Vasily Zhukovsky is one of the first Russian poets to create works that are clear, simple, and easy to read. Before that, writers worked on the principle that the harder the better. It is not easy for us to assess the scale of Vasily Andreyevich's genius, because what seemed to us quite acceptable and ordinary was surprising for his contemporaries. In the XIX century, everyone was carried away by sentimentalism, and Zhukovsky was no exception, so his work is a combination of this genre and folk.
An attempt to create a Russian folk ballad
An analysis of Zhukovsky’s ballad “Svetlana” shows that the author took the work of the German poet Burger as the basis of the plot. Vasily Andreevich always believed that Russians should learn from Western colleagues, but redo their work in accordance with folk customs and taking into account the
Russian character. Given the features of the genre, the writer turned to the world of fairy tales, legends, fiction and mysticism.
It should be noted that Zhukovsky’s ballad Svetlana is completely different from other similar works. The content at first catches the reader with fear and horror of what is happening, but here the end is joyful and happy. The main characters remain alive, their fate develops remarkably, while in such well-known ballads as "Lyudmila", "Forest Tsar", one can feel the drama.
Scene analysis of Zhukovsky’s ballad “Svetlana”
The work begins with the embellished by the author paintings of fortune-telling girls at Christmas time. Vasily Andreyevich, to make the image of Svetlana brighter, turned to sentimental poetry. The reader sees the girl modest, silent, sad. She mourns because she is separated from her sweetheart, but does not complain about her fate, but finds solace in prayers. In the image of this girl, Zhukovsky wanted to embody the typical features inherent in the Russian people: religiosity, humility to fate, meekness.
An analysis of Zhukovsky’s ballad “Svetlana” shows that the author included features of romanticism and sentimentalism in his work. First, the girl sits in front of the mirror, wanting to see her betrothed there, then falls asleep. In a dream, she meets her fiance, follows him, but the man seems somehow unusual. Only with time, the reader, along with Svetlana, realizes that this is a dead groom. When a girl finds herself in a hut near the tomb, she drives away otherworldly forces with her prayer, a white dove flying to her chest is a symbol of the Spirit of the Lord. Humility and humility will bring salvation and reward - this is the main theme of Zhukovsky’s ballad “Svetlana”.
Upbeat end
The work is written in a romantic-sentimental style. Romanticism can be attributed to a mystical dream, in which there is the image of a terrible dead groom, the ominous croaking of a raven, night horse racing, the dead light of the moon, a coffin in a hut, a lonely church. Sentimentalism includes the image of Svetlana's girlfriends, fortune telling, wedding. To emphasize this style, the poet uses nouns in a diminutive form. Analysis of Zhukovsky’s ballad “Svetlana” shows that this work is optimistic. Whatever happens in a dream, in real life everything will be fine.