The evolution of the ode in Russian literature of the 18th century. Derzhavin is an innovative poet

The main direction in the literature of the XVIII century. became classicism. This style developed as a result of the creative assimilation of forms, compositions and samples of art from the ancient world and the Renaissance. The artist, according to the founders of classicism, comprehends reality in order to then display in his work not a specific person with his passions, but a type of person, a myth, in a word, the eternal in the temporal, the ideal in the real. If this is a hero, then without flaws, if the character is satirical, then it is base to the end. Classicism did not allow mixing “high” and “low”, and therefore between genres (for example, tragedy and comedy) boundaries were established that were not violated.

Russian classicism attached particular importance to “high” genres: epic poem, tragedy, solemn ode. The creator of the ode genre in Russian literature was M.V. Lomonosov.

The purpose of this essay is to review and study the evolution of the ode in Russian literature of the 18th century (from the ode of Lomonosov to the ode of Derzhavin and Radishchev).

1. M.V. Lomonosov "On the day of the accession to the throne of Empress Elizabeth ... 1747"

M.V. Lomonosov - philologist, writer. His works in the field of literature and philology marked the rise of the national culture of Russia. It is hard to imagine development in Russia literary language, poetry, grammar without the fundamental works of Lomonosov. Under his influence, a whole generation of Russian people grew up, which accepted his advanced ideas and sought to develop them further. Lomonosov was convinced of the need for a synthesis in poetry of the Russian and Church Slavonic languages, created a Russian ode, and was the first to write poetry in a language accessible to a wide range of readers. His undoubted merit in the field of the Russian language can be considered the creation of the first Russian grammar and the compilation of the first textbook of the Russian language.

In this work, we aim to show that Lomonosov's achievements in poetry, philosophy and prose theory are not just the most important scientific discoveries, and are rightfully considered fundamental works in the field of literature, which marked a new rise in the national culture of Russia. V.G. Belinsky noted that he was her "father and tutor", "he was her Peter the Great", for he gave direction to "our language and our literature."

It was written in the year when Elizaveta Petrovna approved the new charter and staff of the Academy of Sciences, doubling the amount of funds for its needs. Here the poet glorifies the world, fearing a new war, in which Austria, England and Holland, who fought with France and Prussia, drew Russia, demanding that Russian troops be sent to the banks of the Rhine. In this ode, the contradiction of the entire genre of laudatory ode was especially acute - the contradiction between its complementarity and real political content: the poet, on behalf of Elizabeth, glorifies "silence", outlining his own peace program. 1. Joyful change ... - a palace coup that brought Elizabeth to the throne. 2. He sent a Man to Russia ... - Peter I. 3. Then the sciences are divine ... - we are talking about the Academy of Sciences founded by Peter I, opened after his death in 1725. 4. Jealously rejected by fate ... - Peter I died in 1725. 5. Catherine I (1684-1727) - wife of Peter I, Russian empress. 6. Sequana is the Latin name for the Seine, an allusion to the Paris Academy of Sciences. 7. Russian Columbus - Vitus Bering (1681-1741) - Russian navigator.

9. Plato (427-347 BC) - Greek philosopher. 10. Newton - Isaac Newton (1643-1727) - English physicist and mathematician. 11. The sciences nourish young men ... - the stanza is a poetic translation of a fragment from the speech of a Roman orator and politician Mark (106-43 BC) in defense of the poet Archius (b. 120 BC).

Deep ideological content, ardent patriotism, the majestic and solemn style of Lomonosov's ode to a new, unlike the others, type, its stable strophic organization, the correct size - iambic tetrameter, rich and varied rhyme - all this was new not only for Russian literature, but also for history of the genre as a whole. Pushing the boundaries of the genre, introducing patriotic pathos, Lomonosov turned the ode into a multi-volume work that served the highest ideals of the poet, his ardent interest in the fate of the Motherland.

2. G.R. Derzhavin "Felitsa"

For the first time - “Interlocutor”, 1783, part 1, p. 5, without a signature, under the title: “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz princess Felitsa, written by a Tatar murza who has long settled in Moscow, and who lives on business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic 1782. To the last words, the editors gave a note: "Although we do not know the name of the writer, we know that this ode was definitely composed in Russian." Having written the ode in 1782, Derzhavin did not dare to print it, fearing the revenge of noble nobles, depicted in a satirical way. The poet's friends, N.A., were of the same opinion. Lvov and V.V. Kapnist. By chance, the ode fell into the hands of a good friend of Derzhavin, an adviser to the director of the Academy of Sciences, a writer, figure in the field of public education, later Minister Osip Petrovich Kozodavlev (early 1750s - 1819), who began to show it to different people, including Among them, he introduced her to Princess E. R. Dashkova, who was appointed director of the Academy of Sciences in 1783. Dashkova liked the ode, and when the publication of The Interlocutor was undertaken in May 1783 (Kozodavlev became the editor of the magazine), it was decided to open the first issue of Felice. The publication of the "Interlocutor" was due to the political events of the early 1780s, the intensification of Catherine's struggle with the noble opposition, the desire of the empress "to use journalism as a means of influencing the minds, as an apparatus for disseminating favorable interpretations of the phenomena of the country's internal political life." One of the ideas persistently pursued by Catherine in the huge “Notes on Russian history”, was the idea noted by Dobrolyubov that the sovereign “is never the fault of civil strife, but always the resolver of strife, the peacemaker of princes, the defender of the right, if only he follows the suggestions of his own heart. As soon as he does an injustice that cannot be hidden or justified, then all the blame falls on evil advisers, most often on the boyars and the clergy. Therefore, "Felitsa", panegyric portraying Catherine and satirically - her nobles, fell into the hands of the government, Catherine liked. Derzhavin received a golden snuffbox containing 500 chervonets as a gift from the Empress and was personally introduced to her. The high merits of the ode brought her success in the circles of the most advanced contemporaries, wide popularity at that time. A.N. Radishchev, for example, wrote: “If you add many stanzas from the ode to Felitsa, and especially where Murza describes himself, almost the same poetry will remain without poetry” (Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 2, 1941, p. 217) . “Everyone who can read Russian has found herself in her hands,” Kozodavlev testified. The very name "Felitsa" Derzhavin took from "The Tale of Tsarevich Chlorus", written by Catherine II for her grandson Alexander (1781). “The author called himself Murza because ... he came from a Tatar tribe; and the empress - Felice and the Kyrgyz princess, because the late empress composed a fairy tale under the name of Tsarevich Chlor, whom Felitsa, that is, the goddess of bliss, accompanied to the mountain where a rose without thorns blooms, and that the author had his villages in the Orenburg province in the neighborhood from the Kyrgyz horde, which was not listed as a citizen. In the manuscript of 1795, the interpretation of the name "Felitsa" is somewhat different: "wisdom, grace, virtue." This name was formed by Catherine from the Latin words "felix" - "happy", "felicitas" - "happiness".

Your son is accompanying me. In the tale of Ekaterina, Felitsa gave Tsarevich Chlor her son Reason as a guide.

Not imitating your Murzas, that is, courtiers, nobles. The word "Murza" is used by Derzhavin in two ways. When Murza speaks about Felitsa, then Murza means the author of the ode. When he speaks as if about himself, then the murza is a collective image of a nobleman-court. You read, you write before the tax. Derzhavin has in mind the legislative activities of the Empress. Naloy (obsolete, colloquial), more precisely "lectern" (church) - a high table with a sloping top, on which icons or books are placed in the church. Here it is used in the sense of "table", "desk". You can't saddle a parnasca horse. Catherine did not know how to write poetry. Arias and poems for her literary works were written by her secretaries of state Elagin, Khrapovitsky and others. Parnassian horse - Pegasus. You don't go to the spirits in the assembly, You don't go from the throne to the East - that is, you don't attend Masonic lodges, meetings. Catherine called the Freemasons "a sect of spirits." "Easts" were sometimes called Masonic lodges Masons in the 80s. 18th century - members of organizations ("lodges") that professed mystical and moralistic teachings and were in opposition to the Catherine's government. Freemasonry was divided into various currents. One of them, Illuminism, belonged to a number of leaders of the French Revolution of 1789. In Russia, the so-called “Moscow Martinists” (the largest of them in the 1780s were N.I. in publishing, I. V. Lopukhin, S. I. Gamaleya, and others) were especially hostile towards the empress. They considered her an invader of the throne and wished to see on the throne the "legitimate sovereign" - the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, the son of Emperor Peter III, deposed from the throne by Catherine. Paul, as long as it was to his advantage, was very sympathetic to the "Martinists" (according to some evidence, he even adhered to their teachings). Freemasons have become especially active since the mid-1780s, and Catherine composes three comedies: “The Siberian Shaman”, “Deceiver” and “Seduced”, writes “The Secret of the Anti-Absolute Society” - a parody of the Masonic charter. But she managed to defeat Moscow Freemasonry only in 1789-1793. through police action.

I'm flying on a fast runner. This also applies to Potemkin, but “more to c. Al. Gr. Orlov, who was a hunter before horse racing. At the Orlov stud farms, several new breeds of horses were bred, of which the breed of the famous "Orlov trotters" is the most famous.

Or fist fighters - also refers to A.G. Orlov. And I amuse myself with the barking of dogs - refers to P.I. Panin, who loved dog hunting.

I amuse myself at night with horns, etc. “Refers to Semyon Kirillovich Naryshkin, who was then the Jägermeister, who was the first to start horn music.” Horn music is an orchestra consisting of serf musicians, in which only one note can be played from each horn, and all together are, as it were, one instrument. Walks of noblemen along the Neva, accompanied by a horn orchestra, were a common occurrence in the 18th century. Ile, sitting at home, I will tell. “This couplet refers in general to the ancient customs and amusements of Russians,” I read Polkan and Bova. "Relates to the book. Vyazemsky, who loved to read novels (which the author, while serving in his team, often read in front of him, and it happened that both dozed and did not understand anything) - Polkan and Bovu and the famous old Russian stories "Derzhavin means a translated novel about Beauvais, which later turned into a Russian fairy tale. But every person is a lie - a quote from the Psalter, from Psalm 115.

Between the lazy and the grouch. Lentyag and Grumpy are the characters of the fairy tale about Tsarevich Khlor. “As far as is known, she meant by the first book. Potemkin, and under another book. Vyazemsky, because the first, as mentioned above, led a lazy and luxurious life, and the second often grumbled when money was demanded from him, as a manager of the treasury.

Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously, etc., is an allusion to the establishment of provinces. In 1775, Catherine published the "Institution on the provinces", according to which all of Russia was divided into provinces.

What renounced and be reputed to be wise. Catherine II, with feigned modesty, rejected the titles of “Great”, “Wise”, “Mother of the Fatherland”, which were presented to her in 1767 by the Senate and the Commission for the development of a draft new code; she did the same in 1779, when the St. Petersburg nobility offered her the title of "Great".

And you allow to know and think. In the “Instruction” of Catherine II, which she compiled for the Commission for the development of a draft new code and was a compilation from the works of Montesquieu and other philosophers of the Enlightenment of the 18th century, there are indeed a number of articles summary which this stanza is. However, it was not for nothing that Pushkin called the “Instruction” “hypocritical”: a huge number of “cases” of people arrested by the Secret Expedition have come down to us on charges of “speaking” “indecent”, “obscene” and other words addressed to the Empress, heir to the throne, Prince . Potemkin, etc. Almost all of these people were brutally tortured by the "whip fighter" Sheshkovsky and severely punished by secret courts.

There you can whisper in conversations, etc., and the next stanza is an image of cruel laws and customs at the court of Empress Anna Ioannovna. As Derzhavin notes, there were laws according to which two people whispering to each other were considered malefactors against the empress or the state; who did not drink a large glass of wine, “offered for the health of the queen”, who accidentally dropped a coin with her image were suspected of malicious intent and ended up in the Secret Chancellery. A slip of the pen, an amendment, a scraping, a mistake in the imperial title entailed punishment with whips, as well as the transfer of the title from one line to another. Rude clownish "amusements" were widespread at court, such as the famous wedding of Prince Golitsyn, who was a jester at court, for which an "ice house" was built; titled jesters sat down in baskets and clucked chickens, etc. You write teachings in fairy tales. Catherine II wrote for her grandson, in addition to "The Tale of Tsarevich Chlorine", "The Tale of Tsarevich Fevey." Don't do anything bad. The “Instruction” to Chlor, transcribed by Derzhavin into verse, is in the appendix to the “Russian alphabet for teaching youth to read, printed for public schools by the highest command,” which was also composed by Catherine for her grandchildren. Lancet means - i.e. bloodshed.

Tamerlane (Timur, Timurleng) - Central Asian commander and conqueror (1336-1405), distinguished by extreme cruelty.

Who pacified the battle, etc. “This couplet refers to the time of peace at that time, after the end of the first Turkish war (1768-1774 - V. Z.) flourished in Russia, when many philanthropic institutions were made by the empress, such as: educational home, hospitals, etc. Which granted freedom, etc. Derzhavin lists some laws issued by Catherine II, which were beneficial to the noble landowners and merchants: she confirmed this Peter III permission for nobles to travel abroad; allowed landowners to develop ore deposits in their possessions for their own benefit; lifted the ban on logging on their lands without government control; “allowed free navigation on the seas and rivers for trade”, etc.

3. A.N. Radishchev "Liberty"

Do you want to know who am I? what am I? where am i going?

I am the same as I was and will be all my life:

Not cattle, not a tree, not a slave, but a man!

To pave the way, where there was no trace

For greyhound daredevils both in prose and in verse,

Sensitive hearts and truth I fear

I'm going to the Ilim prison. January - July 1791

The ode "Liberty" by the great Russian revolutionary enlightener is one of the works most often found in the lists of free poetry from the end of the 18th century to the 1830s.

The ode was persecuted with particular fury by the censorship: its discovery by the authorities, even under random circumstances, promised serious reprisals.

“The plot of Liberty is based on general educational theories of natural law and social contract, rethought by Radishchev in a revolutionary spirit.” (Zapadov V.A. Poetry A.N. .26).

The word "freedom" in the lexicon of the XVIII century meant independence, political freedom and had some semantic difference from the word "freedom": it was "Liberty" - the title of Pushkin's ode of 1817. Later, this shade was erased, and Nekrasov in 1877, referring to this ode by Pushkin, called it "Freedom".

Seven lines “Do you want to know: who am I? what am I? where am I going...” is also often found in lists that have been circulating since the 1820s.

Conclusion

Thus, in the literature of the 18th century there were two currents: classicism and sentimentalism. The ideal of classicist writers is a citizen and patriot, striving to work for the good of the fatherland. He must be active. creative personality, fight against social vices, with all manifestations of "malice and tyranny" Such a person needs to abandon the desire for personal happiness, to subordinate his feelings to duty. Sentimentalists subordinated everything to feelings, to all sorts of shades of mood. The language of their works becomes emphatically emotional. The heroes of the works are representatives of the middle and lower classes. From the eighteenth century, the process of democratization of literature began.

And again, Russian reality invaded the world of literature and showed that only in the unity of the general and the personal, and in the subordination of the personal to the general, can a citizen and a person take place. But in poetry late XVIII century, the concept of "Russian man" was identified only with the concept of "Russian nobleman". Derzhavin and other poets and writers of the 18th century took only the first step in understanding the national character, showing the nobleman both in the service of the Fatherland and at home. The wholeness and fullness of man's inner life has not yet been revealed.

Bibliography

1. Berkov P.N. History of Russian journalism of the 18th century. M. - L., 1952. - 656 p.

2. Herzen A.I. Preface to the book "On the Damage of Morals in Russia" by Prince M. Shcherbatov and "Journey" by A. Radishchev // Collected. op. M., 1958. T. 13. 296 p.

3. Derzhavin G.R. Complete collection of poems. Leningrad "Soviet writer" 1957. - 480 p.

4. N.A. Dobrolyubov. Works, vol. 1. Leningrad. - 1934. - 600 p.

5. Zapadov V.A. Poetry A.H. Radishchev // Radishchev A. N. Poems. L., 1975. - 122 p.

6. History of Russian literature / ed. D.S. Likhachev, P. Makogonenko. - L., 1999. - 318 p.

7. Lomonosov M.V. Full composition of writings. - M., 1955. - t 4, p. 165.

8. Nekrasov N.A. Autobiographical notes, From the diary // Full. coll. op. and letters. M., 1953. T. 12. - 534 p.

9. Russian poets. Anthology of Russian poetry in 6 volumes. Moscow: Children's Literature, 1996. - 346 p.

Lomonosov M.V. Full composition of writings. - M., 1955. - t 4, p. 165.

P.N. Berkov. History of Russian journalism of the 18th century. M. - L., 1952, p. 332

ON THE. Dobrolyubov. Works, vol. 1. L., 1934, p. 49

"Interlocutor", 1784, part 16, p. 8

Manuscript department of GPB, F. XIV. 16, p. 408

Khrapovitsky's diary. M., 1902, p. 31

G.R. Derzhavin. Complete collection of poems. Leningrad "Soviet writer" 1957. - S. 236.

Nekrasov N. A. Autobiographical notes, From the diary // Full. coll. op. and letters. M., 1953. T. 12. S. 21

Derzhavin is an innovative poet. The evolution of the ode genre in the last third of the 18th century

Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (1743-1816) lived a long and difficult life, full of ups and downs, honorary appointments to high posts and violent quarrels with nobles and tsars. The son of a poor officer, he began his service as an ordinary soldier, and became one of the largest statesmen of Russia in the 18th century. But it was not Derzhavin who became immortal for centuries - an official, secretary of state, senator, minister, but Derzhavin the poet.

Derzhavin is great, first of all, as the first Russian realist poet and as a brilliant poet-artist in general. He was the first of the Russian writers to recognize himself as a Russian, national poet - Russian not only in language, but, most importantly, in thinking, "philosophy", as he himself said. The origins of the "Russian mentality" and creativity of Derzhavin are rooted in the conditions in which his formation as a person and artist took place. For poetry of the 1760s - early 1770s. characterized by keen interest in national history and folklore. In the early poems of Derzhavin, one can notice the strong influence of the songs of A.P. Sumarokov, the most prominent lyric poet of the middle of the century, who created a number of talented literary stylizations under folk song. On the other hand, the satirical writings of Sumarokov, as well as the satirical line of folk literature of the 17th-18th centuries, with which Derzhavin was well acquainted, had a great influence on the development of Derzhavin. A significant influence on the formation of Derzhavin as a poet was exerted by the work of M.V. Lomonosov, although in one of the early program poems, "Idyll", Derzhavin completely renounced "high" poetry:

I never think of chasing Pindar

And rise in a stormy whirlwind up to the sun,

fearing that "in the heat I would not burn out in my half century,

would not crack from the fire,

But, confirming this statement with his songs and other poems of "light" genres, and at the same time in a number of works he just rose "up to the sun" with a "stormy whirlwind". At the same time, in many odes, Derzhavin focused not on Lomonosov, but on Sumarokov with his open publicism. Such an orientation to the "sample" was necessary for the classicist poet, since one of the fundamental principles of the theory and practice of classicism was the principle of "imitation of models".

Following Lomonosov, the young Derzhavin diligently reproduces not only the programmatic "education", but also the very form of the "example" odes, introduces a huge number of borrowings and direct quotations from Lomonosov's poems. Imitating Sumarokov, Derzhavin writes sharply journalistic works, much more original in form, reproduces the civic style of the "model", but he has almost no direct borrowings from Sumarokov.

Derzhavin's different approach to the problem of imitation, made dependent on how the poet, whom Derzhavin was guided by in this work, solved this problem, such an approach definitely testifies to the meaningfulness and awareness of his searches, to his awareness of the essence of the literary and theoretical disputes of the era. However, the poems of the first period of Derzhavin's work are overwhelmingly not of high merit: they are imitatively traditional, sluggish and heavy.

Derzhavin was helped to "find himself" in poetry by rapprochement with the "Lvov circle" - a group of young poets, composers, and artists bound by friendly relations and a common search for new paths in literature and art. The circle included such well-known people as poets N.A. Lvov, M.N. Muravyov, I.I. Khemnitser, V.V. Kapnist, composers E.I. Fomin, D.S. Bortnyansky, V.A. Pashkevich, artists D.G. Levitsky, V.L. Borovikovsky and others. Close to the circle were Ya.B. Knyaznin and D.I. Fonvizin; some (until now not disclosed) relationship was associated with the circle of A.N. Radishchev. It was in the circle that the direction was formed, which in the history of Russian literature later received the name "pre-romanticism".

In the work of the pre-romantics, human individuality and the objectively real, concretely sensual world surrounding it come to the fore; rejecting the theory of "imitation of models", the pre-romantics came to the romantic concept of genius, inspiration as a source of poetic creativity. And from here a new poetic vision of the world inevitably followed; the idea of the value of the individual, attention to ethical issues, moral issues of a private person and society; the private life of a private person and the complete breakdown of the existing genre and figurative systems associated with this; rejection of normativity, both classic and sentimental in general, and "rules" in particular; the image of the author, organically included in the works: attempts to create individual characteristics of people; an abundance of specific hints; attention to everyday details, the embodiment of everyday life in pictorial and plastic images: a bold combination of prosaism and vernacular with high archaic vocabulary; experiments going in the same direction in the field of metrics, strophics, rhyming; search for an individual form of the work; keen interest in the problem of national content and national form, that is, the recognition that in different eras and people of different nationalities there were different "tastes" - in other words, the rejection of the criterion of "elegant taste", the same for all times and peoples, and the exit to the idea of historical and national conditioning of man, peoples, literatures.

Pre-romanticism put forward as central - the problems of historicism, the philosophy of history, the dependence of the national character on history, etc. Only realism was able to fully solve these problems, but an important step that the pre-romanticists took was the very formulation of these problems in philosophy and literature. Pre-romantic poets different countries In Europe, the issue of national forms of poetry, national systems of versification was raised with particular urgency, turning to folklore for help as a source, firstly, of specifically national rhythms, and secondly, means of artistic expression peculiar only to a given people, an arsenal of images, a spring of ancient mythology, etc. The appeal to mythologies had the same purpose. different peoples West and East. So, for example, Derzhavin, in addition to Old Russian ("Slavonic") and ancient, used images and motifs of "Varangian-Russian" (Scandinavian), Hebrew (Biblical), Chinese and Indian mythology.

In shaping the ideology and aesthetics of pre-romanticism, Rousseau, Jung, and especially Herder played the greatest role in Europe, and in Russian poetry, the Lvov circle, with which Derzhavin became close in early 1779. Apparently, it was N.A. Lvov, one of the most original poets of the century and an encyclopedically educated person, introduced him to the ideas of Rousseau and Jung about original creativity, and the poems of M. N. Muravyov, who since 1775 found his way in poetry, showed the practical possibility of individual realization of poetic talent .

Freed from the shackles of normativity, "rules" and "imitation of models", Derzhavin's rare individual talent unfolded with lightning speed and tremendous poetic power.

In September of the same 1779, “Ode on the Death of K. M. K ***” appeared in the journal “Sankt-Petersburg Vestnik” - that is, “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky”, and then such magnificent works as "The Key", "Poems for the Birth of a Porphyrogenic Child in the North", "To the First Neighbor", "Lords and Judges", etc. Access to the pages of the journal Derzhavin was again thanks to the mug: one of the publishers of the "St. Petersburg Bulletin" was I WOULD. Knyazhnin.

Already in the ode "On the Death of Prince Meshchersky", which begins the second period of Derzhavin's work, new features of Derzhavin's poetry clearly appeared, many aspects of Derzhavin's mature talent were clearly manifested. It was also new that Derzhavin dedicated an ode to the death of not an all-powerful nobleman, not statesman, not a commander, but a private person, his acquaintance; and the fact that the poet addressed the friend of the deceased S.V. Perfilyev, also not a noble person. In this poem, for the first time (Muravyov almost failed to publish his new poems), the image of a private person appeared before the Russian reader - the author, Derzhavin himself. When Lomonosov said “I” in his odes, this “I” did not mean the real M.V. Lomonosov, but "piita" in general, a kind of generalized voice of the nation. And Derzhavin's "I" is a completely concrete living person, Derzhavin himself, with his personal sorrows and joys, with his private life, thoughts and deeds.

Thanks to the inclusion of autobiographical motifs, a poem on a general philosophical theme acquired an unusually personal, individual character.

Like a dream, like a sweet dream

My youth is gone too;

Beauty is not very undead,

Not so much delights joy

Not so much a frivolous mind,

I'm not so lucky...

Such words could never be said by the conditional "piit". This is said by Gavrila Derzhavin himself, a man struck by the news of the sudden death of a friend, who thought about his own life and came to the conclusion:

Die this day or tomorrow

Perfiliev! we owe, of course,

Why torment and mourn,

That your mortal friend did not live forever?

Life is heaven's instant gift;

Set her to rest

And with your pure soul

Bless the fate of the blow.

The poem is written by the hand of a mature master. The image of the clock, symbolizing the inevitable passage of time, was created with the help of magnificent sound painting:

Verb of time! metal ringing!

The illusion of a measured, rhythmic chime of the clock is achieved by repeating the sonorous "l" and "n" at the end of each foot. To a certain extent, already in this poem one can see a mixture of "high", solemn thoughts and images with close to life, "reduced", everyday images, For example, a solemn appeal to the clock:

Verb of time! metal ringing!

Your terrible voice confuses me;

Calls me, calls your moan,

He calls - and brings him closer to the coffin -

is replaced by an image of death, drawn in somewhat reduced tones, by images taken from real everyday life:

As soon as I saw this light,

Death is already grinding its teeth.

Like lightning, oblique shines

And my days, like cereal, flog.

The figure of death (death!) is very concrete and palpable visually. artistic images taken from everyday Russian life: death cuts a man with a scythe, like a peasant reaping rye. Further, this "vitality" is further reinforced:

And pale death looks at everyone ...

(The vast majority of poets, Derzhavin's contemporaries, would say; "sees")

And sharpens the blade of the scythe...

From here, it’s not far to a completely “everyday” image of death:

And death is looking at us through the fence...

("Invitation to Dinner")

“His style is so large,” wrote N.V. Gogol, noting one of the main features of Derzhavin’s poetry, “like none of our poets. Having opened it with an anatomical knife, you will see that this comes from an unusual combination of the highest words in themselves low and simple, which no one but Derzhavin would have dared to do. Who would have dared, except him, to express himself as he put it? Who, except Derzhavin, would have dared to combine such a thing as the expectation of death, with such an insignificant action, what a torsion mustache?"

The thought of the greatness of simple human feelings, as well as the frailty of everything earthly, permeates the ode "On the death of Prince Meshchersky." It is very typical for Derzhavin to dedicate an ode to one of his acquaintances, whose name would have sunk into history if the poet had not written about his death. The author seems to want to say: life divides people into rich and poor, well-fed and hungry, kings and subjects, and death equalizes everyone:

Looks at everyone - and at the kings,

To whom the worlds are cramped in the state;

Looks at the lush rich,

What are idols in gold and silver,

Looking at beauty and beauty

Looks at the sublime mind,

Looks at the tears boldly

And sharpens the blade of the scythe.

It is interesting that in the most different years, in the most different verses, the theme of death breaks through the poet.

And about the artistic impression that the poem made on the reader, V.G. Belinsky: “How terrible is his ode “On the Death of Meshchersky”: the blood runs cold, the hair, in the words of Shakespeare, stands on the head in an alarmed army, when the prophetic battle of the verb of times is heard in your ears, when the terrible skeleton of death with a scythe in your eyes is seen in your eyes. hands!" Derzhavin was a brave man, he was not shy either before the tsar's or before the noble's wrath.

But his ability to fully live and feel, to passionately experience life in the word did not allow him to look away from death. In his amazing ode "God" he speaks about his understanding of life, death, immortality, referring to the Creator:

Your truth needed

To cross the abyss of death

My immortal being:

So that my spirit is clothed in mortality

And so that through death I return,

Father! Into your immortality.

Reflecting on life and death, the poet in his quest came to comprehend the truth through faith in the Savior. He leaves words of hope for himself and others as a consolation:

And your pure soul

Bless the fate of the blow.

And it is no coincidence that Derzhavin wrote a lot of works about earthly joys and sorrows, which are close to all people without exception. These are “Declaration of Love”, “Separation”, “Cupid”, “Different Wines” and others. Their style is very simple, bright and accessible even to the reader of the twentieth century, as experiences of sadness, love, the joy of friendship are accessible. It was very important for the poet to affirm in the minds of his readers these eternal values of the human soul, as opposed to the already familiar priorities that subordinate the individual to the state.

Even more evident than in the ode "On the Death of Prince Meshchersky", the innovative elements in the poems "The Key" and "On the Birth of a Porphyrogenic Child in the North". In The Key, for the first time in Russian poetry, nature appeared as an independent object of representation, an independent aesthetic value, and at the same time as a source of poetic inspiration. True, The Key begins with an impersonation in the ancient spirit, but then the poet unfolded a series of magnificent pre-romantic paintings of the very real Grebenevsky Key in the form it looks at different times of the day. Particularly interesting is the 7th stanza, in which Derzhavin, according to the correct remark of the researcher A.V. Zapadova, "outlined not only the obligatory elements of the night landscape, which were then so common in sentimental and romantic poetry, but also a dictionary with the expressions" pleasant "," pale "," dormant "," hills "," groves "," silence. "According to to tell the truth, little was added to this dictionary in the future.

The poems "On the Birth of a Porphyrogenic Child in the North" are dedicated to the birth of the grandson of Catherine II, the future Alexander I. The birth of a child in the royal family has always been the theme of only solemn odes, and Derzhavin took on a form characteristic of light, so-called "Anacreontic" poems. However, Derzhavin's work is not an anacreontic ode. This is an "allegorical composition" with elements of a fairy-tale plot, similar in content to the beginning of "Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault. A new artistic unity arises that does not fall under any of the previously existing genre categories. Focused on French light poetry and a fairy tale, the plot required the introduction of new characters - geniuses, who in the future will become mandatory attributes of romanticism. Even more interesting and important are the changes that the traditional mythological characters underwent in the verses of 1779. Particularly curious is the metamorphosis that Borey underwent with Derzhavin.

D.D. Blagoi noted that Derzhavin undoubtedly drew on Lomonosov's image ("Where the frozen Boreas wings flutter your banners"), and some details were taken from the description of the south wind translated from Ovid in Lomonosov's "Rhetoric". The image is updated by careful selection of specific details of the winter landscape. However, adding many details to the description of Boreas' actions and his "portrait", Derzhavin discarded one detail, and this loss is very characteristic: Derzhavin's Boreas has no wings. As a result, leaving his character an ancient name, the poet turns him into a "dashing old man" of Russians. folk tales, in the direct predecessor of Nekrasov's "Moroz the Governor". And against the background of Boreas, turned into a fabulous Santa Claus, ancient satyrs, gathering "around the fires" to "warm their hands", are perceived as ordinary Russian peasants at the fires, and nymphs falling asleep "out of boredom among caves and reeds" - like peasant women in the snow hut. It is with these nymphs and satyrs that the second life of ancient images in Russian poetry begins.

Mythological characters in classical poetics always have a certain allegorical meaning and at the same time retain clear links with antiquity, contain an element of comparison with a specific myth. In the poetics of Derzhavin's type, the mythological image loses its allegorical quality and turns into a synonym for an abstract, generalized concept or a common noun for a Russian everyday phenomenon, for a given human type. At the same time, permanent, obligatory "literary" logical connections are destroyed, but the associative-emotional poetic meaning of the word-name, often determined by this context, expands. The poetic image becomes from unambiguous to ambiguous, and at the same time more concrete, since it is built on the selection from numerous signs, connections, associations of one, sometimes unexpected, but decisive in this context, while maintaining other connections, other shades.

The ode To the First Neighbor, written in 1780, is based on a series of images of this kind, and not one of them has the slightest relation to antiquity, to mythology (in the literal sense of the word) and at the same time is not an allegory. For example, a "gentle nymph" is a kept woman, an Italian beauty is a singer, and a "parka" is just death. Or in "Velmozh": "muse" - Derzhavin's poetry) "nymphs" who "in the middle of winter" "sing in the groves" - singers, or maybe - a serf choir (a different, already third meaning of the word, compared with " Poems for Birth in the North" and "To the First Neighbor"); "Circe" - beauty, mistress. But, as in the previous examples, the poetic meaning of Derzhavin's images is much broader than the literal interpretation. The name of Circe is also needed in order to characterize the moral character of the nobleman, defining his bestial (morally) way of life. The desire for the individualization of the artistic whole, for the original development of the image quite naturally led Derzhavin to abandon figurative and verbal clichés. For the same theme, motive, situation, Derzhavin finds a different embodiment, even in works that are chronologically close.

Let us turn to the theme of the onset of winter in various poems by Derzhavin. "Poems for a Birth in the North" contained the first winter Russian landscape in Derzhavin's poetry, embodied in the image of the "dashing old man" Boreas. In 1787-1788. the poet creates three paintings of the same type in content, and at the same time absolutely different in emotional and artistic structure. In the poem "Winter's Desire", the change of seasons is depicted in frankly rude, "areal" tones. A similar picture, but expressed very succinctly and quite "seriously", appears under Derzhavin's pen in the following year, 1788, in the poem "To Euterpe". And in the same 1788, as if competing with himself, in "Autumn during the siege of Ochakov" the poet finds completely different words, different colors for the same picture; a laconic sketch, which occupied only 4 verses, unfolds into the widest canvas of 6 stanzas.

Talking at the end of his life about his work, Derzhavin saw one of the reasons for embarking on a new path in poetry in the failures of imitation of Lomonosov. The poet explained these failures by the fact that he could not constantly maintain a "beautiful set of words" characteristic only of Lomonosov's "magnificence and splendor." From Lomonosov, Derzhavin had only one thing left: the assertion of a positive ideal by showing good example; moreover, Derzhavin initially seeks his ideal in the same place where almost all the writers of the 18th century searched - in the theory of enlightened absolutism.

The fact is that the struggle against the abuses of the nobles, the nobility and bureaucracy for the good of Russia was a defining feature of Derzhavin's activity both as a statesman and as a poet. Derzhavin saw only in an enlightened monarchy. Hence the appearance in his work of the theme of Catherine II - Felitsa. This theme, a red thread running through the work of Derzhavin in the 80s, united many of his works: "Felitsa", "Thanks to Felitsa", "Reshemysl", "Vision of Murza", etc.

As already noted, Derzhavin's odes are mostly dedicated to Empress Catherine the Great. But the heroine of the most famous of them is named by the poet Felice, which means "happy", and not great and "wise", as one might expect. The name itself is Felitsa, the author borrowed from The Tale of Tsarevich Chlor, written by Catherine for her grandchildren. In the early 80s. Derzhavin was not yet intimately acquainted with the empress. Creating her image in the odes of these years, the poet used stories about her, the dissemination of which Catherine herself took care of, a self-portrait drawn in her literary writings, ideas preached in her "Instruction" and decrees. At the same time, Derzhavin knew very well many prominent nobles of Catherine's court, under whose command he had to serve. Therefore, the idealization of the image of Catherine II in Derzhavin is combined with a critical attitude towards her nobles.

The high poetic merits of the ode "Felitsa", created in 1782, brought her wide fame for that time in the circles of the most advanced Russian people. A.N. Radishchev, for example, wrote: "If you add many stanzas from the ode to Felitsa, and especially where the murza describes himself, almost poetry will also remain without poetry." “Everyone who can read Russian has found herself in her hands,” O.P. testified. Kozodavlev, editor of the magazine where the ode was published.

And indeed, this “princess of the Kirghiz-Kaisatsky horde” is great precisely because she is happy and humane. Her dignity is that she walks and eats simple food, allows her to think independently and speak the truth. It seems that, as if in order to emphasize its simplicity, the author draws “his portrait” next to it, which, in his words, “the whole world looks like”:

Derzhavin ode humanistic mythological

And I, sleeping until noon,

I smoke tobacco and drink coffee;

Transforming weekdays into a holiday,

I circle my thought in chimeras….

It should be noted that in his odes G. Derzhavin largely departed from the rules of classicism. First of all, in the ode “Felitsa”, the writer mixed different genres in one work, combined the ode with satire, sharply contrasting the positive image of the queen with the negative images of her nobles. Under the pen of the great master, the ode approached the work, truthfully and simply depicting reality.

Violating the strict rules of classicism, Derzhavin rejected the theory of Lomonosov's three styles established in literature. Thus, he carried out a kind of "simplification", "decrease" of the high style, adapting it to the norms of the spoken language, far from the sophistication of the secular noble salon.

Very colorful N.V. Gogol characterizes this feature of Derzhavin’s style of mixing high style with low: “He (Derzhavin’s) syllable is as large as none of our poets, having been cut open with an anatomical knife, you will see that this comes from an unusual combination of the highest words with the lowest and simplest” .

Exposing the "light" and the court nobility, the poet notes that the representatives of this circle are mired in fuss, fun and entertainment, inertia and ignorance. With surprising frankness and sharpness, he ridicules the nobles who boast of their high position, having no merit to the country and people.

So, for example, in the ode "Nobleman" Derzhavin writes:

Donkey stays donkey

Though shower it with stars

Where should the mind act,

He just flaps his ears.

It was fundamentally new that from the very first lines of the ode, the poet draws the Russian Empress (and in Felitsa, readers easily guessed Catherine), primarily from the point of view of her human qualities:

Not imitating your Murzas,

Often you walk

And the food is the simplest

Happens at your table...

The virtuous Felitsa is opposed by a vicious nobleman, "Murza" - a collective satirical portrait of the greatest nobles: G.A. Potemkin, P.I. Panina, A.A. Vyazemsky, A.G. Orlova, S.K. Naryshkin and others.

It must be said that in Derzhavin's poetry the word "man", associated with the requirement of high morality and citizenship, was the highest praise and criterion. "Be on the throne man!" - called the poet of the future Tsar Alexander I ("To be born in the North ..."). "There was a man in the nobleman," wrote Derzhavin about the old patron of the arts and sciences, I. I. Shuvalov ("Epistol to I. I. Shuvalov", draft version, 1777).

Mind and human heart

They were my genius

The poet emphasized in the poem "Confession", which he considered "an explanation for all his writings."

This humanistic idea of Derzhavin is fully shared by members of the Lvov circle and Fonvizin, who is close to them, who wrote in The Undergrowth: "Have a heart, have a soul, and you will be a man at any time." The insufficiency of humanity alone was understood by the younger contemporary of Derzhavin and Fonvizin - A.N. Radishchev, who came to the idea of the inevitability of the revolution.

But the demand for high morality, the call for humanity "at all times" led the next generation of nobles to open action against serfdom and autocracy. The fact is that when Derzhavin, for example, wrote about a wise and just executor of power ("Time", 1804):

They do not own time.

Below is gold or silver;

He keeps things in order

Loves the common good;

Fleeing the lush cheers

And shiny little things

He is in the rank of prosecutors,

All nobles, judges, kings

Honors only a person

And he wants to be one himself, -

then such thoughts raised the idea of the human and man to a height that is absolutely alien to autocracy, since “the principle of monarchy in general is a despised, contemptible, dehumanized person. related to the revolution, but objectively contributed a lot to the spiritual and moral formation of the first, noble generation of Russian revolutionaries.

Another thing is also important: hope for the human heart and soul, tireless moral quest - this is what unites writers so distant in time and seemingly so different as Derzhavin and Fonvizin - and Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy (and otherwise Radishchev, Griboedov, Chernyshevsky, and Nekrasov are included in this search for their own) ...

On the other side of the human problem - "man and the universe" - are connected philosophical poems Derzhavin. The largest of them is the ode "God" completed in 1784 - an inspired hymn to the omnipotence of the human mind:

I am rotting in the ashes.

I command the thunders with my mind,

I am a king - I am a slave; I am a worm - I am a god! -

and at the same time, the recognition that man is only a link in the general chain of beings (and religion taught that man is a completely exceptional creation of a deity and God created everything else for man).

Derzhavin introduces into his poem the ideas of contemporary science about the plurality of worlds, God acquires from him the features inherent in matter: "infinite space, uninterrupted life in the movement of matter and the endless flow of time." In essence, these provisions contradict religious ideas: the church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe and the Sun was created by God only one; the Christian religion denied continuous motion as the basic property of matter, for space and time allegedly had a "beginning" and will have an "end".

It is not surprising, therefore, that Derzhavin's ode provoked a strong protest from the zealots of Orthodoxy and churchmen. On the other hand, the poem became the first work of Russian literature that received truly worldwide fame ...

Standing up for "man", it was precisely the inhumanity of kings and nobles that Derzhavin denounced in his strongest satirical works - "To the Rulers and Judges", "To Treachery", "To Happiness", "The Nobleman".

The organizing center of Derzhavin's poetry is increasingly becoming the image of the author, which remains the same in all works. This is a concrete person with flesh and blood, who conveys his personal attitude to the world, things and people, regardless of their social status. And as a person, and not a conditionally abstract "piit", he sees the everyday shortcomings of nobles, "sky-blue eyes" and Catherine's "cursive pen". Together with the image of the author, Derzhavin's poetry includes vernacular, quite natural in the mouth of a person - a living colloquial language, what the poet himself later called "a funny Russian style."

The ode "Felitsa", in which Derzhavin combined opposite principles: positive and negative, pathos and satire, ideal and real, finally consolidated in Derzhavin's poetry what began in 1779 - mixing, breaking, liquidation of a strict genre system. In one work, he often combines satire and elegy, a pathetic ode and a friendly message. Not caring much about terminology, Derzhavin called the same poems either "odes", or "songs", or "lyrical poems". And at the end of his life, reflecting on his creative path, the poet directly declared the uselessness of genre gradations: “If the names do not give respect to things without their direct dignity, then I must agree with me that they, that is, those names, or special sections of songs, are more there is cleverness or arrogance of teachers in the knowledge of their antiquity, rather than a direct need. Speaking against "pedantic sections of lyrical poems" (that is, against their genre division), Derzhavin argued that a poet can talk about everything in a "communal ode." In another place, Derzhavin called this genre common to all lyrics "a mixed ode."

A witty definition for Derzhavin's poems was found by M.N. Ants - "confusion". Having, in essence, the same content as Derzhavin's term "mixed ode", Muravyov's "confusion" is perhaps more accurate, because it quite correctly deduces Derzhavin's work from the mainstream of any kind of odes, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it covers only a mixture of genres proper, but also a mixture of emotional-thematic, stylistic, figurative, etc.

Derzhavin did not admire Catherine the Human for long. Already in the late 80s. Felitsa turns into the image of a statesman - and only ("Image of Felitsa"). And when the poet found himself at court, when he "saw a human original with great weaknesses up close," the theme of Felitsa in his poetry completely died out. Disappointment in Catherine, which came in the early 90s, could not but be reflected in the self-esteem of the poet. It posed to Derzhavin the question of the significance of his own poetic activity about his right to immortality. From that moment on, the theme of poetry and the poet, the evaluation of one's own work becomes one of the leading ones in Derzhavin's work.

Derzhavin always spoke about the great role of poetry and the poet in the life of society, seeing his right to immortality precisely in poetic activity. But the idea of exactly what aspects of his poetry would make his name immortal changed. Previously, Derzhavin saw the right to immortality in the very pursuit of poetry, then for some time he believed that he would live in the memory of posterity as a singer of the affairs of Catherine II.

He most fully outlined a new look at the meaning of his work in the ode "My idol". It is in the form of a conversation-monologue addressed to the sculptor Rashett, who worked on the bust of Derzhavin. The idea of fame for "ordinary deeds" - "my trifle" - the poet immediately rejects. Highly appreciating his odes dedicated to Felitsa, Derzhavin believes that he is worthy of fame for them. But will his descendants honor him for this? And, prophetically guessing the future, the poet gives a negative answer. Rejecting the right to immortality for glorifying Felitsa, Derzhavin claims that posterity will honor his memory as a singer of Russia, the Russian people, its leaders and heroes, because he has always been a champion of truth and truth, defended virtue. According to Derzhavin, a great poet-patriot, a poet-citizen is worthy of immortality no less than a great commander. He carries out this idea by putting his name next to the name of Field Marshal Rumyantsev ("The idols of your chisel" are the busts of Rumyantsev and Derzhavin, sculpted by Rashette).

However, in real life it was not so easy to tell the kings the truth. In his second letter to Khrapovitsky (1797), Derzhavin pointed directly to the oppressive power of the autocracy, which fetters the poetic word. Therefore, he had to either speak the truth "with a smile", in a joking manner, or cover it up with references to the authority of the monarch, or mask it with hints, allegories, allegories - and the poet himself wrote about this more than once.

The themes of “personal good” are closely related to the struggle for the “common good”, possible only under the condition of the common good: a clear conscience, contentment with little, moderation, “peace”, etc. A person can be happy only when he “desires the common good and is actively fighting for it. One cannot be truly happy who cares only about himself, not caring about Russia, Derzhavin argued.

In the work of 1790 - early 1800s. Derzhavin takes a new step in the image of man. In poems dedicated to G.A. Potemkin ("Anacreon in the Assembly", "Waterfall"), L.A. Naryshkin ("On the Birth of Empress Gremislava"), A.G. Orlov ("The Athenian Knight"), A.V. Suvorov ("On Suvorov's Stay in the Tauride Palace", "On the Crossing of the Alpine Mountains", etc.; especially - "Bullfinch"), Derzhavin tries to draw people in all their complexity, depicting both their positive and negative sides (especially Potemkin and Naryshkin).

Derzhavin divided all poetry into two parts: "ode" and "song". If for a lyrical poem - an "ode" - Derzhavin put forward inspiration as a defining feature and believed that "errors" are excusable for him, "like spots on the Sun", then the hallmark of a "song", according to Derzhavin, is poetic skill. And, it must be said, Derzhavin's skill as a poet in anacreontics is manifested with particular clarity, because in these short poems there is absolutely no place for either extended journalism or rhetoric associated with it. The extraordinary economy of artistic means, the utmost precision and clarity, the refinement of language and verse make many of the poems of this cycle small masterpieces. But it would be wrong to believe that Derzhavin composed these poems only to demonstrate his poetic skills - no, he set himself much more serious goals. “Out of love for the native word,” the poet emphasized, releasing a collection of “Anacreontic Songs” as a separate edition in 1804, “I wanted to show its abundance, flexibility, lightness and, in general, the ability to express the most tender feelings, which are hardly found in other languages ". Readers who are already well acquainted with Derzhavin's lyrical hero - a poet-citizen, a fighter for truth - now see in all its versatility the same image from the side of his private life, his personal predilections, inclinations, even "pranks".

And, finally, both hypostases of Derzhavin's lyrical hero fully merged into one full-blooded realistic character in the largest work the last period of Derzhavin's work - the poem "Eugene. Life of Zvanskaya" (1807).

This poem is a kind of response to the romantic elegy of V.A. Zhukovsky "Evening". Derzhavin entered into an extensive dispute with Zhukovsky about what a poet should portray, who should be the hero of a poetic work, how life should be treated in general, and how nature and human characters should be depicted. It was a dispute about the development of modern poetry.

Derzhavin felt that the new direction could lead poets and readers away from active participation in life to an exceptional deepening into their own experiences. For him, a man of a turbulent and complex biography, the very principle of escaping from real life was unacceptable. He decided to answer Zhukovsky - and answer in the same form that the young poet had chosen. "Life of Zvanskaya" is written in the same meter, the same stanza as Zhukovsky's poem. Derzhavin has the same composition, the same hero-poet.

Derzhavin contrasts the melancholic and largely conditional landscape of Zhukovsky with a concrete, real landscape, characteristic of central Russia. To the hero of Zhukovsky - a dull young man, disappointed and suffering, completely immersed in memories and thoughts about imminent death, - a cheerful old man confronts Derzhavin. Although by age he is already close "to the brink of the grave", he perceives everything vividly and is interested in everything without exception: from food and objects of peasant labor to events of a European scale, questions of history, philosophical reflections. In contrast to the romantic "poetry of suffering," Derzhavin put forward the poetry of "real life." Before Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin", Derzhavin's "Life of Zvanskaya" is the most striking work that elevates to poetry everyday life person. Derzhavin showed that poetry exists not only in nature or in lofty experiences: it can also be found in everyday "dishes", and in reading newspapers and magazines, and in tea by the evening fire, and in distributing pretzels to peasant children.

The protagonist of the poem is both a type and a bright personality: in the final analysis, this is Derzhavin himself, but at the same time a typical landowner of a certain type, living in typical circumstances, with his sharply expressed individual interests, inclinations, habits, way of thinking, assessments, attitude to the world, etc. This combination of the individual and the typical, given in certain typical circumstances, is evidence that realism was born in Russian Pozli, and it was born as a result of a long evolution of Derzhavin's creativity.

It is very important that Derzhavin tried to learn from Zhukovsky's creative method the most valuable thing - attention to the inner world of a person. true image inner world for Zhukovsky, this is a deepening into complex emotional experiences isolated from the outside world, connected with memories. The inner world of the hero in Derzhavin is the experiences of a person, born from constant communication with the outside world. But the very principle of depicting the inner world of a person Derzhavin took from Zhukovsky, just as Zhukovsky himself learned from him attention to a private person and colorful painting of nature.

References

1. Gogol N.V. Full coll. cit., vol. VIII. M. - L., 1952, p. 374.
2. Belinsky V.G. Full coll. soch., vol. 1. M, 1953, p. 50.
3. Zapadov A.V. Derzhavin's skill. M., 1958, p. 122.
4. See: Blagoy D.D. Literature and reality. Questions of theory and history of literature. M., 1959, p. 136.
5. Marx K. and Engels F. Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 1, p. 374.
6. Chernyshevsky N.G. Full coll. soch., vol. 3. M., 1947, p. 137.
7. Zapadov A.V. Mastery of Derzhavin, p. 146.

Introduction

1. M.V. Lomonosov "On the day of the accession to the throne of Empress Elizabeth ... 1747"

2. G.R. Derzhavin "Felitsa"

3. A.N. Radishchev "Liberty"

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The main direction in the literature of the XVIII century. became classicism. This style has developed as a result of the creative development of forms, compositions and patterns of art.

va of the ancient world and the Renaissance. The artist, according to the founders of classicism, comprehends reality in order to then display in his work not a specific person with his passions, but a type of person, a myth, in a word, the eternal in the temporal, the ideal in the real. If this is a hero, then without flaws, if the character is satirical, then it is base to the end. Classicism did not allow mixing “high” and “low”, and therefore between genres (for example, tragedy and comedy) boundaries were established that were not violated.

Russian classicism attached particular importance to “high” genres: epic poem, tragedy, solemn ode. The creator of the ode genre in Russian literature was M.V. Lomonosov.

The purpose of this essay is to review and study the evolution of the ode in Russian literature of the 18th century (from the ode of Lomonosov to the ode of Derzhavin and Radishchev).

1. M.V. Lomonosov "On the day of the accession to the throne of Empress Elizabeth ... 1747"

M.V. Lomonosov - philologist, writer. His works in the field of literature and philology marked the rise of the national culture of Russia. It is difficult to imagine the development of the literary language, poetry, and grammar in Russia without the fundamental works of Lomonosov. Under his influence, a whole generation of Russian people grew up, which accepted his advanced ideas and sought to develop them further. Lomonosov was convinced of the need for a synthesis in poetry of the Russian and Church Slavonic languages, created a Russian ode, and was the first to write poetry in a language accessible to a wide range of readers. His undoubted merit in the field of the Russian language can be considered the creation of the first Russian grammar and the compilation of the first textbook of the Russian language. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

In this work, we aim to show that Lomonosov's achievements in poetry, philosophy and the theory of prose are not just the most important scientific discoveries, but are rightfully considered fundamental works in the field of literature, which marked a new rise in the national culture of Russia. V.G. Belinsky noted that he was her "father and tutor", "he was her Peter the Great", for he gave direction to "our language and our literature."

It was written in the year when Elizaveta Petrovna approved the new charter and staff of the Academy of Sciences, doubling the amount of funds for its needs. Here the poet glorifies the world, fearing a new war, in which Austria, England and Holland, who fought with France and Prussia, drew Russia, demanding that Russian troops be sent to the banks of the Rhine. In this ode, the contradiction of the entire genre of laudatory ode was especially acute - the contradiction between its complementarity and real political content: the poet, on behalf of Elizabeth, glorifies "silence", outlining his own peace program. 1. Joyful change. - Palace coup that brought Elizabeth to the throne. 2. He sent a Man to Russia. - Peter I. 3. Then sciences are divine. - we are talking about the Academy of Sciences founded by Peter I, opened after his death in 1725. 4. Jealously rejected by fate. - Peter I died in 1725. 5. Catherine I (1684-1727) - wife of Peter I, Russian empress. 6. Sequana is the Latin name for the Seine, an allusion to the Paris Academy of Sciences. 7. Russian Columbus - Vitus Bering (1681-1741) - Russian navigator.

8. The tops of the Riphean. - Ural.

9. Plato (427-347 BC) - Greek philosopher. 10. Newton - Isaac Newton (1643-1727) - English physicist and mathematician. 11. Science feeds young men. - the stanza is a poetic translation of a fragment from the speech of the Roman orator and politician Mark (106-43 BC) in defense of the poet Archius (born in 120 BC).

2. G.R. Derzhavin "Felitsa"

For the first time - “Interlocutor”, 1783, part 1, p. 5, without a signature, under the title: “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz princess Felitsa, written by a Tatar murza who has long settled in Moscow, and who lives on business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic 1782. To the last words, the editors gave a note: “Although we do not know the name of the writer, we know that this ode was accurately composed on Russian language ". Having written the ode in 1782, Derzhavin did not dare to print it, fearing the revenge of noble nobles, depicted in a satirical way. The poet's friends, N.A., were of the same opinion. Lvov and V.V. Kapnist. By chance, the ode fell into the hands of a good friend of Derzhavin, an adviser to the director of the Academy of Sciences, a writer, figure in the field of public education, later Minister Osip Petrovich Kozodavlev (early 1750s - 1819), who began to show it to different people, including Among them, he introduced her to Princess E. R. Dashkova, who was appointed director of the Academy of Sciences in 1783. Dashkova liked the ode, and when the publication of The Interlocutor was undertaken in May 1783 (Kozodavlev became the editor of the magazine), it was decided to open the first issue of Felice. The publication of the "Interlocutor" was due to the political events of the early 1780s, the intensification of Catherine's struggle with the noble opposition, the desire of the empress "to use journalism as a means of influencing the minds, as an apparatus for disseminating favorable interpretations of the phenomena of the country's internal political life." One of the ideas persistently pursued by Catherine in the huge “Notes on Russian History” was the idea noted by Dobrolyubov that the sovereign “is never the fault of civil strife, but always the resolver of strife, the peacemaker of princes, the defender of the right, if only he follows the suggestions of his own hearts. As soon as he does an injustice that cannot be hidden or justified, then all the blame falls on evil advisers, most often on the boyars and the clergy. Therefore, "Felitsa", panegyric portraying Catherine and satirically - her nobles, fell into the hands of the government, Catherine liked. Derzhavin received a golden snuffbox containing 500 chervonets as a gift from the Empress and was personally introduced to her. The high merits of the ode brought her success in the circles of the most advanced contemporaries, wide popularity at that time. A.N. Radishchev, for example, wrote: “If you add many stanzas from the ode to Felitsa, and especially where Murza describes himself, almost the same poetry will remain without poetry” (Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 2, 1941, p. 217) . “Everyone who can read Russian has found herself in her hands,” Kozodavlev testified. The very name "Felitsa" Derzhavin took from "The Tale of Tsarevich Chlorus", written by Catherine II for her grandson Alexander (1781). “The author called himself Murza because he came from a Tatar tribe; and the empress - Felice and the Kyrgyz princess, because the late empress composed a fairy tale under the name of Tsarevich Chlor, whom Felitsa, that is, the goddess of bliss, accompanied to the mountain where a rose without thorns blooms, and that the author had his villages in the Orenburg province in the neighborhood from the Kyrgyz horde, which was not listed as a citizen. In the manuscript of 1795, the interpretation of the name "Felitsa" is somewhat different: "wisdom, grace, virtue." This name was formed by Catherine from the Latin words "felix" - "happy", "felicitas" - "happiness".

Genre of ode in Russian literature of the 18th century. (Trediakovsky, Lomonosov, Sumarokov, Petrov, Derzhavin, Kostrov, Bobrov).

A product is a system of correlated factors. Correlation of factors is a function in relation to the system. The literary system is formed by the primacy, the prominence of one fact (dominant).

Each work is included in the system of literature and correlates with it in terms of genre and style.

The literary system correlates with speech. The setting is not only the dominant of the work (genre), functionally coloring the subordinate genres, but also the function of the work in relation to the speech range.

In 1734-1735 V. K. Trediakovsky made a very tangible contribution to practice and theory, especially in Russian classicism. In 1734, the “Solemn Ode on the Surrender of the City of Gdaisk” was published with the addition of “Discourses on the Ode in General” to it. It was the first ode in Russian literature, written according to the rules of European classicism. The model for her, as Trediakovsky himself pointed out, was Boileau's ode to the capture of Namur. At the same time, the author pointed out, as a source of imitation, F. Prokopovich's ode to the coronation of Peter II on Latin. The poet, creating an ode, is seized by inspiration - "sober pianism". In “Discourse on the ode in general”, Trediakovsky defines this genre as a “song”, but a special song: “the ode is a collection of many stanzas, that is, articles consisting of equal, and sometimes unequal verses, which always and certainly describe noble matter, important, and magnificent, in speeches pitiful, and lofty. The ode is similar in structure to the “worldly song” (the content of which is almost always “love”), and in content and “speech” it is close to the poem. Among the poetic means by which the loftiness of the syllable should be achieved, Trediakovsky singled out "pindarization" (soaring, increased metaphorization - on behalf of the ancient poet Pipdar) and the use of "daring figures", hyperbole, for example, "little similar to the truth." Trediakovsky continued the development of the doctrine of "fiction" ("fiction"), begun by F. Prokopovichsm, picked up by Kantemir.

Themes of Lomonosov's odes. The greatness of Peter, the greatness of an ideal monarch in general, was for Lomonosov, as it were, a symbol of the greatness of Russia itself. The glory and benefit of Russia is, in essence, the main, in the end, the only generalizing theme of almost all of Lomonosov's poetic work. Also, his favorite theme of glorifying the sciences was at the same time the theme of glorifying the future progress of Russia. Moreover, Russia is not just a country. In some way, this is the whole world (“a fifth of the whole earth”, i.e. a fifth of the world).

Sumarokov(odes solemn, odes spiritual, ODES DIFFERENT)

dithyramb

Hymn to Venus

An anacreontic ode ("By your dance, my dear...")

An anacreontic ode ("The roses are enviable to me...")

Horatian ode

Ode to the Saphic

Oda ("Valleys, Volga, sinking...")

Anacreontic Ode to Elisaveta Vasilievna Kheraskova

Oda ("Reasonable person...")

Oda ("Will you remove the burden of passions...")

Odes Petrova although they are distinguished by a variety of paintings, they suffer from rhetorical bombast, and the author’s peculiar style is extremely heavy, rude and overflowing with Slavicisms.

Derzhavin- spiritual odes.

Odes Kostrova, representing an imitation of Lomonosov, are composed according to a pseudo-classical template, are extremely artificial, devoid of content and completely alien surrounding life. If they differ in any way from the homogeneous works of other writers of the 18th century, it is only because they show a good acquaintance with Holy Scripture, which is explained by the theological education of the poet; they reflected, then, the influence of the writers translated by the author. Kostrov himself felt the falsity of his poetry and sympathized with the new direction, as can be seen from his choice of things for translations. But he lacked the talent to independently renounce the pseudo-classical routine.

Bobrov. He was a really difficult writer, as the very titles of his huge books give a sufficient idea, for example, “The Dawn of Midnight, or Contemplation of the Glory, Triumph and Wisdom of the Porphyritic, Battle-Bearing and Peaceful Geniuses of Russia, with a study of didactic, erotic and other various kinds in verse and prose of experiments. In addition to large poems (“Tauris, or My Summer Day in the Tauride Chersonese”, the mentioned “Dawn of Midnight”, “The Ancient Night of the Universe, or the Wandering Blind Man”), Bobrov wrote and translated odes, moral and didactic essays; English literature he became one of the first in Russia. He was a mystic, but his mysticism was bright and humane.

Stages.

1. The ode was composed of two interacting principles: from the beginning of the greatest action at every given moment and from the beginning of verbal development. The first determines the style of the ode, the second determines its lyrical plot.

In Lomonosov, the richness of each verse group distracts from the “backbone” of the construction - the “dry ode”. The associative linkage of images is a "meaningless ode".

The question of the intonational organization of the ode: the oratorical word should be organized according to the principle of the greatest literary wealth.

The canonical form of the odic stanza: aAaAvvVssV (a, b, c - female rhymes, A, B - male). Varyed and changed by Lomonosov and Sumarokov.

Lomonosov. 3 types of periods: round and moderate (distribution of three syntactic integers in three sections of the stanza: 4 + 3 + 3); fluctuating (non-distribution of syntactic integers over three sections); detachable (distribution of syntactic integers along lines). Within one ode, the periods varied so that "by their change they were pleasant." The first stanza received special significance as a given intonational structure, then - a gradual variation, an increase in variations and at the end a decline either to the beginning or to equilibrium. Ode to Elizabeth Petrovna: transition from unsteady to round formation.

The intonational meaning of “questions” and “exclamations” is important. The combination of the principle of changing interrogative, exclamatory and narrative intonations with the principle of the intonational use of a complex stanza lies in the declamatory originality of the ode.

¨ A(splendor, depth and height, sudden fear);

¨ e, i, Ҍ, u(tenderness, deplorable or small things);

¨ I(pleasantness, amusement, tenderness, inclination);

¨ oh wow(terrible and strong things, anger, envy, fear);

¨ k, p, t, b’, g’, d’(actions are stupid, lazy, having a dull sound)

¨ s, f, x, c, w, p(actions are great, loud, terrible);

¨ f ', s ', c, l, m, n, b(gentle and soft actions and things).

Lomonosov: meters have a stylistic function (iambic for heroic verse, trochee for elegiac).

Trediakovsky: the semantic structure depends only on the images presented in the essay.

In Lomonosov, each element of style has a declamatory, specific meaning.

In addition to grammatical intonation, oratory played an important role in Lomonosov's odes. He left gesture illustrations applied to poetry, i.e. the word received the meaning of the stimulus for the gesture.

The word departs from the main sign of meaning. Ornate speeches are born from "transferring things to an indecent place." At the same time, the ornate organization of the ode breaks with the closest associations as the least influencing. The connection or collision of the words "distant" creates an image. The usual semantic associations of the word are destroyed, instead of them - a semantic demolition. The trope is perceived as a "perversion". Lomonosov's favorite technique is the union of those who are distant in terms of lexical and subject lines words (“The cooled corpse and the cold stinks”).

The epithet is often transferred from the neighboring lexical series ("Victory sign, scorching sound").

The predicate is hyperbolic and does not correspond to the main feature of the subject ("In the abyss, its trace burns").

Semasiologization of word parts is characteristic. The beginning of a speech is a combination of a consonant (s) with a vowel, from which a word begins (wonderful bottom). The word grows into a verbal group, the members of which are connected by associations arising from rhythmic closeness.

The word is surrounded by a related language environment as a result of the semasiologization of individual sounds and groups of sounds and the application of the rule that an “idea” can also develop in a purely sound way. Often the lines condensed in sound terms turn into sound metaphors (“Only our regiments can be heard splashing”).

Rhymes are not sound similarities of final syllables, but sound similarities of final words (moreover, it is the semantic brightness of sounds that is important, and not the uniformity of the last syllables: “shore is trouble”).

Lomonosov's ode is a verbal construction subordinated to the author's assignments. Poetic speech is sharply separated from ordinary speech. The oratorical moment became defining, constructive for Lomonosov's ode.

2. Sumarokov opposes "loudness" and "conjugation of distant ideas." The beginning of oratorical "ardor" is opposed to "wit". The virtues of the poetic word are its "stinginess", "brevity" and "accuracy".

Sumarokov struggles with the metaphorism of the ode. “The conjugation of distant ideas” is opposed by the requirement to conjugate close words (instead of “for beads, gold and purple” - “for beads, silver and gold”).

He also protests against the deformation of the verse structure of speech (for example, he does not accept "incorrect stresses").

Sound metaphors are opposed to the requirement of "sweetness", euphony. Nevertheless, Sumarokov is ready to sacrifice eloquence in favor of semantic clarity.

The “loud” ode is denied, and the “medium” one is put in its place: if for Lomonosov the round system is a canvas for intonation fluctuations, then for Sumarokov it is the norm.

3. The ode was important not only as a genre, but also as a certain direction in poetry. In contrast to the younger genres, the ode was not closed and could attract new materials to absorb into itself, animated at the expense of other genres, etc.

Derzhavin's new path destroyed the ode as a canonical genre, but preserved and developed stylistic features, determined by the ornate beginning.

Elements of the middle (and even low) style were introduced into the high-style vocabulary, the ode is oriented towards the prose of satirical magazines.

The verbal development of images has lost its significance, because. the former semantic demolition has become stylistically common. Therefore, the introduction of sharply different means of style into the ode had the task of maintaining its value.

Derzhavin's images are picturesque, their subject relatedness is concrete.

"The lyrical high consists in the rapid soaring of thoughts, in the uninterrupted presentation of a multitude of pictures and feelings."

Lomonosov's intonation prims are developed and sharpened. Diversifying the lyrical stanza, Derzhavin introduces the strophic practice of the Lomonosov canon into new variants (for example, the unsteady system in an 8-line stanza of the type aAaA + vVvV). Often stanzas like aaaa+b are used, where a 4-line stanza is followed by a non-rhyming verse => double intonation effect.

Derzhavin's ideal is an "onomatopoeic" poem, subject to the general requirement of "sweetness".

4. Then the beginning of the spoken word and the verbal image is opposed to the subordinating musical beginning. The word is now "coherent", "simplified" ("artificial simplicity"). The intonation system obeys the verse melody. Of decisive importance are small forms arising from non-literary series (letters are interspersed with “quatrains”, the cultivation of burime and charades reflects an interest not in verbal masses, but in individual words. Words “match” according to the nearest subject and lexical series.

Zhukovsky uses the word, isolated from large verbal masses, highlighting it graphically into a personified allegorical symbol (“remembrance”, “yesterday”). The elegy, with its melodious functions of the fading word, is like a semantic purification. A message appears that justifies the introduction of colloquial intonations into the verse.

But the ode as a direction does not disappear. It emerges in the revolt of the archaists (Shishkov, then Griboyedov, Kuchelbeker). The ode is reflected in the lyrics of Shevyryov and Tyutchev (principles of the oratorical position + melodic achievements of the elegy.

The struggle for a genre is essentially a struggle for the function of the poetic word, its setting.

1 What is a solemn ode

3 Independent task

1. What is a solemn ode

Imagine one of the first scenes in The Lord of the Rings. An epic battle begins. From the faces of the warriors of both sides, the camera shoots up and sweeps over the battlefield without end and edge, where everyone has their own business, where one could consider hundreds of small duels and thousands of deaths, but thanks to the rapid movement and the view from above, they all lose their individual features and merge into a single picture, which alone can convey the true scale and significance of the event - not here and now, but in history out of time and for all ages. It is not Elendil and Elrond that fight against Sauron, but Good against Evil; it is not Isildur who cuts off the finger with the ring from the enemy, but Order and Truth get a chance to establish themselves on Earth. To show the significance of this moment, the camera zooms even higher and shows the Ork troops helplessly wallowing all the way to the horizon. Chances are, for those watching this episode now, it's as breathtaking as it was for the first viewers 15 years ago: sweeping shots of mind-boggling cities and great battles have become director Peter Jackson's trademark, and for good reason.

Rising above the ground and surveying the events that will change history is the perfect attraction. Nowadays, this is achieved with the help of 3D models and cinema. But people of past centuries could also experience the same sensations - thanks to the poetic word. The genre that gave such an opportunity was the solemn (or pindaric) Named after the ancient Greek poet Pindar (5th century BC). His poems served as a model for the French poets who developed this genre - P. Ronsard, F. Malherba, N. Boileau, J. B. Rousseau and others. From France, attention to the ode came to Germany and Russia.) ode, the main genre of Russian lyrics of the mid-18th century, in which Vasily Trediakovsky, Mikhail Lomonosov, Alexander Sumarokov, Vasily Petrov, Mikhail Kheraskov and many other less gifted poets wrote.

The solemn ode is based on the idea of poetic delight. The mind's eye of the poet leaves its mortal shell and soars above the earth. The intervention of some higher forces allows him to do this - for example, the muse, the spirit, divine inspiration. They move his lips and pen - in the world of odes, the poet does not speak himself.

Soaring above the world, the poet surveys the endless expanses - both in the most general terms and in the smallest details. At the same time, he sees events that are actually far apart in time; speaking of modernity, he can introduce long-dead rulers, heroes of mythology, the Christian God and characters personifying abstract concepts (Truth, Falsehood, Mercy, etc.) into the narrative - while they will act on an equal footing with the real participants in the events. All these characters, events, ideas and plans appear in the ode in a free order, the author's gaze, as it were, moves from one picture to another.

All this has several implications.

1. The reader (listener) of the ode is passive. The poet does not leave him space for his own thoughts or assessments, the reader's task is only to follow the plan and pictures of the ode, because through it a higher being speaks to him, and speaks the Truth.

2. The ode describes only outstanding events (even if they may seem insignificant to a 21st century reader).

3. A view from above, covering space from horizon to horizon, makes the ode an ideal vehicle for glorifying the country and its ruler.

4. The theme of the ode is reduced to a limited and predetermined set of ideas:
- the greatness of the country and its bright future is ensured by the monarch, whose actions are led by good higher powers;
- this monarch is endowed with all the virtues;
- thanks to this, a country in a state of peace is the focus of all possible earthly goods;
- any conflict related to the country is actually a conflict of Absolute Good and Absolute Evil;
- the outcome of this conflict is known in advance: Good will win thanks to an absolutely virtuous monarch and the support of higher powers.

5. The limited themes naturally leads to the fact that repeated formulas and images appear in the odes:
— the common joy of many united peoples;
- the jubilation of nature (joyful rivers, clapping banks);
- the vastness of the country;
- a surprised look at it from neighboring states;
- gigantic figures of heroes, etc.

So, for the opportunity to experience a breathtaking journey upwards and see the epic pictures of the ode, one has to pay with the relative limitedness of the images and the unambiguous political content. The author of the solemn ode, having soared high above the world, speaks of large scales, but does not see details and halftones. He describes everything in terms of absolute good or absolute evil. Absolute goodness is attributed to the monarch, who ensures the existence of this beautiful world.

2. How to read an ode - an example

Mikhail Lomonosov. "Ode on the day of accession to the throne of Her Majesty the Empress Empress Elisaveta Petrovna 1747"

Perhaps the most perfect solemn ode of Mikhail Lomonosov was created in 1747 for the sixth anniversary of the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1741 - after, with the help of the guards, she overthrew the infant John VI Antonovich and his regent-mother Anna Leopoldovna.. Having considered its main elements, one can see how the ode “works”: how it describes real world, transforming it, which attracts the reader and due to which it becomes politically relevant.

In the mid-1740s, Lomonosov published his odes at the printing house of the Academy of Sciences and Arts, but at his own expense, his name was on the title pages - and the "author's" look, speech in the first person ("I see", "my voice", etc. .) were invariably present in the text. An ode to the birthday of the Empress, celebrated in December 1746, was also written. However, already at the stage of publication, it was decided that it would be printed at the expense of the Academy. So the name of Lomo-nosov disappeared from title page- but it was said there that the ode "brings the all-subject of the Academy of Sciences." At the same time, the text itself - with the "author's" look and turns in the first person ("imagine that year to me", etc.) - remained unchanged. After that, Lomonosov wrote several more odes on the order of the President of the Academy, all of them were published with her money, presented to the Empress on her behalf, and in them the author could no longer write on his own behalf and personally “soar above the ground”.

Probably, the desire of the Academy to make such “offerings” to the Empress was due to the fact that in May 1746, eighteen-year-old Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky, who had just returned from a European educational trip, became its president. In the Academy with its printing house, he saw a means of spreading the "new" culture, which included, among other things, the close involvement of poets in the life of the court. In 1747, he ensured that Elizabeth adopted a new charter for the Academy of Sciences, which expanded the scope, staff and funding of this institution.

A new ode to the day of Elizabeth's accession to the throne, which will be discussed below, was written by Lomonosov - also by order of Razumovsky - almost at the same time that the text of the new charter was published. She, like the previous one, was published as an essay presented by the Academy of Sciences. It is natural that the praises to the empress in the new ode are closely intertwined with gratitude for the blessings shed on the institution.

paraphrase

How useful and beautiful you are, beloved silence (calmness): you please earthly rulers, give happiness to the inhabitants of villages and protect the townspeople! Flowers are full of flowers around you and ears of corn turn yellow in the fields; where you are, ships filled with treasures strive; you with a generous hand scatter wealth over the earth.

The ode opens with the famous lines of praise addressed to silence. The glorification of the "silence" that Russia enjoys is the common theme of all the odes created between 1743 and 1757, that is, between the two wars: the Russian-Swedish (1741-1743) and the Seven Years (1757-1763).

The joy of kings and kingdoms of the earth,
Beloved silence,
The bliss of the villages, the fence of the city,
If you are useful and red!

The law of the genre requires a description of the flight, but in an ode written on behalf of the Academy, the poet does not have the opportunity to “soar” personally. Therefore, Lomonosov puts in the beginning a phenomenon that could be surveyed only from a very great height. In the first two stanzas, the gaze gradually rises to the highest possible point: it sees a flower - ears of corn - fields - sea and earth - the sun - paradise.

Flowers bloom around you
And the classes in the fields turn yellow;
Treasure ships are full
Dare in the sea for you;
You pour with a generous hand
Your wealth on earth.

paraphrase

The great luminary (the sun), illuminating the whole world from its height, sees beads, gold, purple and all earthly beauties; but nowhere in the world does it find anything more beautiful than Elizabeth and you, [silence]. You are the best in the world, except for her [Elizabeth]; her soul is calmer than a pleasant breeze, and the view is more beautiful than paradise.

Great light of the world
Shining from the eternal height
For beads, gold and purple,
To all earthly beauties,
He raises his gaze to all countries,
But more beautiful in the world does not find
Elizabeth and you.
You, besides That, are above all;
Her soul Zephyr hush
And the sight is more beautiful than Paradise.

paraphrase

When the Lord gave her [Elizabeth] the crown and she ascended the throne, she brought you back [silence] to Russia and ended the war [the Russo-Swedish war that began shortly before Elizabeth came to power]. She accepted you, kissed you and said: “I have had enough of those victories for which I have to shed blood. I enjoy the happiness of the inhabitants of Russia; I will not exchange their tranquility for all the lands of the West and East.

At the beginning of the third stanza, the poet recalls the accession to the throne of Elizabeth Petrovna - that is, the palace coup of 1741. From a height from which one can survey the whole earth, he descends back to St. Petersburg. Thus, a direct connection is established, on the one hand, between paradise and the capital of Russia, on the other hand, between the Almighty and the Empress; this is how the axis is built, on which the whole world of ode will be held.

When she took the throne
As the Most High gave her a crown,
I returned you to Russia
The war ended

The poet still refers to silence. She is at the same time a physical person that Elizabeth can kiss, and the future awaiting Russia. This sets the chronological horizon of the ode: covering both the past, the present and the future, the ode is focused primarily on the reign of the monarch, whose coming to power is conceived as the restoration of the world order, and the coming years of reign as the Golden Age.

I kissed you when I accepted you:
“I am full of those victories,” she said,
- For whom the blood flows.
I delight Rossov with happiness,
I do not change their calmness
To the whole west and east."

paraphrase

Empress, such a meek speech can only be spoken by a deity. Oh, how rightfully great is this day and that happy moment when, because of the joyful change [of the ruler], Petersburg applauded and chanted so that it was heard to the stars; when you carried a cross in your hand and led all your virtues to the throne.

Befitting to divine lips,
Monarchine, this meek voice:
Oh how worthily exalted
This day and that blessed hour
When from a joyful change
Petrovs raised walls
Up to the stars splash and click!
When you carried the cross with your hand
And brought with her to the throne
The kindness of your beautiful face!

paraphrase

We lack [poetic] strength: our words cannot be compared with them [with your virtues]; but we cannot refrain from singing your praises. Your generosity encourages our spirit and makes it run like a fair wind carries a sailor through high waves: he [the sailor] leaves the shore with fun, and now the ship flies on the water.

To equal the word with them,
The abundance of our strength is small;
But we can't resist
From singing your praises.

Further, remembering the general rejoicing of the country at the coronation of the empress, the poet again sets off on an odic flight (his spirit rushes “to run”). To do this, he uses a comparison (Elizabeth's generosity encourages his spirit, like a fair wind carries a sailor), and then proceeds to a new alternation of paintings - they follow each other simple sentences, each of which has its own subject: wind, swimmer, feed.

Your bounties are encouraging
Our spirit is directed to run,
Like a capable wind in a swimmer's pont
Through the yars the waves break:
He leaves the shore with fun,
Feed flies between the water depths.

paraphrase

Silence, sounds of the flame [of war], and stop shaking the world: Elizabeth favors the sciences in peace (calm). You impudent whirlwinds, do not dare to roar loudly, but meekly spread the news of what a wonderful time we live in. Universe, listen silently: the admiring [poetic] Lyra will now speak of great people.

Silence, fiery sounds,
And stop shaking the light:
Here in the world to expand science
Elizabeth did.
You impudent whirlwinds, do not dare
Roar, but meekly divulge
Our times are wonderful.
In silence, listen, universe:
Se wants Lyra admiring
Say great names.

paraphrase

The creator of the world, great with his amazing deeds, already determining the fate at the very beginning of time, decided how he would be glorified in our time. He sent to Russia such a man as no one had ever heard of; such that, despite all the obstacles, he managed to raise his head, crowned with victories, and together with himself raise Russia to the skies, which [before him] groveled in rude morals.

The poet recalls the constant divine presence: the creator of the world (that is, the Lord God) sent a ruler to Russia in order to glorify himself through him.

Terrible strange deeds
The creator of the world from the beginning
With his own destinies
Glorify yourself in our day;

This ruler (“Man”) is Peter I.
Now the reader should see behind the poetic pictures events even more distant than the rise of Elizabeth to power. In the "obstacles" - Peter's failures in the wars with Sweden and Turkey. In "rudeness trampled" Russia, there are internal disturbances during the reign of Princess Sophia. In the astonished deities of the next stanza, there are the military victories of Peter, the Russian sea power he created from non-existence, and, finally, the amazing city of Petersburg, which appeared out of nowhere at the request of the tsar, as if in a fairy tale.
The time horizon of the ode is expanding even more: the present ("our days") is perceived as a continuation of the era of Peter I.
The glory of the Lord grows along with the glory of the tsar (“lifted up his head, crowned with victories”) and Russia. The poet also rises higher and higher - until he climbs so high into the heavens that he can look at the pagan deities with a grin: Mars turns out to be cowardly in him, Neptune only opens his mouth in amazement, and the goddess of the capital river suffers from memory lapses.

Sent a Man to Russia
What has been unheard of for centuries.
Through all obstacles He lifted
Head, crowned with victories,
I will trample Russia with rudeness,
He lifted him up to heaven.

paraphrase

[To the god of war himself] Mars was terrified when he saw his sword in the hands of Peter in the middle of a bloody battle. [The god of the seas himself] Neptune trembled and was surprised when he saw the Russian [sea] flag [i.e. e. seeing the appearance of the Russian victorious fleet]. [Himself] Neva, when the walls strengthened its banks, and buildings appeared on them, said in doubt: “Maybe I forgot and now I’m not flowing where before?”

Mars feared in the bloody fields
Your sword in Petrov's hands in vain,
And with trepidation, Neptune looked
Looking at the Russian flag.
In the walls suddenly fortified
And surrounded by buildings
Doubtful Neva ad:
"Or have I now forgotten
And leaned from the path,
Which before I flowed?

paraphrase

Then the divine sciences stretched out their hands across the mountains, rivers and seas to Russia, saying to this monarch: "We are ready to do our best to make new practical results of theoretical research appear among the Russian subjects." The ruler calls them to him, and now Russia is waiting to see the benefits of their work.

For the next three stanzas, the ode calms its flow, moving on to a consistent and calm account of historical events. The poet recalls how Peter I took care of the dissemination of sciences in Russia, having in mind, in particular, the creation of the Academy.

Then divine sciences
Through mountains, rivers and seas
They stretched out their hands to Russia,
To this monarch, saying:
“We are prepared with the utmost care
File in the Russian genus new
The fruits of the purest mind.
The monarch calls them to himself,
Russia is already waiting
It's good to see their work.

paraphrase

But ah! Cruel fate! The man who was worthy of immortality, who was the cause of our happiness, was taken from us by envious [evil] fate; we experienced unbearable grief and drowned in tears. Hearing our sobs, Mount Parnassus [the abode of the Muses, that is, the Academy of Sciences] groaned, and the Muses escorted the bright spirit [Peter] to heaven with their weeping.

But oh, cruel fate!
Immortality worthy husband,
Our happiness is the reason
To the unbearable sorrow of our souls
Jealously rejected by fate,
He plunged us into deep weeping!
Inspiring our sobs to our ears,
The tops of Parnassus groaned,
And the Muses cried out
Into the heavenly door is the most radiant spirit.

paraphrase

They were in turmoil because of this sadness and could only think of death and [Peter's] deeds. But meek Catherine, who alone could please us after Peter, accepts them [Muses, sciences] with generosity. Ah, if she had lived longer, then the Sena [i.e. e. Paris, standing on its banks], with all the art [in the sciences] that it has, would long ago be ashamed of the Neva [i.e. e. Petersburg].

In a lot of righteous sadness
Their doubtful way was embarrassed,
And just marching wished
Look at the coffin and the deeds.

After Peter's death, his widow Catherine I continued her husband's work, but she also died too early.

But meek Catherine,
Joy for Petra is one,
He accepts them with a generous hand.
Oh, if only her life had lasted,
Long ago Sequana would be ashamed
With your art before the Neva!

paraphrase

That it suddenly illuminates Parnassus [i.e. e. Academy of Sciences], despite such grief? Oh, what harmonious and pleasant music plays there. All the hills are covered with crowds; cries are heard in the valleys: “The generosity of Peter’s daughter exceeds the generosity of her father: she increases the allowance of the Muses [i.e. e. the budget of the Academy of Sciences] and [by this] opens the door to happiness.”

Suddenly, the ode makes a leap again, now 15 years ahead. It turns out that all these 15 years Russia has been in mourning for the deceased monarchs - but now something joyful is happening.

What lightness surrounds
In much grief Parnassus?
Oh, if according to there rattling
Pleasant strings, sweetest voice!

The reason for the unexpected joy is "Peter's daughter", that is, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. She, following her father's plans, helps the Muses ("content aggravates" - that is, increases the budget of the Academy of Sciences) - and thus brings happiness to the people who sing of her generosity.

All the hills are covered with faces,
Cliques are heard in the valleys:
"Great Petrov's Daughter
Father's generosity exceeds,
The pleasure of the Muses aggravates
And to happiness opens the door.

paraphrase

A military leader is worthy of great praise if the number of his victories is equal to the number of his battles, if he spends his whole life in campaigns. However, it is not only him who has to be praised, but also the soldiers whom he leads; and because they all declare their victories, the glory [of the commander] is not so loud. In addition, the sound of her trumpets is disturbed by the groan of the vanquished, causing [in those looking from the side] tears.

The poet says that military victories are not The best way to become famous, because this glory has to be shared, and besides, the tears of the vanquished prevent it from rejoicing. Immediately after this, he moves on to praise his peaceful empress (recall the glorification of silence with which the ode begins).

Worthy of great praise
When the number of their victories
A warrior can compare battles
And in the field he lives all his life;
But the warriors are subject to him,
His praises are always involved,
And the noise in the shelves from all sides
Sounding glory drowns out
And the thunder of the pipes interferes with it
The lamentable groan of the vanquished.

paraphrase

Monarch, this [peaceful, not military] glory belongs only to you. Oh, how your vast country thanks you. Look at the [belonging to you] high mountains, at the wide plains along which the Volga, Dnieper and Ob flow: the riches hidden in them will be brought to light with the help of the sciences that flourish thanks to your generosity.

This is the only glory to you,
monarch, belongs to,
Spacious is your state
Oh how thank you!

In the next four stanzas, the whole of Russia unfolds before the reader, in every place of which there will be an application for the sciences now blessed. This is facilitated by an odic gaze, again rising to heaven: the poet looks around the space stretching from the Dnieper to the Lena and from the “everlasting snows” to the Amur.

Look at the high mountains
Look into your wide fields,
Where is the Volga, the Dnieper, where the Ob flows:
Wealth, hidden in them,
Science will frankly
That blooms with Your generosity.

paraphrase

Having handed over to you such vast lands, and making their inhabitants your happy subjects, the Almighty revealed to you such treasures that India could boast of. However, Russia needs people who know the art [science]. Then it will be possible to purify the gold veins, and even the stones will feel the power of the sciences raised by you.

So much land space
When the Almighty ordered
To you in a happy allegiance,
Then the treasures opened
Of what India boasts;
But Russia demands
By the art of approved hands.
This gold will cleanse the vein,
Stones will also feel the power
the sciences restored by you.

paraphrase

Although the lands in the north, where the cold wind waves your flag, are always covered with snow, but even among the ice-covered mountains the Lord works miracles: there the rapidly flowing Lena clean water feeds those who live on its banks, like the Nile, and at the end of the course it becomes wide like the sea, so that one cannot see the other from one side.

Although the everlasting snows
The northern country is covered,
Where the frozen winds of the wings
Your banners fly;
But God is between the icy mountains
Great for its miracles:
There Lena is a pure rapid,
Like the Nile, the nations will get drunk
And bregi finally loses
As wide as the sea.

paraphrase

How many miracles, unknown to mere mortals, nature creates [where the forests are so dense that animals are crowded in them, where the deer grazing in the shady coolness were never dispersed by the cry of the hunters, where the hunter did not aim from the bow, where the farmer did not frighten the birds with the sound of his ax .

Kohl many mortals are unknown
Nature works wonders
Where the animals are crowded with density
There are deep forests
Where in the luxury of cool shadows
In the flock of galloping deer
Catch the cry did not disperse;
A hunter where he did not mark with a bow,
With the ax farmer's thud
Singing birds did not frighten.

paraphrase

For the Muses wide expanses are open. How can we thank you for this, [Empress]? We will glorify your gift to the skies and erect a monument to your generosity where the sun rises and flows in the green banks of the Amur, seeking to return from Manchuria to your country.

Wide open field
Where the Muses stretch their way!
Your generous will
What can we give for this?
We will glorify your gift to heaven
And we will put a sign of your generosity,
Where is the sun rising and where is Cupid
Spinning in the green shores
Wishing to come back
To your state from Manzhur.

paraphrase

And now, with hope, we can open the veil of eternity hidden by fog. [In the future] Wisdom will build its temple where there are no rules and laws now; ignorance pales before her. There [in the future] the path of the [Russian] fleet turns white in the water, and the sea tries not to interfere with it: it is the Russian Columbus in a hurry to announce to unknown peoples about your generosity.

Finally, the poet becomes cramped within this broadest "earthly" view, and he proceeds to the culmination of his ode. He goes beyond the borders of Russia - into the Ocean and distant unknown countries, observes colossal figures and gods and breaks through from the past and present into the future.

Behold the gloomy eternity
Hope opens up to us!
Where there are no rules, no law,
Wisdom tamo builds the temple!
Ignorance pales before her.
There, the wet fleet's path turns white,
And the sea tries to yield:
Columbus Russian across the waters
Hurries to unknown peoples
To proclaim your bounties.

paraphrase

There the ocean is like a river between a scattering of thousands of islands; the raven, in the plumage of heavenly blue, surpasses the beauty of the peacock; different birds fly there in clouds, and their diversity exceeds the colors of blooming spring. Feeding in fragrant groves and swimming in pleasant streams, they do not know the harsh winter.

There, the darkness of the islands is sown,
The river is like the ocean;
Heavenly blue robes
The peacock is put to shame by the Raven.
There are clouds of different birds flying,
What is variegated exceed
Tender spring clothes;
Eating in fragrant groves
And swimming in pleasant jets,
They do not know the severity of winter.

paraphrase

And now [the goddess - the patroness of wisdom and sciences] Minerva strikes with a spear at the top of the Ural Mountains, and silver and gold are poured on all your descendants. [Underground god] Pluto rushes about in the caves because the precious metal from its mountains, where it was hidden by nature, is given into the hands of the Russian people. Gloomy, he does not want to look at the brilliance of the daylight.

And now Minerva strikes
In the tops of the Riphean spear,
Silver and gold run out
In all your inheritance.
Pluto in the clefts is restless,
What is given into the hands of the Rosses
Its precious metal from the mountains,
Which nature has hidden there;
From the brilliance of the daylight
He gloomy averts his gaze.

paraphrase

O you [scholars], who are waiting for the fatherland, such as now have to be called from abroad! Oh, how happy is your future. Now, encouraged, try to prove by your hard work that in the Russian land both your own Platos and Newtons with their quick minds can be born.

The key to this wonderful future is the students who are the main treasure of the country, inherited from its bowels. The Academy of Sciences with its gymnasium and university was one of the main educational institutions country, and the new charter made education almost its most important duty.

Oh you who are waiting
Fatherland from its bowels
And wants to see them
Which calls from foreign countries,
Oh blessed are your days!
Be emboldened now
Show with your care
What can own Platos
And quick-witted Newtons
Russian land to give birth.

paraphrase

The sciences give food to young men, delight the old; make a happy life more pleasant; give additional opportunities in misfortune; console in domestic troubles; And when traveling, too, will not be superfluous. Science is useful everywhere - in the city, and in nature, and among the crowd, and in solitude, and during leisure, and at work.

The sciences feed young men,
They give joy to the old,
Decorate in a happy life.
In an unfortunate case, cherish;
Joy in domestic difficulties
And in distant wanderings is not a hindrance.
Science is used everywhere:
Among the nations and in the wilderness,
In the city noise and alone,
At rest they are sweet and in work.

paraphrase

O you, the source of mercy and the angel who gave us years of peace, may the Almighty help you resist those who, in pride and envy of our peace, decide to declare war on you. On all your paths, the Creator will protect you from obstacles and make your life as long as you show generosity to your subjects.

Having made this dizzying journey into the future of the sciences, which will now flourish because of the new royal law (remember that Lomonosov writes this ode in the same year when Kirill Razumovsky publishes the new charter of the Academy of Sciences), the poet finally comes to a prayer addressed simultaneously to monarch and to the Lord.

To you, O mercy Source,
O Angel of our peaceful years!
The Almighty is on that assistant,
Who dares with his pride,
Seeing our peace
Rise up against you in war;
The Creator will keep you
In all ways flawless
And your life is blessed
Compare with the number of Your bounties.

3. Independent task

Now you can try to analyze one of the other two odes yourself. The most incomprehensible words and expressions are explained in the notes.

1. Alexander Sumarokov. "Ode to Empress Empress Elisabeth Perva on her birthday 1755 December 18th day"

1
Blessed are our summers.
Rejoice, blessed country!
On this day, you are Elizabeth
Given by the Almighty and Peter.
Source celebrating fate,
Rejoice, peoples, now,
Where is this queen's generous power.
O joyful day!
Great Peter successes
You glorify our part.

2
You are not looking for a bloody war
And you spare your subjects,
Satisfied with your glory
You do not harm the peace of mortals.
Rest in peace, neighbors of Russian countries;
What a glorious victory
And turn the city to dust? Why does the [already] famous [ruler] win? Should she turn cities to dust?
Who sit on this throne
Praise cannot be multiplied more,
No light to exacerbate the fear.

3
The Empress announces
Keeping the statutes of truth:
“Who in the heart feels impudence
Rise up when against me
I will humble the destroyers of peace,
I will break the proud horn with this hand,
I will cover the horizon with an army;
Will see feeling soon
Peter's daughter the power of the sea:
I will cover the stormy fleet Pont- here is the Black Sea.».

4
Above them you will be the queen,
You will impose tribute on the opposite.
Raise your sword, empress,
When you need to scold!
Seeing your standard before the army,
We, having hated the quiet age,
Forget luxury, family and home:
Following the monarch's will,
Let's step on the Poltava field Let's go [to the battle, which will be as glorious as Peter's victory at Poltava]..
Throw lightning and thunder.

5
Then this year will resume
In which womb were you On June 27, 1709, Peter I defeated the Swedes near Poltava, and this predetermined the outcome of the Northern War. On December 18 of the same year, Elizaveta Petrovna was born.,
And still that flame will appear
Evil has risen against us.
Terrible you were in the womb
You will be more terrible in anger:
You will see our loyalty.
Arise, peoples of different countries,
Rebel, air, fire and water!
Let's go capture or die.

6
Let's burn forests, scatter hailstones,
Let's stir up the stormy abyss.
Other rewards from you
For jealousy Jealousy- diligence, diligence. we don't want
So that you only point with your finger
And she said to her army:
"You deserve to be known as Russians."
O daughter of the great Hero!
We are ready to go under Troy
And formidable ocean to swim.

7
I listen to the sounds of that time:
These bombs are flying into the clouds,
Undermines raise towers,
They rush into the air of the underworld.
Wherever he wants to go
The enemy cannot move
On land, death and on the waters.
Enemies I see subdued.
Already furious Russians
On the city walls I see.

8
But today, the people are a brave tribe,
You are different in thought But today, oh tribe brave people think of something else.:
Forget what might be time
And enjoy the silence.
Sing, birds, the songs are smooth,
Breathe, winds, you are cool,
Kiss my dear, marshmallow Zephyr is the personification of the west wind.;
She bends the leaves
It smells like you
Depicting the sweet world.

9
Flutters merrily on the fields
And in fat ashes Pelepel- quail. herbs,
And the farmer rests
On soft lying ants;
Thunders are not heard here Bellona Bellona- in ancient Roman mythology, the goddess from the retinue of the god of war Mars, according to some versions - his mother.,
Do not make alarm groans,
There is no crying of widows and troubles of orphans.
Dragoy content with a part,
Living under merciful dominion
Oh, how happy you are, Ross family!

10
With a ferocious yawn With a fiercely open mouth.
The greedy beast runs from the groves,
A brave maiden seeks after him,
Diana, or Petrov's daughter Diana- the ancient Roman goddess of vegetation, identified with the ancient Greek goddess-huntress Artemis. Hunting was one of Elizaveta Petrovna's favorite pastimes.;
The girl shines with beauty
And courageously shoots arrows.
But what a building I see there!
And that, my captivating eyes,
Do they represent mountains to me?
Diana, your temple of Ephesus Ephesus temple- Temple of Artemis in the city of Ephesus; one of the seven wonders of the world..

11
Rest in peace, the city is far away,
In these beautiful halls you Grad is remote- far from the city, [from St. Petersburg]. We are talking about the palace in Sarskoye (future Tsarskoye) Selo, which amazed contemporaries, where Elizaveta Petrovna spent a lot of time. The architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli rebuilt it for several years and completed it only in 1756, but in 1755, when the ode was written, the stucco facades were already completed. In addition, in the summer, Elizabeth ordered the Amber Room from the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (a gift from the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I to Peter I) to be moved to the Tsarskoye Selo Palace.
And, in silence, amused,
Rest in your labors Rest from your labors.,
Midnight winds fly away
Grasslands, prosper daily,
And you repeat our, echo, voice:
“We are happy people;
Golden return eyelids Golden times returned by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth for us."

12
Ottoll, monarch, you look
To the city of Petrov, to your throne,
And how you open your eyes
This dol hears your words:
“In this place it used to be black,
Now there shines gold
On the towers of happiness of the creator;
The Neva is pouring in the midst of the magnificent city,
From where the echo is heard
About the glory of my father.

2. Mikhail Lomonosov. "Ode on the day of accession to the throne of Her Majesty the Empress Empress Elisaveta Petrovna 1748"

1
Dawn with a crimson hand
From morning calm waters
Leads out with the sun behind him
Your country's new year.
Blessed Beginning
You, Goddess, shone.
And our sincerity of hearts
Burning before the throne of the Most High,
May it crown with Your happiness
Its middle and end.

2
Let the lights move harmoniously
In the circles assigned to myself,
And the rivers flow calmly
In Your obedient shores;
Enmity and anger let it be destroyed;
And fire and sword be gone
From Your countries and all harm;
Let spring laugh gently
And the farmer is serene
hexadecimal hexadecimal- hundredfold. bring forth fruit.

3
With capable free- comfortable, favorable. arguing with the winds
Do not dare to torment the boredom Boreas- the personification of the stormy north wind.
Of the sea covered with judgments
Floating towards your land.
Yes, deep peace nourishes everyone;
The iron of warfare does not know
Serving in the labor of silent villages.
Let evil envy be ashamed,
And let the world marvel at the glory
your generous deeds.

4
Sacred and keep the statutes
And the truth in the judgment of the judge,
And your time of power
May Your servants bless.
Neighbors keep alliances;
And to you, beloved Muses,
For bitter tears and for fear,
For a terrible time and deplorable
Let there be joy every day
At the Nevsky, the jets are renewed.

5
Remembering that year
Mind is restless among pleasures!
The thick haze is still spinning,
It also makes a terrible noise!
There a storm of sparks curls,
And the greedy flame devours
Minervin with a loud crash temple! Minerva- one of the most important ancient Roman goddesses, the personification of wisdom. We are talking about a fire that happened on the night of December 5, 1747 in the building of the Kunstkamera and the Imperial Library.
Like copper in a crucible, the sky is reddening!
The wealth of mind strives
Down to trembling feet! There was a printing house in the building of the Kunstkamera, and during the fire, the printed but not yet bound academic publications that were there were thrown to the ground.

6
Dearest Muses, set aside
Raise a shadow to the thought of sadness;
Rattle with a merry voice
And sing this great day
When in the paternal crown
Flashed on the Russian throne
Clearer than day Elizabeth;
How the night changed to noon
How autumn compares to spring,
And darkness gave us light The palace coup, as a result of which Elizaveta Petrovna ascended the throne, took place on the night of November 25, 1741..

7
In the meadows strewn with flowers,
Queen of hardworking bees,
Shining noisy wings,
Flies between cool villages;
Flocks, leaving roses
And the vines are filled with honeycombs,
With care from everywhere swarm,
Surrounds his queen
And closely in her wake flies
Diligently committed system fixed- directed; "zealous" - directed by diligence..

8
Inflamed by the same heat
The Russian family flocked here
And, overjoyed,
Crowding, I looked at Your coming.
Babies cupo Kupno- together. with gray hair
They hurried after you.
Then the great city of Petrov
In one stack Stogna- square, wide street. fit in
Then the wind stopped
To splash Splash applause, the sound of applause. ascended to the clouds.

9
Then to all the ends of the Light,
Like lightning, a rumor reached
That Elizabeth reigns
Petrov has a spirit in himself.
Then discordant neighbors
Desperate for their victory
And the thoughts retreated It means Russo-Swedish War, which began shortly before Elizabeth came to power. A significant part of the Swedish nobility and members of parliament were opposed to military action. The war was unfortunate for Sweden and ended with a Russian victory in 1743..
Monarchine, who knows Rossov
And jealousy Jealousy- diligence, diligence. heeds them to you,
Will he think of becoming an opponent?

11
Europe weary in battle This refers to the War of the Austrian Succession, which lasted from 1740 to 1748.,
Lifting your head from the flame
I stretched out my hands to you
Through the smoke, smoking and darkness.
Your meekest nature
Than for the bliss of mortal kind
Our Almighty adorned the century,
Bow down for her protection
And your sword, entwined with laurels,
Not naked, stopped the war At the beginning of 1748, the Russian corps marched towards the Rhine to help the Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa against the French. After that, negotiations began, as a result of which peace was concluded in October. Russian troops did not take part in hostilities..

12
Europe and the whole world are witnesses
Millions of different peoples
Colica is now a virtue
Russian decorates the throne.
Oh, how this delights us,
That the whole universe uplifts,
Monarchine, your business!
The peoples of your power
Speech, clothes, customs are different,
But everyone agrees praise.

13
We all call with one voice,
That You are the Defender and Mother,
We count your kindnesses,
But we can't describe them all.
When we strive to sing bounties,
Silent beauty marvels.
The victory to praise the thought flows,
How the Goths fell Swedes are called Goths in the ode. before you?
But more with a peaceful hand
You surprised the whole world.

14
It's not very common,
So that everyone who gifts bloomed:
He has a strong body
But his spirit is weak and his mind is not mature.
In the other, the heavenly mind shines,
But the house itself has a cramped,
And the spirit is not strong enough.
Another became famous for the war,
But the world defames evil with life
And he is at war with himself.

15
You, goddess, are exalted
Souls and bodies of beauty,
That in many divided they shine;
You alone have everything.
We see that in You alone
Great Peter with Catherine
To our bliss lives.
The abyss of praise has opened!
Confused thought stopped
That words are not enough.

16
However, the spirit still strives
Still the heat of the heart
And jealousy Jealousy- diligence, diligence. be ashamed to be silent:
O Muse, deepen your gift,
Speak with me to the ends of the earth,
Kohl is now joyful Russia!
She touches the clouds
He does not see the end of his power;
Thundering full of glory,
Resting among the meadows.

17
In fields full of fruits
Where is the Volga, Dnieper, Neva and Don,
With its pure streams
Noise, herds induce sleep,
Sits and spreads his legs
To the steppe, where Khinu hina— China. separates
A spacious wall from us;
Cheerful gaze turns its
And around the contentment calculates,
Lay your elbow on the Caucasus.

18
“Behold ours,” the announcement, “with the hand
Lies defeated Azov The Azov fortress was taken by Peter I in 1696, then, in 1711, returned to Turkey, again taken by Russian troops in 1736, but under the terms of the peace treaty, it was demolished shortly before the accession to the throne of Elizabeth Petrovna.;
Destroyer of our peace
Fire executed among the ramparts.
Behold the sultry Caspian shores,
Where, barbarously despising raids,
Peter passed through the steppe and blat,
Reached the middle of Asia
He erected his banners there,
Where clouds of arrows hid the day.

19
In my obedience are spinning
There Lena, Ob and Yenisei,
Where many peoples hustle
Others are a gift to me to catch animals;
Barely having a cover for himself,
Laugh at the ferocity of the Boreas That is, they laugh at the evil north winds without being afraid of them.,
Monsters dare to follow
Where the top stretches to the clouds,
Gloomy clouds are torn apart,
Rising from the bottom of the sea, ice.

20
Here the Dnieper keeps my borders,
Where the proud Goth fell
From the solemn chariot,
Under which in bonds did he keep
Sarmatian and Saxon prisoners We are talking about the Battle of Poltava. The King of Sweden, Charles XII, is called Goth here, and the Poles are called Sarmatians: in 1706, the Swedes defeated the troops of the Elector of Saxony and the King of Poland, Augustus II, after which they began a campaign against Russia. The Poltava defeat of Charles XII led to a turning point in the Great Northern War and ended Sweden's dominance in Europe.,
The universe in the thoughts of the ascended
He turned with a single hand.
But fell, and the sound reached him
In all countries and fear moved
With the Danube Vistula rapid That is, the Vistula River, out of fear, ran as fast as the Danube. Under the frightened Vistula, Poland is meant, and under the Danube, the Ottoman Empire..

21
In the walls of Petrov flows
The Neva is full of fun;
crown, porphyry Purple, or purple, - the purple mantle of the monarch; symbol of supreme power. shines;
The head is covered with laurels.
There they burn with equal jealousy
Hearts, like haystacks, all shine
In a night filled with joy.
O sweet age! Oh dear life!
Petropolis, imitating the sky,
Beamed similar It means arranged in St. Petersburg in 1748 in honor of the day of the accession to the throne of Elizabeth Petrovna.».

22
This Russia is delighted
In his joy he says;
Moscow is united, on its knees
Falling down, stands in front of You,
Hair gray stretches,
The Goddess awaits you
To you a single cry:
“Look at the scorched temples,
Look at the walls destroyed;
I'm waiting for your bounty" In May 1748, several serious fires in a row occurred in Moscow..

23
Come, fairest daylighter Extreme daylight- more beautiful than the morning star - daylight.,
Come, and lordship of the face
And the brilliance of pure purple
Comfort sad hearts
And return the golden time.
We are here in loving peace
Let's get down to useful work.
Absent, You will be with us.
Covered with eagle wings,
Who dares to touch us? Lomonosov persuades the Empress to go to Moscow without fear of leaving St. Petersburg.

24
But is pride blinded
Dare to raise a horn against us,
To you, blessed in wives,
Against her helper is God.
He will bend the top of heaven to You
And terrible clouds will overtake
Candlemas Candlemas- towards. your enemies.
Lish only take up arms for battle,
Terror will come before you
And then the smoke rises.