Traditional medicine

The best work of Derzhavin, a Russian poet. Satirical and accusatory beginning in Derzhavin’s poetry

In one ode, Derzhavin demands that the painter present him with a picture of the morning - and immediately, competing with painting in clarity, he rushes to give this picture himself.

Depict for me this new world In the face of a young summer day: Like groves, hills, towers, roofs, From the golden fire above, They rise from the darkness, shine And look into the mirror of the waters; All new feelings receive, And all mortal race moves.

These lines could serve as an epigraph to all of Derzhavin’s poetry. The mood of the morning reigns in it. A person, refreshed by a healthy sleep, looks at the world with “new feelings” as if he had never seen it, and the world is created anew before his eyes. The dawn twilight dissipated, the fogs disappeared somewhere, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The unsoftened light hits the eyes sharply. The horizons are incredibly, stunningly transparent, you can see very far away. Each color is bright, there are no halftones.

And it’s as if the whole creature is playing;

Nature shines and exclaims.

Nature “exclaims”, as befits nature, without proportion to the volume, without being embarrassed by its elemental power, noisily and uncontrollably, and poetry “exclaims” in its harmony.

Nature “shines,” and poetry cannot get enough of the pictures of light effects, the reflection and refraction of light rays in gold and “crystals.” Derzhavin's age was crazy about fireworks. It is easy to see that the brilliance of the heavenly bodies is presented in Derzhavin’s poetry as a cheerful and menacing fireworks display arranged by a deity, and therefore surpassing all earthly fireworks in its splendor, but immediately surpassed by the brilliance of the appearance of the eternal Pyrotechnician himself:

Shining light of the kindled millions

They flow in immeasurability;

They make your laws

Life-giving rays pour down.

But these lamps are fiery,

Or the red crystal masses,

Or waves of golden boiling host,

Or burning ethers,

Or together all the luminous worlds -

Before You, like night before day

If the moon appears here, there is not a grain of sweet romantic melancholy in it; her job is to arrange festive illumination, suitable for elegant chambers with varnished floors, as described in the opening of the ode “Vision of Murza”:

I painted golden glasses

On my varnished floor

Finally, the sun shines with all its might, almost unbearable to the eye. The fullness of the light takes your breath away. No other poet has such a sky: it’s as if we’ve thrown our heads back to the max to see it all, and its height and breadth are suddenly revealed to us.

Azure clouds, edges,

Shining ruby through,

Like a rich, speckled fleet,

They rush across the airwaves at random.

The release of poetic energy accumulated in luxurious light and color epithets depicting clouds, in comparison with sailing ships, resurrecting in the mind all the splendor of the ancient fleet and at the same time all the victories won by the Russians at sea in the era of Chesma, finally comes in the last line, sweepingly, with one stroke of the brush, but strikingly clearly representing the picture of the sky in motion.

Dizzying depth is again and again revealed through movement, and above all through the movement of rays, for Derzhavin’s space is saturated to the limit with light, or, better to say, space is light, light is space.

Like from the blue coolness of the air

The rays will happen to fall...

The brilliance of the sky below is reflected and doubled by the brilliance of the surface of the waters and, in general, of everything that is capable of shining. If we just had reason to remember the passion of the poet’s contemporaries for fireworks and festive illuminations, here we recall their passion for mirrors and chandeliers, in which each ray is reflected or fragmented many times.

The waters sparkle like silver,

Ruby clouds,

Crimson gold of blood;

Like a river of fire

The light is clear, purple

Embraced all the waters around.

Crystal transparency of the air and invigorating clarity of light are the norm for Derzhavin’s landscape. It almost never happens otherwise. True, sometimes the light is shaded by its picturesque opposite - the impenetrable, terrifying darkness of night or bad weather.

Imagine: by the lightness of the azure,

According to the inclination of the heavens,

A black and purple storm has risen

And menacingly she lay down on the forest,

How terrible the night is; puffed up her belly,

She died with a whistle, a howl, a roar,

She rushed air, dust and leaf.

If it’s a storm, then it’s “black and purple”; the darkness is still permeated with fire, but only bloody, hellish. It is clear that such fears will not last long - the storm will blow over and the sun will shine. What is completely absent in Derzhavin’s poetry is the indifferent, neutral state of nature. Either fullness of light - or darkness. In his programmatic “Discourse on Lyric Poetry, or On an Ode,” the poet himself demanded that poetic pictures be “short, drawn with a fiery brush, or with one line, majestically, terribly or pleasantly.” The darkness is “terrible”, the light that floods everything is “pleasant”, both are “majestic”; however, not only does the horror inspired by the absence of light have its own pleasantness, its own sweetness, but also the pleasure delivered by light is inextricably linked with awe and freezing before the blinding brightness of the morning or midday rays, before their excessiveness. Everything is excessive - both “terrible” and “pleasant”, and both are “majestic” in their excess. There is nothing unimpressive at all. Even in parody, the ridiculed object is also introduced to greatness through ridicule.

The unity of Derzhavin’s world in its sublime and base aspects is poetically embodied under the sign of the same light imagery. The rays of the sun pour on all earthly objects indiscriminately, making them glow and shine. Under Derzhavin’s state of nature, there is no thing left that could not shine; but shine is an attribute of a precious metal or stone. Therefore, the landscape, glanced at from above, as on an engraved panorama map, takes on the appearance of a piece of jewelry. The metaphor of gold and silver, long worn out and worn out by frequent use, regains its freshness and visual concreteness.

As the saying goes, all that glitters is not gold. But the wisdom of this incredulous proverb is not for Derzhavin’s muse. She has everything that glitters - gold, or silver, or precious stones, or pearls, or at least glass, approaching gems in terms of luminosity, and sometimes glass and gold at once!

Glass rivers like a midday ray,

Like liquid gold, they flow...

The alchemy of poetry turns everything it touches into jewelry. Butter and honey, mushrooms, berries and fresh fish are appetizing things, but they would hardly have made another poet think about precious metals and luxurious fabrics.

Where, from cattle sheds, bee-houses, poultry houses, ponds, Now in oil, now in honeycombs I see gold under the branches, Now in berries, now the velvet fluff of mushrooms,

Seriously, trembling with bream.

The imagery of the last line is enhanced by the extremely expressive sound; and the still life as a whole would like to be called Flemish, if it were not so Russian.

The feast, by the way, is one of the most important symbols passing from one poem by Derzhavin to another. He invites us to a feast of his poetry, like a hospitable, well-to-do host, and he himself, like a guest, with amazement, with unspent childish delight, without getting used to anything and without growing cold, without getting tired of anything, looks gratefully at the bounty of existence.

I look around the table and see different dishes

Flower bed arranged in a pattern;

Crimson ham, green cabbage soup with yolk,

Ruddy yellow pie, white cheese, red crayfish,

What tar, amber-caviar, and with a blue feather

There are motley pike there - beautiful!

All of Derzhavin is in that naive simplicity with which “crayfish are red” and “beautiful” are rhymed, but also connected in meaning. Derzhavin’s younger contemporary, writer I. I. Dmitriev, left a funny story about how the poet, during a feast, caught aesthetic impressions just for this stanza:

“Another time I noticed that during his dinner he was looking at the boiled pike and whispering something; I ask the reason for this. “I think,” he said, “that if I happened to invite someone to dinner in poetry, then when calculating the dishes that the owner intends to treat, one could say that there would be a pike with a blue feather.”

This poetry of contentment, the poetry of satiety, would perhaps repel us if it were not absolutely free from the taint of satiety. There is no trace of satiety; That is why what is tasty, what is sensually pleasing to the most innocent, but also the most prosaic of human desires, is experienced with complete sincerity as “beautiful.” In a cozy, ponderous, fragrant household, the poet feels not just any other beauty, but the same beauty that he saw pouring in the brilliance of the sun’s rays “from the blue steepness of the ether.” But it can only be seen by eyes that are accustomed to look at every object - let us repeat this word again - gratefully, which do not get tired of gratitude and that is the only reason why joy does not become hateful. And for this, an elementary rapture of life is not enough, which can be called spontaneous, or can be called animal, and it will be the same thing. No, what is needed here is not a natural, but a moral property of the soul - its discipline, its cheerful posture, its glorious military bearing. Derzhavin manages to invariably maintain this property despite his emotional uncontrollability, amid sensory revelry and the pressure of external impressions. In fact, no matter what superhuman reserve of health of spirit and body was given to him - was he really there? - there is no doubt that black moments came to him too, no, worse than that, gray moments, attacks of fatigue, when everything became hateful. But in his poems - not in the words, the choice of which could be dictated by the genre necessity of odic delight, but in the music of the verse, in its intonation, which cannot be faked - not a single drop of grumpy disappointment ever leaked.

We have just compared Derzhavin to a hospitable host; Why, one of his best odes is called “Invitation to Dinner.” But hospitality has strict laws; their owner, no matter what cats scratch his heart, will neither make his guests sad, nor turn his nose up at the treats he offers them. The holiday cannot be spoiled for anything. Derzhavin understood this very well. Only once, when his dearly beloved first wife died, sung by him under the name Plenira, desperate pain tore from him a funeral cry - one of the most piercing poems in all Russian poetry, entitled “On the death of Katerina Yakovlevna...” All the rules of literature were violated there. , even poetry, and we hear the gnashing language of genuine, naked torment. But first of all, this poem was not intended by the author for publication, in other words, the owner lost control of himself and burst into tears not in the presence of guests, but alone with his brother. And then, a cry of horror is not a yawn of indifference: the first is possible with Derzhavin, the second is not * for the same reasons for which, as we know, a “black and purple storm” is possible with him, but not a gray day.

In general, he always gives us his light, his cheerful morning joy and solemn, sincere gratitude to life. This brings his work closer to the music of ancient masters - Bach and Handel, Mozart and Haydn and others, unknown.

There, from the harp, thunder rushes into the soul,

Here there is a quiet sound of thunder from the strings, softened, smooth tones

They run, and in the nature of agreement in everything

Laws make us feel.

Music for him is practical proof of harmony in nature, the harmony of nature. The same practical proof is his best poems.

* * *

What human destiny, what time is behind this poetry?

Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin was born in 1743 into an impoverished noble family on the Volga. His origins predetermined his view of things in at least three ways.

Firstly, he was a nobleman and landowner in the most classic era of Russian serfdom. This is the time of the decree on the freedom of the nobility and the uprising of Emelyan Pugachev (in the suppression of which the poet took a direct part). All the contrasts of the era are bright and sharp to the point of rudeness. Russia is emerging into new opportunities; much that was promised by the scope of Peter’s plans is only now taking on flesh and blood. A number of brilliant military victories amaze the imagination of contemporaries. “O loud age of military disputes, witness to the glory of the Russians!” - young Pushkin will say about Catherine’s time. Large, strong and decisive people have room to expand, but the path to great things often leads through adventure and chance, through winning court fortune in gambling. The remarkable Russian woman Princess Dashkova, interlocutor of the best minds in Europe and the first president of the Russian Academy, owes her fate to her participation in the coup of 1762, which brought Catherine II to power; if things had turned out a little differently, she wouldn't have gotten her chance. The central figure of the whole reign is the “most illustrious” Prince Potemkin, a temporary worker and a lucky man, predatory and brazenly in a hurry to enjoy the omnipotence that had fallen at his feet, and at the same time a strong and intelligent statesman, who, between all his feasts, antics, intrigues, really did a lot for Russia.

And in the composition of Derzhavin’s poetry there is a lot that we, with the most ardent love for it, must recognize as specifically lordly, irreparably lordly, thoroughly saturated with the life of Catherine’s decades.

But with this, Derzhavin coexisted with a genuine love for the appearance of the Russian peasant, for folk customs, songs, for the joy of a village holiday, which he repeatedly praised, for the people's sense of beauty and folk humor. This was close to him directly, without reflection, without romanticism, without ethnographic stylization. It is impossible to doubt the sincerity of this love, its depth, and one should not demand from it that it resemble something completely different - for example, Radishchev’s love for the people. What it is perhaps somewhat similar to is the feeling that connected Suvorov with his soldiers. It is not for nothing that Derzhavin sincerely loved Suvorov, sang his praises even when the great commander was by no means in favor, and honored his death with an amazing poem, so faithfully capturing the originality of the hero’s entire appearance:

Who will be in front of the army, blazing,

Ride a nag, eat crackers;

Tempering the sword in cold and heat,

Sleep on straw, watch until dawn;

Thousands of armies, walls and gates,

Can we win everything with a handful of Russians?

To appreciate how authentic Derzhavin’s Suvorov was, let us recall for a moment the monument to Suvorov on the Field of Mars in Leningrad, made by the sculptor Kozlovsky - an excellent statue in the taste of the era, which, however, has absolutely no resemblance to the commander as his contemporaries knew him...

And let’s say right away about all of Derzhavin’s “battle” poems, or at least the best among them: the poet simply did not feel any distance between the epic, song-like folk ideal of youth in battle, between the entire range of traditional concepts about the warrior’s duty “to lay down his soul for his friends” and those ideas that were something taken for granted for his own “nature”.

Another thing is connected with this: it is the spectacle of the insult inflicted on the merits of the elderly warrior that opens the eyes of the poet, in whom, it would seem, there lived so much simple-minded delight in the ceremonial side of life, to the suffering of the neglected and humiliated, on whose shoulders all this splendor was erected. And here it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the same Suvorov, who “giving sceptres was called a slave,” or about a nameless warrior “bent over on crutches.”

Here it is worth remembering that Derzhavin was born not only into a noble family, but also into a poor family. He saw how those in power unsuccessfully beat the thresholds; From childhood he was wounded by the indifference of dignitaries to the rights of the poor. This experience is reflected in Derzhavin’s heightened conscientious attitude towards his duty as a senator to stand for the truth. For this reason, he quarreled with the powers that be and incurred the irritation of the empress; For this, he, which is much more, was ready to sacrifice his studies in poetry. Perhaps there was a lot of quixoticism in all this. Maybe A.V. was not so wrong.

5 Averintsev S. S.

Khrapovitsky, on behalf of Catherine II, in a poetic message, called on Derzhavin to return to his true purpose and write more odes. But for Derzhavin it was more important that Jacoby, the former Irkutsk governor-general, was innocently accused of treason, that the tax farmer Loginov robbed the treasury with impunity, and that the empress did not want either the first or the second case to be reviewed. And so he objects to Khrapovitsky with important, strict naivety:

...how to leave Jacob,

Whom the whole world is crowding?

How can Loginov be allowed to recover?

Which rattles with gold?

singer of the gods

There will never be a scoundrel.

Yes, “Felitsa’s singer” is Derzhavin. A sybarite who enjoys in peace the spectacle of busy “slaves” is Derzhavin. But a restless lover of truth, running into trouble for the sake of what he considers truth and right, is also Derzhavin. If he had not been like that, he would not have been able to speak about the corruption of the courts and the unrighteousness of power no less strongly, “strikingly,” as they expressed it in his time, than he spoke about the brightness of the morning or the height of the sky - about everything and always as if he were the first person in the world whose eyes had just been opened, so that there was no way to get used to either the beautiful or the bad.

They won't listen! - they see and don’t know!

Covered with bribes of tow:

Atrocities shake the earth,

Untruth shakes the skies.

And here is another consequence of the fact that he was born a Russian nobleman, and in the second half of his life achieved the position of a nobleman: his self-awareness and sense of self could not become as literary as those of his predecessors. One of the symptoms is the almost complete absence of literary polemics and literary skirmishes in Derzhavin’s texts. With what ardor did Trediakovsky and Sumarokov wage the ink war, how mortally important it was for each of them to assert themselves at the expense of their opponent! Derzhavin is simply not interested in all this: as a rule, if he mentions another poet, it is in order to honor him with a complacent compliment. He has nothing to share with him. In the depths of his soul, Derzhavin firmly recognizes himself as the only one, as he himself jokingly admitted:

There is one God, one Derzhavin, -

In stupid pride I dreamed, -

One rhyme for me - ancient Navin,

That the sun stopped running.

He is the only one, because poetry for him is not a profession in which you will certainly meet other contenders for first place, but a gift that is unique in nature. In order for a gift to be a pure gift, it must be given each time in addition to something else that has already secured a place in life. Poet is an occupation; but an official of the prosecutor general’s department, or a nobleman and a senator, or a Zvansky landowner, who at the same time is a true poet, is a miracle that turns the prose of life into the opposite of itself.

We will consider, as all generations between him and us already believed, that in Derzhavin’s life poetry was the most important thing - he himself did not consider this. Let us suppose, partly in order to appease the superior, but in sincere conviction it is said:

Hours free from positions

I sing the joy of my days.

The primacy of life over literature, of “deeds” over “words,” is energetically declared.

For words - let them gnaw at me,

For deeds - the satirist honors.

Pushkin criticized this formula and insisted that the words of the poet are the essence of his work. It is worth remembering, however, that even he, a man of a completely different make-up and a different era, actually leading the life of a professional writer and not at all disdaining the real, business side of such a life (“... but you can sell a manuscript”), stubbornly refused to appear before society as the poet, hiding behind a mask of class pride, behind “my pedigree.” The motives for such behavior are fully explained, at least in “Egyptian Nights.”

Pushkin stood at the end of the noble period of Russian literature, Derzhavin at the beginning. We easily forget this; it seems to us that commoners came into our literature only in the 19th century; but they were the most characteristic figures in literary life from Lomonosov and Trediakovsky to V.P. Petrov. Of course, in the 18th century, in the era of the unshakable class principle, the commoner was not at all what he would be a century later. He can assert himself only as the pure embodiment of an abstract intellectual principle - as a scientist, writer, artist, who has no place in life except professional, who is alienated from all social realities except the Academy of Sciences, university, etc. Action This condition is aggravated by the fact that the historical task of Russian literature for half a century after Peter’s reforms is inevitably “school”.

Really, what was on the agenda back then? As quickly, clearly, and intelligently as possible, learn the rules of the pan-European tradition in their classical version, adapt them to Russian conditions, learn to apply them, and teach others by your own example. Rules, rules and more rules. This does not mean that Trediakovsky, or especially the great Lomonosov, were not creators. But in such a situation, poetic creativity takes on the character of apprenticeship and at the same time teaching, it is a preliminary development of possibilities for entire eras in advance; in particular - for the same Derzhavin, whose brilliant freedom could not have taken place without this school. He himself wrote about himself: “I learned the rules of poetry from the works of Mr. Trediakovsky, and in expression and calmness I tried to imitate Mr. Lomonosov.”

It is clear why the diligent, hardworking commoner was especially well suited for work in the “school” direction. After all, this, as was said above, is a commoner of the old type, recognizing the class hierarchy; and this is a person who is not rooted in everyday life. Life has not taught him to expose the everyday side of his existence to people in his work - it is not his rank. He will not introduce his wife to the reader with naive, imposing sedateness or paint himself at a laid table. Therefore, he accepts the classic opposition of “high” and “low” objects with all his soul, not out of fear, but out of conscience. For him, the world is naturally cut into two halves - that which is sublime, because it is outside of everyday life, and that which touches everyday life and precisely because of this cannot be sublime.

The best example of this type of poet is, of course, Lomonosov. A poet with a scientist's head - that's who the time needed. In terms of good taste, sense of proportion, and philological thoughtfulness in his approach to language, he is far superior to Derzhavin. The transparent rationalism of Lomonosov's didactics concealed excellent poetic possibilities.

They think wrongly about things, Shuvalov, who honor Glass below Minerals...

But in this manner it is much more appropriate to talk about the benefits of glass or the cause of the northern lights than about living people. Let's take the most beautiful passage from Lomonosov's odes in honor of Empress Elisaveta Petrovna, which delighted Belinsky - the description of her hunt:

The horse is not allowed to run

No ditches, no frequent branches;

Turns his head, sounds with the reins

And tramples with stormy feet

Proud of the beautiful rider.

Here everything is according to the rules, not a single word falls out of high style, not a single overly specific detail violates the complete convention of rhetorical praise. We will not know from here what Elizabeth really was, we will not even know what she wanted to seem like. We learn something else: what rhetorical commonplaces are supposed to be used in the description of the royal hunt and how these commonplaces are supposed to be developed.

Derzhavin was also not against rhetoric. Who-who, but he knew a lot about rhetoric. Powerful waves of eloquence, rolling in succession like waves of the sea, the theatrical gesture of a rhetorical question, the “striking” effect of maxim compressed to the limit - all this is for him a natural way of communicating to us the energy of his attitude towards any of his subjects.

Son of luxury, coolness and bliss,

Where, Meshchersky! did you hide?

You left this shore of life,

You have gone to the shores of the dead;

Your dust is here, but there is no spirit.

Where is he? -

Where is it? -

We only cry and cry

“Oh woe to us, born into the world!”

But he cannot accept one side of rhetoric - the division of things into sublime and base, disgust towards the concrete, everyday. When he wrote an ode of the same genre as Lomonosov’s ode to Elisaveta Petrovna - “Felitsa” - it was very important to him that the Empress * often “walks or writes and reads “before the lectern.” He gave an idealized portrait, but a portrait with features of real portrait resemblance. Lomonosov called the person he glorified Blisaveta Petrovna (“Elisavet”), but in fact he did not glorify her at all, but the divine huntress “in general,” Diana, the Amazon. On the contrary, Derzhavin spoke about the fantastic Felitsa, but described Ekaterina I, expressing obligatory praise for her through a unique, specific, and therefore “low” detail. It is understandable why the poet’s friends were shocked when this came from his pen. It is also clear why the empress was shocked to the point of tears from this artistic gaze at close range and from a short distance. This has never happened before in the practice of odoscribers.

It is curious that Derzhavin hardly deigned to notice the revolution he had carried out. He did not push away from anything, did not rebel against anything. By the previous period of Russian literature, he did not express feelings other than the kindest. It was not his intention to subvert the canons. He even modestly asked his friends - Dmitriev, Kapnist and others - to review his poems from the point of view of the rules and mark if something was wrong; Fortunately, in the end he most often did not listen to his advisers. But in general, he wrote - as it is written, at ease and freely: in his posture and demeanor, the carelessness of a master cannot be separated from the audacity of a genius, and one helped the other to take place.

The incredible largeness and sweep of Derzhavin’s images is possible only by him and in his time. For subsequent generations, his monumental vision of Russia, in which the inspiration of Peter’s reforms still lives, ceases to be clear. His position between eras gives him both freedom from rhetoric, which his predecessors did not have, and freedom to use rhetorical techniques of the most traditional type, which his heirs will no longer have. The primordial energy of ancient orbit and the new, fresh freedom in the use of lexical and figurative contrasts mutually reinforce each other, bringing the expression of the whole to a truly spontaneous force. And it seems that Derzhavin’s poetry can only be compared with a natural phenomenon - for example, with the waterfall he praised.

Diamonds are falling down the mountain

From the heights of four rocks;

Pearls abyss and silver

It boils below, shoots up in mounds;

The blue hill stands from the spray,

In the distance, a roar thunders in the forest.

Notes:

Two thousand years with Virgil // Foreign literature, 1982, No. 8, p. 193-201. [The article is based on the abstracts of a report given in the fall of 1981 in Mantua (Italy) as part of the international congress dedicated to Virgil.]

The flourishing of Syrian Christian hymnography in the 4th century. almost two centuries ahead of the rise of the Byzantine kontakion (while the first steps of Latin hymnography, also dating back to the 4th century - Hilary, Ambrose of Milan - led in a completely different direction). It was no coincidence that the first great hymnographer of Byzantium, Roman the Sweet Singer, came to Constantinople from Berit (modern Beirut). One can hardly deny (as the prominent Greek patrolologist P. Christou is inclined to do) the influence of certain genre structures developed by Syrian authors on the very foundations of the kontakion genre; here we should mention the madrasha with its characteristic balance of exegetical-homiletical and actually poetic elements and the sogit with its inherent possibilities of dialogical dramatization of the sacred plot, as if played out “in persons”, cf.: Dalmais 1958, r. 243-260.

Poetry of Derzhavin // G. R. Derzhavin. Odes. L., 1985, p. 5-20.

In the person of Derzhavin, Russian poetry took a great step forward.
V.G. Belinsky

…I was the first to dare in a funny Russian syllable
To proclaim Felitsa’s virtues,
Talk about God in simplicity of heart
And speak the truth to kings with a smile.
G.R. Derzhavin "Monument"

Biography of Derzhavin. Life and creativity: The poetic fate of Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin is unusual, as, indeed, his entire life path is unusual and extraordinary. A gallant but penniless soldier of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, who pulled the soldier's burden until he was twenty-nine years old. A loyal servant, however, daring to interrupt the empress herself in mid-sentence. Minister of Justice, an important dignitary and nobleman, owning one and a half thousand serf souls. Nothing seemed to foretell that this man with a simple, rough face, a democratic manner of communication, decisive gestures, and sharp but expressive speech would become a generally recognized great poet of Russia at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries.

Analysis of Derzhavin's ode "To Felitsa": In 1782, the not yet very famous poet Derzhavin wrote an ode dedicated to the “Kirghiz-Kaisak princess Felitsa.” That's what the ode was called "To Felitsa". A difficult life taught the poet a lot; he knew how to be careful. The ode glorified the simplicity and humanity of Empress Catherine II in dealing with people and the wisdom of her reign. But at the same time, in ordinary, if not rude, colloquial language, she spoke about luxurious amusements, about the idleness of Felitsa’s servants and courtiers.

Belinsky about Derzhavin: Belinsky, calling Derzhavin “the first living verb of young Russian poetry,” tried to understand the origins of this “poetic phenomenon.” Both as a person and as a poet, Derzhavin attracted Belinsky. The critic returned to it more than once in his writings.

Innovation in Derzhavin's poetry. Early works: The poet’s first poetic experiments have almost never reached us. At the request of his colleagues, until recently peasant boys, he composed love messages to their brides in rhyme. Wrote congratulatory table poems. There is evidence that in 1770 Derzhavin destroyed most of them, apparently embarrassed either by the frivolity of their content or by the clumsiness of their form.

Analysis of the ode "On the death of Prince Meshchersky": The ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky”, even with its small number of lines (only 88!) did not resemble an extensive and majestic odic work. Her soulful, sincere lyrical tone immediately attracted attention. Thematically, Derzhavin’s ode linked together two directly opposite principles: eternity and death. For the poet, they were not abstract concepts, but phenomena of existence that concerned each of his readers.

Genre, composition, philosophy of problems of Derzhavin's ode "On the death of Prince Meshchersky": In addition to leitmotifs, the poet also resorts to anaphors, which are also constant in this ode. Anaphora is the repetition of the initial words in two or more lines of a poem. Anaphors contribute to the flow of the narrative, since the initial harmonies harmoniously hold together adjacent lines. But that's not all! Anaphoras multiply the power of the image.

The diversity of Derzhavin’s creativity: Derzhavin did not limit himself to just one new type of ode. He transformed, sometimes beyond recognition, the odic genre in a variety of directions. Particularly interesting are his experiments in odes that combine directly opposite principles: laudable and satirical.

Analysis of the ode "Bullfinch". On the death of Suvorov: "Bullfinch" is dedicated to a mournful event. Suvorov, a valiant commander and an amazing person, whom the poet loved and deeply revered, died. And again - a parallel with the world of Russian nature. But now the bullfinch has been chosen, a bird beloved by the people, small but brave, not afraid of frost and snow storms.

Analysis of the ode "Monument". Audio recording of the ode: “Monument” by Derzhavin is an adaptation of the poem of the same name by the ancient Roman poet Horace. Horace lived a long time ago, even before our era. But in his “Monument” he managed to put a thought that was vital for the artist-creator in all subsequent times. The thought of the immortality of the works he created, and, consequently, of himself. Before Derzhavin, this wonderful work was arranged by Lomonosov, after Derzhavin - by Pushkin.

Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin occupies a significant place in Russian literature along with D.I. Fonvizin and M.V. Lomonosov. Together with these titans of Russian literature, he is included in the brilliant galaxy of founders of Russian classical literature of the Enlightenment era, dating back to the second half of the 18th century. At this time, largely thanks to the personal participation of Catherine the Second, science and art were rapidly developing in Russia.

This is the time of the appearance of the first Russian universities, libraries, theaters, public museums and a relatively independent press, although very relative and for a short period, which ended with the appearance of “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by A.P. Radishcheva. The most fruitful period of the poet’s activity dates back to this time, as Famusov Griboyedov called it, “the golden age of Catherine.”

Life

The future poet was born on July 14, 1743 in the family estate of Sokury near Kazan.
Even in early childhood, he lost his father, an officer in the Russian army, and was raised by his mother Fyokla Andreevna Kozlova. Derzhavin's life was bright and eventful, largely thanks to his intelligence, energy and character. There have been incredible ups and downs. Based on his biography, one could write an adventure novel based on real events. But, more about everything.

In 1762, as befits children of the nobility, he was accepted into the Preobrazhensky Regiment as an ordinary guardsman. In 1772 he became an officer and from 1773 to 1775. took part in the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion. At this time, two completely opposite in significance and improbability events happen to him. During the Pugachev riot, he completely lost his fortune, but soon won 40,000 rubles in a card game.

It was only in 1773 that his first poems were published. Some interesting facts of his life relate to this period of his life. Like many officers, he did not shy away from carousing and gambling, which almost deprived Russia of a great poet. Cards drove him to cheating; all sorts of unseemly tricks were committed for the sake of money. Fortunately, he was able to realize in time the harmfulness of this path and change his lifestyle.

In 1777 he retired from military service. Enters to serve as a state councilor in the Senate. It is worth noting that he was an incorrigible truth-teller, and, moreover, did not particularly worship his superiors, for which he never enjoyed the love of the latter. From May 1784 to 1802 was in public service, including from 1791-1793. cabinet secretary of Catherine II, but his inability to openly flatter and promptly stop reports unpleasant to the royal ears contributed to the fact that he did not stay here for long. During his service, he rose in his career to become the Minister of Justice of the Russian Empire.

Thanks to his truth-loving and irreconcilable character, Gabriel Romanovich did not stay in each position for more than two years due to constant conflicts with thieving officials, as can be seen from the chronology of his service. All attempts to achieve justice only irritated his high patrons.

During all this time he was engaged in creative activities. The odes “God” (1784), “Thunder of Victory, Ring Out!” were created. (1791, the unofficial anthem of Russia), well known to us from Pushkin’s story “Dubrovsky”, “The Nobleman” (1794), “Waterfall” (1798) and many others.
After retirement, he lived on his family estate Zvanka in the Novgorod province, where he devoted all his time to creativity. He passed away on July 8, 1816.

Literary creativity

Derzhavin became widely known in 1782 with the publication of the ode “Felitsa,” dedicated to the Empress. Early works - an ode to the wedding of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, published in 1773. In general, the ode occupies one of the dominant places in the poet’s work. His odes have reached us: “On the death of Bibikov”, “On the nobles”, “On Her Majesty’s Birthday”, etc. In his first compositions one can feel an open imitation of Lomonosov. Over time, he moved away from this and adopted the works of Horace as a model for his odes. He published his works mainly in the St. Petersburg Bulletin. These are: “Songs to Peter the Great” (1778), an epistole to Shuvalov, “On the death of Prince Meshchersky”, “The Key”, “On the birth of a porphyry-born youth” (1779), “On the absence of the empress in Belarus”, “To the first neighbor”, “ To rulers and judges" (1780).

The sublime tone and vivid pictures of these works attracted the attention of writers. The poet attracted the attention of society with his “Ode to Felitsa,” dedicated to the queen. A snuff box studded with diamonds and 50 chervonets were the reward for the ode, thanks to which he was noticed by the queen and the public. His odes “To the Capture of Ishmael” and “Waterfall” brought him no less success. The meeting and close acquaintance with Karamzin led to cooperation in Karamzin’s Moscow Journal. His “Monument to a Hero”, “On the Death of Countess Rumyantseva”, “The Majesty of God” were published here.

Shortly before the departure of Catherine the Second, Derzhavin presented her with his handwritten collection of works. This is remarkable. After all, the poet’s talent flourished precisely during her reign. In fact, his work became a living monument to the reign of Catherine II. In the last years of his life he tried to experiment with tragedies, epigrams and fables, but they do not have the same height as his poetry.

Criticism was mixed. From awe to almost complete denial of his work. Only the works of D. Grog, dedicated to Derzhavin, which appeared after the revolution, and his efforts to publish the works and biography of the poet made it possible to evaluate his work.
For us, Derzhavin is the first poet of that era whose poems can be read without additional comments and explanations.

Derzhavin, Gabriel Romanovich, famous poet. Born on July 3, 1743 in Kazan, into a family of small landed nobles. His father, an army officer, lived first in Yaransk, then in Stavropol, and finally in Orenburg. Derzhavin’s parents were not educated, but... ... Biographical Dictionary

- - famous poet, statesman and public figure of the second half of the last and first quarter of this century (b. July 3, 1743, d. July 8, 1816). His ancestor, the Tatar Murza Bagrim, in the 15th century, during the reign of Vasily... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

DERZHAVIN Gabriel Romanovich- Gavriil Romanovich (07/3/1743, Kazan (according to other sources, the village of Karmachi or Sokury near Kazan) 07/8/1816, the village of Zvanka, Novgorod district and province), poet, state. activist From a small noble family of Tatars. origin. In 1759 1762 studied at... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

Derzhavin, Gabriel Romanovich- See also (1743 1716). At a public examination at the Lyceum (1814), young Pushkin, in the presence of Derzhavin, read his Memoirs in Tsarskoe Selo. The poet retained the memory of this first performance in the literary field (Message Zhuk., 1816,... ... Dictionary of literary types

Famous poet; genus. July 3, 1743 in Kazan; By origin he belonged to the small landed nobility. His father, an army officer, almost immediately after the birth of the child had to move even further east on business and lived either in Yaransk or in... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Derzhavin, Gabriel Romanovich- (1743 1816) began his poetic activity with odes, in which he tried to imitate Lomonosov. However, starting with Felitsa, an ode in honor of Catherine II, the solemn tone of Lomonosov’s lyrics gradually gives way to Derzhavin’s more lively reality... Historical reference book of Russian Marxist

Derzhavin, Gabriel Romanovich- See also (1743 1816). The first book that Goncharov came across outside of classes were D.’s works, which he rewrote and learned by heart (Autobiography) ... Dictionary of literary types

Gabriel Derzhavin Portrait by Borovikovsky Date of birth: July 3 (14), 1743 Place of birth: Kazan, Russian Empire Date of death: July 8 (20), 1816 Place of death: Zvanka estate ... Wikipedia

Books

Crimea in Russian poetry and art. Anthology, Derzhavin Gavriil Romanovich, Annensky Innokenty Fedorovich, Benediktov Vladimir Grigorievich. Crimea - the “Mecca” of Russian poetry and Russian painting - is presented for the first time in the anthology from the first Derzhavin ode of 1783 about the peaceful annexation of Crimea and the first paintings by the artist His Serene Highness...
Lyric-epic anthem for driving out the French from their fatherland, Derzhavin Gabriel Romanovich. IN…

Despite the fact that the basis of Gavrila Derzhavin’s work is Russian classicism, it significantly went beyond its limits. Derzhavin's poems are characterized by a combination of “high” and “low” elements, a mixture of solemn ode with satire, colloquial expressions along with Church Slavonic vocabulary. A romantic approach to reality also creeps into the poet’s works. In other words, Derzhavin’s work expressed the entire development path of Russian literature of this era - from classicism, through sentimentalism and romanticism to realism.

The poet considers truth to be the basis of art, which artists and poets are obliged to convey to the reader. The task of art is to imitate nature, that is, objective reality. But this does not apply to the base and rough sides of life - poetry, as Derzhavin believes, should be “pleasant.” It should also be useful - this explains the numerous moral teachings, satires and morals with which the poet’s work is replete.

Derzhavin, of course, could not pretend to be a spiritual people's leader and encroach on the foundations of autocracy, but in many works he expresses precisely the people's point of view, which was already a breakthrough for Russian literature of the 18th century. Thus, the impressions of Pugachev’s peasant war were reflected in all the poet’s most important poems - from “Chitalagai Odes” to “Nobleman” - in them he is on the side of the people, condemning their torment by landowners and nobles.

Since 1779, Derzhavin’s work has become more and more original - he follows his own path in poetry. Derzhavin’s merit to Russian poetry is the introduction of the “funny Russian style” into literature: a combination of high style with vernacular, satire and lyricism.

Derzhavin expands the themes of poetry, bringing it closer to life. He begins to look at the world and nature through the eyes of an ordinary earthly person. The poet depicts nature not abstractly, as was done before him, but as a living reality. If before Derzhavin nature was described in the most general terms: streams, birds, flowers, sheep, then in the poet’s poems details, colors, sounds already appear - he works with words, like an artist with a brush.

In depicting a person, the poet approaches a living portrait, which was the first step on the path to realism.

Derzhavin expands the boundaries of ode. In “Felitsa” the scheme established by Lomonosov is violated - this is already a plot poem, and not a set of statements by the author in connection with a solemn event. Derzhavin's most famous odes - “Felitsa”, “God”, “Vision of Murza”, “Image of Felitsa”, “Waterfall” - are plot works into which the poet introduces his thoughts and feelings.

Derzhavin's poems introduce the image of the author into poetry, introduce the reader to the personality of the poet - this is another of his discoveries. The works represent not an abstract, but a concrete person. The poet in Derzhavin's works is an incorruptible fighter for the truth.

Derzhavin’s poetic language is of great importance for the subsequent development of Russian literature. The poet had an excellent sense of folk speech. The poet's poems always contain rhetoric and oratorical intonations - he teaches, demands, instructs, and is indignant. Many of Derzhavin’s expressions became popular:

“Where there was a table of food, there is a coffin”, “I am a king, - I am a slave, - I am a worm, - I am god”, “The smoke of the Fatherland is sweet and pleasant to us”, etc.

The poet’s main merit was the introduction of “ordinary human words” into poetry, which was incredibly unexpected and new. The subject of poetry becomes ordinary human affairs and concerns.

Derzhavin's works had an influence on almost all poets of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, contributing to the advent of a new milestone in the development of Russian poetry.