In what direction did Batyushkov write? Konstantin Batyushkov: biography, creativity and interesting facts. Russian poet Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich: short biography. The period of revelation in creativity

K. N. Batyushkov (1787 - 1855)

“Poet of Joy” according to Pushkin’s will

The future founder of the anacreontic movement in Russian lyric poetry was born into a noble noble family in 1787 in Vologda. He spent his childhood near Bezhetsk on the Danilovskoye estate in the Tver province. The descendant of an ancient family lost his mother at an early age, who went crazy and died in 1795, when the boy had just turned 8. Having received an excellent education at home, and then studying in private foreign boarding schools in St. Petersburg, he became fluent in French. In the original he reads Voltaire, whose cynical mind for a long time became for Batyushkov the most fascinating reflection of the Age of Enlightenment.

The poet owned many foreign languages and gained fame as a polyglot. Since 1802, he has lived under the same roof with his uncle M. Muravyov, a famous educator and writer who played a decisive role in the development of the poet’s personality. He made his debut in print with satirical poems entitled “Message to My Poems.”

Self-portrait of Batyushkov: “either healthy, then sick at the point of death”

The poet was very successful in the genre of satire - from his pen came numerous accusatory epigrams, “Message to Chloe”, “To Phyllis”. Carefully and with interest studying the literature and philosophy of the French Enlightenment, the Italian Renaissance and ancient poetry, he became the author of “The Bacchae”, “The Merry Hour” and the message to Vyazemsky and Zhukovsky “My Penates”.

Subsequently, finding himself with the Russian army in Europe, when the defeat of Napoleon became clear, Batyushkov created the essay “Travel to the Castle of Sirey.” According to legend, the owner of the castle, Marquise Emilie du Châtelet, hospitably received Voltaire here, where the Ferney sage spent his years of exile. However, Batyushkov is extremely incomprehensible to Voltaire’s thirst for honor and glory, and the 27-year-old poet abandoned the greedy curiosity and vanity of the French Enlightenment.

However, summing up conscious life, Batyushkov will write:

A man was born a slave,

He will go to his grave as a slave.

Poet of Pushkin's era

The author of “My Penates” spent the last 30 years of his life in madness, crushed either by mania of persecution or by delusions of grandeur, and only before his death, having settled in quiet Vologda, Batyushkov calmed down a little and read with curiosity newspapers about Crimean War. Over the years, the poet's reading circle expanded significantly: the heart expert Rousseau, the inquisitive Montaigne, the singer of the sorrows of love, Guys, whom Batyushkov willingly translated into the great and mighty language, slightly softening the Frenchman's mischievous eroticism.

Based on one of Parni’s creations, Batyushkov wrote “The Bacchae” in 1815, which especially delighted Pushkin, who considered Batyushkov’s work “better and more lively than the original.” French culture, a strong impetus for immersion into which was the well-known boarding house Jacquinot, became the cradle of Batyushkov, but later he sharply changed his attitude towards it, preferring the Italian Renaissance and antiquity.

Thus, by 1801, Batyushkov had already moved to the Tripoli boarding school for an in-depth study of the melodic language, the elegance of which prompts Batyushkov to look for lyrical softness in Russian poetry. Batyushkov tries to find sonority and purity, sunny clarity, excited passion after the harsh odes of Lomonosov, the simple-minded style of Derzhavin and the gentle poems of Zhukovsky.

For Batyushkov this turned out to be a difficult task, from which he even fell into despair, calling himself ridiculous in conscience in an attempt to sing praises on a balalaika after hearing a virtuoso on the harp. Batyushkov called the Russian language balalaika, considering it harsh. Batyushkov had no shortage of friendly attention: he had warm relations with Olenin, Turgenev, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky. However, none of them could influence the course of his life. For all his amiable courtesy and modesty, Batyushkov was so original that the true content of his life was a mystery to everyone.

The poet with “a face as kind as a heart”

In 1814, he wrote the elegy “Shadow of a Friend,” which was born upon Batyushkov’s return from England. Readers are presented with the sad complaints of a subtle sentimentalist, in whom the memory of the heart is still alive. We also see the flights of a romantic who denies the boundaries of life and death. According to the will of the critics, Batyushkov cannot be placed into any of the known literary traditions. His elegies contain tender sensitivity, Shakespearean power of passion, and dark bitterness. However, at the same time, everything is based on deep fidelity to the feeling characteristic of Italian poetry and Russian consciousness.

N.V. Friedman wrote “The Poetry of Batyushkov,” in which he examined in detail the author’s artistic method and style, gave him the highest assessment and put him on a par with the greatest poets of the century. He was also friendly with Pushkin, but he was afraid of his frivolity, love of life, and most of all his reckless generosity in constant waste of himself.

Batyushkov experienced a spiritual crisis, which resulted in the works “To a Friend”, “Hope”, and in the genre of elegy there are motifs of unrequited love (“My Genius”, “Separation”), and in the poems “The Saying of Melchizedek” and “Dying Tass” there is high tragedy . Remaining a “poet of joy” in his dreams, Batyushkov confessed in his message “To Friends”:

He lived exactly as he wrote...

Neither good nor bad!

wrote the poem “Batyushkov”. The names of Batyushkov and Zhukovsky always stand side by side in time. Their common merit is the discovery of romanticism for Russian literature. But they have different romanticism. For Zhukovsky, the key word was “soul.” Characteristics of Batyushkov’s romanticism: plasticity, definiteness, orientation towards Greek antiquity, interest in Romanesque cultures; cult of sensuality, elements of eroticism. At the same time, Zhukovsky is the “soul” of Pushkin, and Batyushkov is the “body” of Pushkin.

Batyushkov in life is a dual figure. He was born in Vologda, in the family of a provincial nobleman, and studied in St. Petersburg. In 1805 he joined the Free Society of Literature, Sciences and Arts. Batyushkov is a participant in the anti-Napoleonic wars. He fought in Prussia and Sweden (where he was wounded). 1813 - participation in the Battle of Leipzig. How a romantic experiences unhappy love: his beloved Anna Furman refuses. Participates in the Arzamas society. In 1817, the only lifetime publication was published - the book “Experiments in Poems and Prose” (of 2 books, which contain both prose and poetry).

From 1818 to 1821 - was in the diplomatic service in Italy. In 1834 Batyushkov went crazy (due to heredity and strong sensitivity). And until the end of his life, Batyushkov remains mentally ill. Batyushkov is an interesting cultural prototype of Pechorin (it’s a matter of attitude, he reflects his fragility and vulnerability long before his illness). In his notebook in 1817, he makes a lengthy entry that expresses his philosophy of life - “Someone else’s is my treasure.”

Batyushkov’s creative personality: crisis-ridden attitude, duality

1.Pre-war Batyushkov. This is a mask, a lyrical hero - hedonist, singer of solitude, "little man". He expressed sensual joy. The poetic message “My Penates” - it reflects all the signs of pre-war creativity. Against the background of a sentimental worldview (sensitivity, village, nature, friends) - a special influence on the work of his uncle - M.N. Muravyova (a sentimentalist who designated “light poetry” - poesie fugitive - sliding poetry). Muravyov's influence.

Batyushkov’s theoretical work - “Speech on the influence of light poetry on language” - is an adaptation of European culture to the foundations of Russian culture. Batyushkov created a unique lyrical hero. Batyushkov was called “the singer of strangers’ Eleanors” (he created an erotic, love mask). He himself was not a fan of erotica, and he did not have the experience that he described. Aesthetic love is the personification of the fullness of life and earthly joys. Batyushkov relies on antiquity as an ideal of harmony between the individual and the world, the golden age. Batyushkov's style is dominated by neoclassicism (empire style). Empire style: orientation towards antiquity, its plastic forms and patterns.

For Batyushkov this is an ideal, a dream. For him antiquity- a dream come true, an interweaving of conventions and simple realities. The Empire style appears on the wave of social upsurge, on the wave of the anti-Napoleonic wars. Examples of the Empire style: the Main Headquarters building, Rossi Street, Alexandrinsky Theater, Exchange on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, Kazan Cathedral, Academy of Arts; painting - Borovikovsky and Kiprensky; sculpture - Martos and Shubin. Batyushkov embodied the Empire style in “My Penates” of 1811. The main qualities of the poem: a mixture of ancient realities and reduced Russian common realities. Glorifying solitude (“a wretched hut…”). The image of a happy poet is created.

Poetics of the literary list. This is theatricalization, convention, playful meaning, poeticization of inspiration, death. Batyushkov was one of the first to poetize the idea of home in Russian literature. Batyushkov anticipated the poems of the young Pushkin: “Town”, “Message to the Sister”. Batyushkov’s poetics are characterized by plastic means of expression(verse: “The inscription on the shepherdess’s coffin” - the motive of the memory; “The Bacchante” - translation by Guys). Unlike the verse of Guys, Batyushkov has the expression of running; the emotion of ecstasy, the motive of pagan sensation, intensifies.

Also Batyushkov is the creator of a loving, sad melancholy elegies. 2 types of elegies by Batyushkov: Historical elegy- memory of past historical events; very close to Zhukovsky’s elegy “Slavyanka” (Batiushkov’s elegy: “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden” - the motive of Sweden’s military past, the idea of frailty); Love Elegy- “Recovery”, “My Genius” - ancient realities, love sickness, longing, kisses, passionate sighs, voluptuousness, the priority of heartache over the mind.

Batyushkov is a participant in Arzamas (“Vision on the Banks of Lethe”, “Singer of the Uprising of Russian Warriors” - parodies). Batyushkov’s fairy tale “The Wanderer and the Homebody” is a fairy tale in the French sense - a literary short story. The hero of the story - Batyushkov's alter ego (in the game plot) - is his own Odyssey. Here is an appeal to eternal types. Batyushkov is the predecessor of Pushkin’s novel in verse. This is the type of Chatsky, Onegin, Pechorin. Batyushkov turns to a translation from Greek ontology. Book “On Greek Ontology” by Arzamas. Translates the epigram and short poems into Russian.

2. Patriotic War of 1812. - a milestone in Batyushkov’s work. A new worldview emerges and new type Elegies. It is impossible to preserve the joy of life on the “ruins”. The European enlightenment ideal is disrupted by a joyful worldview. Batyushkov is developing a different moral program. Article “Something about morality based on philosophy and religion” - Batyushkov abandons the secular foundations of morality (based on egoism). Batyushkov says “no” to both the Stoics and the Epicureans. He insists on a third path - the path of the man-wanderer. Verse: “To a friend”, “Shadow of a friend”, “Dying Tass”, “To Dashkov” - morality is based on truths Christianity, Orthodoxy.

Batyushkov’s book “Experiments in poetry and prose.” The first part is prose. Features of the “Experiments”: they turn us to tradition (“Experiments” were from Montaigne, Muravyov, Vostokov); “Experiments” are an inconclusive, incomplete, developing thing. Prose: this is also romantic logic (the genre of travel and walks - “Walk to the Academy of Arts”, “Excerpt from the letters of a Russian officer about Finland”, “Journey to Serey Castle”), but these are also portrait essays, essays(“Arnost and Tass”, “Petrarch”, “Lomonosov” and other portraits prominent figures). Mosaic, dynamic - both externally and internally.

Focuses on a universal approach to the world. The second part of “Experiments” is poetry - 53 verses (elegy, epistles, mixing genres). This part opens with the poem “To Friends” - dedication - retrospection, which begins and ends the entire poetic part. Verse - both originals and translations. Logic: in the “mixture” section there are 2 elegies - “The Dying Tass” and “Crossing the Rhine”. Poems and prose in the book interact according to the principle of complementarity.

Batyushkov's meaning:

He became a translator of various cultures (ancient - Hesiod, Tibulus, Homer; Italian - Tasso, Arnosto, Casti, Boccaccio; French - Parni, Milvoa, Gresse; northern culture - Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark).

Created a prose style (essays, portraits, travel).

Created an analogue of " strange man", eccentric.

His lyrical hero ranges from a hedonist to a skeptic; flickering from personal biographical to conventional role-playing.

Batyushkov is the creator of the prototype of the “book of the 20th century” (Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Brodsky).

Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov was born on May 18 (29), 1787, in Vologda. He came from an old noble family and was the fifth child in a large family.

Having lost his mother early, he soon entered one of the St. Petersburg boarding schools to study.

Konstantin did a lot of self-education. Under the influence of his uncle, M.N. Muravyov, he learned Latin and became interested in the works of Horace and Tibullus.

On duty

In 1802, the young man, under the patronage of his uncle, was assigned to serve in the Ministry of Public Education. In 1804-1805 held the position of clerk in the office of M. N. Muravyov. During his service, he continued to be drawn to literature. He became close to the founders of the “Free Society of Literature Lovers” I. P. Pnin and N. I. Gnedich.

In 1807, Konstantin Nikolaevich, contrary to the opinion of his father, became a member of the people's militia. In the spring of this year he took part in hostilities and was awarded Anna III degree for his courage.

In 1809 he moved to Moscow, where he met with P.A. Vyazemsky, V.A. Zhukovsky and N.M. Karamzin.

At the very beginning of 1812, Batyushkov moved to St. Petersburg and entered the service of the public library. He regularly met and communicated with I. A. Krylov.

Studying the short biography of Batyushkov, you should know that in July 1813 he became the adjutant of General N.N. Raevsky, the hero Patriotic War and reached Paris.

Literary activity

The first attempt at writing took place in 1805. Konstantin Nikolaevich’s poem “Message to My Poems” was published in the magazine “News of Russian Literature”.

During the military campaign of 1807, Batyushkov undertook the translation of “Liberated Jerusalem” by Tass.

Batyushkov’s main merit is his deep work on Russian poetic speech. Thanks to him Russian poem filled with strength, began to sound harmonious and at the same time passionate. V. G. Belinsky believed that it was the works of Batyushkov and Zhukovsky that prepared the ground for the discovery of the powerful talent of A. S. Pushkin.

The work of Batyushkov himself was quite unique. From his youth, fascinated by the works of ancient Greek thinkers, he unwittingly created images that were not entirely understandable to the domestic reader. The poet's first poems are permeated with epicureanism. They amazingly combine mythology and the life of an ordinary Russian village.

Batyushkov wrote such prose articles as “An Evening at Kantemir’s”, “On the Works of Muravyov” and “On the Character of Lomonosov”.

In October 1817, his collected works “Experiments in Poems and Prose” were published.

last years of life

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich suffered severe nervous disorder. This disease was passed on to him by inheritance. The first seizure occurred in 1815. After that, his condition only worsened.

In 1833 he was dismissed and placed in his hometown, in the house of his own nephew. He lived there for another 22 years.

Batyushkov passed away on July 7 (19), 1855. The cause of death was typhus. The poet was buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, which is located 5 versts from Vologda.

Other biography options

Batyushkov also suffered from mental illness, inherited by him. elder sister Alexandra.
In his youth, Batyushkov was deeply in love. He asked A. Furman for her hand in marriage, but she gave her consent to the marriage only under the influence of her relatives. Realizing that he was not nice to her, Konstantin Nikolaevich himself refused the marriage.
In 1830, Pushkin visited Batyushkov. Finding himself deeply impressed by the poet’s depressing state, he wrote the poem “God forbid I go crazy.”

In Soviet historical and literary scholarship, it is more common to call Batyushkov a “pre-romanticist,” although there are other concepts. This point of view was introduced into scientific circulation with appropriate argumentation by B.V. Tomashevsky: “This word (i.e., “pre-romanticism” - K.G.) is usually used to call those phenomena in the literature of classicism in which there are some signs of a new direction, received full expression in romanticism. Thus, pre-romanticism is a transitional phenomenon.”

What are these “some signs”? - “This is, first of all, a clear expression of a personal (subjective) attitude towards what is being described, the presence of “sensitivity” (among pre-romanticists - predominantly dreamy-melancholic, sometimes tearful); a sense of nature, often with a desire to depict unusual nature; The landscape depicted by the pre-romanticists was always in harmony with the poet’s mood.”

Further substantiation of the point of view of B.V. Tomashevsky is found in a detailed monograph by N.V. Friedman - with the difference that its author, calling Batyushkov a “pre-romanticist”, like Pushkin of the early period, denies any connections of “ideological foundations” Batyushkov's poetry with classicism.

Conflicting judgments about Batyushkov’s literary position are caused by the very nature of his work, which reflects one of the significant transitional stages in the development of Russian poetry.

Late XVIII - first years XIX V. were the heyday of Russian sentimentalism, the initial stage of the formation of the romantic movement. This era is characterized by transitional phenomena, reflecting both new trends and the influence of the still existing aesthetic norms of classicism. Batyushkov was a typical figure of this time, called “strange” by Belinsky, when “the new appeared without replacing the old, and the old and the new lived amicably next to each other, without interfering with one another” (7, 241). None of the Russian poets of the early 19th century. I did not feel as keenly as Batyushkov the need to update outdated norms and forms. At the same time, his connections with classicism, despite the predominance of the romantic element in his poetry, were quite strong, which Belinsky also noted. Having seen “renewed classicism” in a number of Pushkin’s early “plays,” Belinsky called their author “an improved, improved Batyushkov” (7, 367).

A literary movement is not formed in an empty space. initial stage it is not necessarily marked by a manifesto, a declaration, a program. It always has its own prehistory from the moment of its emergence in the depths of the previous direction, the gradual accumulation of certain characteristics in it and the further movement towards qualitative changes, from lower to higher forms, in which the aesthetic principles of the new direction are most fully expressed. In the emerging, in the new, to one degree or another, there are some features of the old, transformed, updated in accordance with the requirements of the time. This is the pattern of continuity and continuity of the literary process.

When studying the literary activity of such a typical figure of the transitional era as Batyushkov, it is important first of all to understand the relationship, the peculiar combination in his poetry of the new and the old, that which is the main thing that determines the poet’s worldview.

Batyushkov walked next to Zhukovsky. Their creativity constitutes a natural link in the process of updating poetry, enriching its internal content and forms. They both relied on the achievements of the Karamzin period and were representatives of the new generation. But although the general trend in the development of their creativity was the same, they followed different paths. Zhukovsky's lyrics grew directly in the depths of sentimentalism. Batyushkov also had organic connections with sentimentalism, although in his lyrics some features of classicism were preserved in a transformed form. On the one hand, he continued (this is the main, main road of his creative development) the elegiac line of sentimentalism; on the other hand, in his desire for clarity and rigor of forms, he relied on the achievements of classicism, which gave rise to modern poet critics call him a "neoclassicist".

Batyushkov lived a troubled life. He was born in Vologda on May 29 (according to modern times) 1787 into an old noble family. He was brought up in St. Petersburg private boarding schools. Then he served in the Ministry of Public Education (as a clerk). At the same time (1803) his friendship with N. I. Gnedich began, acquaintances with I. P. Pnin, N. A. Radishchev, I. M. Born began. In April 1805, Batyushkov joined the “Free Society of Literature, Sciences and Arts.” In the same year, Batyushkov’s first printed work, “Message to My Poems,” appeared in the magazine “News of Russian Literature.” During the second war with Napoleonic France (1807), he takes part in the campaigns of the Russian army in Prussia; in 1808–1809 - in the war with Sweden. In the battle of Heilsberg, Batyushkov was seriously wounded in the leg. In 1813, he took part in the battles near Leipzig as an adjutant of General N.N. Raevsky.

Batyushkov’s personal drama dates back to 1815 - his infatuation with Anna Fedorovna Furman.

At the end of 1815, when the Karamzinists, as a counterweight to the conservative “Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word,” created their own literary association “Arzamas,” Batyushkov became a member of it and defended N. M. Karamzin’s language reform program.

In 1817, a two-volume collection of Batyushkov’s works, “Experiments in Poetry and Prose,” was published, the only lifetime edition of the poet’s works. In 1818–1821 He is in Italy in the diplomatic service, where he becomes close to N.I. Turgenev (later one of the prominent figures in the “Union of Welfare”).

Batyushkov hated clerical work, although he was forced to serve. He dreamed of free creativity and put the vocation of a poet above all else.

Batyushkov’s literary fate was tragic. At thirty-four years of age, he leaves the field of “literature” forever. Then silence, long-term (inherited from the mother) mental illness and death from typhus on July 7 (19), 1855.

The poet's madness is the result not only of heredity, but also of increased vulnerability and poor security. In a letter to N.I. Gnedich in May 1809, Batyushkov wrote: “I am so tired of people, and everything is so boring, and my heart is empty, there is so little hope that I would like to be destroyed, diminished, become an atom.” In November of the same year, in a letter to him, “If I live another ten years, I will go crazy... I’m not bored, not sad, but I feel something extraordinary, some kind of spiritual emptiness.” So, long before the onset of the crisis, Batyushkov foresaw the sad outcome of the internal drama he was experiencing.

The process of formation of Batyushkov’s aesthetic views was beneficially influenced by his close acquaintance and friendship with many prominent literary figures of that time.

From Batyushkov’s inner circle, special mention should be made of Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov (1757–1807), the poet’s cousin, under whose strong influence he was, from whom he studied and whose advice he valued. Muravyov guided and encouraged his first steps in the field of literature.

Sensitivity, dreaminess, thoughtfulness, which determine the emotional tonality of Batyushkov’s lyrics, in their original expressions are present in Muravyov’s poems as their integral part, as their characteristic feature.

Muravyov rejected rational “floridism”, cold rationalism in poetic creativity, called for naturalness and simplicity, the search for “treasures” in one’s own heart. Muravyov is the first Russian poet to substantiate the dignity of “light poetry” as poetry of small lyrical forms and informal, intimate themes. He wrote an entire treatise in verse, outlining the stylistic principles of “light poetry.”

In “An Essay on Poetry” he wrote:

Love common sense: be captivated by simplicity
……………….
Flee false art and mind
…………….
Remember your goal, be able to do it without regret
Ambitious discard decorations
…………….
The syllable should be like a transparent river:
Swift, but clean and full without spilling.
(("Essay on Poetry", 1774–1780))

These “rules”, set out in the language of poetry, which have not lost their meaning even today, would not have such an attractive and effective force if they were not supported by the examples of simple and euphonious Russian poetic speech created by Muravyov:

Your evening is full of coolness -
The shore is moving in crowds,
Like a magical serenade
The voice comes in waves

Show favor to the goddess
He sees an enthusiastic drink.
Who spends the night sleepless,
Leaning on granite.
(("To the Goddess of the Neva", 1794))

Not only in themes, in the development of lyrical genres, but also in work on language and poetry, Batyushkov relied on the experience and achievements of his talented predecessor and teacher. What is outlined as a program in Muravyov’s poetry finds development in Batyushkov’s lyrics, which was facilitated by a common aesthetic platform and a common view of poetry.

In his first poetic declaration (“Message to my poems,” 1804 or 1805), Batyushkov tries to determine his position, his attitude to the modern state of Russian poetry. On the one hand, he is repelled by description (who “messes up poetry”, “composes odes”), on the other hand, by the excesses of sentimentalism (tearfulness, games of sensitivity). Here he condemns “poets - boring liars” who “do not fly up, not to the sky,” but “to the ground.” In this fundamental question about the relationship between the ideal (“sky”) and the real (“earth”), Batyushkov shared the romantic point of view: “What is in loud songs for me? I am happy with my dreams..."; “...by dreaming we are closer to happiness”; “...we all love fairy tales, we are children, but big ones.” “Dream” is opposed to rationality and rationalism:

What is empty in truth? She just dries out the mind
A dream gilds everything in the world,
And angry from sadness
Dream is our shield.
Oh, should the heart be forbidden to forget itself,
Exchange poets for boring sages!
(("Message to N. I. Gnedich", 1805))

Nothing characterizes the personality of Batyushkov the poet more than dreaminess. It runs like a running leitmotif through all his lyrics, starting from his first poetic experiments:

And sorrow is sweet:
He dreams in sorrow.
………..
A hundred times we are happy with fleeting dreams!
(("Dream", 1802–1803; pp. 55–56))

After many years, the poet returns to his early poem, devoting enthusiastic lines to a poetic dream:

Friend of tender muses, messenger of heaven,
A source of sweet thoughts and heart-loving tears,
Where are you hiding, Dream, my goddess?
Where is that happy land, that peaceful desert,
Which mysterious flight are you aiming for?

Nothing - neither wealth, “neither light, nor empty glory” - replaces dreams. It contains the highest happiness:

So the poet considers his hut a palace
And happy - he dreams.
(("Dream", 1817; pp. 223–224, 229))

In the formation of the aesthetics of Russian romanticism, romantic ideas about poetry and the poet, Batyushkov’s role was exceptional, as great as Zhukovsky’s. Batyushkov was the first in the history of Russian poetry to give a heartfelt definition of inspiration as “an impulse of winged thoughts,” a state of internal clairvoyance when “excitement of passions” is silent and a “bright mind,” freed from “earthly bonds,” soars “in the heavens” (“My Penates” , 1811–1812). In the “Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol” (1814–1815), the same theme is developed, acquiring an increasingly romantic character:

I see in my mind how an inspired youth
Stands in silence above the furious abyss
Among dreams and first sweet thoughts,
Listening to the monotonous noise of the waves...
His face burns, his chest sighs painfully,
And a sweet tear wets the cheek...
((p. 186))

Poetry is born of the sun. She is a “heavenly flame”, her language is the “language of the gods” (“Message to N.I. Gnedich”, 1805). The poet is a “child of heaven,” he is bored on earth, he strives for “heaven.” Thus, Batyushkov’s romantic concept of “poetry” and “poet” gradually takes shape, not without the influence of traditional ideas.

Batyushkov’s personality was dominated by what Belinsky called “noble subjectivity” (5, 49). The predominant element of his work is lyricism. Not only the original works, but also Batyushkov’s translations are marked with the stamp of his unique personality. Batyushkov's translations are not translations in the strict sense, but rather alterations, free imitations, into which he introduces his own moods, themes and motives. In the Russified translation of “Boalo’s 1st satire” (1804–1805) there is a lyrical image of the inhabitant of Moscow himself, a poet, “unhappy,” “unsociable,” who runs from “fame and noise,” from the vices of “the world,” a poet who “I have never flattered people,” “I have not lied,” in whose songs there is “holy truth.” No less important for Batyushkov was the idea of independence and integrity of the singer. Let him be “poor,” “endure the cold, the heat,” “forgotten by people and the world,” but he cannot put up with evil, does not want to “crawl” before those in power, does not want to write odes, madrigals, or sing the praises of “rich scoundrels”:

Rather, I am like a simple peasant,
Who then sprinkles his daily bread,
Than this fool, big gentleman,
With contempt he crushes people on the pavement!
((pp. 62–63))

The translation of Boileau’s satire reflects Batyushkov’s life position, his contempt for “rich scoundrels” who are “disgusted by the world of truth”, for whom “there is nothing sacred in the whole world.” “Sacred” for the poet is “friendship”, “virtue”, “pure innocence”, “love, beauty of hearts and conscience”. Here is an assessment of reality:

Vice reigns here, vice is the ruler here,
He is wearing ribbons, wearing orders, and is clearly visible everywhere...
((p. 64))

Batyushkov twice refers to the “sacred shadow” of Torquato Tasso, tries to translate (excerpts have been preserved) his poem “Liberated Jerusalem”. In the poem “To Tassu” (1808), those facts and situations of the Italian poet’s biography were selected that allowed Batyushkov to express “many of his hidden thoughts” about his own life path, about the personal tragedy he is experiencing. What reward awaits the poet “for harmonious songs”? - “Zoil’s sharp poison, feigned praise and caresses of the courtiers, poison for the soul and the poets themselves” (p. 84). In the elegy “The Dying Tass” (1817), Batyushkov creates the image of a “sufferer,” “exile,” “wanderer,” who has “no refuge on earth.” “Earthly”, “instant”, “perishable” in Batyushkov’s lyrics are opposed to the sublime, “heavenly”. Eternity, immortality - “in the works of the majestic” “arts and muses.”

The epicurean motifs of Batyushkov’s lyrics are permeated with contempt for wealth, nobility, and rank. More dear to the poet is freedom, the ideal of personal independence, “freedom and tranquility”, “carelessness and love” that he glorifies:

"Happy! happy who flowers
Decorated the days of love,
Sang with carefree friends
And I dreamed about happiness!
He is happy, and three times as happy,
All nobles and kings!
So come on, in an unknown place,
Alien to slavery and chains,
Somehow we drag out our lives,
Often with grief in half,
Pour the cup fuller
And laugh at fools!”
(("To Petin", 1810; pp. 121–122))

This conclusion is a conclusion to reflections on life. Before this “song” with a call for “carelessness” there are significant lines:

I'll come to my senses... yes joy
Will he get along with his mind?
((p. 122))

“Mind” here in the sense of rationality, opposed to feeling, destroying joy. Hence the cult of feeling, the desire to live “with the heart.”

In the poem “To Friends” (1815), Batyushkov calls himself a “carefree poet,” which gives rise to incorrect interpretations of the pathos of his work. His Epicureanism flowed from his life position, from his “philosophical life.” “Life is a moment! It won't take long to have fun." Merciless time takes away everything. And therefore

Oh, while youth is priceless
Didn't rush away like an arrow,
Drink from a cup full of joy...
(("Elysius", 1810; p. 116))

All the best, significant things in Batyushkov’s work, which constitute the enduring aesthetic value of his lyrics, are to a certain extent connected with the concept of “light poetry,” the founder of which on Russian soil was M. N. Muravyov.

The term "light poetry" can be interpreted in different ways. It is important how Batyushkov himself understood him. First of all, this is not an easy genre of salon, cutesy lyricism, but one of the most difficult types of poetry, requiring “possible perfection, purity of expression, harmony in style, flexibility, smoothness; he demands truth in feelings and the preservation of the strictest decency in all respects... poetry, even in small forms, is a difficult art and requires all life and all spiritual efforts.”

In the field of “light poetry” Batyushkov included not only poems in the spirit of Anacreon, but also generally small forms of lyricism, intimate and personal themes, “graceful” subtle sensations and feelings. Batyushkov passionately defended the dignity of small lyrical forms, which was of fundamental importance to him. He sought support in the past achievements of Russian poetry, highlighting trends, the line of its development, in which he found reflection of Anacreon’s Muse. The same considerations dictated Batyushkov’s increased interest in French “light poetry,” in particular Parni.

This was the time when sensitivity - the banner of sentimentalism - became the defining feature of the new style. For Batyushkov, poetry is a “heavenly flame,” combining “in the human soul” “imagination, sensitivity, dreaminess.” He also perceived the poetry of ancient times in this aspect. In addition to personal predilection, Batyushkov was also influenced by the trends, literary hobbies of his time, “a craving for the restoration of ancient forms... The most sensitive works were taken from antiquity, elegiacs were translated into lyrics and served as an object of imitation: Tibullus, Catullus, Propertius...”.

Batyushkov had a rare gift for comprehending the uniqueness of Hellenistic and Roman culture, the ability to convey through the means of Russian poetic speech all the beauty and charm of the lyrics of antiquity. “Batyushkov,” wrote Belinsky, “introduced into Russian poetry a completely new element for it: ancient artistry” (6, 293).

The desire to “forget sadness”, “drown grief in a full cup” led to the search for “joy and happiness” in “carelessness and love”. But what is “joy” and “happiness” in a “fleeting life”? Batyushkov’s epicureanism, called “ideal” by Belinsky (6, 293), is of a special nature; it is brightly colored by quiet dreaminess and an innate ability to seek and find beauty everywhere. When the poet calls for “golden carelessness”, and advises “to mix wisdom with jokes”, “to seek fun and amusement”, then one should not think that we are talking about rough passions here. Earthly pleasures in themselves are worthless in the eyes of the poet if they are not warmed by a dream. The dream gives them grace and charm, sublimity and beauty:

...let's forget the sadness
Let's dream in sweet bliss:
Dream is a direct mother of happiness!
(("Advice to Friends", 1806; p. 75))

The content of Batyushkov’s poetry is far from limited to poems in the anthological genre. She in many ways anticipated and predetermined the themes and main motives of Russian romantic poetry: the glorification of personal freedom, the independence of the artist, the hostility of “cold rationality,” the cult of feeling, the most subtle “feelings,” the movements of the “life of the heart,” admiration for “wonderful nature,” the feeling of “ the mysterious" connection of the human soul with nature, faith in poetic dream and inspiration.

Batyushkov contributed many significant new things to the development of lyrical genres. His role in the development of Russian elegy is especially important. In his lyrics, the process of further psychologizing the elegy continues. Traditional elegiac complaints about fate, the pangs of love, separation, infidelity of the beloved - all that is found in abundance in the elegies of the late 18th century, in the poetry of sentimentalists - are enriched in Batyushkov’s elegies by the expression of complex individual experiences, the “life” of feelings in their movement and transitions. For the first time in Russian lyrics, complex psychological states are expressed with such spontaneity and sincerity of tragically colored feelings and in such an elegant form:

There is an end to wanderings - never to sorrows!
In your presence there is suffering and torment
I learned new things with my heart.
They are worse than separation
The most terrible thing! I saw, I read
In your silence, in your intermittent conversation,
In your sad gaze,
In this secret sorrow of downcast eyes,
In your smile and in your very gaiety
Traces of heartache...
(("Elegy", 1815; p. 200))

For the fate of Russian lyric poetry, the psychologization of the landscape and the strengthening of its emotional coloring were no less important. At the same time, in Batyushkov’s elegies, the passion for the night (lunar) landscape, characteristic of romantic poetry, is striking. Night is the time for dreams. “Dream is the daughter of the silent night” (“Dream”, 1802 or 1803):

...like a ray of sunshine goes out in the middle of the heavens,
Alone in exile, alone with my longing,
I talk in the night with the pensive moon!
(("Evening. Imitation of Petrarch", 1810; p. 115))

Where Batyushkov turns to a contemplative and dreamy depiction of a night landscape in an attempt to convey the “picturesque beauty” of nature, to “paint” its pictures by means of poetic speech, his closeness to Zhukovsky is reflected, his kinship with him not only in common literary origins, but also in character perception, figurative system, even vocabulary:

... In the valley where the spring gurgles and sparkles,
In the night, when the moon quietly sheds its ray on us,
And the clear stars shine from behind the clouds...
(("God", 1801 or 1805; p. 69))

I'll touch the magic strings
I will touch... and the nymphs of the mountains in the monthly radiance,
Like light shadows, in a transparent robe
They will come down with the sylvans to hear my voice.
Timid naiads, floating above the water,

They will clasp their white hands,
And the May breeze, waking up on the flowers,
In cool groves and gardens,
Will blow quiet wings...
(("Message to Count Vielgorsky", 1809; p. 104))

The Patriotic War of 1812 became an important milestone in Batyushkov’s spiritual development and caused certain changes in his public sentiments. The war brought a civil theme that had hitherto faintly sounded in the poet’s lyrics. During these years, Batyushkov wrote a number of patriotic poems, including the message “To Dashkov” (1813), in which the poet, in the days of national disaster, “among the ruins and graves,” when his “dear homeland” is in danger, refuses to “sing love and joy , carelessness, happiness and peace":

No no! my talent perish
And the lyre is precious to friendship,
When you are forgotten by me,
Moscow, the golden land of the fatherland!
((p. 154))

It is no coincidence that it was precisely in these years, after the Patriotic War, in an atmosphere of general upsurge national identity Batyushkov has a persistent desire to expand the field of elegy. Her framework for the implementation of his new plans, the poetic development of historical, heroic themes seemed narrow to him. The search for the poet did not go in one direction. He experiments, turns to Russian ballads, even fables. Batyushkov gravitates towards multi-subject, complex plot constructions, to a combination of motives of intimate elegy with historical meditation. An example of such a combination is the famous poem, noted by Belinsky as one of Batyushkov’s highest achievements, “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden” (1814). The introduction, a gloomy night landscape, written in the Ossian style, is fully consistent with the character of dreamy reflection and gives a romantic sound to the entire work:

I am here, on these rocks hanging above the water,
In the sacred twilight of the oak forest
I wander thoughtfully and see before me
Traces of past years and glory:
Debris, a formidable rampart, a moat overgrown with grass,
Pillars and a dilapidated bridge with cast iron chains,
Mossy strongholds with granite teeth
And a long row of coffins.
Everything is quiet: a dead sleep in the monastery.
But here the memory lives:
And the traveler, leaning on the grave stone,
Tastes sweet dreams.
((p. 172))

Batyushkov possessed a rare gift: with the power of dreamy imagination, he could “revive” the past, the signs of which were inspired in his poems by a single feeling. Contemplation of the ruins in the silence of the night imperceptibly turns into a dreamy thought about people, brave warriors and freedom-loving skalds, and the frailty of everything earthly:

But everything is covered here in the gloomy darkness of the night,
All time has turned to dust!
Where before the skald thundered on a golden harp,
There the wind whistles only sadly!
………………
Where are you, brave crowds of heroes,
You, wild sons of both war and freedom,
Arose in the snow, among the horrors of nature,
Among the spears, among the swords?
The strong died!..……
((p. 174))

Such a perception of the distant historical past is not a tribute to fashion, as is often the case; it is internally inherent in Batyushkov the poet, which is confirmed by another similar description, where for the first time in Russian lyrics a poetic “formula” of the “secret” language of nature is given:

Nature's horrors, hostile elements battle,
Waterfalls roaring from gloomy rocks,
Snowy deserts, eternal masses of ice
Or the noisy sea, the vast view -
Everything, everything lifts the mind, everything speaks to the heart
With eloquent but secret words,
And the fire of poetry feeds between us.
(("Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol", 1814–1815; p. 186))

The poem “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden,” despite the presence in it of elements of other genres (ballads, odes), is still an elegy, the kind of it that can be called a historical meditative elegy.

Contemplation, daydreaming, thoughtfulness, despondency, sadness, disappointment, doubt - too much general concepts, especially when it comes to lyric poetry; they are filled with different psychological content, which receives different colors depending on the individuality of the poet. Dreaminess, for example, among sentimentalists (or rather, among the epigones of this trend), was often feigned, a tribute to fashion, excessively tearful. In the lyrics of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, dreaminess appears in a new quality, combined with elegiac sadness, imbued with philosophical reflection - a poetic state that is inherent in both of them. “In the works of these writers (Zhukovsky and Batyushkov - K.G.), - wrote Belinsky, - ... it is not only official delights that speak the language of poetry. but also such passions, feelings and aspirations, the source of which was not abstract ideals, but the human heart, the human soul” (10, 290–291).

Both Zhukovsky and Batyushkov owed a lot to Karamzin and sentimentalism, as well as to Arzamas. There were many similarities in their daydreaming, but there were also differences. For the first, it is predominantly contemplative in nature with a mystical overtones. For the second, daydreaming is not “replaced,” as Belinsky assumed (6, 293), but is combined with thoughtfulness, in the words of Batyushkov himself, “quiet and deep thoughtfulness.”

Batyushkov also wrote in prose. Batyushkov’s prosaic experiments reflect general process searches for new paths, the author’s desire for genre diversity (see Chapter 3).

Batyushkov viewed his prose experiments as “material for poetry.” He turned to prose mainly in order to “write well in poetry.”

Belinsky did not highly value Batyushkov’s prose works, although he noted their “good language and style” and saw in them “an expression of the opinions and concepts of the people of his time” (1, 167). In this regard, Batyushkov’s prose “experiments” had an impact on the formation of the style of Pushkin’s prose.

Batyushkov’s great merits in enriching the Russian poetic language, the culture of Russian verse. In the dispute about the “old” and “new syllable”, in this central issue of the social and literary struggle of the era, which has a broader significance than the problem of the language of literature, Batyushkov took the position of the Karamzinists. The poet considered the main advantages of the “poetic style” to be “movement, strength, clarity.” In his poetic work, he adhered to these aesthetic norms, especially the last one - “clarity”. According to Belinsky’s definition, he introduced into Russian poetry “correct and pure language”, “sonorous and light verse”, “plasticism of forms” (1, 165; 5, 551).

Belinsky recognized the “importance” of Batyushkov for the history of Russian literature, called Batyushkov “one of the smartest and most educated people of his time,” spoke of him as a “true poet,” gifted by nature with great talent. Nevertheless, in general judgments about the character and content of Batyushkov’s poetry, the critic was too harsh. Batyushkov’s poetry seemed to Belinsky “narrow”, overly personal, poor in content from the point of view of its social sound, expression of the national spirit in it: “Batiushkov’s muse, forever wandering under foreign skies, did not pick a single flower on Russian soil” (7, 432 ). Belinsky could not forgive Batyushkov for his passion for the “light poetry” of Parni (5, 551; 7, 128). The critic's judgments may have been influenced by the fact that he wrote about Batyushkov as Pushkin's predecessor, in connection with Pushkin - and in assessing Batyushkov's lyrics, the vast world of Pushkin's poetry could serve as a criterion.

The range of Batyushkov’s elegiac thoughts was determined early. He deeply believed in the power of the initial “first impressions”, “first fresh feelings” (“Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol”), which the poet did not betray throughout his entire life. creative life. Batyushkov’s poetry is closed primarily in the circle of personal experiences, and this is the source of its strength and weakness. Throughout his creative career, the poet remained faithful to “pure” lyrics, limiting its content to a personal theme. Only the Patriotic War of 1812 gave an explosion of patriotic sentiment, and then not for long. This time dates back to Batyushkov’s desire to get out of his closed world of favorite motifs, expand the boundaries of elegy, and enrich it thematically with the experience of other genres. The search went in different directions, but Batyushkov achieved tangible results where he did not betray his natural gift as an elegiac poet. He created new varieties of the genre, which were destined for a great future in Russian poetry. These are his message elegies and meditative, philosophical and historical elegies.

Thought, along with daydreaming, has always been characteristic of Batyushkov’s inner world. Over the years, in his lyrics, meditation “under the burden of sadness” increasingly acquires a gloomy shade, “heartfelt melancholy”, “spiritual sorrow” are heard, tragic notes sound more and more clearly, and as if a kind of result of the poet’s thoughts about life, one of his last poems sounds:

You know what you said
Saying goodbye to life, gray-haired Melchizedek?
A man will be born a slave,
He will go to his grave as a slave,
And death will hardly tell him
Why did he walk through the valley of wonderful tears,
He suffered, cried, endured, disappeared.
((1824; p. 240))

When reviewing Batyushkov’s literary heritage, one gets the impression of incompleteness. His poetry is deep in content and significance, but it, according to Belinsky’s definition, “is always indecisive, always wants to say something and seems to find no words” (5, 551).

Batyushkov did not manage to express much of what was inherent in his richly gifted nature. What prevented the poetry living in his soul from sounding in full voice? In Batyushkov’s poems one often encounters the bitterness of resentment that he is “unknown” and “forgotten.” But no less clearly sounds in them the bitter confession that inspiration is leaving him: “I feel that my gift in poetry has gone out...” (“Memories”, 1815). Batyushkov was experiencing a deep internal drama that accelerated the onset of the crisis, and he fell silent... But what he managed to accomplish gave him every right to identify the image of a true poet he created with himself:

Let the fierce rock play at their will,
Even if unknown, without gold and honor,
With his head drooping, he wanders among people;
………………
But he will never betray the muses or himself.
In the very silence he will drink everything.
(("Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol", p. 187))

V. V. Tomashevsky wrote about the “odic nature” of the elegy “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden” and immediately added: “These poems turn into elegiac reflections, in which the breadth of the theme remains from the ode” (Tomashevsky B. K. N. Batyushkov, p. XXXVIII).

“Evening at Kantemir’s”, 1816 (see: Batyushkov K.N. Soch. M., 1955, p. 367).

See: Fridman N.V. Prose Batyushkova. M., 1965.

“Speech on the influence of light poetry on the language,” 1816 (Batyushkov K.N. Experiments in poetry and prose, p. 11).

Melchizedek is a person mentioned in the Bible (Genesis, chapter 14, v. 18–19). Symbol of highest wisdom.

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Lecture

CreationK.N. BatyushkovA

K.N. Batyushkov is one of the most talented poets of the first quarter of the 19th century, in whose work romanticism began to take shape very successfully, although this process was not completed.

The first period of creativity (1802-1812) is the time of the creation of “light poetry”. Batyushkov was also its theoretician. “Light poetry” turned out to be the link that connected the middle genres of classicism with pre-romanticism. The article “A Speech on the Influence of Light Poetry on Language” was written in 1816, but the author summarized the experience of the work of various poets, including his own. He separated “light poetry” from the “important genres” - epic, tragedy, solemn ode and similar genres of classicism. The poet included “small genera” of poetry in “light poetry” and called them “erotic”. He connected the need for intimate lyrics, conveying in an elegant form (“polite”, “noble” and “beautiful”) a person’s personal experiences with the social needs of the enlightened age. The theoretical premises revealed in the article on “light poetry” were significantly enriched by the poet’s artistic practice.

His “light poetry” is “social” (the poet used this characteristic word for him). For him, creativity is inspired literary communication with loved ones. Hence the main genres for him are the message and dedication close to him; the recipients turn out to be N.I. Gnedich, V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky, A.I. Turgenev (brother of the Decembrist), I.M. Muravyov-Apostol, V.L. Pushkin, S.S. Uvarov, P.I. Shalikov, just friends, often poems are dedicated to women with conventional names - Felisa, Malvina, Lisa, Masha. The poet loves to talk in poetry with friends and loved ones. The dialogic principle is also significant in his fables, for which the poet also had a great penchant. The imprint of improvisations and impromptu lies on small genres - inscriptions, epigrams, various poetic jokes. Elegies, having appeared at the beginning of the poet’s career, would become the leading genre in his further work.

Batyushkov is characterized by a high idea of friendship, a pre-romantic cult of “kinship of souls”, “spiritual sympathy”, “sensitive friendship”.

Six poetic messages of Batyushkov to Gnedich were created in the period from 1805 to 1811; they largely clarify the originality of his work at the first stage. The conventions of the genre did not at all deprive Batyushkov’s message of autobiography. The poet conveyed his moods, dreams, and philosophical conclusions in verse. Central to the messages is the lyrical “I” of the author himself. In the first messages, the lyrical “I” is by no means a disappointed person with a chilled heart. On the contrary, this is a personality performing in an atmosphere of jokes, games, carelessness and dreams. In accordance with the aesthetics of pre-romanticism, the lyrical “I” of the messages is immersed in the world of chimeras, the poet is “happy with dreams,” his dream “goldens everything in the world,” “dream is our shield.” The poet is like a “madman,” like a child who loves fairy tales. And yet his dream is not those romantic dreams, full of mysterious miracles and terrible riddles, sad ghosts or prophetic visions, into which romantics will plunge. The dream world of the lyrical subject Batyushkov is playful. The poet's voice is not the voice of a prophet, but... a "chatterbox."

“Light poetry” created a charming image of “red” youth, “blooming like a rose,” like a May day, like “laughing fields” and “cheerful meadows.” The world of youth is subject to the “goddess of beauty”, Chloe, Lilete, Lisa, Zaphne, Delia, and an attractive female image constantly appears next to the lyrical “I”. As a rule, this is not an individualized image (only individual moments of individualization are outlined in the image of the actress Semenova, to whom a special poem is dedicated), but a generalized image of the “ideal of beauty”: “And golden curls, // And blue eyes...”; “And the curls are loose // Flying over the shoulders...”. The ideal maiden in Batyushkova’s artistic world is always a faithful friend, the embodiment of earthly beauty and the charms of youth. This ideal, constantly present in the poet’s imagination, is artistically embodied in the elegy “Tavrida” (1815): “Ruddy and fresh, like a field rose, // You share labor, worries and dinner with me...”.

In the poetic messages, the revealing individual appearance of Batyushkov and characteristic feature Russian pre-romanticism motif of native shelter. Both in his letters and in his poems the call of the soul to his native penates or laras, to the “hospitable shadow of his father’s shelter” is repeated. And this poetic image contrasts with the romantic restlessness and vagrancy later expressed in poetry. Batyushkov loves “home chests”, his father’s house.

Batyushkov’s artistic world is colored with bright, precious colors (“gold”, “silver”, “beaded”); all nature, and man, and his heart are in motion, in an impulse, feelings overwhelm the soul. Lyrical subject"light poetry" of Batyushkov 1802-1812. - A predominantly enthusiastic person, although at times his enthusiasm gives way to melancholy. The poet conveyed the emotion of delight in visible, plastically expressive images-emblems and poetic allegories. He was looking for "emblems of virtue." In “light poetry”, four emblem images are especially highlighted and repeated many times: roses, wings, bowls and canoes, which reveal the essence of his poetic worldview.

Images of flowers, especially roses, are Batyushkov’s favorite; they give his poems a festive feel; his image of a rose is leitmotivic and multifunctional. She is an exponent of the idea of beauty; a fragrant, pink, youthful flower is associated with ancient times - the childhood of the human race: roses - Cupid - Eros - Cypris - Anacreon, singer of love and pleasures - this is the line of associations. But the image of a rose also gains semantic extension; it moves into the realm of comparisons: a beloved, generally young woman is compared with a rose as a standard of beauty.

Also, other emblem images - wings, bowls - reflected the cult of graceful pleasure, the needs of an individual aware of his right to happiness.

The conventional language of Batyushkov's poetry incorporates the names of writers, who also become signs, signals of certain ethical and aesthetic predilections: Sappho - love and poetry, Tass - greatness, Guys - the grace of love interests, and the name of Cervantes's hero Don Quixote (as in Batyushkov) - a sign of the subordination of real actions to lifeless and funny daydreaming.

Batyushkov’s “light poetry” included a fable element. Not only Gnedich, but also Krylov was a friend of the poet. Images close to Krylov’s fables and his satirical stories, especially “Kaiba,” appear in Batyushkov’s messages and in his other genres. In poetic messages, images of animals do not always create an allegorical scene. Usually they turn out to be just an artistic detail, a fable-like comparison designed to express the discrepancy between what should and what is: “Whoever is used to being a wolf will never forget how to walk and bark like a wolf forever.”

The first period of Batyushkov’s creativity is the formation of pre-romanticism, when the poet retains connections with classicism (“average” genres and “average” style). His “social” pre-romanticism in his favorite genre of letters to friends was marked, first of all, by the bright dreaminess and playfulness of a young soul yearning for earthly happiness.

Second period of creativity.Participation in events in the Fatherlandnnoah war of 1812. The formation of Batyushkov’s historical thinking.

1812-1813 and the spring of 1814 stand out as an independent period of the poet’s work, who experienced a genuine turning point, a complete rejection of the epicureanism of his youth; At this time, the formation of Batyushkov’s historical thinking took place. Batyushkov poet romanticism

Participating in the events of the Patriotic War, he connected his historical mission as an eyewitness, witness to outstanding achievements, with his writing. His letters of those years, especially to N.I. Gnedich, P.A. Vyazemsky, E.G. Pushkina, D.P. Severin, at the same time they conveyed the course of historical events and the inner world of a man of that time, a citizen, a patriot, a very receptive, sensitive person.

In the letters of the second half of 1812 there is confusion, anxiety for family and friends, indignation against the “vandals” of the French, strengthening of patriotic and civic sentiments. Batyushkov’s sense of history is formed and developed in the code of the Patriotic War. He is increasingly aware of himself not just as a spectator of events (“everything happens before my eyes”), but as an active participant in them: “So, my dear friend, we crossed the Rhine, we are in France. This is how it happened...”; "We entered Paris<...>amazing city." The historical significance of what is happening is clear: "Here, every day is an era."

The letters and poems include the idea of the relativity of values in the light of history - and a central philosophical question arises, borne out in the vicissitudes of time: “What is eternal, pure, immaculate?” And just as in his letters he declared that historical vicissitudes “surpass any concept” and everything seems as irrational as a dream, so in poetry the reflective poet does not find an answer to questions about the meaning of history. And yet the desire to understand its laws does not leave him.

The third period of creativity.Romantic rejection of reality. Poetics of elegies.

The third period of Batyushkov’s creative development was from mid-1814 to 1821. The poet’s pre-romantic artistic world was modified, enriched with purely romantic elements and trends. At a new stage of spiritual development, a new understanding of man, of the values of life appears, and interest in history intensifies. “Graceful Epicureanism” no longer satisfies him; he criticizes the ideas of the “Epicurean school.” For him, not just human sensitivity, but the philosophical, ethical, as well as social, civic position of a person is becoming increasingly important.

The lyrical “I” of his poems and his lyrical heroes not only dream and feel complete happiness, but are immersed in reflections about life. Batyushkov's philosophical interests and activities were reflected in the genre of elegies, which now occupied a central place in his poetry. The elegies contain the poet’s lyrical reflection on human life, on historical existence.

Batyushkov’s romantic rejection of reality intensified. The poet saw a strange antinomy: “the suffering of all mankind throughout the enlightened world.”

The poet's programmatic poem, in which he proclaimed new ideological and artistic guidelines, “To Dashkov” (1813), reveals his patriotic and civic consciousness. He refuses to sing love, joy, carelessness, happiness and peace among the graves of friends “lost on the field of glory”; let talent and lyre perish, if friendship and suffering homeland are forgotten:

While with the wounded hero,

Who knows the path to glory,

I won't place my breasts three times.

In front of the enemies in close formation, -

My friend, until then I will

All are alien to muses and harites,

Wreaths, with the hand of love retinue,

And noisy joy in wine!

Batyushkov's pre-romanticism received civic content. The elegiac message "To Dashkov" was followed by original historical elegies. They reveal the first trends of romantic historicism.

In his historical elegies ("Crossing of Russian troops across the Niemen on January 1, 1813", "Crossing the Rhine", adjoined by "Shadow of a Friend", the elegy "On the ruins of a castle in Sweden" is written in the same stylistic tonality of the "northern elegies") There are elements that anticipate the historicism of the civil romanticism of the Decembrists. The poet glorifies the heroic military feat. Moreover, not only outstanding historical figures What occupies his imagination are the “elder leader” (Kutuzov) and the “young tsar” (Alexander I), but above all unknown heroes: “warriors”, “warriors”, “heroes”, “regiments”, “Slavs”.

The poetics of the elegies indicate a significant evolution of Batyushkov’s style. In the elegy “The Crossing of Russian Troops across the Neman on January 1, 1813,” a spectacular picture is created, which is based on a combination of contrasts: the darkness of the night is contrasted with burning bonfires, casting a crimson glow on the sky. Other contrasts are also expressive: the desolation of the foreground of the picture (an empty shore covered with corpses is drawn) and the movement of regiments in the distance, a forest of spears, raised banners; a dying fugitive with “dead legs” and powerful, armed warriors; the young king "And the old leader in front of him, shining with gray hair // And with beauty that was abused in old age." The aesthetic ideal of the poet has changed significantly: the author admires not the beauty of Lisa, like a rose, but the courageous and “abusive” beauty of the hero-warrior - old man Kutuzov.

The best elegies associated with the Russian “Ossianic style” include “The Shadow of a Friend.” True, in Batyushkov’s work only echoes of this style are noticeable, expressed in the paintings he created of the harsh North, as well as in memories of ancient skalds, “wild” and brave warriors of Scandinavia, and Scandinavian myths (“On the ruins of a castle in Sweden”). In the elegy “Shadow of a Friend,” the poet does not so much follow the literary tradition as convey a deeply personal experience: longing for a friend who died in the war. The elegiac idea of the inevitability of the loss of a dear and dear person, the transience of life ("Or was it all a dream, a dream...") was suffered through the poet himself.

"Southern Elegies" by Batyushkov - "Elegy from Tibullus. Free translation", "Tavrida", "Dying Tass", adjoining them is the ballad "Hesiod and Omir - Rivals". Antiquity for Batyushkov is, first of all, the flavor of the place, expressed in the names: “Pheakia”, “eastern shores”, “Tavrida”, “ Ancient Greece", "Tiber", "Capitol", "Rome", in the exoticism of the south: "Under the sweet sky of the midday country", "azure seas", "the coffers are full of fragrant herbs", "...priceless carpets are spread among laurels and flowers and crimson"; the peaceful life of people and animals flows: "a white ox wandered freely through the meadows", "milk poured into the vessels in a plentiful stream // Flowed from the breasts of the feeding sheep..." - "sacred places". External attributes of life, picturesque appearance of antiquity for the poet are very significant, but still the historicism of his elegies is by no means reduced to exotic picturesqueness. The poet feels the movement of time. He retains in his translations the signs of the worldview and psychology of ancient man (worship of the gods, sacrifices, fear of fate), but still especially important for It contains those elements of antiquity that are associated with modernity.

The romantic principles in the elegy “Dying Tass” are strong. Epigraph on Italian from Tasso's tragedy "Torrismondo" proclaimed the unreliability of glory: after triumph, sadness, complaints, and tearful songs remain; Both friendship and love are classified as unreliable goods. Batyushkov made the lyrical hero of the elegy the famous Italian poet with a tragic fate - Torquato Tasso. Tasso's passion, like Dante's, belongs to the first trends of romanticism in Russia. Batyushkov’s image combines two principles - greatness and tragedy. In the personality of the great poet, whose work passed through the centuries, like the work of Tibullus, Batyushkov discovered the embodiment of the most important and eternal, according to the poet, historical pattern: the undervaluation of genius by his contemporaries, the tragedy of his fate; his gift receives "late payment."

The historical elegy affirmed the moral idea of the need for human gratitude (“memory of the heart”) to the great martyred people who gave their genius to others. At the same time, there is a noticeable moralizing in the elegy - history, in the person of Tassa, is giving a lesson to posterity.

Batyushkov's creativity - the pinnacle of Russian pre-romanticism.

Batyushkova’s lyrics have survived their time and have not lost their charm to this day. Its aesthetic value lies in the pathos of “community”, in the poetic experience of youth and happiness, the fullness of life and the spiritual inspiration of a dream. But the poet’s historical elegies also retain poetic appeal both for their humane moral tendency and for the vivid painting of lyrical-historical pictures.

Literatio

1. Batyushkov K.N. Essays (any edition)

2. Fridman N.V. Poetry of Batyushkov. - M., 1971.

3. Grigoryan K.N. Batyushkov // K.N. Grigoryan. Pushkin's elegy: national origins, predecessors, evolution. - L., 1999.

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