History of foreign literature of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Romanticism, realism, naturalism, symbolism in literature, music of the 19th century Romanticism in foreign music

1.2. Symbolism

Symbolism (from the French simbolism, from the Greek simbolon - sign, symbol) is an artistic movement that appeared in France in the late 60s - early 70s. XIX century (initially in literature, and then in other types of art - visual, musical, theatrical) and soon included other cultural phenomena - philosophy, religion, mythology. The favorite themes that the symbolists addressed were death, love, suffering, and anticipation of certain events. The subjects were dominated by scenes from gospel history, semi-mythical and semi-historical events of the Middle Ages, and ancient mythology.

Symbolism was associated with contemporary idealistic philosophical movements, which were based on the idea of two worlds - the apparent world of everyday reality and the transcendental world of true values. In accordance with this, symbolism is engaged in the search for a higher reality that is beyond sensory perception. Symbolism did not cover all poetic creativity in the country, but designated a special stage of literary life characteristic of its time. The Symbolist movement arose as a protest against the impoverishment of Russian poetry, as a desire to say a fresh word in it, to restore vitality to it.

Symbolism did not arise in Russia in isolation from the West. Russian symbolists were to a certain extent influenced by French poetry, and English, and German, where symbolism manifested itself in poetry a decade earlier.

However, they resolutely denied their fundamental dependence on Western European literature. They looked for their roots in Russian poetry.

At first, in the nineties, the poems of the Symbolists, with their unusual phrases and images for the public, were often subjected to ridicule and even mockery. Symbolist poets were given the title of decadents, meaning by this term decadent moods of hopelessness, a sense of rejection of life, and pronounced individualism.

But already by the first years of the twentieth century, symbolism as a literary movement, as a school, stood out with all certainty, in all its facets. It was already difficult to confuse him with other phenomena in art; he already had his own poetic structure, his own aesthetics and poetics, his own teaching.

Symbolism in literature was a movement of romantics, inspired by the philosophy of idealism.

The symbolists took their place in Russian art in an era when social reality in Russia, and throughout Europe, was extremely unstable, fraught with explosions and disasters. Sharp class contradictions, hostility and clashes between powers, and a deep spiritual crisis in society threatened an unprecedented shock. This includes the Russian Revolution of 1905, the World War that broke out nine years later, and then the two revolutions of 1917 in Russia.

But symbolism was replaced by a new movement - Acmeism.

1.3. Acmeism

Acmeism (from the Greek akme - the highest degree, peak, flowering, blooming time) is a literary movement that opposes symbolism and arose at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia.

The poetic word has clear boundaries. Increased propensity for cultural associations, it has entered into a roll call with past literary eras. In the poetry of N. Gumilyov, the hymn of a “strong personality” sometimes sounded. Acmeism sought to overcome the mysticism of the Symbolists and sought support in the work of the decadents, turning primarily to the legacy of Annensky.

As a literary movement, Acmeism did not last long - about two years (1913–1914). In the poetry of N. Gumilyov, Acmeism is realized in the desire to discover new worlds, exotic images and plots. The path of the poet in Gumilyov’s lyrics is the path of a warrior, a conquistador, a discoverer. The muse that inspires the poet is the Muse of Distant Journeys. The renewal of poetic imagery, respect for the “phenomenon as such” was carried out in Gumilyov’s work through travel to unknown, but very real lands. Travels in N. Gumilyov’s poems carried impressions of the poet’s specific expeditions to Africa and, at the same time, echoed symbolic wanderings in “other worlds.” Gumilev contrasted the transcendental worlds of the Symbolists with the continents they first discovered for Russian poetry.

Acmeism united poets with different ideological and artistic attitudes and literary destinies. In this regard, Acmeism was perhaps even more heterogeneous than symbolism. The common thing that united the Acmeists was the search for a way out of the crisis of symbolism. However, the Acmeists were unable to create a holistic ideological and aesthetic system, and did not set such a task for themselves. Moreover, starting from symbolism, they emphasized the deep internal connections of Acmeism with symbolism.

Artistic images in poems by N. Gumilyov from the collection “Romantic Flowers”

2.1. Heroic type, generalized image of a hero

Sailors, historical figures, conquistadors - this is the type of hero that is presented in the works of Gumilyov.

In the poem "Sonnet" we are not talking about a specific hero (a conquistador), but about a heroic type of brave dreamers, stubborn and strong, not afraid of challenges. He treats “joyful gardens” and “chasms and abysses” equally “cheerfully”; he is not afraid of the fog, which he waits for, laughing; He is not afraid of death either: he will “fight to the end” with death.

Brave Pompey (“Pompey among the Pirates”), being on a ship among pirates, behaves independently and proudly, without fear of their reprisals against him. His confidence and masculinity are contrasted with the cowardice and servility of the pirates. The pirates “look menacing” and hide in the hold, but they are gripped by “excitement” (albeit dangerous); they talk about the execution of Pompey with “hidden malice,” but this malice is the malice of “fear,” and they demand execution “in a low voice”; they serve as robes and for several days have not dared to “wander under the tents” at the stern. And Pompey, “surrounded by a flock of pigeons,” on the stern “decorated with red,” lazily rising on the tray, inhaling expensive aromas and sprinkling “pinkish long nails with crushed ruby,” orders them to bring wine, and the pirates, embarrassedly falling silent, “slavishly carry the wine , and flowers, and pomegranates."

The description of Pompey and the pirates is replete with expressive realistic details and details, and helps to clearly see the images of Pompey and the pirates.

In the poems “To the Emperor” and “Caracalla” the lyrical hero addresses an unknown to us, but most likely powerful emperor.

In the poem “To the Emperor,” the hero is portrayed as “the ghost of some advanced force,” “who indicated the laws of fate,” “the emperor, in the darkness of the grave.” The lyrical hero is very clearly contrasted with the emperor: “poor wandering singer”, “eternal slave”. The emperor wants the lyrical hero to praise him, but the lyrical hero tries to say that he cannot do this because “he is not a tribune, not a senator.” Only “homeless animals and roosters on the high mountains” listen to his songs, and all rich doors are locked for him. He cannot understand why the emperor “proclaims a crown” on him if his voice is weak, “his eyes are not humped” and “his old tunic is tattered and black.” But in the end he agrees to his mission - to glorify the emperor, because he is an "eternal slave."

The poem “Caracalla” describes what would have happened to the emperor, “what kind of ruler he would have become,” if not for his principles, “if he had not been himself.” An emperor “with an aquiline profile”, “with a black curly beard”, he could “spread out a military camp, throw flames into the temple of Jerusalem, tame the rebellious Parthians.” The lyrical hero says that:

Julius Caesar, Augustus and Pompey, -

This is a shadow, pale and barely visible,

Before your quiet secret.

But, wanting to remain himself, he does not want to be a famous ruler.

The generalized image of the hero is distinguished by clarity and specificity of positions. This is a self-confident person who does not trust other people’s calls, relies on his own reason, and courageously moves towards his intended goal.

General patterns of change from one literary movement to another. Literary movements of realistic and non-realistic types. Content features of romanticism. Romanticism as a worldview. Disappointment in the results of the Great French Revolution, in bourgeois society. Opposition to the ideas of the Enlightenment. Cult of emotionality, irrationalism. The principle of uncertainty, the flickering of meaning. Idealism, mysticism. Dual world. The cult of the unusual, the exceptional. Romantic hero. The main values of romantics: Love, Nature,

Art. Basic principles of realism: comprehensive, objective depiction of a person, social and psychological determinism, historicism, typicality of heroes, analyticity. Artistic features of romanticism and realism.
Chronological framework of romanticism and realism. The emergence of realism in Russian literature.

2. German romanticism.

The emergence of the Jena school of German romanticism. Theoretical justification of the new direction: the Schlegel brothers. Novalis is the most famous writer of the Jena school: his work - the novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen” and others - is classic,

Standard romanticism. Less significant writers of the Jena school: L. Tieck - creator of the fairy-tale short story genre (“Blond Ecbert”). F. Hölderlin - classic romantic biography: unrequited love, madness; complexity of poetry. Heidelberg School – interest in folklore. Poetry of C. Brentano. Fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Writers not affiliated with any schools. Fairy tale by A. Chamisso “The Wonderful Story of Peter Schlemel” - the man who sold the shadow. V. Gauff's fairy tale “Frozen” is a classic expose of self-interest and insensitivity. G. Kleist. Unusual biography: suicide. The best work is the tragedy “Pentesileia”. Plot and meaning. The power of animals and wild instincts over man. The problem of the war of the sexes. Poetry of L. Uland. Heinrich Heine is the best German poet of the 19th century. Theme of love. The best poems. Ironic and satirical poems.

3. The works of E. T. A. Hoffman.

The main features of creativity: 1. Dual worlds - the intertwining of the real and ideal worlds. 2. Philistines and enthusiasts. 3. Reception of flickering meaning. Genre classification of works. Fairy tales. “The Pot of Gold” is a classic example of romantic dual worlds. “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” Examples of flickering meaning. The strange figure of Advisor Drosselmeyer. “Little Tsakhes”: an ugly dwarf who contained all the negative human qualities, with the help of three magic hairs he automatically appropriated the results of the talent and skill of other people. A stark picture of unfair career growth and success. Scary mystical stories. The difference between mysticism and fantasy. “The Sandman” is a classic example of the glimmer of meaning. Gothic novel “Elixirs of Satan”: the obsession of the main character, a monk, with sinful passions. Complicated plot. The story “The Sinister Guest”: the problem of controlling one person by the will of another. Psychological stories. Description of the irrationality of the human soul. “Counselor Krespel”: the romantic choice of the main character-singer between singing and life. “Mademoiselle de Scudery”: a serial killer is driven to commit crimes by a passion for the beauty of precious stones. The novel “The Everyday Views of Murr the Cat”: unusual composition: parallelism. Memoirs of a cat. The part about the composer Kreisler is too long.

4. English romanticism.

W. Blake is an unrecognized poet-thinker during his lifetime. The main idea is the complexity, contradictory nature of life, the equality of good and evil, joy and sadness. Collections “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience”. Lake school. The poetry of W. Wordsworth: celebrating the simplicity and morality of village life. S. Coleridge - the main features of poetry: dark mysticism, mystery. Poems “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Christabel”. The poem “Kubla Khan”, written in a dream. Ballads of R. Southey. P. B. Shelley. Main features of poetry. Naive optimism, lack of a sense of the deep tragedy of life. Chanting joy, beauty, love. Musicality, lightness. Social issues in Shelley's poetry. J. Keats. Early death. The beauty of life and art in Keats's poetry. Ch. Maturin’s novel “Melmoth the Wanderer”. Development of the Gothic novel genre in the era of romanticism. Immortality and omniscience at the price of selling the soul to the devil. Walter Scott is the creator of the historical novel: he was the first to truthfully reproduce the everyday life of the past. Two groups of his novels: 1) Scottish - novels about the history of Scotland in the 17th - 18th centuries. The novel “The Puritans” is one of the best, the problem of violence and humanism in it; 2) novels about the Middle Ages in other countries: England, France, etc. “Ivanhoe” is the most famous novel by W. Scott. England of the 12th century: the conflict between the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman conquerors. A classic adventure novel. Signs of romantic adventurism in a historical novel: an idealized hero and heroine, a negative hero, an adventurous, implausible plot. Elements of realism in the novels of W. Scott. Influence on “The Captain's Daughter” by A. S. Pushkin.

5. The works of George Byron.

Character traits. The most significant and striking facts of the poet's biography (including scandalous ones): betrayal of his first lover Mary Chaworth, relationship with his half-sister Augusta Lee, marriage to Annabella Milbank, scandalous breakup with her, boycott of English society, departure from England, participation in the preparation of the Italian uprising against Austria, participation in the liberation struggle of the Greeks against the Turks. Worldview: global pessimism and tragic heroism, preaching a hopeless struggle against invincible evil. Lyrics are the best part of creativity. Main themes: 1) tragic love (main cycles), the nobility of the lyrical hero; 2) expression of suffering, hopelessness, meaninglessness of life; 3) glorification of heroes, a cycle about Napoleon. Poem “Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.” Childe Harold is the most famous embodiment of the disillusioned hero in European literature, his biographical closeness to the author. Lack of developed plot. The main content of the poem is travel impressions. The role of the author's image in the poem is greater than that of the hero. The main thing in it is the revelation of the rich inner world of Byron himself. "Eastern Poems". Key Features. A controversial Byronic hero close to the author. The theme of the fascination of evil. “Gyaur.” The unusual negative characterization of the hero throughout most of the poem: from the point of view of his enemies, full of hatred and fear. “Corsair”, “Lara”: brief description. Poem “The Prisoner of Chillon”. Philosophical drama “Cain”. Subjective interpretation of a famous Old Testament story. Justification of Cain as the first intellectual-fighter of God, the first to decide to think independently. The justice and fallacy of Cain's claims to God. The meaning of this final drama is at the same time the meaning of Byron's entire work: an expression of the tragedy of the life of the descendants of Cain, the rebels. Novel in verse “Don Juan”. The justification for free love is one of the most important ideas.

6. French romanticism.

Highlights of the turbulent history of France 1789 - 1851. Works about disappointed heroes: “René” by R. Chateaubriand, “Obermann” by E. Senancourt, “Adolphe” by B. Constant. A. Vigny is a poet of tragic heroism. Poetry M. Debord-Valmore. A. Musset. Poetry. The idea of the benefit of suffering. Novel “Confession of the Son of the Century.” The inconsistency of the protagonist's soul: good and evil (cruelty). Similarities with “A Hero of Our Time”. George Sand. Highlights of the biography: connections with Musset and Chopin. Ideas of emancipation. The struggle for freedom is the leading motive of creativity. Passion for utopian socialism. The most famous novels: “Indiana”, “Lelia”, “Consuelo”. Adventure-historical novels by Alexandre Dumas the Father. Social adventurous novels by Eugene Sue.

7. The works of Victor Hugo.

Worldview: humanism, optimism, belief in moral progress. The huge role of literature in the development of society. Life of Hugo. Active citizenship. Family and lover. Death of children. Artistic advantages and disadvantages of Hugo's prose: showiness is the main principle of his romantic poetics. The main ideas of the prose: protection of the outcast, revelation of the complexity of the human soul, a call to see through the external evil the inner, hidden good. The meaning of the story “The Last Day of the Condemned to Death.” Novel “Notre Dame Cathedral”. A bright, exciting story. Key plot points related to the main characters: Quasimodo and Esmeralda. The main idea is the preaching of mercy. Showing the irrationality of the human soul through the image of Claude Frollo. Esmeralda's blind love for Phoebus. Quasimodo's selfless love for Esmeralda. Les Misérables is Hugo's best novel. “The Man Who Laughs.” Main plot. The image of the depraved aristocrat Josiana, who fell in love with a freak. “The Ninety-Third Year”: a celebration of romantic humanism, which from the point of view of reason and real life is not only stupid, but also often criminal.

8. American romanticism.

History of the United States. The first democratic presidential republic. Novels by V. Irving. “Rip Van Winkle”, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Adventure novels by F. Cooper about Indians. Pentalogy about Leather Stocking. Popularity in Russia. G. Longfellow's poem “The Song of Hiawatha” based on the original Indian mythology. N. Hawthorne's novel “The Scarlet Letter”. Plot. The meaning is the exposure of cruelty and the narrowness of Puritan morality, which deprives a person of the right to happiness. G. Melville's novel “Moby Dick, or the White Whale.” The tragically ending hunt of the whaling ship Pequod, led by the crazy captain Ahab, for the evil huge white whale is a symbol of the heroic, tragic and senseless struggle of humanity against the incomprehensible and hostile natural chaos. The main idea is the affirmation of fatalism, the inevitable fulfillment of a tragic fate.

9. The works of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849).

The most striking and significant moments of the biography, including the scandalous marriage to his 13-year-old cousin. A hard life determined the nature of creativity. Features of creativity: 1) mystery; 2) a combination of romantic and realistic features; 3) the huge role of artistic form in Poe’s best works. 1. Scary mystical stories. Life is a terrible chaos, a kingdom of horror and death, mystical doom. Mystical forces interfere in human life. “The Black Cat” is Poe’s most important story, which influenced Dostoevsky: it reveals the irrationality of the human soul. “The Mask of the Red Death”, “Ligeia”, “Morella”, “Eleanor”. 2. Scary psychological stories - descriptions of strange, negative, painful mental states of a person. Brief description of the stories “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Well and the Pendulum”, “The Descent into the Maelstrom”. 3. Detective stories. Edgar Poe is the creator of the classic detective genre. Definition of genre. “The Stolen Letter”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Gold Bug”. 4. Science fiction and adventure stories. “The Extraordinary Adventure of a Certain Hans Pfaal” is about a trip to the moon in a hot air balloon. “The Tale of Steep Mountains.” “Manuscript Found in a Bottle.” 5. Comic stories. With an unexpected humorous ending. “Premature burial”, “Glasses”, “The system of Dr. Smol and Professor Perrault”. Poe's poetry is one of the brightest pages of world poetry. Key Features. Poe's best poems are “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”.
Poetry of the Italian romantic G. Leopardi.

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Romanticism and realism in foreign literature of the 19th century

In foreign literature of the 19th century, two main trends stand out: romanticism and realism. Since these currents developed almost simultaneously, they left a noticeable imprint on each other. This especially applies to the literature of the 1st half of the 19th century: the work of many romantic writers (Walter Scott, Hugo, George Sand, Byron, etc.) has a number of realistic features, while the work of realist writers (Stendhal, Balzac, Mérimée, Zola etc.) are often colored by romanticism. It is not always easy to determine where the work of a particular writer should be classified - romanticism or realism. Only in the 2nd half of the 19th century did romanticism finally give way to realism.

Romanticism is associated with the French bourgeois revolution of 1789, with the ideas of this revolution. At first, the romantics accepted the revolution enthusiastically and had very high hopes for the new bourgeois society. Hence the dreaminess and enthusiasm characteristic of the works of the romantics. However, it soon became obvious that the revolution did not live up to the hopes placed on it. People received neither freedom nor equality. Money began to play a huge role in the destinies of people, which, in essence, enslaved them. For those who were rich, all paths were opened; the lot of the poor remained sad. A terrible struggle for money began, a thirst for profit. All this caused severe disappointment among the romantics. They began to look for new ideals - some of them turned to the past and began to idealize it, others, the most progressive, rushed to the future, which they often saw as vague and uncertain. Dissatisfaction with the present, expectation of something new, the desire to show ideal relationships between people, strong characters - this is what is typical for romantic writers.

Realism, in contrast to romanticism, was primarily interested in the present day. In an effort to reflect reality in their works as fully as possible, realist writers created large works (their favorite genre was the novel) with many events and characters. They sought to reflect in their works the events characteristic of the era. If the romantics portrayed heroes endowed with some highly individual traits, heroes who differed sharply from the people around them, then the realists, on the contrary, sought to endow their heroes with traits typical of many people belonging to one or another class, to one or another social group

Realists did not call for the destruction of bourgeois society, but they portrayed it with merciless truthfulness, sharply criticizing its vices, which is why the realism of the 19th century is usually called critical realism.

Hugo. Novel "Notre Dame Cathedral" A bright, exciting story. Key plot points related to the main characters: Quasimodo and Esmeralda. The main idea is the preaching of mercy. Showing the irrationality of the human soul through the image of Claude Frollo. Esmeralda's blind love for Phoebus. Quasimodo's selfless love for Esmeralda.

"The Man Who Laughs" Main plot. The image of the depraved aristocrat Josiana, who fell in love with a freak. “The Ninety-Third Year”: glorification of romantic humanism, which from the point of view of reason and real life is not only stupid, but also often criminal.

The work of Balzac (1829-1850) is marked by the formation and development of the writer's realistic method. At this time, he created such significant works as “Gobsek”, “Shagreen Skin”, “Eugenia Grande”, “Père Goriot”, “Lost Illusions” and many others. The dominant genre in his work was the socio-psychological novel of a relatively small volume. The poetics of these novels undergoes significant changes at this time, where a socio-psychological novel, a biographical novel, sketches and much more are combined into an organic whole. The most important element in the artist’s system was the consistent application of the principle of realistic typification.

The main artistic direction of the early 19th century. In Europe and North America, romanticism began to appear, which manifested itself in literature, music, and fine arts. Representatives of romanticism showed significant interest in the national past (often idealized it), traditions of folklore, the culture of their own and other peoples, and sought to create a universal picture of the world. Romanticism reached its heyday in the 20-30s of the 19th century.

In literature, romanticism created its own hero: a man with strong feelings, with an acute reaction to the world, rejecting laws, yearning for an ideal. For writers, it was important not to reproduce reality, but to show their attitude towards it.

Germany was the birthplace of romanticism. Among the German writers of romanticism, it is worth highlighting Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776 - 1822), the author of the works “The Devil’s Elixir”, “The Golden Pot”, “Little Zehes”, “The Lord of the Fleas”. Hoffmann was not only a talented writer, but also one of the founders of German romantic musical aesthetics and criticism, the author of one of the first romantic operas, Ondine.

A famous German romantic poet was Heinrich Heine (1797 –
1856). In his work he relied on folk songs.

The pinnacle of English romanticism was the lyricist George Noel Gordon Byron (1788 - 1824). His works are characterized by protest. Its main character is a rebel and an individualist, striving for freedom, he is extremely disappointed with the post-Napoleonic structure of society. His most famous works are Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Manfred and Cain. One of Byron's best works is the novel in verse Don Juan. The poet participated in the Carbonari movement in Italy, in the struggle for the freedom of Greece, where he died. Love of freedom and prophetic foresight made Byron the ruler of the thoughts of the then Europe.

Famous English romantic poets were John Keats (1795 - 1821) and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822). The English writer Walter Scott (1771 – 1832) wrote historical novels “The Puritans” and “Ivanhoe”, in which there was a combination of romantic and realistic tendencies.

In the first third of the 19th century, romanticism became the main trend in French literature. At the first stage he was represented by François René de Chateaubriand (1768 – 1848). All works contain polemics with the ideas of the Enlightenment and revolution; Catholicism is proclaimed as the basis and content of art. Therefore, Chateaubriand is classified as a member of the conservative wing of romanticism.

Representatives of progressive romanticism were V. Hugo and Georges Sand.

Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885) formulated the principles of the new romantic dramaturgy. He advocated freedom and naturalness, against the strict delineation of genres established in classicism, and recognized the mixture of the comic and tragic. He was the greatest poet. He wrote dramatic works, the most famous “Ernani”, “Cromwell”, “Marion Delorme”. Hugo's outstanding novels are “Notre-Dame de Paris” and “The Man Who Laughs”. A special place in his work is occupied by the novel “Les Miserables,” which raises acute social problems of the 19th century. Criticizing the shortcomings of the social structure, Hugo does not lose faith in the possibility of moral regeneration of man.

Georges Sand (real name Aurora Dudevant, 1804 - 1876) in her novels “Indiana” and “Consuelo” raised pressing social issues - the position of women in the family and society.

Alexandre Dumas paid attention to historical events in his novels, supplementing them with the adventures of the heroes “The Three Musketeers,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and “Queen Margot.”

Famous storytellers of the 19th century were the Dane Hans Christian Andersen (1805 - 1875) and the German brothers Jacob (1785 - 1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786 - 1859).

In music, the romantic direction is represented by the work of outstanding composers from different countries. A famous German composer, music critic, and exponent of the aesthetics of romanticism was Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856). He created the piano cycles “Butterflies”, “Carnival”, lyrical-dramatic vocal cycles, operas, and oratorios. The first representative of romantic opera in Germany was K.M. Weber (1786 –
1826). He determined the main directions of German operatic art: the folk-legendary and fairy-tale opera “Free Shooter”, the opera on the medieval knightly plot “Euryanthe”.

The romantic direction is represented in the works of the German composer, conductor, music writer, opera reformer Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883). Famous operas "Tannhäuser", "Lohengrin", "Tristan and Isolde". Wagner's music is distinguished by its enormous expressiveness; his operas are holistic works of art that combine music, poetry, acting, dance, painting, and architecture.

Romantic composers included the Frenchman Hector Berlioz (1803 –
1869), Hungarian Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886), Pole Frederic Chopin (1810 – 1849), Italian Niccolo Paganini (1782 – 1840).

Romanticism in painting was most clearly manifested in the work of French artists. Theodore Gericault (1791 - 1824) freed himself from the influence of classicism and sought to find the heroic in real life.

Géricault's most famous painting is The Raft of Medusa. He also painted portraits, everyday scenes, and landscapes. Eugene Delacroix (1798 – 1863) pays great attention to historical subjects. At the height of the revolutionary events of 1830, he painted the famous painting “Freedom on the Barricades.” His paintings “Algerian Women”, “The Capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders”, “Massacre on Chios” are famous. Delacroix is rightfully considered the creator of historical painting of the New Age.

The merit of the romantics was the democratization of the art of graphics, the creation of more flexible forms in lithography and book woodcuts. A special place among book illustrators and graphic artists belongs to the French artist Gustave Doré (1832 - 1883). To this day, the Bible, Dante's Divine Comedy, Cervantes' Don Quixote, and Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel are published with his illustrations. The work of the French cartoonist and artist Honore Daumier (1808 - 1879) is associated with romanticism.

Romanticism received especially vivid expression in ballet. Romantic ballet was formed in France in the mid-19th century. and became widespread throughout Europe. In ballet performances, the dominant position began to be occupied by the dancer, and jumping and finger dancing were developed. The first to use pointe dancing was the Italian dancer Maria Taglioni (1804–1884). The corps de ballet dance originated from the romantic ballet, which was further developed throughout the 19th century. Particularly expressive corps de ballet parts were created in the ballet “Giselle” by composer A. Adam.

Thus, romanticism left a significant mark on art. He enriched world culture with enduring spiritual values and showed new ways of its development.

In the 30s–40s. XIX century along with romanticism in fiction and fine arts, realism and by the middle of the century it became the dominant trend in European culture. Realism originated in France and England. In its ideological orientation it becomes critical realism. At the same time, the work of realist writers is permeated with the ideas of humanism and social justice.

In the 30s and 40s, the best works of this style were created in France. The work of Honoré de Balzac (1799 – 1850) is the pinnacle of Western European realism. He created the epic "Human Comedy", in which the novels are connected by a common concept and many characters. The most famous novels of this epic are “Shagreen Skin”, “Eugenia Grande”, “Père Goriot”.

A famous representative of critical realism is Stendhal (present Henri Beyle, 1783 - 1842). The heroes of his novels “Red and Black” and “The Parma Monastery” are contemporaries. The author gives his own interpretation of the deceptive appearance of the heroes and their hypocrisy.

The greatest representative of realism was Gustave Flaubert (1821 –
1880). An assessment of Flaubert's position in relation to social problems cannot be unambiguous: he was always hostile to the bourgeoisie, despised the masses, and considered it pointless to engage in politics. Despite this, Flaubert gave a remarkable critical image of reality and did not remain aloof from the social struggle. His best novels are Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education.

The work of Guy de Maupassant (1850 – 1893) is distinguished by its acute analysis of social problems. He wrote novellas and short stories. The writer’s best novels are “Life”, “Best Friend”.

The pinnacle of English critical realism is the work of Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870). In his novels “Dombey and Son”, “Oliver Twist”, “David Copperfield” he opposes the bourgeoisie, which he considers the bearer of evil. All Dickens's novels are distinguished by optimism, national humor, and a sober, realistic outlook on life.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863) in his novel Vanity Fair showed the vices inherent in bourgeois society.

At the end of the 19th century, the realistic direction of English literature was represented by the work of three writers who gained worldwide fame. John Galsworthy (1867 – 1938), Nobel Prize winner in 1932, in the trilogy “The Forsyte Saga” and “Modern Comedy” gave an epic picture of the morals of bourgeois England at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950), Nobel Prize winner in 1925, wrote dramas that centered on the clash of hostile ideologies and uncompromising solutions to social and ethical problems. Herbert George Wells (1866 – 1946) is a classic of science fiction literature. He connects the problems of scientific and technological progress with social and moral forecasts for the development of society. In the novels “The Time Machine” and “The Invisible Man” he relied on the latest scientific concepts.

In the last third of the 19th century, the literature of the Scandinavian countries became world famous. First of all, this is the work of writers Ibsen and Hamsun. Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906) created the sharply satirical social-realistic dramas “A Doll’s House” (“Nora”), “Ghosts”, “Enemy of the People”. Knut Hamsun (1859 – 1952) wrote psychological novels “Hunger”, “Mysteries”, “Pan”, “Victoria”, which depict the rebellion of the individual against the philistine environment. At the end of the 19th century, the work of these Norwegian writers, as well as Russian writers I.S. Turgeneva, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, had a great influence on the public consciousness and literary creativity of other peoples.

Based on realism, a special direction in art arises - naturalism. This trend gained the greatest influence in the 80s of the 20th century in French literature. The largest representative and theoretician of this movement was Emile Zola (1840 – 1902). He developed his own theory, according to which the novel should be built on a scientific basis; the factor determining the character of the heroes is heredity and environment. Zola's main work is the twenty-volume series of novels "Rougon-Macquart", in which he depicted the life of France in the period 1852 - 1870.

In the 19th century, two new genres emerged in literature, which took a leading place in mass literature in the 20th century: fantasy (represented by the Frenchman Jules Verne (1828 - 1905) and the Englishman Herbert Wells) and detective (represented by the American Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849). gg.) and the Englishman Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930).

In the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. New trends are emerging in culture, which are called decadence. It is characterized by moods of hopelessness and pessimism, motives of despair and denial, longing for spiritual ideals, and rejection of life. Decadence is found among symbolists and modernists.

At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. A new direction in art has emerged in Europe - symbolism, which is reflected in literature. Symbolist poets used words in their symbolic rather than concrete meaning. Famous French symbolist poets are Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891). The emergence of symbolism is associated with the publication in 1857 of the collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire “Flowers of Evil.” After the fall of the Paris Commune (1871), decadent sentiments appeared in French symbolism. An important moment in the development of symbolism was the appearance in 1866 of P. Verlaine’s first collection “Saturn Poems”. Also in 1886, the “Manifesto of Symbolism”, written by the poet J. Moreas, was published. This manifesto finally formalized the symbolic direction in French poetry.

Symbolism became widespread in other countries. Symbolic plays were written by the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 – 1949). His fairy tale plays “Princess Malen”, “Paleas and Malisandra” show the everyday mysterious doom of a person to loneliness and death, the famous “Blue Bird” - about the possibility of victory over the evil natural and life elements.

Representatives of this movement in art sought to use symbols to show the “hidden reality”, the ideal essence of the world, its “imperishable beauty”. With their art they expressed a longing for spiritual freedom, a tragic premonition of world socio-historical changes, distrust of age-old cultural and spiritual values as the unifying principle of all people.

Music of the 19th century, in addition to romanticism, is also represented by a realistic movement, and opera becomes the most popular genre. The main genre of Italian opera in the first half of the 19th century was opera buffa - comic opera. The most famous composers are G. Rossini (1792 – 1868, operas “The Barber of Seville”, “The Thieving Magpie”), G. Donezetti (1797 – 1848, operas “Lucia di Lammermoor”, “Elisir of Love”).

In conditions of political reaction in Italy, opera proved itself to be the most popular and democratic genre of theatrical art. The pinnacle of realism in 19th-century opera is the work of the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901). In his operas, Verdi sought to address various social and even political issues. The operas La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Il Trovatore show the problems of social inequality; the historical theme is embodied in the operas Un ballo in maschera, Don Carlos, and Nabucco. The operas “Aida” and “Othello” are considered the pinnacle of Verdi’s creativity.

Verdi gives an important place to the orchestra and choir. Now Verdi's operas are constantly staged in opera houses around the world.

The highest achievement of musical and operatic art in France was the work of Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875), the creator of the opera Carmen, which is recognized as the pinnacle of French realistic opera.

At the end of the century, a special direction was formed in Italian opera - verismo. Composers of this movement most often became famous for one work. Thus, R. Leoncovallo (1857 - 1919) wrote the opera "Pagliacci", which shows the life of wandering actors, P. Mascagni (1863 - 1945) - the opera "Honor Rusticana", the heroes of which were peasants. The most famous composer is G. Puccini (1858 - 1924). He created several operas that still adorn the repertoire of many theaters - “Tosca”, “La Bohème”, “Cio-chio-san” (the second name of this opera is “Madama Butterfly”). Verists' operas were distinguished by their life-like plots and truthful reflection of the spiritual world of ordinary people.

In the middle of the 19th century, a new musical genre emerged - operetta. The birthplace of this genre was France, and its founder was F. Hervé (1825 - 1892), who created the operettas “Little Faust” and “Mademoisal Nitouche”. A famous author of operettas was the French composer J. Offenbach (1819 – 1880). The most famous operettas are “Orpheus in Hell”, “Beautiful Helen”, “Parisian Life”, he also wrote the opera “The Tales of Hoffmann”. Wonderful operettas were created by the Viennese composer J. Strauss (1825 - 1899) - “Die Fledermaus”, “The Merry Widow”, “The Gypsy Baron”, which are still performed today.

LECTURE 21-22

AESTHETIC PROGRAM OF SYMBOLISM. P. VERLEN. A. RAMBO

1 Symbolism as a literary movement.

2 Paul Verlaine is the “king” of symbolism.

3 “Poetic Art” is a poetic manifesto of symbolism. Pictures of the twilight of existence, the mood of a pensive sum are the leading motives of Verlen's poetry (“Autumn Song”, “In the Heart and Tears and Pain”).

4 The originality of the creative development of Arthur Rimbaud.

5 The mood of passion for will, intoxicated enjoyment of life, anarchic rebellion against reality is the emotional background of Rimbaud’s poetry (“The Drunken Ship”, “Golosivki”, “My Ciganery”).

1. Symbolism as a literary movement

Symbolism (from the Greek symvolon - sign, symbol, attribute) is one of the trends of modernism, in which instead of an artistic image that reproduced a certain phenomenon, an artistic symbol was used and became a sign of the changing “life of the soul” and the search for “eternal truth”.

It originated in France in the 60s and 70s of the 19th century, from where it spread to other countries. Perhaps the emergence of symbolism was associated with social changes. Perhaps this is a manifestation of the “spiral” or “pendulum-like” development of art (after all, the confrontation between “mind” and “feelings” existed in literature before). The emergence of symbolism was to some extent determined by the desire to renew the aesthetics of literary creativity.

Symbolism was based on the theory of “correspondences” formulated by Charles Baudelaire, who was considered the founder of the theory of symbolism. The term was proposed by Jean Moreas in the article “Symbolism” (1886). He emphasized that art strives to translate an idea into a sensual form, transform primary emotions into lines, colored spots, sounds, and give them symbolic meaning. In his opinion, the poet had to describe not the object, but the impressions and feelings that arose in the artist.

The establishment of symbolism in literature was associated with the work of Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and Stéphane Mallarmé (although they did not consider themselves symbolists). Despite all the dissimilarities between themselves, their views basically coincided: the desire for intuitive knowledge of the world through symbols, the relegation of the specific content of a work of art to the background, the absolutization of musicality and the poetic word.

As a literary movement, symbolism originated in opposition to realism. The symbolists believed that the essence of the world cannot be known through rationalistic means, but is accessible only to intuition, which is revealed through a hint and insight. The aesthetic system of symbolism is based on the symbol as a means of escaping everyday life and achieving the ideal essence of the world - beauty. The symbol was not the invention of the symbolists, but it has never played such a decisive role in artistic creativity. A word in symbolism is a hint, an image is a riddle.

Symbolists understood the poet as a deity, since he intuitively felt the path to truth. And intuition was identified with mystical insight, because with its help the poet learned the truth. Delving into the world of spiritual experiences of the individual and searching for “eternal truth,” the symbolists used such artistic means as complex metaphorism, indirection, allusions, symbolism, musicality, ambiguity of words, abstract images, etc.

Between the symbolists and the romantics of the first gender. XIX century there was a certain aesthetic continuity. However, symbolism was not a simple continuation of romantic traditions. The disappointment in the ideals of the Symbolists was much deeper. To express it, they, unlike the romantics, turned to everyday, familiar phenomena of life, but endowed them with a hidden meaning, believing that at the heart of existence lay an incomprehensible, mystical secret, they tried to express in their creativity that which could not be expressed.

In France, the most famous representatives of symbolism were P. Verlaine, A. Rimbaud, S. Mallarmé; in Belgium - M. Maeterlinck, E. Verhaerne, in Germany - S. George; in Austria - G. G. Rilke; in Russia - V. Bryusov, A. Bely, A. Blok. In Ukrainian literature, symbolism is most characteristic of the representatives of the “Young Muse” and “Ukrainian Hut”.

2. Paul Verlaine - the “king” of symbolism

PAUL VERLENE (1844-1896). The largest symbolist poet of the 1870s - 1880s, P. Verlaine is the leader of the poetry of symbolism, although the poet himself denied his involvement in symbolism, much less leadership in it. If by symbolic we mean poetry that necessarily turned to symbols, then indeed there were almost no symbols in Verlaine’s lyrics. What made him really close to the Symbolists was that for the first time he paid attention not to the artistic and expressive possibilities of the lyrical word, but to its suggestive, naive power, that is, to the semantic aura that suggested certain moods and images. This is one of the main features of Verlaine's lyrics.

The poet's life was full of ups and downs, a respectable existence and imprisonment, admiration for the Paris Commune and the search for God, the joys of bohemia and homeless mischief. The poet constantly searched for himself in the contradictions of fate, pouring out happiness and pain, melancholy and loneliness in his poems.

Paul Marie Verlaine was born on March 30, 1844 in Metz in the family of a military engineer. Childhood left in the memory of the future poet only endless moves from one town to another. The traveling life ended when the family moved to Paris and his father retired. The future poet spent his school years here.

In 1862 he graduated from the Lyceum and entered the law faculty of the university. But the passion for jurisprudence quickly passed, besides, the family’s material wealth began to shake after his father retired, and in 1864 Paul got a job as a small employee in an insurance company, then in the mayor’s office of one of the Parisian districts, and subsequently at the city hall.

French poets, unlike German ones, did not then consider poetry to be the material basis for their existence; not one of them seriously tried to live off good lyrics. Therefore, Paul, with the consent of his parents, decided to go into public service, which gave him a lot of free time so that he could often attend a literary circle and engage in poetic creativity.

The ideal of the French bourgeois - a small rent - was guaranteed to the poet, and therefore the young Paul Verlaine lived calmly, in a bourgeois manner. He was a typical portrait of a young French poet who sat in some office and began to write good poetry. But in this calm creative life lurked the only danger: an early habit of alcohol. Verlaine, a completely weak-willed man, did not miss a single pub or coffee shop, and drunkenness turned a soft, nervous person into a brawler and a rude man. Gradually, as S. Zweig recalled, “absinthe washes away everything soft, everything affectionate from a weak person, making him a stranger to himself.” Verlaine considered his addiction to alcohol to be the only vice in his life. And this passion unbalanced him.

Verlaine began writing his first poems during his school years. One of them - “Death” - in 1858 he directed V. Hugo. in 1863, his sonnet “Mr. Prudhomme” was first published, which testified to the capture by the Parnassus group. In the second half. 60s joined this association.

The book “Flowers of Evil” by Charles Baudelaire gave impetus to the development of impressionistic impressions and symbolist images. Verlaine sought to embody the personal movements of the soul in poetry, to reproduce lyrical moods and experiences through the art of words.

In the 1860s. The collections “Saturnine Poetry” and “Exquisite Holidays” were included, which marked a new step in the development of literature, opening the way to symbolism. Positive reviews of the collection were given by A. France and V. Hugo, but the general public did not understand P. Verlaine’s poems. Therefore, popularity bypassed him for a long time.

At the end of June 1869, Verlaine met his future wife Mathilde Mothe, the embodiment of purity and innocence. He saw in her a saint, a savior from all his troubles. Paul stopped drinking, looked after her and wrote wonderful poems in her honor, which were included in the collection “The Good Song” (1870).

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War began, and in order to prevent unwanted conscription into the army, Paul Verlaine quickly got married, dreaming of family comfort. However, hopes for a happy family life did not materialize. Indifferent to politics, Verlaine fell under the influence of the Commune, which he joined in 1871. and participated in the work of the Communard press bureau in the revolutionary government. He was restless at home with his wife's parents. Irritated, he began to drink, became rude, conflicts in the family grew more and more often, the young family could break up at any moment, and his wife was expecting a child.

In February 1871, Paul Verlaine received a letter from the small provincial town of Charleville from the then unknown 18-year-old A. Rimbaud with several of his poems. The strength with which they were written aroused admiration, and in a reply letter he invited the young man to Paris. And Rimbaud arrived, not a man, as Verlaine and his friends thought, but a young guy with an impressive demonization of physical strength and willpower. Having met, they became friends, and P. Verlaine, despite his age advantage, fell under the influence of the strong nature of A. Rimbaud. In him he saw a comrade who was endowed with spiritual advantages and masculine strength, a comrade who inspired him and excommunicated him from himself: Rambo, a great immoral personality, taught Verlaine anarchy, taught him to hate literature, laws, Christian teaching... “Gradually Rambo acquires over his older friend with magical, demonic power, he becomes... a satanic spouse, enslaves Verlaine like a woman, and one day in 1872 they leave together.”

In 1872, fleeing persecution for participating in the Paris Commune, Verlaine left his home, wife, daughter and went on a trip with a friend - to England and Belgium. Researchers of P. Verlaine’s work have proven that the poet and A. Rambo were united by a greater feeling than just male friendship - they were lovers, “outwardly, the despotic power of an angry young man over a gentle man is becoming stronger.” Wandering around Europe, both poets were looking for their place in art. One day, Verlaine gained strength of will: “in the fetid fog of London, Verlaine is suddenly attacked by homesickness, longing for the warmth of home, for a child, for peace and a secure, secure existence.” As if a schoolboy from a boarding school, he ran away from Rambo and hurried to Brussels to find out from his mother whether his wife agreed to live with him again. But he learned bad news: his wife no longer wanted to connect her life with “a tramp and a regular at drinking establishments.” And the poet again felt lonely, unable to take even a step towards good or evil without help, without a comrade, without a wife. He invited Arthur Rimbaud to visit him in Brussels.

The friendly relations of the poets were almost interrupted by a shot from a revolver, which during a quarrel in July 1873, P. Verlaine wounded A. Rimbaud. “As soon as Rambo announces that he is going back, but first demands money, pounds the table with his fist and demands money, money, money, Verlaine suddenly, in a drunken stupor, grabs a revolver from the table drawer and, having shot Rambo twice, slightly wounds his ego,” for that he was sentenced by a Brussels court to 2 years in prison. In addition, the court learned about the poet’s past about the Komunarska.

Verlaine also underwent a profound metamorphosis in prison, which indicated that he had gotten rid of internal anxiety. First of all, the ban on drinking came to the rescue. The only person with whom the poet was allowed to see was the priest. “The spoiled Parisian Verlaine confesses for the first time in many years, takes communion and becomes a believer again.” Here he continued to write poems, which were included in the collection “Romances Without Words” (1874). This is the pinnacle of P. Verlaine's musicality. Each poetry is a real song of the soul, sad and cheerful, mysterious and dreamy. In prison, the poet learned that his wife had filed for divorce. When he left prison on January 16, 1875, no one met him at the gate except his old mother.

Feeling loneliness, not knowing what to do, he again sought support from A. Rimbaud, with whom he corresponded, despite everything that had happened. Old friends met in Stuttgart. And their meeting turned out to be the last: returning home in a drunken state, they quarreled and started a fight. Two of France's greatest poets fought with sticks. “The fight was short-lived. Rambo, a strong, athletic young man, easily dealt with the nervous Verlaine, who could barely stand on his feet from drinking alcohol. A blow to the head, Verlaine, bloodied, falls and remains unconscious on the shore.” They never saw each other again. Returning to Paris, and later to London, Verlaine tried to organize his life: he taught languages, was engaged in agriculture, bought himself a small plot of land and completely devoted himself to literary work.

In the 70s and 80s, the poet turned more and more to God. Religious sentiments affected the collection “Wisdom” (1881). The publication of this book was of almost no interest to either readers, writers, or believers, and gradually alcohol again washed away all piety from Verlaine’s works. The old mother tried to save him again: in 1885 she bought a plot of land to begin a secluded life there with her son, but Verlaine, a weak-willed man, continued to drink in rural taverns and, drunk, committed his last shameful act - he was rude to his 75-year-old mother and threatened she was beaten. The Vouziers court sentenced him to a month in prison “for rudeness and dangerous threats.” When he came out of prison this time, his mother was no longer waiting for him, she was simply tired of her restless son. A year later she died.

After the death of his mother, the poet’s life went awry, he lost his last support. The only thing he had left was literature.

In 1884, the collection “Once and Recently” and a book of critical literary articles “Damned Poets” were published, which included essays about six poets, including A. Rimbaud, S. Mallarmé and himself. The aesthetic principles of P. Verlaine received perfect form in his collections of the last period: “Love” (1888), “Happiness” and “Songs for Her” (1891).

“First of all, music is in the word” - under this slogan the evolution of the poet took place, who established impressionism and at the same time was a master of symbolism.

At the traditional ceremony of election of the “King of Poets” (1891), after the death of Leontes where Lilya, the most votes were cast for P. Verlaine. However, the recognition came too late: the writer’s health had deteriorated. The talented poet became a beggar and was almost constantly forced to stay in hospitals. On January 8, 1896, he died of a hemorrhage in the lungs.

3. “Poetic Art” - a poetic manifesto of symbolism. Pictures of the twilight of existence, the mood of a pensive sum - the leading motives of Verlaine poetry (“Autumn Song”, “In the Heart and Tears and Pain”)

Despite all the sorrows of fate, the artist always heard music in his soul, heard voices that no one had ever heard, saw the amazing images that his soul created, enveloping them in a haze of the subtlest feelings. Verlaine's world is extremely changeable and contradictory in its moods and impressions, but it is always harmonious and refined.

P. Verlaine's lyrics reproduced the complex and contradictory experiences of a soul that wanted love and did not find it, wanted to break out into light and purity and was forced to live in the twilight of everyday life, sought faith and was doomed to eternal despondency. The main events that took place in Verlaine's works are events of personal significance: love and partings, joy and sadness, hope and loneliness.

Quiet sobs. Crying sadly.

Autumn is loud, the heart trembles,

The wild separation that plays on him.

I'm full of pain, we're sick in the world,

All haggard, as if beaten by the wind,

Along the empty fields, a withered leaf. (Translation by V. Stefanik)

All the songs are fantastic

Mystical melodies -

For blue eyes, All to you.

For your girlish laughter,

What awakens a swarm in the heart

Passionate dreams

For what pours out of you

Glow Yangoline

And the music is subtle

So thin

(Translation by M. Lukash)

I suffered a lot, believe me...

Now hunted like an animal,

I'm rushing in different directions:

There is no escape, even if you die

There is no hiding place or hole anywhere,

I won't get away from greyhounds.

(Translation by M.Lukaya)

The themes of his poems are deeply personal. Whatever he writes, everything is colored by his melancholy, vague melancholy. The poet also loved to depict rain, fog, and twilight, when a random flash of light highlighted part of the unclear picture. His poems are a recording of immediate, momentary impressions. Therefore, impressionism is one of the most important features of Verlaine’s poetry. And he was often called an impressionist poet.

The groves glow in the moonlight,

Nightingales weave in the blossoming night

Singing - patterns... And any star!

In stav sriblistіm Black willow,

The wind whispers between the leaves of the wind

Hot and fervent... Let's die together!

(Translation by M. Lukash)

In addition, a constant motif of Verlaine’s work was also the fusion of states of mind and nature. In the poetry of P. Verlaine, nature and internal moods created an integral unity, and did not simply complement each other. Therefore, one of Verlaine’s favorite techniques was humanization, which manifested itself in epithets, metaphors, comparisons and other tropes that seemed to “revive” everything around.

And the most remarkable feature of Verbena poetry is its musicality. For the poet, the world opened up mainly through sounds. He heard the melody in everything around him. Every tree, bird, raindrop, leaf, grass seemed to give birth to a slightly sensual sound to which the poet’s soul responded. The music of Verlaine's poetry lies in the absence of inharmonious sound combinations, the presence of alliteration (a combination of consonants) and assonance (a combination of vowels), in an amazing combination of sounds with feelings, emotions, and it is also inherent in the French language itself, which had such a large number of sonorous sounds. It is musicality that is one of the reasons for the difficulty of translating Verlaine’s poems.

First of all, music in words

Take one of these sizes,

What flows cloudy and light,

But it doesn’t weigh down like a chain...

Love the shade and undertone,

For paint - paints are hostile to us;

Trumpet and flute, dream and sleep.

In the late period of Verlaine’s work, his transition from the depiction of personal impressions to a philosophical understanding of the world, moral truths, and awareness of the general condition of man “among time and space” became noticeable. The collections “Wisdom”, “Once and Recently”, “Happiness” and others are full of these motifs. The lyrical hero felt changes in his soul, which, having gone through the path of suffering and disappointment, became different, striving to understand himself and know the meaning of existence.

Many poems, especially from the collection “Wisdom,” are written in the form of prayers, psalms, and sermons. The lyrical hero abandoned the earthly, sinful world, striving to enter the kingdom of divine truth. But Verlaine’s attitude towards God was contradictory. Turning to God gradually turned into a dialogue with one’s own self.

In his poetry, Verlaine came closer to understanding the soul, which strived for harmony, but, not finding it in the world, cried and suffered, pouring out all its sums in the melodies of lyrical poems.

A kind of “calling card” of Verlaine’s poetry in Ukraine became the famous “Autumn Song” - a vivid example of a natural combination of sound and emotion. This verse was included in the collection “Saturn Poetry”.

Gloomy autumn. Lamentations

Bezvidradne, world

The pain touches me again,

My poor heart is breaking.

Life's consolation has passed;

Barely cold, all pale.

Having guessed about the past,

I cry bitterly after him.

What? You have to wander to the edge,

The February wind blows into the bones,

Somehow the leaves are twisting me

And pins on all sides.

(Translation by M. Lukash)

In poetry, Verlaine turned to autumn, as the title of the poem directly indicated. However, there are very few signs of autumn in the text. For Verlaine, the autumn landscape and the landscape of the soul merged together. Autumn in poetry had a different semantics: a farewell song (autumn is the slope of life, the end is near, beyond which there is nothingness). “Autumn” means melancholy, sadness, cold, loneliness, disorder.

As the seasons changed, so did the person, his feelings and moods. Autumn is a time of rethinking what happened and preparing for something new, unknown and unknown. A man who felt his end, lived in memories in his declining years. In each stanza of the poem, the melody and mood changed. If in the first two parts the melancholy was interrupted by immersions in the past, then in the third stanza the slow rhythm was accelerated by the February wind.

The main emotional background of the poem was created by the melody that flowed from every line of the work - slow and monotonous, sad and a little alarming. This melody reflected the state of autumn nature and at the same time the state of the lyrical hero. The lyrical hero plunged into childhood memories, and a minute later he again found himself face to face with autumn sadness. “Autumn Song” was also associated with the phraseology - “autumn in the soul.” The soul of the lyrical hero, which fell under the power of fatal fate, becomes a dead leaf of the autumn leaf fall. In each stanza of the poem the melody and mood changed.

In “Autumn Song,” the boundaries between space (objective and subjective) and time (past, present, future) are broken. The main thing for Verlaine is to create an impression, a mood, to evoke appropriate associations among readers, to excite them with the melody of an autumn song.

The poem “There are tears and pain in the heart...” was included in the collection with a symbolic title - “Romances without Words”, which reflected the author’s desire “not to describe, but to glorify the state of the soul” (M. Voronoi). It seemed that in his poem there were no words, there was only the music of a wounded heart, which resembled the sound of rain.

The author took the line of A. Rambo as the epigraph to the work: “Quiet rain falls on the city.” However, if in Rambo this phrase had a specific meaning, then in Verlaine it received a symbolic meaning: not only nature “rains”, “cries” in the human heart. Again, the natural landscape and the landscape of the soul are combined into one whole. Sadness, crying, loneliness are conveyed through the image of rain. The rain that fell on the city seeped into her mood. The melody of the verse conveyed the pain and loneliness of the lyrical hero.

There are tears and pain in the heart -

the sky above the city is crying.

What kind of melancholy is this? Where does this restless pain come from?

The sounds are immersed both on the ground and on the roofs!

In the heart, languishing with boredom,

Sad sounds flow.

Describing a person’s state of mind, the author forced his hero to look into himself and ask himself troubling questions. Verlaine was fascinated by the elusive movements of the heart, like rain, and tried to convey his impressions of them to the reader. The main thing for his lyrical hero is the merging of “I” and “world”. Therefore, the cry of the heart is extended to the entire surrounding reality.

Tears and pain for no reason

in a heart that doesn't care...

There are no betrayals or misdeeds here:

My longing for no reason.

Most of all this is grief -

don't even know why

in a timid, sick heart

did grief creep in furiously?

The poet’s programmatic work was the poem “Poetic Art,” which reflected the aesthetic views of P. Verlaine. In his poem, the poet defined the basic principles of impressionism and symbolism. It was this work of Verlaine that most subtly reflected the features of his creative method, and was also perceived by the symbolists as their poetic manifesto. The main thing for a poet is intuitive knowledge of the mysterious world of human feelings, nature, thoughts, dreams.

According to P. Verlaine, musicality was supposed to become a new means of expressing a poetic worldview, the subtlest impressions, and the most intimate emotions. With the help of musicality, the poet sought to feel the spiritual aura of the individual - what excites her:

Because my dear singing is intoxicated,

He intertwined the indistinct and the precise.

There is a sweet look from under the veil,

It contains the golden thrill of the day

And the autumn bustle of stars

In a sky bound by sadness.

This is not a simple comparison of the natural world with human experiences, but their organic unity, which is what the “singing” of poetry should convey. Having created his own special reality, the poet reflected certain moods and emotions through shades and halftones, breaking the established boundaries between various phenomena:

Shade can only unite

Trumpet and flute, dream and sleep.

Verlaine only felt the spiritual essence of the world, which attracted him, and at the same time did not fully reveal its depths. Nothing is clear to the poet, which is why the verse is cut off mid-sentence: “And everything else is literature.” The silence, together with the change of rhythm in the last lines, once again emphasized the truth of “poetic art.”

Verlaine's poem, in its aesthetic content and corresponding refined form, became a real manifestation of the new “poetic art”, opposed to the rules of classicism and rationalism. The poet's artistic discoveries contributed to the further establishment of modernism. P. Verlaine led not only a whole generation of French symbolists, but also representatives of European literature.

4. The originality of the creative development of Arthur Rimbaud

ARTHUR RIMBAUD (1854-1891) - a famous French poet, a young man who, at the age of less than 17, wrote the poem “The Drunken Ship”, a poem that brought glory to France and the poet, enriching the world’s poetic thought.

Rimbaud considered himself a rebel, P. Verlaine called him “an angel and a demon.” The young poet understood his poetic path as “eternal wandering and impulses in the wilds of the spirit.” Rimbaud tried to find his “I” among the many-sided world and, oddly enough, among himself. The poet was attentive to the inner world, felt a person in himself and did not tolerate any moral shackles, norms, laws that were imposed on him by the social environment.

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was born in the small town of Charleville in 1854. The poet's father, Frederick, participated in the Crimean War and was distinguished by his frivolous attitude towards life. Mother, Vitali Rimbaud, was the daughter of large landowners and had a despotic character. When the boy was 6 years old, she divorced her husband and raised 4 children on her own. It was at the age of 6 that Arthur began writing his poetry.

At the age of 8, the boy was sent to study at the Ross private school. Arthur immediately showed his great abilities; he studied brilliantly. In 1865, the “Charleville prodigy,” as his acquaintances spoke enthusiastically about his extraordinary abilities, entered the 7th grade of college, and already in 1866 he “jumped” to the fourth grade.

As a 16-year-old boy, Rambo surprised his lyceum professor of rhetoric with his extraordinary poetic gift, acute impressionability, maturity and originality of reasoning. The young poet's talent developed so rapidly that in the fall of 1870 he asked his friend Demeny to burn everything he had written earlier.

In August 1870, Rimbaud left the Lyceum, left his mother and went to Paris, and from there to Belgium, where he tried to engage in journalism. The strict and domineering mother, turning to the police, forcibly returned her son home, but soon the guy fled from his hometown to the capital.

Rambo's poetic talent was formed under the influence of the romantic tradition of French poetry. His favorite poets since childhood were V. Hugo and C. Baudelaire. For only about five years, between the ages of 16 and 20, Arthur Rimbaud devoted himself to poetry. Everything he created over the years can be divided at least in half - before and after 1871, when in letters to his former teacher Georges Izambard and his peer, the young poet Paul Demeny, he outlined the essence of his theory of “clairvoyant poetry.”

To turn himself into a clairvoyant poet, Rambo intensively experimented on himself, in particular, cultivating long-term insomnia, hunger, drugs, and a demonstratively asocial lifestyle. At the same time, he defended his right to be himself in poetry, to preserve his individuality and freedom, and generally demonstrated independence from all sorts of “rules”: while maintaining the Roman time, he used asonansi, shortened lines, but did not adhere to punctuation; he supplemented the sound writing characteristic of versification with color writing.

The creative path of A. Rambo can be divided into 3 periods. In the poems of the first period of creativity (January 1870 - May 1871), a sharp satirical tone, angry pathos, and caricature images became noticeable: “Those who sit,” “On the music,” “Squats,” “Evil.”

In May 1871, the poet again went to the capital, carried away by the events of the Paris Commune. After the defeat of the Commune, Rimbaud announced his flight into art, and it was at that time that his concept of the “clairvoyant poet” was formed.

The second period of creativity (1871 - 1872) began with the declaration of clairvoyance poetry. A. Rimbaud tried to find a “universal” language, thereby laying the foundations for the theory and practice of symbolism. He proclaimed the poet “the thief of fire”, “clairvoyant”, and that he possessed the “alchemy of words” inaccessible to mere mortals. It was time to write the poetic pearl “Golosivka”, whose lines fancifully reproduced the correspondence of sounds and colors and the textbook poem “Drunk Ship”, in which Rambo predicted his further ordeals around the world, his tragic end.

In September 1871, Rambo met P. Verlaine. In the winter of 1871, a group of writers rallied around Rimbaud and Verlaine - “Zutists” (C. Cros, A. Mera, Zhe. Rishpin, etc.). "Zutisti" wrote satirical poems in which they ridiculed the customs of Versailles.

In the summer of 1872, Rimbaud and Verlaine arrived in Belgium, then went to London. They often quarreled, were jealous of each other, and visited dubious clubs. On July 10, 1873, during an argument, Verlaine shot Rimbaud and wounded his friend. Rimbaud tried to embody his concept of the “clairvoyant poet” not only in poetry, but also in life.

The result and outcome of “clairvoyance” was the last, third, period of the poet’s work. 20-year-old Rimbaud produced only a few works: a book of poetic fragments in prose, “Illuminations,” and a book of confession, “A Season in Hell.” This is the cry of the poet’s soul, full of bitter disappointments and self-reproaches. Rambo said goodbye to rebellion, to “insights” and poetic hallucinations, to artistic creativity.

Since 1874, Rambo abandoned his previous way of life, and from 1875 to 1880 he began a period of crazy travels through Europe, Asia, and Africa. During this time, he changed more than 30 professions. Sometimes, to earn a few francs, he had to unload ships or work in quarries on the Mediterranean coast. In 1880, Rimbaud went to Africa, trading coffee and cheap fabrics, nutmeg and weapons. He never returned to poetry. In the 80s, the remaining works of A. Rambo began to be published without his participation by symbolist poets who considered him their literary teacher.

In 1891, having become seriously ill in Ethiopia, A. Rambo returned to his homeland and died in a Marseilles hospital from bone cancer.

Aesthetic views of A. Rambo

The poet affirmed the freedom of the human spirit and proclaimed the need to create in the “free flight of words and associations.”

The role of a poet on earth is to be a prophet, a clairvoyant. The poet had to learn the great secret of the Universe and tell people about it.

The poet had no right to be ordinary, he was determined to see “eternal life, so his soul had to stay away from the public.”

Poetry is magical power, intuition, rich phantasmagoria.

“Poetry must always move forward to unknown heights and undiscovered depths...”

5. The mood of passion for will, intoxicated enjoyment of life, anarchic rebellion against reality - the emotional background of Rimbaud’s poetry (“The Drunken Ship”, “Golosivki”, “My Ciganery”).

A. Rambo professed the same principles in poetry as P. Verlaine. His poems were characterized by an interest in details, which seemed to grow from one to another, a “broken style,” which led to freedom of association.

The famous sonnet “Golosivka” became a striking example of symbolist lyricism. Having inherited Baudelaire's idea of common "correspondences" in the natural temple, Rimbaud used it in his concept of "clairvoyance." The poet examined nature and the universe, ignoring cause-and-effect relationships and objective patterns.

A black, white E, red, green,

blue Oh, - I would tell about you:

A - black flies corset, around the landfills

The whirling of their pond, the buzzing of haste;

E - a tent in the whiteout, spears of glaciers,

The morning fumes tremble incomprehensibly;

And - purple, flowing blood, crazy beautiful lips,

Intoxicated with remorse or uncontrollable anger;

B - the blind spots on the seas are divinely deep,

And the peace of the pastures, and the wise peace of wrinkles -

Seal of nights dedicated to alchemy;

O - unearthly Antimony, where the sharp rattle is hidden,

The silence of the Angels, the silent expanse of the worlds,

Omega, the shine of his violet Eyes.

(Translation by G. Kochur)

The sonnet “Golosivka” is paradoxical against the backdrop of tradition, which considered restraint, rigor in the choice of themes, and clarity of rhythm to be the hallmarks of a sonnet. Rimbaud's poem was written categorically; he proposed a new vision, new principles for forming an image when sounds, color and state of mind coincided. The surrounding world in the sonnet was differentiated depending on its color. In it we will highlight five spheres, which were distinguished by the predominance of black, white, red, green and blue colors. Objects and phenomena of the external world, covered by one of these spheres, in Rambo’s mind were at the same time associated with vowel sounds (A, E, I, U, O) and a certain mental state that corresponds to each specific letter.

In “Voices” the poet tried to determine the color and symbolism of a loud sound. The author depicted the rich world of human sensations and associations. Man and nature are one. A person has a rich range of sensations of life, full of sounds, colors, images. For him, nature is a living being that needs to be able to listen and hear. Thus, the color black evoked in Rimbaud associations not only with the sound “A”, but also with cruelty, death, and disorder; white was associated with the sound “E”, as well as with moral purity, pride and dignity; Rimbaud associated the sound “I” with the color red, and among mental states - anger, fury, laughter; green color was associated with the sound “U” and a feeling of happiness, peace, and serenity; blue color - with the sound “O” and a feeling of unearthly, all-encompassing love. Thus, each sound of the poet corresponded to a clearly defined color, because sound and color evoked similar sensations, emotions, and feelings in him.

A. Rimbaud’s idea of the color green as a symbol of happiness was also reflected in the poem “My Cyganeria,” which depicts the image of the poet - a free traveler. This work is impressionistic, it talked about sensations directed to the past:

Hands in pockets, feeling holes

And with my elbows shining, I walked forward,

Because the Muse fell from the sky! I am her faithful lover,

That’s how he invented a luxurious love for himself!

Are your trousers at all worn out? And knee-deep sea!

After all, the cat only has rhymes in his head.

Like cuckoo hens, the stars fly around in the sky,

And under Chumatsky Voz there are feasts for free.

Sitting along the road, I cherish those hubbub,

The dew fell on me, and I'm drunk,

That's why a September evening is like thick wine.

And I keep writing poetry, curled up in a ball.

Like the strings of a lyre - shadows (I dig them like a ball)

Are the boots asking for porridge? Wow, this is empty!

(Translation by V. Stus)

The lyrical hero A. Rambo - the prodigal wanderer - tried to break with the hostile world of Civilization and merge with Nature. Accordingly, the work was dominated by green color - a symbol of happiness and freedom, but at the same time, the inherent multicoloredness of Rimbaud's poetry was preserved. Thus, in the poem, along with the green color, there is a sphere of blue: the dream of merging with nature evoked in the soul of the lyrical hero A. Rimbaud not only a feeling of happiness, but also a feeling of boundless love.

Thus, for the lyrical hero A. Rambo, a break with the world of Civilization, with people, did not mean a break in contacts, a loss of harmony, but a transition to other, much more valuable and beautiful connections - connections with nature, which were embodied through poetry. We can distinguish the two most significant oppositions for A. Rambo’s lyrics: “civilization-nature” and “everyday-poetry”.

The pathos of a break with all established norms that limited the artist’s freedom, spontaneity, emancipation, and self-will are expressed in the poem “Drunk Ship,” written before leaving for Paris by a 17-year-old poet who had never seen the sea before. Published without the author’s knowledge in 1883. In it, Rimbaud announced his break with the poetic group “Parnassus” and the transition to a new stage of creativity - symbolism.

In “The Drunken Ship,” the poet symbolically identified himself with a ship without a rudder or sail - a helpless toy of the elements, rushing along a stormy sea at the behest of the waves.

Since those days I have been swimming in the sensational poem of the sea,

The secret radiance of the infused stars,

I swallow blue waters, where time is in space

A drowned man floats up, all wet.

And where, leaving at once all the wild dreams of the whirlpools

And the languid rhythm of the seabed is intoxicating with gold,

More powerful than alcohol, and hominkish than lyres,

The juice of love ferments with a bitter aftertaste.

I know skies torn apart by lightning,

And tornadoes, and currents, and I saw the stars

With the eyes of doves that dream in the evenings,

And even what the human race does not see.

(Translation by M. Tereshchenko)

The lyrical hero of poetry is a ship without a crew, stern, or anchors, which was carried by the elements. The ship is “drunk” not so much from the spilled wine that has soaked into the deck, but from this boundless freedom. This symbolic image was interpreted as a liberation from traditions in poetic creativity and much more broadly as “liberation from ordinary life and the generally accepted vision of the world.”

The leading motive of the work is alienation from a stable, unchanging environment and an unbridled thirst for freedom, which could not be stopped by anything. The sea is also a symbol of freedom, a symbol of life’s storms that lay in wait, lulling their victims. Theme of the verse: the wandering of the lyrical hero in the stormy sea of life. Idea: a hymn to the creative imagination, the freedom of the artist.

Composition: beginning - death of the team, loss of control; development of action - swimming at random;

the culmination is a “spiritual awakening”, a desire for meaningful freedom. The last lines of the work testified to the lyrical hero's (author's) awareness of inner freedom as the highest authority of human existence. In the real world, the poet could not find real feelings, did not see the opportunity for a high creative rise; real free impressions could arise in a free imaginary world beyond reality.

Rimbaud's work had a significant influence on the poetry of G. Apollinaire, P. Eluard, L. Aragon, French Dadaists and surrealists. They saw in him a poetic innovator, a like-minded person who gravitated towards the figurativeness and looseness of the poetic word.

Questions for self-control

1. Define symbolism as a literary movement.

2. Why was P. Verlaine chosen as the “king” of the Symbolists?

3. What poetry of P. Verlaine became the poetic manifesto of the Symbolists?

4. . What was the concept of “clairvoyance” by A. Rambo? In which poems is it best expressed?

5. What became the emotional basis of A. Rambo's poetry? Give examples.