Pushkin A. S. The Bronze Horseman, 1833 The method is realistic.
Genre: poem.
History of creation . The poem “The Bronze Horseman” was written in Boldin in the fall of 1833. In this work, Pushkin describes one of the most terrible floods, which occurred in 1824 and brought terrible destruction to the city.
In the work “The Bronze Horseman” there are two main characters: Peter I, present in the poem in the form of a coming to life statue of the Bronze Horseman, and the petty official Eugene. The development of the conflict between them determines the main idea of the work.
Plot. The work opens with an “Introduction”, in which Peter the Great and his “creation” - St. Petersburg are glorified. In the first part, the reader meets the main character - an official named Eugene. He lies down, but cannot fall asleep, distracted by thoughts about his situation, that the bridges have been removed from the rising river and that this will separate him from his beloved Parasha, who lives on the other bank, for two or three days. The thought of Parasha gives rise to dreams of marriage and a future happy and modest life in the family circle, with a loving and beloved wife and children. Finally, lulled by sweet thoughts, Evgeniy falls asleep.
However, very soon the weather deteriorates and the whole of St. Petersburg finds itself under water. At this time, on Petrovaya Square, a motionless Evgeniy sits astride a marble statue of a lion. He looks at the opposite bank of the Neva, where his beloved and her mother live in their poor house very close to the water. With its back to it, towering above the elements, “stands with an outstretched hand an idol on a bronze horse.”
When the water recedes, Evgeniy discovers that Parasha and her mother are dead and their house is destroyed, and he loses his mind. Almost a year later, Evgeny vividly remembers the flood. By chance he finds himself at the monument to Peter the Great. Eugene threatens the monument in anger, but suddenly it seems to him that the face of the formidable king is turning to him, and anger sparkles in his eyes, and Eugene rushes away, hearing the heavy clatter of copper hooves behind him. All night the unfortunate man rushes around the city, and it seems to him that the horseman with a heavy stomp is galloping after him everywhere.
P problemmatics. A brutal clash of historical necessity with the doom of private personal life.
The problem of autocratic power and disadvantaged people
“Where are you galloping, proud horse, and where will you land your hooves?” — a question about the future of the Russian state.
Several thematic and emotional lines: the apotheosis of Peter and St. Petersburg, the dramatic narration of Eugene, the author's lyricism.
Intent: a symbolic clash of two polar opposite forces - an ordinary little man and the unlimited powerful force of an autocratic state
Eugene The image of a shining, lively, lush city is replaced in the first part of the poem by a picture of a terrible, destructive flood, expressive images of a raging element over which man has no control. The element sweeps away everything in its path, carrying away in streams of water fragments of buildings and destroyed bridges, “belongings of pale poverty” and even coffins “from a washed-out cemetery.” Among those whose lives were destroyed by the flood is Eugene, whose peaceful concerns the author speaks of at the beginning of the first part of the poem. Evgeny is an “ordinary man” (“little” man): he has neither money nor rank, “serves somewhere” and dreams of setting up a “humble and simple shelter” for himself in order to marry the girl he loves and go through life’s journey with her.
The poem does not indicate the hero's surname or his age; nothing is said about Eugene's past, his appearance, or character traits. Having deprived Evgeny of his individual characteristics, the author turns him into an ordinary, faceless person from the crowd. However, in an extreme, critical situation, Eugene seems to awaken from a dream, and throws off the guise of a “nonentity” and opposes the “brass idol”.
Peter I Starting from the second half of the 1820s, Pushkin was looking for an answer to the question: can autocratic power be reformist and merciful? In this regard, he artistically explores the personality and government activities of the “Tsar-Reformer” Peter I.
The theme of Peter was painful and painful for Pushkin. Throughout his life, he repeatedly changed his attitude towards this epochal image for Russian history. For example, in the poem “Poltava” he glorifies the victorious Tsar. At the same time, in Pushkin’s notes for the work “The History of Peter I,” Peter appears not only as a great statesman and worker-tsar, but also as an autocratic despot, a tyrant.
Pushkin continues his artistic study of the image of Peter in “The Bronze Horseman.” The poem “The Bronze Horseman” completes the theme of Peter I in the work of A. S. Pushkin. The majestic appearance of the Tsar-Transformer is depicted in the very first, sometimes solemn, lines of the poem:
On the shore of desert waves
He stood there, full of great thoughts,
And he looked into the distance.
The author contrasts the monumental figure of the king with the image of harsh and wild nature. The picture against which the figure of the king appears before us is bleak. Before Peter’s gaze is a wide-spread river rushing into the distance; There is a forest around, “unknown to the rays of the hidden sun in the fog.” But the ruler's gaze is directed to the future. Russia must establish itself on the shores of the Baltic - this is necessary for the country’s prosperity. Confirmation of his historical correctness is the fulfillment of the “thoughts of the great.” A hundred years later, at the time when the plot events begin, the “city of Petrov” became a “full-fledged” (northern) “div.” “Victory banners flutter at parades,” “slender masses crowd along the shores,” ships “in a crowd from all over the earth” come to “rich piers.”
The picture of St. Petersburg not only contains a response to Peter’s plan, it glorifies the sovereign power of Russia. This is a solemn hymn to her glory, beauty, and royal power. The impression is created with the help of elevating epithets (“city” - young, lush, proud, slender, rich, strict, radiant, unshakable), reinforced by the antithesis with the “desert” nature hostile to man and with the “poor, wretched” of its “stepson” - a little person. If the huts of the Chukhonians “turned black... here and there,” the forest was “unknown” to the sun’s rays, and the sun itself was hidden “in the fog,” then the main characteristic of St. Petersburg becomes light. (shine, flame, radiance, golden skies, dawn).
Nature itself strives to drive away the night, “spring days” have come for Russia; The odic meaning of the depicted picture is confirmed by the five-fold repetition in the author’s speech of the admiring “I love.”
The author's attitude towards Peter the Great is ambiguous . On the one hand, at the beginning of the work, Pushkin pronounces an enthusiastic hymn to the creation of Peter, confesses his love for the “young city”, before whose splendor “old Moscow faded.” Peter in the poem appears as an “Idol on a bronze horse”, as a “powerful ruler of fate.”
On the other hand, Peter the autocrat is presented in the poem not in any specific acts, but in the symbolic image of the Bronze Horseman as the personification of inhuman statehood. Even in those lines where he admires Peter and Petersburg, an intonation of alarm can already be heard:
O mighty lord of fate!
Aren't you above the very abyss,
At the height, with an iron bridle
Raised Russia on its hind legs?
The Tsar also appears as a “proud idol” before Eugene. And this idol is contrasted with a living person, whose “brow” is burning with wild excitement, in his heart there is a feeling of “constraint”, “flame”, whose soul is “boiling”.
Conflict . The conflict of “The Bronze Horseman” consists in the clash of the individual with the inevitable course of history, in the confrontation between the collective, public will (in the person of Peter the Great) and the personal will (in the person of Eugene). How does Pushkin resolve this conflict?
Critics have differing opinions about whose side Pushkin is on. Some believed that the poet substantiated the right of the state to dispose of a person’s life and took the side of Peter, because he understood the necessity and benefit of his reforms. Others consider Eugene’s sacrifice unjustified and believe that the author’s sympathies are entirely on the side of “poor” Eugene.
The third version seems to be the most convincing: Pushkin was the first in Russian literature to show all the tragedy and intractability of the conflict between the state and state interests and the interests of the private individual.
Pushkin depicts a tragic conflict between two forces (personality and power, man and state), each of which has its own truth, but both of these truths are limited and incomplete. Peter is right as a sovereign, history is behind him and on his side. Eugene is right as an ordinary person, behind him and on his side are humanity and Christian compassion
Plot-wise, the poem is completed, the hero died, but the central conflict remained and was conveyed to the readers, unresolved and in reality itself, the antagonism of the “upper” and “lower”, the autocratic government and the dispossessed people remained.
The symbolic victory of the Bronze Horseman over Eugene is a victory of strength, but not of justice. The question remains: “Where are you galloping, proud horse, and where will you land your hooves?” This is a metaphorically expressed main question for the author, the question of the future of the Russian state.
(Searching for an answer) The problem of the people and the authorities, the theme of mercy - in "The Captain's Daughter". Even in troubled times, it is necessary to maintain honor and mercy.
“...The best and most lasting changes are those that come from improving morals, without any violent upheaval”
Human relationships should be built on respect and mercy
Goodness is life-giving
The image of natural elements in A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Bronze Horseman”
“The Bronze Horseman” is the first urban poem in Russian literature. The problems of the poem are complex and multifaceted. The poem is a kind of reflection by the poet on the fate of Russia, on its path: European, associated with the reforms of Peter, and original Russian. The attitude towards the actions of Peter and the city that he founded has always been ambiguous. The history of the city was represented in various myths, legends and prophecies. In some myths, Peter was represented as the “father of the Fatherland,” a deity who founded a certain intelligent cosmos, a “glorious city,” a “dear country,” a stronghold of state and military power. These myths originated in poetry and were officially encouraged. In other myths, Peter was the spawn of Satan, the living Antichrist, and Petersburg, founded by him, was a “non-Russian” city, a satanic chaos, doomed to inevitable extinction.
Pushkin created synthetic images of Peter and St. Petersburg. In them, both concepts complemented each other. The poetic myth about the founding of the city is developed in the introduction, oriented towards the literary tradition, and the myth about its destruction and flooding - in the first and second parts of the poem.
The two parts of the story depict two rebellions against autocracy: the rebellion of the elements and the rebellion of man. In the finale, both of these rebellions will be defeated: poor Eugene, who recently desperately threatened the Bronze Horseman, will reconcile, and the enraged Neva will return to its normal course.
The poem itself interestingly depicts the violence of the elements. The Neva, once enslaved, “taken captive” by Peter, has not forgotten her “ancient enmity” and with “vain malice” rebels against the enslaver. The “defeated element” is trying to crush its granite shackles and is attacking the “slender masses of palaces and towers” that arose due to the mania of autocratic Peter. The city turns into a fortress, besieged by the Neva.
The Neva River, on which the city lies, indignant and violent:
In the morning over its banks
There were crowds of people crowded together,
Admiring the splashes, mountains
AND foam of angry waters.
But the force of the wind from the bay
Blocked Neva
I was walking back , angry, seething,
And flooded the islands.
… From the indignant depths
the waves rose and got angry,
There was a storm howling
There were debris flying around...
The story of the flood takes on folklore and mythological overtones. The enraged Neva is compared either to a frenzied “beast,” or to “thieves” climbing through the windows, or to a “villain” who burst into the village “with his ferocious gang.” The poem also mentions a river deity, and the violence of the elements is compared with it:
… water suddenly
Flowed into underground cellars,
Channels poured into the gratings,
And Petropol emerged like a newt,
Waist-deep in water.
For a moment it seems that the “defeated element” is triumphant, that Fate itself is for it: “The people are watching God’s wrath and awaiting execution. \ Alas! everything is dying..."
The revolt of the elements depicted by Pushkin helps to reveal the ideological and artistic originality of the work. On the one hand, the Neva, the water element, is part of the urban landscape. On the other hand, the wrath of the elements, its mythological overtones, remind the reader of the idea of St. Petersburg as a satanic city, non-Russian, doomed to destruction. Another function of the landscape is associated with the image of Eugene, the “little man.” The flood destroys Eugene's modest dreams. It turned out to be disastrous not for the city center and its inhabitants, but for the poor people who settled on the outskirts. For Evgeny, Peter is not "ruler of half the world" and only the culprit of the disasters that befell him is the one “...by whose fatal will \ Under the sea the city was founded...”, who did not take into account the fate of small people not protected from disaster.
The surrounding reality turned out to be hostile for the hero, he is defenseless, but Evgeny turns out to be worthy not only of sympathy and condolences, but at a certain moment arouses admiration. When Eugene threatens the “proud idol,” his image takes on the features of true heroism. At these moments, the pitiful, humble inhabitant of Kolomna, who has lost his home, a beggar vagabond, dressed in decaying rags, is completely reborn, strong passions, hatred, desperate determination, and the will to revenge flare up in him for the first time.
However, the Bronze Horseman achieves his goal: Eugene resigns himself. The second rebellion was defeated, just like the first. How after the riot of the Neva, “everything returned to the same order.” Eugene again became the most insignificant of the insignificant, and in the spring his corpse was like a corpse.
tramps and fishermen were buried on a deserted island, “for God’s sake.”
Unified State Examination Pushkin “The Bronze Horseman”
Read the given fragment of text and complete tasks B1-B7; C1-C2.
Complete tasks B1-B7. Write your answer as a word, a combination of words, or a sequence of numbers.
Then, on Petrova Square,
Where a new house has risen in the corner,
Where above the elevated porch
With a raised paw, as if alive,
There are two guard lions standing,
Riding a marble beast,
Without a hat, hands clasped in a cross,
Sat motionless, terribly pale
Eugene. He was afraid, poor thing,
Not for myself. He didn't hear
How the greedy shaft rose,
Washing his soles,
How the rain hit his face,
Like the wind, howling violently,
He suddenly tore off his hat.
His desperate glances
Pointed to the edge
They were motionless. Like mountains
From the indignant depths
The waves rose there and got angry,
There the storm howled, there they rushed
Debris... God, God! there -
Alas! close to the waves,
Almost at the very bay -
The fence is unpainted, but the willow
And a dilapidated house: there it is,
Widow and daughter, his Parasha,
His dream... Or in a dream
Does he see this? or all ours
And life is nothing like an empty dream,
The mockery of heaven over earth?
And he seems to be bewitched
As if chained to marble,
Can't get off! Around him
Water and nothing else!
And my back is turned to him
In the unshakable heights,
Above the indignant Neva
Stands with outstretched hand
Idol on a bronze horse.
IN 1. Specify the genre of the work
AT 2. In what city do the events described in this work take place?
Answer: __________________________________
VZ. In The Bronze Horseman, Pushkin created a generalized artistic image of Eugene as a “little man.” What term is used to call such images?
Answer: __________________________________
AT 4. In the given fragment A.S. Pushkin uses a technique based on the repetition of homogeneous consonant sounds. Name it.
… Like mountains
From the indignant depths
The waves rose there and got angry,
There the storm was angry, there they rushed
Debris...
Answer: __________________________________
AT 5. A.S. Pushkin calls Peter I “an idol on a bronze horse.” Indicate a trope that is a replacement of a proper name with a descriptive phrase."
Answer: __________________________________
AT 6. Name a figurative and expressive means of language based on the comparison of objects or phenomena.
… or all ours
And life is nothing like an empty dream,
The mockery of heaven over earth?
Answer: __________________________________
AT 7. The poet in “The Bronze Horseman” perceives the flood not only as a natural phenomenon, but also as an analogue of life’s storms and hardships. What is the name of such a symbolic image, the meaning of which goes beyond the limits of the objective meaning?
Answer: __________________________________
To complete tasks C1 and C2, give a coherent answer to the question in 5-10 sentences. Rely on the author’s position and, if necessary, express your point of view. Justify your answer based on the text of the work. When completing task C2, select two works by different authors for comparison (in one of the examples, it is acceptable to refer to the work of the author who owns the source text); indicate the titles of the works and the names of the authors; justify your choice and compare the works with the proposed text in a given direction of analysis.
Write down your answers clearly and legibly, following the rules of speech.
C1. What role does the description of various natural phenomena play in this fragment?
(C1. How did Eugene’s fate change under the influence of the devastating flood?)
C2. In what works of Russian literature do natural forces participate in the destinies of the heroes, as in The Bronze Horseman, and in what ways is their role similar?
As in the poem by A.S. Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman" is the power of the state opposed to the tragedy of the "little man" Evgeniy?
We use quotes and terms!!!
1. In the introduction, it is necessary to say about the time the work was written, about the theme or problematic of the poem, and name the conflict of the work, which is indicated in the topic.
2. In the main part of the essay we reveal the main conflict of the work.
— The majestic image of Peter in the introduction to the poem. Glorification of Russia's sovereign power. Historical necessity for the founding of the city.
— The tragedy of the “little man” Evgeniy.
— A symbolic clash of two polar opposite forces - an ordinary little man and the unlimited powerful force of an autocratic state in the images of the Bronze Horseman and Eugene.
Conflict resolution. Victory of force, but not of justice.
3. In conclusion:
- a specific answer to the question stated in the topic. (How...? - Symbolically in the images of the flood as an analogue of life’s storms and hardships. Symbolically in the images of the bronze horseman and the hunted, resigned Eugene.
In 1833, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin had already given up hopes for the enlightened reign of Nicholas I, when he presented his thoughts about the fate of the people and the Pugachev rebellion in his novel The Captain's Daughter, when he traveled across Russia to Orenburg. As a result, he retires to the estate of his wife Boldine to collect his thoughts, where he creates a poem "Bronze Horseman", which is dedicated to the reformer Peter the Great. Pushkin calls his work a “St. Petersburg story” (in the drafts - a “sorrowful story” and “sad legend”) and insists that “the incident described in this story is based on the truth.”
In The Bronze Horseman, Pushkin poses two of the most pressing questions for his time: about social contradictions and about the future of the country. To do this, he shows the past, present and future of Russia as an inextricable whole. The impetus for the creation of the poem can be considered Pushkin’s acquaintance with the third part of the poem “Dziady” by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, in the appendix of which there was a poetic cycle “Petersburg”.
It included the poem “Monument to Peter the Great” and several other poems containing severe criticism of Nicholas Russia. Mitskevich hated autocracy and had a sharply negative attitude towards Peter I, whom he considered the founder of modern Russian statehood, and calls the monument to him “a block of tyranny.”
The Russian poet contrasted his philosophy of history with the views of the Polish poet in The Bronze Horseman. Pushkin had a very great interest in the era of Peter the Great. He appreciated the progressive activities of Peter, but the appearance of the tsar emerges on two levels: on the one hand, he is a reformer, on the other, an autocratic tsar, forcing people to obey him with a whip and stick.
The poem “The Bronze Horseman”, profound in content, was created in the shortest possible time - from October 6 to October 31, 1833. The plot revolves around Eugene, a poor official who challenges the statue of the emperor - the founder of St. Petersburg. This audacity of the “little man” is explained by the shock that the hero experienced when, after a flood in St. Petersburg, he lost his bride Parasha, who found herself in the flood zone.
All the events described in the poem unfold around the main characters: there are two of them - the petty official Eugene and Tsar Peter I. The introduction to the poem is a detailed exposition to the image of Peter: this is both an elucidation of the historical role of the sovereign and a description of his activities. The theme of the glorification of Peter in the introduction is imbued with faith in the future of Russia; it sounds pathetic. The beginning of the first part, where the poet glorifies the young “city of Petrov,” sounds just as solemn.
But next to the sovereign finds himself a poor official, dreaming of the ordinary - of family and modest income. Unlike other “little” people (Vyrina from or Bashmachkina from “The Overcoat”), Evgeny’s drama in “The Bronze Horseman” lies in the fact that his personal fate is drawn into the cycle of history and is connected with the entire course of the historical process in Russia. As a result, Eugene confronts Tsar Peter.
The flood is the central episode of the work. The meaning of the flood is the rebellion of nature against the creation of Peter. The furious anger of the rebellious elements is powerless to destroy the city of Peter, but this becomes a disaster for the social lower classes of St. Petersburg. Therefore, rebellious feelings awaken in Eugene, and he reproaches heaven, which has created man too powerless. Later, having lost his beloved, Evgeniy goes crazy.
A year later, during the same stormy time as before the flood of 1824, Eugene remembers everything he experienced and sees on “Petrova Square” the culprit of all his misfortunes - Peter. Saving Russia, Peter raised her on her hind legs over the abyss and with his will founded a city above the sea, and this brings death to the life of Eugene, who was dragging out his miserable life. And the proud idol still stands on an unshakable peak, not considering it necessary to even look towards insignificant people.
Then a protest is born in Evgeny’s soul: he falls to the bars and angrily whispers his threats. The silent idol turns into a formidable king, pursuing Eugene with his “heavy, sonorous galloping,” eventually forcing him to resign himself. The rebellion of the “little man” against Peter was defeated, and Eugene’s corpse was buried on a deserted island.
The poem reveals to the reader the attitude of the humanist poet, who recognizes everyone’s right to be happy, to the brutal suppression of the rebellion. The author deliberately evokes sympathy for the fate of “poor Eugene”, crushed by historical circumstances, and the finale sounds like a mournful requiem, like a bitter echo of a pathetic prologue.
- “The Bronze Horseman”, a summary of the parts of Pushkin’s poem
- “The Captain’s Daughter”, a summary of the chapters of Pushkin’s story
Preview:
SUBJECT:
Poem "The Bronze Horseman". Petersburg story.
Target:
- Comprehension of the ideological and artistic originality of the poem.
- Reveal the confrontation between the Bronze Horseman and Eugene in the poem;
- Develop skills in analytical work with literary text,
- the ability to analyze the thoughts and feelings not only of the author of the work, but also your own;
- Show students the enduring value of the poem and A.S. Pushkin’s interest in the historical past of Russia
The poem "The Bronze Horseman" was written in October 1833 in Boldino, but could not be published immediately due to censorship reasons. It was published only a year after the death of the poet V.A. Zhukovsky with some edits. It was published in its entirety by P. V. Annenkov in 1857.
In this work,the genre of which Pushkin defined asPetersburg story, understanding continues personality of Peter I as a sovereign and a person, his role in the formation and development of Russia. It is no coincidence that Pushkin turns to the image of Peter, who in his interpretation becomes a kind ofa symbol of willful, autocratic power. Despite everything, Peter builds Petersburg on the swamps so that“from here threaten the Swede”. This act appears in the poem as the highest manifestation of the autocratic will of the ruler, who “raised all of Russia on its hind legs.”
Addressing the theme of Peter I, the city he created, which became a “window to Europe,” took place against the backdrop of heated discussions about the ways of the country’s development. Opponents of the emperor’s activities and his reforms believed that, while building a new city, which played a decisive role in accelerating the Europeanization of Russia and strengthening its political and military power, Peter did not take into account the natural conditions of the area on which Petersburg was built. Such natural conditions included swampiness, as well as the Neva’s tendency to flood. St. Petersburg was opposed to the mother throne of Moscow, which was created not by the will and design of one person, even if endowed with enormous power, but by Divine providence. The flood that occurred in St. Petersburg in the early 1820s and caused great loss of life was considered as revenge of natural forces for the violence committed. That was one point of view.
Composition of the poem. The poem raises a number of philosophical, social and moral problems. Their decision is subject to a clear composition. In two main parts the main conflict of the poem : natural elements, state power and interests of the individual. Pictures of the St. Petersburg disaster are conveyed dynamically and visibly.
Pushkin loves St. Petersburg, admires its beauty and the genius of its architects, but neverthelessthe city has been under God's punishment for centuries for that original autocracy, which was expressed by Peter in the founding of the city on a place unsuitable for this. And floods are just a punishment, a kind of “curse” that weighs on the residents of the capital, a reminder to the inhabitants of Babylon of the crime that they once committed against God.
Plot The main part of the poem is built around the fate of an ordinary, ordinary person - Eugene and his bride Parasha, whose hopes for simple family happiness are destroyed as a result of a natural disaster.
Conflict The poem reaches its climax in the scene of the collision of the insane Eugene, who has lost the most precious thing in his life, with the monument to the creator of St. Petersburg - the Bronze Horseman. It is him, the “builder of the miraculous,” as he calls the “idol on a bronze horse” with malicious irony, that Eugene considers to be the culprit of his misfortune.
The image of Eugene is the image of that very “man of the crowd” who is not yet ready to accept freedom, who has not suffered for it in his heart, i.e. the image of an ordinary man in the street. The “Bronze Horseman” is a part of a person’s soul, his “second self,” which does not disappear by itself. In the words of Chekhov, a person must every day “squeeze the slave out of himself drop by drop”, carry out tirelessly spiritual work (compare with the idea developed by Gogol in “The Overcoat” thatthat man was created for a high purpose and cannot live by a dreamabout purchasing an overcoat, only in this case does he deserve the high name of Man). It is these ideas that will later be embodied in the work of Dostoevsky, who “from the inside” will describe the rebellion of the “little man” - the fruitless rebellion of the “poor in spirit.”
Idea : " Kings cannot cope with God's elements" Power suppresses the personality of an individual, his interests, but is unable to resist the elements and protect himself from it. The rebellious elements returned part of the city - the “small island” - to its original state. The natural elements are terrible and capable of taking revenge for their defeat not only on the winner, but also on his descendants. The townspeople, especially the poor inhabitants of the islands, became victims of the rebellious Neva.
QUESTIONS for self-test.
The author's position in the poem “The Bronze Horseman” has given rise to various interpretations in criticism and literary criticism. Some, citing V. G. Belinsky, believed that A. S. Pushkin, in the image of Peter I, substantiates the tragic right of the state to dispose of a person’s private life (B. M. Engelhardt, G. A. Gukovsky, JI. P. Grossman). Others (V. Ya. Bryusov, A. V. Makedonov, M. P. Eremin and others), finding a humanistic concept in the poem, believe that the poet is completely on the side of poor Eugene. And finally, S. M. Bondi and E. A. Maimin see in “The Bronze Horseman” the “tragic intractability of the conflict,” according to which A. S. Pushkin presents history itself to make a choice between the “truths” of the Horseman and Eugene. Which of the above interpretations is closer to you and why? Determine your point of view on the author's position.
The poem “The Bronze Horseman” reveals the theme of the relationship between the common man and the authorities. The technique of symbolic opposition between Peter I (the great transformer of Russia, the founder of St. Petersburg) and the Bronze Horseman - a monument to Peter I (the personification of autocracy, senseless and cruel force) is used. Thus, the poet emphasizes the idea that the undivided power of one, even an outstanding person, cannot be fair. Peter's great deeds were carried out for the benefit of the state, but were often cruel towards the people, towards the individual: On the shore of desert waves He stood, no thoughts of great thoughts, And looked into the distance.
The River rushed wide before him; the poor boat strove along it alone. Along the mossy, swampy banks of Cherneli there are huts here and there. Shelter of a wretched Chukhonian; And the forest, unknown to the rays In the fog of the hidden sun. There was noise all around.
Pushkin, recognizing the greatness of Peter, defends the right of every person to personal happiness.
The clash of the “little man” - the poor official Evgeniy - with the unlimited power of the state ends with the defeat of Evgeniy: And suddenly he began to run headlong. It seemed to Him that he was a formidable king. Instantly ignited with anger. The face turned quietly... And he runs across the empty square and hears behind him - As if thunder was rumbling - A heavy, ringing galloping along the shocked pavement, And, illuminated by the pale moon. Stretching out your hand on high. Behind him rushes the Bronze Horseman on a ringing galloping horse; And all night long the poor madman.
Wherever he turned his feet, the Bronze Horseman galloped behind him with a heavy stomp. The author sympathizes with the hero, but understands that the rebellion of a loner against the “powerful ruler of fate” is insane and hopeless.
- Artistic features of the poem.
“The Bronze Horseman” is one of Pushkin’s most perfect poetic works. The poem is written in iambic tetrameter. The uniqueness of this work lies in the fact that the author overcame the genre canons of the historical poem.
Peter does not appear in the poem as a historical character (he is an “idol” - a statue), and nothing is said about the time of his reign. The poet turns not to the origins of this era, but to its results - to modernity: On the porch With a raised paw, as if alive. The guard lions stood, And right in the dark heights Above the fenced rock, the Idol with outstretched hand Sat on a bronze horse. The conflict reflected in the poem is supported stylistically.
The introduction and the episodes associated with the “idol on a bronze horse” are in the tradition of the ode - the most state genre: And he thought; From here we will threaten the Swede. Here the city will be founded to spite the arrogant neighbor. Nature here destined us to cut a window into Europe. Stand with a firm foot by the sea. Here on the new waves All the flags will visit us, And we will lock them in the open air. When it comes to Evgeniy, prosaicism prevails: “Get married?
To me? why not? It’s hard, of course; But well, I'm young and healthy. Ready to work day and night; I’ll somehow arrange a shelter for myself, humble and simple, and in it I’ll calm Parasha. Perhaps a year or two will pass - I’ll get a place, I’ll entrust our family to Parasha And the upbringing of the children... And we’ll begin to live, and so we’ll both reach the grave Hand in hand, And our grandchildren will bury us...”
- The main conflict of the poem.
The main conflict of the poem is the conflict between the state and the individual. It is embodied, first of all, in a figurative system: the opposition of Peter and Eugene. The image of Peter is central in the poem. Pushkin gives his interpretation of the personality and state activities of Peter in “The Bronze Horseman”.
The author depicts two faces of the emperor: in the introduction, Peter is a man and a statesman: On the shore of desert waves He stood, full of great thoughts, And looked into the distance. He is guided by the idea of the good of the Fatherland, and not by arbitrariness. He understands the historical pattern and appears as a decisive, active, wise ruler. In the main part of the poem, Peter is a monument to the first Russian emperor, symbolizing autocratic power, ready to suppress any protest: He is terrible in the surrounding darkness! What a thought on the brow!
What power is hidden in it! The conflict between history and personality is revealed through the depiction of the fate of an ordinary person. Although Eugene’s researchers do not include “little people” in the gallery, we nevertheless find some typical features of such heroes in this image. The confrontation between man and power, the individual and the state is an eternal problem, an unambiguous solution to which Pushkin considers impossible. In the poem, the empire is represented not only by Peter, its creator, the embodiment of its titanic will, but also by St. Petersburg.
Unforgettable stanzas about St. Petersburg best provide an opportunity to understand what Pushkin loves in “Peter’s Creation.” All the magic of this northern St. Petersburg beauty is in the reconciliation of two opposite principles: I love your cruel winter, motionless air and frost. Sleigh running along the wide Neva. Girls' faces are brighter than roses, And the shine, and the noise, and the talk of balls, And at the hour of a single feast The hiss of foamy glasses And the blue flame of punch. I love the warlike liveliness of the Amusing Fields of Mars. Infantry troops and horses Monotonous beauty, In their harmoniously unsteady formation The rags of these victorious banners. The shine of these copper caps.
Shot through and through in battle. I love it, military capital. Your stronghold is smoke and thunder. When the full-fledged queen bestows a son into the royal house. Either Russia again triumphs in victory over the enemy, Or, having broken its blue ice, the Neva carries it to the seas And, sensing the spring days, rejoices. Almost all epithets are paired and balance each other. The cast iron of the gratings is cut into a light pattern, the vast deserted streets are “clear”, the needle of the fortress is “light”.
- Heroes of the poem.
In “The Bronze Horseman” there are not two heroes (Peter and Eugene - the state and the individual), but three - this is the element of the raging Neva, their common enemy, to whose image most of the poem is devoted. Russian life and Russian statehood are a continuous and painful overcoming of chaos by the beginning of reason and will. This is the meaning of empire for Pushkin. And Evgeny, an unfortunate victim of the struggle between two principles of Russian life, is not a person, but just an ordinary person, dying under the hooves of the horse of the empire or in the waves of the revolution. Evgeniy is deprived of individuality: At that time, young Evgeniy came home from the guests...
We will call our hero by this name. It sounds nice; My pen has been with him for a long time and is also friendly. We don't need his nickname. Although in times gone by It may have shone And under the pen of Karamzin It sounded in native legends; But now it is forgotten by light and rumor. Our hero lives in Kolomna; He serves somewhere, is shy of nobles and does not worry about his deceased relatives. Not about forgotten antiquities. Peter I becomes for him that “significant person” who appears in the life of any “little man” to destroy his happiness.
The greatness, state scale of the image of Peter and the insignificance, limitation of the circle of personal concerns of Eugene are emphasized compositionally. Peter’s monologue in the introduction (And he thought: “From here we will threaten the Swede...”) is contrasted with Eugene’s “thoughts” (“What was he thinking about? About / That he was poor...”).
Literary critic M.V. Alpatov claims that all critics who wrote about “The Bronze Horseman” see in it an image of two opposing principles, to which each of them gave their own interpretation. However, at the heart of “The Bronze Horseman,” M. V. Alpatov believes, lies a much more complex multi-stage system of images. It consists of the following characters: Peter with his “companions” Alexander, the Bronze Horseman and Petersburg. An element that some critics tried in vain to identify with the image of the people.
People. Eugene. A poet who, without speaking openly, is invariably present as one of the characters. The poem as assessed by critics and literary scholars. “The will of the hero and the uprising of the primeval elements in nature - a flood raging at the foot of the Bronze Horseman; the will of the hero and the same uprising of the primeval element in the human heart - a challenge thrown in the face of the hero by one of the countless, doomed to death by this will - this is the meaning of the poem" (Dn. Merezhkovsky).
“Pushkin managed to see in the St. Petersburg flood and in the unfortunate fate of the poor official a significant event and reveal in it a range of ideas that went far beyond the scope of the events described. In this regard, it is natural that Pushkin’s poem reflected the poet’s experiences related to the events of the December uprising, as well as a number of broader problems of Russian and world history and, in particular, the romantic theme of the individual in his relationship to society, nature and fate" ( M.V. Alpatov). “Pushkin does not reveal Evgeniy’s threat in more detail.
We still don’t know what exactly the madman wants to say with his “Wow!” Does this mean that the “small”, “insignificant” will be able to ‘*really’ take revenge for their enslavement, humiliation by the “hero”? Or that voiceless, weak-willed Russia will raise its hand “already” against its rulers, who are hard forcing them to test their fatal will? There is no answer... The important thing is that small and insignificant, the one who recently humbly admitted that “God could give him more intelligence,” whose dreams did not go beyond the modest wish: “I’ll ask for a place,” suddenly felt equal to the Bronze Horseman, found in yourself the strength and courage to threaten the “power of half the world”” (V.Ya. Bryusov). “We understand with a confused soul that it is not arbitrariness, but rational will that is personified in this Bronze Horseman, who, in an unshakable height, with an outstretched hand, seems to be admiring the city...
And it seems to us that, amid the chaos and darkness of this destruction, from his copper lips comes the creative “let it be!”, and his outstretched hand proudly commands the furious elements to subside... And with a humble heart we recognize the triumph of the general over the particular, without giving up our sympathy for the suffering of this private...
When we look at the giant, proudly and unshakably rising in the midst of general death and destruction and, as if symbolically realizing the indestructibility of his creation, we, although not without a shudder of heart, admit that this bronze giant could not protect the fate of individuals, ensuring the fate of the people and the state ; what a historical necessity it is and that his view of us is already his justification... Yes, this poem is the apotheosis of Peter the Great, the most daring, the most grandiose that could only have occurred to a poet who was fully worthy of being the singer of the great transformer of Russia” (V. G. Belinsky).
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Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is an outstanding Russian poet, a classic of the Golden Age. His famous "Bronze Horseman", the analysis of which will be offered below, is a wonderful work of literature.
It is dedicated to Peter the Great and his main creation - the city on the Neva, St. Petersburg. Analysis of the poem "The Bronze Horseman" is always very difficult, because not everyone has the same attitude towards the great reformer and his brainchild. A. Pushkin is a master of the poetic form, and that is why it was not difficult for him to depict history in just such a form.
“The Bronze Horseman”: analysis of the poem
The poem was created in 1833. By that time, the author’s own opinion about the transformations of the great tsar-builder had changed, because in the Battle of Poltava it was Peter the Great who was the hero. The poem initially did not pass the cruel censorship of Nicholas 1, but was later allowed for publication.
The focus is on two heroes - a young man named Eugene and the Bronze Horseman himself. This poem is easy to read, allowing for quick analysis. The Bronze Horseman is the one whom the young man blames for his misfortune (after a severe flood, the hero runs to the house of his beloved girl and sees that this natural disaster has also affected his fate - Parasha is no more).
What is said in the first part of this poetic story? It tells about the beautiful autumn St. Petersburg. A young and hardworking Evgeniy lives there, who is very concerned and upset about his fate. He has a beloved girl - Parasha, whom he has not seen for many days and missed her very much. It was an ordinary day, Evgeniy was walking home from work and thinking about Parasha. At night, a strong flood begins, after which he learns that his beloved is no longer there. After this incident, the hero stops “living”: he leaves work, leaves his apartment, and lives on the pier. One autumn day, for an unknown reason, he goes to the Bronze Horseman.
The Bronze Horseman (analysis of the poem of the same name by the great Russian classic A. Pushkin always makes everyone think) rises majestically on Senate Square. Pushkin uses the techniques of personification to show the connection between the hero and the monument. It begins to seem to Eugene that after his accusations, Peter the Great himself is chasing him (Eugene hears the sound of rushing hooves). The author himself calls his hero “a madman,” and majestically characterizes the Bronze Horseman: “...he is full of great thoughts.”
The poem "The Bronze Horseman", the analysis and detailed analysis of which will help you plunge into the atmosphere described by A. Pushkin, is a great work. This became possible thanks to an amazing sense of style and words, precise techniques and competent coordination of words. The use of Slavicisms gives the work a real Russian character and emphasizes the Russian nature of Eugene (brow, cold), while for Peter Pushkin uses a completely different stylistic connotation of words - “the ruler of half the world.” The poem “The Bronze Horseman” has become symbolic for the city on the Neva. It was after the publication of this poem that, turning to St. Petersburg, they began to say: “Beauty, city of Petrov...”
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