Analysis of Alexander Pushkin's poem "The Prophet". Linguistic analysis of A.S. Pushkin's poem "Prophet

Children get acquainted with Pushkin's work even before the school curriculum, and already sitting at their desks, they truly appreciate his contribution to Russian culture. After more than one century, we read Onegin, The Bronze Horseman, The Captain's Daughter, and also learn the poems of the great poet. The work "The Prophet" is one of the clearest proofs that Pushkin really deserves his praise and remains an example for many of us.

The poem "Prophet" was composed by Pushkin in 1826. Then the poet was in the village of Mikhailovskoye, where he was hard pressed by the failure of the Decembrist uprising, with whom he maintained good relations. Upon learning of the loss of friends, the troubled author became fascinated with God's Law. The day before, his brother sent him a Bible.

The content of the poem "The Prophet" was one of the biblical legends in which God's messenger appeared to the prophet Isaiah. According to the plot of the Bible, a person impressed by this meeting became a preacher, but did not meet with understanding among the people. The classic, imbued with the biblical legend, rethought the story by creating his own poem. In Pushkin's work, a poet becomes a prophet, to whom a seraphim also appears.

Genre, size and direction

The poem is saturated with pathos and solemnity, and the goal of the lyrical hero is equated with God's mission. Given this, it can be confidently asserted that Pushkin's "Prophet" is not just a lyrical poem. genre nature works are much deeper, so this creation of Pushkin can be safely called an ode.

In the case of The Prophet, one might get the impression that Pushkin was aiming at the predominance of content over form. Unlike some of his poems, the "Prophet" is not divided into stanzas, and the poet also uses more than one type of rhyme. The plot of the poem, of course, deserves separate lines, but how the work is written is also important. Poem size- tetrameter iambic. It is not given to every poet to write about the destiny the way Pushkin does, so the growing rhythm of the poem is a definite plus for a sublime work.

Before proceeding directly to the content of the "Prophet", it remains to deal with the direction in which the poem was written. Pushkin showed himself in more than one direction, creating both romantic and realistic characters. As for the poem in question, the features of the "Prophet" lead us to determine the direction: the arrangement of the biblical story, the philosophical themes, the solemn style of the lines. All this is close to such a direction as classicism.

Composition

The composition of the "Prophet" consists of three parts.

The lyrical hero “dragged in the gloomy desert”, but the author emphasizes that he is “tormented by spiritual thirst”. In other words, the poet knows the torments of creativity. Such a strong image fascinates at the very beginning of the poem, and the reader already anticipates an unthinkable development of events. And indeed, "at the crossroads" is a six-winged seraphim.
The messenger begins to endow the hero with gifts: his “prophetic eyes opened” and his ears “filled with noise and ringing”, that is, the touched seraphim rewards the poet with eyesight, like an eagle’s, and sensitive hearing. But this is not enough for a real prophet, so further metamorphoses take place: the “crafty tongue” is replaced by the “sting of the wise snake.” And instead of a “quivering heart”, he receives “coal burning with fire”, as a symbol of a worthy bearer of the light of truth.

Now, when the poet sees vigilantly, hears sensitively, speaks wisely and passionately worries, the composition of the poem ends with an exclamation of God, calling on the prophet to "burn the hearts of people with a verb." From now on, before us is a hero after the moment of rebirth, ready to fulfill God's will.

Main characters and their characteristics

At the beginning of the poem lyrical hero- a simple person, and in the end he is reborn for an important mission into a gifted Creator from above. That is, the poet, languishing in the desert, becomes a prophet, who is assigned a significant role. The image of the Prophet is directly intertwined with the gospel character, but Pushkin sets a different task for his lyrical hero-poet. The prophet, who is also a poet, is in love with his work, and his task is to open poetry to people in all its glory. After a complete rebirth, he is ready to fulfill his purpose.
The author understands that an ordinary poet is not able, like Isaiah, to open people's eyes to the truth, therefore another, no less important character in the poem is God's messenger. Seraphim is the closest angel to God, and it is no coincidence that Pushkin uses this image in his work. The author trusts the messenger to set the poet to fulfill his mission, turning him into a worthy Prophet. The six-winged angel helps the hero to be reborn painfully, but thereby puts him on the true path. Even in cinematic techniques, an angel sitting on a person’s shoulder tells him the right decision and directs him to a good goal. It is the same in Pushkin's "Prophet": the seraphim does everything to help the poet fulfill his duty to society.
Of course, let's take a look at God, which appeared in the final lines. As in many plots, the “voice of God” is a kind of mentor that determines the purpose of human existence.

Themes

Theme of the meaning of life. The poem sets up the reader to be ready to find his destiny, because every person really has to leave a mark on the Earth.
Pushkin touches on the current theme of the poet and poetry in the Prophet. If the author in his work declares that the creator is reborn with the help of a divine messenger, then, of course, the result is always interesting. And in the case of the author himself, no doubt, I would like to believe that a seraphim visited him too. The purpose of poetry is put in the first place in the poem. As, for example, a doctor is obliged to ensure and maintain the health of patients, so the poet must "burn the hearts of people with a verb."
The fate of the Prophet. However, this topic is closely related to the previous one. The prophet in the poem is a poet who has a duty to society - to use his talent with benefit, to give people beautiful works of art. As in the case of the fate of the biblical prophet, he is obliged to carry the truth to the flock.
The main theme of The Prophet is the readiness to fulfill one's divine purpose that each of us should have.

Problems

We have dealt with the themes that rise in Pushkin's ode, but nothing, even the help of a seraphim, is not given so simply. The desire to write poetry is present in many, not so many people creatively embody themselves, but there are poets in the world who are really worthy of a mission like the Prophet. What is the problem with the work? In what way God's chosen one must go, in his sacrifice.

Let us pay attention to the relationship between the prophet and the surrounding world. The prophet is aimed at helping society, he fulfills his mission and acts only for the good. But remember the beginning of the poem - a lonely hero wanders in the desert. The reader can guess that the poet is simply rejected from others. However, acquiring a divine destiny, he finds much more for himself - a talent and a task to open people's eyes. Although the hero rejected by society becomes a real prophet, ready to present the beautiful to the world around him.

Idea

The main idea embedded in the poem is conveyed to the reader by the “voice of God”: the mission of the Prophet Pushkin (poet) is to reveal his talent to people, to let them feel the power of poetry. The idea of the work is that everyone is free to find their destiny, and if you give your whole soul to your favorite business, perhaps your task is to demonstrate your capabilities to the world.

It is not at all a fact that a six-winged seraphim will appear to you and will instruct you in similar ways, but sometimes one desire or talent is enough to realize oneself and benefit others. This will be a kind of hint, a sign from above. In Pushkin's poem, this can be literal, but the main thing is to use your strengths and talents for the benefit of the world. This is the meaning of "Prophet".

Conclusion

The poem of the great poet Alexander Pushkin "The Prophet" contains a deep philosophical meaning: a born poet should not only be able to rhyme lines, but also benefit the people. If a person's talent can serve society, then this is probably a destiny from above.

Just as a messenger of God appeared to the main character, a poet, to convey this to him, so any person is able to influence those around him with his own strength. But in the poem we are specifically analyzing, the attention of readers is focused on the divine destiny of the creator.

Means of artistic expression

When creating a poem, Pushkin pays great attention to vocabulary. The author is a real professional in his field, and as evidence we can pay attention to such words as “desert” or “prophet” himself. These are words that contain more than one semantic shade, because by the desert, first of all, we understand the place of alienation, which, by the way, is also embodied in the work. But at the same time, in the desert, the hero seeks spiritual solitude and acquires a divine essence. As for the prophet, this word means both the prophet himself and the poet. Therefore, the uniqueness of the words chosen by Pushkin is indisputable proof that he, like his lyrical hero, seemed to have been chosen from above to demonstrate poetry to those around him.

Another feature of the "Prophet" is a large number of hissing sounds. However, with regard to visual means, here the author again showed himself quite worthily. The poem is saturated with metaphors, for example, "burn the heart with the verb" or "shudder of the sky." Numerous epithets, such as "gloomy desert", "the sting of a wise snake", give sublimity to the work. Pushkin enriched the "Prophet" with various tropes, he also resorted to comparisons in order to more clearly express the idea of the poem ("like a frightened eagle's", "like a corpse").

And, of course, it is worth paying attention to the Old Slavonicisms used by the author (“mouth”, “prophetic”). If we take into account that Pushkin created the poem according to the idea of the biblical legend, then the whole picture is put together from the smallest and well-thought-out lexical parts.

Criticism

The poem is written in the first person, the protagonist is a poet, everything opaquely hints that, speaking about the purpose of the writer and the relevance of poetry, Pushkin means himself. Many of the author's contemporaries decided that he was proud, mentioning God's chosenness. However, the author did not aim to praise himself in his work, but only wanted to draw the attention of poets to the responsibility lying on them. And, as Pushkin's biography and work shows, he does not overestimate the seriousness of poetry, but simply treats it with due respect and reverence.

Despite some disapproval from contemporaries who consider the classic arrogant, Pushkin only proves a serious approach to the work of his life, which, unfortunately, not every poet is able to do.

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There are many works that have invariably attracted the attention of the reader and researcher for the past two centuries. Among them, a special place is occupied by the "Prophet", traditionally included in the cycle of poems about the poet and poetry.

The poem "Prophet" was written on September 8, 1826. It first appeared in print in 1828 in the third issue of the Moscow Bulletin and has since been included in all collected works of the poet.

Over the long years of its existence, the poem has repeatedly become the subject of research: literary critics, textual critics, and linguists have been involved in it. But, paradoxically, it, like some other poems of "civilian" sound, still requires a thorough linguistic commentary that would contribute to an objective interpretation of the text.

Biblical motives.

Most researchers have come to a consensus - in the person of the prophet, a high image of an inspired, true poet is given. The meaning of the poem - the birth of creative inspiration in the poet-prophet, called to active work - is conveyed in biblical form. Pushkin takes the VI Book of the prophet Isaiah as a basis.

The appeal to the biblical story was traditional: we recall the arrangements of the psalms by Lomonosov, the poetic adaptations of the 81st "Jacobin" and the 100th psalms by Derzhavin, the "epic poem" "David" by Kuchelbecker and the oratorio "Creation of the World". The poems of F. Glinka "The Calling of Isaiah", "The Prophet", "The Voice of the Prophet" directly echo Pushkin's "Prophet".

Some places in the Bible, denouncing evil kings, wrong earthly rulers, gave poets the opportunity to express their oppositional sentiments. The Books of the Prophets gave especially much in this sense. The prophets, according to the Bible, fearlessly spoke the truth to the faces of the kings, denounced their injustices, and therefore most of them were executed. This is what happened to the prophet Isaiah.

"Prophet" is not simply a poetic rendering of Book VI. For Pushkin, it is important, first of all, the very understanding of the high mission of the prophet, the opportunity to speak about the appointment of the poet. Using biblical images, conveying the biblical style with amazing skill, the poet depicts the prophet's insight, the birth of inspiration, characteristic of prophets and poets.

Vocabulary features. Church Slavism in the poem "Prophet".

The basis of The Prophet is Church Slavonic and book-poetic vocabulary, which, together with other means (syntactic, metrical, sound), creates a poetically elevated tone of narration. We will not find another poem in Pushkin so saturated with vocabulary of this kind. Is it by chance?

The time of writing The Prophet is the period of Pushkin's creative maturity. If in early poetry he uses Old Slavonicisms for versification purposes, then, as S.I. Ilyinskaya, "after 1822-1823. the semantic side and their stylistic coloring began to be taken into account.

Pushkin uses in the poem Old Slavonicisms of different stylistic brightness and usage: there are such common ones as finger, mouth, right hand, voice, prophetic, and such a relatively rare archaism as verb("word, speech").

Church Slavonicisms in the poem are differentiated in a special way: vocabulary, which gives the narrative a biblical flavor; grammatical forms that create a narrative-rhetorical tone close to the biblical story; symbolism of the church-religious plan.

It should be said about one more feature of the "Prophet": many words of the poem are unique, because they occur two or three, and sometimes even once in Pushkin's works. Once in the huge legacy of the poet there are: idle, opened up, underwater, vegetation, push in, reptile; twice: eagle, crossroads; three times: sting, mountain, verb(in the meaning of "word, speech" - twice). Words are rare drag, apple, listen, valley, open, cry out, be fulfilled(meaning "to be filled with something").

The vocabulary of the poem is very figurative, and therefore its figurative system is especially complex and unusual. Words like desert, spiritual, prophet combine in themselves, as it were, two plans, two meanings - biblical and worldly. And these two meanings are merged here, in this poetic context, into a kind of syncretic unity. A prophet is both a prophet and a poet; the desert is both a place of solitude, distant from the center, and a world devoid of the divine principle, light, etc.

Line comment.

Linguistic commentary on the poem, let's start with the word in its title - Prophet. This word is quite common in Pushkin, and precisely in the main meaning, which is best defined in P.I. Sokolov’s “General Church Slavonic-Russian Dictionary” (1834):

“A prophet is one to whom, by God’s inspiration, sacred truths are revealed, hidden from general knowledge, and the position is entrusted to preach them before people.”

The great meaning hidden in this word, image, attracted many poets, including Pushkin. Speaking about the role, purpose of the poet, about creativity and inspiration, he repeatedly turned to this image both in his lyceum years and in his mature period of creativity. The poem "Prophet" became a kind of program work: placing the image of the prophet in its center, the great poet boldly spoke about the poet's appointment to preach the truth, "to burn people's hearts with the verb."

We are spiritually thirsty...

spiritual thirst- a passionate desire for wisdom, gaining new knowledge.

languish- "experience strong mental suffering, torment." In this case, speaking in prosaic language, to experience a great thirst for knowledge, wisdom.

In the gloomy desert I dragged ...

In this line, the duality of the poem was especially clearly manifested. Gloomy Desert- a place where a person acutely feels his loneliness, in the biblical sense - a place that has lost its divine principle, spiritual light.

An essential element of the poem is the image of the "life process", embodied in the combination drag in the desert. Here the poet chooses a Church Slavonic verb with a negative expressive coloring: drag out- "to lead a painful, painful life." In modern Russian, this word is used only as part of phraseological turnover eke out existence.

And a six-winged seraph

He appeared to me at a crossroads.

The image of the life desert here is complemented by a new image - crossroads in the desert. And here we are faced with a complex, complex meaning of the word. One side, crossroads- this is a place where roads cross or diverge, on the other hand, it also embodies the figurative meaning of the expression - to be at a crossroads"to doubt, to be in a state of hesitation, the choice of a life path."

Six-winged seraph. Word six-winged does not appear in dictionaries. L.V. Shcherba gives the following interpretation: "made according to a living model, six-fingered." According to the scientist, the roots of this image are Church Slavonic and Greek.

In understanding the meaning of the poem, the original meaning of the word also plays an important role. seraphim- "flaming, burning." It is the seraphim who are able to transform the prophet, and then kindle his heart with a fiery love for humanity.

The transformation of the prophet begins:

With fingers as light as a dream

He touched my eyes...

Note the striking accuracy and expressiveness of the comparisons: like a dream, that is, like something almost imperceptible, scattered in the air. And further: Like a corpse in the desert I lay... Absolute lightness is replaced by absolute immobility, lifelessness.

The meaning of the first comparison is further enhanced by the verb touch- "to touch lightly, to touch."

Prophetic eyes have opened...

open up means to open up. This obsolete verb had another, more archaic meaning: "become capable of understanding, accepting something."

Prophetic apples- "seeing the hidden for the rest, penetrating into the innermost secrets of life."

He touched my ears

And they were filled with noise and ringing:

And I heard the shudder of the sky ...

Hear- means to hear something, to perceive by ear. In the dictionary P.I. Sokolov, for example, we read: “Listen - nesov. view heed- diligently, diligently listen, analyze, consider with the mind.

There is a roll call of figurative meanings of verbs: open up- "become able to understand" and heed- "consider with the mind." Thus, now the prophet can not only see and hear, but also see and hear, deeply comprehending what is happening in the world.

And the flight of the heavenly angels ...

Gorniy- "heavenly", opposed to the word terrestrial.

And the reptile of the marine underwater course ...

Gad– in this case, it is an obsolete form of the genitive plural ( gad); a newer form reptiles.

And vegetation down the vines ...

Dolny (dolny)- archaism, which has the following meanings: 1) adjective to the word valley; currently used adjective valley; 2) "earthly, human".

In the dictionary of Pushkin's language, it is noted that in the poem "Prophet" this word is used in its first meaning, that is, "vegetation of the valley vine." However, it is possible that the poet created a more generalized image of the "earth vine", since antonymic pairs appear in these lines: mountainous - valley, heavenly - earthly. Such opposition, supplemented by the image of the underwater kingdom, creates a majestic picture of the universality of existence, which is now available to the prophet.

Vegetation. Noun from archaic verb vegetate, meaning "grow, come out of the earth." Now the word vegetation It is used in a different sense - "an aimless way of life."

And he clung to my lips

And tore out my sinful tongue...

snuggle - means to touch something, to cling to something.

A sinful language is not only one that has sinned, but also a language that “leads to sin” (in the words of L. Novikov).

And the sting of the wise snake

In my frozen mouth

He invested with a bloody right hand ...

Sting (wise snakes) traditional poetic image, symbolizing something sharp, caustic. Here, apparently, "a language that destroys injustice, vice." Endowing the poet with the gift of a prophet, Pushkin also refers to tradition: the snake is a symbol of wisdom.

And he cut my chest with a sword,

And took out a trembling heart ...

quivering heart- a heart filled with fear, fear. The poet-prophet must be fearless.

And coal burning with fire

He put a hole in his chest ...

Coal burning with fire- hidden metaphor; meaning a fiery, fearless heart.

The transformation of the poet-prophet is complete. This process, as we have seen, was painful, bloody and irreversible. The prophet is renewed, reborn. Now he is able to perceive what is happening in the mountainous, valley, underwater world; he is able to see what is hidden from others; he's ready to go...

And God's voice called out to me...

call It means to make an appeal, to induce to action.

“Arise, prophet, and see, and listen,

Fulfill my will ... "

Arise- the imperative form of the verb rebel, i.e. "get up, get up."

Vizhd- the poet uses a special form of the imperative mood from the Old Slavonic verb see(see).

Will- in this case, a requirement, a desire.

be filled with will means to be imbued with the demand, the command of the voice of wisdom and justice.

"And, bypassing the seas and lands,

Burn people's hearts with the verb."

Verb- in this case it is speech, word.

Burn- here the word is used in the figurative meaning of "excite, excite, purify." In other words, the duty of the poet-prophet is to stir the hearts of people with the word of higher truth.

Features of the pronunciation of certain words.

In the poem "Prophet" we are faced with such a pronunciation of some words, which is directly related to the overall high tone of the work. The word cut is pronounced with a stressed [e], and not with [o]; the word of God with V fricative. The rhyme determines the stress in the words: out'mli, frozen, downstream vines.

Features of the composition of the poem.

The compositional division and syntactic construction of the poem "Prophet" are no less interesting than its verbal fabric.

Literary critics have repeatedly noted the amazing compositional harmony of the poem. Its two parts are built on the principle of parallelism. An anaphoric union plays a significant role in creating a leisurely solemn, rhetorical tone of the narrative. and.

Another interesting feature of the construction of the work is the repetition of words and structures, the interweaving of the meanings of words. With a cursory reading of the “Prophet”, you do not immediately realize that many words, repeating themselves, occur twice: desert, pupils, touch, heed, lips, heart, he, mine. At the same time, the poet sometimes collides the same words in adjacent lines - it seems that the author focuses attention at every stage, at every moment of rebirth. Repetitions do not cause monotony: they allow you to feel the significance and gradualness of the changes taking place.

A great connoisseur of creativity A.S. Pushkin, wrote: “Pushkin does not say a lot about the transfer of sensation, but he keeps and copulates it for a long time in himself, so that from this long-term wearing it already has the power of an explosion if it comes out.”

It was precisely such a force of explosion that the “Prophet” gained, the excited, solemn monologue of the great poet about the poet.

The materials of the article by L.L. Shestakova “Linguistic analysis of the poem by A.S. Pushkin "Prophet"

What to do if at a literature lesson you were asked to analyze the poem “The Prophet” by A.S. Pushkin? This poem is considered one of the most important in the work of the Russian poet, and in this article we will try to analyze it in detail.

The semantic level of the poem

The famous poem "The Prophet" was written by Pushkin in 1826 after many of the poet's friends who participated in the Decembrist uprising were exiled and shot. Two years earlier, Pushkin, being an Orthodox person, became interested in reading the Koran translated by M.I. Verevkin, like many of his Decembrist friends. By the time the poem was written, Pushkin had been in exile in Mikhailovskaya for free-thinking for more than a year, so the question of freedom and the role of the poet in society had long been ripe in the soul of a genius. Infected by the image of a free man-prophet, carrying the truth to ordinary people, the poet decided to embody this motif in his own work.

When analyzing the poem "The Prophet" by Pushkin, it is necessary to take into account the fact that traditionally it is considered one of those works of the poet that reveal the theme of the poet's role in society. The image of the poet is symbolically represented by a religious prophet, but it is filled with a completely different content. So, people, according to the poet, cannot see what only the poet sees, hear what only the poet hears, speak and love as only the poet can.

The process of turning a person into a prophet is accompanied by torment, but the poet sees this as his main purpose. This is clearly seen from the end of the poem, where the poet lies "like a corpse in the desert" until the "voice of God" comes to him, commanding him to get up and go. Thus, the theme of prophecy is closely intertwined with the theme of martyrdom in this poem. Pushkin describes the poet as a man exiled by the government, who must defend the truth even when all his friends are destroyed, when he himself is brought to his knees.

Composition and artistic means

In addition to the semantic load that the poem carries, when analyzing the poem "Prophet", it is also necessary to take into account the structure of the work, as well as artistic means that help to reveal the image of the prophet.

Compositionally, the poem consists of the following parts:

the first part describes the state of a person before the moment of rebirth;
the second part describes a meeting with a seraphim messenger who endows a person with gifts;
the third part includes the manifestation of a divine voice commanding the prophet to go and "burn the hearts of the people with the verb."

The poem is written in iambic tetrameter with numerous pyrrhias, which makes the work deliberately slow, as if conveying the torment of the prophet. From the very beginning, the lines are replete with metaphors and epithets (“spiritual thirst”, “high angels flight”, “sinful language”). The main lexical backbone of the poem is made up of archaisms and Church Slavonicisms (“dragged”, “fingers”, “eyes”, “mountain”), which helps to give the lines a solemn eternity.

To give clarity and artistry, the poem contains several comparisons (“I lay like a corpse in the desert”, “with light fingers like a dream”). Also in the work you can hear a lot of hissing and whistling sounds “zh”, “sh”, “ts”, “s”, “h”, which helps to convey the atmosphere of the long suffering of the prophet.

Thus, Pushkin's poem "The Prophet" reveals the central idea of the poet's mission in society, and compositional and artistic means help to feel the poet's mood more vividly and deeply.

The Prophet Alexander Pushkin

Spiritual thirst tormented,
In the gloomy desert I dragged myself
And a six-winged seraph
He appeared to me at a crossroads.
With fingers as light as a dream
He touched my apples:
Prophetic eyes opened,
Like a frightened eagle.
He touched my ears
And they were filled with noise and ringing:
And I heard the shudder of the sky,
And the heavenly angels flight,
And the reptile of the sea underwater course,
And the valley of the vine vegetation.
And he clung to my lips,
And tore out my sinful tongue,
And idle and crafty,
And the sting of the wise snake
In my frozen mouth
He invested it with a bloody right hand.
And he cut my chest with a sword,
And took out a trembling heart,
And coal burning with fire
He put a hole in his chest.
Like a corpse in the desert I lay,
And God's voice called out to me:
“Arise, prophet, and see, and listen,
Fulfill my will
And, bypassing the seas and lands,
Burn people's hearts with the verb."

Analysis of Pushkin's poem "The Prophet"

The philosophical theme of the search for the meaning of life is characteristic of the work of many writers, but not every one of them manages to clearly formulate the answer to the question posed. For some, creativity is one of the opportunities for self-expression, others see in their works the shortest path to fame, wealth and respect.

Sooner or later, any person associated with literature asks himself the question of what exactly he lives for and what he wants to say with his works. The poet Alexander Pushkin was no exception in this sense, and the theme of self-identification runs like a red thread not only in his prose, but also in poetry. The most characteristic work in this respect is the poem "The Prophet", written in 1826 and becoming a kind of program of action not only for Pushkin, but also for many poets of subsequent generations. This is not surprising, since the work is really striking in its grandeur and metaphor. At the same time, the poem itself is a very capacious and accurate answer to the question of what exactly is the meaning of the life of a true poet, and what should he strive for when creating his works.

The poem "Prophet" was written by Pushkin in the genre of an ode which emphasizes the significance and weight of this work. After all, odes are created only in honor of the most extraordinary events that are important for the life of the author or the whole society. Many of Pushkin's predecessors, being court poets, wrote odes on the occasion of the coronation or marriage of crowned persons. Therefore, The Prophet, created by "high calm" according to all the canons of the genre, can be considered a kind of challenge that Alexander Pushkin threw to the world, defending his right to be a poet. By this, he emphasized that creativity is not only an attempt at self-expression, but must also have a specific goal, noble enough to devote his whole life to achieving it.

It is worth noting that, imitating the ancient Greek poets, Pushkin resorted to the technique of metaphor in The Prophet, creating an epic work of amazing beauty in which its main character, identified with the author, meets with the highest angel. And it is the "six-winged seraphim" that shows him the right path, revealing the true purpose of the poet, who must "burn the hearts of people with a verb." This means that any work that comes out from the pen of a writer has no right to be worthless and empty, with its help the poet must reach out to the heart and mind of every reader, convey his thoughts and ideas to him. Only in this case can we say that a creative person has taken place as a person, and his works are, well, empty paperwork, but genuine gems of literature that make you think, empathize, feel and understand this complex and multifaceted world more sharply.

Many of Pushkin's contemporaries, after the publication of The Prophet, began to treat the poet with some prejudice., believing that with this work he tried to elevate himself to the level of a literary god who looks down on the world and is confident in his infallibility. In fact, such an impression is really created thanks to the grandiloquent style that Pushkin specially chose for this work. However, the meaning of the poem is not at all to exalt oneself, because in the "Prophet" there are lines that the angel forced the author to be reborn. This means that Alexander Pushkin is fully aware of his imperfection and strives to ensure that each of his works becomes that very pearl in literature. Meanwhile, a person who knows about his shortcomings and can openly declare this is alien to the feeling of arrogance. Therefore, the poem "The Prophet" should be considered in the context of a message to future writers, to whom the author is trying to convey a simple truth: art for the sake of art and satisfaction of one's own ambitions is just as insignificant as grandiloquent odes praising autocrats and sent to the dustbin of history immediately after their public reading .

The poem "The Prophet" cannot be considered in isolation from the historical events that shook Russia at that time. Written in 1826, less than half a month after the execution of the main participants, the instigators of the uprising on Senatskaya, it is a kind of answer by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin to the Decembrists, the royal power and the mood in society as a whole. In The Prophet, despite the obvious confusion that spread at that time through the thinking, progressive part of the nobility, there is a fierce strength and hope - the hope that the word will be able to change a lot, that the prophet - that is, the poet - is able to influence the worldview of people, ignite their hearts.

It is important to note that the "Prophet" is a kind of summing up the famous exile of the disgraced poet, a reflection on the time spent in Mikhailovsky. At the time of writing, Pushkin already knew about the exile and executions, but his own fate remained a mystery to him. Despite this, the disturbing notes in the work are almost inaudible - everything is drowned out by a powerful call to action and awareness of the true mission of the poet: prophetic service to the truth, and not earthly, but "higher" power.

The main theme of the poem

In The Prophet, Pushkin formulates his poetic declaration, the principle and meaning that he will follow throughout his life. The poet, according to Alexander Sergeevich, is a modern prophet, a messenger of God, who must carry the holy truth to people who are unable to know it on their own. It is the purpose of poetry as a whole and the special, unique role of the poet that are the most important themes of this work.

The artist is responsible to God, and to no one else - this is how Pushkin understands the poetic ministry, carrying out this idea and revealing it throughout the entire work. It is God (or his intermediary - the angel-seraphim) that is the driving force that makes the prophet-poet transform, listen to the voice that is heard, stop his miserable existence and live in accordance with his destiny.

At the same time, Pushkin, of course, understands that no service, either religious or poetic, is possible without sacrifice. Accepting the gift, the artist changes himself - his ears are filled with noise and ringing, the sinful, worldly tongue breaks out, and in its place appears the “sting of the wise snake”, and instead of a trembling heart in the poet’s chest, now there is an unfading coal. Such is the payment for the opportunity to hear the voice of God and carry it into the world, and Pushkin accepts this condition.

For Pushkin, a poet is at the same time a chosen one, a teacher, and a visionary who must serve freedom and truth, not paying attention to the hardships and hardships that accompany him, enlighten people, bring them the light of true wisdom. Summarizing this, we can say that Pushkin recognizes for himself the divine nature of poetry.

The topic of responsibility to the highest authorities is especially important, since Alexander Sergeevich, who has barely served one exile, goes to the capital, not knowing whether his connection with the Decembrists is known, and if so, how much. At the same time, in The Prophet, he declares his readiness to make sacrifices for the sake of truth, his readiness to speak directly and honestly, regardless of censorship. At that moment, the poet was already aware that if he wants to continue to create in accordance with his ideals, he will not see universal recognition and loyalty of those in power.

Structural analysis of the poem

The work is written in an odic style, somewhat similar to the biblical one. Pushkin actively uses high vocabulary and archaisms, achieving rhythmic and phonetic similarity with religious texts. There is no division into stanzas, the size is iambic tetrameter. There are many anaphoras, Slavonicisms, comparisons and metaphors in the work. The poet creates a tense and at the same time solemn atmosphere by using contrasts, both in the worldview of the prophet and in immobility, alternating with a call to act. The author ends his lyrical declaration with an appeal.

The Prophet is a work whose significance in Pushkin's literary heritage can hardly be overestimated. This is a milestone that marks a turning point in the development of the poet, an important stage in his evolution. It was Alexander Sergeevich who, for the first time in Russian literature, dared to elevate the poet so highly, to compare him with a religious prophet, to designate the special, holy role of poets in Russia.