Mature late A. Pushkin creates almost only masterpieces. These include the poem "Desert Fathers ...", written six months before death, around the end of July 1836. Even by the first words, it can be determined that further reflection on one's passions will go. And in his youth, the poet did not believe in the Creator, composed ironic works on religious topics. Having passed the difficult path from unbelief to the knowledge of the Creator, he opened his heart and soul to cleansing prayers.
Where did hermitage originate?
In distant India, the first hermits appeared who, in order to achieve liberation from all material things, moved away from people into caves and forests. They showed miracles of asceticism, refusing food, water and even breathing.
The first and subsequent fathers of the hermits proceeded from the concept that the body is the prison of the soul. The more oppressed the body, the more free the soul is. The hermits deprived themselves of all ties with the world, and with this they wanted to achieve unity with the deity, go to that world where there are no changes and, consequently, suffering. All the Mediterranean religions, to which Christianity belongs, with some changes adopted the concept of hermitism. The first Christian fathers of the hermits appeared in Egypt and really lived in the deserts, feeding on alms. In Russia, first this phenomenon arose in small monasteries remote from people. People went to the hermits, elders, and pillars to get answers to their questions, healing from diseases.
Penitent prayer
A short, only four lines prayer is attributed to Ephraim the Syrian, a hermit of the 4th century.
She was completely translated into poetic language by A. Pushkin at the end of his work “Desert Fathers ...”. These words of a desperate person, addressed to the Lord of our days, captivate hearts and souls to our time, because they are filled with a heat of sincerity, truthfulness, sincerity, and sincerity. Ephraim the Syrian himself sinned a lot in his youth, but repented after the Lord instructed him. He always remembered his sins and mourned the errors of youth.
Literary genre
The work “Desert Fathers ...” can be attributed only to the genre of spiritual lyrics. A mature realist who removes all her covers with a penetrating gaze from life, the lyrical hero of Pushkin needs support in the midst of the storms and adversities raging around him. Where to find her? Only in prayer, in an appeal to the Creator.
Composition
Conventionally, the poem "Fathers of the hermits and wives innocent ..." can be divided into three parts.
The first of them has four stanzas. It tells us that there are many prayers that are necessary to fly away into the invisible world and strengthen the heart when a person falls into life's hardships.
In the second part, five stanzas. In it, the lyrical hero admits that only one of the prayers especially affects him in the sad days of Lent. It is he who constantly repeats it. With tenderness, he feels how she fastens him with “an unknown force.”
The third part is a poetic arrangement of this prayer. First, the lyrical hero addresses the Lord of his days.
He asks him not to give his soul idleness and laziness; despondency, which was then understood as curiosity, fussiness, and trouble; arbitrariness, that is, the desire to rule and avoid empty meaningless conversations. And what does the lyrical hero ask for? To see and realize all your sins. Prudence and modesty. Patience for doing good deeds and enduring the hardships of life. Consciousness of one’s imperfection before the Lord.
Problems of the work
The theme of A. Pushkin’s poem “Fathers of the Hermits ...” is the sincere power that the lyrical hero puts into penitential prayer.
The main idea is gaining repentance. After Grace descending upon him, a person sees and begins to distinguish truth from lies, evil from good. This statement is consistent with the “Prophet” written about ten years ago, in which the hero lying like a corpse in the desert came to life after the divine verb, was filled with the Lord’s will, and, heeding the whole essence of earthly existence, went to bring the truth to people.
Artistic tricks of the author
We continue to consider the poem. The analysis “Fathers of the hermits and wives are innocent ...” will reveal the artistic means used by the poet.
In the work, the author turned to a melodious six-footed iamba, close to church recitative. Rhymes are paired with alternating male and female.
The language of the poem is consciously filled with Church Slavisms and the words that should be attributed to Orthodoxy: to fly, the spirit of dull idleness, dolly, extramural, fallen, hidden, transgressions, humility, Lord, mouth, chastity, mature.
The lyric hero repentant prayer causes emotion. That is, he becomes more responsive, spiritual, humble, benevolent, filled with feelings of sweet pity and cordial participation. This gift of God is not given to everyone. Only those who understand that the Creator is merciful to human imperfection can be moved with tears of joy in their eyes.
Pushkin, as always, is stingy with epithets. There are only three of them: sad ones (fasting days), the power of prayer is unknown, battles and storms are long. Autonomy is compared to a hidden snake (hidden metaphor).
Sincere and purely praying, the lyrical hero can fly up to those fractional areas that are not comprehended by the eyes, but by the completely opened soul to the Lord.
The prayer of Ephraim the Syrian helps the hero gain spiritual vision and strength. Only such repentance works miracles, transforming and strengthening a person. Prayer deprives him of doubt, and he completely surrenders himself to the will of the Lord. With this, he gains incomparable happiness.