Artistic features of the poetry of symbolist poets of the 20th century. silver Age

The emergence of new directions, trends, styles in art and literature is always associated with an understanding of the place and role of man in the world, in the Universe, with a change in man’s self-awareness. One of these turning points occurred at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Artists of that time advocated a new vision of reality and searched for original artistic means. The outstanding Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaev called this short but surprisingly bright period the Silver Age. This definition primarily applies to Russian poetry of the early twentieth century. The Golden Age is the age of Pushkin and Russian classics. It became the basis for revealing the talents of the poets of the Silver Age. In Anna Akhmatova’s “Poem without a Hero” we find the lines:

And the silver month floated brightly above the silver age.

Chronologically, the Silver Age lasted one and a half to two decades, but in terms of intensity it can safely be called a century. It turned out to be possible thanks to the creative interaction of people of rare talents. The artistic picture of the Silver Age is multi-layered and contradictory. Various artistic movements, creative schools, and individual non-traditional styles arose and intertwined. The art of the Silver Age paradoxically united the old and the new, the passing and the emerging, turning into a harmony of opposites, forming a culture of a special kind. During that turbulent time, a unique overlap occurred between the realistic traditions of the outgoing golden age and new artistic movements. A. Blok wrote: “The sun of naive realism has set.” It was a time of religious quest, fantasy and mysticism. The synthesis of arts was recognized as the highest aesthetic ideal. Symbolist and futurist poetry, music pretending to be philosophy, decorative painting, a new synthetic ballet, decadent theater, and the “modern” architectural style arose. The poets M. Kuzmin and B. Pasternak composed music. Composers Scriabin, Rebikov, Stanchinsky practiced some in philosophy, some in poetry and even prose. The development of art occurred at an accelerated pace, with great intensity, giving birth to hundreds of new ideas.

By the end of the 19th century, symbolist poets, who later began to be called “senior” symbolists, loudly declared themselves - Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, K. Balmont, F. Sologub, N. Minsky. Later, a group of “young symbolist” poets arose - A. Bely, A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov. A group of Acmeist poets was formed - N. Gumilyov, O. Mandelstam, S. Gorodetsky, A. Akhmatova and others. Poetic futurism appears (A. Kruchenykh, V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky). But despite all the diversity and variety of manifestations in the work of artists of that time, similar trends are observed. The changes were based on common origins. The remnants of the feudal system were disintegrating, and there was a “ferment of minds” in the pre-revolutionary era. This created a completely new environment for the development of culture.

In poetry, music, and painting of the Silver Age, one of the main themes was the theme of freedom of the human spirit in the face of Eternity. Artists sought to unravel the eternal mystery of the universe. Some approached this from a religious position, others admired the beauty of the world created by God. Many artists perceived death as another existence, as a happy deliverance from the torment of the suffering human soul. The cult of love, intoxication with the sensual beauty of the world, the elements of nature, and the joy of life were unusually strong. The concept of “love” was deeply labored. Poets wrote about love for God and for Russia. In the poetry of A. Blok, Vl. Solovyov, V. Bryusov, Scythian chariots rush, pagan Rus' is reflected in the canvases of N. Roerich, Petrushka dances in the ballets of I. Stravinsky, a Russian fairy tale is recreated (“Alyonushka” by V. Vasnetsov, “The Leshy” by M. Vrubel).

Valery Bryusov at the beginning of the twentieth century became a generally recognized theorist and leader of Russian symbolism. He was a poet, prose writer, literary critic, scientist, encyclopedic educated person. The beginning of Bryusov’s creative activity was the publication of three collections “Russian Symbolists”. He admired the poetry of the French symbolists, which was reflected in the collections “Masterpieces”, “This Is Me”, “The Third Watch”, “To the City and the World”.

Bryusov showed great interest in other cultures, in ancient history, in antiquity, and created universal images. In his poems, the Assyrian king Assargadon appears as if alive, the Roman legions and the great commander Alexander the Great pass through, medieval Venice, Dante and much more are shown. Bryusov headed the large Symbolist magazine “Scales”. Although Bryusov was considered a recognized master of symbolism, the principles of writing of this direction had a greater impact on early poems, such as “Creativity” and “To the Young Poet”.

Idealistic thinking soon gave way to earthly, objectively significant themes. Bryusov was the first to see and predict the onset of the cruel industrial age. He praised human thought, new discoveries, was interested in aviation, and predicted space flights. For his amazing performance, Tsvetaeva called Bryusov a “hero of labor.” In the poem “Work” he formulated his life goals:

I want to experience the secrets of Life wise and simple. All paths are extraordinary, The path of labor is like a different path.

Bryusov remained in Russia until the end of his life; in 1920 he founded the Institute of Literature and Art. Bryusov translated the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Armenian poets.

Konstantin Balmont was widely known as a poet, enjoyed enormous popularity in the last ten years of the 19th century, and was an idol of youth. Balmont's work lasted more than 50 years and fully reflected the state of transition at the turn of the century, the fermentation of the minds of that time, the desire to withdraw into a special, fictional world. At the beginning of his career, Balmont wrote many political poems, in which he created a cruel image of Tsar Nicholas II. They were secretly passed from hand to hand, like leaflets.

Already in the first collection, “Under the Northern Sky,” the poet’s poems acquire grace of form and musicality.

The theme of the sun runs through the poet’s entire work. For him, the image of the life-giving sun is a symbol of life, living nature, with which he always felt an organic connection: Material from the site

I came into this world to see the Sun and the blue horizon. I came into this world to see the Sun. And the heights of the mountains. I came to this world to see the Sea and the lush color of the valleys. I made peace. In one glance, I am the ruler...

In the poem “Bezverbnost” Balmont brilliantly notices the special state of Russian nature:

There is a tired tenderness in Russian nature, The silent pain of hidden sadness, The hopelessness of grief, voicelessness, vastness, Cold heights, receding distances.

The very title of the poem speaks of the absence of action, of the immersion of the human soul in a state of wise contemplation. The poet conveys various shades of sadness, which, growing, pours out in tears:

And the heart has forgiven, but the heart has frozen, And it cries, and cries, and cries involuntarily.

The poets of the Silver Age were able to use bright strokes to add capacity and depth to the content of poems that reflected the flow of feelings and emotions, the complex life of the soul.

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Composition

It was given by analogy with the Golden Age - that’s what they called the beginning of the 19th century, Pushkin’s time. There is an extensive literature about Russian poetry of the “Silver Age” - both domestic and foreign researchers have written a lot about it, including such prominent scientists as V. M. Zhirmunsky, V. Orlov, L. K. Dolgopolov, continue write M. L. Gasparov, R. D. Timenchik, N. A. Bogomolov and many others. Numerous memoirs have been published about this era - for example, V. Mayakovsky (“On Parnassus of the Silver Age”), I Odoevtseva (“On the Banks of the Neva”), three-volume memoirs of A. Bely; The book “Memoirs of the Silver Age” was published.

Russian poetry of the “Silver Age” was created in an atmosphere of general cultural upsurge as its most significant part. It is characteristic that at the same time such bright talents as A. Blok and V. Mayakovsky, A. Bely and V. Khodasevich could create in one country. This list goes on and on. This phenomenon was unique in the history of world literature.

The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century. in Russia, this is a time of change, uncertainty and gloomy omens, this is a time of disappointment and a feeling of the approaching death of the existing socio-political system. All this could not but affect Russian poetry. The emergence of symbolism is connected with this.

Symbolism was a heterogeneous phenomenon, uniting in its ranks poets who held the most contradictory views. Some of the symbolists, such as N. Minsky, D. Merezhkovsky, began their creative career as representatives of civil poetry, and then began to focus on the ideas of “god-building” and “religious community”. The “senior symbolists” sharply denied the surrounding reality and said “no” to the world: I don’t see our reality, I don’t know our century...

(V. Ya. Bryusov) Earthly life is only a “dream,” a “shadow.” The world of dreams and creativity is opposed to reality - a world where the individual gains complete freedom: There is only one eternal commandment - to live.

In beauty, in beauty no matter what.

(D. Merezhkovsky) Real life is portrayed as ugly, evil, boring and meaningless. The symbolists paid special attention to artistic innovation - the transformation of the meanings of the poetic word, the development of rhythm, rhyme, etc. The “senior symbolists” had not yet created a system of symbols; They are impressionists who strive to convey the subtlest shades of moods and impressions. The word as such has lost its value for the Symbolists. It became valuable only as a sound, a musical note, as a link in the overall melodic structure of the poem.

A new period in the history of Russian symbolism (1901-- 1904) coincided with the beginning of a new revolutionary upsurge in Russia. Pessimistic sentiments inspired by the era of reaction of the 1980s - early 1890s. and the philosophy of A. Schopenhauer, give way to premonitions of “unheard-of changes.” “Younger Symbolists” - followers of the idealist philosopher and poet Vl. - are entering the literary arena. Solovyov, who imagined that the old world is on the verge of complete destruction, that divine Beauty (Eternal Femininity, the Soul of the World) is entering the world, which must “save the world” by connecting the heavenly (divine) principle of life with the earthly, material, to create the “kingdom of God” on earth": Know this: Eternal Femininity now comes to earth in an incorruptible body.

In the unfading light of the new goddess, the Sky merged with the abyss of water.

(Vl. Solovyov) Particularly attracted to love is eroticism in all its manifestations, starting with pure earthly voluptuousness and ending with romantic longing for the Beautiful Lady, Mistress, Eternal Femininity, Stranger... Eroticism is inevitably intertwined with mystical experiences. Symbolist poets also love landscape, but not as such, but again as a means, as a means to reveal their mood. That is why so often in their poems there is a Russian, languidly sad autumn, when there is no sun, and if there is, then with sad faded rays, falling leaves quietly rustle, everything is shrouded in the haze of a slightly swaying fog. The favorite motif of the “younger symbolists” is the city. A city is a living creature with a special form, a special character, often it is a “Vampire City”, “Octopus”, a satanic obsession, a place of madness, horror; the city is a symbol of soullessness and vice. (Blok, Sologub, Bely, S. Solovyov, to a large extent Bryusov).

The years of the first Russian revolution (1905-1907) again significantly changed the face of Russian symbolism. Most poets respond to revolutionary events. Blok creates images of people of the new, popular world. V. Ya. Bryusov writes the famous poem “The Coming Huns,” where he glorifies the inevitable end of the old world, to which, however, he includes himself and all the people of the old, dying culture. During the years of the revolution, F. K. Sologub created a book of poems “To the Motherland” (1906), K. D. Balmont - a collection “Songs of the Avenger” (1907), published in Paris and banned in Russia, etc.

Even more important is that the years of revolution restructured the symbolic artistic understanding of the world. If earlier Beauty was understood as harmony, now it is associated with the chaos of struggle, with the elements of the people. Individualism is replaced by the search for a new personality, in which the flourishing of the “I” is connected with the life of the people. The symbolism is also changing: previously associated mainly with the Christian, ancient, medieval and romantic traditions, now it turns to the heritage of the ancient “national” myth (V. I. Ivanov), to Russian folklore and Slavic mythology (A. Blok, M. M . Gorodetsky) The mood of the symbol also becomes different. Its earthly meanings play an increasingly important role in it: social, political, historical.

By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, symbolism as a school was in decline. Individual works of Symbolist poets appear, but his influence as a school has been lost. Everything young, viable, vigorous is already outside of him. Symbolism no longer gives new names.

Symbolism has outlived itself, and this obsolescence has gone in two directions. On the one hand, the requirement of mandatory “mysticism,” “revealing the secret,” “comprehension” of the infinite in the finite led to the loss of the authenticity of poetry; The “religious and mystical pathos” of the luminaries of symbolism turned out to be replaced by a kind of mystical stencil, template. On the other hand, the fascination with the “musical basis” of verse led to the creation of poetry devoid of any logical meaning, in which the word was reduced to the role of no longer a musical sound, but a tin, ringing trinket.

Accordingly, the reaction against symbolism, and subsequently the fight against it, followed the same two main lines.

On the one hand, the “Acmeists” opposed the ideology of symbolism. On the other hand, “futurists”, who were also ideologically hostile to symbolism, came out in defense of the word as such.

I will bless the golden Road to the sun from the worm.

(N.S. Gumilyov) And the cuckoo clock is happy at night, You can hear their clear conversation more and more.

I look through the crack: horse thieves are lighting a fire under the hill.

(A. A. Akhmatova) But I love the casino on the dunes, The wide view through the foggy window And the thin beam on the crumpled tablecloth.

(O. E. Mandelstam) These three poets, as well as S. M. Gorodetsky, M. A. Zenkevich, V. I. Naburt in the same year called themselves acmeists (from the Greek akme - the highest degree of something, blooming it's time). Acceptance of the earthly world in its visible concreteness, a keen look at the details of existence, a living and immediate sense of nature, culture, the universe and the material world, the thought of the equality of all things - this is what united all six at that time. Almost all of them had previously been trained by the masters of symbolism, but at some point they decided to reject the typical symbolists’ aspiration to “other worlds” and disdain for earthly, objective reality.

A distinctive feature of the poetry of Acmeism is its material reality, objectivity. Acmeism loved things with the same passionate, selfless love as symbolism loved “correspondences,” mysticism, mystery. For him, everything in life was clear. To a large extent, it was the same aestheticism as symbolism, and in this respect it is undoubtedly in continuity with it, but the aestheticism of Acmeism is of a different order than the aestheticism of symbolism.

The Acmeists liked to derive their genealogy from the symbolist In. Annensky, and in this they are undoubtedly right. In. Annensky stood apart among the Symbolists. Having paid tribute to early decadence and its moods, he almost did not reflect in his work the ideology of late Moscow symbolism, and while Balmont, and after him many other symbolist poets, got lost in the “verbal tightrope walk,” in the apt expression of A. Bely, choked in the stream of formlessness and “spirit of music” that flooded symbolic poetry, he found the strength to take a different path. Poetry In. Annensky marked a revolution from the spirit of music and aesthetic mysticism to simplicity, laconicism and clarity of verse, to the earthly reality of themes and some kind of earthly mystical heaviness of mood.

The clarity and simplicity of the construction of the verse of John. Annensky was well adopted by the Acmeists. Their verse acquired clarity of outline, logical force and material weight. Acmeism was a sharp and definite turn of Russian poetry of the twentieth century towards classicism. But it is only a turn, and not a completion - this must be kept in mind all the time, since Acmeism still bore in itself many features of romantic symbolism that had not yet been completely extinguished. In general, the poetry of the Acmeists were examples in most cases inferior to symbolism, but still very high skill. This mastery, in contrast to the ardor and expression of the best achievements of symbolism, bore a touch of some kind of self-contained, refined aristocracy, most often (with the exception of the poetry of Akhmatova, Narbut and Gorodetsky) cold, calm and dispassionate.

Among the Acmeists, the cult of Théophile Gautier was especially developed, and his poem “Art,” which begins with the words “Art is the more beautiful the more dispassionate the material taken,” sounded like a kind of poetic program for the older generation of the “Workshop of Poets.”

Just like symbolism, acmeism has absorbed many different influences and various groups have emerged among it.

What united all the Acmeists was their love for the objective, real world - not for life and its manifestations, but for objects, for things. This love manifested itself in different ways among different Acmeists.

First of all, we see among the Acmeists poets, whose attitude towards the objects around them and admiring them bears the stamp of the same romanticism. This romanticism, however, is not mystical, but objective, and this is its fundamental difference from symbolism. This is Gumilev’s exotic position with Africa, Niger, the Suez Canal, marble grottoes, giraffes and elephants, Persian miniatures and the Parthenon, bathed in the rays of the setting sun... Gumilev is in love with these exotic objects of the surrounding world in a purely earthly way, but this love is thoroughly romantic . Objectivity took the place of the mysticism of symbolism in his work. It is characteristic that in the last period of his work, in such things as “The Lost Tram”, “Drunken Dervish”, “The Sixth Sense” he again becomes close to symbolism.

In the external fate of Russian futurism there is something reminiscent of the fate of Russian symbolism. The same furious non-recognition at the first steps, the noise at birth (among the futurists it is only much stronger, turning into a scandal). The rapid recognition of the advanced layers of literary criticism following this, a triumph, enormous hopes. A sudden breakdown and fall into the abyss at a moment when there seemed to be unprecedented possibilities and horizons in Russian poetry.

That futurism is a significant and deep movement is beyond doubt. There is also no doubt about his significant external influence (in particular Mayakovsky) on the form of proletarian poetry in the first years of its existence. But it is also certain that futurism could not bear the weight of the tasks assigned to it and completely collapsed under the blows of the revolution. The fact that the work of several futurists - Mayakovsky, Aseev and Tretyakov - in recent years has been imbued with revolutionary ideology speaks only of the revolutionary nature of these individual poets: having become singers of the revolution, these poets have lost their futuristic essence to a significant extent, and futurism as a whole is not affected by this became closer to the revolution, just as symbolism and acmeism did not become revolutionary because Bryusov, Sergei Gorodetsky and Vladimir Narbut became members of the RCP and singers of the revolution, or because almost every symbolist poet wrote one or more revolutionary poems.

At its core, Russian futurism was a purely poetic movement. In this sense, he is a logical link in the chain of those movements of poetry of the 20th century that put purely aesthetic problems at the head of their theory and poetic creativity. The rebellious formal-revolutionary element was strong in futurism, which caused a storm of indignation and “shocked the bourgeois.” But this “shocking” was a phenomenon of the same order as the “shocking” that the decadents caused in their time. In the “rebellion” itself, in the “shocking of the bourgeoisie,” in the scandalous cries of the futurists, there were more aesthetic emotions than revolutionary emotions.”

The starting point of the technical quest of the futurists is the dynamics of modern life, its rapid pace, the desire for maximum cost savings, “an aversion to a curved line, to a spiral, to a turnstile, a penchant for a straight line. Aversion to slowness, to trifles, to long-winded analyzes and explanations. Love of speed, of abbreviation, of summarizing and of synthesis: “Tell me quickly in a nutshell!” Hence the destruction of generally accepted syntax, the introduction of “wireless imagination,” that is, “absolute freedom of images or analogies expressed in liberated words, without the wires of syntax and without any punctuation marks,” “condensed metaphors,” “telegraphic images,” “movements in two , three, four and five tempos”, the destruction of qualitative adjectives, the use of verbs in the indefinite mood, the omission of conjunctions and so on - in a word, everything aimed at brevity and increasing the “speed of style”.

The main aspiration of Russian “Cubo-Futurism” is a reaction against the “music of verse” of symbolism in the name of the intrinsic value of the word, but the word not as a weapon for expressing a certain logical thought, as was the case with the classical poets and the Acmeists, but the word as such, as an end in itself. Combined with the recognition of the poet’s absolute individualism (the futurists attached great importance even to the poet’s handwriting and produced handwritten lithographic books, and with the recognition of the role of the “creator of myth” in the word, this aspiration gave rise to unprecedented word creation, which ultimately led to the theory of “absentient language.” An example is the sensational poem by Kruchenykh: Dyr, bul, schyl, ubeschur skum vy so bu, r l ez.

Word creation was the greatest achievement of Russian futurism, its central point. In contrast to Marinetti’s futurism, Russian “Cubo-Futurism”, represented by its most prominent representatives, had little connection with the city and modernity. representatives had little connection with the city and modernity. The same romantic element was very strong in him.

It was reflected in the sweet, half-childish, gentle cooing of Elena Guro, for whom the “terrible” word “Cubo-Futurist” suits so little, and in the early works of N. Aseev, and in the rollicking Volga prowess and the ringing sunshine of V. Kamensky, and the gloomy “ spring after death" by Churilin, but especially strongly by V. Khlebnikov. It is even difficult to connect Khlebnikov with Western futurism. He himself persistently replaced the word “futurism” with the word “Budetlyans”. Like the Russian symbolists, he (as well as Kamensky, Churilin and Bozhidar) absorbed the influence of previous Russian poetry, but not the mystical poetry of Tyutchev and Vl. Solovyov, and the poetry of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and the Russian epic. Even the events of the most immediate, close modern times - the war and the New Economic Policy - are reflected in Khlebnikov’s work not in futuristic poems, as in “1915.” Aseev, and in the wonderful “Combat” and “Oh, fellows, merchants”, romantically stylized in the ancient Russian spirit.

However, Russian futurism was not limited to “word creation” alone. Along with the trend created by Khlebnikov, there were other elements in it. More suitable for the concept of “futurism”, making Russian futurism related to its Western counterpart.

Before talking about this movement, it is necessary to single out another type of Russian futurism into a special group - the “Ego-Futurists”, who performed in St. Petersburg somewhat earlier than the Moscow “Cubo-Futurists”. At the head of this trend were I. Severyanin, V. Gnedov, I. Ignatieva K. Olimpov G. Ivnov (later an Acmeist) and the future founder of “imaginism” V. Shershenevich.

“Ego-futurism” essentially had very little in common with futurism. This trend was some kind of mixture of the epigonism of early St. Petersburg decadence, bringing to limitless limits the “songability” and “musicality” of Balmont’s verse (as you know, Severyanin did not recite, but sang his poems at “poetry concerts”), some kind of salon-perfume eroticism , turning into light cynicism, and the assertion of extreme solipsism - extreme egocentrism (“Egoism is individualization, awareness, admiration and praise of the “I” ... “Ego-futurism is the constant striving of every egoist to achieve the future in the present”). This was combined with the glorification of the modern city, electricity, railways, airplanes, factories, cars borrowed from Marinetti (from Severyanin and especially from Shershenevich). In “ego-futurism, therefore, there was everything: echoes of modernity, and new, albeit timid, word creation (“poetry”, “overwhelm”, “mediocrity”, “olilien” and so on), and successfully found new rhythms for transmission the measured swaying of car springs (“Severyanin’s Elegant Stroller”), and a strange admiration for the futurist for the salon poems of M. Lokhvitskaya and K. Fofanov, but most of all, a love for restaurants, boudoirs of dubious height, café-chantants, which became Severyanin’s native element. Apart from Igor Severyanin (who soon, however, abandoned ego-futurism), this movement did not produce a single poet of any kind.

Much closer to the West than the futurism of Khlebnikov and the “ego-futurism” of Severyanin was the bias of Russian futurism, revealed in the work of Mayakovsky, the last period of Aseev and Sergei Tretyakov. Adopting in the field of technology the free form of verse, new syntax and bold assonances instead of the strict rhymes of Khlebnikov, paying a well-known, sometimes significant tribute to word creation, this group of poets gave in their work some elements of a truly new ideology. Their work reflected the dynamics, enormous scope and titanic power of the modern industrial city with its noise, noise, noise, glowing lights of factories, street bustle, restaurants, crowds of moving masses.

In recent years, Mayakovsky and some other futurists have been freed from hysteria and stress. Mayakovsky writes his “orders”, in which everything is cheerfulness, strength, calls to fight, reaching the point of aggressiveness. This mood resulted in 1923 in the declaration of the newly organized group “Lef” (“Left Front of Art”). Not only ideologically, but also technically, all of Mayakovsky’s work (with the exception of his first years), as well as the last period of Aseev’s work and Tretyakov, is already a way out of futurism, an entry into the path of a kind of neo-realism. Mayakovsky, who began under the undoubted influence of Whitman, in the last period developed very special techniques, creating a unique poster-hyperbolic style, restless, shouting short verse, sloppy, “torn lines”, very successfully found to convey the rhythm and huge scope of the modern city, war, movements of millions of revolutionary masses. This is a great achievement of Mayakovsky, who has outgrown futurism, and it is quite natural that Mayakovsky’s technical techniques had a significant influence on the proletarian poetry of the first years of its existence, that is, precisely the period when proletarian poets fixed their attention on the motives of the revolutionary struggle.

The last school of any noticeable sensation in Russian poetry of the twentieth century was imagism. This trend was created in 1919 (the first “Declaration” of Imagism is dated January 30), therefore, two years after the revolution, but in all ideology this trend did not have anything to do with the revolution.

The head of the “imaginists” was Vadim Shershenevich, a poet who started with symbolism, with poems imitating Balmont, Kuzmin and Blok, in 1912 he acted as one of the leaders of ego-futurism and wrote “poets” in the spirit of Severyanin and only in the post-revolutionary years created his “imagist” poetry.

Just like symbolism and futurism, imagism originated in the West and only from there was transplanted onto Russian soil by Shershenevich. And just like symbolism and futurism, it differed significantly from the imagism of Western poets.

Imagism was a reaction both against the musicality of the poetry of symbolism, and against the materiality of acmeism and the word creation of futurism. He rejected all content and ideology in poetry, putting the image at the forefront. He was proud that he had “no philosophy” and “no logic of thought.”

The Imagists also connected their apology for the image with the fast pace of modern life. In their opinion, the image is the clearest, most concise, most appropriate to the age of cars, radio telegraphs, and airplanes. “What is an image? - the shortest distance with the highest speed." In the name of “speed” of conveying artistic emotions, imagists, following the futurists, break the syntax - throw out epithets, definitions, predicates, put verbs in an indefinite direction.

Essentially, there was nothing particularly new in the techniques, as well as in their “imagery”. “Imagism”, as one of the methods of artistic creativity, was widely used not only by futurism, but also by symbolism (for example, by Innokenty Annensky: “Spring has not yet ruled, but the snow cup has been drunk by the sun” or by Mayakovsky: “A bald lantern voluptuously removed black from the street stocking"). What was new was only the tenacity with which the Imagists brought the image to the fore and reduced everything in poetry to it - both content and form.

Along with poets associated with certain schools, Russian poetry of the twentieth century produced a significant number of poets who were not affiliated with them or who were affiliated for some time, but did not merge with them and ultimately went their own way.

The fascination of Russian symbolism with the past - the 18th century - and the love of stylization were reflected in the work of M. Kuzmin, the fascination with the romantic 20s and 30s - in the sweet intimacy and coziness of samovars and ancient corners of Boris Sadovsky. The same passion for “stylization” underlies the oriental poetry of Konstantin Lipskerov, Marieta Shaginyan and in the biblical sonnets of Georgy Shengeli, in the sapphic stanzas of Sofia Parnok and the subtle stylized sonnets from the “Pleiades” cycle by Leonid Grossman.

The fascination with Slavicisms and the Old Russian song style, the craving for “artistic folklore” noted above as a characteristic moment of Russian symbolism, reflected in the sectarian motifs of A. Dobrolyubov and Balmont, in the popular prints of Sologub and in the ditties of V. Bryusov, in the Old Slavic stylizations of V. Ivanov and throughout the entire first period of S. Gorodetsky’s work, the poetry of Love of the Capital, Marina Tsvetaeva and Pimen Karpov fills the poetry. It is also easy to catch the echo of Symbolist poetry in the hysterically expressive, nervous and sloppy, but powerfully written lines of Ilya Ehrenburg, a poet who in the first period of his work was also a member of the Symbolists.

The poetry of I. Bunin occupies a special place in Russian lyricism of the twentieth century. Starting with lyrical poems written under the influence of Fet, which are unique examples of a realistic representation of the Russian village and a poor landowner’s estate, in the later period of his work Bunin became a great master of verse and created beautiful in form, classically clear, but somewhat cold poems reminiscent of , - as he himself characterizes his work, - a sonnet carved on a snowy peak with a steel blade. V. Komarovsky, who died early, is close to Bunin in restraint, clarity and some coldness. The work of this poet, whose first performances date back to a much later period - to 1912, bears to a certain extent features of Acmeism. So, around 1910, classicism, or, as it is commonly called, “Pushkinism,” began to play a rather noticeable role in the poetry.

Around 1910, when the bankruptcy of the Symbolist school was discovered, a reaction against Symbolism began, as noted above. Above, two lines were outlined along which the main forces of this reaction were directed - Acmeism and Futurism. However, the protest against symbolism was not limited to this. It found its expression in the work of poets who were not affiliated with either Acmeism or Futurism, but who through their work defended the clarity, simplicity and strength of the poetic style.

Despite the conflicting views of many critics, each of the listed movements has produced many excellent poems that will forever remain in the treasury of Russian poetry and will find their admirers among subsequent generations.

Symbolism as an artistic movement arose in Russian literature at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The foundations of the aesthetics of symbolism were laid by the French poets of the late 70s of the last century P. Verlaine, A. Rimbaud and others.

A poetic symbol is considered a more effective artistic means than an image. A symbol is a specific sign that indicates the connection between the real world and the ideal. Symbolists become champions of intuitive perception of the world through symbolic correspondences, for example, between shape and color, smell and sound. The poet has magical powers that give him the opportunity to comprehend the secrets of the world.

The peculiarity of Russian symbolism lies in constant attention to the individual, his role in history, and his connection with Eternity.

The founders of symbolism in Russian literature are V. Ya. Bryusov, K. D. Balmont, V. S. Solovyov, F. K. Sologub. Their work is characterized, first of all, by attention to history and the connection of modernity with the past. These connections, in their opinion, determine the future. They value art above all else. It is more important to them than life.

A pale young man with a burning gaze,

Now I give you three covenants. First

Accept: don't live in the present, Only

The future is the domain of the poet. Remember

Second: don’t sympathize with anyone, yourself

Love yourself infinitely,

Keep the third: worship art,

Only to him, thoughtlessly, aimlessly.

This is how Bryusov defined his poetic credo. The aesthetic views of the Symbolists were greatly influenced by the philosophy of V. Solovyov, who believed that there is a relationship in cosmic and earthly life, the unity of all manifestations of life with God. In his poems this idea is embodied as follows:

Dear friend, don’t you see,

That everything we see is only

A reflection, only shadows From

Invisible with your eyes?

The musicality of the poem, which is perceived by them as a reflection of the music of the cosmos, acquires special significance in the work of the Symbolists. This is how K. D. Balmont felt it:

Like living statues, in the sparkles of the moonlight,

The outlines of pines, spruces and birches tremble slightly;

The prophetic forest calmly sleeps, the bright shine of the moon accepts

And he listens to the murmur of the breeze, all filled with secret dreams.

Russian symbolism achieved its highest achievement in the work of Alexander Blok. His symbolic images lose their generality, but acquire intimacy and concreteness of experience. In the first collection, “Poems about a Beautiful Lady,” the poet creates symbolic images that will run through his entire work: his beloved, his wife, his homeland. The poet contrasts the ideal world, the world of his love, with the real one. He proves that love can lift a person above reality, make the ugly beautiful. The image of a beautiful lady is a symbol that Blok uses to reveal manifestations of beauty in real life that are invisible to others. In the poem “Stranger,” the Beautiful Lady is transformed into a mysterious girl who captured the imagination of the lyrical hero. Only he sees in her a mysterious ideal; others are not able to rise above reality.

And every evening, at the appointed hour (Il.

Is this just me dreaming?), Girlish form,

Seized by silks, in the foggy

The window is moving.

And chained by a strange intimacy,

I look at the dark veil and see the shore

Enchanted And enchanted distance.

There's a treasure in my soul, and

The key is entrusted only to me! You're right

Drunk monster! I know: the truth is

These fragments from Blok's poetry show how the image of the Beautiful Lady is created. The composition of the poem is circular, which emphasizes that the poet himself is not able to escape from the real world.

The writer Khodasevich gave a very apt description of symbolism, who noted that the symbolists sought not to separate the poet’s personality from his work, looked for opportunities to combine life and creativity, tried to find a genius who could subordinate his life to creativity. Therefore, the symbolists attached great importance to the cyclical composition of the work. Life is a cycle, a circle. The artistic cycle is an attempt to reproduce life. All symbolist poets created not just poems, but cycles of poems, and the content of each can be fully understood only in connection with other poems in the cycle. For example, Blok very carefully selected each poem for the cycle, the name of which did not seem to require anything like that - “Miscellaneous Poems.” However, the title of the cycle itself and the poems become understandable only in conjunction. This cycle unites poems from 1907 to 1916; this was a time of intense search by the poet for a new ideal; the image of the Beautiful Lady no longer satisfied him. In his poems he addresses friends (“Friends”), poets (“Poets”), historical and literary heroes (“Steps of the Commander,” “To the Muse”). Thus, the title of the cycle reflects the direction of the poet’s search.

In the history of Russian literature, the symbolists played a very important role. They discovered new themes, ideas in creativity, new possibilities for the poetic word, and turned poetry into its aesthetic content.

The 19th century, which became a period of extraordinary growth of national culture and grandiose achievements in all spheres of art, was replaced by a complex 20th century, full of dramatic events and turning points. The golden age of social and artistic life gave way to the so-called silver age, which gave rise to the rapid development of Russian literature, poetry and prose in new bright trends, and subsequently became the starting point of its fall.

In this article we will focus on the poetry of the Silver Age, consider it and talk about the main directions, such as symbolism, acmeism and futurism, each of which was distinguished by its special verse music and a vivid expression of the experiences and feelings of the lyrical hero.

Poetry of the Silver Age. A turning point in Russian culture and art

It is believed that the beginning of the Silver Age of Russian literature falls on the 80-90s. XIX century At this time, the works of many wonderful poets appeared: V. Bryusov, K. Ryleev, K. Balmont, I. Annensky - and writers: L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The country is going through difficult times. During the reign of Alexander I, first there was a strong patriotic upsurge during the War of 1812, and then, due to a sharp change in the previously liberal policy of the tsar, society experienced a painful loss of illusions and severe moral losses.

The poetry of the Silver Age reached its peak by 1915. Social life and the political situation are characterized by a deep crisis, a turbulent, seething atmosphere. Mass protests are growing, life is becoming politicized, and at the same time personal self-awareness is strengthening. Society is making intense attempts to find a new ideal of power and social order. And poets and writers keep up with the times, mastering new artistic forms and offering bold ideas. The human personality begins to be perceived as a unity of many principles: natural and social, biological and moral. During the years of the February and October revolutions and the Civil War, the poetry of the Silver Age was in crisis.

A. Blok’s speech “On the appointment of a poet” (February 11, 1921), delivered by him at a meeting on the occasion of the 84th anniversary of the death of A. Pushkin, becomes the final chord of the Silver Age.

Characteristics of literature of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

Let's look at the features of the poetry of the Silver Age. Firstly, one of the main features of the literature of that time was a huge interest in eternal themes: the search for the meaning of the life of an individual and all of humanity as a whole, the mysteries of national character, the history of the country, the mutual influence of the worldly and spiritual, human interaction and nature. Literature at the end of the 19th century. becomes more and more philosophical: the authors reveal themes of war, revolution, personal tragedy of a person who, due to circumstances, has lost peace and inner harmony. In the works of writers and poets, a new, brave, extraordinary, decisive and often unpredictable hero is born, stubbornly overcoming all adversities and hardships. In most works, close attention is paid to how the subject perceives tragic social events through the prism of his consciousness. Secondly, a feature of poetry and prose has become an intensive search for original artistic forms, as well as means of expressing feelings and emotions. Poetic form and rhyme played a particularly important role. Many authors abandoned the classical presentation of the text and invented new techniques, for example, V. Mayakovsky created his famous “ladder”. Often, to achieve a special effect, authors used speech and language anomalies, fragmentation, alogisms, and even allowed

Thirdly, the poets of the Silver Age of Russian poetry freely experimented with the artistic possibilities of the word. In an effort to express complex, often contradictory, “volatile” emotional impulses, writers began to treat words in a new way, trying to convey the subtlest shades of meaning in their poems. Standard, formulaic definitions of clear objective objects: love, evil, family values, morality - began to be replaced by abstract psychological descriptions. Precise concepts gave way to hints and understatements. Such instability and fluidity of verbal meaning was achieved through the most vivid metaphors, which often began to be built not on the obvious similarity of objects or phenomena, but on non-obvious signs.

Fourthly, the poetry of the Silver Age is characterized by new ways of conveying the thoughts and feelings of the lyrical hero. Poems by many authors began to be created using images, motifs from various cultures, as well as hidden and explicit quotes. For example, many word artists included scenes from Greek, Roman and, a little later, Slavic myths and legends in their creations. In the works of M. Tsvetaeva and V. Bryusov, mythology is used to build universal psychological models that allow us to comprehend the human personality, in particular its spiritual component. Each poet of the Silver Age is brightly individual. You can easily understand which of them belongs to which verses. But they all tried to make their works more tangible, alive, full of colors, so that any reader could feel every word and line.

The main directions of poetry of the Silver Age. Symbolism

Writers and poets who opposed themselves to realism announced the creation of a new, modern art - modernism. There are three main poetry of the Silver Age: symbolism, acmeism, futurism. Each of them had its own striking features. Symbolism originally arose in France as a protest against the everyday reflection of reality and dissatisfaction with bourgeois life. The founders of this trend, including J. Morsas, believed that only with the help of a special hint - a symbol - can one comprehend the secrets of the universe. In Russia, symbolism appeared in the early 1890s. The founder of this movement was D. S. Merezhkovsky, who proclaimed in his book three main postulates of the new art: symbolization, mystical content and “expansion of artistic impressionability.”

Senior and Junior Symbolists

The first symbolists, later called the elders, were V. Ya. Bryusov, K. D. Balmont, F. K. Sologub, Z. N. Gippius, N. M. Minsky and other poets. Their work was often characterized by a sharp denial of the surrounding reality. They portrayed real life as boring, ugly and meaningless, trying to convey the subtlest shades of their feelings.

Period from 1901 to 1904 marks the advent of a new milestone in Russian poetry. The poems of the Symbolists are imbued with a revolutionary spirit and a premonition of future changes. Younger symbolists: A. Blok, V. Ivanov, A. Bely - do not deny the world, but utopianly await its transformation, chanting divine beauty, love and femininity, which will certainly change reality. It was with the appearance of younger symbolists in the literary arena that the concept of symbol entered literature. Poets understand it as a multidimensional word that reflects the world of “heaven,” the spiritual essence and at the same time the “earthly kingdom.”

Symbolism during the years of revolution

Poetry of the Russian Silver Age in 1905-1907. is undergoing changes. Most symbolists, focusing on the socio-political events taking place in the country, reconsider their views on the world and beauty. The latter is now understood as the chaos of struggle. Poets create images of a new world that replaces the dying one. V. Ya. Bryusov creates the poem “The Coming Huns”, A. Blok - “The Barge of Life”, “Rising from the Darkness of the Cellars...”, etc.

The symbolism also changes. Now she turns not to the ancient heritage, but to Russian folklore, as well as Slavic mythology. After the revolution, the Symbolists split into those who wanted to protect art from the revolutionary elements and, on the contrary, those who were actively interested in the social struggle. After 1907, the Symbolist debate exhausted itself and was replaced by imitation of the art of the past. And since 1910, Russian symbolism has been going through a crisis, clearly displaying its internal inconsistency.

Acmeism in Russian poetry

In 1911, N. S. Gumilyov organized a literary group - the “Workshop of Poets”. It included the poets O. Mandelstam, G. Ivanov and G. Adamovich. This new direction did not reject the surrounding reality, but accepted reality as it is, affirming its value. The “Workshop of Poets” began to publish its own magazine “Hyperborea”, as well as publish works in “Apollo”. Acmeism, which originated as a literary school to find a way out of the crisis of symbolism, united poets who were very different in their ideological and artistic attitudes.

Features of Russian futurism

The Silver Age in Russian poetry gave birth to another interesting movement called “futurism” (from the Latin futurum, that is, “future”). The search for new artistic forms in the works of the brothers N. and D. Burlyuk, N. S. Goncharova, N. Kulbin, M. V. Matyushin became a prerequisite for the emergence of this trend in Russia.

In 1910, the futuristic collection “The Fishing Tank of Judges” was published, which collected the works of such outstanding poets as V.V. Kamensky, V.V. Khlebnikov, the Burliuk brothers, E. Guro. These authors formed the core of the so-called Cubo-Futurists. Later V. Mayakovsky joined them. In December 1912, the almanac “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste” was published. The cubo-futurists' poems "Lesiny Bukh", "Dead Moon", "Roaring Parnassus", "Gag" became the subject of numerous disputes. At first they were perceived as a way to tease the reader's habits, but a closer reading revealed a keen desire to show a new vision of the world and a special social involvement. Anti-aestheticism turned into a rejection of soulless, fake beauty, the rudeness of expressions was transformed into the voice of the crowd.

Egofuturists

In addition to cubo-futurism, several other movements arose, including ego-futurism, led by I. Severyanin. He was joined by such poets as V. I. Gnezdov, I. V. Ignatiev, K. Olimpov and others. They created the publishing house “Petersburg Herald”, published magazines and almanacs with original titles: “Sky Diggers”, “Eagles over the Abyss” , “Zakhara Kry”, etc. Their poems were extravagant and were often composed of words they themselves created. In addition to the ego-futurists, there were two more groups: “Centrifuge” (B. L. Pasternak, N. N. Aseev, S. P. Bobrov) and “Mezzanine of Poetry” (R. Ivnev, S. M. Tretyakov, V. G. Sherenevich).

Instead of a conclusion

The Silver Age of Russian poetry was short-lived, but it united a galaxy of the brightest, talented poets. Many of them had tragic biographies, because by the will of fate they had to live and work in such a fatal time for the country, a turning point of revolutions and chaos in the post-revolutionary years, civil war, collapse of hopes and revival. Many poets died after tragic events (V. Khlebnikov, A. Blok), many emigrated (K. Balmont, Z. Gippius, I. Severyanin, M. Tsvetaeva), some committed suicide, were shot or perished in Stalin’s camps. But they all managed to make a huge contribution to Russian culture and enrich it with their expressive, colorful, original works.

The feeling of an approaching catastrophe: retribution for the past and hope for a great change was in the air. The time was felt as borderline, when not only the old way of life and relationships are gone, but also the system of spiritual values ​​itself requires radical changes.
Socio-political tensions arise in Russia: a general conflict in which protracted feudalism is intertwined, the inability of the nobility to fulfill the role of organizer of society and develop a national idea, the onslaught of the new bourgeoisie, the clumsiness of the monarchy, which did not want concessions, the age-old hatred of the peasant for the master - all this gave birth to the intelligentsia a feeling of impending shock. And at the same time a sharp surge, a flourishing of cultural life. New magazines are published, theaters are opened, unprecedented opportunities appear for artists, actors, and writers. Their influence on society is enormous. At the same time, a mass culture is being formed, aimed at the unprepared consumer, and an elite culture, targeting connoisseurs. Art is splitting apart. At the same time, Russian culture is strengthening contacts with world culture. Unconditional authority in Europe of Tolstoy and Chekhov, Tchaikovsky and Glinka. The Russian Seasons in Paris enjoyed worldwide fame. The names of Perov, Nesterov, Korovin, Chagall, Malevich shine in painting; in the theater: Meyerhold, Nezhdanova, Stanislavsky, Sobinov, Chaliapin; in ballet: Nezhinsky and Pavlova, in science: Mendeleev, Tsiolkovsky, Sechenov, Vernadsky. Marina Tsvetaeva argued that “after such an abundance of talent, nature should calm down.”
In literature, attention to individuality and personality has increased unusually: “War and Peace” (“War and Humanity”) by L. Tolstoy, “Man” by Gorky, “I” and the tragedy “Vladimir Mayakovsky” by V. Mayakovsky. There is a rejection of traditional moralizing, preaching, teaching topics: “How to live?”, “What to do?”, “What to do?”. All this - economic leaps, and the development of science, technological achievements and ideological searches at the turn of the century leads to a rethinking of values, to an awareness of the times that require different ideas, feelings, and new ways of expressing them. Hence the search for new forms.
A new movement is developing in literature - modernism. In turn, it is divided into the following directions: symbolism, acmeism, futurism. Symbolist poets - Bryusov, Merezhkovsky, Blok, Balmont, Gippius, Ivanov, Andrei Bely, Baltrushaitis - reflected the world of ideas, their worldview in poetry. The Acmeists - Gumilyov, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Kuzmin, Gorodetsky - expressed their worldview in poetry, the world of things and feelings, poetically comprehended. Futurists generally denied the previous world in the name of creating the future; Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov, Severyanin, Guro, Kamensky belonged to this movement. At the turn of the era, passions raged, resulting in magnificent poems that have become classics today, but then were perceived as almost a challenge, but how melodic and beautiful!
It was by the sea, where there was openwork foam.
Where urban crews are rarely found -
The Queen played - in the castle tower - Chopin,
And, listening to Chopin, her page fell in love.
An extraordinary time gave birth to equally unusual poems at the intersection of genres and themes. New forms of communication with readers appeared - creative evenings, at which the reading of poetry was accompanied by music.
You are my letter, dear, don’t crumple it.
Read it to the end, friend.
I'm tired of being a Stranger,
To be a stranger on your way...
You are my letter, dear, don’t crumple it,
Don't cry about your cherished lies,
You have it in your poor knapsack
Place it at the very bottom.
The Symbolist movement arose as a protest against the impoverishment of Russian poetry, as a desire to say a fresh word in it, to restore vitality to it. Russian symbolism differed sharply from Western symbolism in its entire appearance - spirituality, diversity of creative units, the height and richness of its achievements.
Twilight, spring twilight,
Cold waves at my feet
In the heart there are otherworldly hopes,
Waves run onto the sand.
Echoes, a distant song,
But I can’t tell the difference.
A lonely soul cries
There, on the other side.
The philosopher Vladimir Solovyov had a huge influence on Russian symbolists. The idea of ​​two worlds - “two worlds” - was deeply internalized by the symbolists.
And transparent kiosks,
In the ringing silence,
They grow like sparkles
Under the azure moon.
The moon rises naked
Under the azure moon...
The sounds roar half asleep,
Sounds caress me.
The Acmeists spun off from the Symbolists. They denied the mystical aspirations of the Symbolists. The Acmeists proclaimed the high intrinsic value of the earthly, local world, its colors and forms, called to “love the earth” and talk as little as possible about eternity. They wanted to glorify the earthly world in all its plurality and power, in all its carnal, weighty certainty.
A transparent veil falls
On fresh turf and melts away imperceptibly.
Cruel, icy spring
It kills engorged buds.
And early death is such a terrible sight,
That I cannot look at God’s world.
I have the sadness that King David
Royally bestowed thousands of years.
The Futurists entered the literary arena somewhat earlier than the Acmeists. They declared the classics and all old literature as something dead. “Only we are the face of our time,” they asserted. Russian futurists are a distinctive phenomenon, like a vague premonition of great upheavals and the expectation of grandiose changes in society. This needs to be reflected in new forms. “It is impossible,” they argued, “to convey the rhythms of a modern city in Onegin’s stanza.”
I immediately blurred the map of everyday life,
splashing paint from a glass,
I showed the jelly on the dish
slanting cheekbones of the ocean.
On the scales of a tin fish.
I read the calls of new lips.
And you
play nocturne
we could
on the drainpipe flute?
The poetry of the “Silver Age,” understood broadly, threw its seeds into the future.