Analysis of S. A. Yesenin’s poem “The Black Man”
“The Black Man” is one of the most mysterious, ambiguously perceived and understood works of Yesenin. It expressed the mood of despair and horror in front of an incomprehensible reality. Its solution is primarily related to the interpretation of the image of a black man. His image has several literary sources. Yesenin acknowledged the influence on his poem “Mozart and Salieri” by Pushkin, where a mysterious black man appears. The “black man” is the poet’s double; he has chosen in himself everything that the poet himself considers negative and vile in himself. This theme - the theme of a painful soul, a split personality - is traditional for Russian classical literature. It was embodied in Dostoevsky’s “Double” and Chekhov’s “Black Monk”. But none of the works where such an image is found carries such a heavy burden of loneliness as Yesenin’s “Black Man”. The tragedy of self-perception lyrical hero lies in understanding one’s own doom: all the best and brightest is in the past, the future is seen as frightening and gloomily hopeless. Reading the poem, you involuntarily ask the question: a black man is a mortally dangerous opponent of the poet or part of that force that always wants evil and always does good. The “duel” with a black man, whatever his nature, served as a kind of spiritual test for the lyrical hero, a reason for merciless introspection. However, in a literary work it is important not only what is written, but also how. The theme of duality is expressed at the compositional level. Before us are two images - a pure soul and a black man, and the flow of the lyrical hero’s monologue into a dialogue with his double is a poetic expression of the subconscious. The relationship between monologue and dialogic speech is revealed in the rhythmic and intonation structure of the poem. The harsh rhythm of the dactyl enhances the dark intonations of the black man's monologue, and the agitated trochee contributes to the expression of the dialogic form of thought and narration. The metaphor of a broken mirror can be read as an allegory of a ruined life. Here, a piercing longing for the passing of youth, and an awareness of one’s uselessness, and a feeling of the vulgarity of life are expressed. However, this “too early fatigue” is still overcome: at the end of the poem, night gives way to morning - a saving time of sobering up from the nightmares of darkness. A night conversation with a “disgusting guest” helps the poet penetrate into the depths of his soul and painfully remove the dark layers from it. Perhaps, the lyrical hero hopes, this will lead to purification.
Analysis of the poem "Anna Snegina"
Already in the very title of Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina” there is a hint of plot similarity with the novel “Eugene Onegin”. As in Pushkin’s work, the heroes love story they meet her years later and remember their youth, regretting that they ever separated. By this time lyrical heroine is already becoming a married woman.
The main character of the work is a poet. His name, like the author’s, is Sergei. After a long absence, he returns to his native place. The hero took part in the First World War, but soon realized that it was being fought “for someone else’s interest,” and deserted, buying himself a forged document. The plot of the poem contains autobiographical features. It is inspired by memories of S.A.’s feelings. Yesenin to the landowner JI. Kashina, with whom he was in love in his youth.
In addition to the love line, the poem gives a broad plan modern poet social reality, including both pictures of peaceful village life and echoes of wars and revolutionary events. The poem was written alive spoken language, is full of dialogues, gentle humor and deep nostalgic feelings.
The poet’s patriotic feeling is embodied in the subtlety of the Central Russian landscape he created, a detailed story about the traditional peasant way of life that exists in the prosperous village of Radovo. The very name of this place is symbolic. The men in the village live prosperously. Everything here is done in a proper and thorough manner.
The prosperous Radov is contrasted in the poem with the village of Kriushi, where poverty and squalor reign. The peasants have rotten huts. It is symbolic that no dogs are kept in the village; apparently, there is nothing to steal from houses. But the villagers themselves, exhausted by their painful fate, steal the forest in Radov. All this gives rise to conflicts and civil strife. It is noteworthy that the display in the poem various types peasant life was an artistic innovation in the literature of that time, since in general there was a perception of the peasantry as a single social-class community with the same level of income and socio-political views. Gradually, the once calm and prosperous Radovo is drawn into a series of troubles.
An important feature of the poem is its anti-war orientation. Looking at the bright spring landscape, at the blooming gardens of his native land, the hero feels even more acutely the horror and injustice that war brings with it. In theory, the heroes of the poem should have been happy, spending it together among these beautiful gardens, forests and fields native land. But fate decreed differently.
Sergei is visiting an old miller. Here, thanks to the simple realities of rural life, the hero is immersed in memories of his youthful love. Happy to meet his native places, the hero dreams of starting an affair. Symbol love feeling in the poem it becomes lilac.
The figure of the miller himself, the hospitable owner of the house, and his busy wife, who strives to feed Sergei more deliciously, is also important in the work. Sergei’s conversation with the old woman conveys the popular perception of the author’s contemporary era: simple people Those who spend their lives working, live for today and feel how much more current everyday worries they have. In addition to the First World War, for which soldiers were taken to villages and hamlets, the peasants are plagued by local conflicts that worsened during the era of anarchy. And even an ordinary village old woman is able to see the reasons for these social unrest. S.A. Yesenin shows how a disruption in the usual course of events, the very revolutionary transformations that were carried out in the name of the people, actually turned into a series of new problems and anxieties.
It is symbolic that it is the miller’s wife who first characterizes Pron Ogloblin, the hero who embodies the image of a revolutionary-minded peasant in the poem. Yesenin convincingly shows that dissatisfaction with the tsarist regime and the desire for social change, even at the cost of cruelty and fratricidal massacre, was born primarily among those peasants who had a penchant for drunkenness and theft. It was people like Ogloblin who willingly went to share the landowners' property.
Sergei falls ill, and Anna Snegina comes to visit him herself. Autobiographical motifs are again heard in their conversation. The hero reads poems to Anna about tavern Rus'. And Yesenin himself, as you know, has a poetry collection “Moscow Tavern”. Romantic feelings flare up in the hearts of the heroes, and soon Sergei finds out that Anna is widowed. In folk tradition, there is a belief that when a woman is waiting for her husband or groom to return from war, her love becomes a kind of amulet for him and keeps him in battle. Anna's arrival to Sergei and attempt to continue romantic communication with him are perceived in this case as betrayal. Thus, Anna becomes indirectly responsible for the death of her husband and realizes this.
At the end of the poem, Sergei receives a letter from Anna, from which he learns how hard she is experiencing separation from her homeland and everything that she once loved. From a romantic heroine, Anna turns into an earthly suffering woman who goes to the pier to meet ships that have sailed from distant Russia. Thus, the heroes are separated not only by the circumstances of their personal lives, but also by profound historical changes.
How many brilliant, instructive and incredible interesting works, written by famous Russian writers and poets. Many foreign citizens admire them and read, as they say, avidly. But Russian people mostly study them in school, forgetting over time the main characters, the plot, and the important idea of classical literature.
In this article we would like to remember Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin. In particular, his autobiographical poem, which he called “Anna Snegina”. It tells about the youthful love of the famous poet and his native village in the era October revolution. It can also trace the attitude of Sergei Alexandrovich himself to the events of that time and their consequences.
The popular expression says: “A man without a past is like a tree without roots.” That is why you should never ignore your history. After all, a person who renounces his past risks losing himself. That is why it is so important to continuously strive into the depths of centuries, absorbing new streams of information.
However, most history textbooks are written in dry language, so not every person decides to study them at their leisure. But read literary works- pure pleasure. And taking even a cursory glance at the brief content and analysis of Sergei Yesenin’s work “Anna Snegina”, one can be convinced of this.
The early years of the future poet
Most modern schoolchildren know Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin only because he wrote poems with obscene words in his time. But he is considered a classic of Russian literature for completely different merits. But for what? Only a few will be able to answer this question.
The famous poet was born on October 3, 1895. His family lived, as they say nowadays, below the poverty line. The Yesenins' position improved only when they moved to Moscow, and the head of the family took the position of clerk. However, this did not bring happiness. Little Seryozha was taken into the care of three uncles, who raised him in a very unique manner. Which could not but affect the formation of the personality of the future poet. The mother, unable to bear her husband’s constant delays at work, returned to the village of Konstantinovo near Ryazan, where they had previously lived. And she tried to arrange her life with another man. This is how Sergei Alexandrovich got a brother, Sasha. But then the woman returned to her husband again.
The future Russian classic received his education at the Konstantinovsky Zemstvo School in his native village, which he will talk about in the poem “Anna Snegina.” Yesenin in school years earned a reputation as a repeat student with disgusting behavior. But then he moved to the parish church educational institution and it seems to have improved. Then the future poet studied at the zemstvo school and teacher's school, where he first developed a desire to write poems and poems.
Yesenin's first poetic experience
As we know, Sergei Alexandrovich did not work out as a teacher. In general, he spent a very long time deciding on a place to work, unsuccessfully trying to find himself. When Yesenin worked as a proofreader, he met poets, and then became a free student at Moscow City University.
The first published work of Sergei Yesenin was the poem “Birch”. It begins with the following words: “White birch under my window...” This significant event for the poet took place in 1914. About eleven years before Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina” under study was written. Subsequently, the worldview, views, character, and, accordingly, the artistic style of the poet changed significantly. And this can be easily seen in his work, even using the examples of the above works.
Yesenin's personal life also deserves attention. After all, he was officially married to three women and had four children. But most of all, his romantic relationship with the famous American dancer Isadora Duncan was imprinted in the memory of his contemporaries. She was much older than him, but this did not bother the couple at all.
The sudden death of the great Russian classic
Yesenin had an irresistible craving for alcohol. And not only his relatives, but also ordinary people knew about this. Sergei Alexandrovich was not at all ashamed or embarrassed by his behavior and often appeared in public in an indecent manner. In 1925, he was even sent to a Moscow clinic for treatment. When it ended or, as some sources say, was interrupted by the poet, he moved to Leningrad. And it seemed that Sergei Alexandrovich’s life was going well, but on December 28 of the same year the country was stunned by the almost insane news of his death.
The reason for the sudden death of the Russian classic is still shrouded in darkness. There is even a version that Yesenin committed suicide and wrote a farewell poem with his blood. However, there are still no facts confirming it. Therefore, descendants can only guess and get lost in speculation.
Themes and problems in Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina”
In the work under study, in addition to love, revolutionary and military theme, the theme of the Motherland is clearly revealed. And this is captured in numerous descriptions of the landscapes of his native village, in which main character looking for salvation, consolation. Here, in the wilderness, he develops a deep sense of patriotism and love for his Fatherland. This is especially felt at the end of the poem. After all, Sergusha did not follow Snegina to a foreign land, he chose his homeland. Which for him is personified not by huge Moscow with its political intrigues, but by a quiet, remote village with the beauty of Russian open spaces. Also in the work important role the road plays as a symbol of the path, helping the reader to know inner world the narrator through his reflections.
An analysis of Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina” cannot ignore the problems raised by the author. Many of which readers catch on their own. However, we will still reveal each of them. Firstly, this is the topic of inequality of classes. After all, it was she who became the leading cause of the revolution and spread the to different parties two loving people- the narrator and Anna. Secondly, the theme of the First World War, in which the soldiers were not interested and went to their deaths for other people's interests. Thirdly, there is the problem of debt, due to which Snegina cannot be with Sergusha. After all, this is how she will betray her late husband. But the poet himself is driven by contradictory thoughts. This becomes obvious when he refuses to help Anna, thereby supporting the peasants. Fourthly, the problem of devilish cowardice, which the author demonstrates to us using the example of the image of Labuti. His example also reveals the fifth problem - betrayal. Sixthly, the problem of inconsistency of actions with one’s own ideals. After all, the Bolsheviks did their best to promote universal equality and justice. But despite this, they still caused harm to other people - the nobility. And they even drove the unfortunate widow out of her own house, leaving her to the mercy of fate. Well, seventhly, there is the problem of the government, which does not care about the needs of the common people. Yesenin formulates his thoughts this way, conveying them to the reader through the driver who is taking the protagonist to his native village: “If they are the authorities, then they are the authorities, and we are just simple people.”
This is what the wonderful poet wanted to convey to people, these are the problems of Yesenin’s “Anna Snegina”.
Features of the structure of the poem
According to historical information, Sergei Yesenin finished the poem “Anna Snegina” shortly before his death. And I started it when I went on my second trip to the Caucasus. According to some reports, this place was of great importance for the poet. After all, it was there that Yesenin’s brightest creative period took place. He himself said that he writes with insane gusto, practically in one gulp, receiving unprecedented joy from the process itself. And this is felt when reading the poem. After all, it can be compared to a whole book containing two literary genres:
- the hero's love experiences - lyrics;
- events external to the hero - epic.
But that’s not the only thing that’s considered special. Also notable is poetic meter Yesenin's poem "Anna Snegina". Indeed, in this work the poet uses the style loved by Nikolai Nekrasov. Namely, a three-foot amphibrach, in which the stress falls on the third syllable (“Selo, which means ours is RadOvo, dvorOv, honor, two hundred”...).
Many critics, including modern ones, note that in the work Yesenin was able to show the country’s transition from Russian Empire To Soviet republic. And also fate little man during the Civil War and the First World War.
In addition, it should be noted that the plot of Sergei Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina,” as is often noted in modern works, based on real events. The village of Radovo is a prototype of the place where the poet himself lived. Therefore, its mention is of great importance for the creation of the so-called metaphorical space.
The poem being studied begins and ends the same way. In both cases, the story is about how the main character arrived in his native village. Thanks to this feature, the composition of the work has a cyclical structure.
There are five chapters in total in the poem. Each of them contains its own special stage in the formation of a new country:
- The first one talks about what Negative influence has an impact on residents First World War. After all, the whole country is forced to work just to feed the Russian army. Which is involved in an endless bloodbath. For this reason, the main character decided to desert from the front and rest a little.
- The second, in fact, is the author's commentary on the disasters that befell the country. In it, the main character remembers his youthful love, and later meets Anna Snegina, who is now the wife of another and spends the whole day talking with her.
- The third chapter of Sergei Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina” tells about the relationship of the main characters. Remembering the past, they realize that their sympathy is mutual. But the situation is significantly complicated by the news of the death of Snegina’s husband. She accuses the protagonist of cowardice, breaking off all relations with him. At the same time, a revolution is taking place in the country; ordinary people are eager to receive land for general use.
- In the fourth chapter, Anna and Sergusha finally make peace. The woman confesses her feelings to the main character. In the village, the transfer of noble property to the state is in full swing. Therefore, at the end of this part, the narrator leaves for St. Petersburg in order to find out the situation.
- The fifth chapter describes the ending civil war. The country has become impoverished, crime is flourishing around, Sergusha returns to her native village, but does not find Anna. The main character still loves her, but Snegina emigrated to London, and Sergusha is unable to leave her country.
According to Sergei Alexandrovich's friends, in his last years he began to reconsider his views on life and the situation in the country. He was tired of bohemian life, he was tired of rebelling, and that is why he went to the Caucasus to breathe in the “provincial” air. And this is felt when reading Yesenin’s work “Anna Snegina”. After all, the woman personifies the poet’s regret about the loss of his youth and symbolizes the desire to return to human values. But it appears like a mirage, and Sergei Alexandrovich’s melancholy is rather inappropriate. The country is falling apart, and nothing will be the same as before.
The narrator as a prototype of Sergei Yesenin
In Sergei Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina,” which we analyze in this article, there are only six heroes. The most important among them is the narrator, behind whose mask the poet himself is hidden. He comes from a peasant background and has excellent intelligence and insight. His story is a complete reflection of the life of Sergei Alexandrovich. He also rose from the bottom and became a famous literary figure. But it was a hard road. His character changed greatly, he lost all faith in the decent qualities of humanity and became a cynic. Therefore, in the first stages of communication with Anna, the narrator stays somewhat away from her, more reveling in the marvelous landscapes around and thoughts about the past.
What is happening in the country depresses the hero. He does not see any sense in the terrible bloodshed, he is angry because the rich live without knowing troubles and sit in safety, while people with less income - the people - go to their deaths (“The war has eaten away my whole soul. For someone else’s interest"). It is for this reason that Sergusha runs away to her native village, wanting to abstract from reality and immerse herself in thoughts and thoughts about the past. This is how Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina” begins.
It is also important to mention the following: critics and writers note that events in the country are perceived by the main character critically, with pain and indignation. And he would like to resist reality, to rebel, but fatigue, sadness and a certain fear still take their toll. Expressed in a desire to hide from senseless war and revolutionary confrontations, nostalgic about the past. And it seems that the narrator wants to understand the situation, contrasts, compares the past and present. But there is no strength to move on, and he remains with the past.
Anna Snegina as the image of Yesenin's real lover
In the analysis of Yesenin’s “Anna Snegina,” it is impossible to keep silent about the fact that under the guise of the heroine, after whom the work is named, lies Lydia Ivanovna Kashina. She was a noblewoman, but despite this, in her youth she had great love with the future poet. Nothing serious came out of the deep affection. Sergei chose the life of a poet, and the girl - family life. And quite profitably she married the White Guard Boris.
The heroes of the poem met again only during the period of revolutionary actions. When the class difference became especially noticeable. Anna has changed a lot, and the main character barely recognizes her as the former simple girl. And she is flattered not only by meeting famous poet, but also the youthful love with which his heart once burned. She begins to flirt with Sergusha, and he, despite significant changes in the girl’s character and demeanor, still falls in love with her again.
And then it seems to him that Anna is still pure and snow-white. Both her surname and her outfit hint at this. So much so that thoughts about a senseless war, about endless streams of blood of the people recede into the background. In the main character, Sergush sees a symbol of the former country; he plunges into the world of the past, allowing himself to forget.
However, the further plot of Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina” tells us that the relationship between the main characters does not work out. After all, the girl accuses Sergusha of cowardice and desertion. The situation is especially aggravated when news comes from the front about the death of Anna’s husband. Nevertheless, at the end of the work the characters are reconciled and even confess their love to each other. But the girl emigrates to London because she cannot find a place for herself in New Russia.
This is what makes them different real events and those set out by Yesenin in the plot of “Anna Snegina”. In life, Lydia Kashina goes to Moscow, having previously transferred the estate to the peasants. Adapts to Soviet Russia and becomes a typist.
Pron Oglobin as the embodiment of fellow villager Yesenin
Let's start with the fact that this hero is negative. But in it, the poet introduces the reader to a revolutionary dreamer and romantic who is obsessed with the desire for radical change and sincerely believes that they can only be achieved by uprising. He is a Bolshevik, strives for popular equality, universal justice, and socialism. And he remains true to his judgments to the end. He starts a rebellion, but dies at the hands of the White Guards.
His character is based on Pyotr Yakovlevich Mochalin. But some features are significantly exaggerated. After all, Pron is a rude, impudent and fighter who loves to drink. Moreover, he has a tendency towards aggression and violence. And this is proven by the fact that in the past he was sent to hard labor for murder.
However, the image differs from the real character not only in its exaggerated character, but also in its fate. After all, Pyotr Mochalin does not die, but settles down quite well and is engaged in party work.
Labutya as an example of the ambiguity of the revolution
This hero is an important participant in the story. Therefore, the summary of Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina” loses its special meaning without it. So, Labutya is Pron’s brother. But despite this, it is its complete opposite. After all, he is a coward, as evidenced by the episode of the shooting of Pron by the Bolsheviks, in which Labutya hides behind the hay.
He doesn’t care about the ideas of the revolution; moreover, he doesn’t share them. But the desire to get benefits and not miss out burns with fire in him. And this becomes obvious when the reader reaches the point in which Labutya rushes to describe Anna’s house and property as quickly as possible.
By contrasting Pron and Labuti, Yesenin wanted to demonstrate the ambiguity of the revolution. After all, they participated in the ideological struggle different people, so the revolution turned out to be versatile. And not specifically bad or good.
Melnik as an example of national character
Most readers of even a summary of Yesenin’s “Anna Snegina” note that this hero is the kindest, most merciful, positive and sincere. He knows how to accept all the hardships of fate with a smile and does not divide people into rich and poor, nobles and peasants, whites and reds. And this can be seen in his actions. For example, he treats Sergusha, and also provides Anna and her mother with a warm shelter at a difficult moment. Thus demonstrating the character traits of a true Christian.
Critics agree with the opinion of readers, but add that in the image of the Miller, Yesenin demonstrated the breadth of the Russian soul and the best qualities of our people.
Anna Snegina's mother
The last character of Yesenin's poem "Anna Snegina" summary rarely mentioned. Because he only pronounces a few short phrases. But even despite this, the reader understands what Anna Snegina’s mother is like. Firstly, the woman is quite stingy with feelings and emotions. And this is not surprising, given the corresponding living conditions. Secondly, she has a sober mind and self-control. Thanks to this, he not only accepts the death of his son-in-law relatively calmly, but also helps his daughter come to terms with an unexpected blow of fate.
In Yesenin’s poem “Anna Snegina” and its summary, the spirit of self-sacrifice is felt. After all, the main character, like Sergei Alexandrovich himself, could not accept the new aggressive Russia, where relatives are at enmity and constantly butt heads. But he couldn’t leave her either. And he preferred to indulge in nostalgia for the past, peaceful patriarchal Russia, which can no longer be returned. She is symbolized by Anna Snegina. Which remained only in the poet’s dreams.
The artistic embodiment of the era in which writers and poets lived and worked influenced the formation of the views of not only their contemporaries, but also their descendants. The poet Sergei Yesenin was and remains such a ruler of thoughts.The image of time with its problems, heroes, quests, and doubts was the focus of attention of writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, the idea of Yesenin as a major social thinker with a heightened perception of his time is becoming increasingly stronger. Yesenin's poetry is a source of deep thought on many social and philosophical problems. This is history and revolution, state and people, village and city, people and individuals.
Understanding the tragedy of Russia in the 1920s, Yesenin predetermined and foresaw everything that we have only recently spoken out loud about after seventy years of silence. With stunning power, Yesenin captured the “new” that was forcibly introduced into the life of the Russian village, “exploded” it from the inside and has now led to a well-known state. Yesenin wrote in a letter his impressions of those years: “I was in the village. Everything is collapsing... The end of everything.”
Yesenin was shocked by the complete degeneration of the patriarchal village: the wretched life of the village devastated by years of “internecine discord”, “calendar Lenin” instead of the icons thrown out by the Komsomol sisters, “Capital” instead of the Bible. Tragic outcome The poet sums up all this in the poem “Soviet Rus'”:
This is how the country is!
Why the hell am I
Screamed in verse that I am friendly with the people?
My poetry is no longer needed here,
And, perhaps, I myself am not needed here either.
The poem "Anna Onegin", written shortly before the poet's death in 1924, was a kind of generalization of Yesenin's thoughts about this dramatic and controversial time and absorbed many of the motifs and images of his lyrics.
At the center of the poem is the personality of the author. His attitude to the world permeates the entire content of the poem and unites the events taking place. The poem itself is distinguished by its polyphony, which corresponds to the spirit of the era depicted, the struggle of human passions. The poem closely intertwines lyrical and epic principles.
The personal theme is the main one here. "Epic" events are revealed through fate, consciousness, feelings of the poet and main character. The title itself suggests that in the center is the fate of a person, a woman, against the backdrop of the historical collapse of old Russia. The heroine's name sounds poetic and polysemantic. Snegina a symbol of the purity of white snow echoes the spring flowering of bird cherry, white as snow, and denotes, according to Yesenin, a symbol of youth lost forever. In addition, this poetry looks like an obvious dissonance against the background of time.
The theme of time and the theme of the homeland are closely connected in the poem. The action begins on Ryazan soil in 1917 and ends in 1923. Behind the fate of one of the corners of the Russian land is the fate of the country and the people. Changes in the life of the village, in the appearance of the Russian peasant, begin to be revealed from the first lines of the poem - in the story of the driver who delivers the poet, who has not been to his native place for a long time.
The hidden conflict of the prosperous village of Radovo (“Everyone has a garden and a threshing floor”) with the poverty-stricken village of Kriushi, which “plowed with one plow,” leads to a fratricidal war. The Kriushans, caught stealing timber, are the first to begin the massacre: “...they are hit with axes, so are we.” And then came the reprisal against the despotic foreman, who represented the authorities in the village:
The scandal smells like murder.
Both our fault and theirs
Suddenly one of them gasps! ?
And he immediately killed the foreman.
The time of revolution and permissiveness brought forward from the ranks of the Kriushans the local leader Pron Ogloblin, who had no aspirations in life other than to “drink moonshine in a tavern.” This rural revolutionary is “a brawler, a brute,” he is “drunk in the morning for weeks at a time...” The old millwoman says this about Prona, considering him a destroyer, and also a murderer. Yesenin emphasizes the Pugachev principle in Prony, who, like a king, stands above the people:
Ogloblin stands at the gate
And I’ll get drunk in my liver and soul
The impoverished people are boned:
"Hey you! Cockroach spawn!
All to Snegina! R-time and kvass
Give me your lands, they say
Without any ransom from us!"
"Cockroach spawn!" this is how the hero addresses the people, in whom many in the old days saw a Bolshevik-Leninist. A terrible type, in essence, born of a turning point. An addiction to alcohol also distinguishes another Ogloblin, the Pronovsky brother Labutya, a tavern beggar, a liar and a coward. He “with an important bearing, like a certain gray-haired veteran,” found himself “in the Council” and lives “without a callus on his hands.” If the fate of Pron, with all its negative sides, acquires a tragic sound in connection with his death, then the life of Labuti is a pathetic, disgusting farce. It is remarkable that it was Labutya who “went first to describe the Sneginsky house” and arrested all its inhabitants, who were later saved from a speedy trial by a kind miller.
The miller in the poem is the embodiment of kindness, closeness to nature, mercy and humanity. His image is permeated with lyricism and is dear to the author as one of the brightest and kindest principles of the people. It is no coincidence that the miller constantly connects people. Melnik personifies Russian national character in its “ideal” version and this, as it were, confronts the poet, whose soul is insulted and embittered and a strain is felt in it.
When “the grimy rabble played foxtrots on pianos to the cows of Tambov around the courtyards,” when blood was shed and natural human connections were destroyed, we perceive the image of Anna Snegina in a special way. Her fate looks bright and sad, written by Yesenin in the best traditions of Russian classics. The heroine appears before us in the haze of a romantic past “they were happy” and a harsh present. The mirage of memories, the “girl in a white cape” disappeared into the “beautiful distance” of youth. Now the heroine, widowed, deprived of her fortune, forced to leave her homeland, amazes with her Christian forgiveness:
Tell,
You're in pain, Anna.
For your farm ruin?
But somehow sad and strange
She lowered her gaze...
Anna does not feel any anger or hatred towards the peasants who ruined her. Emigration also does not embitter her: with bright sadness she remembers her irretrievable past. Despite the dramatic nature of the fate of landowner Anna Snegina, her image exudes kindness and humanity. The humanistic principle sounds especially poignant in the poem in connection with the condemnation of the imperialist and fratricidal war. The war is condemned by the entire course of the poem, by its various characters and situations: the miller and his old woman, the driver, the events of A. Snegina’s life.
The war has eaten away at my soul.
For someone else's interest
I shot at a body close to me
And he climbed onto his brother with his chest.
The time of change appears in the poem in its tragic guise. The poetic assessment of events amazes with humanity, “soul-nurturing humanity,” for only a patriotic poet, a proven humanist, seeing “how many are buried in the pits,” how many “monsters and cripples are now,” could write:
I think,
How beautiful
Earth
And there's a man on it!
The poem “Anna Snegina” is rightly considered one of Yesenin’s largest creations in terms of significance and scale, a final work in which the poet’s personal fate is comprehended in connection with the people’s fate
The poem was written in Batumi in the autumn and winter of 1924-1925, and Yesenin, in letters to G. Benislavskaya and P. Chagin, spoke of it as the best of all that he had written, and defined its genre as Lisichanskaya. But the question of the genre of the poem in Soviet literary criticism has become controversial. V. I. Khazan in the book “Problems of S. A. Yesenin’s poetics” (Moscow - Grozny, 1988) presents a number of researchers who adhere to the idea that the epic content prevails in the poem (A. Z. Zhavoronkov, A. T. Vasilkovsky - the latter’s point of view evolved over time towards classifying the poem as a lyrical-narrative genre), and their opponents, who recognize the lyrical principle as dominant in the poem (E. B. Meksh, E. Naumov). Scientists V. I. Khazan are also contrasted on another basis: those who believe that the epic and lyrical themes in the poem develop side by side, colliding only at times (E. Naumov, F. N. Pitskel), and those who see “organicity” and fusion" of both lines of the poem (P. F. Yushin, A. Volkov). The author himself agrees with A. T. Vasilkovsky, which, using the example of a specific analysis of the text, shows how “interconnected and interacting, the lyrical and epic images of the artistic representation of life organically alternate in it. In the epic fragments, lyrical “motives” and “images” arise, which, in turn, are internally prepared by the emotional-lyrical state of the author-hero, and this mutual transition of the epic into the lyrical and vice versa, deeply motivated by the general poetic content of the poem, represents its main ideological and compositional principle" (35; 162).
The poem was based on events before and after the revolution in Russia, which added an epic scope to the work, and the story about the relationship between the lyrical hero and the “girl in a white cap” provides the poem with heartfelt lyricism. These two interpenetrating principles become decisive in the plot of the poem, accordingly affecting the style and intonation of the work:
“Having conveyed the feeling of tenderness that the author put to the test for a person he had never loved, talking about everything that he experienced “under the influx of sixteen years,” he gave an objective and logical resolution to the lyrical theme. “Anna Snegina” is both “an explanation with a woman” and “an explanation with the era,” and the first is clearly subordinated to the second, because at the heart of the poem, contrary to its local, personal title, is a story about the revolutionary break-up in the village. With the unrelenting sound of the lyrical theme, a wide scale of depiction of the people’s struggle and deep penetration into it are achieved. human characters" (41; 93).
But in today's controversy about "Anna Snegina" it is not theoretical problems that come to the fore, but the question of the modern interpretation of the characters. And here the pendulum of assessments swung to the other extreme: from a rural activist, Pron turns into a criminal and a murderer:
"... Pron is a criminal and a murderer in the eyes of not only the miller's wife, but also, as it seems to me, any morally healthy person. He, devoid of regret for the old Snegina, who lost her son-in-law in the war, treats his fellow villagers with disrespect, considering him a "cockroach brood" But to his insignificance, that the brothers, who are surprisingly friendly, have lost their elementary pride, allows him to enter the Rada. Is it the principle of the “leader of the masses,” especially in the village, where every step is visible? (18; 32)
The starting point for such interpretations of the image of Pron Ogloblin is the impartial response of the miller’s wife about him as a bully, a brawler, a brute, and then the subjective thought of the old woman is reduced to the rank of objective truth. The miller's wife is often considered "the embodiment of the healthy peasant spirit, with whom it is impossible to argue" (16; 8, 138). However, this is not quite true. After all, if you believe her words, then all Kriushans, without exception, are “thieves’ souls” and “they should be sent to prison after prison.” There is a clear exaggeration in her assessments, especially since most often she judges not after what she saw with her own eyes, but according to the words of “parishioners.”
As for Pron’s murder of the foreman, apparently there were good reasons for this. The author does not unfold the episode into a detailed scene and does not explain the motives for Pron’s perpetration, but the witness who took place - the cab driver - notes: “The scandal smells of murder, both ours and theirs.” And, speaking of Pron as a killer, we probably shouldn’t forget that he himself was shot by Denikin’s men “in the year 1920,” which provides his image with a dramatic nuance. And the statement about “strange goodwill” towards brother Labute must be recognized as a complete misunderstanding, because Pron tested completely different feelings regarding him, and this is clearly stated in the poem: “He pulled out Pron’s nerves, And Pron did not swear with judgment.” And the poem does not mention any “admitted” Labuti to the Rada
It must be said that the new interpretation of Pron’s image is independent of stereotypes, it contains indisputable and irrefutable observations, but unnecessary polemical harshness prevents us from judging the character soberly and calmly, as he deserves. This is especially evident in generalizations, which can also hardly be considered justified: “... The victory of the revolution attracts Pron with the prospect of new reprisals, but not against one foreman, but against “everyone” (18; 32).
A. Karpov’s assessment is more balanced and does not conflict with the text: Pron’s appearance in the poem “is not that reduced, but, so to speak, a little inhabited. The millwoman says about the poor leader: “A bully, a brawler, a brute. He is always embittered by everything, drunk every morning for weeks." But the poet also prefers the unadorned truth to icon paintings: Pron is "drunk in the liver and bones the impoverished people in the soul," he speaks, without hiding his "grumpy dexterity," his speeches are met words and expressions that can jar the ear - he is a master of “swearing not with judgment...” (14; 79).
Lenin's lines of the poem also became controversial. Because of their inherent peremptory nature, the Kunyaevi fathers and sons accuse literary scholarship of lack of insight into deciphering the content of the peasants’ question “Who is Lenin?” and the response of the lyrical heroes “He is you.” The authors of the biography of S. Yesenin shift the question to another plane: “The poet admits that Lenin is the leader of the masses, flesh of their flesh. But what they are, these masses in the poem - it never occurred to anyone: lowlifes, drunkards, lumpens, participants collective murder of the foreman, “dashing villains,” “thieves’ souls.” “They should be sent to prison after prison.” Then the sharply negative characterization of Pron and Labuti is repeated and the conclusion is drawn: “This is the picture that emerges to us upon careful reading, and if we remember the quiet one.” the phrase of the hero of the poem about Lenin: “He is you!”, then it becomes clear that we, as they say, simply did not see all the depth and all the drama inherent in it” (16; 8, 137).
It cannot be said that such a solution to the problem (a literal reading of the metaphor) is distinguished by profundity; on the contrary, it is too flat and primitive to resemble the truth. Kunyaevi intentionally or unknowingly replaces the “-” sign in the hero’s response with the “=" sign, and everything turns out very simply: since there is an equal sign between Lenin and the peasants, it means that all the negative epithets addressed to the peasants are mechanically transferred to the image of the leader. But this “simplicity” is “worse than theft.” We remind you that the poem was written from November 1924 to January 1925. Yesenin, as you know, was not listed among the “state” poets and, naturally, no one could force him, having specially left the hospital, to spend several hours in Lenin’s coffins, but then in the unfinished poem “Gulyai-Pole” write sincere lines:
And so he died...
From copper-barking hulks
The last salute is given, given.
The one who saved us is no more.
In the same excerpt from the poem “Gulyai-Polye,” Yesenin characterizes Lenin as a “severe genius,” which again does not fit into the interpretation of the image of the leader proposed by the Kunyaevs. Moreover, on January 17, 1925, that is, at the time of the completion of “Anna Snegina,” Yesenin creates “Captain of the Earth,” in which he describes, “How a modest boy from Simbirsk became the helmsman of his country.” The poet, with all the sincerity that is beyond doubt, admits that he is happy because “with the same feelings” he “breathed and lived” with him.
And now, if we assume that Kunyaevi is right in interpreting the image of Lenin in Anna Snegina, it means that in Gulyai-Polye Yesenin sincerely lied to the reader, in Anna Snegina he told a camouflaged truth (to put it simply, he showed the lump in his pocket) , and in “Captain of the Earth” he deceived again in print. Who to believe: Yesenin or Kunyaevim? We admit that Yesenin inspires much more confidence and, it seems, he was not disingenuous in any of the three works about Lenin. And the hero’s answer to the peasants “He is you!” means nothing more than Lenin - the personification of your hopes and expectations. This very reading is dictated, in our opinion, by poetics: a detailed presentation of the circumstances of the conversation (“burdened with thoughts,” “under the ringing of the head,” “quietly answered”) indicate a sincere and benevolent answer. And in general, it is impossible to imagine that the hero of the poem could look into the face of the peasants (“And everyone with a gloomy smile Looked into my face and eyes”) and say that Lenin is the same scoundrel as they themselves, as it turns out in Kunyaevi. A decade later, one can come to the conclusion that Yesenin’s Lenin bears the stamp of that era, but it is impossible to distort the appearance of the author and his lyrical hero to please political topicality
Some modern interpretations of the image of Anna Snegina do not stand up to any criticism: “The girl in the white top” (...) changes for the worse, expressively flirts with him”; “The woman, not accepting his feelings, seems to justify herself for not going that far far away, as we would like..."; "As if finally realizing that they were talking in different languages, live in different times and different feelings, the heroine acts as a woman disappointed in her expectations should..." (16; 8, 139).
We join the position of those who believe that the image of Anna was painted by Yesenin in the best traditions of Russian classics; it is deep, devoid of schematism and unambiguity. “The heroine appears before us as an earthly woman, beautiful, contradictory in her own way, good-natured even at the moment of losing her lands (...)
Widowed, deprived of a mortgage, forced to leave her homeland, Anna does not test the peasants who ruined her with any anger or hatred. Emigration also does not embitter her: she is able to rejoice at the successes of her distant homeland and, with a feeling of light sadness, mention the poet and the entire irretrievable past. Anna's "unreasonable" letter is full of the longing of a lonely person for his lost homeland. It is “above-class,” and behind the excited words it is a sin to try to discern only “the daughter of a landowner” (18; 33).
One cannot but agree with those literary scholars who consider “Anna Snegina” one of Yesenin’s most soulful creations. It is marked by monumentality, epic majesty and lyrical insight. The leitmotif runs through the entire poem with lyrical lines about youth, a spring dawn, which remains forever in a person’s memory; The novel with Anna is written in Yesenin's subtle and gentle way, and the stories flow with the will that is inherent in the epic, which recreates nothing in the flow that is compressed by life (14; 76-90).
“Anna Snegina,” according to researchers of the poet’s work, is Yesenin’s most mature work both artistically and in terms of the depth of historical thinking. The genre of “Anna Snegina” is a poem, its genre originality lies in the combination of lyrical and epic narrative.
The plot-forming story is the story of the difficult relationship between the lyrical hero, the poet, to whom Yesenin gave his name - Sergei, and Anna Snegina. Once upon a time, in their youth, they were in love with each other, and the hero-narrator keeps a sad and bright memory of this:
Once upon a time at that gate over there
I was sixteen years old
And a girl in a white cape
She told me affectionately: “No!”
They were distant and sweet.
That image has not faded away in me...
We all loved during these years,
But they loved us little. (1)
This memory is like an exposition of the poem. The plot begins when in the summer of 1917 the main character comes to his native place and meets Anna again: she visits him during his illness. They both changed, as Anna notes:
I have become an important lady
And you are a famous poet. (3)
Love does not awaken in the hero again, but he is pleased to remember the past:
And at least there is no past in the heart.
Strangely I was full
An influx of sixteen years. (3)
The climax comes in the scene when Anna receives news from the front about the death of her officer husband and, beside herself with grief, reproaches the poet for cowardice. The hero in this scene behaves very dignified: he does not argue, does not make excuses, he simply leaves Anna’s house. The second culmination and at the same time denouement is the final explanation of the heroes. One evening the miller brings Anna and her mother, a local landowner, to his house, since the peasants had seized the master's farm and kicked the two women out into the street. Anna asks Sergei for forgiveness for her offensive words expressed in front of last meeting(she could not control her behavior after learning about her husband’s death), and suddenly admits that in her youth, when she told the future poet: “No!”, she loved him. She, like Sergei, remembers all her life about her half-childish, but such poetic love:
This was in childhood...
Another... Not an autumn dawn...
You and I were sitting together...
We are sixteen years old. (4)
After this, the heroes part forever: Anna leaves, but the poet does not stop her, does not even ask about her plans for the future. He himself too
Quickly rushed off to St. Petersburg
Dispel melancholy and sleep. (4)
The epilogue to the love story is Anna’s letter from London, in which she talks about her distant homeland and her love:
My path is clear...
But you are still dear to me
Like home and like spring. (5)
The image of the heroine created in the poem is attractive due not only to her external beauty - “slender face” (3), “beautiful and sensual mouth” (4), swan hands (4), but also to her spiritual charm. She visits the sick hero, asks for forgiveness for the offense, she does not complain about fate when she is kicked out of her home. Her letter from England proves that this is not a spoiled, capricious lady, but an intelligent and strong woman who endures her misfortunes with dignity: after all, she lost her husband, her father’s house, her homeland. In exile, she thinks about Russia without malice, and recalls Radov’s favorite surroundings with tenderness:
Now I'm far away from you...
It's April in Russia now.
And the blue curtain
Birch and spruce are covered. (5)
Thus, the lyrical content of the poem is a love story of two good but unhappy people. At the same time, the hero understands his advantage over Anna: he lives in his homeland, his personal unsettlement is smoothed out by a completely conscious feeling of joy that he can come to his native village, see places familiar from childhood, communicate with friends and relatives. In other words, the problem of human happiness is solved in the poem in a broad social sense:
How beautiful
Earth
And there is a man on it. (2)
In the poem, the lyrical hero not only experiences love-memory, but also peers with interest at the events taking place around him, expresses his attitude towards them. The time that is described in the poem is an era of social upheaval: the First World War is underway, two Russian revolutions are taking place in 1917. Therefore, the content of the work cannot be limited to a love story. The relationship of the hero-narrator with the larger social world is also important in the poem. The lyrical hero very emotionally expresses his assessment of the “world carnage” and deliberately deserts:
No no!
I won't go forever
For being some kind of scum
Throws it to the crippled soldier
A nickel or ten-kopeck piece in the dirt. (2)
Big social world- it is also the people. The hero willingly talks about his meetings with peasants: they openly talk about rural problems, the poet follows their destinies with interest. Thus, epic pictures of village life are imbued with the author’s frank sympathy (lyrical feeling) and show the direct participation of the main character in village events.
The poem reflected the revolutionary sentiments of the peasantry, the class struggle in the countryside, which resulted in the abolition of landownership. Therefore, the work contains many realistically drawn characters: a talkative driver who cunningly extorts an extra ruble from the hero-poet; a busy and resourceful miller, his businesslike wife; Pron Ogloblin and his brother Labutya; a lot of nameless men. Among the motley village crowd, the hero-narrator himself is shown: he is inseparable from the people, from the people’s concerns and hopes. No wonder, having arrived in the village, he immediately
I went to bow to the men,
Like an old friend and guest. (2)
The most striking image of a peasant in the poem is, of course, the image of Pron Ogloblin, a poor man from the village of Kriushi. This is a decisive, brave, courageous man who is not afraid to come to the landowner and demand land. Having heard that “There are now Soviets in Russia” (4), he immediately declares that he will organize a commune in his village. When Denikin’s men attacked Kriusha, he did not hide in the straw, like Labute, and was killed as an active supporter Soviet power. Pron swears in the poem last words, drinks, kills the foreman in a rage, the miller’s wife calls him “a bully, a fighter, a brute” (2), but the hero-narrator sees the warmth of this peasant behind the external rudeness, a strong character, desire to serve the people. The seriousness of Pron's personality is emphasized by comparing him with his brother Labutey - an empty braggart who, after the revolution, quickly joined the village council in order to do nothing and live happily ever after.
The lyrical hero of the poem sympathizes with the “peasant truth” and considers Pron’s actions fair, but something keeps him “above the fray.” The poet remains an observer and not an active participant in events. Anna is a match for him. They both have a hard time with the cruelty of their time and cannot come to terms with it. The lyrical hero considers Bolshevik transformations in the village necessary, but at the same time he thinks with sadness and tenderness about the village young lady, the daughter of a landowner, who left the revolution for England. He evaluates the people around him not from class positions, but from the point of view of kindness, responsiveness, decency, that is, from the point of view of universal moral criteria.
The compositional structure confirms the definition of the genre originality of the poem given at the beginning. Firstly, in “Anna Snegina” the lyrical and epic narratives develop in parallel: they only sometimes touch, but do not collide. This contact is observed when the hero is in the thick of village life (for example, his conversation with the peasants about Lenin at the gathering). But there are very few such scenes in the poem.
Secondly, a feature of the poem is its ring composition, which emphasizes the primary importance of the lyrical content in comparison with the epic (social). In the first and fifth chapters there are stanzas that almost completely coincide. They differ only in the last line: first - “We all loved in these years, But they loved us little,” at the end - “We all loved in these years, But, that means, They loved us too.” This difference is significant: at the beginning of the poem, the hero recalls with bitterness the refusal of the girl in the white cape, and at the end, after the “reasonless” (5) letter from England, he experiences “bright sadness,” for he knows that both in his distant youth and now he is loved.
So, in “Anna Snegina” two types of narrative are combined, forming a complex unity. What is more important in a poem - epic or lyric?
It is known that at first Yesenin intended the title of the poem - “Radovtsy” - to emphasize the epic content, but in the end the author settled on the lyrical version of the title - “Anna Snegina”, thereby emphasizing the paramount importance of the lyrical experiences of the heroes in his work. In other words, the basis of the plot of the poem is not the development of events, but the feelings of the lyrical hero caused by these events, as well as communication with nature, and memories of youth. Epic scenes in the poem are an important life background for revealing the emotional experiences of the protagonist, although it should be recognized that the development of the lyrical plot is pushed precisely by epic events: two revolutions of 1917 changed the social situation in Russia and made the separation of the poet and Anna inevitable. Turning point historical era casts a dramatic light on the love story of the heroes.
The plot and compositional features of “Anna Snegina” are determined by the genre originality of the work. The composition of the poem is a logically sequential montage of individual completed scenes that demonstrate signs of historical time, relationships characters, their inner experiences. The lyricism of the work is emphasized by the ring structure.
