In 1782, the not yet very famous poet Derzhavin wrote an ode dedicated to the “Kirghiz-Kaisak princess Felitsa.” That's what the ode was called "To Felitsa" . A difficult 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, in ordinary, if not rude, colloquial language, she spoke about luxurious amusements, about the idleness of Felitsa’s servants and courtiers, about “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 was one of her literary pseudonyms), which is why she immediately appreciated the artistic merits of the work. 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. The new literary magazine "Interlocutor of Lovers of the 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 just a matter of 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. The poetic speech of the “high” odic genre sounded without exaltation and tension. Lively, imaginative, mocking speech of a person who understands well how real life works. 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, moreover, he is frivolous, introducing into the ode details and scenes that were 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 office and until the end of the trial he was ordered to live in Moscow, as they would say now, under a written undertaking 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.”
Read also other topics in Chapter VI.
The title of the poem translated from Latin means happiness and is dedicated to the great Catherine II.
From the first lines of the work, the poet extols his empress and creates a traditional picture of a god-like princess, which embodies the author’s concept of the ideal of the eminent monarch. While idealizing the real empress, the poet at the same time believes in the image he depicts. Catherine appears as an intelligent and active princess, but the poems are not oversaturated with excessive pathos, since the poet uses a mixture of poetic genres (ode and satire), breaking the traditions of Russian classicism, a skill rare for those years. Departing from the rules for writing an ode of praise, the author introduces colloquial vocabulary into the poem, portraying the empress as an ordinary person. Even to her, the poet dares to give advice on the implementation of the laws adopted by the kings together with their subjects.
The poem conveys the idea of both the wisdom of the autocrats and the negligence of the courtiers, striving only for their own benefit. In a satirical form, the author ridicules the princess’s entourage. This method is not new for the poetry of that time, but behind the images of the courtiers depicted in the work, the features of existing people (empress favorites Potemkin, Orlov, Panin, Naryshkin) clearly appear. By satirically describing their images, the poet shows great courage, since he could pay for it with his life. The author was saved only by Catherine’s favorable attitude towards him.
As the poem progresses, the poet manages not only to dissemble and feign delight, but also to become angry. That is, the author behaves like a normal living person, an individual personality with the characteristics of a people, and this is an unprecedented case for the genre of poetic ode.
The poet defined the style of his own poems as a mixed ode, arguing that the poet has the right to talk about everything, and not just sing hymns of praise. Thus, Derzhavin committed an innovative act in poetry, creating individual characters of non-fictional people against the backdrop of a colorful everyday environment.
Analysis of Ode by Felits Derzhavin
Derzhavin is an extraordinary poet who had his own style and his own vision of what was happening. Recognition came to the poet after he wrote the ode “Felitsa”. It was in 1782, when “Felitsa” was published, that its author became famous. This poem was written to Catherine II. She really liked the poet’s work and for this the ruler generously rewarded Derzhavin. The poet worked on the work at a time when such a genre as ode was no longer popular. But this did not stop Derzhavin.
The author of “Felitsa” simply broke all the stereotypes of that time. Many writers and critics were a little taken aback. Derzhavin ignored all the rules of literature of that time and wrote his work. The creativity of writers and poets of those times was simply overflowing with beautiful words. In turn, Derzhavin decided to show in fairly ordinary words how he felt about Catherine. Derzhavin also wrote about his attitude towards the empress’s close people.
Derzhavin’s early works, namely “Felitsa,” of course have lines in which there is exaltation of the empress. The poet considered her a kind and intelligent ruler. In total, “Felitsa” has 26 tenths. The poet dedicated more than half of them to Catherine, and he stretched out all his feelings a lot. In addition, you can notice that some compliments and praises are repeated in the work “Felitsa”.
It was a difficult time for Derzhavin, especially the period of writing Felitsa. It was a time when society was going through certain changes. People began to adhere less to their opinions and went with the flow. The super personality and thinking of the people in the country was lost. A so-called crisis occurred, in which the current government fought against the old society. This is what influenced the fact that the ode genre began to be perceived by people. It was at this moment that the poet wrote “Filitsa”. He became famous overnight and, moreover, a pioneer and innovator of this genre. Readers were amazed, and critics did not know how to evaluate the author's work. Derzhavin was able to introduce humor into the ode genre, which concerns everyday life for everyone.
After the ode was released to people, the author was able to determine the genre in which he wrote the work. He called his work a mixed ode. Derzhavin was of the opinion that in an ordinary ode the poet praises only high-ranking people, but in the genre in which Derzhavin writes, one can write about everything.
The poet makes it clear that the ode is a kind of predecessor of the novel. It can embody many thoughts regarding Russian life.
Analysis of Felitsa's poem according to plan
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/ / / Analysis of Derzhavin’s ode “Felitsa”
The ode “Felitsa” was written in 1782 and dates back to the early period of G. Derzhavin’s work. This poem made the poet's name famous. For the work, the author provides a clarification subtitle “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa, written by the Tatar Murza, who has long settled in Moscow...”. With this clarification, the author hints at “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” written by Catherine II, from which the name of the main character is taken. Empress Catherine II herself and the court nobility are “hidden” under the images of Felitsa and the nobles. The ode does not glorify them, but ridicules them.
The theme of the poem is a humorous depiction of the life of the empress and her entourage. The idea of the ode “Felitsa” is twofold: the author exposes the vices of the queen, presenting an idealized image of Felitsa and, at the same time, shows what virtues a monarch should have. The ideological sound of the work is complemented by showing the shortcomings of the nobility.
The central place in the ode is occupied by the image of Queen Felitsa, in whom the poet embodies all the wonderful traits of a woman and a monarch: kindness, simplicity, sincerity, bright mind. The portrait of the princess is not “festive”, but everyday, but this does not spoil it at all, but makes it more beautiful, bringing it closer to the people and the reader. The queen lives luxuriously and righteously, knows how to “tame the excitement of passions,” eats simple food, sleeps little, giving preference to reading and writing... She has a lot of virtues, but if you consider that behind the mask of the Kirghiz-Kaisak princess hides the Russian empress, it’s not hard to guess that the image is idealized. Idealization in this ode is a tool of satire.
Enough attention is paid to the princess’s associates, who are preoccupied with wealth, fame, and the attention of beauties. Potemkin, Naryshkin, Alexey Orlov, Panin and others are easily recognizable behind the portraits created by Gavriil Derzhavin in the analyzed ode. The portraits are characterized by caustic satire; by daring to publish them, Derzhavin took a great risk, but he knew that the empress treated him favorably.
The lyrical hero remains almost unnoticeable among the gallery of bright satirical images, but his attitude towards the depicted is clearly visible. Sometimes he dares to give advice to the princess-empress herself: “From disagreement - agreement // And from fierce passions happiness // You can only create.” At the end of the ode, he praises Felitsa and wishes her all the best (this ending is traditional for an ode).
Metaphors, epithets, comparisons, hyperboles - all these artistic means have found a place in the poem “Felitsa”, but it is not they that attract attention, but the combination of high and low style. The work mixes book and colloquial vocabulary and vernacular.
The ode consists of 26 stanzas, 10 lines each. In the first four lines of the verse the rhyme is cross, then two lines have a parallel rhyme, the last four have a ring rhyme. The poetic meter is iambic tetrameter with pyrrhic. The intonation pattern corresponds to the ode genre: praises are occasionally reinforced by exclamatory sentences.
The ode “Felitsa” is the first embodiment of Russian life in “a funny Russian style,” as Derzhavin himself spoke of his creation.
Derzhavin Gavrila Romanovich (1743-1816). Russian poet. Representative of Russian classicism. G.R. Derzhavin was born near Kazan into a family of small landed nobles. The Derzhavin family originated from the descendants of Murza Bagrim, who voluntarily went over to the side of Grand Duke Vasily II (1425-1462), which is attested in a document from the personal archive of G.R. Derzhavin.
Derzhavin's work is deeply contradictory. While revealing the possibilities of classicism, he at the same time destroyed it, paving the way for romantic and realistic poetry.
Derzhavin's poetic creativity is extensive and is mainly represented by odes, among which civil, victorious-patriotic, philosophical and anacreontic odes can be distinguished.
A special place is occupied by civil odes addressed to persons endowed with great political power: monarchs, nobles. Among the best of this cycle is the ode “Felitsa” dedicated to Catherine II.
In 1762, Derzhavin received a call to military service in St. Petersburg, in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment. From this time on, Derzhavin’s public service began, to which the poet devoted over 40 years of his life. The time of service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment is also the beginning of Derzhavin’s poetic activity, which undoubtedly played an exceptionally important role in his career biography. Fate threw Derzhavin into various military and civilian positions: he was a member of a special secret commission, the main task of which was to capture E. Pugachev; For several years he was in the service of the all-powerful Prosecutor General Prince. A.A. Vyazemsky (1777-1783). It was at this time that he wrote his famous ode "Felitsa", published on May 20, 1873 in the "Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word".
"Felitsa" brought Derzhavin noisy literary fame. The poet was generously rewarded by the empress with a golden snuffbox sprinkled with diamonds. A modest official of the Senate department became the most famous poet throughout Russia.
The fight against the abuses of nobles, nobility and officials for the good of Russia was a defining feature of Derzhavin’s activities both as a statesman and as a poet. And Derzhavin saw the power capable of leading the state with dignity, leading Russia to glory, to prosperity, to “bliss” only in an enlightened monarchy. Hence the appearance in his work of the theme of Catherine II - Felitsa.
In the early 80s. Derzhavin was not yet closely acquainted with the empress. When creating her image, the poet used stories about her, the dissemination of which Catherine herself took care of, a self-portrait painted in her literary works, ideas preached in her “Instructions” and decrees. At the same time, Derzhavin knew very well many prominent nobles of Catherine’s court, under whose command he had to serve. Therefore, Derzhavin’s idealization of the image of Catherine II is combined with a critical attitude towards her nobles,
The very image of Felitsa, a wise and virtuous Kyrgyz princess, was taken by Derzhavin from “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” written by Catherine II for her grandchildren. "Felitsa" continues the tradition of laudable odes of Lomonosov and at the same time differs from them in its new interpretation of the image of the enlightened monarch. Enlightenment scholars now see in the monarch a person to whom society has entrusted the care of the welfare of citizens; he is entrusted with numerous responsibilities towards the people. And Derzhavin’s Felitsa acts as a gracious monarch-legislator:
Not valuing your peace,
You read and write in front of the lectern
And all from your pen
Shedding bliss to mortals...
It is known that the source of the creation of the image of Felitsa was the document “Order of the Commission on the Drafting of a New Code” (1768), written by Catherine II herself. One of the main ideas of the “Nakaz” is the need to soften existing laws that allowed torture during interrogations, the death penalty for minor offenses, etc., so Derzhavin endowed his Felitsa with mercy and leniency:
Are you ashamed to be considered great?
To be scary and unloved;
The bear is decently wild
Rip animals and drink their blood.
And how nice it is to be a tyrant,
Tamerlane, great in atrocity,
There you can whisper in conversations
And, without fear of execution, at dinners
Don't drink to the health of kings.
There with the name Felitsa you can
Scrape out the typo in the line
Or a portrait carelessly
Drop it on the ground.
What was fundamentally new was that from the very first lines of the ode the poet depicts the Russian Empress (and in Felitsa, readers easily guessed it was Catherine) primarily from the point of view of her human qualities:
Without imitating your Murzas,
You often walk
And the food is the simplest
It happens at your table...
Derzhavin also praises Catherine for the fact that from the first days of her stay in Russia she strove to follow in everything the “customs” and “rites” of the country that sheltered her. The Empress succeeded in this and aroused sympathy both at court and in the guard.
Derzhavin's innovation was manifested in "Felitsa" not only in the interpretation of the image of an enlightened monarch, but also in the bold combination of laudatory and accusatory principles, ode and satire. The ideal image of Felitsa is contrasted with negligent nobles (in the ode they are called “Murzas”). “Felitsa” depicts the most influential persons at court: Prince G. A. Potemkin, Counts Orlov, Count P. I. Panin, Prince Vyazemsky. Their portraits were so expressively executed that the originals were easily recognizable.
Criticizing the nobles spoiled by power, Derzhavin emphasizes their weaknesses, whims, petty interests, unworthy of a high dignitary. So, for example, Potemkin is presented as a gourmet and glutton, a lover of feasts and amusements; The Orlovs amuse “their spirit with fist fighters and dancing”; Panin, “giving up worry about all matters,” goes hunting, and Vyazemsky enlightens his “mind and heart” - he reads “Polkan and Bova”, “he sleeps over the Bible, yawning.”
Enlightenmentists understood the life of society as a constant struggle between truth and error. In Derzhavin’s ode, the ideal, the norm is Felitsa, the deviation from the norm is her careless “Murzas”. Derzhavin was the first to begin to depict the world as it appears to an artist.
The undoubted poetic courage was the appearance in the ode “Felitsa” of the image of the poet himself, shown in an everyday setting, not distorted by a conventional pose, not constrained by classical canons. Derzhavin was the first Russian poet who was able and, most importantly, wanted to paint a living and truthful portrait of himself in his work:
Sitting at home, I'll do a prank,
Playing fools with my wife...
The “eastern” flavor of the ode is noteworthy: it was written on behalf of the Tatar Murza, and eastern cities are mentioned in it - Baghdad, Smyrna, Kashmir. The end of the ode is in a laudatory, high style:
I ask the great prophet
I will touch the dust of your feet.
The image of Felitsa is repeated in Derzhavin’s subsequent poems, caused by various events in the poet’s life: “Gratitude to Felitsa”, “Image of Felitsa”, “Vision of Murza”.
The high poetic merits of the ode “Felitsa” brought it wide fame at that time in the circles of the most advanced Russian people. A. N. Radishchev, for example, wrote: “If you add many stanzas from the ode to Felitsa, and especially where Murza describes himself, almost poetry will remain without poetry.” “Everyone who can read Russian found it in their hands,” testified O. P. Kozodavlev, editor of the magazine where the ode was published.
Derzhavin compares Catherine's reign with the cruel morals that reigned in Russia during the Bironism under Empress Anna Ioannovna, and praises Felitsa for a number of laws useful for the country.
The ode "Felitsa", in which Derzhavin combined opposite principles: positive and negative, pathetic and satire, ideal and real, finally consolidated in Derzhavin's poetry what began in 1779 - mixing, breaking, eliminating the strict genre system
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." This work received its unusual name from the name of the heroine of “The Tale 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 became widespread and, with the assistance of Princess Dashkova, a close associate of the Empress, 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: On the other hand, the poet’s poems convey the idea not only of the wisdom of power, but also of the carelessness of performers concerned with their own benefit: This idea in itself was not new , but behind the images of the nobles drawn in the ode, the features of real people clearly appeared: In these images, the poet’s contemporaries easily recognized the favorite of the Empress Potemkin, her close associates Alexei Orlov, Panin, 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: 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 not only combines them in characterizing different persons depicted in the ode, he does something completely unprecedented for that time. Breaking the traditions of the laudatory ode genre, Derzhavin widely introduces colloquial vocabulary and even vernacular into it, but most importantly, he does not paint a ceremonial portrait of the empress, but depicts her human appearance. That is why the ode contains everyday scenes, the still life “Godlike” Felitsa, like other characters in his ode, is also shown in everyday life (“Without valuing your peace, / You read, you 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 the individual characters of real people, boldly taken from life or created by the imagination, shown against the backdrop of a colorfully depicted everyday environment. This makes his poems bright, memorable and understandable. 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 of Russian life, that it was the embryo of our novel. 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.”