The creativity of M. Yu. Lermontov, as critics have noted more than once, is permeated through with motives of protest and atheism. A rebel poet, a lonely poet, seeking peace in the storms, perceiving himself on this Earth as an ever-persecuted wanderer, Lermontov did not accept either the tyranny of the kings of the earth or the self-will of the rulers of heaven. Proud, embodying in his soul the hell of contradictions, sorrows and suffering, the Demon is the true hero of Mikhail Yuryevich, this is a reflection of his inner self. And it is all the more surprising to meet among the angry, fiery, sharply ironic lines of the poet's subtle and soulful lyrical miniatures. Yes, he wrote several poems, which he called "Prayers."
Poems of 1839
"Prayer" Lermontov, about which
this article will be discussed, it was written in the last years of the poetâs life - more precisely, in 1839 it was inspired by the beneficial influence of the âbright angelâ Mikhail Yuryevich - Mashenka Shcherbatova (Princess Maria Alekseevna), who seriously loved, understood Lermontovâs work, highly appreciated him as poet and man. Moreover, Shcherbatova experienced a deep feeling for Lermontov. In moments of intimate conversations, when a young man shared with the princess innermost thoughts, feelings, sorrows, Shcherbatova advised him to turn to God. Carry your sorrows, resentment, resentment to Heavenly Father. And ask Him for help. Lermontov's âPrayerâ is the embodiment in poetic form of the covenant of a young woman, an answer addressed to her.
Interpretation of a poetic text
How unlike the poem is to most of what the poet managed to write! Soft and melodic intonations, reproducing, apparently, the tone of the very main conversation. A calm, confidential story about the most important, innermost that can happen in the life of each of us. Lermontovâs âPrayerâ is a reproduction of situations when a person ceases to rely only on himself or others. When only higher forces can help, comfort, give hope. It is about this - the first stanza of the work.
The author emphasizes: we remember God when it becomes bad, hopeless, when sadness is âcrowdedâ in the heart, and we do not see any gleam. What remains to man on the edge of the abyss? Prayer! Lermontov, in the second stanza of the poem, speaks of its âgraciousâ power, that the words of the prayer are âalive,â full of âholy charm.â What does it mean? Graceful - that is, saving, because in Christianity âgraceâ is to tell people about the possibility of salvation, forgiveness, eternal life. From here, a semantic logical chain stretches to the epithet of âwords of the livingâ. On the one hand, Lermontovâs poems âPrayerâ emphasize that texts of appeals to God, to saints have existed for centuries, repeated by thousands and thousands of people, they are known both by the little one who has learned to speak and the old man who is living his age. They are alive while faith is alive. On the other hand, poetic lines emphasize that, having lightened the soul in prayer, a person feels better, as if reborn again. Lermontov is an artist, and, as a creative person, subtly feels the beauty of the world in its most diverse manifestations. He cannot but respond to the aesthetic side of divine texts, their special poetics, âholy charmâ. So, on one more unexpected side, Lermontovâs âPrayerâ is revealed to us.
And the third stanza is a confidential description of how a person feels after communicating with God.
This is catharsis, purification, rebirth, transformation. Thus, in the poem M.Yu. Lermontov's âPrayerâ clearly shows a three-part composition that helps to understand its ideological and aesthetic level.
This is an amazing work of the poet.