What is a stanza in the novel Eugene Onegin. Onegin stanza. Onegin stanza after Pushkin

The poetic form of the novel required Pushkin to work hard on the verse. Narration and lyrics are combined in the verse itself. The ordinariness of life and the high moral principles that it gives rise to, the irony towards the main character and the lyrical excitement of the author, the colloquial and bookish style of speech forced Pushkin to turn to the most common meter in Russian poetry and the poet’s favorite meter - iambic tetrameter. Pushkin also needed the iambic to give poetic speech a conversational character. The poet unusually diversified iambic tetrameter, giving it exceptional flexibility and capacity.

The need for unity of the narrative and lyrical principles led Pushkin to the creation of a new strophic form.

The poet makes the stanza a relatively independent work and in this way achieves the unity of narrative and lyrics not only in each stanza, but also in the whole chapter and throughout the novel. Pushkin conducts a casual conversation with the reader, and in this regard, the completeness of each stanza becomes important: the narrative is easily disrupted by lyrical digressions, and then returns to its previous course. Since each stanza is a short story, you can discuss each topic separately, departing from the plot and expressing your point of view. The thread of the narrative is not lost, but the plot is noticeably enlivened and diversified, warmed by the lyrical emotion of the author.

For a stanza to become a small poem, it must be quite voluminous. For this purpose, Pushkin used all combinations of rhymes possible in a four-line stanza (quatrain). Connecting iambic quatrains in strict order three types their rhymes (cross, adjacent, encircling) were carried out by Pushkin. But the poet certainly needed completeness, independence of each stanza. It is easy to notice that the combination of differently rhyming quatrains did not lead to such completeness. There is no other combination of rhymes other than the three types listed in the quatrain. For this reason, Pushkin concludes the stanza with a couplet with adjacent rhyming lines. The stanza immediately acquired completeness due to the strong rhyming masculine consonance, thanks to the aphoristic ending, which summarizes the content of the stanza. This is how the Onegin stanza was defined, invented by Pushkin for his favorite and, in his words, best work. It consists of 14 verses of iambic tetrameter. Its general scheme appears unusually clear and simple: 1 (abab), 2 (vvgg), 3 (deed), 4 (zhzh) or: AbAb CCdd EffE gg Capital letters indicate female rhymes, lowercase letters indicate masculine rhymes.

But that's not all. The quatrains in the Onegin stanza are arranged in strict sequence. For Pushkin, not only the formal principle of arrangement of quatrains is important, but also the substantive one. The most common and natural rhyme in Russian poetry was cross rhyme, then adjacent, and then encircling. In terms of sound, this combination is the most expressive and diverse. It allowed us to avoid boring monotony. The meaningful role of each quatrain in the stanza is also constant and independent. It is easy to notice that the first four verses set out the theme of the entire stanza, and the couplet closes the theme, summarizes it, or interprets it in a new way. The second and third quatrains develop the theme outlined in the first quatrain.

However, each stanza is both closed (the theme in it is developed and completed) and open, directed to the next stanza, which continues it.

The intonation structure of the novel contributes to the creation of the effect of a free, improvisational narrative – the illusion of “chatter”.

Such a large novel, which Pushkin conceived, had to have a clear structure, clearly divided into parts. And Pushkin divides the novel into chapters, each of which ends with some author’s reasoning, and the chapters, in turn, are divided into stanzas. He constructs the stanza in a special way, coming up with a special form especially for the novel. That is why this stanza is called “Onegin”. This is a large stanza, consisting of 14 lines and representing something integral both syntactically (with rare exceptions it ends with a period and is the development of one thought) and metrically (the same construction of three quatrains and the final couplet): the first quatrain has cross rhymes, the second - adjacent, the third - encircling or girth, the final couplet - adjacent.

Usually this couplet contains an unexpected witty ending, expressing some remark of the poet. Each stanza usually begins by highlighting some new issue, raises some new topic, the author's notes and lyrical inserts conclude it.

A peculiarity of the poetic form of the novel “Eugene Onegin” is its unique “Onegin stanza”. “Onegin stanza” belongs to the type of “large”, complex stanzas. It consists of 14 lines and is a system of three quatrains, accompanied by a final couplet. The lines in the stanza are connected by a certain order of rhymes: in the first quatrain, cross rhymes are used, in the second - adjacent, in the third - encircling or ring rhymes. This rhyme variety gives the novel's stanza extraordinary flexibility and liveliness.

The novel is written in iambic tetrameter. The novel's rhyme is unusually diverse. We find here all types of rhyme, from the simplest to the most complex and difficult. In the novel there are rhymes of a common type [love - blood, shadow - day), and verbal rhymes [amuse - correct, kept - walked), and verbal-noun rhymes [attention - suffering, creation - solitude), and rhyming foreign words with Russians [tireless - prima), and the rhyming of foreign proper names with Russian words [Horace - acacia, Grim - before him), and the rhyming of letters and initials [glass - O. and E.), and homonymous rhymes [“Defender of liberty and right in this case is completely wrong), and difficult full-sounding rhymes [Chald Harold - with ice), and compound rhymes [and I - me], etc. Onegin's verse, like other poems by Pushkin, is characterized by extraordinary simplicity, clarity, and transparency of language; With the help of the most ordinary epithets, almost without resorting to metaphors and hyperboles, Pushkin paints us bright, highly artistic pictures.

If the periodically repeating structure of a poem, elegy or poetic novel has exactly fourteen lines and one hundred and eighteen syllables, then it is the same Onegin stanza. This number of components is unchanged. Such a stanza is also organic in small poems that represent a sensual outline of the plot. Both visually and intonationally, it can be divided into four parts, each of which is characterized by something that promotes interest and helps to hold the reader’s attention.

Onegin's stanza is a specific form of poetry. A. S. Pushkin created it on May 9, 1823 in order to embody the novel “Eugene Onegin” in verse. This form can rightfully be called the golden stanza of Russian poetry.

The Onegin stanza is based on a skillful interweaving of three forms: the octave, the quatrain and the “Shakespearean” sonnet. The change of male and female rhymes in it is constant and natural. Moreover, the first rhyme of the stanza is always feminine (w - stress on the penultimate syllable), and the last rhyme is masculine (m - stress on the last syllable).

This stanza uses a complex but very harmonious rhyme:

It is interesting that such a sequence in La Fontaine’s poems was of a random nature: he spontaneously “diluted” it with free rhymes, without accepting the constraint of a predetermined framework. This is very reminiscent of the transformations that evolution creates in order to show the Earth the new kind gemstone. This manner of versification was characteristic of the 17th and 18th centuries, who wrote ironic works of frivolous content.

The golden stanza is famous for its ease of embodiment of lyrical poetic ideas. It is especially well suited to lyrical poems and meaningful elegies. Why did other famous poets also use Onegin’s stanza in their works?

This made it possible to reveal the event in a story in verse with the help of well-known ones that can easily be framed in this stanza. The unique structure allows you to apply any emotional tone to the text, with the last two lines being ideal for the conclusion.

Onegin's stanza is a compositionally complete poem. The theme of the stanza is hidden in the first quatrain; in the second quatrain the action develops; the third characterizes the climax; and the couplet at the end is a conclusion in the form of an aphorism. This composition is convenient for writing poems in which the form will be repeated many times, thereby prolonging the event line. Therefore, where there are lyrics and large volumes of work, Onegin’s stanza is often present. This diversity in application gives reason to assert that the composition in it is harmonious and thorough.

The Onegin stanza is a fourteen-line stanza created by A.S. Pushkin in the lyric-epic poem "Eugene Onegin".

This stanza consists of three quatrains and a final couplet. In the first quatrain there is a cross rhyme (abab), in the second there is an adjacent rhyme (aabb), in the third there is a ring rhyme (abba), the last two verses rhyme with each other. The entire novel is written in such stanzas (with the exception of the letters of Tatiana and Onegin).

The theater is already full; the boxes shine;

The stalls and the chairs are all in full swing;

In paradise they splash impatiently,

And, rising, the curtain makes noise.

Brilliant, half-airy,

I obey the magic bow,

Surrounded by a crowd of nymphs,

Worth Istomin; she,

One foot touching the floor,

The other slowly circles,

And suddenly he jumps, and suddenly he flies,

Flies like fluff from the mouth of Aeolus;

Either the camp will sow, then it will develop

And with a quick foot he hits the leg.

Ballad stanza

A ballad stanza is a stanza in which the even and odd verses consist of a different number of feet. Used in ballads.

The most common stanzas are four even anapestic feet and three odd ones.

The Queen of Britain is seriously ill

Her days and nights are numbered.

And she asks to call confessors

From my native, French country.

But for now you will bring priests from Paris,

The queen will end...

And the king sends twelve nobles

The Lord Marshal is to be summoned to the palace.

Odic stanza

Odic stanza - a stanza of ten verses rhyming according to the ababvvgddg scheme, used in the genre of a solemn ode.

O you who await

Fatherland from its depths

And he wants to see them,

Which ones are calling from foreign countries,

Oh, your days are blessed!

Be of good cheer now

It’s your kindness to show

What can Platonov's own

And the quick-witted Newtons

Russian land gives birth.

Sonnets

The sonnet is available in Italian and English.

An Italian sonnet is a fourteen-line poem divided into two quatrains and two final tercets. In quatrains, either cross or ring rhyme is used, and it is the same for both quatrains. The order of alternation of rhymes in tercets is different.

The rhyme scheme in Italian sonnets might, for example, be like this:

GBG or Abba

The example uses the third scheme - try to define it yourself:

Poet! do not value people's love,

There will be a momentary noise of enthusiastic praise;

You will hear the judgment of a fool and the laughter of a cold crowd,

But you remain firm, calm and gloomy.

You are the king: live alone. On the road to freedom

Go where your free mind takes you,

Improving the fruits of your favorite thoughts,

Without demanding rewards for a noble deed.

They are in you. You are your own highest court;

You know how to evaluate your work more strictly than anyone else.

Are you satisfied with it, discerning artist?

Satisfied? So let the crowd scold him

And spits on the altar, where your fire burns,

And your tripod shakes in childish playfulness.

English sonnet - fourteen lines divided into three quatrains and one couplet.

My mistress" eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips" red,

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask"d red and white

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes there is more delight

Than in that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks; threads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.

Limericks

Limericks (limriks) are pentaverses written in anapest. The rhyme scheme is aabba, the first and last rhymes are usually repeated. The third and fourth lines consist of fewer feet.

Limericks became widely known thanks to Edward Lear (1812-1888), who published several books of nonsense poetry. Puns and neologisms were widely used in the poems.

The example shows limericks translated by M. Freidkin.

Naughty granddaughter from Jena

Grandma was going to burn it like a log.

But she noticed subtly:

“Shouldn’t we burn the kitten?”

Impossible granddaughter from Jena.

To the daring flute player from the Congo

Once an anaconda crawled into my boot.

But it's so disgusting

He played that back

An hour later the anaconda crawled away.

Warm-blooded old man from near Kobo

Suffered extremely from chills

And rest in peace,

And a sheepskin coat with fur

He wore it to escape the chill.

After we have examined in detail all the known forms of the sonnet - canonical and non-canonical, it is time to talk about the use of the sonnet form as a solid stanza. This invention belongs to A.S. Pushkin, who wrote an entire novel in verse - “Eugene Onegin”, in special stanzas, their structure reminiscent of a sonnet, because, like a sonnet, they consist of 14 lines. And yet, his stanzas are not a sonnet, they are not divided into three quatrains and one couplet, like a Shakespearean sonnet that looks similar to this stanza, but are written in a single mass. And if so, then it is not necessary that every quatrain, terzetto or couplet contain a complete thought and, accordingly, end with a period and not part of a sentence.

The stanza was called “Onegin” and in its structure it appears as a single whole.

Pushkin based the creation of the Onegin stanza on a sonnet - a 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme. From the “English” (“Shakespearean”) type sonnet, Pushkin took the strophic structure (three quatrains and the final couplet), and from the “Italian” (“Petrarchian”) sonnet - the principle of orderliness of the rhyme scheme. However, in contrast to the sonnet tradition, in which the ordering of rhyme followed the line of linking quatrains together with rhyme chains, Pushkin ordered the rhyme system itself: in the first quatrain it is cross, in the second it is paired, in the third it is encircling. Rhyme scheme of the Onegin stanza: AbAb CCdd EffE gg ( in capital letters Traditionally, feminine rhyme is indicated, and lowercase rhyme is masculine).

And now, the definition:

The Onegin stanza is a stanza of 14 verses with the rhyme АВВССddEffE gg. Rhythmically and intonationally, it often breaks up into 3 quatrains (with cross, paired and sweeping rhymes) and a final couplet.

Compositionally, this stanza gravitates towards a certain internal structure: the 1st quatrain gives the theme of the stanza, the 2nd - the development, the 3rd - the climax, the couplet - the aphoristic ending. But this condition in the Onegin stanza does not oblige the author to fit these semantic parts clearly into “substanzas”.

The complexity of the structure makes the Onegin stanza extremely flexible in the sense of conveying the most diverse shades of thought, the most varied intonation moves, etc. At the same time, thanks to its “capacity”, the Onegin stanza is an extremely successful compositional unit poetic work and serves as an example of how new ideological content determines the emergence of new forms of its verbal embodiment. The stanza becomes, as it were, a poem within a poem. That is why it is used in large genres with an abundance of lyrical digressions.

Let's look at the stanzas of the novel by A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”:

My uncle has the most honest rules,
When I seriously fell ill,
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of anything better.
His example is science to others;
But, my God, what a bore
To sit with the patient day and night,
Without leaving a single step!
What low deceit
To amuse the half-dead,
Adjust his pillows
It's sad to bring medicine,
Sigh and think to yourself:
When will the devil take you!

And here is another example from Eugene Onegin, where Pushkin allows himself to start a sentence in the middle of a line. He does not fit sentences at the end of quatrains or the final couplet (which is not encouraged in writing a sonnet, although it is mistakenly used everywhere by our stichera sonnet writers!):

From hour to hour, more and more captivated
Olga's young beauty,
Vladimir sweet captivity
Surrendered with all my soul.
He is always with her. In her peace
The two of them sit in the dark.
They are in the garden, hand in hand,
They go for a walk in the morning.
So what? Intoxicated with love
In the confusion of tender shame
He only dares sometimes
Encouraged by Olga's smile,
Play with a developed curl
Or kiss the edge of your clothes.

Does this post remind you of anything? After all, this is exactly how (I, of course, am talking about form, and not about skill!) most of us write poetry, willingly calling our lyrical creation of 14 lines a sonnet! Dividing such a poem with empty lines into three quatrains and a couplet still does not turn it into a sonnet!

The immediate successor of Pushkin’s idea was Mikhail Lermontov, who wrote the poem “Tambov Treasurer” in Onegin’s stanza, which begins with a direct explanation on this matter:

Let me be known as an Old Believer,
I don't care - I'm even glad:
I am writing Onegin in size;
I sing, friends, in the old way.
Please listen to this tale!
Its unexpected ending
Perhaps you will approve
Let's bow our heads lightly.
Observing the ancient custom,
We are the beneficial wine
Let's drink unsmooth poems,
And they will run, limping,
For your peaceful family
To the river of oblivion for peace.

Subsequently, such authors as Vyacheslav Ivanov, Maximilian Voloshin, and Jurgis Baltrushaitis turned to the Onegin stanza. In some cases, a single Onegin stanza was a separate poem, and thus the Onegin stanza was used as a SOLID FORM.

The most famous foreign language work written in the Onegin stanza is, apparently, the novel in verse by the Anglo-Indian poet Vikram Seth “The Golden Gate” (English: The Golden Gate; 1986), consisting of 690 stanzas of iambic tetrameter, maintaining the prescribed rhyme scheme.

To make a start more swift than weighty,
Hail Muse. Dear Reader, once upon
A time, say circa 1980,
There lived a man. His name was John.
Successful in his field though only
Twenty-six, respected, lonely,
One evening as he walked across
Golden Gate Park, the ill-judged toss
Of a red frisbee almost brained him.
He thought, “If I died, who"d be sad?
Who"d weep? Who"d gloat? Who would be glad?
Would anybody? As it pained him,
He turned from this dispiriting theme
To ruminations less extreme.

Seth's choice was determined by his acquaintance with English translation"Eugene Onegin" in stanza and size of the original, which was made by Charles Hepburn Johnston and published in 1977.

So,
ONEGIN STROPHA is
14 lines rhymed together as follows:
a, b, a, b, c, c, d, d, e, f, f, e, g, g
where the stanza is a complex construction of:
1. quatrains with cross rhyme (a, b, a, b),
2. quatrains with paired rhymes (c, c, d, d),
3. quatrains with belted rhyme (e, f, f, e) and
4. the final two lines with paired rhyme (g, g).

The combination of male and female rhymes can be alternated in two ways: АВАВССddEffEgg or АВаВССDDeFFeGG, where the capital letter means feminine rhyme, and the small letter is a masculine rhyme.