Pushkin A.S. "The Bronze Horseman. Analysis of the work. Artistic analysis of the poem "The Bronze Horseman"

(1833)
PREFACE

The incident described in this story is based on truth. Details of the flood are taken from magazines of the time. The curious can consult the news compiled by V. N. Berkh.

INTRODUCTION

On the shore of desert waves
He stood there, full of great thoughts,
And he looked into the distance. Wide before him
The river rushed; poor boat
He strove along it alone.
Along mossy, marshy banks
Blackened huts here and there,
Shelter of a wretched Chukhonian;
And the forest, unknown to the rays
In the fog of the hidden sun,
There was noise all around.

And he thought:
From here we will threaten the Swede,
The city will be founded here
To spite an arrogant neighbor.
Nature destined us here
Cut a window to Europe (1),
Stand with a firm foot by the sea.
Here on new waves
All flags will visit us
And we’ll record it in the open air.

A hundred years have passed, and the young city,
There is beauty and wonder in full countries,
From the darkness of the forests, from the swamps of blat
He ascended magnificently and proudly;
Where was the Finnish fisherman before?
Nature's sad stepson
Alone on the low banks
Thrown into unknown waters
Your old net is now there,
Along busy shores
Slender communities crowd together
Palaces and towers; ships
A crowd from all over the world
They strive for rich marinas;
The Neva is dressed in granite;
Bridges hung over the waters;
Dark green gardens
Islands covered her,
And in front of the younger capital
Old Moscow has faded,
Like before a new queen
Porphyry widow.

I love you, Petra's creation,
I love your strict, slender appearance,
Neva sovereign current,
Its coastal granite,
Your fences have a cast iron pattern,
of your thoughtful nights
Transparent twilight, moonless shine,
When I'm in my room
I write, I read without a lamp,
And the sleeping communities are clear
Deserted streets and light
Admiralty needle,
And not letting the darkness of the night
To golden skies
One dawn gives way to another
He hurries, giving the night half an hour (2).
I love your cruel winter
Still air and frost,
Sleigh running along the wide Neva;
Girls' faces are brighter than roses,
And the shine and noise and talk of balls,
And at the hour of the feast the bachelor
The hiss of foamy glasses
And the punch flame is blue.
I love the warlike liveliness
Amusing Fields of Mars,
Infantry troops and horses
Uniform beauty
In their harmoniously unsteady system
The shreds of these victorious banners,
The shine of these copper caps,
Shot through and through in battle.
I love you, military capital,
Your stronghold is smoke and thunder,
When the queen is full
Gives a son to the royal house,
Or victory over the enemy
Russia triumphs again
Or, breaking your blue ice,
The Neva carries him to the seas,
And, sensing the days of spring, he rejoices.

Show off, city Petrov, and stand
Unshakable like Russia,
May he make peace with you
And the defeated element;
Enmity and ancient captivity
Let the Finnish waves forget
And they will not be vain malice
Disturb Peter's eternal sleep!

It was a terrible time
The memory of her is fresh...
About her, my friends, for you
I'll start my story.
My story will be sad.

PART ONE

Over darkened Petrograd
November breathed the autumn chill.
Splashing with a noisy wave
To the edges of your slender fence,
Neva was tossing around like a sick person
Restless in my bed.
It was already late and dark;
The rain beat angrily on the window,
And the wind blew, howling sadly.
At that time from the guests home
Young Evgeniy came...
We will be our hero
Call by this name. It
Sounds nice; been with him for a long time
My pen is also friendly.
We don't need his nickname,
Although in times gone by
Perhaps it shone,
And under the pen of Karamzin
In native legends it sounded;
But now with light and rumor
It's forgotten. Our hero
Lives in Kolomna; serves somewhere
He shies away from the nobles and does not bother
Not about deceased relatives,
Not about forgotten antiquities.

So, I came home, Evgeniy
He shook off his overcoat, undressed, and lay down.
But for a long time he could not fall asleep
In the excitement of various thoughts.
What was he thinking about? About,
That he was poor, that he worked hard
He had to deliver
And independence and honor;
What could God add to him?
Mind and money. What is it?
Such idle lucky ones,
Mindless sloths,
For whom life is much easier!
That he serves only two years;
He also thought that the weather
She didn’t let up; that the river
Everything was coming; which is hardly
The bridges have not been removed from the Neva
And what will happen to Parasha?
Separated for two or three days.
Evgeny sighed heartily here
And he daydreamed like a poet:

Marry? Well…. Why not?
It's hard, of course.
But well, he's young and healthy,
Ready to work day and night;
He'll arrange something for himself
Shelter humble and simple
And it will calm Parasha.
“Perhaps another year will pass -
I’ll get a place - Parashe
I will entrust our farm
And raising children...
And we will live - and so on until the grave,
We'll both get there hand in hand
And our grandchildren will bury us..."

That's what he dreamed. And it was sad
Him that night, and he wished
So that the wind howls less sadly
And let the rain knock on the window
Not so angry...
Sleepy eyes
He finally closed. And so
The darkness of a stormy night is thinning
And the pale day is already coming... (3)
Terrible day!
Neva all night
Longing for the sea against the storm,
Without overcoming their violent foolishness...
And she was unable to argue...
In the morning over its banks
There were crowds of people crowded together,
Admiring the splashes, mountains
And the foam of angry waters.
But the strength of the winds from the bay
Blocked Neva
She walked back, angry, seething,
And flooded the islands.
The weather became more ferocious
The Neva swelled and roared,
A cauldron bubbling and swirling,
And suddenly, like a wild beast,
She rushed towards the city. In front of her
Everything started running; all around
Suddenly it was empty - suddenly there was water
Flowed into underground cellars,
Channels poured into the gratings,
And Petropol emerged like a newt,
Waist-deep in water.

Siege! attack! evil waves,
Like thieves, they climb into windows. Chelny
From the run the windows are smashed by the stern.
Trays under a wet veil,
Wrecks of huts, logs, roofs,
Stock trade goods,
The belongings of pale poverty,
Bridges demolished by thunderstorms,
Coffins from a washed-out cemetery
Floating through the streets!
People
He sees God's wrath and awaits execution.
Alas! everything perishes: shelter and food!
Where will I get it?
In that terrible year
The late Tsar was still in Russia
He ruled with glory. To the balcony
Sad, confused, he went out
And he said: “With God's element
Kings cannot control.” He sat down
And in the Duma with sorrowful eyes
I looked at the evil disaster.
There were hundreds of lakes
And in them there are wide rivers
The streets poured in. Castle
It seemed like a sad island.
The king said - from end to end,
Along nearby streets and distant ones
On a dangerous journey through stormy waters
The generals set off (4)
To save and overcome with fear
And there are drowning people at home.

Then, on Petrova Square,
Where a new house has risen in the corner,
Where above the elevated porch
With a raised paw, as if alive,
There are two guard lions standing,
Riding a marble beast,
Without a hat, hands clasped in a cross,
Sat motionless, terribly pale
Eugene. He was afraid, poor thing,
Not for myself. He didn't hear
How the greedy shaft rose,
Washing his soles,
How the rain hit his face,
Like the wind, howling violently,
He suddenly tore off his hat.
His desperate looks
Pointed to the edge
They were motionless. Like mountains
From the indignant depths
The waves rose there and got angry,
There the storm howled, there they rushed
Debris... God, God! there -
Alas! close to the waves,
Almost at the very bay -
The fence is unpainted, but the willow
And a dilapidated house: there it is,
Widow and daughter, his Parasha,
His dream... Or in a dream
Does he see this? or all ours
And life is nothing like an empty dream,
The mockery of heaven over earth?
And he seems to be bewitched
As if chained to marble,
Can't get off! Around him
Water and nothing else!
And my back is turned to him
In the unshakable heights,
Above the indignant Neva
Stands with outstretched hand
Idol on a bronze horse.

PART TWO.

But now, having had enough of destruction
And tired of insolent violence,
The Neva was drawn back,
Admiring your indignation
And leaving with carelessness
Your prey. So villain
With his fierce gang
Having burst into the village, he breaks, cuts,
Destroys and robs; screams, gnashing,
Violence, swearing, alarm, howling!….
And burdened with robbery,
Afraid of the chase, tired,
The robbers are hurrying home,
Dropping prey on the way.

The water has subsided and the pavement
It opened, and Evgeny is mine
He hurries, his soul sinking,
In hope, fear and longing
To the barely subdued river.
But victories are full of triumph
The waves were still boiling angrily,
As if a fire was smoldering under them,
The foam still covered them,
And Neva was breathing heavily,
Like a horse running back from battle.
Evgeny looks: he sees a boat;
He runs to her as if he were on a find;
He calls the carrier -
And the carrier is carefree
Willingly pay him for a dime
Through terrible waves you are lucky.

And long with stormy waves
An experienced rower fought
And hide deep between their rows
Every hour with daring swimmers
The boat was ready - and finally
He reached the shore.
Unhappy
Runs down a familiar street
To familiar places. Looks
Can't find out. The view is terrible!
Everything is piled up in front of him;
What is dropped, what is demolished;
The houses were crooked, others
Completely collapsed, others
Shifted by waves; all around
As if in a battlefield,
Bodies are lying around. Eugene
Headlong, not remembering anything,
Exhausted from torment,
Runs to where he is waiting
Fate with unknown news,
Like with a sealed letter.
And now he’s running through the suburbs,
And here is the bay, and home is close...
What is this?...
He stopped.
I went back and came back.
He looks... walks... still looks.
This is the place where their house stands;
Here is the willow. There was a gate here -
Apparently they were blown away. Where is home?
And full of gloomy care
Everything goes on, he goes around,
Talks loudly to himself -
And suddenly, hitting him on the forehead with his hand,
Laughed.
Night haze
She came down to the city in trepidation
But the residents did not sleep for a long time
And they talked among themselves
About the day gone by.
Morning ray
Because of the tired, pale clouds
Flashed over the quiet capital
And I haven’t found any traces
Yesterday's troubles; purple
The evil was already covered up.
Everything returned to the same order.
The streets are already free
With your cold insensibility
People were walking. Official people
Leaving my night shelter,
I went to work. Brave trader
Not discouraged, I opened
Neva robbed basement,
Collecting your loss is important
Place it on the nearest one. From the yards
They brought boats.
Count Khvostov,
Poet beloved by heaven
Already sang in immortal verses
The misfortune of the Neva banks.

But my poor, poor Evgeniy...
Alas! his confused mind
Against terrible shocks
I couldn't resist. Rebellious noise
The Neva and the winds were heard
In his ears. Terrible thoughts
Silently full, he wandered.
He was tormented by some kind of dream.
A week passed, a month - he
He did not return to his home.
His deserted corner
I hired him out when the deadline passed,
The owner of the poor poet.
Evgeniy for his goods
Didn't come. He'll be out soon
Became alien. I wandered on foot all day,
And he slept on the pier; ate
A piece served into the window.
His clothes are shabby
It tore and smoldered. Angry children
They threw stones after him.
Often coachman's whips
He was whipped because
That he didn't understand the roads
Never again; it seemed he
Didn't notice. He's stunned
Was the noise of internal anxiety.
And so he is his unhappy age
Dragged, neither beast nor man,
Neither this nor that, nor the inhabitant of the world
Not a dead ghost...
Once he was sleeping
At the Neva pier. Days of summer
We were approaching autumn. Breathed
Stormy wind. Grim Shaft
Splashed on the pier, grumbling fines
And hitting the smooth steps,
Like a petitioner at the door
Judges who don't listen to him.
The poor man woke up. It was gloomy:
The rain fell, the wind howled sadly,
And with him far away, in the darkness of the night
The sentry called to each other...
Evgeny jumped up; remembered vividly
He is a past horror; hastily
He got up; went wandering, and suddenly
Stopped - and around
He quietly began to move his eyes
With wild fear on your face.
He found himself under the pillars
Big house. On the porch
With a raised paw, as if alive
The lions stood guard,
And right in the dark heights
Above the fenced rock
Idol with outstretched hand
Sat on a bronze horse.

Evgeny shuddered. cleared up
The thoughts in it are scary. He found out
And the place where the flood played,
Where the waves of predators crowded,
Rioting angrily around him,
And lviv, and the square, and that,
Who stood motionless
In the darkness with a copper head,
The one whose will is fatal
The city was founded under the sea...
He is terrible in the surrounding darkness!
What a thought on the brow!
What power is hidden in it!
And what fire there is in this horse!
Where are you galloping, proud horse?
And where will you put your hooves?
O mighty lord of fate!
Aren't you above the abyss?
At the height, with an iron bridle
Raised Russia on its hind legs? (5)

Around the foot of the idol
The poor madman walked around
And brought wild glances
The face of the ruler of half the world.
His chest felt tight. Chelo
It lay down on the cold grate,
My eyes became foggy,
A fire ran through my heart,
Blood boiled. He became gloomy
Before the proud idol
And, clenching my teeth, clenching my fingers,
As if possessed by black power,
“Welcome, miraculous builder! —
He whispered, trembling angrily,
Already for you!..." And suddenly headlong
He started to run. It seemed
He is like a formidable king,
Instantly ignited with anger,
The face quietly turned...
And its area is empty
He runs and hears behind him -
It's like thunder roaring -
Heavy ringing galloping
Along the shaken pavement.
And, illuminated by the pale moon,
Stretching out your hand on high,
The Bronze Horseman rushes after him
On a loud galloping horse;
And all night long the poor madman.
Wherever you turn your feet,
Behind him is the Bronze Horseman everywhere
He galloped with a heavy stomp.

And from the time when it happened
He should go to that square,
His face showed
Confusion. To your heart
He hastily pressed his hand,
As if subduing him with torment,
A worn out cap,
Didn’t raise embarrassed eyes
And he walked aside.

Small Island
Visible at the seaside. Sometimes
Lands there with a seine
Late fisherman fishing
And the poor man cooks his dinner,
Or an official will visit,
Walking in a boat on Sunday
Deserted island. Not grown up
There's not a blade of grass there. Flood
Brought there while playing
The house is dilapidated. Above the water
He remained like a black bush.
His last spring
They brought me on a barge. It was empty
And everything is destroyed. At the threshold
They found my madman,
And then his cold corpse
Buried for God's sake.

NOTES
(1) Algarotti said somewhere: “Pétersbourg est la fenêtre par laquelle la Russie regarde en Europe.”

(2) See the verses of the book. Vyazemsky to Countess Z***.

(3) Mickiewicz described in beautiful verse the day preceding the St. Petersburg flood, in one of his best poems - Oleszkiewicz. It's just a pity that the description is not accurate. There was no snow - the Neva was not covered with ice. Our description is more accurate, although it does not contain bright colors Polish poet.

(4) Count Miloradovich and Adjutant General Benckendorff.

(5) See description of the monument in Mickiewicz. It is borrowed from Ruban - as Mickiewicz himself notes.

The general ideological orientation of The Bronze Horseman largely originates in Poltava and continues in Boris Godunov. It is no coincidence that Pushkin turns to the image of Peter, who in his interpretation becomes a kind of symbol of willful, autocratic power. Despite everything, Peter builds Petersburg on the swamps in order to “threaten the Swede from here.” This act appears in the poem the highest manifestation the autocratic will of the ruler, who “raised all of Russia on its hind legs.”

Compared to “Poltava,” Pushkin goes through a certain evolution in his depiction of “autocracy.” If in “Poltava” he still needs “personal characteristics” in order to condemn “autocracy” (that is, his condemnation occurs in someone specific person - Mazepa, Aleko in “Gypsies”), then here “autocracy” appears before the reader V pure form- in the person of the “Bronze Horseman”, who is not even Peter, but the embodiment of the myth about him - the myth of the ideal autocratic ruler.

Pushkin loves St. Petersburg, admires its beauty and the genius of its architects, but nevertheless, for centuries, the city has suffered God's punishment for the original autocracy that was expressed by Peter in the founding of the city in a place unsuitable for this. And floods are just a punishment, a kind of “curse” that weighs on the residents of the capital, a reminder to the inhabitants of Babylon of the crime that they once committed against God.

In the poem, Pushkin refers to the image of an ordinary, ordinary person (one of those who in “Poltava” paid with blood for the autocracy of their rulers).

The image of Eugene is the image of that very “man of the crowd” who is not yet ready to accept freedom, who has not suffered for it in his heart, i.e. the image of an ordinary man in the street. Eugene's rebellion against autocracy, embodied for him in the Bronze Horseman, occurs under the influence of disasters that befell the city and destroyed his personal happiness. “Already for you!” - says Evgeny, threatening the statue. However, the ending of this riot is sad - the hero goes crazy. And the point here is not that Eugene’s rebellion in itself is individualistic, but that Eugene had no right to it. Getting rid of autocracy (i.e., getting out of the master/slave coordinate system) is possible only through personal acceptance of freedom, internal work, awareness of one’s involvement in everything and responsibility to everything that happens in the world. An attempt to free oneself from tyranny by “external” means is doomed to failure, since overnight former slaves are only capable of turning into masters and vice versa, i.e. the system of relationships itself is not destroyed (cf. Pugachev’s rebellion in “ The captain's daughter"). Thus, the bronze horseman pursuing Eugene on the streets of the city turns into a kind of metaphor, which says that despite the “external* protest, rebellion against autocracy, a person cannot get rid of the very system of autocratic relationships in this way. " Bronze Horseman"is part of a person’s soul, his “second self,” which does not disappear by itself. In the words of Chekhov, a person must every day “squeeze a slave out of himself drop by drop”, carry out tireless spiritual work (compare with the idea developed by Gogol in “The Overcoat” that a person was created for a high purpose and cannot live with the dream of acquiring an overcoat ). It is these ideas that will subsequently be embodied in the work of Dostoevsky, who will describe the rebellion “from the inside” little man" - a fruitless revolt of the "poor in spirit."

Alexander Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" is written in poetic form. This work describes real events that happened in St. Petersburg in 1824. It is noteworthy that during the author’s lifetime the poem was never published, because the then ruler demanded that Alexander Sergeevich slightly change the text, but he refused. Zhukovsky published the poem after the poet’s death.

An analysis of Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” indicates that the author wanted to show fate in his work ordinary person in a specific historical era. There are two main characters in the poem: Eugene - a young man from an impoverished noble family, serving as a minor official, and a monument to the Bronze Horseman, symbolizing Peter I. It all begins with Eugene rushing home from work one autumn day. He is tired of a series of monotonous, gray everyday life, but he has one consolation - his beloved Parasha, who lives on Vasilyevsky Island with her mother.

An analysis of Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” shows how skillfully the author depicted the confrontation between man and the elements. At night, a strong flood begins in the city, Eugene manages to escape: he climbed onto a marble lion and sat there until the morning, but his thoughts are turned to the girl Parasha, because she lives right next to the bay. The young man worries whether his beloved managed to escape, and, as soon as the opportunity presents itself, he runs to her house. The author depicts the deep grief of an individual, as an analysis of the poem “The Bronze Horseman” shows.

Pushkin very colorfully described the suffering of Evgeniy, who found nothing at the site of Parasha’s house. The man realized that his girlfriend was gone, the world of dreams collapsed overnight. Eugene was unable to cope with such emotional shock, and he lost his mind. He goes to the Bronze Horseman, by whose will the city was founded over the sea, but cannot look at him, suddenly it begins to seem to the man that the monument has come to life and is rushing straight at him. Evgeniy runs, but the sound of hooves can be heard from everywhere. An analysis of Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” indicates how easy it is to break the fate of a particular person. The hero never recovered from the shock and soon died.

The confrontation between the little man and the state

In the first part of the work, the elements fight with man, this is also evidenced by the analysis of Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman”. But the author may also imply a confrontation between the authorities and the people, represented by Peter I and Eugene. In the second part of the poem, the elements calm down, the writer raises the theme of fate, because a person does not know what awaits him in the future, what paths and trials are destined for him from above. The climax lies in the hero's rebellion against the Bronze Horseman, who changed all of Russia, looking far ahead, but not seeing what was happening up close. The denouement is the death of Evgeniy.

The confrontation between life and death, man and the state, nature and civilization - Pushkin depicted all this in his work. “The Bronze Horseman” (analysis of the work showed that the author wanted to highlight the fate of an individual) embodies the interests of the state, and Eugene - his own. Their confrontation did not lead to anything good: the individual principle was trampled by the collective will.

Composition

Pushkin’s last, most artistically mature and ideologically profound poem, “The Bronze Horseman,” is in many ways directly related to the problems of “Poltava.” In "The Bronze Horseman" the theme is again raised transformative activities Peter, the question of the relationship between personal and public, private goals and interests and great state affairs, historical feats is raised again and even more acutely. But all this is put and decided on a different - and more complex, dialectically contradictory - material. However, with all the associated complexity and diversity of the content and meaning of Pushkin’s poem (which will be discussed later), its main ideological core, as was correctly emphasized by Belinsky, is the conflict between the “private” and the “general”, personified in the images of Eugene and Peter. Belinsky is also right in that, with undoubted sympathy for the suffering and grief of “poor Eugene,” the poem affirms “the triumph of the general over the particular.”

And this is confirmed not only by the immediate content of the poem, but also by its entirety artistic means, including such of them as the composition of the work. Artistic structure"The Bronze Horseman" is very original, if you like, even paradoxical,

In the poem, there is essentially only one hero before us, and she is highest degree conflictual, full of deep drama. This happens because in “The Bronze Horseman,” a work with only one hero, two opposing principles collide - Eugene and Peter. By the time the plot action of the poem arises, on that stormy evening of 1824, which opens sad story about suffering and tragic fate Poor Evgeniy, Peter has been dead for a hundred years. But the poet managed to cleanly artistic techniques, without introducing any mysticism or anything fantastic into the development of the plot, to achieve the fact that Peter, who died a hundred years ago, is aesthetically “present” in the poem, unusually vividly felt in it.

If you like, “The Bronze Horseman” is a paradox in terms of genre, combining in itself, even in to a greater extent than “Poltava”, a lyrical-dramatic story in verse with epic, everyday life with history, the majestic and terrible with the everyday, the ordinary.

Finally, the poem may seem like a paradox in terms of composition. It seems to have neither that integrity nor that proportionality of parts, which, as we have repeatedly seen, are the most characteristic techniques of Pushkin’s compositions.

“The Bronze Horseman” consists of an “Introduction” and two parts. Moreover, the “Introduction” is not only unusual and prohibitively large (it makes up almost a third of the entire poem), but also seems to be an independent work, not directly related to what it is an introduction to.

There is also a hidden epilogue in the poem - a conclusion that is six times smaller than the introduction (the last seventeen and a half lines: “A small island on the seashore is visible...”, etc.) and, apparently, that’s why the poet did not highlight it with a special heading.

And, despite all this, the poem gives the impression of an absolutely integral, monolithic work, executed, as always with Pushkin, with amazing harmony, internally deeply justified, harmonious. compliance of all its constituent parts. It is characteristic that Belinsky, who, as we have seen, reproached Pushkin for the lack of unity in Poltava, does not make similar reproaches in relation to The Bronze Horseman, although they might seem even more appropriate here.

This impression is achieved thanks to the same great compositional mastery of Pushkin, which, despite the development of a number of basic techniques, is at the same time devoid of any permanently established formal schemes and templates, but, on the contrary, is entirely determined by a given ideological task and contributes to its most complete artistic embodiment .

Indeed, why did the poet need an introduction to “The Bronze Horseman”? Among other things, undoubtedly, in order to have the opportunity in the poem, the action of which takes place in 1824, along with the living Eugene, to show his antagonist, Peter, still alive. True, between Peter in the poem’s introduction and Eugene in the poem itself, there seems to be no and cannot be anything in common. In time they are separated from each other by a whole century. No less in its own way is their difference in social status: “sovereign, half of the world” - and a petty St. Petersburg official. However, the poet overcomes both.

Already the introduction in its main part, which begins with the words: “A hundred years have passed ...”, is closely brought forward to the time of the action of the poem. At the same time, with the help of special compositional techniques between Peter and Eugene, so far from each other in all respects, a certain internal associative connection is established. This is achieved not only by the fact that Peter and Eugene appear before us in compositionally coinciding places in the poem (Peter - at the beginning of the introduction, Eugene - at the beginning of the poem itself, the beginning of its first part), but also, especially, through a parallel presentation of the thoughts of both another. Moreover, this parallelism is emphasized by direct, clearly intentional textual coincidences (“And he was thinking” - about Peter; “What was he thinking about?”, “He was also thinking” - about Eugene).

Along with compositional parallelism, the establishment of an associative connection between the image of Peter and the image of Eugene is facilitated by the complete contrast of their thoughts (association by contrast), in which the main ideological meaning poems - a conflict between the “general” and the “private”. Both Peter and Eugene, at the moment of each of them appearing in the poem, both “think,” but they think about completely different things.

We read about Peter, who with his prophetic gaze penetrates the double distance of both space and time, at the very beginning of the introduction:

* On the shore of desert waves
* He stood, full of great thoughts,
* And looked into the distance...
* And he thought:
* From here we will threaten the Swede,
* The city will be founded here
* To spite an arrogant neighbor.
* Nature destined us here
* Cut a window to Europe,
* Stand with a firm foot by the sea.
* Here on new waves
* All flags will be visiting us
* And we record it in the open air.

The contrast between the “general” and the “particular”, sharply drawn when comparing the “thoughts” of Peter and Eugene, underlies the exposition of the poem, in which the double distance between the antagonists, existing both in time and in social status, as if smoothed out, muffled by the technique of compositional parallelism. And so the poet makes a bold substitution - instead of the living Peter, the antagonist of Eugene in the poem is Falconet's monument to Peter - the Bronze Horseman. The possibility of such a substitution, from the point of view of its plausibility and naturalness, is justified by the fact that it occurs in the hallucinating consciousness of a person who has gone mad. But it is important for the poet not only to psychologically motivate this possibility, but also to artistically convince the reader of it, to make the reader aesthetically believe in it. For only in this way can the subjective delirium of a madman in our perception acquire the plastic forms of a really occurring dramatic collision.

Other works on this work

Time of creation of the poem. Plot basis and time of action. Subjects

A.S. Pushkin wrote the poem “The Bronze Horseman” in October 1833 in Boldin.

The plot basis of the work is St. Petersburg flood of 1824. Pushkin emphasizes the strict historical accuracy of the events described in the poem. Thus, in the author’s preface to the work, he notes: “The incident described in this story is based on the truth.”

The time frame of the poem is wider than its plot action. The poet commits excursion into the era of Peter I, talks about the grandiose the autocrat's plan. He then talks about the changes that took place a hundred years later. The author describes the flood of 1824 and the events immediately following it. The most important theme of the work also becomes the fate of the “little man”.

Issues

The main problem posed in The Bronze Horseman is personalityand the state. Pushkin comprehends the deep contradiction between the personality of the “little man” and autocratic power. In the context of this problem, Pushkin reveals the historical inconsistency of the activities of Peter I. On the one hand, the reforms he implemented strengthened Russian State. The city, built on the Neva, became a symbol of the greatness and glory of Russia. On the other hand, this city turned out to be the cause of misfortune, suffering, and death of the “little man.”

Another important problem of the work is human and nature. In the natural elements, Pushkin showed the formidable Divine power, disobedient to man, not subject to the will of the kings.

Ideological orientation

The ideological meaning of the poem is ambiguous.

On the one side, Pushkin glorifies the deeds of Peter, admires the beautiful city on the Neva, admires the greatness and glory of Russia.

On the other side, the poet deeply sympathizes, has compassion for the “little man”, who became an involuntary victim of Peter's reforms.

Genre originality

"The Bronze Horseman" is lyric poem. It combines the narration of events and characters with the lyrical self-expression of the author. For example, the introduction to the poem includes an excited monologue of the poet praising St. Petersburg.

Pushkin also gives his own genre definition to “The Bronze Horseman”. In the subtitle he calls the work "Petersburg story". With his work, Pushkin affirms a new genre in Russian literature, the St. Petersburg story about a poor official, a “little man.” Subsequently (already in prose form) this genre will be developed in the works of N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, and other Russian writers.

Composition: plot structure, main images

The poem includes introduction And two parts.

Introduction contains exposition image of Peter I. The Tsar appears here as an outstanding statesman who has set himself the task of transforming Russia, making it a great state, and opening a “window to Europe.”

Although the king is described in the introduction as a real historical figure, he already looks monumental here 1 . The majestic figure of the autocrat is shown against the backdrop of wild, pristine nature:

On the shore of desert waves

stood He, full of great thoughts,

And he looked into the distance.

The poet talks about Peter's grandiose plan:

And he thought:

From here we will threaten the Swede,

The city will be founded here

To spite an arrogant neighbor.

Nature destined us here

Open a window to Europe,

Stand with a firm foot by the sea.

Here on new waves

All the flags will visit us,

A hundred years have passed, and the young city,

There is beauty and wonder in full countries,

From the darkness of the forests, from the swamps of blat

He ascended magnificently, proudly...

Pushkin does not hide his admiration for Peter's creation. Hence the high style, use Slavicisms(“young city”, “beauty and wonder of full countries”, “from the swamp of blat”).

Then follows lyrical monologue poet, where he talks about his love for St. Petersburg. The poet admires the architecture of the city, the majestic flow of the Neva, the beauty of the white nights:

I love you, Petra's creation,

I love your strict, slender appearance,

Neva sovereign current,

Its coastal granite,

Your fences have a cast iron pattern,

of your thoughtful nights

Transparent twilight, moonless shine...

Pushkin glorifies military power Russia:

I love the warlike liveliness

Amusing Fields of Mars,

Infantry troops and horses

Uniform beauty

In their harmoniously unsteady system

The shreds of these victorious banners,

The shine of these copper caps,

Shot through and through in battle.

These lines reminded Pushkin’s contemporaries of the glorious victory of Russia in the War of 1812.

The poet especially notes the significance of such solemn moments in the life of the Russian Empire as birth of the heir to the throne And victory over the enemy, and the jubilation caused by these events turns out to be akin to the joy of contemplating the spring awakening of the Neva:

I love you, military capital,

Your stronghold is smoke and thunder,

When the queen is full

Gives a son to the royal house,

Or victory over the enemy

Russia triumphs again

Or, breaking your blue ice,

The Neva carries him to the seas

And, sensing the days of spring, he rejoices.

Thus, Pushkin’s St. Petersburg is a symbol of a new, transformed Russia.

Meanwhile, Peter’s reform activities, according to the poet’s conviction, brought Russia and its people not only greatness, but also severe suffering. “My story will be sad,” the poet notes at the end of the introduction, preparing the reader for the sorrowful events described in the first and second parts of the poem.

First part“The Bronze Horseman” opens with a gloomy picture autumn nature. Neva is compared to a sick person:

Over darkened Petrograd

November breathed the autumn chill.

Splashing with a noisy wave

To the edges of your slender fence,

Neva was tossing around like a sick person

At that time from the guests home

Young Evgeniy came...

Exposition image central character takes first half of the first part poems. The poet explains why he chose the name “Eugene” for his hero:

We will be our hero

Call by this name. It

Sounds nice; been with him for a long time

My pen is also friendly.

Eugene comes from an ancient aristocratic family. However, in the era in which the poem takes place, his name no longer means anything to anyone:

We don't need his nickname.

Although in times gone by

Perhaps it shone,

And under the pen of Karamzin

In native legends it sounded,

But now with light and rumor

It's forgotten...

Evgeniy is typical petty official, “little man”:

Our hero

Lives in Kolomna, serves somewhere,

He shies away from the nobles and does not bother

Not about deceased relatives,

Not about forgotten antiquities.

Let us note that “little people” are the product of Peter’s reforms, which turned Russia into a state of officials.

We should not forget that the gallery of “little people” in Russian literature dates back to Pushkin. Samson Vyrin from The Station Agent is the first in their row, the second is Evgeniy from The Bronze Horseman. Later, Russian literature will include the heroes of Gogol (for example, Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin from “The Overcoat”), writers of the “natural school,” and Dostoevsky.

ABOUT worldview"little man" can be judged by his dreams:

What was he thinking about? About,

That he was poor, that he worked hard

He had to deliver

And independence and honor...

Marry? Well... why not?

It's hard, of course.

But well, he's young and healthy,

Ready to work day and night;

He'll arrange something for himself

Shelter humble and simple

And it will calm Parasha.

Eugene, unlike the tsar-autocrat, is not concerned about grandiose plans of a state scale, but about pressing matters: he dreams of family happiness, of raising children.

It is also important that Evgeniy’s beloved is not an aristocratic lady, but a simple girl, Parasha, with whom he is going to share a modest and difficult family life.

The poet's poems express sympathy"little man", sincere attention to his concerns.

When creating the images of Peter and Evgeny, Pushkin resorted to antithesis, which emerges already in the introduction to the poem and in its first part. The majestic figure of Peter against the backdrop of the deserted, calm Neva is contrasted with Eugene, immersed in the bustle of everyday life - a “small” and by government standards insignificant man, returning home near a restless, restless river that instills in the hero fear for loved ones.

Second half of the first part the poem is dedicated to describing floods. Raging Neva acts as a merciless natural element that takes revenge on man for trying to limit her freedom by chaining her in granite. When describing a natural disaster, Pushkin uses extensive personifications, comparisons, and colorful epithets. The Neva appears before us as a terrible beast, destroying everything around:

The Neva swelled and roared,

A cauldron bubbling and swirling,

And suddenly, like a wild beast,

She rushed to the city...

It is no coincidence that Alexander I, at the end of whose reign the flood of 1824 occurred, utters significant words: “Tsars cannot cope with God’s elements.” The forces of nature here symbolize God's wrath towards people who decide to subjugate the elements, and here even the king turns out to be powerless. Nature takes revenge on man for his tyranny over her.

It is significant that Pushkin emphasizes the inextricable connection between the disasters caused by the flood and Peter's long-standing decision to build a city in this very place - contrary to the laws of nature. As a result, the terrible suffering of the inhabitants of St. Petersburg, especially the “little people,” turned out to be a consequence of Peter’s activities in the previous century.

Not by chance at the end of the first part of the poem there are images of Peter I and Eugene again opposed, only the autocrat appears here no longer as a historical figure, but as a statue, an “idol.” Eugene, fleeing the flood, sits “astride a marble beast” and sees in front of him a motionless statue of Peter. At the same time, the monument turns out to have its “back turned to him”: it turns out that the desperate “little man” cannot count on help:

And with my back turned to him,

In unshakable heights

Above the indignant Neva

Stands with outstretched hand

Idol on a bronze horse.

In the second part the poem talks about death of Parasha, O Evgeniy's madness, about him riot against the authorities, finally about his own death.

Death of Parasha acquires a symbolic meaning in the poem: this is a sign misfortunes everyone ordinary people - residents of St. Petersburg , who found themselves hostage to Peter's reforms. The death of the bride also became the reason for Eugene's madness. His consciousness could not withstand the severe tests:

But my poor, poor Evgeniy...

Alas! His confused mind

Against terrible shocks

Couldn't resist...

Let us note that the motive of madness in connection with the theme of St. Petersburg is widely covered in subsequent Russian literature. Let us recall, for example, Gogol’s “Notes of a Madman,” Raskolnikov’s dreams and nightmares in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.”

The second part of the poem also contains climax- story about riot a hero against the power that the statue of Peter represents. The author prepares the reader in advance for this new confrontation between Eugene and the Bronze Horseman. The details of their first meeting, which occurred during the flood, are repeated again:

Evgeny shuddered. cleared up

The thoughts in it are scary. He found out

And the place where the flood played,

Where the waves of predators crowded,

Rioting angrily around him,

And lviv, and the square, and that,

Who stood motionless

In the darkness with a copper head...

Poet in lyrical monologue turns to the statue of Peter - a symbol of autocratic power:

Where are you galloping, proud horse?

And where will you put your hooves?

O mighty lord of fate!

Aren't you above the very abyss,

At the height, with an iron bridle

Raised Russia on its hind legs?

Pushkin emphasizes here the grandeur of Peter’s appearance. Meanwhile, the figure of Eugene at the moment of his rebellion against his idol becomes majestic in its own way. It is no coincidence that the poet, in his depiction of the “little man,” as in the description of the statue of the autocrat, uses high-style vocabulary 1 :

Around the foot of the idol

The poor madman walked around

And brought wild glances

The face of the ruler of half the world.

His chest felt tight. Chelo

It lay against the cold grate...

The two opponents are stylistically “equalized”: the “ruler of half the world” has a “face”, the rebel has a “brow”. The hero, in a frenzy, utters words filled with anger:

Welcome, miraculous builder!

Already for you!

The riot ends nightmare Evgenia. The Bronze Horseman pursues his prey.

In a peculiar epilogue, not titled by the author, but highlighted textually, talks about of death unfortunate Evgenia, unable to withstand the battle with cruel fate:

They found my madman,

And then his cold corpse

Buried for God's sake.

Play an important role in the work images-symbols. Image St. Petersburg carries the idea of ​​a new, transformed Russia with its greatness and glory. At the same time, St. Petersburg is a symbol of misfortune and suffering of ordinary people.

Raging Neva- a symbol of God’s wrath falling on a person who decided to subjugate the natural elements.

Finally, Bronze Horseman- the personification of autocratic power in its tragic confrontation with the people. Horse - Russian people, The Horseman is an autocrat who raised his subjects “on their hind legs.”

Questions and tasks

1. Where and when did Pushkin write the poem “The Bronze Horseman”? What is the plot of the work? Outline the time frame of the events described in the poem. Name the main themes of the work.

2. What problems does the poet comprehend in “The Bronze Horseman”? What is unique about the author’s interpretation of such a problem as the individual and the state?

3. Describe the ideological orientation of the poem. Why can’t the author’s position be called unambiguous?

4. Why is “The Bronze Horseman” a lyric epic work? What genre definition did Pushkin himself give to the poem? What is unique about The Bronze Horseman as a St. Petersburg story? Which other Russian writers created works in this genre?

5. What parts does Pushkin’s poem consist of? What compositional elements does the introduction include? How does Peter I appear before us in his introduction? What does the poet say about Peter’s plan? How Pushkin depicts Petersburg a hundred years after its founding. Describe the author's lyrical monologue. What exactly fascinates him about “Peter’s work”?

6. What can you say about the exposure of the image of Eugene at the beginning of the first part of the poem? How does the author describe the Neva? How does he introduce the central character to the reader? What does Pushkin write about the hero’s first and last name, about his origin, activities, dreams, ideals? What can you say about Eugene’s beloved? Why can Evgeniy be called a “little man”? When and for what reasons did this socio-historical type of people arise? Which Russian writer first discovered it? What other characters - Pushkin himself and other authors - can be classified as this literary type?

What is the meaning of the antithesis “Peter - Eugene”?

7. How does Pushkin depict the raging elements? What artistic techniques does he use here? What is the meaning of the words of Alexander I quoted by the poet? How is the theme of the flood of 1824 related to the theme of Peter the Great's reforms? Reveal the meaning of the episode of the confrontation between Eugene and the statue of Peter during the flood.

8. Name the main events of the second part of the poem. Why do the death of Parasha and Eugene’s madness acquire symbolic meaning in the work?

9. Describe the climax of the poem? Why can we say that the images of Eugene and Peter at the moment of the hero’s rebellion are stylistically equal? What does the hero's rebellion lead to? In what symbolic meaning death of Evgeniy? What description serves as an epilogue in the poem?

10. Summarize the meaning of image-symbols in the poem. Why is the symbolic image of St. Petersburg interpreted ambiguously? How can one interpret the meaning of the image of the raging Neva? Comment on Pushkin's interpretation of the image of the Bronze Horseman.

11. Make an outline and prepare an oral report