At the end of the 18th century, great interest in Russian literature was caused by the works of N. M. Karamzin. His characters spoke for the first time in simple language, and their thoughts and feelings were in the foreground. It was new that the author openly expressed his attitude to what was happening and gave him an assessment. The role of the landscape was also special. In the story “Poor Lisa”, he helps to convey the feelings of the heroes, to understand the motives of their actions.
The beginning of the work
The surroundings of “greedy” Moscow and magnificent rural expanses with a bright river, lush groves, endless fields and several small villages - such contrasting paintings appear on display in the story. They are absolutely real, familiar to every resident of the capital, which initially gives the story credibility.
The panorama is complemented by the towers and domes of the Simonov and Danilov monasteries shining in the sun, symbolizing the connection of history with the common people, who keep it holy. And also with the Simonov Monastery begins acquaintance with the main character.
Such a landscape sketch cultivates the idyll of village life and sets the tone for the whole story. The fate of the poor peasant woman Lisa will turn out tragically: a simple peasant girl brought up next to nature will become a victim of the city devouring everything. And the role of the landscape in the story “Poor Lisa” will only increase with the development of the action, as changes in nature will be in complete harmony with what will happen to the characters.
Features of sentimentalism
This approach to writing works was not unique: it is a distinctive feature of sentimentalism. The historical and cultural direction with this name in the 18th century gained distribution first in Western Europe, and then in Russian literature. Its main features:
- the predominance of a cult of feeling, which was not allowed in classicism;
- harmony of the inner world of the hero with the external environment - a picturesque rural landscape (this is the place where he was born and lives);
- instead of the sublime and solemn - touching and sensual, associated with the experiences of the characters;
- the main character is endowed with rich spiritual qualities.
Karamzin became the writer in Russian literature who brought the ideas of sentimentalism to perfection and fully realized all its principles. This is confirmed by the characteristic of the story “Poor Lisa”, which occupied a special place among his works.
The image of the main character
The plot at first glance seems pretty simple. At the center of the story is the tragic love of the poor peasant woman (something that did not exist before!) For the young nobleman.
Their chance encounter quickly grew into love. Pure, kind, brought up far from city life, full of pretense and deceit, Lisa sincerely believes that her feeling is mutual. In her desire to be happy, she steps over the moral standards by which she always lived, which is not easy for her. However, Karamzin’s novel “Poor Liza” shows how insolvent such love is: it will soon turn out that her lover deceived her. All the action takes place against the backdrop of nature, which became an involuntary witness to the first boundless happiness, and then the irreparable grief of the heroine.
Relationship start
The first meeting of lovers is filled with joy from communicating with each other. Their dates are held either on the riverbank or in a birch grove, but more often in the presence of three oaks growing near a pond. Landscape sketches help to understand the smallest changes in her soul. In the long minutes of waiting, she plunges into thought and does not notice what has always been a part of her life: a month in the sky, nightingale singing, a breeze. But as soon as a lover appears, everything around is transformed and becomes for Lisa surprisingly beautiful and unique. It seems to her that larks have never sung so well for her before, the sun has not shone so brightly, and the flowers have not smelled so pleasantly. Absorbed in her feelings, poor Liza could not think of anything else. Karamzin picks up the mood of his heroine, and their perception of nature in the happy moments of the heroine’s life is very close: it is a feeling of delight, peace and tranquility.
Lisa's fall
But there comes a time when physical intimacy replaces pure, immaculate relationships. As a terrible sin perceives everything that happened brought up on the Christian commandments, poor Liza. Karamzin again emphasizes her confusion and fear of the changes occurring in nature. After what happened over the heads of the heroes, the sky opened and a thunderstorm began. Black clouds covered the sky, rain poured out of them, as if nature itself mourned the "crime" of the girl.
The feeling of impending disaster is intensified by the scarlet dawn that appeared in the sky at the time of the farewell of the heroes. She recalls the scene of the first declaration of love, when everything seemed bright, radiant, full of life. Contrasting landscape sketches at different stages of the heroine's life help to understand the transformation of her inner state during the acquisition and loss of the person most dear to the heart. Thus, Karamzin’s novel “Poor Liza” went beyond the classical image of nature in a
work of art. From the insignificant detail playing the role of decoration, the landscape turned into a way of conveying the
inner world of heroes.
The final scenes of the story
The love of Lisa and Erast did not last long. A noble and desperate need of money, the noble soon married a rich widow, which was the worst blow for the girl. She could not survive the betrayal and committed suicide. The heroine found peace in the very place where the most passionate dates took place - under the oak tree by the pond. And next to the Simon Monastery, which appears at the beginning of the story. The role of the landscape in the story “Poor Lisa” in this case comes down to giving the work a compositional and logical completeness.
The story ends with a story about the fate of Erast, who did not become happy and often visited the grave of his former lover.
The role of landscape in the story "Poor Lisa": results
In analyzing the work of sentimentalism, one cannot fail to mention how the author manages to convey the feelings of the heroes. The main technique is the creation of an idyll based on the complete unity of rural nature with its bright colors and pure soul, a sincere person like poor Lisa. Heroes like her cannot lie, pretend, so their fate often develops tragically.
Another function of the landscape is to help the author convey to the reader the ideological concept of the work.