One of the most famous Russian poets, the "prophet" of the first half of the nineteenth century, who lived only twenty-seven years ... But for this short period of time he was able to convey in verse everything that was seething in his soul.
In this article we will consider the work of Lermontov. We briefly touch on the periodization of the author’s development, and also talk about the main motives of his works.
M. Yu. Lermontov
It is difficult to talk about Lermontov’s work briefly. This is a giant, along with Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.
The most fruitful time of Mikhail Yurievich fell in the thirties of the nineteenth century. This is the period of the history of the Russian Empire, when the stage of depression and disappointment began in society. After the defeat of the Decembrist uprising, it was necessary to look for new answers to the eternal question: "What to do?"
In the literature, this trend is expressed in the strengthening of realistic motives, the assertion of the unacceptability of events. However, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov went a completely different way (a photo of his self-portrait is presented just below).
The poet was faithful to romanticism until the end of his life, but he was able to masterfully combine it with realism in his poems, dramaturgy and prose.
Next, we will talk about two periods of creativity of this great man. But through all events the red line will pass his desire for a sublime, struggle, Byron ideal of freedom.
Youth Creativity
Researchers and literary scholars divide Lermontov's work into two periods. In short, this is the lyrical stage of formation, which lasted from 1828 to 1836, and maturity. The border between them was the death of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin and the work "The Death of the Poet."
So, the first attempts of the boy to express thoughts in the form of poems refer to fourteen years. At this time, a “war” broke out in his family between his father, who saw his son’s talent and supported him in every possible way, and his grandmother, who was trying to make a child a nanny for herself.
The first poems are riddled with despair, youthful maximalism, the heroic motives of the struggle. These include the outline of Demon and Monologue, which later took shape in the Duma.
In addition to problems on the family front, the defeat of the Decembrists and the oppressed atmosphere prevailing in society strongly influence the mood of the young poet.
During the lyrical period, the young man gets acquainted with Western European literature, especially being carried away by Byron. Therefore, in the verses of Lermontov, images of romantic heroes with a restless soul are born. They are independent, thirst for freedom, despise the environment and are in a state of eternal struggle with themselves.
Mature stage
The turning point is the death of Pushkin. It is this event that radically changes the work of Lermontov. It can be summarized in one word - woke up.
Now Mikhail Yuryevich is aware of his mission as a prophet and poet. Burn the hearts of people with the verb. Show society the real situation that has developed throughout the Russian Empire.
To this end, Lermontov leaves for the Caucasus, away from the emperor and his "servants." The poet’s free and rebellious spirit resists the current situation. He puts his experiences into the verses of the "Prophet", "The Death of the Poet", "Borodino", "Homeland" and others.
It is at the end of life that the “civilian” Lermontov is born. A photo of the poet in the Caucasus demonstrates his disappointment, loneliness, reflects deep thoughts and accepted mission.
Until his death, the poet develops the socio-political ideas of Pushkin, Belinsky, Chaadayev. In the works of the mature period, he raises questions about the fate of the generation, the tragedy of love, he tries to comprehend the place of poetry in the history of mankind.
Motive of struggle
As we said earlier, Lermontov’s poetry is permeated through with romantic motives, ideas, and images. The influence of Lord Byron on the young man remained for the rest of his life.
The very first poems of M. Yu. Lermontov are permeated with heroism, lack of midtones, suffering from imperfection of the real world and incomprehensibility of the poet's aspirations.
Particularly full of the mood and feelings of the young man are transmitted in three works - “Captive Knight”, “Prisoner” and “Sail”.
They are dominated by landscape-symbolic images. For example, in Sail we see a reflection of internal events in the soul of a poet who is trying to portray them with the help of a little ship lost in the sea.
The poem “The Prisoner” reflects not just Lermontov’s stay behind bars because of the seditious “Poet's Death”. To a greater extent, these are the thoughts of a young man about his place in the Russian Empire under the existing regime.
This topic continues in the Captive Knight. It is also written in the conclusion that followed the duel with Barant. In the work we observe a gradually unfolding conflict between society and the individual.
Thus, such stanzas reflect Mikhail Yuryevich’s reluctance to surrender under the onslaught of public frameworks and conventions.
Generation fate
According to contemporaries, Lermontov’s poetry expresses the deepest aspirations of the intelligentsia, which most people are afraid to even think of.
The main work, which is fully penetrated by the motive of uncertainty and indignation from public inaction and cowardice, is the satire-elegy of the Duma. In its genre, it resembles the poem "The Death of a Poet." But, unlike the first, the whole intelligentsia is branded here, and not the court nobility.
Mikhail Yurievich in the lines of the poem condemns contemporaries for cowardice and an escape from the political struggle for a better future. Along with this, the poet calls them to moral and spiritual renewal. Lermontov’s ideas completely resonate with Ryleyev’s thoughts in Citizen.
Critics of that time, Herzen and Belinsky, very positively perceived the appearance of this work. In it, they saw the most profound expression of the reason for the feeling of indifference and apathy that struck society in the thirties of the nineteenth century.
Disappointment
Like many other poems by M. Yu. Lermontov related to the last years of his life, the works “At the difficult moment of life ...”, “I go out alone on the road ...” and “And it’s boring and sad” are penetrated by calm and sadness.
The poet is tired of an endless and meaningless battle with contemporaries who do not want to hear his voice and wake up from deadly oblivion. The rushing and active nature of the young man gradually calms down in the bonds of a false and cowardly society.
Each line of the above poems shows through the desire to break out of the cell, which Lermontov considered his life. He, as in his early youthful years, is still absent-minded, as if he was born completely at the wrong time.
Like many other poems by Lermontov, these verses connect the landscapes and the inner sensations of the author. In the three above-mentioned works, we see the sadness and the endless loneliness of a man who put his life to awaken a generation, but remained unheard.
This is a high art.
Not only Lermontov's poems reflect the attitude to the stagnant events of the thirties. The master could express the deepest thoughts in just a couple of words. Any line can be full of hidden meaning.
If we try to analyze two of his works (“The Prophet” and “The Poet”), we will see the endless pain that Mikhail Yurievich felt. The first of them was written a few weeks before the death of a genius. In it, a twenty-seven-year-old man portrays a hero in the image of an abandoned and misunderstood prophet. He is forced to live in the desert and endure ridicule from the near bourgeois.
The second work is characterized by an amazing comparative series. In it, the author compares the activities of a strong poet with the essence of the existence of a military dagger as such. At first, when there was a need for him, he tore chain mail and carried out his mission. After - he is just an empty golden toy dusting on a shelf.
civil position
The later works of M. Yu. Lermontov more express the relationship of the realist to events in society, and do not oppose the rebel to the crowd.
So, the poet’s most civic position is shown in verses such as “Farewell, unwashed Russia”, “Death of the poet” and “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd ...”.
In them we see repressed bitterness and anger at the spiritual emptiness of society. Especially strong is the latest work of the above. In it, Lermontov demonstrates the stale face of the emperor and his retinue under masks, comparing them with the dreams of a village morning from childhood. This poem was written after visiting the New Year's carnival in St. Petersburg, in the winter of 1840.
The hero who fled and died in the Caucasus Mountains, against the background of his short and stormy life, shows the stagnation of his contemporaries. Later, critics lamented how much literature had lost. Lermontov managed in twenty-seven years to plunge the grain of rebellion into the soul of the public, to raise it from its knees after the defeat of the Decembrists.
Love
The works of M. Yu. Lermontov not only reflect the struggle of a proud loner with society, a stormy sea or a masquerade crowd. In some of his creations we find love experiences. However, even there the eternal sense of doom and tragedy experienced by the poet does not leave us.
Thus, in this article we met with the stages and main ideas expressed in the work of the great Russian poet.
Good luck, dear friends!