Poem “Sail” by M.Yu. Lermontov

Lermontov's "Sail" is one of the poet's most popular poems. This is evidenced by numerous linguistic studies of the text and various transcriptions and interpretations of the work.

In September 1832 M.Yu. Lermontov writes to M.A. Lopukhina a letter in which she admits that she is upset by her unsuccessful attempt to enter the St. Petersburg University. The young poet was lonely and depressed. The same message contained the lines of the poem “The Lonely Sail Whitens.” The first line is borrowed from the unfinished poem by Bestuzhev-Marlinsky “Andrey - Prince of Pereyaslavl”. The question of what kind of “sea” landscape inspired Mikhail Yuryevich remains controversial. It could be the Gulf of Finland or the Neva River.

Genre, direction and size

“Sail” is written in the genre of a lyrical short story. It is characterized by the intimacy of the statement, combined with the presentation storyline. Interest in this genre was typical of the poetry of the Decembrists, which Lermontov was fond of in his youth.

The poetic meter used by the author is iambic tetrameter, one of the most popular in Russian lyric poetry of the 19th century. This makes the text more dynamic and brings the intonation of the work closer to conversational. Lermontov uses cross rhyme with alternating feminine and masculine verse endings.

Meaning of the name

The poem has the title “Sail”, consonant with its central character. Everyone is free to interpret its meaning and meaning of the allegory in their own way.

1. Firstly, we can correlate the sail with eighteen-year-old Lermontov, who left Moscow and came to the capital to enter university. However, his dream - to study as a philologist - collapsed, and he felt lonely among the raging life of the capital.
2. Secondly, the image is presented thinking man who does not want to come to terms with the reality around him. He longs for change and is ready to fight the waves, like a sail, if only they happen.

Images and symbols

The poem is filled with symbols and allegories. If human life- this is the sea, then the person in it is a sail, lonely, persecuted, not knowing peace and shelter. Lermontov reflected this image not only in poetry, but also in painting: his watercolor work is known, as if illustrating a poem. The storm in this work is also much more than a sea squall. It is associated with revolution, and these thoughts are caused by the reaction to the December Uprising of 1825.

The lyrical hero realizes that if he wants to achieve his goals, then a serene path illuminated by the sun is not for him. Only overcoming a real storm can lead him to his cherished dream.

Themes and motive

• Loneliness. This is the main theme of the poem. It is revealed through the central image of the work - a white sail that left its native land and fights the cruel elements of the sea. The motif of loneliness is one of the key ones in Lermontov’s lyrics.
• Freedom. Target lyrical hero- gain freedom. That's why he decided to leave his native land, to run away from sun rays towards adversity.
• Revolution. She is personified in the poem by the image of a storm. In addition, it is no coincidence that the author considers the lyrical hero rebellious, because his actions contradict generally accepted traditions. He wants to conquer new horizons and is looking for adventure.

Idea

The main idea of ​​the poem is the search for one’s purpose. The lonely sail does not see salvation in serene peace and decides to engage in battle with the elements. He does not feel satisfied in the azure and the sun and tries to find himself in the opposite.

Common themes in the poetry of romanticism, such as loneliness, thirst for adventure, and the image of the sea, are rethought in “Sail” and united by a new motif. In literary criticism it is called the “extra man” motif. Such heroes include Onegin, Pechorin, Rudin. Thus, the role and meaning of “Sails” can hardly be overestimated: from this small poem a very significant theme for Russian literature began to develop.

Means of artistic expression

One of the main devices used in the poem is antithesis. Much is contrasted: peace - storm, a distant country - native land. And there are also opposite actions: looking for - throwing.

In the form of a sail great value have epithets: lonely, rebellious.

There are many inversions, for example, in the second verse of the first quatrain.

The role of punctuation in this work is great. Early romanticism was characterized by understatement, silence of some thoughts, which was expressed by ellipses. Lermontov uses the same technique in the second lines of each quatrain. Rhetorical questions and exclamations add an excited character.

It cannot do without personifications. For this trail, the role of verbs is especially significant: waves play, the wind whistles, threw, searches, runs, asks (for a sail).

In addition, the entire poem can be considered an allegory of the life of a person trying to find the meaning of existence.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

The poem “Sail” was written by M.Yu. Lermontov in 1832. He left his studies at Moscow University and came to St. Petersburg in the hope of continuing his education. However, there was no need to study at the capital’s university: students expelled from Moscow University were not accepted into other educational institutions. Lermontov had to enter the School of Guards Ensigns and Cavalry Junkers. During this period, he thinks a lot, often walks near the Gulf of Finland. It was on one of these walks that this poem was created.
The genre of “Sails” is a lyrical short story; we can attribute the work to philosophical lyrics, in which there is a symbolic landscape. The work is full of romantic images and motifs.
Researchers have repeatedly noted the allegorical nature of the poem’s images. Thus, we associate the “lonely sail” with the image of the lyrical hero, and the sea with life. All three stanzas of the poem follow the same pattern. The first two verses convey the state of nature, the final two - the state human soul. However, in the first stanza the hero and the sail are removed from each other. The first is on the shore, and the second is “in the fog of the sea.” However, these are related images. A sail wandering in the fog and a hero wandering in the “sea of ​​life.” In the first quatrain there is practically no movement or dynamics in the landscape; peace reigns everywhere:

The lonely sail turns white
In the blue sea fog!..
What is he looking for in a distant land?
What did he throw in his native land?..

The sail, personifying the lyrical hero, on the contrary, is restless. This state of a restless soul is conveyed by the verbs: “threw”, “searching”. The hero of the poem probably feels the bitterness of some losses and tries to find harmony in his inner world.
The second stanza spatially brings together the lyrical hero and the landscape he sees. An objective observer seems to move from the shore to the ship itself: he hears the whistle of the wind, the creaking of the mast, and sees the play of the waves. In the same quatrain we see the answer to the question posed by the hero at the beginning of the poem:

Alas! he is not looking for happiness
And he’s not running out of happiness!

The particle “alas” here tells us about a person’s disappointment, about a tired soul that does not believe in the very possibility of happiness. Meanwhile, this concept is the main one for the lyrical hero.
The third stanza, according to V.M. Markovich, creates a “grand image of universal harmony”:

Below him is a stream of lighter azure,
Above him is a golden ray of sun...

Only a storm can destroy this image, but it is precisely towards this that the sail and the soul of the lyrical hero strive:

And he, rebellious, asks for a storm,
As if there is peace in the storms!

The image of the storm and the image of peace in “Sail” are antithetical. These are “landscape equivalents of corresponding emotional experiences typical of romanticism.” But each of them is a kind of romantic ideal for the hero. His soul longs to reunite the incompatible. The poem contains “a hint of the need for the reunification of opposites, none of which can fully satisfy.” Obviously, this is where happiness lies for him.
Compositionally, the work is divided into three parts (post-trophe). In the first part, the hero seems to be asking us a riddle about the mysterious fate of the sail. The second part contains some kind of assumption. The third part is the key to the incomprehensible soul of the lyrical hero, who identifies himself with the sail.
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter, quatrains, and the rhyme pattern is cross. uses a variety of means of artistic expression: epithets (“a golden ray of sunshine”), inversion (“In the fog of the blue sea”), anaphora and syntactic parallelism (“What is he looking for in a distant country? What did he throw in his native land?..”), alliteration (“Above him is a golden ray of sun”), assonance (“In the blue fog of the sea”).
The poem "Sail" in a certain sense set the tone for some of the motives of Lermontov's entire work. Thus, we find similar motifs (storms, loneliness, escape, happiness) in such works as the poems “Cross on the Rock”, “It Stands Lonely in the Wild North”, “I Go Out Alone on the Road”, “Clouds”, “Cliff” , “Leaf”, poem “Mtsyri”. The poem "Sail" arouses constant interest of modern criticism.

Before us is amazing in its imagery and
expressiveness of a poem that can be
epigraph to all Lermontov's lyrics.
N.M. Shansky.

Sail

The lonely sail is white
In the blue sea fog!..
What is he looking for in a distant land?
What did he throw in his native land?..

The waves are playing, the wind is whistling,
And the mast bends and creaks...
Alas, he is not looking for happiness,
And he’s not running out of happiness!

Below him is a stream of lighter azure,
Above him is a golden ray of sun...
And he, rebellious, asks for a storm,
As if there is peace in the storm!

The poem “Sail” was written by M.Yu. Lermontov in 1832. These twelve lines are well known to every cultured person. They are learned by heart in childhood, loved all their lives and not forgotten until old age. The poem has long been included in the treasury of the great art of words as one of the most brilliant lyrical works.
“Sail” is a poetic reflection of the actual feelings and thoughts of eighteen-year-old Lermontov, nothing in it was invented, everything was born out of the need to express one’s state of mind at the moment of a sharp turn in his so short and so bright life.
Let's remember when and how the poem was written. Forced to leave Moscow University, Lermontov moved to St. Petersburg to continue his studies. However, he did not have to study at the capital's university. Thinking what to do, he wanders in confusion around St. Petersburg and its environs. During these walks, the poet often finds himself near the Gulf of Finland. This is where the poet wrote “Sail”. He reported this in a letter to M.A. Lopukhina.
The poem consists of three quatrains, and in its semantic essence it consists of six interspersed couplets: every two first lines of the stanza contain a description objective reality(sea and sails), each last two are the poet’s reflections on this matter. The poetic outline of “Sails” is the image of “sea - life”.
Lermontov uses the traditional poetic image of the sea to denote life, which symbolizes the various vicissitudes of life (its disasters, changes, unrest), and the sail is a symbol of a person abandoned in the sea of ​​\u200b\u200blife.

The stanzas that form “Sail” are composed of couplets that are antithetical in their landscape and psychological purpose. The main characters of the work are contrasted with each other (the sail, the poet, on the one hand, and the real, everyday sea, on the other).

To enhance artistic expression, Lermontov uses all types of repetitions, anaphora, and synonymy.

A special role in the poem belongs to verbs, that part of speech, the main meaning of which is the expression of dynamics and variability.

1st quatrain: sail - turns white, searches, threw

2nd quatrain: sail – “ the mast bends and creaks"

3rd quatrain: sail - “ asks for a storm"

In the 1st and 3rd quatrains of verbs, i.e. there is no dynamics, movement, or nature in the paintings. Peace reigns everywhere. What about the sail? On the contrary, it is permeated with a desire for rest and movement.

2nd stanza. Nature and the sea come to life. And the sail is also full of dynamics. Voltages. The confrontation consumes him entirely. And it is at this moment that the hero “does not seek happiness and does not run from happiness.”

Lermontov's artistic innovation in the organization of verbal and figurative material leads to the creation of a lyrical masterpiece, in which the poet accurately and simply expressed his feelings at one of the decisive moments of his life. Rebellious Lermontov does not wait for the storm life difficulties, but asks for them, because, in his opinion, it is in them that his peace lies, that is, contentment, prosperity and happiness.

Adjective rebellious in Lermontov - restless, anxious, restless. The word "rebellious" is related to the word "storm", which was also influenced by the era. Therefore, the poem “Sail”, having reached readers, was perceived more widely and freely in society, and in it they found both a denial of the reality surrounding the poet and revolutionary impulses.

Pay attention to the syntax of the poem. Parus is characterized by parallel structures:

or mirrored ones:

does not seek happiness - does not run from happiness.

The syntax of the two is interesting last lines each quatrain:

What is he looking for in a distant land?
What did he do in a foreign country?

But instead of answering the first question, in the next line the reader finds a new question, which also remains unanswered.

When reading the poem, the presence of ellipses immediately catches the eye. These ellipses are intended to separate each of the three quatrains with a pause. The pause, which is indicated graphically by an ellipsis, carries a deep meaning. The landscape, quite real, cannot merge with the lines drawing psychological state hero. There is a pause between them - an ellipsis. It is this arrangement of punctuation that helps the reader understand the poem as deeply psychological and not classify it as landscape lyric poetry.

“Sail” - one of the most famous poems by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was written in St. Petersburg, where he had just arrived to continue his education.

This was a time of change for him, parting with Moscow and his usual way of life. The poet was only 17 years old at that time. There is a version that the poem was born during a walk along the shore of the Gulf of Finland, when Lermontov saw a white sail in the distance. But, perhaps, this image and philosophical reflections were inspired by verses from the story by A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky “Andrei, Prince of Pereyaslavsky”:

The lonely sail is white,
Like a swan's wing
And the clear-eyed traveler is sad;
there is a quiver at his feet, an oar in his hand.

at the beginning of September 1832, Lermontov sent the text of the poem “Sail to Moscow, in a letter to M.A. Lopukhina. But, apparently, the image of a sail in the poet’s imagination arose much earlier - a watercolor by 11-year-old Lermontov, which depicts a white sail at sea, has survived.

Externally, the poem, written in iambic tetrameter, is distinguished by its rare simplicity: it contains only 12 lines - three quatrains. Each stanza of the poem is divided into “halves”: the first two lines give a description of the sea and the sail (the state of nature is conveyed), and each last two lines give a lyrical response to it (the state of the human soul is conveyed). Visual impressions are each time transformed into philosophical reflections.

The poetic outline is the image of the sea. All artistic images in the poem are allegorical: the sea is associated with life with all its troubles, worries and changes, and the sail is a symbol of a person thrown into the sea of ​​life. Before us is a sail wandering in the fog and a hero wandering the “sea of ​​life.”

The sail is given the epithet - lonely. This means that he does not have like-minded people close to him. But the sail is not afraid of the storm: it is strong in spirit and does not submit to the blows of fate - it is rebellious.

Each of the three quatrains is separated by an ellipsis - this is how the author graphically indicated pauses that carry deep meaning. They do not allow the image of the landscape to merge with the lines depicting the psychological state of the hero. This placement of punctuation helps the reader understand the poem as deeply psychological and not attribute it only to landscape lyrics.

The genre of “Sails” is a lyrical short story. The poem can be classified as a philosophical lyric, in which there is a symbolic landscape. The entire work is full of beautiful romantic images and motifs.

The poet used contemporary vocabulary with the exception of two archaisms: stream (water) and azure (sky), as well as word forms: lonely sail and skripit - these forms correspond to the old Moscow pronunciation. Work written in simple words, used in their direct meaning, and if figuratively, then also in the generally accepted sense for poetry: “the waves are playing,” “the wind is whistling,” “a golden ray.”

The entire poem is built on the artistic device of antithesis, which is expressed by the selection of antonyms and opposing statements. The heroes of the work are opposed to each other: the sail and the poet on the one hand, and the sea on the other.

The states of nature are also contrasted: storm: “The waves play - the wind whistles, / and the mast bends and creaks,” - And calm: “Below it is a stream of lighter azure, / Above it is a golden ray of sun.” There are also antitheses in the language of the poem: “What is he looking for in a distant land? / What did he throw in his native land?”; “... he does not seek happiness / and does not run from happiness”; "above him - below him."

Lermontov also uses other means of artistic expression: epithets (golden ray of the sun); inversion (in the blue sea fog); anaphora and syntactic parallelism (What is he looking for in a distant country? / What did he throw in his native land?); alliteration (golden ray of sunshine).

Sound poetic speech light and smooth. In the first two lines it is easy to notice the abundance of sounds l, r, n, m and the omission of the same stress - this is how the author conveyed the splash sea ​​wave during calm weather. And when “the mast bends and creaks, the wind whistles and the sea roars, all this is conveyed by the sounds s, t, ch, sch.”

The poet uses color epithets - He has a whole palette of bright and joyful colors: blue (fog), azure (sea), gold (rays of the sun), white (sail).

Each reader can understand the poet's philosophical reflections differently. But each of us will agree that loneliness and space do not give a person answers to painful questions, and meeting a storm does not bring happiness. But a storm is still preferable to peace and inaction - this thought is heard in the final stanza of the poem.

A person who is always dissatisfied cannot be internally frozen. And such a natural element cannot remain in any one state - peace or storm. The law of life is rebellion. And every person is a lonely sail, thrown into the sea of ​​life.

Now let’s see how the poem “Sail” is analyzed by G. B. Maltsev, a literature teacher at school No. 223 in Moscow.

Annotation. The material describes the progress of the analysis of M. Yulermontov’s poem “Sail”. Much attention is paid to working with words and artistic images works.

Keywords: romance, romantic, sail, sea, soul, search,
alliteration, epithets.

I have been working at school for decades now, and, thank God, Lermontov’s “Sail”, no matter what, has always remained in school programs and, I note, always evoked an emotional response from schoolchildren. It remains interesting for them even now. Perhaps because the seventeen-year-old poet surprisingly accurately conveyed the state of the young soul, dreamy, impetuous, searching. AND
a modern teenager opens up to him, feeling a kinship with the young poet, despite the fact that they are separated by centuries.

We begin working with the poem with preparatory conversation, which will help children plunge into the atmosphere of sea romance. Surely you have watched the sea more than once.

How do you like it the most? Why?

Most sixth graders talk about the calm sea, amazing clear water, through which pebbles, shells, and small fish splashing near the shore are visible. They love the colors of sunset and dawn that reflect the sky, and most importantly, the peace that such a sea gives rise to.

Many people like the sea with the white caps of small waves, light ripples from the breeze and the cries of seagulls. Some people just like to swim, dive, splash in the gentle sea ​​water. Some people love the lunar path on the surface of the sea and the quiet splash of the night waves. What associations and which characters do you most often associate with the sea?

Children call: ships, seagulls, waves, sails, adventures, travel, uncharted islands, treasures, golden sand, yachts; pirates, captains, sailors, mermaids, etc.

Which ones do you think are the most romantic and why?

Without a doubt, we are reminded of romance by the words: sails, adventures, travel, uncharted islands, pirates, captains... After all, the theme of risky and exciting distant journeys is connected with them, promising surprises and discoveries, giving the opportunity to express oneself and even, perhaps, accomplish a feat.

And when you look at the sea, you involuntarily associate all these amazing possibilities with it. Let us now admire the seascapes to once again feel the spirit of our beloved sea.

Why do you never get tired of watching the sea?

It is always different and changes before our eyes, each time surprising us with new colors, shimmers of light, play of waves... That’s why everyone loves to watch it. Just as Mikhail Lermontov loved... He wrote the poem “Sail” at the age of seventeen, that is, he was little more years than you, and in age he can be compared with our high school students.

Let's try to imagine what he was like at that age, what he dreamed about, what moods possessed him. Now that we have prepared teenagers to perceive the work, “Sail” is performed by the teacher, after which we turn to the students with questions.

Did you like the poem? How?

Children like the poem for its romantic aspiration, the energy that comes from it, they are also attracted to the sea paintings created by the young
poet.

Why can’t the poet take his eyes off the sail “in the blue sea fog”?
The sail always attracts the attention of those on the shore. He calls for him, and so
I want to be on this ship, which, having raised its sails, goes out to sea and gradually melts somewhere near the horizon. Where is it going? Who's at the helm? What awaits him? A whole swarm of thoughts and fantasies flashes through the head of the one who watches the sail at sea, and an involuntary sigh of regret escapes from the chest when the sail disappears “in the blue fog of the sea”...

Describe the picture that the poet sees from the seashore. Is she alone or are there several?

The poem describes more than one picture. First we see a vast expanse blue sea, a light haze of blue fog above him. In the blue of the sky and sea, the sail turns bright white, it moves into the distance, becoming smaller and smaller, and will soon melt into the distance:

The lonely sail is white
In the blue sea fog.

Then a picture of a storm unfolds before us, a storm with which the sailboat bravely fights:

The waves are playing, the wind is whistling,
And the mast bends and creaks...

And finally, a peaceful landscape appears: complete calm, silence, the sea, like a mirror, reflects light clouds and sparkles from the sun’s rays that penetrate the water:

Below him is a stream of lighter azure,
Above him is a golden ray of sun...

Is it possible to see these pictures at the same time? (No.) Then what follows from this?
It can be assumed that the poet actually sees the first picture, and completes the rest in his imagination.

Do you think everything can be seen from the shore?

No, from the shore only the sail “in the blue sea fog” is visible. We seem to see the other two paintings from on board the ship, where the poet’s imagination takes us.

By the way, what word tells us that the sail is very far away?

This word turns white, which helps to understand that the outlines of the sail gradually merge with the distance of the sea and it disappears over the horizon.

Is there anything in common in these paintings?

Yes, they are united by a romantic beginning. What feeling does each of them evoke? The first calls us to distant lands, captivates us with dreams of travel, the second worries us, the third gives peace.

What colors predominate in descriptions of the sea? (Blue, blue, azure, gold.) But we not only see, but also hear the sound of the sea.

Which stanza helps us hear the howl of the storm and the whistle of the wind? What sounds contribute to this?
In the stanza

The waves are playing, the wind is whistling,
And the mast bends and creaks.
Alas, he is not looking for happiness
And he’s not running out of happiness -
the sounds of the storm can be clearly heard: the noise and roar of storm waves, the creaking of bending
masts in the wind, alarming cries of seagulls. And the sounds help this: r, sch, s, h.

Used here artistic device alliteration.

In which stanza do we hear the calm splashing of waves and what sounds help us recreate it?

Below him is a stream of lighter azure,
Above him is a golden ray of sun...

This stanza is dominated by vowels: o, a, and, as well as sonorant consonants (nasal sounds) n, n, m, which give the verse smoothness and help convey the slight swaying of water.

What is invariably present in all pictures of the poem? (Sea and sail)
How are they related?

They are inseparable and harmonious: without the sea there cannot be a sail; it obeys the sea wind, follows the stream of “lighter azure” and the golden ray of the sun. But on the other hand, the sail seems to “argue” with the sea, resists the elements, opposing it with its goals and desires. And a sail is unthinkable without... a person. The sail is in his hands! Therefore, behind the image of the sail one can guess a person.

What epithets characterize the sail?

First he is called lonely, and then rebellious. Let's think about whether there is a semantic connection between these epithets. To find the answer, let's pay attention to some words and phrases.

In the first stanza the poet asks himself questions:

What is he looking for in a distant country?
What did he throw in his native land?
Name keywords in every millet. (He searches and throws it.)

What can you look for “in a distant land”?

“Probably happiness,” the children say. “Or maybe some adventures, something new, unknown.” Both treasure hunting and exploration of new lands are expected. But most of all they still agree on thoughts about happiness, perhaps because the next stanza suggests it.

And what can you “throw” “in your native land”?

Home, family, close people and friends, favorite corners of our native land - everything that connects us with our homeland.

Find synonyms for the word “throw”. (Give up, leave.) What is the harshest word? (Threw it.) In what condition and in what situations is it used? (Such a word is usually spoken in a state of excitement, maybe even irritation, denial, when the heart actively rejects or does not accept something.)

Let us pay attention to the lines: “Alas, he is not looking for happiness / And he is not running from happiness.”

What do they tell us about the life of a sail?

He had a home, a “native land”, but for some reason he fled from there (the verb threw tells us that he did this in an emotional outburst), looking for something in the sea, but whether he would find it was unknown...

Find contradictions in the actions of the sail.

He is looking for something - but not happiness (what then can one look for?) and “is not running from happiness.” He had a homeland, and now he is “lonely.” The sea endowed him with beauty and harmony (“Below him is a stream of lighter azure, / Above him is a golden ray of sun”), “and he, rebellious, asks for a storm...”.

Why does he need a storm?

Perhaps he wants to test himself, measure his strength with the storm, feel powerful and free. This is what he is looking for, this is what gives him a feeling of happiness! Lermontov ends the poem with the lines:

And he, rebellious, asks for a storm,
As if there is peace in the storms.
Why are these lines interesting?
It follows from them that one can search if
not happiness, then peace. But when the sea gives
his sail (Under him a stream of lighter azure, /
There is a golden ray of sun above him), he asks for the storm.

Do you think the sail will ever find something to satisfy it?

It’s unlikely: he is in constant search and movement, and in each of his new states there will definitely be something that will not give him complete harmony and will force him to look for something new again.

Is this good or bad?

It is difficult to give a definite answer to this question. The state of peace (silence, peace of mind, beauty and harmony) is wonderful, but prolonged peace can lead to laziness and mortification, only in movement (primarily in the search for the seeking soul) is real life. A feeling of constant dissatisfaction with oneself is a sign of a living nature striving for new heights.

1.3 (26.67%) 12 votes