Lesson #9
Subject : “Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787-1855): life and creative
Path. Anacreontic motifs in the lyrics of K.N. Batyushkov. Language
Lyrics by Batyushkov.
Goals:
- generalize and expand students’ knowledge about K.N. Batyushkov;
- consider the themes, motives and features of Batyushkov’s lyrics;
- improve skills in analyzing a lyric work.
Epigraph: “Live as you write and write as you live” (From Batyushkov’s article “Something about the poet and poetry”).
“Italian sounds! What kind of miracle worker is this Batyushkov!” (A.S. Pushkin).
During the classes
1.Organizing moment.
2.Record the lesson topic and epigraph. Setting goals.
3. Identification of students’ knowledge about K.N. Batyushkov.
4.Pages creative biography Batyushkova.
Students write down the main dates in a chronological table.
Name outstanding poet K.N.B. Not everyone knows now, but literary scholars know him as a luminary of Russian literature of the early 19th century, as an innovator in the field of Russian words, as a friend of Zhukovsky and Vyazemsky, as the beloved poet Pushkin.
May 18, 1787 – K.N. Batyushkov was born in Vologda, into an old noble family. He was brought up and studied in St. Petersburg in private foreign boarding houses and spoke many languages. Batyushkov’s literary pursuits were encouraged by his uncle, the then famous writer M.N. Muravyov.
1803 – joining the Ministry public education. Rapprochement with N.I. Gnedich. Interest in the art of antiquity, poetry of Greece and Rome.
Gnedich N.I. was best friend B. The friendship of these two poets is a separate page in the history of Russian literature. It was Gnedich who introduced B. into literary world, having read in literary circle the satire “Vision on the Shores of Lethe”, which made Batyushkov a recognized poet.
1805 . - first appearance in print on the pages of the Moscow magazine “News of Russian Literature”.
1807 – Batyushkov volunteered to join the active army, participated in the battle of Heilsberg (in Prussia). Injury, evacuation, serious illness. Return to Russia.
1808 - participation in Russian-Swedish war, which took place in Finland.
1812 - participant Patriotic War with Napoleon, showed courage in the fire near Leipzig, crossed the Rhine and celebrated the victory of Russian troops in Paris.
Batyushkov liked military life; evidence of this can be found in a letter to B. Gnedich dated March 19, 1807: “...I really like military craft. What will happen in future, God knows. Scold me, but I hate civilian service, I’m tired of ink; but I still love poetry, although they don’t love me... Imagine me, riding on a ryzhak along clean fields, and I am happier than all the kings, for dear I read Thassa or something similar. It happened that you shouted and said:
O wondrous valor, oh heroic deeds!
Straight on your side and off your horse!”
B. was the first Russian poet to glorify the joy of combat life - the brightness and liveliness of its flow. The article “Separation” is dedicated to this, which was appreciated by contemporaries and became a popular romance. In this article, the hussar takes an oath of allegiance to the shepherdess. Such a picture could only have arisen in the poet’s dreams, since in his real personal life he was unhappy. Girls did not like him because he was stooped, short and thin. Friends called B. “the Achilles of Russian poetry,” but he responded ironically: “Ah, Heel!”
1809-1814 – rapprochement with Karamzin writers: V. A. Zhukovsky, V. L. Pushkin, P. A. Vyazemsky. Joining the “Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts”, where admirers of Radishchev gathered. Passion for the philosophy of French enlighteners of the 18th century. Anacreontic and Epicurean motifs of creativity.
Why was B. called “Achilles of Russian poetry”?
A deep expert and connoisseur of antiquity K.N.B. organically assimilated the achievements of ancient culture, which was embodied in his articles. It seems that B.’s lyrics brought together all the ancient gods and goddesses and all the mythological creatures and heroes accompanying them legendary history and ancient authors. B. received other nicknames among his literary friends: “little Ovid” and “new Tibullus.” These are the names of famous ancient Greek poets whom B. adored, whose poetry he admired, and whose free translations he made.
During this period of creativity, Batyushkov’s role model is ancient Greek poet Anacreon ( SLIDE), who lived in the 5th centuryBC. Anacreon sang of sensual love, friends, the joys of life, wine. Imitation of Anacreon gave birth to Anacreontic poetry. In Russia, he was imitated by M.V. Lomonosov, G.R. Derzhavin, K.N. Batyushkov, A.S. Pushkin, A.N. Maikov.
1815 – B. retired and moved to Moscow. With literary friends they organized the Arzamas society, which existed until 1818. This society, in addition to Batyushkov, included famous Russian writers of that time V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky, V.L. Pushkin, A.I. Turgenev, A.S. Pushkin and others. Members of the society have done a lot to improve Russian literary language, bringing it closer to modern.
But soon the poet began to be tormented by a hereditary family illness - persecution mania. In 1821 . the last poems were written by him. Mental illness stopped him forever literary activity. They tried to treat him, took him to the Caucasus and Crimea, placed him in a mental hospital, then transported him to relatives in Vologda, where he lived until his death..
5. Let us dwell on some features of Batyushkov’s lyrics.
Researchers of the poet’s work identify three symbolic images that reflect the joy of earthly existence in the poet’s lyrics: the anacreontic image roses and images-emblems - wings, bowls.
Let's find these images in the article “Merry Hour”, in which the lyrical hero gives advice to his friends:
Others! Sit down and listen
Muses kind advice.
Do you want to live happily
At dawn spring years?
Drive away the ghost of glory!
For fun and entertainment
Sow roses along the way;
Let's say to youth: fly!
Just let me enjoy life,
Drinking a full cup of joy:
Oh! Not long to have fun
And not to live forever in happiness.
6.Analysis of the article “My penates”, “Bacchante”.
"MY PENATES"
The poem is written in the genre of a friendly message (i.e., a letter, an appeal to friends). It is dedicated to the poets V.A. Zhukovsky and P.A. Vyazemsky - contemporaries of Batyushkov.
Reference:
Zhukovsky V.A. - Russian poet, translator, critic. A.S. Pushkin considered Zhukovsky his teacher. Zhukovsky is the creator of the romantic movement in Russian poetry. In addition to his undoubted merits in the literary field, contemporaries note his high moral personal qualities Zhukovsky, whose main moral principle was the following: “Every day - a good deed, thought or feeling, another one was subsequently added to it: “The poet’s deeds are his words.”
Vyazemsky Pyotr Andreevich- prince, Russian poet, literary critic. He was a big fan of Pushkin’s work and his friend. It was Vyazemsky who was the first to be informed by Pushkin from Southern exile about the plan for the novel “Eugene Onegin”: “I am now writing not a novel, but a novel in verse - a devilish difference!” Vyazemsky penned memoirs in which he captured the details of life the most prominent representatives Russian culture of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Compositionally, the article is divided into 5 parts.
1) Reading part 1.
Dictionary:
Penates - father's house, shelter (on behalf of penates - ancient Roman gods, patrons of the hearth). Pestuny - those who raised and nurtured.
Incense - incense.
Permesian goddesses gift(Parnassian) - Mount Parnassus, on which the Muses lived, including the Muse of poetry
Lar - a good household deity.
Skudel - clay dishes.
Conclusion:
What is the mood of this piece?
How does the poet describe his father's home? Why is he dear to him?
2) Reading part 2.
How do you understand the meaning of this part?
What earthly joys does the poet glorify?
How are anacreontic motives manifested here?
Dictionary.
Bogey – danger, something that inspires fear.
3) Reading and discussion of part 3.
Dictionary.
Goddess is blind - Fortuna, goddess of fate.
4) Reading part 4.
-- How did you understand what you read?
(The poet calls his poetic giftheavenly inspiration.
He invites his favorite poets or their shadows to his penates for a conversation: “And the dead and the living joined in one choir.”
...You are in front of them,
Parnassian giant,
Singer of heroes, glory,
Following the whirlwinds and thunder,
Our majestic swan
You're floating through the skies.
This refers to G.R. Derzhavin, who compared himself to a swan in one article.
In the crowd there are muses and graces,
Now with a lyre, now with a trumpet,
Our Pindar, our Horace
He's loud, fast and strong
Like Suna among the steppes,
And gentle, quiet, touching,
Like a spring nightingale.
This refers to two directions in Derzhavin’s poetry (civil and intimate psychological). Suna – the river on which the Kivach waterfall is located, sung by Derzhavin in the ode “Waterfall”.
...A charming story
Karamzin captivates(Karamzin’s story “Athensian Life”)
That ancient Rus' and morals
Vladimir temporary...(meaning historical works N.M. Karamzina)
Behind them is a beautiful sylph,
The pupil harits,
On a sweet-voiced zither
He strums about my darling;
Meletsky with me
Calls with a smile...
Yu.A. Neledinsky-Meletsky is a sentimentalist poet.
I.I. Dmitriev, I.I. Khemnitser are poets and fabulists.
5) Reading part 5.
O grandson of Aristippus! –meaning P. Vyazemsky
Conclusions:
This article is about the meaning of life. It contains Anacreontic motifs: the poet glorifies the joys of life, love, friendship, and the joy of creativity.
The poet is confident that the home world, even marked by poverty, is more moral and purer than luxurious reality.
He considers his teachers best poets of their time and compares them with the favorite poets of Ancient Greece.
He treats life and death philosophically.
A.S. Pushkin assessed the article “My Penates” this way: “This article breathes with some kind of rapture of luxury, youth and pleasure, the syllable trembles and flows - the harmony is charming.”
"BACCHANTE"
Dictionary.
Bacchus (Dionysus) – V Greek mythology god of vegetation, wine and fun, patron of viticulture and winemaking. The son of Zeus and the daughter of the Theban king Cadmus Semele.
Bacchae – companions of Bacchus (Dionysus)
In Ancient Rome, bacchanals were held - holidays dedicated to Dionysus.
Tympanum – ancient percussion musical instrument, type of cymbals, timpani.
What is the image of a young bacchante? What attracts you to her?
Let's characterize phonetic features text. What consonant sounds predominate in it? (r, v, l)
What mood does the abundance of these sounds give to st-y?
(These are sonorant sounds. They are not heavy, so they give language st-i lightness and airiness, create a joyful mood).
Entry in a dictionary notebook.
Euphony (translated from Greek - euphony) - naturalness and beauty of sound artistic speech. Poetic phonetics. Alliteration. Assonances. Rhymes. Avoiding dissonant, difficult to pronounce and perceive combinations of consonants in a word (Pu ps is crazy. Oh, more often okoladom! – in K. Chukovsky’s book “From Two to Five”)
7. Lesson summary.
Explain the meaning of the expression “anacreontic motives of Batyushkov’s creativity.”
What feeling is imbued with early work Batyushkova? Slide 2
“Live as you write and write as you live” (From Batyushkov’s article) Hood. Yu.Ivanov K.N.Batyushkov. 1980s
N.I. Gnedich (far right) among other writers (I.A. Krylov, A.S. Pushkin, V.A. Zhukovsky) in the painting by G. Chernetsov
Anacreon. 5th century BC e.
Others! Sit down and listen to the Muse’s gentle advice. Do you want to live happily at the dawn of spring? Drive away the ghost of glory! For fun and amusement Sow roses along the way; Let's say to youth: fly! Just let me enjoy life, Drink joy with a full cup: Ah! You can’t have fun for long and you can’t live forever in happiness.
P.A. Vyazemsky V.A. Zhukovsky
Artist S. Solomko. Bacchus
Dionysus. (Dionysus riding a leopard).
Hood. M. Jose. Bacchanalia
Topic: “Philosophical elegies of K. Batyushkov”
Periodization of K.N. Batyushkov’s creativity: 1st period - 1802-1812. 2nd period – (1812-early 1814) 3rd period – (mid 1814 1821)
Hood. V.B.Iovik. Friend's shadow. 1986
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov was the most talented poet of his time. This man knew how to enjoy all the joys of life, sang love and friendship I [but at the same time he was occupied heroic theme, which was given a significant place in the work of Konstantin Nikolaevich. The poet, like any thinking person with civic integrity, could not remain indifferent to the War of 1812. Batyushkov himself knew firsthand what military operations were. In 1807, he was the commander of a hundred in the St. Petersburg police battalion, and took part in the second Russian War against France. And at the Battle of Heilsberg, Batyushkov was seriously wounded and was saved, one might say, only by a miracle: he was found on the battlefield among the dead.
In 1812, Batyushkov was retired, but decided to go back to military service. In October 1812 he wrote to P. A. Vyazemsky. “I made up my mind, and firmly decided to go to the army, where duty calls, and reason, and heart, heart, Cherished peace by the terrible incidents of our time.”
During the war, Batyushkov was at the epicenter historical events. He
fought at Dresden, Teplitz, Leipzig, etc. The poet on own experience And(knew) all the horror of war. Batyushkov believed that the main advantage of a poet is the truthfulness of the image. Konstantin Nikolaevich wrote: “Live as you write, and write as you live.” In verse, dedicated to the war 1812, clearly visible tragic motives. The message “To Dashkov” helps to understand the emotional state of the poet, who was an eyewitness and participant in military actions. It is especially difficult for Batyushkov to realize that the Motherland is suffering and innocent people are dying. In his poems, he conveys his own position to those around him and talks about the monstrous injustice of the war.
My friend! I saw a sea of evil and vengeful heat from the sky, frantic enemies, war and disastrous fires; I saw hosts of rich people running in tattered rags, I saw pale mothers. From the dear homeland of the exiled; I saw them at the crossroads...
Batyushkov is convinced that the poet’s duty is so difficult time convey to others the whole tragedy of the war. He rejects Dashkov's advice to continue love lyrics. Batyushkov argues that the poet should not remain aloof from events affecting the fate of his native country.
And you, my friend, my comrade, command me to sing love and joy, carelessness, happiness and peace, and noisy youth over the cup, amidst the stormy weather of war, under the terrible glow of the capital, to the voice of the peaceful horsewomen, to call the shepherdesses to a round dance, for me to sing the insidious amusements of Armid and the windy Circe Among the graves of my friends. Lost on the field of glory!... Years, no, my talent perish And the lyre, precious to friendship, When you will be forgotten by me, Moscow, the golden land of the fatherland!
(“To Dashkov”).
In 1813, Batyushkov wrote the historical elegy “The Crossing of Russian Troops across the Neman.” In this work, the poet talks about how the invasion ended, the Russian army liberated the Motherland and entered the enemy’s land. The verses depict the road along which the enemy army passed. From Batyushkov's lines we learn about abandoned villages, about corpses that were left in the snow. But the poet paints not only gloomy pictures. In this work you clearly feel faith in the mighty power of the Russian people. The elegy is very patriotic, the poet’s faith in the indestructibility of Russia is obvious.
In 1814, Batyushkov wrote the elegy “Prisoner”. This work tells how a captive Cossack remembers his native Don, his dear land. The melancholy of the unfortunate captive is associated with the image of snow. Everything connected with a foreign country does not please the Cossack. For him, the memories of the Fatherland are much closer and sweeter, even if they may seem ordinary. The Cossack says: “What joys in a foreign land! They are in their native lands...” This work again reveals a patriotic theme. Love to home country is for Batyushkov one of the main values inherent in a person.
In 1816-1817, Batyushkov created the work “Crossing the Rhine”. In this work, the poet depicts war scenes and also reflects on the country’s past. The patriotic theme receives its new, vibrant development.
Knowing well all the hardships of wartime, Batyushkov did not skimp on color in describing everything he saw. The poet repeatedly mentioned pictures of war. For example, the poem message “N. I. Gnedich" shows us the "sad car-
I will kick the marching life.
11o gloomy impressions cannot obscure for the poet the joy that a real warrior experiences, aware of his strength. The message “To N. M. Muravyov” (IN17) contains the following lines:
... How fun it is before the formations to fly on a savage horse And s. be the first in the smoke, in the fire, to strike with a scream after the enemies...
Pride in his people, in their strength and courage, is something Batyushkov takes for granted. Even in war, spectacle can be beautiful, despite the contradictory nature of the situation.
The columns moved like a forest, And behold... What a beautiful sight!... They are coming. Silence is terrible! They are walking, gun at the ready; They're coming... Hurray! And they broke everything, scattered and destroyed. Hooray! Hooray! - and where is the enemy? He’s running... And we’re in his houses...
(“To N. M. Muravyov”).
Batyushkov's poetry is perceived by modern readers with great interest. The patriotic theme is revealed deeply, which makes it possible to better understand the attitude of the poet himself to the historical fate of his Motherland.
Batyushkov was born on May 18, 1787 in Vologda. He belonged to an old but impoverished noble family. B.'s mother belonged to the Berdyaev family. in 1795, the mother dies of mental illness (B. expects madness). B.'s father, a great book lover, who had collected a rich library on his estate, managed to give his son good image. B studied in private French and Italian boarding schools, which affected his literary tastes. M.N. Muravyov had a great influence on him, shaping his literary interests. Young B. acquired extensive knowledge in the field of ancient, French, and Italian literature.
Having communicated a lot with M.N. Muravyov, B came up with an idea of an ideal person in whom a highly moral character and the ability to self-denial are combined with a love of life. An enlightened and humane writer, Karamzin’s predecessor in the creation of Russian sentimentalism, an expert on ancient literature, a trustee of Moscow University, M. N. Muravyov developed the doctrine of man’s innate moral sense, of happiness as a feeling clear conscience. Under the influence of teaching and lyric poetry M. N. Muravyov in Batyushkov’s lyrics of those years infused “sensitivity” and morality into Epicureanism. The poet's Epicureanism included as an absolutely necessary enjoyment of spiritual joys. Batyushkov once faced a difficult choice between “his own well-being” and the “misfortune” of another. This was due to his undivided love for Anna Furman, a pupil of A. N. Olenin. Already preparing to marry the girl he passionately loved, the poet found the strength to abandon her as soon as he realized that she did not love him and her consent to the marriage was forced. He went through several tormenting years without revealing the reasons for his seemingly strange behavior, so as not to incur the displeasure of the family who cared for her on the girl.
Great place Military service took over his life. He took part in 3 wars and considered war a negative experience for poetry: 1).Campaign in Prussia (1807) 2)In the Swedish campaign.Campaign on the Alan Islands (1809) 3)European campaign (1813-1814). B. didn't military career and became a civil servant. He served in the Russian embassy in Italy. It was there that the mental illness that he feared all his life began. Friends placed B. in a psychiatric clinic, where his sister was always next to him, who a little later fell ill herself. B.'s illness was violent. But he wrote and drew.
B. is a man of not a very happy fate and is poetic. and life. He did not have his own family. he was replaced by a family of sisters and nephews. And he is the poet of one book in 1817, the two-volume “Experiments in Poetry and Prose” B was born great poet, but remained within the boundaries of one book. His tragedy lies in the incompleteness of his life’s journey. After all, he did not have time to fully express himself. Many people considered B. a strange person. The meaning of strangeness is in the duality of character: 2 hours, one is kind, generous, sweet, the other is evil, insidious, greedy. The type of strange ch-ka is premature old age of the soul, the cause of which was disappointment, because he had a too vulnerable and sensitive soul.
2 PERIODS OF LYRIC BATYUSHKOV stand out.
1st period - hedonic In the first half of his creative life, before the War of 1812, B developed his own “little” philosophy, as he put it. An admirer of Montaigne and Voltaire, B uniquely combined skepticism with sensitivity and hedonism. Paradoxically, it was precisely the cruel historical experience that gave birth to B’s life and poetic philosophy - the humane epicureanism of his youth, the deification of personal happiness.
The poet was never a supporter of revolutionary enlightenment with its grandiose plans for a reasonable reorganization of the world. Disappointment in the “Age of Enlightenment” brought B closer to his older contemporary, Karamzin. But B’s position differed from Karamzin’s position, which was not devoid of fatalism. According to Karamzin, a person and his life are an inevitable mixture of shadow and light, good and evil, sadness and joy, continuously turning into one another and inseparable from each other. Hence Karamzin’s “melancholy”. Karamzin felt precisely pity for the person, and not admiration for him (his sentimentalism was based on this). According to B, the meaning of life is in the joy it gives.
The lyrics of this period are born from a feeling of dissatisfaction with the action. Action and ideal are equally significant for both romantics and realists. But it differed in realism and romanticism in its dominance. For realism, the main thing is the figurative reproduction of objective reality in relation to the artist’s ideal. For a romantic, it is a figurative recreation of the ideal in relation to action. The craving for the unattainable and the main thing is the dream of an ideal world. B. has a disorder m-y ideal and reality. The main thing is the dream of another world.
Software verse given period - “Dream” 1810. He worked on the poem for 13 years and revised it 4 times. A dream for B is a shield from evil sadness, it is what gives the poet bliss and happiness. The poet calls upon the dream “the daughter of the silent night.” His imagination takes him to the Selma forests. From this world, he is transported by a dream to the image of his beloved woman. Plunging into the “romantic” mists, the poet forgets the sad action. A dream can give you solace. The poet contrasts the happiness of dreams with the “empty splendor of glory” and the “brilliance of vanities.” “Dreaming is the soul of poets and poems” - the cult of dreams.
The main genre of this period is Message .(“to Gnedich”, “to Zhuk-mu”, “to Vyazems”, etc.). In “Message to Chloe,” the poet contrasts his hut, where he retired with Chloe, to the “light” with whom he broke up. Romantic antithesis expressed high world human personality and imperfection of action.
The poem “My penates” was written in 1811-1812, published in 1814. The entire poem is built on the contrast of the modest position and lifestyle chosen by the hero, “wealth with vanity.” The hero finds happiness “in an unknown country” in love and friendship, in wine and fun, in reading poets and in poetic TV. A dream about another world, about another person. In the poem there are images of antiquity, the realities of the ancient world. B. masters the philosophy of antiquity. The hero is not afraid of death, he challenges it boldly.
Feature of the hero of the lyrics B.1st period: not a double of the author. A clear contrast between reality and the “other” world. The qualities of the hero and the author are opposite. The hero is the embodiment of a dream. The hero is immersed in a certain conventional literary action. The ideal is in antiquity.
The beloved hero B. appears in the lyrics under a conventional literary name or is expressed by the pronoun SHE.
B. writes about earthly, sensual love - “graceful eroticism.”
The erotic theme is given by the poet to the lyrical hero and has not an autobiographical (also not a genre), but an aesthetically broader function.
For Batyushkov, love, like beauty, is the “personification” of life, an image, a symbol of earthly life. The qualities that the hero of Batyushkov’s lyre is endowed with are intended to symbolize the fullness of physical being. This is youth, the feeling of falling in love, beauty.
The beloved of Batyushkov's hero is always perfectly beautiful. Her lips are certainly scarlet, her eyes are blue, her “lanits” glow like roses, her curls fall in a golden or chestnut wave; her hands are lilies, etc. She is fragrant and decorated with fragrant flowers. Batyushkov claims that beauty is the most important property of life and belongs only to it. Batyushkov's admiration for beauty has a deeper meaning than the aesthetics and eroticism of light poetry XVIII century (“poésie fugitive”). The love of Batyushkov’s lyrical hero (which Belinsky also drew attention to) is covered in an aura of spirituality. There is “a lot of tenderness in her,” Belinsky wrote, “and sometimes a lot of sadness and suffering.”
Batyushkov’s lyrical hero is often presented as a certain ancient character, burning incense before the altar of the household gods, pursuing a bacchante at the festival of Erigone, etc. He is depicted using the material and spiritual attributes of antiquity, its life and mythology, surrounded by muses, nymphs, altars, idols gods.
Antiquity was for Batyushkov the ideal of harmonious relationships between man and the world. That is why the importance of the ancient theme in his poetry is so great.
The border between the 2 periods of TV in B. appeared in 1812.
Seized by a strong patriotic feeling, B voluntarily joined the active army in 1813, was an adjutant of General N.N. Raevsky, participated in the battle of Leipzig and, together with Russian troops, entered Paris. However, Fatherland of War B perceived the events in many ways differently than most of his contemporaries. Despite the victorious progress of the war, bitterness and disappointment grew in him. The horror of the crimes of the “educated barbarians” (the French) who invaded Russia darkened for him the joy and pride of victory. In this B was alone - Russian society was dominated by a mood of general uplift and bright hopes. The same year of 1812, which sharply increased general activity and gave impetus to the Decembrist movement, plunged Batyushkov into dark thoughts. He becomes disillusioned with the ideas of the Enlightenment. B-a is no longer attracted to Epicureanism, even in that elegant form that admired him from M. N. Muravyov. The poet now considers the only means of salvation christian religion. Earthly life for B-temporary life. He considered him a wanderer on earth.
B. is developing philosophy of asceticism V earthly world he sees no hope for joy. The task of the h-ka is to survive all earthly suffering. B’s religiosity is mournful, B’s hero was too strongly attached to earthly life. Lyrics of the 2nd period - a conscious renunciation of Epicureanism and a dispute with the 1st period
The main genre of lyrics of the 2nd period is elegy genre .
There are 2 types of elegies: intimate(“Shadow of a Friend”, “My Genius”, “Separation”, “I Feel”, etc.) and Historical(“transition of Russian troops across the Neman”, “ transition h-z Rhine")
“intimate” elegy is an elegy of disappointment. The feeling of grief is due to unhappy love, loss of friendship, personal emotional experience. B achieves here not only emotional tension, but also genuine psychologism.
The lyricism of B's most intimate elegies is very soft, gentle, restrained. Lyric self-disclosure is achieved not so much by immersion in oneself, but by depicting the external world, awakening the poet’s feelings. Thus, in “Recovery” and especially in “My Genius,” the compositional center is the image of a beloved woman, to whom the poet’s grateful delight is addressed.
The discord between the infinitely attractive world and the soul, which in its melancholy is alien to pleasure, was for the first time in Russian poetry put into the basis of the composition itself.
All of his later TV is permeated with a feeling of acute tragedy, a feeling of the irrevocability of happiness. Overwhelmed by fear of the revolution, its violence and destructive force, he fears for Russia. It is possible that his awareness of the existence of secret December societies played a role in the catastrophic exacerbation of hereditary mental illness that excluded Batyushkov from life in the early 1820s. The son of his elder friend and teacher, M.N. Muravyov, Nikita Muravyov was one of the organizers of the movement, and this aggravated the poet’s anxiety. But here, too, an insoluble contradiction arose before B. In his social and political views, he was a liberal. The feudal reaction, the eradication of the “free spirit” excited by the revolution, disgusted him and forced him to sharply criticize the internal and external policies of the Russian autocracy.
The charm of B's poetry lies in the amazing interweaving of the illusory and the real.
B himself clearly recognizes the unreality of his utopia (after all to modern man no longer become an “ancient” person), but he endows his dream with all the colors of life, its best things - love, joy, pleasures, youth, beauty.
The life of Batyushkov’s lyrical hero is given as a deliberate utopia, as a “decorated world of fiction” (expression by V.V. Vinogradov). Hence the deliberate use of motifs, plots, images of ancient and new European lyrics.
B.became structural element for the development of poetry. We can find his TV channels in Brotsky, Tyutchev, Annensky, Lerm and other writers.
We can determine the historical and literary significance of B in the words of Belinsky: “Batyushkov contributed a lot to the fact that Pushkin appeared as he really appeared. This merit alone on B.’s part is enough for his name to be pronounced in the history of Russian literature with love and respect.”
119 poems were written, of which 26 were translations and 6 imitations. His most popular original poems: “Recovery”, “Happy Hour”, “My Penates”, “To D.V. Dashkov”, “Crossing the Rhine”, “Shadow of a Friend”, “On the ruins of the castle of Sweden”, “Tavrida” , “Separation”, “Awakening”, “Memories”, “My Genius”, “Hope”, “The Dying Tass”, “Bacchae”, “From the Greek Anthology”.
Batyushkov has 27 prose works (from 1809 - 1816), distinguished by stylistic merits. The main ones: “Excerpt from letters of a Russian officer from Finland”, “ Word of praise sleep", "Walk around Moscow", "About the poet and poetry", "Walk through the Academy of Arts", "Speech about mild influence poetry into language" (to which he attached great importance), "On the works of Muravyov", "Evening at Kantemir's", "Something about morality based on philosophy and religion." It is impossible not to mention “Batiushkov’s notebook entitled: “Someone else’s is my treasure.” This book contains a lot of translations, but also various memories, sketches, independent thoughts that are not devoid of interest.
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov. Portrait of work unknown artist, 1810s
Batyushkov’s correspondence with friends, especially with Gnedich, to whom 85 letters were written, has almost the same significance. Of Batyushkov’s comic works, the most famous are “Vision on the Shores of Lethe” and “Singer in the Camp of the Slavic-Russians.” Both are dedicated to ridiculing the Conversations party with Shishkov at the head.
Batyushkov’s main merit lies in the development of verse; he completely mastered its harmony and realized that he needed to learn it from the Italian poets, of whom he had always been a passionate admirer. Constant models for translations were: Casti, Petrarch, Tibullus, Guys, Tasso, Batyushkov’s ideal was Ariosto. “Take the soul of Virgil,” he writes, the imagination of Tassa, the mind of Homer, the wit of Voltaire, the good nature of La Fontaine, the flexibility of Ovid—here is Ariost.” Belinsky wrote about Batyushkov: “Such poems are excellent even in our time; at their very first appearance they should have given rise to general attention, as a harbinger of an imminent revolution in Russian poetry. These are not yet Pushkin’s poems, but after them one should have expected not just any other poems, but Pushkin’s.” He “prepared the way” for Pushkin, whose first works were imitations of Batyushkov. The young man Pushkin found dissonance in Zhukovsky’s poems and, striving for perfection, imitated Batyushkov.
KONSTANTIN BATYUSHKOV. "Hope". Bible story. Video
We must not forget that if Karamzin had predecessors such as Fonvizin and Derzhavin, then Batyushkov had no one and completely independently developed the harmony of the verse. His poetry is distinguished by its extraordinary sincerity. “Live as you write (he says) and write as you live: otherwise all the echoes of your lyre will be false.” Batyushkov remained faithful to this ideal throughout his life.
His poetry is partly of a non-Russian character, divorced from his native soil. The influence of Italian poets was reflected in the epicurean direction of Batyushkov’s lyre. The move away from motives more characteristic of Russian nature was further facilitated by the struggle with the Shishkovists, who deeply outraged the poet. “You must love your fatherland; whoever does not love him is a monster. But is it possible to love ignorance? Is it possible to love morals and customs from which we have been separated for centuries and, what is even more, for a whole century of enlightenment?
Batyushkov’s poetry, distinguished by its sincerity, was in close connection with his personal life. Just as his life up to joining the militia, his poetry was meaningless. After he survived the war and traveled abroad, his poetry took on a more serious direction (“
K.N. Batyushkov 1787–1855
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov entered Russian history literature of the 19th century V. as one of the founders of romanticism. His lyrics were based on “light poetry,” which in his mind was associated with the development of small genre forms(elegy, epistles), brought to the forefront of Russian poetry by romanticism and the improvement of the literary language. All these products included in volume 2 of the collection “Experiments in Poems and Prose” (1817). In 1816 he wrote “A Speech on the Influence of Light Poetry on Language.”
Batyushkov is the immediate predecessor of Pushkin. Poet of early Russian romanticism (pre-romantic). Connecting lit. discoveries of classicism and sentimentalism, he became one of the founders of the new Russian. let's modernize poetry.
B. was born into an old noble family. His mother Alexandra Grigorievna died of souls. illness when he was 8 years old. Home raised and educated by his grandfather Lev Andreevich Batyushkov. He studied in private boarding schools, spoke fluent French and Italian. and Lat.
In 1802-1807. served as an official in the Ministry of Education. In his youth he thoroughly studied ancient poetry(Virgil, Horace), philosophy French Enlightenment(Voltaire, Diderot, d'Alamabert), literature of the Italian Renaissance.
His cousin, writer M.N., had a huge influence on the formation of Batyushkov’s cultural interests. Muravyov, who served as Comrade Minister of Public Education. Years later, after the death of his mentor, Batyushkov, in a letter of 1814 to V.A. Zhukovsky will write: “I owe him everything”
At his uncle's house he meets the greatest writers and cultural figures Russia: G.R. Derzhavin, V.V. Kapnist, I.A. Krylov, A.E. Izmailov, V.A. Ozerov, N.A. Lvov, A.N. Olenin. Under their direct influence, Batyushkov’s humanistic ideas are formed, interest in creativity is awakened, literary taste is formed, and spiritual self-improvement becomes a lifelong program. He has a need to find his own independent path in literature, to have his own position, independent of the opinion of the majority. It was at this time that Batyushkov’s formation began as a personality capable of irreconcilable opposition to society.
Periodization of Batyushkov’s creativity:
- according to Korovin:
1802–1808 – student period;
1809–1812 – the beginning of original creativity;
1812–1816 – spiritual and poetic crisis;
1816–1823 (the poet almost stopped writing poetry in 1821) - attempts to overcome the crisis and reach new frontiers of creativity; tragic ending creative development.
II) Moscow. Anoshkin-Petrov school
1802-1912 – creation of “light poetry”
1812-1813, spring 1814 - abandonment of Epicureanism, becoming historical. thinking, interest in history. and personality. B. interprets it pre-romantically.
ser. 1814 – 1821 – change in the pre-romantic world, enrichment of the pre-romantic world. trends.
Creative the path began in 1805. Batyushkov takes part in meetings of the “Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts”, attends the circle of A.N. Venison. At this time, his interest in ancient and Western European philosophy further strengthened. He is read by Epicurus, Lucretius, Montaigne.
Batyushkov made his debut in print with the satire “Message to My Poems” (1805), and on initial stage satire became the leading genre of the poet's work. But in some works the motifs of pre-romanticism are already appearing. He was attracted by the “light poetry” of antiquity. peace, love. lyrics of Anacreon and Sappho, Horace and Tibulus. He also became interested in the “light poetry” of the French poets Tricourt and Parni.
In 1807, Batyushkov dramatically changed his life: he enrolled in civil uprising and goes on a campaign to Prussia. In May 1807, in one of the battles, a bullet hit the spinal cord, which later became the cause of great physical suffering for the poet. But Batyushkov retired only in 1809.
After that, he led a camping lifestyle. This manifested itself in constant mental unsettlement, in acute attacks of “the blues”, “wanderlust”; he did not live in one place for more than six months.
Published in 1809, the satire A Vision on the Banks of Lethe opened mature stage creativity of Batyushkov. The author assessed modern authors: none of his contemporaries stood the test in Lethe (“the river of oblivion of poetry”). The only poet, worthy of immortality, Batyushkov called I.A. Krylov. “The Vision...” was published only in 1814, but became known immediately after it was written and was distributed in many copies.
Due to illness, the poet did not join the active army during the Patriotic War of 1812, but experienced all the “horrors of war.” “The terrible actions of the vandals or the French in Moscow and its environs,” the poet writes, “actions unparalleled in history itself, completely upset my little philosophy and quarreled me with humanity.” He expressed his moods and feelings in the poem “To Dashkov” (1813). What he saw forced Batyushkov to rethink his work, and he abandoned the previous themes of his works.
Batyushkov reflected his impressions of the battles and the everyday life of the army in the poems “Prisoner”, “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden”, “Crossing the Rhine” and in the essays “Memories of places, battles and travels”, “Travel to Sirey Castle”. Readers were surprised by the accuracy of the depiction of war and the feelings of a Russian soldier.
In the period from 1810 to 1812, Batyushkov became close to N.M. Karamzin, V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky and other famous writers of that time. He becomes a representative of “light poetry”, glorifying love, friendship, joy of life, personal freedom. But the poet’s rapture of life and youth is combined with a premonition of a crisis. Contradictions were the main feature of Batyushkov's poems. (
In 1814-1817, Batyushkov is deservedly considered the first poet of Russia. But it was during this period that he experienced ideological and psychological crisis. The poet abandons satire and rethinks the content of “light poetry.” Philosophical and religious reflections, motives of tragic love, and the artist’s eternal discord with reality appear in his poems. Hopelessness becomes the main theme of many of his poems (My genius, Separation, To a friend, Awakening, Taurida).
In 1817, Batyushkov’s collection “Experiments in Poems and Prose” was published. The first, prose volume contained translations, philosophical articles, discussions about literature, studies about writers of the past, and the first art history essay in Russian literature. In the second volume, the poems were combined according to genre criteria: “Elegies”, “Epistle”, “Mixture”.
In B.'s poetry language followed. Karamzin's reforms, the goal of which is to bring books closer together. language colloquial, “refine” the language. as a means of expressing internal peace chka, expand the vocabulary. coloring sl.
The main motive of poetry: glorification of love and life. The poetry of K.N. Batyushkov attracts with its lyrical penetration, the author’s romantic aspiration to the ideal, euphony, musicality, and the “golden strings” of the verse. Despite the tragedy of his personal fate, Batyushkov’s poems contain a lot of light and spiritual harmony.
Batyushkov’s innovation lies in the fact that the feeling of disappointment receives historical motivation, thanks to which the elegy becomes a meditation on the philosophical and historical theme of the bleak vicissitudes of a merciless fate.("On the ruins of a castle in Sweden")
The result of sad reflections on the fate of man was the poem “To a Friend,” one of the poet’s best. It is addressed to Prince P.A. Vyazemsky. In it, Batyushkov says goodbye to his youth.
That. Lyrics 1817-1821 – anthological. verse: elegy of the dying TASS, gazebo of the muses, new edition of the dream message “To Nikita” and “To Turgenev”.
Belinsky highly appreciated the significance of Batyushkov’s creativity. He noted the sign of thinness. images and plasticity, both chapters. distinguishes especially
Batyushkov's creativity is the pinnacle of Russian pre-romanticism.
Batyushkova’s lyrics have survived their time and have not lost their charm to this day. Its aesthetic value lies in the pathos of “community”, in the poetic experience of youth and happiness, the fullness of life and the spiritual inspiration of a dream. But the poet’s historical elegies also retain poetic appeal both for their humane moral tendency and for the vivid painting of lyrical-historical pictures.
Periodization according to Korovin:
- The first period of creativity (1802-1812) is the time of the creation of “light poetry”. Batyushkov was also its theoretician. “Light poetry” turned out to be the link that connected the middle genres of classicism with pre-romanticism. The article “A Speech on the Influence of Light Poetry on Language” was written in 1816, but the author summarized his creative experience different poets, including your own. He separated “light poetry” from the “important genres” - epic, tragedy, solemn ode and similar genres of classicism. The poet included “small genera” of poetry in “light poetry” and called them “erotic.” He connected the need for intimate lyrics, conveying in an elegant form (“politely”, “noble” and “beautifully”) a person’s personal experiences with the social needs of the enlightened age. The theoretical premises revealed in the article about “light poetry” were significantly enriched by the poet’s artistic practice.
His “light poetry” is “social” (the poet used this characteristic word for him). For him, creativity is inspired literary communication with loved ones. Hence the main genres for him are the message and dedication close to him; the recipients turn out to be N.I. Gnedich, V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky, A.I. Turgenev (brother of the Decembrist), I.M. Muravyov-Apostol, V.L. Pushkin, S.S. Uvarov, P.I. Shalikov, just friends, often poems are dedicated to women with conventional names - Felisa, Malvina, Lisa, Masha. The poet loves to talk in poetry with friends and loved ones. The dialogic principle is also significant in his fables, for which the poet also had a great penchant. The imprint of improvisations and impromptu lies on small genres - inscriptions, epigrams, various poetic jokes. Elegies, appearing already at the beginning creative path poet, will become the leading genre in his future work.
Batyushkov is characterized by high performance about friendship, the pre-romantic cult of “kinship of souls”, “spiritual sympathy”, “sensitive friendship”.
Six poetic messages Batyushkov Gnedich were created in the period from 1805 to 1811, they largely clarify the originality of his work at the first stage. The conventions of the genre did not at all deprive Batyushkov’s message of autobiography. The poet conveyed his moods, dreams, and philosophical conclusions in verse.
- Second period of creativity. Participation in the events of the Patriotic War of 1812. The formation of Batyushkov’s historical thinking.
1812-1813 and the spring of 1814 stand out as an independent period of the poet’s work, who experienced a real turning point, a complete rejection of Epicureanism youth; At this time, the formation of Batyushkov’s historical thinking took place.
Participating in the events of the Patriotic War, he connected his historical mission as an eyewitness, witness to outstanding achievements, with his writing. His letters of those years, especially to N.I. Gnedich, P.A. Vyazemsky, E.G. Pushkina, D.P. Severin, simultaneously conveyed the course of historical events and inner world a man of that time, a citizen, a patriot, a very receptive, sensitive person.
In the letters of the second half of 1812 there is confusion, anxiety for family and friends, indignation against the “vandals” of the French, strengthening of patriotic and civic sentiments. Batyushkov’s sense of history is formed and developed in the code of the Patriotic War. He is increasingly aware of himself not just as a spectator of events (“everything happens before my eyes”), but as an active participant in them: “So, my dear friend, we have crossed the Rhine, we are in France. This is how it happened..."; "We entered Paris<...>amazing city." It's clear historical meaning what is happening: “It’s like a day here, it’s an era.”
The letters and poems include the idea of the relativity of values in the light of history - and a central philosophical question arises, borne out in the vicissitudes of time: “What is eternal, pure, immaculate?” And just as in his letters he declared that historical vicissitudes “surpass any concept” and everything seems as irrational as a dream, so in poetry the reflective poet does not find an answer to questions about the meaning of history. And yet the desire to understand its laws does not leave him. - The third period of Batyushkov’s creative development - from mid-1814 to 1821. Pre-romantic art world the poet's style is modified, enriched with purely romantic elements and trends. The lyrical "I" of his poems and his lyrical heroes not only dream and feel complete happiness, but are immersed in thoughts about life. Batyushkov’s philosophical interests and activities were reflected in the genre of elegies, which have now become central place in his poetry. In the elegies - the poet’s lyrical reflection on human life, historical existence. Batyushkov's pre-romanticism received civic content. The elegiac message “To Dashkov” was followed by original historical elegies. They reveal the first trends of romantic historicism. Strong romantic beginnings in the elegy "Dying Tass".