious, half-fairy land, surrounded by forests and surrounded by wilds,"With swamps and cranes and with the dim gaze of a sorcerer" ("Rus", 1906). However, this imagefluid : already in the poem "Russia" (1908), the image of the ancient land is imperceptibly transformed into a female image:"What sorcerer you want, give the robber beauty" ... The lyrical hero is convinced that Russia is not afraid of anything, that she is able to withstand any trials ("You will not be lost, you will not perish" ). The lyrical hero confesses his love for the Motherland, with which"And the impossible is possible" ... A special place in the lyrics of Blok is occupied bycycle "On the Kulikovo field" (1908). The poet believed that history repeats itself, so it is necessary to comprehend its lessons:“The battle of Kulikovo belongs to symbolic events ... Such events are destined to return. Their solution is yet to come. " The lyrical hero of this cycle is both an ancient Russian warrior preparing for a mortal battle, and a philosopher reflecting on the fate of Russia: “... Painfully / We have a long way to go! / Our path is an arrow of the Tatar ancient will / Pierced our chest " ... Despite"Blood and dust" despite the threatening"Darkness - night and foreign" , foreshadowing trouble"Sunset in blood" , the lyrical hero does not think of his life separately from Russia. To emphasize the inseparability of fate - his own and his homeland, - Blok resorts to a bold metaphor, unusual for the traditional perception of his native land, - the poet calls Russia "wife":“Oh, my Rus! My wife!" ... The cycle ends on an alarming note:"The beginning / High and rebellious days / ... No wonder the clouds have gathered" ... The epigraph preceded by the fifth part of the cycle is also not accidental:"And the darkness of irresistible troubles / The coming day is clouded over (V. Solovyov)" ... Blok's premonitions turned out to be prophetic: revolutions, repressions and wars regularly shook our country throughout the entire XX century. Really,“And an eternal battle! Rest only in our dreams…" ... However, the great poet believed in Russia's ability to overcome all trials:“Let it be night. Let's go ... " ... Acutely perceiving social upheavals, Blok experiences a premonition of an impending catastrophe. His tragic attitude was especially pronounced incycle "Scary World" (1910-1916), openingthird volume ... In the "scary world" there is no love, no healthy human feelings, no future ("Night, street, lamp, pharmacy ..." (1912)).
Scary world theme sounds incycles "Retribution", "Yamba" ... Retribution in the interpretation of Blok is the judgment of one's own conscience: the retribution for those who betrayed their destiny, succumbing to the destructive influence of the "terrible world", becomes weariness of life, inner emptiness, spiritual death. In the cycle "Yamba" the idea sounds that retribution threatens the whole "terrible world". And yet the lyrical hero does not lose faith in the victory of light over darkness, he is directed to the future:Oh, I want to live madly: to perpetuate everything that exists, to incarnate the impersonal, to incarnate the unfulfilled! The theme of Russia continues here. The fate of the Motherland for the lyrical hero is inseparable from his own fate ("My Rus, my life, can we toil together? .." , 1910). A. Blok was deeply convinced that they did not choose their homeland, he was able to love Russia, too, terrible, ugly in its lack of spirituality - let us recall the poem "To sin shamelessly, not awake" (1914):To sin shamelessly, not awake, To lose counts of nights and days, And, with a head from a heavy hop, Walk aside to the temple of God. To bow down three times, Seven - to cross yourself, Secretly to the spattered floor Hot to touch your forehead. Putting a copper penny in a plate, Three, and even seven times in a row Kiss a centenary, poor And kissed salary. And returning home, measure On the same penny of someone, And a hungry dog \u200b\u200bfrom the door, Hiccuping, shove him away with his foot. And under the icon lamp at the icon To drink tea, snapping off the bill, Then to peel the coupons, Pot-bellied opening the chest of drawers, And on downy feather beds In a heavy sleep ... Yes, and such, my Russia, You are dearer of all lands to me. August 26, 1914
Lyrics of A. Blok is extraordinarymusical ... According to the poet, music is the inner essence of the world."The soul of a real person is the most complex and melodious musical instrument ..." , - considered Blok, - therefore, all human actions - from extraordinary ups to the fall into the abyss of the "terrible world" - are manifestations of a person's loyalty or unfaithfulness to the "spirit of music". Like all Symbolists, A. Blok attached particular importance to the rhythmic and melodic pattern of the work. In his poetic arsenal of versification tools, vers libre and iambic, white verse and anapest are widely represented. Blok also attached great importance tocolor ... For his work, color is a means of symbolizing the world. Basic colors in Blok's poetry - white and black for aestheticssymbolism , considering the world as a contrasting combination of ideal and real, earthly and heavenly. White color primarily symbolizes holiness, purity, detachment. Most often, white is found in the first volume - images-symbols of purity, purity and inaccessibility are associated with it (for example: white birds, white dress, white lilies). Gradually, white takes on other meanings:
1) passion, liberation:Silver, snowy hop Intoxicated and intoxicated? With a heart devoted to snowstorms, I will take off to the heights of the sky. ?? In the distance of the snowy wings blow, - I hear, I hear the white call; ?? In the starry whirlwind, without effort I will throw off the links of all the fetters? Ah, the count of weeks is lost In a whirlwind of white beauty! ?? 1906-1907 2) death, destruction:<…>But she does not hear - Hears - does not look, Silent - does not breathe, White - is silent ... She does not ask for food ... The wind whistles through the crack. How I love to listen to the Blizzard Pipes! Wind, snowy north, You are my old friend! Give you a fan to the Young wife! Give her a white dress like you! Put Snow Flowers on her bed! You gave me grief, Clouds, and snow ... Give her dawns, Beads, pearls! So that she was smart And, like snow, white! So that I looked eagerly From that corner! .. Sing you sweeter, blizzard, Into a snow pipe, So that my friend sleeps In an ice coffin!<…>December 1906
The frequency of the use of white decreases with the development of Blok's poetry from symbolism to the realism of the "terrible world" and revolution, and the use of black increases. Black color in Blok's lyrics symbolizes obsession, fury, tragedy, despair, restlessness:
1) In her soul, spring awakens her spring, But the mind is squeezed by the black devil ... 2) A slave insane and submissive I hide and wait for a while Under this gaze, too black. In my blazing delirium ... 3) Only a wild black wind Shaking my house ...
The black color is also a sign of a philosophical understanding of life - a sign of monastic service, and a symbol of the fullness of life:
1) I am an exemplary brother to sad brothers, And I carry a black cassock, When in the morning, with a faithful gait, I Sweep the dew from the pale grass. 2) And the black, earthly blood Promises us, inflating the veins, All destroying the borders, Unheard of changes, Unprecedented revolts ...
There are also other color symbols in Blok's lyrics, conditioned by the traditions of medieval aesthetics, which the poet followed in his work: Yellow is a sign of vulgarity, social injustice, and hostile force; Blue is a sign of treason, the fragility of a dream, and poetic inspiration. The poetic perfection of A. Blok's lyrics allowed him to take an honorable place among the Russian classics who created the great Russian literature.
A. Blok was born on November 28 (16), 1880 in the family of a professor of law and the daughter of the rector of the University of St. Petersburg. Since the parents separated, from the age of three Blok lived and was brought up by his father's parents, who belonged to the "cream" of the Petersburg intelligentsia. Constant rotation in the bohemian environment formed a special worldview of Blok, which manifested itself in the future in his literature. Blok began to write at the age of five (!), So it is not surprising that poetic expression became the norm in his life.
In 1903, Blok married Lyubov Mendeleeva, daughter of the great Russian chemist D.I. Mendeleev. In the same year, the first collection of the poet's poems was published, written under the impression of his first love and the first months of a happy family life. The initial stage of Blok's work was greatly influenced by Pushkin and Vl. Soloviev. Block experimented at that time with poetic rhythm, inventing more and more new forms. For him, the sound and music of verse were paramount in poetry.
The first collection of Blok's poems "Poems about a Beautiful Lady", 1904, represented the poet's platonic idealism, the realization of divine wisdom in the image of the world soul in a woman's guise.
In Blok's subsequent poetry collections, The City, 1908, and The Snow Mask, 1907, the author concentrated on a religious theme, and his muse of their mystical lady turned into an unfamiliar courtesan.
Blok's later poems are a mixture of the author's hopes and despair regarding the future of Russia. In the unfinished "Retribution", 1910-1921, the author's illusion about the new Bolshevik regime was broken. It should be noted that Blok was optimistic about the October Revolution of 1917, pinning great hopes on the new government. However, the subsequent actions of the Bolsheviks were so contrary to what Blok assumed and that they themselves promised that the poet could not but despair of his own self-deception. Nevertheless, he continued to believe in the exceptional role of Russia in the history of mankind. This opinion was confirmed by the works "Rodina" and "Scythians". In The Scythians, Blok used gypsy folklore, leaps of rhythms, abrupt transitions from the intensity of passions to quiet melancholy. He kind of warns the West that if he takes up arms against Russia, then in the future this will lead to a response from Russia, united with the militant East, that this will lead to Chaos.
Blok's last work was his most controversial and mysterious poem "The Twelve", 1920, in which the author used the polyphony of rhythms, harsh, even harsh language so that the reader could imagine what is written on paper: a detachment of 12 Red Army soldiers is marching through the city, sweeping away everything in its path and carrying Christ in front of itself.
Alexander Blok died on August 7, 1921 in St. Petersburg, abandoned by many friends of his youth and deprived of the last illusions about the new government.
The main themes of creativity. Homeland theme... The bloc defined Russia in two ways - either as “poor” and “beautiful” Russia, then as “New America”: “He could not, and did not want to combine these two principles, he tangibly opposed them to each other as hostile, arguing in this opposition the romance of your creativity ". Blok created a special image of the Motherland. This is the image of the beautiful Woman, the beloved bride. Her face is light, “light forever,” she preserves the original purity of the poet's soul. This is a woman with beautiful features, "robber beauty", tied in a "patterned dress up to her eyebrows."
Love theme. This theme is one of the most important in A. Blok's work. In the first book of the poet - "Poems about the Beautiful Lady", published in 1903, - a romantic interpretation of love is given as a feeling that in an incomprehensible way helps to connect the ideal world with the real world. Love in "Poems about a Beautiful Lady" is not directed at any particular object. The subject of love is the Eternal Wife, the Virgin of the Rainbow Gate, this is the embodiment of the ideal essence of the female soul. Therefore, love here is an impulse, expectation, uncertainty.
City theme. One of the leading themes of the poet's lyrical creativity is the urban theme - the octopus city, taking hostage, absorbing the personalities, individuals, even the physical bodies of its inhabitants. Blok's city is not a real Petersburg, although the reader can easily recognize the northern capital in his poems. It is rather a “landscape of the soul” of a lyrical hero. The city is already mentioned here - in the poems of the late 90s of the XIX century. The city is opposed to the natural life of nature, and the advantage in this comparison is clearly not on the side of the former. Early Blok is a true romantic, he is attracted by everything beautiful and sublime. The lyrical hero still clearly separates himself from the noisy, bustling city, physically - he is a part of it, but spiritually - the antipode. If in his early works Blok clearly separates himself - the lyrical hero - from the rest of the inhabitants of Petersburg, now (1903) the poet is no longer a romantic loner, not an individualist, he subtly feels the troubles and misfortunes of the city, its inhabitants, cannot close his eyes to them and continue to describe unreal, fabulous worlds, looking for their own peace and personal happiness. For example, the poem "Stranger" is filled with details of urban life; reading it, we not only see pictures of Petersburg life, but also distinctly hear drunken shouts, children's crying, women's screeching, the creak of an oarlock. Describing the streets, back streets, taverns of St. Petersburg, Blok shows the tragedy of a Russian man at the beginning of the 20th century, the fate of the inhabitants of his native city.
Lyrical heroine... Blok's beautiful lady is the symbolic meaning of the refined, beautiful, spiritual essence of the world. When speaking in letters to Andrei Bely about Her, the poet had in mind the Soul of the World, Eternal Femininity, which in his poems appeared in the form of a Beautiful Lady. Her image in the lyrics of the young poet symbolized the indissolubility of his love for the beauty of an earthly woman and the beauty of Eternal Femininity, signified the harmony of nature and culture, sensual and spiritual perception of the world. In the poems of this poet, there are no specific images of either a woman or a lyric hero. There are no concrete actions, and his feelings are elusive. All images only create a specific situation. The lyrical hero, in his quest to find moral support, is ready to believe any deception. For him, the Beautiful Lady becomes such a desired deception. This can be traced in all of Blok's poems, including "The Stranger".
The outstanding Russian poet Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (1880-1921) became an idol of both Symbolists, Acmeists, and all future generations of Russian poets during his lifetime.
At the beginning of his poetic path, the closest to him was the mystical romanticism of the work of Vasily Zhukovsky. This "singer of nature", with his poems, taught the young poet purity and elevation of feelings, cognition of the beauty of the surrounding world, unity with God, and faith in the possibility of penetrating beyond the earthly. Far from theoretical philosophical doctrines, poetry of romanticism A. Blok was prepared to perceive the basic principles of the art of symbolism.
Zhukovsky's lessons were not in vain: the "acute mystical and romantic experiences" fostered by him drew Blok's attention in 1901 to the works of the poet and philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, who was recognized as the "spiritual father" of the younger generation of Russian Symbolists (A. Blok, A. Bely, S. Soloviev, Viach. Ivanov, etc.). The ideological basis of his teaching was the dream of the kingdom of divine power, which arises from the modern world, which is mired in evil and sins. He can be saved by the World Soul, the Eternal Femininity, which arises as a kind of synthesis of harmony, beauty, goodness, the spiritual essence of all living things, the new Mother of God. This Solovyov theme is central to Blok's early poems, which were included in his first collection, Poems about the Beautiful Lady (1904). Although the poems were based on a real living feeling of love for the bride, over time - for the poet's wife - L. D. Mendeleeva, the lyrical theme, illuminated in the spirit of Soloviev's ideal, acquires the sound of the theme of sacred love. O. Blok unfolds the thesis that world love is revealed in personal love, and love for the universe is realized through love for a woman. Therefore, the concrete image is covered by the abstract figures of the Forever Young Wife, the Lady of the Universe, etc. The poet bows to the Beautiful Lady - the personification of eternal beauty and harmony. There are no doubt signs of symbolism in "Poems about the Beautiful Lady". Plato's idea of \u200b\u200bopposing two worlds - earthly, dark and joyless, and distant, unknown and beautiful, the holiness of the elevated unearthly ideals of the lyrical hero, he was brought to them, a decisive break with the surrounding life, the cult of Beauty - the most important features of this artistic direction, were vividly embodied in the early work of Blok.
Already in the first works were the main features of poetic manner Block: musical and song structure, gravitation towards sound and color expressiveness, metaphorical language, complex image structure - everything that the theorists of symbolism called impressionistic element, considering it an important component of the aesthetics of symbolism. All this determined the success of Blok's first book. Like most Symbolists, Blok was convinced that everything that happens on earth is only a reflection, a sign, a "shadow" of what exists in other, spiritual worlds. Accordingly, words, language turn out to be "signs of signs", "shadows of shadows" for him. In their "earthly" meanings, he always looks at "heavenly" and "eternal". All the meanings of Blok's symbols are sometimes very difficult to count, and this is an important feature of his poetics. The artist is convinced that something "incomprehensible", "secret" should always remain in a symbol, which cannot be conveyed either in scientific or everyday language. However, another thing is characteristic of the Blok symbol: no matter how polysemantic it is, it always retains its first - earthly and concrete - meaning, bright emotional, color, immediacy of perception and feelings.
Also in early poetry you could notice such features as the tension of lyrical feelings, passion and confession... This was the basis for Blok's future conquests as a poet: irrepressible maximalism and unchanging sincerity... At the same time, the last section of the collection contained such poems as "From newspapers", "Fabrika" and others, which testified to the emergence of civic sentiments.
If "Poems about the Beautiful Lady" liked, first of all, the Symbolists, then the second book of poems " Unexpected joy"(1907) made him named popular in wide readership... This collection includes poems of 1904-1906. and among them such masterpieces as "The Stranger", "The Girl Sang in the Church Choir ...", "The Autumn Will", etc. The book testified to the highest level of Blok's skill, the sound magic of his poetry captivated readers. Essentially the subject of his lyrics also changed. Block Hero acted no longer as a hermit monk, but as a resident noisy city streets who is eagerly peering into life. In the collection, the poet expressed his attitude to social problems, the spiritual atmosphere of society. Deep in his mind the gap between romantic dream and reality... These poems of the poet reflected impressions from the events of the revolution of 1905-1907, "The poet was a witness. And the poem" Autumn Will "became the first embodiment of the theme of the motherland, Russia in the work of Blok. The poet intuitively discovered in this topic the most dear and intimate for him.
The defeat of the first Russian revolution had a decisive effect not only on the fate of the entire poetic school of Symbolism, but also on the personal fate of each of its supporters. A distinctive feature of Blok's creativity in the post-revolutionary years is strengthening of civil position. 1906-1907 were a period of revaluation of values.
During this period, Blok's understanding of the essence of artistic creation, the purpose of the artist and the role of art in the life of society changed. If in the early cycles of poetry the lyric hero of Blok appeared as a hermit, a knight of the Beautiful Lady, an individualist, then over time he started talking about the artist's duty to the era, to the people. The change in Blok's public views was reflected in his work. In the center of his lyrics is a hero who is looking for strong ties with other people, realizing the dependence of his fate on the common fate of the people. The cycle "free thoughts" from the collection "Land in the Snow" (1908), especially the poems "On Death" and "In the North Sea", shows a tendency to democratize the poet's work, which is displayed in the state of mind of a lyric hero, in his attitude, and in the end, in the lyrical structure of the author's language.
Nevertheless, feelings of despondency, emptiness, complicated by personal motives, fill the lines of his poems... Awareness of the surrounding reality as a "scary world"that disfigures and destroys a Man. Born in romanticism, the traditional for classical literature theme of the collision with the world of evil and violence found in A. Blok a genius successor. Blok concentrates the psychological drama of personality and philosophy of being in the historical and social sphere, feeling primarily social disagreements On the one hand, he seeks to change society, and on the other, he is frightened by the decline of spirituality, the element of cruelty that more and more enveloped the country (the cycle "On the Kulikovo Field" (1909)). In his poetry of those years the image of a lyrical hero appears a man of crisis, who lost faith in old values, considering them lost, lost forever, and did not find new ones. Blok's poems of these years are filled with pain and bitterness for tormented destinies, a curse for a harsh, terrible world, a search for saving points of support in a destroyed universe and a gloomy hopelessness and hope, faith in the future. Those that were included in the series "Snow Mask", "Scary World", "Dances of Death", "Atonement" are rightly considered the best of what was written by Blok during the heyday and maturity of his talent.
The topic of the death of a person in a terrible world was covered by Blok significantly wider and deeper than his predecessors, nevertheless, at the top of the sounding of this theme is the motive of overcoming evil, which is important for understanding all of Blok's work. This, first of all, manifested itself in the theme of the homeland, Russia, in the theme of finding a new destiny by the Blok hero, who seeks to bridge the gap between the people and that part of the intelligentsia to which he belonged. In 1907-1916. a cycle of poems "Homeland" was created, where the ways of development of Russia are comprehended, the image of which appears either attractively fabulous, full of magical power, now terribly bloody, causing anxiety for the future.
We can say that the gallery of female images-symbols in Blok's lyrics ultimately finds its organic continuation and logical conclusion: Beautiful Lady - Stranger - Snow Mask - Faina - Carmen - Russia. Nevertheless, the poet himself insisted later that each next image is not just a transformation of the previous one, but, first of all, the embodiment of a new type of the author's worldview at the next stage of his creative development.
The poetry of A. Blok is a kind of mirror that reflects the hopes, disappointments and drama of the era of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Symbolic richness, romantic uplift and realistic concreteness helped the writer to discover a complex and multifaceted image of the world.
The main motives, images and symbols of A. Blok's lyrics
The outstanding Russian poet Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (1880-1921) became an idol of both Symbolists and Acmeists, and all future generations of Russian poets during his lifetime.
At the beginning of his poetic path, the closest to him was the mystical romanticism of the work of Vasily Zhukovsky. This "singer of nature", with his poems, taught the young poet purity and elevation of feelings, cognition of the beauty of the surrounding world, unity with God, and faith in the possibility of penetrating beyond the earth. Far from theoretical philosophical doctrines, poetry of romanticism A. Blok was prepared to perceive the basic principles of the art of symbolism.
Zhukovsky's lessons were not in vain: the "acute mystical and romantic experiences" he fostered attracted Blok's attention in 1901. to the works of the poet and philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, who was recognized as the "spiritual father" of the younger generation of Russian Symbolists (A. Blok, A. Bely, S. Soloviev, Viach. Ivanov, etc.). The ideological basis of his teaching was the dream of the kingdom of divine power, which arises from the modern world, which is mired in evil and sins. He can be saved by the World Soul, the Eternal Femininity, which arises as a kind of synthesis of harmony, beauty, goodness, the spiritual essence of all living things, the new Mother of God. This Solovyov theme is central to Blok's early poems, which were included in his first collection, Poems about the Beautiful Lady (1904). Although the verses were based on a real living feeling of love for the bride, over time - for the poet's wife - L. D. Mendeleeva, the lyrical theme, illuminated in the spirit of Solovyov's ideal, acquires the sound of the theme of sacred love. O. Blok unfolds the thesis that the world love is revealed in personal love, and love for the whole is realized through love for women. For this reason, the concrete image is covered by the abstract figures of the Eternally Young Wife, the Lady of the Universe, etc. The poet adores the Beautiful Lady - the personification of eternal beauty and harmony. There are no doubt signs of symbolism in "Poems about the Beautiful Lady". Plato's idea of \u200b\u200bopposing two worlds - earthly, dark and joyless, and distant, unknown and beautiful, the holiness of the elevated unearthly ideals of the lyrical hero, he was brought to them, a decisive break with the surrounding life, the cult of Beauty - the most important features of this artistic direction, were vividly embodied in the early work of Blok.
Already in the first works were the main features of poetic manner Block: musical and song structure, gravitation towards sound and color expressiveness, metaphorical language, complex image structure - everything that theorists of symbolism have called impressionistic element, considering it an important component of the aesthetics of symbolism. All this determined the success of Blok's first book. Like most Symbolists, Blok was convinced that everything that happens on earth is only a reflection, a sign, a "shadow" of what exists in other, spiritual worlds. Accordingly, words, language turn out to be "signs of signs", "shadows of shadows" for him. In their "earthly" meanings, he always looks over the "heavenly" and "eternal". All the meanings of Blok's symbols are sometimes very difficult to count, and this is an important feature of his poetics. The artist is convinced that something "incomprehensible", "secret" must always remain in a symbol, which cannot be conveyed either in scientific or everyday language. At the same time, another thing is characteristic of the Blok symbol: no matter how polysemantic it may be, it always retains its first - earthly and concrete - meaning, bright emotional, color, immediacy of perception and feelings.
Also in early poetry you could notice such features as the tension of lyrical feelings, passion and confession... This was the basis for Blok's future conquests as a poet: irrepressible maximalism and unchanging sincerity... At the same time, the last section of the collection contained such poems as "From newspapers", "Fabrika" and others, which testified to the emergence of civic sentiments.
If the "Poems about the Beautiful Lady" liked, above all, the Symbolists, then the second book of poems " Unexpected joy"(1907) made him named popular in wide readership... This collection includes poems from 1904-1906. and among them such masterpieces as "The Stranger", "The Girl Sang in the Church Choir ...", "Autumn Will", etc. The book testified to the highest level of Blok's skill, the sound magic of his poetry captivated readers. Essentially the subject of his lyrics also changed. Block Hero acted no longer as a hermit monk, but as a resident noisy city streets who is eagerly peering into life. In the collection, the poet expressed his attitude to social problems, the spiritual atmosphere of society. Deep in his mind the gap between romantic dream and reality... These poems of the poet reflected impressions from the events of the revolution of 1905-1907, "The poet was a witness. And the poem" Autumn Will "became the first embodiment of the theme of the motherland, Russia in the work of Blok. The poet intuitively discovered in this topic the most dear and intimate for him.
The defeat of the first Russian revolution had a decisive effect not only on the fate of the entire poetic school of Symbolism, but also on the personal fate of each of its supporters. A distinctive feature of Blok's creativity in the post-revolutionary years is strengthening of civil position. 1906-1907. were a period of revaluation of values.
During this period, Blok's understanding of the essence of artistic creation, the purpose of the artist and the role of art in the life of society are changing. If in the early cycles of poetry the lyric hero of Blok appeared as a hermit, a knight of the Beautiful Lady, an individualist, then over time he started talking about the artist's duty to the era, to the people. The change in Blok's public views was reflected in his work. In the center of his lyrics is a hero who is looking for strong ties with other people, realizing the dependence of his fate on the common fate of the people. The cycle "free thoughts" from the collection "Earth in the Snow" (1908), especially the poems "On Death" and "In the North Sea", shows a tendency to democratize the poet's work in the end, in the lyrical structure of the author's language.
Nevertheless, feelings of despondency, emptiness, complicated by personal motives, fill the lines of his poems... Awareness of the surrounding reality as a "scary world"that disfigures and destroys Man. Born in romanticism, the theme of the clash with the world of evil and violence, traditional for classical literature, found in A. Blok an ingenious successor. Blok concentrates the psychological drama of personality and philosophy of being in the historical and social sphere, feeling first of all social disagreements. On the one hand, he seeks to change society, and on the other, he is frightened by the decline of spirituality, the element of cruelty, which more and more covered the country (the cycle "On the Kulikovo Field" (1909)). the image of a lyrical hero, a man of crisiswho lost faith in the old values, considering them lost, lost forever, and did not find new ones. Blok's poems of these years are filled with pain and bitterness for tormented destinies, a curse for a harsh, terrible world, a search for saving points of support in a destroyed universe and a gloomy hopelessness and hope, faith in the future. Those that were included in the series "Snow Mask", "Scary World", "Dances of Death", "Atonement", are rightly considered the best that was written by Blok during the heyday and maturity of his talent.
The topic of the death of a person in a terrible world was covered by Blok significantly wider and deeper than his predecessors, nevertheless, at the top of the sounding of this theme - the motive of overcoming evil, important for understanding all of Blok's work. This, above all, manifested itself in the theme of the homeland, Russia, in the theme of finding a new destiny by the Blok hero, who seeks to bridge the gap between the people and that part of the intelligentsia to which he belonged. In 1907-1916. the cycle of poems "Homeland" was created, where the ways of development of Russia are comprehended, the image of which appears either attractively fabulous, full of magical power, now terribly bloody, causing alarm for the future.
We can say that the gallery of female images-symbols in Blok's lyrics ultimately finds its organic continuation and logical conclusion: Beautiful Lady - Stranger - Snow Mask - Faina - Carmen - Russia. Nevertheless, the poet himself insisted later that each subsequent image is not just a transformation of the previous one, but, above all, the embodiment of a new type of the author's worldview at the next stage of his creative development.
The poetry of A. Blok is a kind of mirror that reflects the hopes, disappointments and drama of the era of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Symbolic richness, romantic uplift and realistic concreteness helped the writer to discover a complex and multifaceted image of the world.