The story of the creation of the poem “12” takes its count from one February day, which became a turning point for the fate of Russia. Or maybe even earlier - from the time of the revolutionary circle of Peter Verkhovensky from “Demons” or the famous Pushkin’s “on the ruins of autocracy ...”. Be that as it may, the creation of Blok can be compared with the chronicle of those times - with an eye to the fact that the symbolist "Twelve" is very far from any objective reflection of events.
"The intelligentsia and the revolution"
The bloc was destined to witness the revolutionary events of 1917-1918 that took place in cold Petrograd, as well as all the hardships they suffered. So, the poet was even once arrested by representatives of the new government - for one day, which deeply struck Alexander. At the same time, he did not emigrate and even tried to join his revolutionary life with his activity. This made it possible for researchers of past years to consider the poet as an ardent supporter of October.
However, such a statement would seem somewhat incorrect if we pay attention to the article of the Block "Intelligentsia and Revolution" written in 1918. Unlike the Twelve, which left Blok's true attitude to what was happening, journalism dispelled all public doubts. Yes, Blok accepts the revolution, but without negative or positive assessments, considering the events of those times as a regularity that needed to be experienced.
“A terrible noise growing in me and around”
The whole story of the creation of the poem “12” of the Bloc consists in a handful of unnumbered sheets that were filled with a future masterpiece for a month. The work was written in one breath, when only a year passed after the February Revolution. According to Blok himself, the story of the creation of the poem “12” began with the phrase “I’m cutting a knife with a knife!” Researchers found that the second chapter was originally written, followed by the sixth, seventh, eighth chapter, and the scene with Jesus Christ became the final chord.
Without its decoding, the story of the creation of the poem “12” of Blok looks incomplete. If the name of the work, evoking associations with the apostles, existed from the beginning, then the appearance of Jesus was a spontaneous decision. The poet’s records of February 1918 testify to this: the gospel image appeared to Blok in a snowstorm. The poet’s remark to the first illustrator of the Twelve, Y. Annenkov, looks very mysterious: “If Katya were to die in thick snow from the upper left corner of the“ Katya’s murder, ”it would be an exhaustive cover.”
"Today I am a genius"
... so Blok marked the end of work on his work. But does it mean that the story of the creation of the poem “12” ends there? Not at all. In March 1918, the brainchild of the poet saw the light of day, being originally published in the newspaper “Banner of Labor”, and then leaving as a separate publication.
Despite the fact that subsequently for future generations of Soviet schoolchildren “The Twelve” (Blok's poem), its creation history, images and plot were mandatory for remembering, initially the Bolsheviks reacted to it with distrust. Apparently, something in the creation of the classic of the Silver Age he guessed was alien, almost counter-revolutionary.
"Served the cause of the Antichrist?"
However, even the most wary and hostile attitude towards the poem of the representatives of the Soviet government could not be compared with the reviews of the "old" intelligentsia. So, Gumilyov directly stated that the poet, having completed the ending with the gospel image, “served the cause of the Antichrist”. The poet was declared a traitor, and Kolchak, during a conversation with Vyacheslav Ivanov, either jokingly or seriously suggested that Blok be hanged when the white troops regained power (though the reliability of the latter fact is debatable). It is also known that Akhmatova refused to take part in literary evenings if they were going to read Blok's poem there. By the way, the poet himself rarely spoke with the Twelve. His wife was engaged in this - very unsuccessfully, it should be noted.
The ironic thing ...
Such sharply negative reviews of critics can be understood: The Twelve, Blok's poem, the story of the creation of a new man and state in the place of the former Russia, aroused very gloomy forebodings among the intelligentsia. Some of the masters of the artistic word nevertheless remained on the side of the poet and tried to give their interpretation of his brainchild. So, Victor Shklovsky was one of the first to notice the peculiarity of the style of Blok’s creation, linking this with the influence of Shavoyarov’s popular singer in those times. By the way, Bunin also pointed out this feature, albeit in a negative context, calling the poet’s work vulgar.
The story of the creation of the poem “12” was accompanied by grandiose events, which soon came to naught. After the noise of the revolution, an ominous silence fell on Blok. He practically did not write poems, many of his ideas remained non-embodied. Creative death led to physical death: the poet did not survive 1921. Rumor has it that before his death in delirium, he wished that his main creation, the poem "12", would be put to fire. The history of creation, briefly analyzed in our article, and Blok's enthusiasm for working on the work somewhat contradict this fact. As well as eyewitness accounts of the poet’s departure to the world is better.