Silver age of Russian poetry. Features of Russian poetry of the Silver Age

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

INSTITUTE OF AGROECOLOGY - BRANCH OF FSBEI HPE "ChSAA"

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANIZATION AND ELECTRIFICATION

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

TOPIC: “Russian poetry of the Silver Age”

Completed by: Sitdikova Alina

Checked: Art. Teacher

Shulakova E.L.

Introduction

Late 19th - early 20th century. The feeling of an approaching catastrophe: retribution for the past and hope for great turning point was in the air. The time was felt as borderline, when not only the old way of life and relationships are gone, but also the system of spiritual values itself requires radical changes.

Socio-political tensions arise in Russia: a general conflict in which protracted feudalism and the inability of the nobility to fulfill the role of organizing society and develop a national idea, and the age-old hatred of the peasant for the master, who did not want concessions, were intertwined - all this gave rise to a feeling among the intelligentsia of approaching upheavals.

And at the same time a sharp surge, flourishing cultural life. Russian poetry developed especially dynamically at this time. Later, the poetry of this time was called the “poetic renaissance” or “silver age.” This phrase was initially used to characterize the peak phenomena of poetic culture at the beginning of the 20th century. However, gradually the term “Silver Age” began to be attributed to that part of the entire artistic culture of Russia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, which was associated with symbolism, Acmeism, “neo-peasant” and partly futuristic literature.

A new movement is developing in literature - modernism. In turn, it is divided into the following directions: symbolism, acmeism, futurism.

Symbolism

Symbolism (from the Greek Symbolon - conventional sign) is a literary and artistic movement that considered the goal of art to be an intuitive comprehension of world unity through symbols. The unifying principle is earthly semblance of divine creativity . The key concept of symbolism is a symbol - a polysemantic allegory (F. Sologub: a symbol is a window to infinity). The symbol reflects the comprehension of the unity of life, its true, hidden essence.

Aesthetics of symbolism:

) Behind the rough and boring everyday life hides a mysterious ideal world that can only be revealed with the help of hint symbols;

) The task of poetry is to express all life through these symbols special language, rich in poetic intonations;

) Only art can penetrate into the essence of existence, since it is capable of comprehending the world with omnipotent intuition.

Main features of symbolism:

Dual world: departure from the real earthly and the creation of an ideal world of dreams and mysticism, existing according to the laws of Eternal Beauty;

Images-symbols: the language of premonitions, hints, generalizations, mysterious visions, allegories;

Symbolism of color and light: azure, purple, gold, shadows, shimmer;

The poet is the creator of ideal worlds - mystical, cosmic, divine;

Language: orientation towards classical verse, exquisite imagery, musicality and lightness of syllable, attitude to the word as a code, symbolic content of everyday words.

The Symbolist movement arose as a protest against the impoverishment of Russian poetry, as a desire to say a fresh word in it, to return it vitality. Russian symbolism differed sharply from Western symbolism in its entire appearance - spirituality, diversity of creative units, the height and richness of its achievements.

Symbolist poets were Bryusov, Merezhkovsky, Blok, Balmont, Gippius, Ivanov, Andrei Bely, Baltrushaitis. Their ideologist was D. Merezhkovsky, and their teacher was V. Bryusov.

Merezhkovsky outlined his views first in a report (1892), and then in the book “On the Causes of Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature” (1893). These thoughts were caused by a feeling of insoluble spiritual contradictions of the time. The way out of this situation was predicted through the rise to an “ideal human culture” as a result of the discovery divine essence peace. This goal was to be achieved by art with the help of symbols pouring out from the depths of the artist’s consciousness. Merezhkovsky established three main elements of modern poetry: “mystical content, symbols and the expansion of artistic impressionability.” He developed his concept into journalistic articles and trilogy of bright historical novels"Christ and Antichrist" (1896-1905).

K. Balmont defended a different idea of new literature in the article “Elementary words about symbolic poetry” (1900). The main thing here was the desire for “more refined ways of expressing feelings and thoughts” in order to “pronounce” - “as if against the will” of the author - the mysterious “speak of the elements” of the Universe, world chaos. In artistic creativity, “a powerful force was seen, striving to guess new combinations of thoughts, colors, sounds,” to express through these means the inarticulate hidden principles of the cosmos. Such refined skill appeared in the rich, moving, poetic world of Balmont himself.

V. Bryusov in the article “Keys of Secrets” (1904) wrote: “Art is the comprehension of the world in other, unreasonable ways. Art is what in other fields we call revelation.” Science was opposed to intuitive insight at the moment of creative inspiration. And symbolism was understood as a special literary school.

A. Bely put forward his view on new poetry. In the article “On Religious Experiences” (1903), the inspirer of the “Young Symbolists” argued for “the mutual contact of art and religion.” In his later memoirs, A. Bely clearly defined the awakening of the “Young Symbolists” of the early 900s: “to get closer to the world soul,” to convey Her voice in subjectively lyrical publications.” Dreams of the future soon became clearer.

A. Bely responded to politics (the events of 1905) with the article “Green Meadow,” where, based on “ terrible revenge“Gogol drew a symbolic image: Russia is a “sleeping beauty that will never be awakened from sleep.” A. Bely called for a mystical comprehension of the soul of the homeland, “the consciousness of the modern soul,” and called his concept “the religion of life.”

All symbolic programs were perceived as a new word in aesthetics. However, they were closely connected with world culture: German idealistic philosophy (I. Kant, A. Schopenhauer), French poetry(Sh Bolder. P. Werpin), with the symbolic language of O. Wilde, M. Maeterlinck, and the late G. Ibsen.

Domestic literary classics gave the symbolists the main thing - an understanding of man and his homeland, its culture. In the works of the 19th century. These sacred values were acquired.

In Pushkin’s legacy, the symbolists saw a merger with the kingdom divine harmony, at the same time - bitter thoughts about Russian history, the fate of the individual in the city Bronze Horseman. The great poet attracted people with his insights into the ideal and real spheres of life. The “demonic” theme in Lermontov’s poetry had special power, attracting to heavenly and earthly secrets. Magnetism came from Gogol's concept of Russia in its unstoppable movement towards the future. Duality as a dark phenomenon of the human spirit, discovered by Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, determined almost the leading search of poets at the turn of the century. In the philosophical and religious revelations of these Russian geniuses, the Symbolists found a guiding star for themselves. Their thirst for touching the “secret of the secret” was answered differently by Tyutchev, Fet, Polonsky. Tyutchev’s comprehension of the connections between “those” and “these” worlds, the relationship between reason, faith, intuition, and creativity clarified much in the aesthetics of symbolism. Fet was dear to the image of an artist leaving his “native borders” in the pursuit of an ideal, transforming a boring reality with an uncontrollable dream.

The immediate forerunner of the Symbolists was Vl. Solovyov. IN reality, he believed, chaos suppresses “our love and does not allow its meaning to be realized.” Revival is possible in rapprochement with the Soul of the World, eternal femininity. It is She who connects natural life with Divine Being, earthly beauty with heavenly truth. A special role in the rise to such heights was given to art, since in it “the contradiction between the ideal and the sensual, between the soul and the thing is abolished.”

The name "Acmeism" comes from the Greek. acme - tip, top.

The theoretical basis is the article by N. Gumilyov “The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism.” Acmeists: N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, S. Gorodetsky, M. Kuzmin.

Acmeism is a modernist movement that declared a concrete sensory perception of the external world, returning the word to its original, non-symbolic meaning.

The acmeist association itself was small and existed for about two years (1913-1914).

At the beginning of his creative path young poets, future acmeists, were close to symbolism, visited Ivanovo environments - literary meetings at Vyach’s St. Petersburg apartment. Ivanov, called tower . IN tower Classes were held with young poets, where they learned versification. In October 1911, listeners of this poetic academy founded a new literary association Workshop of poets . Shop was a school professional excellence, and its leaders were the young poets N. Gumilyov and S. Gorodetsky. They are in January 1913 in the magazine Apollo published declarations of the acmeist group.

The new literary movement, which united great Russian poets, did not last long. The creative searches of Gumilyov, Akhmatova, Mandelstam went beyond the scope of Acmeism. But humanistic meaning This movement was significant - to revive a person’s thirst for life, to restore the feeling of its beauty. It also included A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich, V. Narbut and others.

Acmeists are interested in the real, not other world, the beauty of life is in its concrete - sensual manifestations. The vagueness and hints of symbolism were contrasted with a major perception of reality, the reliability of the image, and the clarity of the composition. In some ways, the poetry of Acmeism is a revival golden age , the time of Pushkin and Baratynsky.

The highest point in the hierarchy of values for them was culture, identical to universal human memory. That is why Acmeists often turn to mythological subjects and images. If the Symbolists focused their work on music, then the Acmeists focused on the spatial arts: architecture, sculpture, painting. The attraction to the three-dimensional world was expressed in the Acmeists' passion for objectivity: a colorful, sometimes exotic detail could be used for purely pictorial purposes.

Acmeism aesthetics:

the world must be perceived in its visible concreteness, appreciate its realities, and not tear yourself away from the ground;

we need to revive love for our body, the biological principle in man, to value man and nature;

the source of poetic values is on earth, and not in the unreal world;

In poetry, 4 principles must be fused together:

) Shakespearean traditions in depiction inner world person;

) traditions of Rabelais in glorifying the body;

) Villon's tradition in chanting the joys of life;

) Gautier's tradition in celebrating the power of art.

Basic principles of Acmeism:

liberation of poetry from symbolist appeals to the ideal, returning it to clarity;

rejection of mystical nebula, acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity, visible concreteness, sonority, colorfulness;

the desire to give a certain word, exact value;

objectivity and clarity of images, precision of details;

appeal to a person, to the “authenticity” of his feelings;

poeticization of the world of primordial emotions, primitive biological natural origin;

roll call with the past literary eras, the broadest aesthetic associations, “longing for world culture.”

Distinctive features of Acmeism:

hedonism (enjoyment of life), Adamism (animal essence), Clarism (simplicity and clarity of language);

lyrical plot and depiction of the psychology of experience;

colloquial elements of language, dialogues, narratives.

In January 1913 Declarations from the organizers of the acmeistic group N. Gumilyov and S. Gorodetsky appeared in the Apollo magazine. It also included Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich and others.

In the article “The Legacy of Symbolism and Acmeism,” Gumilyov criticized the mysticism of symbolism, its fascination with the “region of the unknown.” Unlike his predecessors, the leader of the Acmeists proclaimed “the intrinsic value of each phenomenon,” in other words, the value of “all brother phenomena.” And he gave the new movement two names and interpretations: Acmeism and Adamism - “a courageously firm and clear view of life.”

Gumilyov, however, in the same article affirmed the need for Acmeists to “guess what the next hour will be for us, for our cause, for the whole world.” Consequently, he did not refuse insights into the unknown. Just as he did not deny art its “worldwide significance to ennoble human nature,” which he later wrote about in another work. The continuity between the programs of the Symbolists and Acmeists was clear

The immediate forerunner of the Acmeists was Innokenty Annensky. “The source of Gumilyov’s poetry,” wrote Akhmatova, “is not in the poems of the French Parnassians, as is commonly believed, but in Annensky. I trace my “beginning” to Annensky’s poems.” He had an amazing, acmeist-attracting gift for artistically transforming impressions of an imperfect life.

The Acmeists spun off from the Symbolists. They denied the mystical aspirations of the Symbolists. The Acmeists proclaimed the high intrinsic value of the earthly, local world, its colors and forms, called to “love the earth”, to talk as little as possible about eternity. They wanted to sing earthly world in all its multiplicity and strength, in all its carnal, weighty certainty. Among the Acmeists are Gumilev, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Kuzmin, Gorodetsky.

Futurism

Futurism (from Latin Futurum - future) is the general name of the artistic avant-garde movements of the 1910s - early 1920s. XX century, primarily in Italy and Russia.

The Futurists entered the literary arena somewhat earlier than the Acmeists. They declared the classics and all old literature as something dead. “Only we are the face of our time,” they argued. Russian futurists are a distinctive phenomenon, like a vague premonition of great upheavals and expectations of grandiose changes in society. This needs to be reflected in new forms. “It’s impossible,” they argued, “rhythms modern city convey in Onegin's stanza."

Futurists generally denied the previous world in the name of creating the future; Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov, Severyanin, Guro, Kamensky belonged to this movement.

In December 1912, the first declaration of the Futurists was published in the collection “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste,” which shocked the reader. They wanted to “throw the classics of literature off the boat of modernity,” expressed “irresistible hatred of the existing language,” and called themselves “the face of the times,” the creators of a new “inherent Word.” In 1913, this scandalous program was concretized: denial of grammar, syntax, spelling native language, glorifying the “mystery of imperious insignificance.”

The real aspirations of the futurists, i.e. “budetlyans,” revealed V. Mayakovsky: “to become the creator of one’s own life and a legislator for the lives of others.” The art of words was given the role of transformer of existence. In a certain area - " big city" - the “birthday of a new man” was approaching. For this purpose, it was proposed, in accordance with the “nervous” urban situation, to increase the “vocabulary with new words” and to convey the pace of street traffic with “disheveled syntax.”

The futurist movement was quite broad and multidirectional. In 1911, a group of ego-futurists arose: I. Severyanin, I. Ignatiev, K. Olimpov, etc. Since the end of 1912, the association “Gileya” (cubo-futurists) was formed: V. Mayakovsky and N. Burlyuk, V. Khlebnikov, V. Kamensky. In 1913 - “Centrifuge”: B. Pasternak, N. Aseev, I. Aksenov.

All of them are characterized by an attraction to the nonsense of urban reality, to word creation. Nevertheless, the futurists in their poetic practice were not at all alien to traditions Russian poetry.

Khlebnikov relied heavily on experience ancient Russian literature. Kamensky - on the achievements of Nekrasov and Koltsov. I. Severyanin highly respected A.K. Tolstoy, A.M. Zhemchuzhnikov and K. Fofanov, Mirra Lokhvitskaya. The poems of Mayakovsky and Khlebnikov were literally “stitched” with historical and cultural reminiscences. And Mayakovsky called Chekhov the urbanist the forerunner of Cubo-Futurism.

E ?gofuturi ?zm is a Russian literary movement of the 1910s, which developed within the framework of futurism. In addition to general futuristic writing, egofuturism is characterized by the cultivation of refined sensations, the use of new foreign words, ostentatious selfishness.

In 1909, a circle of St. Petersburg poets formed around Igor Severyanin, which in 1911 adopted the name “Ego,” and in the same year I. Severyanin independently published and sent to newspaper offices a small brochure entitled “Prologue (Egofuturism).” In addition to Severyanin, the group included poets Konstantin Olimpov, Georgy Ivanov, Stefan Petrov (Grail-Arelsky), Pavel Kokorin, Pavel Shirokov, Ivan Lukash and others. Together they found a society of egofuturists, published several leaflets and manifestos formulated in extremely abstract and esoteric expressions (for example, “The Prism of Style - Restoration of the Spectrum of Thought”); The following poets were declared the forerunners of the ego-futurists: old school", like Mirra Lokhvitskaya and Olympov's father Konstantin Fofanov. The group members called their poems “poets.” The first group of egofuturists soon disintegrates. In the fall of 1912, Igor Severyanin separated from the group, quickly gaining popularity among Russian Symbolist writers and then the general public.

The organization and promotion of egofuturism was undertaken by the 20-year-old poet Ivan Ignatiev, who founded the “Intuitive Association”. Ignatiev got down to business actively: he wrote reviews, poems, and the theory of egofuturism. In addition, in 1912, he founded the first ego-futuristic publishing house, “Petersburg Herald,” which published the first books by Rurik Ivnev, Vadim Shershenevich, Vasilisk Gnedov, Graal-Arelsky and Ignatiev himself. Ego-futurists were also published in the newspapers “Dachnitsa” and “Nizhegorodets”. For the first time, egofuturism was opposed to cubofuturism (futureism) regionally (St. Petersburg and Moscow) and stylistic feature. In 1914, the first general performance of ego-futurists and byutlyans took place in Crimea; At the beginning of this year, Severyanin briefly spoke with the Cubo-Futurists, but then decisively dissociated himself from them. After Ignatiev's suicide, the Petersburg Herald ceases to exist. The main ego-futurist publishing houses are the Moscow Mezzanine of Poetry by Vadim Shershenevich and the Petrograd Enchanted Wanderer by Viktor Khovin.

Egofuturism was a short-term and uneven phenomenon. Bo ?Most of the attention of critics and the public was transferred to Igor Severyanin, who quite early distanced himself from the collective politics of the ego-futurists, and after the revolution he completely changed the style of his poetry. Most ego-futurists either quickly outlived the style and moved on to other genres, or quickly abandoned literature completely. Imagism of the 1920s was largely prepared by egofuturist poets.

According to Andrei Krusanov, a researcher of the Russian avant-garde, an attempt to continue the traditions of ego-futurism was made in the early 1920s. members of the Petrograd literary groups “Abbey of Gaers” and “Ring of Poets named after. K.M. Fofanova." If the “Abbey of Gaers” was simply a circle that united young poets Konstantin Vaginov, brothers Vladimir and Boris Smirensky, K. Mankovsky and K. Olimpov, and little is known about its activities, then the “Ring of Poets” created in 1921 (V. and B. Smirensky, K. Vaginov, K. Olimpov, Graal-Arelsky, D. Dorin, Alexander Izmailov) tried to organize high-profile performances, announced a wide publishing program, but was closed by order of the Petrograd Cheka on September 25, 1922.

New Peasant Poetry

The concept of “peasant poetry,” which has entered the historical and literary circles, unites poets conventionally and reflects only some common features inherent in their worldview and poetic manner. They did not form a single creative school with a single ideological and poetic program. Surikov shaped “peasant poetry” as a genre. They wrote about the work and life of the peasant, about the dramatic and tragic conflicts of his life. Their work reflected both the joy of the merging of workers with the natural world, and the feeling of hostility to the life of a stuffy, noisy city alien to living nature. The most famous peasant poets of the Silver Age were: Spiridon Drozhzhin, Nikolai Klyuev, Pyotr Oreshin, Sergei Klychkov. Sergei Yesenin also joined this trend.

Imagism

Imagini ?zm (from Latin imago - image) is a literary movement in Russian poetry of the 20th century, whose representatives stated that the goal of creativity is to create an image. The main expressive means of imagists is metaphor, often metaphorical chains that compare various elements two images - direct and figurative. The creative practice of Imagists is characterized by shocking and anarchic motives.

Imagism as a poetic movement arose in 1918, when the “Order of Imagists” was founded in Moscow. The creators of the “Order” were Anatoly Mariengof, who came from Penza, former futurist Vadim Shershenevich, and Sergei Yesenin, who was previously part of the group of new peasant poets. Features of a characteristic metaphorical style were also contained in more early work Shershenevich and Yesenin, and Mariengof organized a literary group of imagists back in hometown. The imagist “Declaration”, published on January 30, 1919 in the Voronezh magazine “Sirena” (and on February 10 also in the newspaper “ Soviet country", the editorial board of which included Yesenin), in addition to them were signed by the poet Rurik Ivnev and artists Boris Erdman and Georgy Yakulov. On January 29, 1919, the first literary evening Imagists. Poets Ivan Gruzinov, Matvey Roizman, Alexander Kusikov, Nikolai Erdman, Lev Monoszon also joined imagism.

In 1919-1925. Imagism was the most organized poetic movement in Moscow; they arranged popular creative evenings in artistic cafes, many author and collective collections were published, the magazine “Hotel for Traveling in Beauty” (1922-1924, 4 issues were published), for which the publishing houses “Imaginists”, “Pleiad”, “Chikhi-Pikhi” and “Sandro” were created "(the last two were led by A. Kusikov). In 1919, the Imagists entered the literary section of the Literary Train named after. A. Lunacharsky, which gave them the opportunity to travel and perform throughout the country and largely contributed to the growth of their popularity. In September 1919, Yesenin and Mariengof developed and registered with the Moscow Council the charter of the “Association of Freethinkers” - the official structure of the “Order of Imagists”. The charter was signed by other members of the group and approved by the People's Commissar of Education A. Lunacharsky. On February 20, 1920, Yesenin was elected chairman of the Association.

In addition to Moscow (“Order of Imagists” and “Association of Freethinkers”), centers of imagism existed in the provinces (for example, in Kazan, Saransk, in the Ukrainian city of Alexandria, where the poet Leonid Chernov created an imagist group), as well as in Petrograd-Leningrad. The emergence of the Petrograd “Order of Militant Imagists” was announced in 1922 in the “Manifesto of Innovators”, signed by Alexei Zolotnitsky, Semyon Polotsky, Grigory Shmerelson and Vlad. Korolevich. Then, instead of the departed Zolotnitsky and Korolevich, Ivan Afanasyev-Soloviev and Vladimir Richiotti joined the Petrograd Imagists, and in 1924 Wolf Ehrlich.

Some of the Imagist poets presented theoretical treatises (“The Keys of Mary” by Yesenin, “Buyan Island” by Mariengof, “2x2=5” by Shershenevich, “The Basics of Imagism” by Gruzinov). The Imagists also became notorious for their shocking antics, such as “renaming” Moscow streets, “trials” of literature, and painting walls Passionate Monastery anti-religious inscriptions.

Imagism actually collapsed in 1925: Alexander Kusikov emigrated in 1922, Sergei Yesenin and Ivan Gruzinov announced the dissolution of the Order in 1924, other imagists were forced to move away from poetry, turning to prose, drama, and cinema, largely for the sake of making money. Imagism was criticized in the Soviet press. Yesenin was found dead in the Angleterre Hotel, Nikolai Erdman was repressed.

The activities of the Order of Militant Imagists ceased in 1926, and in the summer of 1927 the liquidation of the Order of Imagists was announced. The relationships and actions of the Imagists were then described in detail in the memoirs of Mariengof, Shershenevich, and Roizman.

Russian poetry Silver Age

Conclusion

The names of such remarkable poets as Blok, Annensky, Georgiy Ivanov, Balmont, Mayakovsky, Esenin, Mandelstam, Akhmatova, Gumilyov, Boloshin, Pasternak, are associated with the Silver Age. Severyanin, Bryusov, Tsvetaeva, Bely and other second-rate literary scholars claim that it’s all over after 1917, with the beginning of the civil war. There was no Silver Age after that. In the twenties, the inertia of the former liberality of poetry continued. There were some literary associations, for example, the House of Arts, the House of Writers, “World Literature” in Petrograd, but these echoes of the Silver Age were drowned out by a shot , who ended the life of Gumilyov. The Red Age emigrated - to Berlin, to Kostantinople, to Prague, Sofia, Belgrade, Rome , Harbin, Paris. But in the Russian diaspora, despite complete creative freedom and abundance of talent, the Silver Age could not be revived. Apparently, there is a law in human culture according to which Renaissance is impossible outside of national soil. And the artists of Russia have lost such soil. To its credit, the emigration took upon itself the care of preserving the spiritual values of the recently revived Russia. In many ways, this mission was fulfilled by the memorial genre. In the literature of foreign countries, these are entire volumes of memoirs signed by big names of Russian writers.

The retribution was cruel: many poets died, many died in exile, and their ashes are now in a foreign land. But in this beautiful and dramatic epic of the Silver Age, the magical beauty and nobility of the thoughts of the Russian soul remained, to which we, modern Russians, will always look back in a nostalgic impulse.

List of sources used

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.Danilov A.A. History of Russia, 20th century: Textbook for 9th grade. - M.: Education, 2001.

.Martynov V.F. Culturology. Theory of culture: textbook./V.F. Martynov - Higher School, 2008.

.Mezhuev V.M. Culture as a problem of philosophy // Culture, man and the picture of the world. - M.: Education, 1987.

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The emergence of new directions, trends, styles in art and literature is always associated with an understanding of the place and role of man in the world, in the Universe, with a change in man’s self-awareness. One of these turning points occurred at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Artists of that time advocated a new vision of reality, looking for original artistic media. The outstanding Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaev called this short but surprisingly bright period the Silver Age. This definition primarily applies to Russian poetry of the early twentieth century. The Golden Age is the age of Pushkin and Russian classics. It became the basis for revealing the talents of the poets of the Silver Age. In Anna Akhmatova’s “Poem without a Hero” we find the lines:

And the silver month floated brightly above the silver age.

By the end of the 19th century, symbolist poets, who later began to be called “senior” symbolists, loudly declared themselves - Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, K. Balmont, F. Sologub, N. Minsky. Later, a group of “young symbolist” poets arose - A. Bely, A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov. A group of Acmeist poets was formed - N. Gumilyov, O. Mandelstam, S. Gorodetsky, A. Akhmatova and others. Poetic futurism appears (A. Kruchenykh, V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky). But despite all the diversity and variety of manifestations in the work of artists of that time, similar trends are observed. The changes were based on common origins. The remains were falling apart feudal system, there was a “ferment of minds” in the pre-revolutionary era. This created absolutely new environment for the development of culture.

In poetry, music, and painting of the Silver Age, one of the main themes was the theme of freedom of the human spirit in the face of Eternity. Artists sought to unravel the eternal mystery of the universe. Some approached this with religious positions, others admired the beauty of the world created by God. Many artists perceived death as another existence, as a happy deliverance from the torment of the suffering human soul. The cult of love, intoxication with the sensual beauty of the world, the elements of nature, and the joy of life were unusually strong. The concept of “love” was deeply labored. Poets wrote about love for God and for Russia. In the poetry of A. Blok, Vl. Solovyov, V. Bryusov, Scythian chariots rush, pagan Rus' is reflected in the canvases of N. Roerich, Petrushka dances in the ballets of I. Stravinsky, a Russian fairy tale is recreated (“Alyonushka” by V. Vasnetsov, “The Leshy” by M. Vrubel).

Valery Bryusov at the beginning of the twentieth century became a generally recognized theorist and leader of Russian symbolism. He was a poet, prose writer, literary critic, scientist, encyclopedic educated person. The beginning of Bryusov’s creative activity was the publication of three collections “Russian Symbolists”. He admired poetry French Symbolists, which is reflected in the collections “Masterpieces”, “This is Me”, “The Third Watch”, “To the City and the World”.

Bryusov showed great interest in other cultures, in ancient history, in antiquity, and created universal images. In his poems the Assyrian king Assargadon appears as if alive, the Roman legions pass by and great commander Alexander the Great, showing medieval Venice, Dante and more. Bryusov led major magazine Symbolists "Libra". Although Bryusov was considered a recognized master of symbolism, the principles of writing of this direction had a greater impact on early poems, such as “Creativity” and “To the Young Poet”.

Idealistic thinking soon gave way to earthly, objectively significant topics. Bryusov was the first to see and predict the onset of a cruel industrial age. He chanted human thought, new discoveries, was interested in aviation, predicted space flights. For his amazing performance, Tsvetaeva called Bryusov a “hero of labor.” In the poem “Work” he formulated his life goals:

I want to experience the secrets of Life wise and simple. All paths are extraordinary, The path of labor is like a different path.

Bryusov remained in Russia until the end of his life; in 1920 he founded the Institute of Literature and Art. Bryusov translated the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Armenian poets.

Konstantin Balmont was widely known as a poet and enjoyed enormous popularity for the last ten years. years XIX century, was the idol of youth. Balmont's work lasted more than 50 years and fully reflected the state of transition at the turn of the century, the fermentation of the minds of that time, the desire to withdraw into a special, fictional world. At the beginning of his career, Balmont wrote many political poems, in which he created a cruel image of Tsar Nicholas II. They were secretly passed from hand to hand, like leaflets.

Already in the first collection, “Under the Northern Sky,” the poet’s poems acquire grace of form and musicality.

The theme of the sun runs through the poet’s entire work. For him, the image of the life-giving sun is a symbol of life, living nature, with which he always felt an organic connection: Material from the site

I came into this world to see the Sun and the blue horizon. I came into this world to see the Sun. And the heights of the mountains. I came to this world to see the Sea and the lush color of the valleys. I made peace. In one glance, I am the ruler...

In the poem “Verblessness,” Balmont brilliantly notes special condition Russian nature:

There is a tired tenderness in Russian nature, The silent pain of hidden sadness, The hopelessness of grief, voicelessness, vastness, Cold heights, receding distances.

The very title of the poem speaks of the absence of action, of the immersion of the human soul in a state of wise contemplation. The poet conveys various shades of sadness, which, growing, pours out in tears:

And the heart has forgiven, but the heart has frozen, And it cries, and cries, and cries involuntarily.

The poets of the Silver Age were able to use bright strokes to add capacity and depth to the content of poems that reflected the flow of feelings and emotions, the complex life of the soul.

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Briefly about the Silver Age
Russian literature of the late 19th century
the theme of freedom in poetry
Russian literature early 19th century summary
brief description of the Silver Age

The Silver Age of Russian poetry dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, although its beginning is the 19th century, and all its origins are in the “Golden Age”.
In fact, this is not even a century, it is a grandiose layer, in terms of the quantitative and qualitative composition of poets, which no other century can compare with.
The term “Silver Age” itself is figurative and very conventional. It was proposed (perhaps even as a joke) by the philosopher N. Berdyaev,
but they picked it up and firmly entered the literary community in the 60s of the twentieth century. The main feature is mysticism, a crisis of faith, inner spirituality, and conscience.
Poetry was the sublimation of internal contradictions, mental disharmony, mental illness.
All the poetry of the “Silver Age”, fully embodying the heritage of the Bible, the experience of world literature, ancient mythology, in heart and soul, turned out to be closely connected with Russian folklore, local folk tales and ditties, songs and laments. However, there is an opinion that the “Silver Age”- a Western phenomenon. Perhaps he embodied the pessimism of Schopenhauer, the aestheticism of Oscar Wilde, something of Alfred de Vigny, Nietzsche's superman. There is also an assumption that this is a “quality” name. There is a golden age with A.S. Pushkin, and there is a silver age, which did not reach the golden age in quality.

Works of poets of the Silver Age.

It was a creative world full of sunshine, thirsting for beauty and self-affirmation. And although the name of this time is “silver”, undoubtedly, it was the most striking and creative milestone in Russian history.
The names of the poets who formed the spiritual basis of the Silver Age are known to everyone: Sergei Yesenin, Valery Bryusov, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Alexander Blok, Maximilian Voloshin, Andrei Bely, Konstantin Balmont, Anna Akhmatova, Nikolai Gumilev, Marina Tsvetaeva, Igor Severyanin Boris Pasternak and many others.
In its most intense form, the essence of the Silver Age burst out at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was the rise of poetry in a variety of colors and shadows - artistic, philosophical, religious. Poets fought against attempts to link human behavior with the social environment and continued the trend of Russian poetry, for which a person was important as he is, important in his relationship to the Creator, in his thoughts and feelings, his personal attitude to eternity, to Love and Death in all manifestations and meanings. Six poets of the Silver Age especially succeeded in this - V. Mayakovsky, N. Gumilyov, S. Yesenin, A. Blok, A. Akhmatova, I. Severyanin.

They firmly believed in art, in the power of words. Therefore, their creativity is deep dive into the element of words and puzzled by the search for new means of expression. They respected not only the meaning, but also the style - sound, word form and complete immersion in the elements were important to them.
It was expensive. Almost all the poets of the Silver Age were unhappy in personal life, and many of them ended badly. Although, by and large, almost all poets are not very happy in their personal lives, and in life in general.
“The Silver Age of Russian Poetry” is a surprisingly complex, but at the same time amazing canvas, with origins from the 90s of the 19th century.

The Silver Age of Russian poetry is the period at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This is the heyday of poetry, philosophical and religious thought. Main directions and schools of the Silver Age:

Modernism. Modernism as one of the leading movements in art of the early 20th century. Prerequisites for modernism and its constituent movements in Russian literature (the romantic poetry of V. A. Zhukovsky, the philosophical lyrics of F. I. Tyutchev, the theory of “pure art,” the impressionistic lyrics of A. A. Fet). The essence of modernism and its miscalculations (modernists were blinded by the “crazy dream of being only artists in life” (E. Zola). The main feature of modernism is subjectivity. The difference between modernism as a literary movement and decadence as special type consciousness. Symbolism, Acmeism and Futurism as the main trends of modernism.

Symbolism. On initial stage of his existence reflected decadent tendencies - despondency, fear of life, disbelief in human capabilities(N. Minsky, D. Merezhkovsky, 3. Gippius). Then K. Balmont, V. Bryusov, F. Sologub, I. Annensky, Vyach joined the symbolists. Ivanov, A. Blok, A. Bely. Central themes Symbolists become: personality, history, eternity. The idea of constructing the world in the process of creativity. Refusal of rationality in art. Symbol as a means of conveying contemplated secret meanings, a central aesthetic category. The pathos of a tragic worldview. Interest in issues of cultural traditions different nations. Senior Symbolists: V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, F. Sologub.

3. Gippius. Young Symbolists: Vyach. Ivanov, A. Bely, A Blok, S. Soloviev Artistic Features: cult of form, musicality of the poem. The crisis of symbolism.

Acmeism. Acmeism as national uniform neo-romanticism. The connection between the poetics of symbolism and acmeism (article by N. Gumilyov “The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism”). Courageous and strong outlook on life. Features of the style: consistency of artistic concept, harmony of composition, clarity of organization of all elements of the artistic form. Category of memory in creativity. Acmeist poets: N. S. Gumilev, O. E. Mandelstam, A. A. Akhmatova, S. M. Gorodetsky, G. I. Ivanov, V. N. Narbut and others.

Futurism. The emergence of futurism. Russian futurism: cubofuturism. egofuturism. Futurists' rejection of the old culture. The desire for a rational basis for creativity. The dream of the birth of art that can transform the world. Setting for shockingness. The purpose of creativity is to motivate action. Search new form expressiveness: onomatopoeia, word creation, poster techniques, graphic verse (“ladder” by Mayakovsky). Not only new, but a new and definitive word in art - these are the guidelines of futurism. Futurists: I. Severyanin. V. Mayakovsky, D. Burliuk, V. Kamensky and others.

The emergence of new directions, trends, styles in art and literature is always associated with an understanding of the place and role of man in the world, in the Universe, with a change in man’s self-awareness. One of these turning points occurred at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Artists of that time advocated a new vision of reality and searched for original artistic means. The outstanding Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaev called this short but surprisingly bright period the Silver Age. This definition primarily applies to Russian poetry of the early twentieth century. The Golden Age is the age of Pushkin and Russian classics. It became the basis for revealing the talents of the poets of the Silver Age. In Anna Akhmatova’s “Poem without a Hero” we find the lines:

And the silver moon is bright
Floated over the Silver Age.

Chronologically, the Silver Age lasted one and a half to two decades, but in terms of intensity it can safely be called a century. It turned out to be possible thanks to the creative interaction of people of rare talents. The artistic picture of the Silver Age is multi-layered and contradictory. Various artistic movements, creative schools, and individual non-traditional styles arose and intertwined. The art of the Silver Age paradoxically united the old and the new, the passing and the emerging, turning into a harmony of opposites, forming a culture of a special kind. During that turbulent time, a unique overlap occurred between the realistic traditions of the outgoing golden age and new artistic movements. A. wrote: “The sun of naive realism has set.” It was a time of religious quest, fantasy and mysticism. The synthesis of arts was recognized as the highest aesthetic ideal. Symbolist and futurist poetry, music pretending to be philosophy, decorative painting, a new synthetic ballet, decadent theater, and the “modern” architectural style arose. The poets M. Kuzmin and B. composed music. Composers Scriabin, Rebikov, Stanchinsky practiced some in philosophy, some in poetry and even prose. The development of art occurred at an accelerated pace, with great intensity, giving birth to hundreds of new ideas.
By the end of the 19th century, symbolist poets, who later began to be called “senior” symbolists, loudly declared themselves - Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, K. Balmont, F. Sologub, N. Minsky. Later, a group of “young symbolist” poets arose - A. Bely, A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov. A group of Acmeist poets was formed - N., O., S. Gorodetsky, A. and others. Poetic futurism appears (A. Kruchenykh, V., V. Mayakovsky). But despite all the diversity and variety of manifestations in the work of artists of that time, similar trends are observed. The changes were based on common origins. The remnants of the feudal system were disintegrating, and there was a “ferment of minds” in the pre-revolutionary era. This created a completely new environment for the development of culture.
In poetry, music, and painting of the Silver Age, one of the main themes was the theme of freedom of the human spirit in the face of Eternity. Artists sought to unravel the eternal mystery of the universe. Some approached this from a religious position, others admired the beauty of the world created by God. Many artists perceived death as another existence, as a happy deliverance from the torment of the suffering human soul. The cult of love, intoxication with the sensual beauty of the world, the elements of nature, and the joy of life were unusually strong. The concept of “love” was deeply labored. Poets wrote about love for God and for Russia. In the poetry of A. Blok, Vl. Solovyov, V. Bryusov, Scythian chariots rush, pagan Rus' is reflected in the canvases of N. Roerich, Petrushka dances in the ballets of I. Stravinsky, a Russian fairy tale is recreated (“Alyonushka” by V. Vasnetsov, “The Leshy” by M. Vrubel).
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Valery became a generally recognized theorist and leader of Russian symbolism. He was a poet, prose writer, literary critic, scientist, encyclopedic educated person. The beginning of Bryusov’s creative activity was the publication of three collections “Russian Symbolists”. He admired the poetry of the French symbolists, which was reflected in the collections “Masterpieces”, “This Is Me”, “The Third Watch”, “To the City and the World”.
Bryusov showed great interest in other cultures, in ancient history, in antiquity, and created universal images. In his poems, the Assyrian king Assargadon appears as if alive, the Roman legions and the great commander Alexander the Great pass through, medieval Venice, Dante and much more are shown. Bryusov headed the large Symbolist magazine “Scales”. Although Bryusov was considered a recognized master of symbolism, the principles of writing of this direction had a greater impact on early poems, such as “Creativity” and “To the Young Poet”.
Idealistic thinking soon gave way to earthly, objectively significant themes. Bryusov was the first to see and predict the onset of the cruel industrial age. He praised human thought, new discoveries, was interested in aviation, and predicted space flights. For his amazing performance, she called Bryusov a “hero of labor.” In the poem “Work” he formulated his life goals:

I want to know the secrets
Life wise and simple.
All paths are extraordinary
The path of labor is like a different path.

Bryusov remained in Russia until the end of his life; in 1920 he founded the Institute of Literature and Art. Bryusov translated the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Armenian poets.
Konstantin was widely known as a poet, enjoyed enormous popularity in the last ten years of the 19th century, and was an idol of youth. Balmont's work lasted more than 50 years and fully reflected the state of transition at the turn of the century, the fermentation of the minds of that time, the desire to withdraw into a special, fictional world. At the beginning of his career, Balmont wrote many political poems, in which he created a cruel image of Tsar Nicholas II. They were secretly passed from hand to hand, like leaflets.
Already in the first collection, “Under the Northern Sky,” the poet’s poems acquire grace of form and musicality.
The theme of the sun runs through the poet’s entire work. For him, the image of the life-giving sun is a symbol of life, living nature, with which he always felt an organic connection:

I came to this world to see the Sun
And a blue outlook.
I came into this world to see the Sun.
And the heights of the mountains.
I came to this world to see the Sea
And the lush color of the valleys.
I made peace. In one glance,
I am the ruler...

In the poem “Bezverbnost” Balmont brilliantly notices the special state of Russian nature:

There is a tired tenderness in Russian nature,
The silent pain of hidden sadness,
The hopelessness of grief, voicelessness, vastness,
Cold heights, receding distances.

And the heart forgave, but the heart froze,
And he cries, and cries, and cries involuntarily.

The poets of the Silver Age were able to use bright strokes to add capacity and depth to the content of poems that reflected the flow of feelings and emotions, the complex life of the soul.