Felitsa summary. Favorable coincidence of circumstances

“Felitsa” by G.R. Derzhavin

History of creation. Ode “Felitsa” (1782), the first poem that made the name of Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin famous. It became a striking example of a new style in Russian poetry. The subtitle of the poem clarifies: “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa, written by the Tatar Murza, who has long settled in Moscow, and lives on his business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic" Yours unusual name This work received on behalf of the heroine "Tales of Prince Chlorus", the author of which was Catherine II herself. She is also named by this name, which in Latin means happiness, in Derzhavin’s ode, glorifying the empress and satirically characterizing her environment.

It is known that at first Derzhavin did not want to publish this poem and even hid the authorship, fearing the revenge of the influential nobles satirically depicted in it. But in 1783 it received wide use and with the assistance of Princess Dashkova, a close associate of the Empress, it was published in the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word,” in which Catherine II herself collaborated. Subsequently, Derzhavin recalled that this poem touched the empress so much that Dashkova found her in tears. Catherine II wanted to know who wrote the poem in which she was so accurately depicted. In gratitude to the author, she sent him a golden snuff box with five hundred chervonets and an expressive inscription on the package: “From Orenburg from the Kirghiz Princess to Murza Derzhavin.” From that day on, literary fame came to Derzhavin, which no Russian poet had known before.

Main themes and ideas. The poem "Felitsa", written as a humorous sketch from the life of the empress and her entourage, at the same time raises very important problems. On the one hand, in the ode “Felitsa” a completely traditional image of a “god-like princess” is created, which embodies the poet’s idea of the ideal of an enlightened monarch. Clearly idealizing the real Catherine II, Derzhavin at the same time believes in the image he painted:

Give me some advice, Felitsa:
How to live magnificently and truthfully,
How to tame passions and excitement
And be happy in the world?

On the other hand, the poet’s poems convey the idea not only of the wisdom of power, but also of the negligence of performers concerned with their own profit:

Seduction and flattery live everywhere,
Luxury oppresses everyone.
Where does virtue live?
Where does a rose without thorns grow?

This idea in itself was not new, but behind the images of nobles drawn in the ode, features clearly emerged real people:

In these images, the poet’s contemporaries easily recognized the empress’s favorite Potemkin, her close associates Alexei Orlov, Panin, and Naryshkin. Drawing their brightly satirical portraits, Derzhavin showed great courage - after all, any of the nobles he offended could deal with the author for this. Only Catherine’s favorable attitude saved Derzhavin.

But even to the empress he dares to give advice: to follow the law to which both kings and their subjects are subject:

You alone are only decent,
Princess, create light from darkness;
Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously,
The union will strengthen their integrity;
From disagreement to agreement
And from fierce passions happiness
You can only create.

This favorite thought of Derzhavin sounded bold, and it was expressed in simple and understandable language.

The poem ends with the traditional praise of the Empress and wishing her all the best:

Artistic originality. Classicism forbade combining high ode and satire belonging to low genres in one work, but Derzhavin does not even simply combine them in his characterization different persons, written in the ode, he does something completely unprecedented for that time. Breaking the traditions of the genre ode of praise, Derzhavin widely enters her colloquial vocabulary and even vernacular, but most importantly, he doesn’t draw ceremonial portrait the empress, but depicts her human appearance. That is why the ode contains everyday scenes and still life;

Without imitating your Murzas,
You often walk
And the food is the simplest
Happens at your table.

“God-like” Felitsa, like other characters in his ode, is also shown in everyday life (“Without valuing your peace, / You read, write under the cover...”). At the same time, such details do not reduce her image, but make her more real, humane, as if exactly copied from life. Reading the poem “Felitsa”, you are convinced that Derzhavin really managed to introduce into poetry boldly taken from life or created by imagination individual characters real people shown against the backdrop of a colorfully depicted everyday environment. This makes his poems bright, memorable and understandable.

Thus, in “Felitsa” Derzhavin acted as a bold innovator, combining the style of a laudatory ode with the individualization of characters and satire, introducing elements of low styles into the high genre of ode. Subsequently, the poet himself defined the genre of “Felitsa” as a mixed ode. Derzhavin argued that, in contrast to the traditional ode for classicism, where government officials and military leaders were praised, and solemn events were glorified, in a “mixed ode” “the poet can talk about everything.” Destroying the genre canons of classicism, with this poem he opens the way for new poetry- “real poetry™”, which received brilliant development in Pushkin’s work.

The meaning of the work. Derzhavin himself subsequently noted that one of his main merits was that he “dared to proclaim Felitsa’s virtues in a funny Russian style.” As the researcher of the poet’s work V.F. rightly points out. Khodasevich, Derzhavin was proud “not that he discovered Catherine’s virtues, but that he was the first to speak in a “funny Russian style.” He understood that his ode was the first artistic embodiment Russian life, that she is the embryo of our romance. And, perhaps,” Khodasevich develops his thought, “if “old man Derzhavin” had lived at least to the first chapter of “Onegin,” he would have heard echoes of his ode in it.”

Notes from well-known incidents and genuine cases, containing the life of Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin.

The author, who lists all his ranks, positions and orders at the beginning of his notes, but does not mention his poetic glory at all, was born in Kazan from noble parents in 1743 on July 3rd. His family descended from Murza Bagrim, who left the Golden Horde under Vasily the Dark. Derzhavin's parents, despite his father's colonel rank, lived in extreme poverty - only sixty souls on the estate. He was their firstborn, born frail, so they baked the baby into bread to get some vitality. One and a half years old, looking at a passing comet, the boy said his first word: God!

Despite poverty, the parents tried to give their son a decent education, but in the provinces good teachers was not, and at the age of nineteen Derzhavin had to join the service as a simple soldier of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. Then he began to write poetry; His comrades, having learned about this, began to ask him to write letters home. On the day when Catherine II carried out a coup and ascended the throne, Derzhavin and his regiment marched from St. Petersburg to Peterhof and saw the new empress in the Preobrazhensky Guards uniform, on a white horse, with a naked sword in her hand. The following years passed in various adventures - both love and the worst kind: Derzhavin was a cheater, knew both swindlers and brawlers. Forcibly he came to his senses and returned to the regiment in St. Petersburg. Soon after, in the tenth year of service, Derzhavin received officer rank and lived decently and happily.

Another year and a half later, Pugachev’s indignation began. Derzhavin went to General-Chief Bibikov, who had been appointed commander, and asked to join him as commander. He initially refused, but Derzhavin did not back down and finally achieved his goal. Throughout the campaign he played very important role, and was the first to send a report about the capture of Pugachev. But then the young officer accidentally became involved in the court struggle between the Panins and Potemkins. Field Marshal Panin was angry with Derzhavin, Potemkin did not help either. In 1777, after several years of ordeal, the officer, according to whose word the corps had recently moved, was dismissed into civilian service “due to inability to perform military service.”

Derzhavin lived again in St. Petersburg, made good friends and, entering the house of Prosecutor General Vyazemsky, got a fairly prominent position in the Senate. Then he fell madly in love with the girl Katerina Yakovlevna Bastidonova, whom he married a year later and with whom he lived happily for eighteen years. In 1783, his ode “Felitsa” was published, from which the empress, in her own words, “cried like a fool” and gave Derzhavin a snuffbox studded with diamonds and full of gold ducats. After this favor, Vyazemsky began to find fault with him, and at the end of the year a serious clash occurred: Derzhavin caught the prosecutor general of concealing state revenues. The subordinate had to resign. Taking advantage of his freedom, Derzhavin went to Narva, rented a room there and, locking himself in, wrote the odes “God” and “Vision of Murza” in a few days.

A few months later he was appointed governor of Petrozavodsk. His superior was Governor-General Tutolmin; this man introduced his own laws beyond the state ones and forced people to report on forest planting in Karelia. Derzhavin could not tolerate such extravagance and arbitrariness; Soon the whole city was divided into two parties, and Derzhavin found himself in the minority. Denunciations of the most stupid and ridiculous kind were sent to the capital; in addition, the Governor General sent Derzhavin to the most dangerous journey through dense forests to the White Sea.

On the sea, trying to get on Solovetsky Islands, Derzhavin was caught in a severe storm and miraculously escaped. In the summer of 1785, the authorities decided to transfer him from Petrozavodsk to the same position in Tambov. There Derzhavin corrected a lot after his negligent predecessor, opened a public school, a printing house and balls with concerts. But soon clashes began with the governor-general, who was covering up rogue tax farmers. The matter became so complicated that Derzhavin himself was not only dismissed, but also put on trial.

He spent almost a year in extreme anxiety, not knowing how to get rid of the trouble, and finally wrote a letter to the empress, and she announced that she could not blame the author of “Felitsa.” Things were heading towards an honorable resignation, but it did not suit Derzhavin. In search of a new service, he became close to both favorites: the old one, Potemkin, and the new one, Platon Zubov (he even had to reconcile them in one dispute about estates), became friends with Suvorov, and wrote several poems noticed at court. Be that as it may, but with all these favors, Derzhavin wandered around the square, living in St. Petersburg without anything to do.

So two years passed, when suddenly Catherine instructed him to consider one very important matter, and then, at the very end of 1791, she took him to be her secretary of state to monitor the decisions of the Senate.

Derzhavin expected a lot from this position, but the empress loved it when people reported to her about brilliant victories, and he had to read boring documents to her about unpleasant matters. Moreover, having seen the empress up close, with all her human weaknesses, Derzhavin could no longer devote inspired poems to her, and this was what was really needed from him. So, although he pleased the empress, he often became bored with his truth.

Three years later, Derzhavin was dismissed from the court to the Senate without any special awards. True, he could have become prosecutor general if he had asked for it, but he had a rule: not to ask for anything and not to refuse anything in the hope that when he was called upon for something, God himself would help him. In the Senate, many times Derzhavin happened to stand alone for the truth against everyone - sometimes winning, and sometimes losing. He was also the chairman of the commercial board, but in this position he had nothing but troubles. Finally, Derzhavin himself asked to resign, but did not receive it.

In July 1794, Katerina Yakovlevna died, and soon, in order not to succumb to debauchery out of melancholy, he wooed the sister-in-law of his friends Nikolai Lvov and Vasily Kapnist, Daria Alekseevna Dyakova. The groom was over fifty years old, and the bride about thirty; Even during his wife’s life, she admitted that she would not have wished for another groom. When Derzhavin proposed, Daria Alekseevna asked him for the consumable books, kept them for two weeks, and then only announced her consent. For seventeen years life together Derzhavin's new wife doubled their fortune.

On November 6, 1796, Empress Catherine died suddenly, under whom, having begun his service as a soldier, Derzhavin reached famous ranks, was awarded by her, and most importantly, protected from all unjust persecutions. Immediately after the death of the empress, following the new emperor, they burst into the palace with great noise, as if into a conquered city, armed men. Soon the Commerce Collegium was transformed, and Derzhavin received an order to appear at the palace and received an oral command from Emperor Paul to be ruler State Council- a position of unprecedented importance. A few days later, a decree was issued appointing Derzhavin as ruler not of the Council, but only of the Council’s office (that is, a simple secretary), and, moreover, without proper instructions. Derzhavin came to the sovereign to clarify this misunderstanding; he said with great anger: “Go back to the Senate and sit still!” Then Derzhavin, with large cluster to the people, said: “Wait, this king will do some good!” There were no big troubles. Moreover, Derzhavin was entrusted with an important investigation in Belarus, after which he was again made president of the commercial board, and then state treasurer. But Pavel didn’t let him see him anymore, saying: “He’s hot, and so am I, then we’ll quarrel again.”

Derzhavin had to audit all government accounts which were found in great disorder. He was supposed to report his report to the emperor on March 12, and on the night of that day Paul died. How the matter would have ended if he had remained alive is unknown; perhaps Derzhavin would have suffered. Many times during the reign of Paul he showed independence and courage, and at that time he made an inscription on his coat of arms: “I hold on by the power of the Highest.”

Under Alexander I, Derzhavin received a new post: he became the first Minister of Justice and at the same time the Prosecutor General of the Senate. He put a lot of effort into the fight against the young friends of the emperor, who seduced him with projects for a constitution and hasty liberation of the peasants: Derzhavin even tried to protest against Alexander’s favorite decree on free cultivators. Soon, criticism began against him, and in October 1803 it came to a collision. When Derzhavin asked what he served in, the sovereign only answered: “You serve too zealously.” “But how is it, sir,” answered Derzhavin, “then I cannot serve any other way.” On the next or third day after this, a decree of resignation was issued. On October 8, 1803, Derzhavin left the service forever and devoted his leisure time to various literary pursuits. The notes were brought up to 1812.

In a desire to please the empress, he took her as the basis for his work. own work, recently published in a small edition. Naturally, for a brightly talented poet, this story began to sparkle with richer colors, in addition to this, introducing it into the history of Russian versification a new style and made the poet a celebrity.

Ode Analysis

“Felitsa” has a subtitle that clarifies the purpose of writing this work. It talks about contacting to the wise princess Tatar Murza, who settled in Moscow, but is on business in St. Petersburg. The reader is also mystified by the fact that the ode was supposedly translated from Arabic. The analysis of the ode “Felitsa” must begin with a name that does not sound familiar to either Russians or Arabs.

The fact is that this is what Catherine II called her heroine in her fairy tale about Prince Chlorus. Served as soil Italian language(here you can remember someone like Cutugno with the exclamation “Felicita”) Latin translates the word “Felitsa” (Felitsa - felicitas) as happiness. Thus, Derzhavin began to praise the empress from the first line, and then could not resist satire in the descriptions of her entourage.

Artistic synthesis

An analysis of the ode “Felitsa” shows the setting for the usual solemn ode of praise for the date, which was accepted in those days. The ode is written in traditional stanzas - ten lines, and, as expected, But before Derzhavin, no one had ever dared to merge two opposite target orientation genre - a majestic ode of praise and caustic

The first was the ode "Felitsa". Derzhavin seemed to have “stepped back” in his innovation, judging by the precisely fulfilled conditions of the genre, at least in comparison with “Birthday Poems,” which are not even separated by stanzas. However, this impression disappears as soon as the reader gets through the first few stanzas. Still, even the composition of the ode “Felitsa” represents a much broader artistic synthesis.

Fairy tale "Felitsa"

It is interesting to consider what motives prompted Derzhavin to write this “fan fiction”, what served as the primary basis and whether this topic was worthy of continuation. Apparently, she is worthy, and very much so. Catherine II wrote her fairy tale for her grandson, still small, but in the future great Alexander I. The Empress's fairy tale is about the Kiev prince Chlorus, who was visited by the Kyrgyz khan to check whether the prince was really as smart and dexterous as they say about him.

The boy agreed to take the test and find the rarest flower - a rose without thorns - and set off on his journey. On the road, having responded to the invitation of Murza Lazy ( telling name), the prince tries to resist the temptations of that luxury and idleness with which the Lazy Man seduces him. Fortunately, this Kyrgyz khan had a very good daughter, whose name was Felitsa, and an even better grandson, whose name was Reason. Felitsa sent her son with the prince, who, with the help of Reason, went to the goal of his journey.

Bridge between fairy tale and ode

In front of them was steep mountain, no paths or stairs. Apparently, the prince himself was quite persistent, because, despite enormous work and trials, he still climbed to the top, where he decorated his life with a rose without thorns, that is, with virtue. An analysis of the ode “Felitsa” shows that, as in any fairy tale, the images here are conventionally allegorical, but in Derzhavin at the beginning of the ode they stand up very strongly, and all the odic beginnings of classical examples, where the ascent to Parnassus and communication with the muses are inevitable, fade next to with seemingly simple images of a children's fairy tale.

Even the portrait of Catherine (Felitsa) is given in a completely new manner, which is completely different from the traditional laudatory description. Usually in odes the character being honored appears in little in an expressive manner a goddess walking through the solemn, echoing rhymes of verse with heavy rhythmic panting. Here the poet is inspired, and - most importantly - equipped with poetic skill. The poems are not lame and are not inflated with excessive pathos. The plan of the ode “Felitsa” is such that Catherine appears before the reader as an intelligent, but simple and active Kyrgyz-Kaisat princess. It plays well into the harmony of the construction of this image and the contrast - the image of Murza, vicious and lazy, which Derzhavin uses throughout the ode. Hence the unprecedented genre diversity that distinguishes the ode “Felitsa”.

Derzhavin and the Empress

The singer’s pose here also changes in relation to the subject of the chanting, if we consider not only all previous Russian literature, but even the poems of Derzhavin himself. Sometimes a certain godlike quality of the queen still slips through the ode, but with all this and with the general respect that the ode “Felitsa” demonstrates, the content also shows a certain shortness of relationship, not familiarity, but the warmth of almost family closeness.

But in satirical lines, Derzhavin can sometimes be understood in two ways. The collective features of the image of Murza ridicule all of Catherine’s nobles in turn, and it is here that the poet does not forget himself. Self-irony is an even more rare fact in the poetry of those years. The author's “I” is not devoid of lyrics, but it is made clear that “This is how I am, Felitsa!”, “Today I rule over myself, and tomorrow I am a slave to my whims.” The appearance of such an author’s “I” in an ode is a huge fact artistic value. Lomonosov also began his odes with “I,” but as a loyal slave, while Derzhavin’s author is concrete and living.

Narration from the author

Naturally, the composition of the ode “Felitsa” would not have withstood the author’s full-fledged individuality. Derzhavin most often presents under the author's "I" a conventional image of a singer, which is usually always present in odes as well as in satires. But there is a difference: in an ode the poet plays only sacred delight, but in satire only indignation. Derzhavin combined “one-string” genres with the creation of a living human poet, with an absolutely concrete life, with a variety of feelings and experiences, with “multi-stringed” music of verse.

An analysis of the ode “Felitsa” certainly notes not only delight, but also anger, blasphemy and praise in one bottle. Along the way he manages to be disingenuous and ironic. That is, he behaves throughout the entire work as a completely normal and living person. And it should be noted that this individual personality possesses undoubted features of a nationality. In ode! And now such a case would be unprecedented if someone in our time wrote odic poetry.

About genres

Ode "Felitsa", the content of which is so rich in contradictions, as if warm sun rays warmed by the lungs colloquial speech from the reality of everyday life, light, simple, sometimes humorous, which directly contradicts the laws of this genre. Moreover, a genre revolution, almost a revolution, took place here.

It must be clarified that Russian classicism did not know poetry as “just poetry.” All poetry was strictly divided into genres and types, sharply demarcated, and these boundaries stood unshakable. Ode, satire, elegy and other types poetry There was no way they could mix with each other.

Here the traditional categories of classicism are completely broken after the organic fusion of ode and satire. This applies not only to Felitsa; Derzhavin did this both before and later. For example, the ode “To death is half elegy. Genres become polyphonic with light hand Derzhavina.

Success

This ode became a colossal success immediately after its publication: “Everyone who could read Russian found it in the hands of everyone,” according to a contemporary. At first, Derzhavin was wary of widely publishing the ode and tried to hide the authorship (probably the depicted and very recognizable nobles were vindictive), but then Princess Dashkova appeared and published “Felitsa” in the magazine “Interlocutor,” where Catherine II herself did not hesitate to collaborate.

The Empress liked the ode very much, she even cried with delight, ordered the authorship to be immediately exposed and, when this happened, she sent Derzhavin a golden snuffbox with a dedicatory inscription and five hundred ducats in it. It was after this that real fame came to the poet.

In 1782 it was still not very famous poet Derzhavin wrote an ode dedicated to the “Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa.” That's what the ode was called "To Felitsa" . Hard life taught the poet a lot; he knew how to be careful. The ode glorified the simplicity and humanity of Empress Catherine II in dealing with people and the wisdom of her reign. But at the same time ordinary, and even rude spoken language she talked about luxurious amusements, about the idleness of Felitsa’s servants and courtiers, about the “Murzas” who were by no means worthy of their ruler. In the Murzas, Catherine’s favorites were clearly visible, and Derzhavin, wanting the ode to fall into the hands of the Empress as quickly as possible, was at the same time afraid of this. How will the autocrat look at his bold trick: mockery of her favorites! But in the end, the ode ended up on Catherine’s table, and she was delighted with it. Far-sighted and intelligent, she understood that courtiers should be put in their place from time to time, and the hints of the ode were an excellent occasion for this. Catherine II herself was a writer (Felitsa is one of her literary pseudonyms), that’s why I immediately appreciated and artistic merit works. Memoirists write that, having called the poet to her, the empress generously rewarded him: she gave him a golden snuffbox filled with gold ducats.

Fame came to Derzhavin. New literary magazine"Interlocutor of Lovers" Russian Word", which was edited by the Empress's friend Princess Dashkova, and Catherine herself published in it, opened with the ode "To Felitsa." They started talking about Derzhavin, he became a celebrity. Was it only the successful and bold dedication of the ode to the Empress? Of course not! The reading public and fellow writers were struck by the very form of the work. Poetic speech the “high” odic genre sounded without exaltation and tension. Lively, imaginative, mocking speech of a person who understands well how it works real life. Of course, they spoke laudably about the empress, but also not pompously. And, perhaps, for the first time in the history of Russian poetry as about a simple woman, not a celestial being:

Without imitating your Murzas, you often walk, and the simplest food happens at your table.

Strengthening the impression of simplicity and naturalness, Derzhavin dares to make bold comparisons:

You don’t play cards like me, from morning to morning.

AND, Furthermore, is frivolous, introducing into the ode details and scenes that are indecent by the secular standards of that time. This is how, for example, a Murza courtier, an idle lover and an atheist, spends his day:

Or, sitting at home, I will play a trick, Playing fools with my wife; Sometimes I go to the dovecote with her, sometimes I frolic in blind man's buff, sometimes I have fun in a pile with her, sometimes I look in my head with her; Then I love to rummage through books, I enlighten my mind and heart: I read Polkan and Bova, I sleep over the Bible, yawning.

The work was filled with funny and often sarcastic allusions. Potemkin, who loves to eat well and drink well (“I wash down my waffles with champagne / And I forget everything in the world”). On Orlov, who boasts of magnificent trips (“a magnificent train in an English, golden carriage”). On Naryshkin, who is ready to give up everything for the sake of hunting (“I leave worry about all matters / Leaving behind, go hunting / And amuse myself with the barking of dogs”), etc. In the genre of a solemn laudatory ode, nothing like this has ever been written before. Poet E.I. Kostrov expressed a general opinion and at the same time slight annoyance at his successful opponent. In his poetic “Letter to the creator of an ode composed in praise of Felitsa, Princess of Kirgizkaisatskaya” there are the lines:

Frankly, it is clear that soaring odes have gone out of fashion; You knew how to elevate yourself among us with simplicity.

The Empress brought Derzhavin closer to her. Remembering the “fighting” qualities of his nature and incorruptible honesty, she sent him to various audits, which, as a rule, ended with noisy indignation of those being inspected. The poet was appointed governor of the Olonets, then Tambov province. But he could not resist for long: he dealt with local officials too zealously and imperiously. In Tambov, things went so far that the governor of the region, Gudovich, filed a complaint to the empress in 1789 about the “arbitrariness” of the governor, who did not take anyone or anything into account. The case was transferred to the Senate Court. Derzhavin was dismissed from his post until graduation judicial trial obliged to live in Moscow, as they would say now, under recognizance not to leave.

And although the poet was acquitted, he was left without a position and without the favor of the empress. Once again, one could only rely on oneself: on enterprise, talent and luck. And don't lose heart. In the autobiographical “Notes” compiled at the end of his life, in which the poet speaks about himself in the third person, he admits: “There was no other way left but to resort to his talent; as a result, he wrote the ode “Image of Felitsa” and by the 22nd on the day of September, that is, on the day of the empress’s coronation, he handed her over to the court<…>The Empress, having read it, ordered her favorite (meaning Zubov, Catherine’s favorite - L.D.) the next day to invite the author to dinner with him and always take him into her conversation.”