Love is a beautiful and bright feeling that was sung by ancient poets. She always worried a man. The theme of love is generally one of the eternal in poetry. She finds a response in the heart of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. In his life there were many women to whom he devoted poetry. The theme of love in the works of Lermontov runs a red thread through all the works. The poet devoted more than a third of his poems to this bright feeling.
Love in the lyrics of Lermontov
An ardent, passionate and receptive young man began to fall in love and write poetry early. Unfortunately, on the love front, the poet was unlucky. Therefore, the theme of love in the works of Lermontov is often martyred, doomed.
In 1829, the fifteen-year-old poet wrote the poem Answer. This early work is permeated with disappointment, suffering, and tears. However, unlike later verses, it lacks a biographical basis. It was written in the spirit of the sentimental-romantic convention, traditional in those years.
Women-muses in the poet's life
As we already said, Lermontov fell in love often. By verses dedicated to the beloved, you can trace the chain of biographical events in the life of the poet. Consider which women were the recipients of his love lyrics.
Ekaterina Alexandrovna Sushkova
The theme of love in Lermontov’s work began to be traced especially vividly when he first truly fell in love. Eighteen-year-old Ekaterina Sushkova, a black-eyed beauty dressed in the latest fashion, became his chosen one. He met her in 1830 in Serednikovo, where they moved with their grandmother Elizabeth Arsenyeva. At that time, the poet was sixteen years old, so Sushkova did not take his feelings seriously, considering him a boy.
The theme of love in Lermontov’s works “Spring”, “So, goodbye! For the first time this sound ... "," Black Eyes "," When a story is told to you ... "," I am alone in the silence of the night "," Before me lies a leaf ... "is based precisely on feelings for Ekaterina Alexandrovna. In Black Eyes, the author says that in the eyes of his beloved he found both heaven and hell.
Sushkova soon left Moscow. With Lermontov, they met only four years later. The offended poet decided to take revenge on his former lover. He fell in love with herself, because of which Sushkova’s wedding with Alexei Lopukhin, a friend of Mikhail Yuryevich, was canceled.
The poem "Spring"
What is the theme of love manifested in the works of Lermontov? Let's take a look at the poet’s first poem, which hit the press. According to Sushkova, it was written at her request to say "the truth." The next day, Lermontov brought her "Spring." Ekaterina Alexandrovna decided not to pay attention to the stinging motive of the work. In it, the poet reflects on the theme of the rapid withering of female beauty.
Varvara Aleksandrovna Lopukhina
The poet met Varenka in the spring of 1832 and fell in love without memory. She became Lermontov's most powerful affection. It was Lopukhina who was the ideal of female beauty for the poet. He looked for her features in other women, he sang with fiery passion in verses.
No one stronger than Lopukhina never managed to fall in love with Lermontov. The theme of love for her took a special place in his work. These are poems dedicated to her, and characters, the prototype of which she became, and portraits painted by the poet. He addressed the poem to Lopukhina: “She is not proud of beauty ...”, “We are accidentally brought together by fate ...”, “Leave in vain worries ...”. Lermontov does not forget about her in a later work either: “I write to you by chance: right ...”, “Dream”. Dedications to the poems Ishmael Bay and Demon (1831 and 1838) are also addressed to Lopukhina.
It is known that these two were connected by a complex, strange love. Lermontov loved Varia, she responded to his feelings, but the misunderstanding between them ruined their lives. Rumors reached Lopukhina that Lermontov married Sushkova. In response to this, she married Bakhmetov, but soon repented, because she still loved Michel. Unfortunately, it was already impossible to change anything.
Lermontov partially recreated the story of this painful love in The Hero of Our Time, in the drama Two Brothers, in the unfinished Princess Ligovskaya. In these works, Varya became the prototype of Vera.
"She is not proud beauty ..."
This is the bottom of the first poems that Varenka Lermontov dedicated. The theme of love for her is central to his work. According to the literary critic Nikolai Brodsky, in a poem Lermontov compares two beloved women: Lopukhina and Ivanova. The image of the heroine is opposed to the ideal of a secular beauty. The author draws an ideal woman who conquers not internal beauty, but internal.
The antithesis of “proud beauty - wonderful simplicity” is the main idea of the work. “Proud” means impregnable, one that allows itself to be loved, but does not experience a reciprocal feeling.
Natalya Fedorovna Ivanova
In 1831, Lermontov became interested in the daughter of the famous Moscow writer Ivanov. Natasha answered the feelings of the poet. The girl was flattered that poetry was dedicated to her, already then full of pain and suffering. Nevertheless, she did not take Mikhail seriously, but at the same time played with him, expecting a more profitable groom.
Love in the lyrics of Lermontov became one of the main in 1831-1832. He dedicated the poems “Sorry, we will not meet more ...”, “I can’t languish in my homeland ...”, “Exhausted by longing and ailment ...”, “Not you, but fate is to blame” for Natasha Ivanova. Through all the verses runs the motive of unrequited love, suffering and pain.
"I will not be humbled before you ..."
This poem is also dedicated to Natasha Ivanova, in whom Lermontov was in love. The poet writes about love inseparable, bitter, painful. Above, we talked about the fact that Ivanova did not perceive him as a potential groom, but he did not know about it. Inspired by Lermontov wrote her poems. Soon, he realized that for Natasha was only a fleeting hobby, when he saw that she was flirting with others. He reproaches his beloved for deceiving him, taking away from him the time that he could devote to creativity: “Who knows, maybe those moments / What flowed at your feet, / I took from inspiration!”
The theme of love in the works of Lermontov became painful after Natalia cheated on him. However, he still loves her, calls him an "angel." This poem became a farewell - Lermontov did not write more poems by Ivanova.
Princess Maria Alekseevna Shcherbatova
The young widow, nee Sterich, was a beautiful and educated woman. “Neither in a fairy tale to say, nor a pen to describe,” Lermontov spoke of her. The poet’s poems such as “Why,” “Not Secular Chains,” and “Prayer” tell us about love for Shcherbatova. Ernest Barant also looked after Maria Alekseevna. Due to the rivalry between them, a duel took place, the result of which was Lermontov ’s second reference to the Caucasus.
Ekaterina G. Bykhovets
She became the last poet loved. Catherine had many fans with whom Lermontov was friends. He writes about love for her in the poem “No, I don’t love you so passionately ...”. In Bykhovets, the poet found outward resemblance to the love of his life - Varenka Lopukhina. By coincidence, Yekaterina Grigoryevna Lermontov met in Pyatigorsk on the day of his death. It was in her company that he spent the last hours of his life.
Conclusion
The theme of love in the works of Lermontov occupies a special place. Of course, the author’s personal life dramas served as the basis for love experiences. Almost all of his poems have specific recipients - these are the women whom Lermontov loved. The theme of love has different incarnations in the poet. These are feelings for nature, homeland, children, but above all - for a woman. Selfless and unrequited, all-consuming and painful - so different, but beautiful love!