Types of lyrical digressions in the novel “Eugene Onegin”
“Eugene Onegin” is the first realistic novel in Russian literature, which “reflected the century and modern man depicted quite correctly." A. S. Pushkin worked on the novel from 1823 to 1831.
In this work, the author freely moves from the plot narrative to lyrical digressions that interrupt the flow of the “free novel.” In lyrical digressions, the author tells us his opinion about certain events, characterizes his characters, and talks about himself. So, we learn about the author’s friends, about literary life, about plans for the future, we get acquainted with his thoughts about the meaning of life, about friends, about love and much more, which gives us the opportunity to get an idea not only about the heroes of the novel and about the life of Russian society of that time, but also about the personality of the poet himself.
Lyrical digressions in the novel “Eugene Onegin” can be divided into several groups:
1) Autobiographical digressions (memories of youthful love, references to biography, digressions about the revaluation of romantic values). Describing the action, Pushkin remains on the pages of the novel. He speaks directly to the reader, he does not leave the characters because it is difficult for them; he wants to help them live - and us too; with an open soul, he gives us the wealth that he has accumulated throughout his life: the wisdom and purity of his heart...
In those days when in the gardens of the Lyceum
I blossomed serenely
I read Apuleius willingly,
But I haven’t read Cicero,
In those days, in the mysterious valleys,
In the spring, with the cries of swan,
Near the waters shining in silence,
The muse began to appear to me.
My student cell
Suddenly it dawned on me: the muse is in her
Opened a feast of young ideas,
Sang children's joys,
And the glory of our antiquity,
And trembling dreams of hearts.
(Chapter XVIII, stanzas I-II)
2) Critical-journalistic digressions (conversation with the reader about literary examples, styles, genres). The poet comments on his novel as he writes it and, as it were, shares with the reader his thoughts on how best to write it. The general semantic dominant of these digressions is the idea of searching for a new style, a new manner of writing, offering greater objectivity and concreteness in the depiction of life:
I was already thinking about the form of the plan
And I’ll call him a hero;
For now, in my novel
I finished the first chapter;
Reviewed all this strictly;
There are a lot of contradictions
But I don’t want to correct them;
I will pay my debt to censorship
And for journalists to eat
I will give the fruits of my labors;
Go to the banks of the Neva,
Newborn creation
And earn me a tribute of glory:
Crooked talk, noise and swearing!
(Chapter I, stanza LX)
3) Retreats philosophical nature(about the flow of life, about nature, about the continuity of generations, about one’s own immortality). It is here that for the first time throughout Chapter II, Pushkin himself openly appears before the reader, as if picking up Lensky’s sad thoughts:
Alas! On the reins of life
Instant generational harvest
By the secret will of providence,
They rise, mature and fall;
Others are following them...
So our windy tribe
Growing, worried, seething
And he presses towards the grave of his great-grandfathers.
Our time will come, our time will come...
Pushkin writes these lines when he is about to turn twenty-five years old: it seemed too early to think about death, about the change of generations, about leaving this life. But Pushkin was wise even in his youth, he knew how to give people something that would take their breath away and make them want to live:
Our time will come, our time will come.
And our grandchildren in good time
They will push us out of the world too!
(Chapter II, stanza XXXVIII)
Nicely cheeky epigram
Enrage a mistaken enemy;
It's nice to see how stubborn he is
Bowing my eager horns,
Involuntarily looks in the mirror
And he is ashamed to recognize himself;
It’s more pleasant if he, friends,
Howl foolishly: it’s me!
It's even more pleasant in silence
Prepare an honest coffin for him
And quietly aim at the pale forehead
At a noble distance;
But send him to his fathers
It will hardly be pleasant for you.
(Chapter VI, stanza XXXIII)
He finished the sixth chapter of Onegin in mid-1826 and, although he promised readers to return to his hero, he did not return to him for a long time - it was a difficult time. This is why Chapter VII begins so sadly; bitter philosophical thoughts came to his mind when he saw the awakening of spring:
Or with nature alive
We bring together the confused thought
We are the fading of our years,
Which cannot be reborn?
Perhaps it comes to our minds
In the midst of a poetic dream
Another, old spring...
(Chapter VII, stanzas II-III)
Philosophical reflections on the destinies and future of Russia are interspersed with everyday irony over eternal Russian problems. Russian roads, which tormented the poet a lot, have not changed since the time of Nightingale the Robber and - so Pushkin thinks - if they change, then “in five hundred years.” Then bliss will come:
The Russian highway is here and here,
Having connected, they will cross.
Cast iron bridges over water
They step in a wide arc,
Let's move mountains, underwater
Let's break through the daring vaults,
And he will lead the baptized world
At each station there is a tavern.
This is not a mockery - about the tavern, this is the groan of a man who has traveled a lot around the country, where:
There are no taverns. In a cold hut
Pompous but hungry
For appearances the price list is hanging
And the vain teases the appetite.
(Chapter VII, stanzas XXXIII-XXXIV)
4) Digressions on everyday topics (“a novel requires chatter”). We are talking about love, family, marriage, modern tastes and fashions, friendship, education, etc. Here the poet can appear in a variety of guises: we see either a convinced epicurean mocking the boredom of life, or a Byronic hero disillusioned with life, either a feuilletonist of everyday life, or a peaceful landowner accustomed to living in the village:
We all learned a little bit
Something and somehow
So upbringing, thank God,
It's no wonder for us to shine.
(Chapter I, stanza V)
Intervening in a small talk about Onegin, Pushkin laughs bitterly at the ideal that he created for himself “ important people" Mediocrity, self-loving insignificance - that’s who is happy, that’s who doesn’t cause surprise or dissatisfaction:
Blessed is he who was young from his youth,
Blessed is he who matures in time,
Who gradually life is cold
He knew how to endure over the years;
Who strange dreams didn't indulge
Who has not shunned the secular mob...
(Chapter VIII, stanzas X-XI)
Friendship for Pushkin is not only one of the main joys of life, but also a duty and obligation. He knows how to take friendship and friends seriously, responsibly, knows how to think about human relationships, and his thoughts are not always cheerful:
But there is no friendship between us either.
Having destroyed all prejudices,
We respect everyone as zeros,
And in units - yourself.
(Chapter II, stanza XIV)
Author's digressions about love are invaluable. Love attributes, behind which there really is love and real feeling, and at the same time, the external manifestation of these feelings, which in fact do not exist, are masterfully depicted by Pushkin:
How smaller woman we love.
The easier it is for her to like us
And the more likely we destroy her
Among seductive networks.
Debauchery used to be cold-blooded,
Science was famous for love,
Trumpeting about myself everywhere
And enjoying without loving...
(Chapter IV, stanzas VII-VIII)
All ages are submissive to love;
But to young, virgin hearts
Her impulses are beneficial,
Like spring storms across the fields...
(Chapter VIII, stanza XXIX)
This also includes numerous digressions about women’s legs, wine, cuisine, albums, which accurately and correctly interpret the events and customs of that time:
On days of joy and desires
I was crazy about balls:
Or rather, there is no room for confessions
And to deliver the letter...
(Chapter I, stanza XXIX)
Of course, you've seen it more than once
District young lady's album,
That all the girlfriends got dirty
From the end, from the beginning and all around.
(Chapter IV, stanzas XXVIII-XXX)
5) The image of the lyrical, on the one hand, is kaleidoscopic and changeable, on the other hand, it remains holistic and harmoniously complete. This includes the author's digressions about the culture of Pushkin's time, about literary heroes, about poetic genres:
Magic land! there, in the old days,
Satire is a brave ruler,
Fonvizin, friend of freedom, shone,
And the enterprising Prince;
There Ozerov involuntary tributes
People's tears, applause
Shared with young Semyonova;
There our Katenin was resurrected
Corneille is a majestic genius;
There the prickly Shakhovskoy brought out
A noisy swarm of their comedies,
There Didelot was crowned with glory,
There, there, under the canopy of the scenes
My younger days were rushing by.
(Chapter I, stanza XVIII)
Pushkin again, without hiding or hiding, talks with the reader about books, about literature, about the work of a poet, about what worries him most:
Your own syllable in an important mood,
Used to be a fiery creator
He showed us his hero
Like a sample of perfection.
He gave away his favorite object,
Always unjustly persecuted
Sensitive soul, mind
And an attractive face.
(Chapter III, stanzas XI-XIII)
Can I imagine them?
With “Well-Intentioned” in your hands!
I swear at you, my poets;
Isn't it true, lovely things,
Who, for their sins,
You wrote poems in secret,
To whom you dedicated your heart,
Isn't that all, in Russian?
Possessing weakly and with difficulty,
He was so cutely distorted
And in their mouths a foreign language
Didn't you turn to your native?
How rosy lips are without a smile
No grammatical error
I don't like Russian speech.
(Chapter III, stanzas XXVII-XXVIII)
Landscape digressions are also included in the lyrical digressions. More often, nature is shown through the prism of the poet’s lyrical perception, his inner world, and mood. At the same time, some landscapes are shown through the eyes of the characters:
That year the weather was autumn
I stood in the yard for a long time,
Winter was waiting, nature was waiting.
Snow only fell in January...
(Chapter V, stanza I)
6) Digressions on a civil topic (about the heroic Moscow of 1812). Pushkin knew how to separate ceremonial, official patriotism royal manifestos and social events from that people's patriotism who lives in everyone's soul honest man. It is his attitude towards Moscow that he shows through solemn and sublime lines:
How often in sorrowful separation,
In my wandering destiny,
Moscow, I was thinking about you!
Moscow... so much in this sound
For the Russian heart it has merged!
How much resonated with him!
(Chapter VII, stanza XXXVII)
V.G. Belinsky called “Eugene Onegin” “an encyclopedia of Russian life”, since the author’s digressions reveal contradictions, trends and patterns of the era, which at first glance are not directly related to the plot outline of the novel, but clearly demonstrate Pushkin’s attitude towards them.
/ / / The role of Pushkin’s lyrical digressions in the novel “Eugene Onegin”
The work of Alexander Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” is a great treasure classical literature early 19th century. Every reader can find something of their own in it. The famous Russian critic Vissarion Belinsky believed that this novel in verse exhaustively reflects Russian life.
“” is a work with a variety of issues: man and society, unrequited love, ideal and reality. Great value in the novel there are lyrical digressions by the author. Thus, Pushkin expressed his point of view regarding events and expressed his opinion about the heroes.
Analyzing the lyrical digressions, we can conclude that main character and the author himself are like-minded people. Pushkin writes about Evgeny as an “old friend.”
In total, the novel has 27 lyrical digressions and at least 50 different lyrical insertions. Alexander Pushkin positioned his work as “free,” that is, the author and the reader became closer through the author’s direct appeals to the readers. Thus, Pushkin freely thought about the meaning of literature, about his intention to write prose.
Lyrical digressions help reveal the portrait of the author. Before us appears an educated, intelligent, understanding person. Vissarion Belinsky spoke warmly about Pushkin’s novel. Literary critic believed that this work embodied the very nature of the author, his spiritual impulses, dreams, ideals.
Lyrical digressions are peculiar indentations from the text that tell about contemporary poet problems. The author appeals to readers with eternal questions and makes them think about their solution.
Lyrical digressions are distinguished by vivid language, emotionality, and simplicity of presentation. All this creates a trusting atmosphere of direct, easy communication between the author and his reader.
The author's position is visible in everything. He does not hide his attitude towards the characters. He calls Evgeniy “an old friend,” therefore, without being a hypocrite, he talks about his advantages and disadvantages. The author speaks quite ironically about the education system of noble children: “they learned something and somehow.” Following fashion, owned well French, however, he was poorly acquainted with his native culture.
According to the definition, lyrical digressions are some statements of the author's thoughts and feelings related to what is depicted in the work. They help you understand better ideological plan creator, take a fresh look at the text. The writer, intruding into the narrative, slows down the development of the action, disrupts the unity of the images, however, such insertions enter the texts naturally, since they arise in connection with what is depicted and are imbued with the same feeling as the images.
Lyrical digressions in the novel "Eugene Onegin" play a huge role, as you will see after reading this article. It is devoted to their themes, functions and meaning.
Features of the novel "Eugene Onegin"
The novel in question is by A.S. Pushkin wrote for more than 8 years - from 1823 to 1831. He wrote to Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky at the very beginning of work on the work that he was not creating a novel, but rather a “novel in verse,” and this is a “diabolical difference.”
Indeed, thanks to its poetic form, "Eugene Onegin" is very different from traditional genre novel, because it expresses the feelings and thoughts of the author much more strongly. What adds originality to the work is the constant participation and commentary of the author himself, about whom we can say that he is one of the main characters. In the first chapter of the novel, Alexander Sergeevich calls Onegin “a good friend.”
Lyrical digressions and biography of the author
Lyrical digressions are a means used by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, in particular, to help us get acquainted with the personality of the creator of the work, his biography. From the first chapter we learn that the narrator left Russia and sighs for it “under the sky of Africa,” which refers to the poet’s southern exile. The narrator writes clearly about his melancholy and suffering. In the sixth chapter, he regrets his youth and wonders where the times of his youth have gone, what the “coming day” has in store for him. Lyrical digressions in the novel also help to revive Alexander Sergeevich’s bright memories of those days when the muse began to appear to him in the gardens of the Lyceum. They, thus, give the right to judge the work as the history of the development of the personality of Pushkin himself.
Description of nature in digressions
Lyrical digressions are not only the biographical information of the author. Many of them are devoted to the description of nature. Descriptions of her are found throughout the novel. All seasons of the year are represented: winter, when boys joyfully cut ice with skates, snow falls, and northern summer, which Pushkin calls a caricature of southern winters, and the time of love - spring, and, of course, autumn, beloved by Alexander Sergeevich. The poet often describes different times days, the most beautiful of which is the night. However, he does not at all strive to depict extraordinary, exceptional paintings. On the contrary, everything is ordinary, simple, but at the same time beautiful.
Nature and inner world of heroes
Nature is closely connected with the heroes of the novel. Thanks to her description, we better understand what is going on in the souls of the characters. The author often notes the spiritual closeness with the nature of the main female image- Tatiana - and reflects on this, thereby characterizing moral qualities your heroine. The landscape often appears before us through the eyes of this particular girl. She loved to watch the sunrise on the balcony or suddenly see a white courtyard in the window in the morning.
Encyclopedic nature of the work
V.G. Belinsky, the famous critic, called Pushkin's novel "an encyclopedia of Russian life." And one cannot but agree with this. After all, an encyclopedia is a kind of systematic overview that is revealed sequentially from A to Z. A novel is exactly like this if you carefully look at all the lyrical digressions present in Onegin. We note then that the thematic range of the work unfolds encyclopedically, from A to Z.
"Free Romance"
Alexander Sergeevich calls his work in the eighth chapter " free romance". This freedom is expressed, first of all, in a relaxed author's conversation with the reader through lyrical digressions expressing feelings and thoughts on his behalf. This form allowed Pushkin to depict a picture of the life of his contemporary society. We learn about education younger generation, about how young people spend their time, about balls and fashion during the times of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
The lyrical digressions of the novel "Eugene Onegin" also cover the theater. Speaking about this amazing “magical land,” he remembers both Knyazhin and Fonvizin, but his attention is especially drawn to Istomin, who flies like a feather, touching the floor with one foot.
Lyrical digressions about literature
Lyrical digressions are also an opportunity to speak about contemporary literature and its problems. This is the subject of many of Alexander Sergeevich’s arguments in the text of the novel “Eugene Onegin.” In these lyrical digressions, the narrator argues about language, the use of various foreign words in it, which are sometimes simply necessary in order to describe certain things (for example, a tailcoat, trousers, a vest). Pushkin argues with a strict critic who calls for throwing off the wretched wreath of elegy poets.
Author and reader
The novel "Eugene Onegin" is at the same time the story of its creation. The narrator talks to the reader through lyrical digressions.
The text is created as if right before our eyes. It contains plans and drafts, as well as the author's personal assessment of the novel. Alexander Sergeevich encourages the attentive reader to co-create. When the latter is waiting for the rhyme “rose,” Pushkin writes: “Take it quickly.” The poet himself sometimes acts as a reader and strictly revises his work. Lyrical digressions introduce authorial freedom into the text, thanks to which the narrative moves in many directions. The image of Alexander Sergeevich has many faces - he is both a hero and a storyteller at the same time.
If all the other heroes of the novel (Onegin, Tatyana, Lensky and others) are fictional, then the creator of this entire artistic world is real. He evaluates his heroes, their actions, and either agrees with them or does not approve, arguing again in lyrical digressions. Thus, built on an appeal to the reader, the novel tells about the fictionality of what is happening, creating the impression that this is just a dream, similar to life.
Features of lyrical digressions
Often lyrical digressions in Eugene Onegin appear before climaxes narrative, forcing the reader to be in suspense, waiting further development plot. Thus, the author’s monologues occur before the explanation of Onegin and Tatiana, before her sleep and the duel in which Eugene Onegin participates.
The role of lyrical digressions, however, is not limited to this. They are also used so that the reader can better understand the essence of certain characters. That is, they not only introduce art world new layers of “reality”, but also create a unique author's image, which is an intermediary between the space in which the heroes live and real world, of which the reader is a representative.
Lyrical digressions in "Eugene Onegin", thus, are very diverse in subject matter and the purpose of their inclusion in the text of the narrative. They give Pushkin’s creation a special depth, versatility, and scale. This suggests that the role of lyrical digressions in the work is very great.
The novel, based on the author’s appeal to the reader, was a new phenomenon in the history of Russian literature of the 19th century. As time has shown, this innovation did not pass without a trace; it was noticed and appreciated both by the contemporaries of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin and his descendants. "Eugene Onegin" still remains one of the most famous works Russian literature not only in our country, but also abroad.
In the novel "Eugene Onegin" there are many author's digressions. It is thanks to them that the action of the novel goes beyond the hero’s private life and expands to a nationwide scale. V. G. Belinsky called “Eugene Onegin” “an encyclopedia of Russian life”, since the author’s digressions reveal contradictions, trends and patterns of the era, at first glance, not directly related to the plot outline of the novel, but clearly demonstrating Pushkin’s attitude towards them. However, the image of the author is not limited to lyrical digressions (the author's comments and remarks are scattered throughout the text of the novel). As the novel progresses, the author, like his characters, undergoes evolution. Thus, researchers, studying the poet’s style, note the difference between the chapters written before and after 1825. The author does not associate himself with Onegin, emphasizing the differences in their attitude to life, nature, theater, wine, women, etc. Pushkin goes to in his development further than Lensky, becoming a poet of reality and emphasizing that a poetic and enthusiastic attitude towards life are different things. The poet himself believed that he was closest to Tatyana. IN last chapters Pushkin is a man of the post-December era, he developed as a poet and personality. Thus, in the novel, Pushkin appears in two forms - the author and the narrator, and it is obvious that the image of the first is much broader than the image of the second.
1) Digressions of an autobiographical nature:
In those days when in the gardens of the Lyceum
I blossomed serenely
I read Apuleius willingly,
But I haven’t read Cicero,
In those days, in the mysterious valleys,
In the spring, with the cries of swan,
Near the waters shining in silence,
The muse began to appear to me.
My student cell
Suddenly it dawned on me: the muse is in her
Opened a feast of young ideas,
Sang children's joys,
And the glory of our antiquity,
And trembling dreams of hearts.
And the light greeted her with a smile;
Success first inspired us;
Old man Derzhavin noticed us
And, going into the grave, he blessed.
(Chapter XVIII, stanzas I-II)
2) Digressions of a philosophical nature (about the flow of life, about nature, about the continuity of generations, about one’s own immortality):
Alas! On the reins of life
Instant generational harvest
By the secret will of providence,
They rise, mature and fall;
Others are following them...
So our windy tribe
Growing, worried, seething
And he presses towards the grave of his great-grandfathers.
Our time will come, our time will come,
And our grandchildren in good time
They will push us out of the world too!
(Chapter II, stanza XXXVIII)
How sad your appearance is to me,
Spring, spring, time for love!
What languid excitement
In my soul, in my blood!
With what heavy tenderness
I enjoy the breeze
Spring blowing in my face
In the lap of rural silence!
Or is pleasure alien to me,
And everything that pleases lives,
All that rejoices and shines,
Causes boredom and languor
For a long time dead soul
And everything seems dark to her?
Or, not happy about the return
Dead leaves in autumn,
We remember the bitter loss
Listening to the new noise of the forests;
Or with nature alive
We bring together the thought of embarrassment
We are the fading of our years,
Which cannot be reborn?
Perhaps it comes to our minds
In the midst of a poetic dream
Another, old spring
And it makes our hearts tremble
Dream of the far side
About a wonderful night, about the moon...
(Chapter VII, stanzas II-III)
It should be noted that not all descriptions of nature are philosophical author’s digressions.
I know: they want to force the ladies
Read in Russian. Right, fear!
Can I imagine them?
With “Well-Intentioned” in your hands!
I swear at you, my poets;
Isn’t it true, lovely objects,
Who, for their sins,
You wrote poems in secret,
To whom you dedicated your heart,
Isn’t everything in Russian?
Possessing weakly and with difficulty,
He was so cutely distorted
And in their mouths a foreign language
Didn't he turn to his native?
God forbid I get together at the ball
Or while driving around on the porch
With a seminarian in a yellow chalet
Or with an academician in a cap!
How rosy lips are without a smile
No grammatical error
I don't like Russian speech.
(Chapter III, stanzas XXVII-XXVIII)
Magic land! there in the old days,
Satire is a brave ruler,
Fonvizin, friend of freedom, shone,
And the enterprising Prince;
There Ozerov involuntary tributes
People's tears, applause
Shared with young Semyonova;
There our Katenin was resurrected
Corneille is a majestic genius;
There the prickly Shakhovskoy brought out
A noisy swarm of their comedies,
There Didelot was crowned with glory,
There, there, under the canopy of the scenes
My younger days were rushing by.
(Chapter I, stanza XVIII)
Your own syllable in an important mood,
Used to be a fiery creator
He showed us his hero
Like a sample of perfection.
He gave away his favorite object,
Always unjustly persecuted
Sensitive soul, mind
And an attractive face.
Feeding the heat of pure passion,
Always an enthusiastic hero
I was ready to sacrifice myself
And at the end of the last part
Vice was always punished
It was a worthy wreath.
And now all minds are in the fog,
Morality puts us to sleep,
Vice is also kind in a novel,
And there he triumphs.
British Muse of Tall Tales
The girl's sleep is disturbed,
And now her idol has become
Or a brooding Vampire,
Or Melmoth, the gloomy tramp,
Ile the Eternal Jew, or Corsair,
Or the mysterious Sbogar.
Lord Byron by a lucky whim
Doomed to dull romanticism
And hopeless selfishness.
...I will stoop to humble prose;
Then a novel in the old way
It will take my cheerful sunset.
Not the torment of terrible atrocities
I will portray it menacingly,
But I’ll just tell you
Traditions of the Russian family,
Love's captivating dreams
Yes, the morals of our antiquity.
(Chapter III, stanzas XI-XIII)
But there is no friendship between us either.
Having destroyed all prejudices,
We respect everyone as zeros,
And in units - yourself.
We all look at Napoleons;
There are millions of two-legged creatures
For us there is only one weapon,
It feels wild and funny to us.
(Chapter II, stanza XIV)
The less we love a woman,
The easier it is for her to like us
And the more likely we destroy her
Among seductive networks.
Debauchery used to be cold-blooded,
Science was famous for love,
Trumpeting about myself everywhere
And enjoying without loving.
But this is important fun
Worthy of old monkeys
Grandfather's vaunted times:
Lovlasov's fame has faded
With the glory of red heels
And stately wigs.
Who isn't bored of being a hypocrite?
Repeat one thing differently
It is important to try to assure that
What everyone has been sure of for a long time,
All the same objections to hear,
Destroy prejudices
Which were not and are not
A girl at thirteen years old!
Who can't be tired of threats?
Prayers, oaths, imaginary fear,
Notes on six sheets,
Deceptions, gossip, rings, tears,
Supervision of aunts, mothers,
And friendship is difficult between husbands!
(Chapter IV, stanzas VII-VIII)
All ages are submissive to love;
Ho to young, virgin hearts
Her impulses are beneficial,
Like spring storms across the fields:
In the rain of passions they become fresh,
And they renew themselves and mature -
And the mighty life gives
And lush color and sweet fruit,
But at a late and barren age
At the turn of our years,
Sad is the passion of the dead trail:
So the storms of autumn are cold
A meadow is turned into a swamp
And they expose everything around.
(Chapter VIII, stanza XXIX)
We all learned a little bit
Something and somehow
So upbringing, thank God,
It's no wonder for us to shine.
(Chapter I, stanza V)
Blessed is he who was young from his youth,
Blessed is he who matures in time,
Who gradually life is cold
He knew how to endure over the years;
Who hasn't indulged in strange dreams,
Who has not shunned the secular mob,
Who at twenty was a dandy or a smart guy,
And at thirty he is profitably married,
Who was freed at fifty
From private and other debts,
Who is fame, money and ranks
I got in line calmly,
About whom they have been repeating for a century:
N.N. wonderful person.
But it's sad to think that it's in vain
We were given youth
That they cheated on her all the time,
That she deceived us;
That our best wishes
What are our fresh dreams
Decayed in quick succession,
Like rotten leaves in autumn.
It's unbearable to see in front of you
There's a long row of dinners alone,
Look at life as a ritual
And after the decorous crowd
Go without sharing with her
No common opinions, no passions,
(Chapter VIII, stanza X-XI)
Moscow... so much in this sound
For the Russian heart it has merged!
How much resonated with him!
Here, surrounded by his oak grove,
Petrovsky Castle. He's gloomy
He is proud of his recent glory.
Napoleon waited in vain
Intoxicated with the last happiness
Moscow kneeling
With the keys of the old Kremlin;
No, my Moscow did not go
To him with a guilty head.
Not a holiday, not a receiving gift,
She was preparing a fire
To the impatient hero.
From now on, immersed in thought,
He looked at the menacing flame.
I was already thinking about the form of the plan
And I’ll call him a hero;
For now, in my novel
I finished the first chapter;
Reviewed all this strictly;
There are a lot of contradictions
But I don’t want to correct them;
I will pay my debt to censorship
A lyrical digression is the author’s expression of feelings and thoughts in connection with what is depicted in the work. For example, at the end of the first volume " Dead souls“N.V. Gogol, having mentioned that Chichikov loved driving fast, interrupts the narration, pauses the development of the plot and begins to express his sincere thoughts about Russia, which he represents in the form of a quickly rushing troika. This digression forces the reader to take a fresh look at the novel and delve deeper into the author’s ideological intent. Invading the work, the writer violates the unity of the figurative picture, slows down the development of the action, but lyrical digressions naturally enter into the work, since they arise in connection with what is depicted in it, imbued with the same feeling as artistic images. Their content is determined by the same views of the author as the artistic depiction.
Lyrical digressions are widespread in literature, including modern literature - in the works of Ch. Aitmatov, V. P. Astafiev, Yu. V. Bondarev and others. They have no less significance than the main text of the work and can occupy it very great place. These are the digressions in “Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin (only in one chapter I - digressions about the theater, about youth, about creativity, the plan of the novel, etc.) - These digressions, varied in topics and rich in content, contribute to the breadth of coverage of reality, making Pushkin's novel in verse, according to Belinsky, a genuine "encyclopedia of Russian life." Lyrical digressions begin to play a leading role, and the reader’s main attention is directed to the feelings and thoughts of the great poet. In contrast to life extra person“In the digressions, the fullness of the life of the human creator gradually emerges. In the same way, in the poem “Don Juan” by J. G. Byron, it is in the lyrical digressions that the most important theme for the work unfolds, the need to fight for freedom against tyranny and oppression.
The lyrical digressions in the poems of A. T. Tvardovsky, O. F. Berggolts, E. A. Evtushenko, R. I. Rozhdestvensky, E. A. Isaev, V. D. Fedorov and others are filled with deep philosophical and journalistic content Soviet poets. In some cases, the literary digressions themselves constitute an entire poem (“Poem without a Hero” by A. A. Akhmatova, “40 lyrical digressions from the poem “Triangular Pear”” by A. A. Voznesensky).
Lyrical digressions give the author the opportunity to directly communicate with the reader. Their excitement and sincerity have a special power of persuasion. At the same time, the lyricism of the digressions does not mean that the writer withdraws into the world of his own “I” alone: they convey thoughts, feelings, and moods that are important for everyone. Generally significant content is expressed in them usually on behalf of the narrator or lyrical hero, embodying the typical position of a contemporary, his views and feelings (see Lyrical hero, Image of the narrator). It is enough to recall the digressions in “Eugene Onegin” to be convinced that their themes are much broader than intimate, personal, love experiences. Lyrical digressions are often journalistic, expressing the author’s active civic position and the connection of his work with modern socio-political life.