Melo all month long. “The candle burned on the table…”: to whom did Boris Pasternak dedicate the lines of one of his most famous poems

Boris Pasternak is rightfully considered one of the brightest Russian poets and writers of the 20th century. It was he who came up with the idea to combine prose and poetry in one work, which caused a flurry of criticism from contemporaries, but was duly appreciated by descendants.

We are talking, in particular, about the famous novel "Doctor Zhivago", the last part of which is devoted to the poems of the protagonist. The fact that Yuri Zhivalo is a subtle lyricist and a lover of rhyming phrases, the reader will learn in the first chapters of the novel. However, Boris Pasternak tries not to distract readers with lyrical digressions, so he decides to combine all of Yuri Zhivago's poems into a separate collection.

The first poem attributed to the authorship of the protagonist is called "Winter Night". Later, it was often published as an independent literary work called "Candle" and was even set to music, adding to the repertoire of Alla Pugacheva and ex-leader of the Gorky Park group Nikolai Noskov.

Boris Pasternak worked on the novel Doctor Zhivago for 10 years, from 1945 to 1955. Therefore, it is already impossible to establish exactly when the poem “Winter Night” was written. Although some researchers of Pasternak's work claim that the immortal lines were born during the war, which their author spent in evacuation, having lived for more than a year in the city of Chistopol. However, given the style of writing and the maturity of thoughts, critics are inclined to believe that the poem was nevertheless created shortly before the end of work on the novel, when Boris Pasternak, like the main character, already had a premonition of his death.

It is the theme of death and life that is the key point of the poem "Winter Night". It should not be taken literally, but should be read between the lines, since each quatrain is a vivid metaphor, so contrasting and memorable that it gives the poem an amazing grace. Considering the "Winter Night" in the context of the struggle for survival, one can easily guess that the blizzard, the February cold and the wind symbolize death. And the flame of the candle, uneven and barely glowing, is synonymous with life, which leaves not only the terminally ill doctor Zhivago, but also Boris Pasternak himself.

In favor of the version that the poem was written in 1954-55 is also evidenced by the fact that in 1952 Boris Pasternak experienced his first heart attack, having experienced from his own experience what it means to be between life and death. However, it is possible that, possessing the gift of foresight, Pasternak in "Winter Night" predicted to himself not only physical, but also creative death. And he turned out to be right, because after the publication of the novel “Doctor Zhivago” abroad and the award of the “Nobel Prize” to the work, the famous writer was persecuted. He stopped publishing and was expelled from the Writers' Union of the USSR. Therefore, the only source of livelihood for parsnips during this period was literary translations, which still remained in demand and fairly well paid.

The author himself wrote letters several times addressed to the Secretary General of the CPSU Nikita Khrushchev, trying to convince the head of state of his political reliability, but this did not help. Moreover, Pasternak's opponents appealed not to the novel itself as a whole, but to its poetic part, and, in particular, to "Winter Night", calling the poem an example of decadence, decadence and vulgarity.

Only a few decades later, when in 1988 the novel Doctor Zhivago was first published in the USSR, the poem Winter Night was recognized as one of the most successful and heartfelt works of love lyrics written by Boris Pasternak.

"Winter night". B. Pasternak

Melo, melo all over the earth
To all limits.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

Like a swarm of midges in summer
Flying into the flame
Flakes flew from the yard
to the window frame.

Snowstorm sculpted on glass
Circles and arrows.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

On the illuminated ceiling
The shadows lay
Crossed arms, crossed legs,
Crossing fates.

And two shoes fell
With a knock on the floor.
And wax with tears from the night light
Drip on the dress.

And everything was lost in the snow haze
Gray and white.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

The candle blew from the corner,
And the heat of temptation
Raised like an angel two wings
Crosswise.

Melo all month in February,
And every now and then
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

Melo, melo all over the earth
To all limits.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

Like a swarm of midges in summer
Flying into the flame
Flakes flew from the yard
to the window frame.

Snowstorm sculpted on glass
Circles and arrows.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

On the illuminated ceiling
The shadows lay
Crossed arms, crossed legs,
Crossing fates.

And two shoes fell
With a knock on the floor.
And wax with tears from the night light
Drip on the dress.

And everything was lost in the snow haze
Gray and white.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

The candle blew from the corner,
And the heat of temptation
Raised like an angel two wings
Crosswise.

Melo all month in February,
And every now and then
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

Analysis of the poem "Winter Night" by Pasternak

In our time, B. Pasternak is considered one of the most talented Russian poets. Recognition at home came to him after his death. After the publication of the novel "Doctor Zhivago" in the West, Pasternak's work was banned in the USSR. In his most famous work, the writer devoted most of the poetry, which is the fruit of the protagonist's creativity. These philosophical and love lyrics become an organic part of the novel, explaining and connecting the various parts. In this lyric, one of the central poems is "Winter Night". Subsequently, it came out as an independent work. The exact date of writing is unknown, since the writer worked on the entire novel for about ten years.

The central image of the poem is a burning candle, symbolizing a saving light in the midst of the surrounding darkness. She is able to warm and calm the tormented soul. The whole novel as a whole is also permeated in this way. The candle becomes for the lovers the center of the universe, which pulled them to itself and gave shelter in the middle of the "snow haze". Love relationships are outlined with only a few catchy strokes: “crossing of arms”, “crossing of legs”, “heat of temptation”. They are not so important in the general philosophical sense. Much more important is the “crossing of fate”, that is, the union around the life-giving true source of light of two lonely hearts.

In the context of the novel, the image of a candle symbolizes human life, and the surrounding bad weather symbolizes inevitable death. A trembling light is easy to extinguish with a careless movement, it reminds a person that death can come suddenly at the most unexpected moment. On the other hand, the flame of a candle is immeasurably weaker than a hard blizzard, but continues its unequal struggle. The philosophical meaning of this symbolic fight is that a person should never give up and use the time allotted to him to the end.

Pasternak uses a variety of expressive means in the poem. The refrain “the candle burned” is repeated several times, emphasizing the significance of the image. Epithets are used mainly in the description of the February bad weather: “snowy”, “gray-haired and white”. Almost everything that surrounds the main characters is endowed with human features through personifications (“the blizzard molded”, “shadows lay down”). The comparisons used are very expressive: “like midges”, “wax with tears”, “like an angel”.

The poem has become very popular in the post-Soviet space. His words were set to music.

The novel "Doctor Zhivago", which was awarded the Nobel Prize, publishes the poems of the protagonist, Yuri Zhivago. One of them is "Winter Night", better known for the lines "It's snowy, it's snowy all over the earth." As conceived by the author of the novel, Boris Pasternak, poetry should be a link between the depth of prose and the reader, but they also have their own value.

In today's analysis of the lines, I will try to penetrate into the depths of Pasternak's poetry and try to find the answer to the question of what the author wanted to say with these verses.

The winter night is presented in the poem as a boundless element, which, by the will of nature, knows no beginning and no end. All the boundaries of the earth are covered with snow, and in contrast to this, a candle burns on the table, as a symbol of life. Pasternak sees the night as a symbol of death, when all life under the sky freezes or stops. A candle is a symbol of life, because it burns, despite the riot of nature.

Melo, melo all over the earth
To all limits.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

Pasternak is known for his philosophical outlook on life, so the night-death in the poem is not something terrible, not an old woman with a scythe, but a natural state of nature that gives and takes.

On a winter night, snow flakes fly to the window - even death does not mind being close to life, seeing its beauty and energy. Life-candle burns, despite the howling of the wind, despite the deceptive patterns of frost on the glass, despite the darkness all over the world. In this environment, a candle burns, illuminating the house, giving warmth to those in love and keeping the hope that every night sooner or later turns into day.

Life and death are separated by walls and window glass, from where the night looks at the candle and sees life. Tears in the form of wax, dripping from the night lamp, symbolize the author's sadness for the passing life. Perhaps, at the time of writing poetry, Pasternak sees himself in this house with a candle - he examines the nightly drawings on the window glass and recalls the heat of temptation, which cruciformly raises its wings, becoming like an angel.

The candle blew from the corner,
And the heat of temptation
Crosswise.

Returning to the novel, we recall how Yuri Zhivago was left alone in Varykino, where he spends winter nights and days alone. There is time for creativity, the whole world is hidden behind a veil of snow, and only a candle helps not to go crazy from longing for Lara. Perhaps there was such a moment in the life of the author of the novel, perhaps it was then that the lines were written.

The candle burned from time to time throughout February - we see this in the last quatrain. At times a candle is lit, at times poems are written, at times the author comes back to life and finds shelter in memories and work.

The poem has a difficult fate. It first saw the light in Russia in 1988, when the novel was published. Before that, the lines could only be read in samizdat. The novel as a whole and poetry in particular were recognized by the authorities as a model of decadence, Pasternak himself was banned from publication and expelled from the Writers' Union. Soviet power Nobel Prize was not a pointer.

Today, "Winter Night" is a sample of Russian lyrics, which has taken pride of place on the pedestal of poetry. The lines are imbued with depth, easy to read and quickly remembered, becoming one of Pasternak's favorite poems among the people.

Unfortunately, the exact time of writing is unknown, since the poetry of Yuri Zhivago was published as a separate collection after the publication of the novel, and Doctor Zhivago itself was written for more than 10 years. The date 1948 is indicated below, but this is only one of the versions.

Melo, melo all over the earth
To all limits.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

Like a swarm of midges in summer
Flying into the flame
Flakes flew from the yard
to the window frame.

Snowstorm sculpted on glass
Circles and arrows.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

On the illuminated ceiling
The shadows lay
Crossed arms, crossed legs,
Crossing fates.

And two shoes fell
With a knock on the floor.
And wax with tears from the night light
Drip on the dress.

And everything was lost in the snow haze
Gray and white.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

The candle blew from the corner,
And the heat of temptation
Raised like an angel two wings
Crosswise.

Melo all month in February,
And every now and then
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

"Winter Night" B. Pasternak

Melo, melo all over the earth
To all limits.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

Like a swarm of midges in summer
Flying into the flame
Flakes flew from the yard
to the window frame.

Snowstorm sculpted on glass
Circles and arrows.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

On the illuminated ceiling
The shadows lay
Crossed arms, crossed legs,
Crossing fates.

And two shoes fell
With a knock on the floor.
And wax with tears from the night light
Drip on the dress.

And everything was lost in the snow haze
Gray and white.
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

The candle blew from the corner,
And the heat of temptation
Raised like an angel two wings
Crosswise.

Melo all month in February,
And every now and then
The candle burned on the table
The candle was burning.

Boris Pasternak is rightfully considered one of the brightest Russian poets and writers of the 20th century. It was he who came up with the idea to combine prose and poetry in one work, which caused a flurry of criticism from contemporaries, but was duly appreciated by descendants.

We are talking, in particular, about the famous novel "Doctor Zhivago", the last part of which is devoted to the poems of the protagonist. The fact that Yuri Zhivalo is a subtle lyricist and a lover of rhyming phrases, the reader will learn in the first chapters of the novel. However, Boris Pasternak tries not to distract readers with lyrical digressions, so he decides to combine all of Yuri Zhivago's poems into a separate collection.

The first poem attributed to the authorship of the protagonist is called "Winter Night". Later, it was often published as an independent literary work called "The Candle" and was even set to music, adding to the repertoire of such performers as the pop queen Alla Pugacheva and the ex-leader of the Gorky Park group Nikolai Noskov.

Boris Pasternak worked on the novel Doctor Zhivago for 10 years, from 1945 to 1955. Therefore, it is already impossible to establish exactly when the poem “Winter Night” was written. Although some researchers of Pasternak's work claim that the immortal lines were born during the war, which their author spent in evacuation, having lived for more than a year in the city of Chistopol. However, given the style of writing and the maturity of thoughts, critics are inclined to believe that the poem was nevertheless created shortly before the end of work on the novel, when Boris Pasternak, like the main character, already had a premonition of his death.

It is the theme of death and life that is the key moment of the poem "Winter Night". It should not be taken literally, but should be read between the lines, since each quatrain is a vivid metaphor, so contrasting and memorable that it gives the poem an amazing grace. Considering the "Winter Night" in the context of the struggle for survival, one can easily guess that the blizzard, the February cold and the wind symbolize death. And the flame of the candle, uneven and barely glowing, is synonymous with life, which leaves not only the terminally ill doctor Zhivago, but also Boris Pasternak himself.

In favor of the version that the poem was written in 1954-55 is also evidenced by the fact that in 1952 Boris Pasternak experienced his first heart attack, having experienced from his own experience what it means to be between life and death. However, it is possible that, possessing the gift of foresight, Pasternak in "Winter Night" predicted to himself not only physical, but also creative death. And he turned out to be right, because after the publication of the novel “Doctor Zhivago” abroad and the award of the “Nobel Prize” to the work, the famous writer was persecuted. He stopped publishing and was expelled from the Writers' Union of the USSR. Therefore, the only source of livelihood for parsnips during this period was literary translations, which still remained in demand and fairly well paid.

The author himself wrote letters several times addressed to the Secretary General of the CPSU Nikita Khrushchev, trying to convince the head of state of his political reliability, but this did not help. Moreover, Pasternak's opponents appealed not to the novel itself as a whole, but to its poetic part, and, in particular, to "Winter Night", calling the poem an example of decadence, decadence and vulgarity.

Only a few decades later, when in 1988 the novel Doctor Zhivago was first published in the USSR, the poem Winter Night was recognized as one of the most successful and heartfelt works of love lyrics written by Boris Pasternak.