Derzhavin did not limit himself to just one new type of ode. He transformed, sometimes beyond recognition, the odic genre in a variety of ways. Particularly interesting are his experiments in odes, which combine directly opposite principles: praiseworthy and satirical. This is exactly what his famous ode to Felice, discussed above, was like. The combination of "high" and "low" in it turned out to be quite natural precisely because the poet had already found the right artistic move before. It was not an abstractly lofty state idea that was put forward in the foreground in the work, but the living thought of a particular person. A person who understands reality well, observant, ironic, democratic in his views, judgments and assessments. G.A. said this very well. Gukovsky: “But here comes the praise of the empress, written in the lively speech of a simple person, talking about a simple and genuine life, lyrical without artificial tension, at the same time interspersed with jokes, satirical images, features of everyday life. It was like a laudable ode, and at the same time at the same time, a significant part of it was occupied, as it were, by a satire on courtiers; but on the whole it was neither an ode nor satire, but a free poetic speech of a person showing life in its diversity, with high and low, lyrical and satirical features intertwined - as they intertwine really, really."

Derzhavin's small lyrical poems are also imbued with an innovative spirit. In epistles, elegies, idylls and eclogues, in songs and romances, in these lyrical genres smaller than an ode, the poet feels even more freed from the strict classicistic canons. However, Derzhavin did not adhere to a strict division into genres at all. His lyric poetry is a kind of unified whole. It is no longer held by the same genre logic, not by those strict norms that were prescribed to comply with: high topic - high genre - high vocabulary; low topic - low genre - low vocabulary. Until recently, such correspondences were necessary for young Russian poetry. Norms and models were required, in opposition to which there is always an impetus for the further development of poetry. In other words, more than ever, a starting point was needed, from which a great artist repelled, looking for his own path.

The lyrical hero, uniting Derzhavin's poems into one whole, is for the first time himself, a specific person and poet recognizable by readers. The distance between the author and the lyrical hero in Derzhavin's "small" poetic genres is minimal. Recall that in the ode "To Felitsa" such a distance turned out to be much more significant. A courtier-murza, a sybarite and an idler, is not the hard worker Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin. Although an optimistic view of the world, their cheerfulness and complacency are very related. With great accuracy, the poet's lyrical poems are described in the book by G.A. Gukovsky: "With Derzhavin, poetry entered life, and life entered poetry. Life, a true fact, a political event, walking gossip invaded the world of poetry and settled in it, changing and displacing all the usual, respectable and legitimate correlations of things in it. Theme poems received a fundamentally new existence<…>The reader must first of all believe, must realize that it is the poet himself who speaks about himself, that the poet is the same person as those who walk in front of his windows on the street, that he is not woven from words, but from real flesh and blood. . Derzhavin's lyrical hero is inseparable from the idea of ​​a real author.

In the last two decades of his life, the poet creates a number of lyrical poems in the Anacreontic spirit. He is gradually moving away from the genre of ode. However, Derzhavin's "Anacreontic" bears little resemblance to the one we encountered in Lomonosov's lyrics. Lomonosov argued with the ancient Greek poet, opposing the cult of earthly joys and fun with his ideal of serving the fatherland, civic virtues and the beauty of female self-sacrifice in the name of duty. Derzhavin is not like that! He sets himself the task of expressing in verse "the most tender feelings" of a person.

Let's not forget that the last decades of the century are coming. Almost along the entire literary front, classicism, with its priority of civil themes, is losing ground to sentimentalism, the artistic method and direction, in which personal, moral, and psychological themes are paramount. It is hardly worth linking Derzhavin's lyrics directly with sentimentalism. This question is very controversial. Literary scholars solve it in different ways. Some insist on the poet's greater proximity to classicism, others to sentimentalism. The author of many works on the history of Russian literature G.P. Makogonenko in Derzhavin's poetry reveals clear signs of realism. It is only quite obvious that the works of the poet are so distinctive and original that it is hardly possible to attach them to a strictly defined artistic method.

In addition, the poet's work is dynamic: it has changed within even one decade. In his lyrics of the 1790s, Derzhavin mastered new and new layers of poetic language. He admired the flexibility and richness of Russian speech, so well, in his opinion, adapted to convey the most diverse shades of feeling. Preparing in 1804 for publication a collection of his "Anacreontic poems", the poet stated in the preface about the new stylistic and linguistic tasks facing him: "For love of the native word, I wanted to show its abundance, flexibility, lightness and, in general, the ability to express the most tender feelings, which are scarcely found in other languages.

Freely altering Anacreon's or Horace's poems into Russian, Derzhavin did not at all care about the accuracy of the translation. "Anacreontics" he understood and used in his own way. He needed it in order to show the Russian way of life more freely, more colorfully and in more detail, to individualize and emphasize the peculiarities of the character ("temper") of the Russian person. In a poem "Praise of rural life" the city dweller draws in his imagination pictures of a simple and healthy peasant life:

A pot of hot, good cabbage soup, A bottle of good wine, Russian beer is brewed for future use.

Derzhavin's experiments were not always successful. He sought to cover in a single poetic concept two heterogeneous beginnings: state policy and the private life of a person with its everyday interests and concerns. It was difficult to do so. The poet is looking for what can unite the two poles of the existence of society: the prescriptions of the authorities and the private, personal interests of people. It would seem that he finds the answer - Art and Beauty. Translating in the poem "The Birth of Beauty" the ancient Greek myth about the emergence of the goddess of beauty Aphrodite from the sea foam (a myth in the version of Hesiod - L.D.), Derzhavin describes Beauty as an eternal reconciling principle:

… Beauty was born in an instant from the waves of the sea. And only she looked, Immediately the storm subsided And silence fell.

But the poet knew too well how real life works. A sober view of things and uncompromisingness were the hallmarks of his nature. And therefore, in the next poem "To the Sea", he already questions that in the current "Iron Age" Poetry and Beauty will be able to prevail over the victoriously spreading thirst for wealth and profit. In order to survive, man in this "Iron Age" is forced to become "harder than flint." Where is there to "know" with Poetry, with Lyra! And love for a beautiful modern man is more and more alien:

Now iron eyelids? Are men harder than flint? Themselves without knowing you, Light does not captivate the game, Alien to the beauties of goodwill.

In the last period of his work, the poet's lyrics are increasingly filled with national themes, folk poetic motifs and techniques. The "profoundly artistic element of the poet's nature," to which Belinsky pointed out, comes out more and more clearly in it. During these years, Derzhavin created wonderful and very different in terms of genre characteristics, style, and emotional mood of the poem. "Swallow" (1792), "My idol" (1794), "Nobleman" (1794), "Invitation to dinner" (1795), "Monument" (1796), "Khrapovitsky" (1797), "Russian girls" ( 1799), "Bullfinch" (1800), "Swan" (1804), "Recognition" (1807), "Eugene. Life of Zvanskaya" (1807), "The River of Times ..." (1816). And also "Mug", "Nightingale", "For happiness" and many others.

Let us analyze some of them, paying attention first of all to their poetics, that is, to the words of the critic, the "deeply artistic element" of Derzhavin's creations. Let's start with a feature that immediately attracts attention: the poet's poems affect the reader with colorful and visible concreteness. Derzhavin is a master of picturesque paintings and descriptions. Let's give some examples. Here is the beginning of the poem "Vision of Murza":

The golden moon floated on the dark blue ether; In her silver porphyry Glittering from on high, she illuminated my house through the windows, And with her pale-yellow ray She painted golden glass On my lacquered floor.

Before us is a magnificent painting with a word. In the frame of the window, as if in a frame bordering the picture, we see a wonderful landscape: in the dark blue velvet sky, in the "silver porphyry", the moon slowly and solemnly floats. Filling the room with a mysterious radiance, it draws golden reflection patterns with its rays. What a subtle and whimsical color scheme! The reflection of the lacquered floor combines with the pale-yellow beam and creates the illusion of "golden glasses".

Here is the first stanza "Dinner Invitations":

Sheksnin's golden sterlet, Kaimak and borscht are already standing; In decanters of wine, punch, shining With either ice or sparks, they beckon; Incense pours from the incense burners, Fruits laugh among the baskets, The servants do not even dare to breathe, Waiting for you around the table; The hostess is stately, young, Ready to lend a hand. Well, how can you not accept such an invitation!

In a big poem "Eugene. Life Zvanskaya" Derzhavin will bring the reception of picturesque brilliance of the image to perfection. The lyrical hero is "at rest", he has retired from service, from the bustle of the capital, from ambitious aspirations:

Blessed is the one who is less dependent on people, Free from debts and from the hassle of orders, Does not seek gold or honors at court, And is a stranger to various vanities!

So it seems that Pushkin's verse from "Eugene Onegin" wafted: "Blessed is he who was young from his youth ..." Pushkin knew Derzhavin's poems well, studied with the older poet. We find many parallels in their works.

The brilliance and visibility of the details of "Eugene. Life of Zvanskaya" are amazing. The description of the table set for dinner with "homemade, fresh, healthy supplies" is so concrete and natural that it seems to reach out and touch them:

Crimson ham, green cabbage soup with yolk, Blush-yellow pie, white cheese, red crayfish, What pitch, amber-caviar, and with a blue feather There is a motley pike - beautiful!

In the research literature about the poet, there is even a definition of "Derzhavin's still life". And yet, it would be wrong to reduce the conversation only to naturalness, the naturalness of everyday scenes and natural landscapes depicted by the poet. Derzhavin often resorted to such artistic techniques as impersonation, personification of abstract concepts and phenomena (that is, giving them material features). Thus, he achieved a high mastery of artistic convention. A poet cannot do without it! It enlarges the image, makes it especially expressive. In "Invitation to Dinner" we find such a personified image - it gives goosebumps: "And Death is looking at us through the fence." And how humanized and recognizable Derzhavin's Muse is. She "peeps through the crystal window, messing up her hair."

Colorful personifications are already found in Lomonosov. Let's remember his lines:

There Death between the Goth regiments Runs, furious, from rank to rank And opens its greedy jaw, And stretches out its cold hands ...

However, it is impossible not to notice that the content of the personified image here is completely different. The image of Death in Lomonosov is majestic, monumental, its lexical design is solemn and grandiloquent ("opens", "extends"). Death is omnipotent over the formation of warriors, over entire regiments of troops. In Derzhavin, Death is likened to a peasant woman waiting behind a neighbor's fence. But it is precisely because of this simplicity and ordinariness that a feeling of tragic contrast arises. The drama of the situation is achieved without lofty words.

Derzhavin is different in his poems. His poetic palette is multicolored and multidimensional. N.V. Gogol stubbornly searched for the origins of the "hyperbolic scope" of Derzhavin's creativity. In the thirty-first chapter of "Selected passages from correspondence with friends", which is called "What, finally, is the essence of Russian poetry and what is its peculiarity," he writes: "Everything is large with him. His style is as large as one of our poets. If you cut it open with an anatomical knife, you will see that this comes from an unusual combination of the highest words with the lowest and simplest, which no one would have dared to do except Derzhavin. Who would dare, except him, to express himself as he put it in in one place about his same majestic husband, at that moment when he had already fulfilled everything that was needed on earth:

And death, as a guest, awaits, Twisting, in thought, a mustache.

Who, except Derzhavin, would have dared to combine such a matter as the expectation of death with such an insignificant action as the twirling of a mustache? But how through this the visibility of the husband himself is more palpable, and what a melancholy-deep feeling remains in the soul!

Gogol is undoubtedly right. The essence of Derzhavin's innovative manner lies precisely in the fact that the poet introduces into his works the truth of life, as he understands it. In life, the high is adjacent to the low, pride - to arrogance, sincerity - to hypocrisy, intelligence - to stupidity, and virtue - to meanness. Life itself coexists with death.

The collision of opposite principles forms the conflict of the poem "Nobleman". This is a great lyrical work of odic form. It has twenty-five stanzas of eight lines each. A clear rhythmic pattern, formed by iambic tetrameter and a special rhyme (ababvggv), is sustained in the genre tradition of the ode. But the resolution of the poetic conflict is not at all in the tradition of the ode. The plot lines in the ode, as a rule, do not contradict one another. With Derzhavin, they are conflicting, opposite. One line - nobles, a man worthy of both his title and his destiny:

The nobleman should be a healthy mind, an enlightened heart; He should give an example, That his title is sacred, That he is an instrument of power, Support of the royal building. All his thought, words, deeds Should be - benefit, glory, honor.

Another line is the donkey nobles, who will not be decorated with either titles or orders ("stars"): The donkey will remain a donkey, Although shower it with stars; Where it is necessary to act with the mind, He only flaps his ears. O! in vain is the hand of happiness, Against the natural rank, The madman dresses in a master Or in a fool's cracker.

It would be in vain to expect from the poet a psychological deepening of the declared conflict or the author's reflection (that is, analytical reflections). This will come to Russian poetry, but somewhat later. In the meantime, Derzhavin, perhaps the first of the Russian poets, is paving the way for depicting the feelings and actions of people in their daily lives.

On this path, the very “Russian fold of the mind” that Belinsky spoke of helped the poet a lot. The dearly beloved friend and wife of the poet died. In order to get rid of longing at least a little, Derzhavin in a poem "On the death of Katerina Yakovlevna" appeals, as if for support, to the rhythm of folk lamentations:

It's not a sweet-voiced swallow, Homey from the piss - Ah! my dear, beautiful, flew away, - joy with her. Not the radiance of the pale moon Shines from the cloud in the terrible darkness - Ah! lies her dead body, Like a bright angel in a deep sleep.

The swallow is a favorite image in folk songs and lamentations. And no wonder! She builds a nest near human habitation, and even under the jam. She is next to the peasant, touches him and amuses him. With its homeliness, neatness and affectionate chirping, the "sweet-voiced swallow" reminds the poet of his dear friend. But the swallow is cheerful and busy. And nothing can awaken the sweetheart from a "strong sleep." The "contrite heart" of the poet can only cry out the bitterest sadness in verses that are so similar to folk lamentations. And concurrency trick with the world of nature in this poem is as impressive and expressive as possible.

II.2.3 Archaisms in Derzhavin's ode "Vision of Murza" (1783)
and corresponding archaisms in the works of other poets

II.2.3.1 About the ode "Vision of Murza"

According to Belinsky, Derzhavin's ode "Vision of Murza" (1783) "belongs to the best odes of Derzhavin" (212). It is dedicated to Empress Catherine II. We have chosen this work by Derzhavin to consider the characteristic archaisms of this era in the development of Russian poetry. At the same time, we will also give examples of the use of the corresponding archaisms in the works of other poets, including those of subsequent centuries.
Of interest is the opinion of Pushkin, expressed in the notes “On the reasons that slowed down the course of our literature” (1824) (213), who noted Derzhavin’s “incorrect language”:

“I agree that some of Derzhavin’s odes, despite the unevenness of the syllable and the incorrectness of the language, are filled with impulses of true genius,” Pushkin wrote, having in mind, perhaps, the indicated ode of Derzhavin.

Belinsky, in turn, in the article "On Derzhavin's Works" (212), specified the incorrectness of Derzhavin's language pointed out by Pushkin and explained it as follows:

“As for inaccuracy in expression, it is impossible to demand accuracy from that time, and the terrible rape of the language, that is, arbitrary truncations, stresses, often distortion of the word, must be attributed to the fact that Derzhavin in his youth did not have the opportunity to acquire, in terms of language, neither knowledge, no skill.

It should be recalled that these words of the great critic were written a quarter of a century after the death of Derzhavin (1843).

Anticipating the following comments on Derzhavin's poem, it would not be superfluous to quote the following from Belinsky's article:

“Reading Derzhavin’s poems, now you almost don’t understand anything in them without historical moral descriptive comments for the century of which he was the organ ... Language, way of thinking, feelings, interests - everything, everything is alien to our time ....” (212) .

The need for comments and explanations, however, was felt by Derzhavin himself already in his time, when he was preparing for publication his collected works, which appeared in 1864-1883 (214). Derzhavin had to write rather extensive comments on the first two volumes, explaining his own text of poetic speech:

“Explanations on Derzhavin’s writings regarding the dark places in them, proper names, allegories and ambiguous sayings, of which the true thought is only known to the author; also an explanation of the pictures that are with them, and anecdotes that happened during their creation ”(1805-1810) (214).

Vyazemsky, in his article “On Derzhavin,” with regard to these “dark places,” which Derzhavin decided to explain, spoke as follows:

"The places are dark, doubtful for us, not yet so distant from the time in which they were written, and to which posterity will completely lose the key." (45)

The collected works of Derzhavin, in which his "Explanations" were published, were edited by the Russian philologist Yakov Grot (1812 - 1893) (214,215), who also compiled the "Dictionary for Derzhavin's Poems" (1883).

Derzhavin's writings were republished in 1985 with comments by Irena Podolskaya (216,217), which are also indispensable for understanding Derzhavin's poems. In addition, we will use the comments of the Russian literary critic and researcher of Derzhavin's work Dmitry Blagogoy (1893 - 1984), corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, full member of the RSFSR APS, who also devoted his research to the work of Pushkin and his literary environment (218,219,220,221). And also the comments of the doctor of philological sciences Vladimir Zapadov (1930-1998) (222) to the publication of Derzhavin's poems (223).

II.2.3.2 Text of the ode "Vision of Murza" with highlighted archaisms

Let us cite the ode "The Vision of Murza" (1783), highlighting archaic words and expressions in it that require explanation:

On dark blue AIR
The golden moon swam;
In her silver porphyry
SHINING from the heights, she
Illuminated my house through the windows
And with its fawn ray
GOLDEN glass painted
On my lacquered floor.
Sleep with your languid hand
Dreams are DIFFERENT scattered,
Sprinkling oblivion with dew,
He put my family to sleep ...
Around the whole region RESTED ...
PETROPOL with its towers dozed...
The Neva from the URN flickered a little,
A little BELT sparkled in its BREAKINGS;
Nature, in silence DEEP
And in deep sleep,
Dead seemed to hearing, eye
High and deep;
Only ZEFIRES blew,
Bringing coolness to feelings.
I did not sleep, - and, with the ringing of the lyre
My quiet voice agrees
Blessed, I sang, who is pleased
In THAT light by your lot,
Abundant, healthy, calm, free
And happy only with himself;
Who has a pure heart, right conscience
And a firm disposition keeps in his time
And puts all his glory in that,
That he is only a kind person;
That he is KARLOY and a giant
And the diva of the world was not born,

And what is not created by an idol
And they are not forced to honor them;
That all THIS bliss of the world
He finds in his family;
What is his gentle plenira
And a few true friends
With him they can in a solitary hour
Share boredom and work!
Blessed is the one to whom the princesses
Whatever the horde
From their amber towers
And SILVER-pink luminaries,
As if from the distant ULUS,
Furtively from courtiers,
For stories, for RASTABARS,
For VIRSH or for something
Stealthily DRAGUE gifts
And in DOSKANTS they send chervonets;
Blessed! - But with the speech THIS SUDDENLY
My whole building shook
THE WALLS PARTED, and a hundredfold
BRIGHTER lightning spilled
Radiance AROUND me heavenly;
HID, turned pale, the moon.
The vision I SAW miraculously:
The wife descended from the clouds, -
Came down - and found herself a priestess
Or a goddess in front of me.
White clothes flowed
On it a silver wave;
GRADSKAYA crown on HEAD,
Shined under PERSYA belt ZLAT;
From black-FIRE WISSON,
Rainbow-like outfit
From the shoulder GINGIAL stripe
HANGED ON THE LEFT THIGH;
With outstretched hand on the altar
On the sacrificial she heat
Burning poppies are PERFECT,
SERVED THE HIGH DEITY.
Eagle MIDNIGHT, huge,

Companion of lightning to triumph,


SACRED kept her statutes;
AND LAUREL WITH OLIVE BRANCHES
He held it as if asleep.
Safiro-light eyes,
As in anger or in heat, flashing,
The Goddess has matured on me. -
The image will remain forever in me,
She who was IMPRESSED! -
"MURZA! - she told me, -
You TEAVE yourself to be happy,
When day and night
You play your lyre
And you only sing songs to kings.
SHURRY, wretched Murza!
And TERRIBLE listen to the truth,
Which poets are passionate
Hardly believe ON EARTH;
There is only one kindness for you
He tells me to open them. When
Poetry is not crazy
But the highest gift of the gods - then
THIS gift of the gods is only to honor
And to learn their ways
Should be turned, not to flattery
And the perishable praise of people.
The lords of light are the same people,
Passions are in them, even though they have crowns;
The poison of flattery harms them no less,
And where are the poets who are not flatterers?
AND YOU SIREN SINGING TO THUNDER
Do not build in HARM to virtue;
Benefactor direct
There is no need for any praise.
Keeping husband honest morals,
DO your duty, your deeds,
Brings more glory to the king
Than all PIIT praise.

Leave the nectar FILLED
I DANGER the cup where the poison is hidden.
Whom I VIEW so daringly,
And whose MOUTH slays me?
Who are you? Goddess or priestess? -
Dream STANDING I asked.
She ADVERTISED to me: “I AM FELITZA”;
ADVERTISING - and a bright CLOUD hid
From my unsaturated eyes
Her features are divine;
SMOKING MASTIC priceless
My house and place is flowers,
They covered where she appeared.
My God! My angel in the flesh!..
My soul longed for her;
But I couldn't follow her.
Like thunder deafened,
I was insensitive, I was speechless.
But, irrigated with tear current,
He came to his senses and said:
Is it possible, meek princess!
And you to MURZA so that your
She was so harsh and angry
And arrows to my heart
And you, and you to throw,
And the flame of my soul
Didn't you approve of yourself?
Enough people without you
Enough without you poet
For EVERY thought, for every verse,
RESPOND to the dashing light
And from the satyrs SHIELD the evil ones!
Enough golden idols
Without my feelings that the songs of CHLI;
Enough KADIEV, FAKIROV,
WHICH considered in envy
You their indecent flattery;
I've made enough enemies!
Another attributed to himself dishonor,
That they do not tear his mustache;
Someone else felt hurt

That he does not sit as a hen;
To another - very arbitrary
Your MURZA speaks to you;
Another accused me of a crime,
That I am a messenger from heaven
You be thought in admiration
And shed tears in delight.
And in a word: he wanted a watermelon,
And that pickled cucumber.
But let the muse prove to them here,
That I am not one of the flatterers;
That the hearts of my goods
I don't sell for money
And what is not from other people's anbars
I'll make clothes for you.
But, crowned virtue!
I sang not flattery and not dreams,
And what the whole world is witness to:
Your works are the essence of beauty.
I sang, I sing and I will sing them,
And in jokes I will proclaim the truth;
Tatar songs from under a bushel,
Like a ray, I will tell posterity;
Like the sun, like the moon I will set
Your image for future ages;
I will exalt you, I will glorify you;
I will be immortal by you.

II.2.3.3 Derzhavin's explanations and other notes and examples

First, we will indicate the comments on the ode "The Vision of Murza", which Derzhavin himself cited in his "Explanation ..." (214), adding, if necessary, other notes and examples to the highlighted archaisms.

II.2.3.3.1 Derzhavin's first explanation - epithets for the towers and rooms of Tsarskoye Selo

The first explanation the poet made to the following lines:

From their amber towers
And SILVER-pink luminaries...

“In Tsarskoe Selo, one room was decorated all with amber, and the other was pink foil with silver carvings” (214).

Now the neologism of the compound adjective “silver-pink” is understandable, in the first part of which the discreet Old Slavonic archaism of the phonetic type silver, preserved in the Bulgarian language, is used, which differs from the full-vowel modern sound - silver.

II.2.3.3.2 Derzhavin's second explanation: the meaning of archaism ulus

The following explanation by Derzhavin is made to the line:

As if from distant ULUS ...

“An ulus is a settlement of nomadic peoples or several wagons in the aggregate, placed in a convenient place” (214).

The origin of the word ulus is Tatar-Mongolian or Turkic (Mong. Uls, Bur. Ulas, Tat. Olys). (224) It came into the Russian language from the Middle Ages as barbarism.

“In pre-Petrine Russia, the word “ulus” meant “patrimony”, and later - part of a “large volost” and, traditionally, the term was used in the Russian North ...” (224).

Currently, uluses are called some rural settlements similar to villages and villages in the Republics of Buryatia and Sakha (Yakutia) with a predominance of the indigenous population. In 1920-1943. An ulus was also an administrative unit, an analogue of a district in Kalmykia. In other areas of Russia, this concept disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century (224).

II.2.3.3.3 Derzhavin's third explanation: the meaning of the archaisms of verse and doskants. Additional notes explaining the words of colloquial vocabulary

For TALES, for RASTABARS,
For VIRSH or for something
SILENTLY OTHER gifts
And in DOSKANTS they send chervonets;

“Attitude to the fact that the aforementioned gift was sent for the mentioned verses, or verses. In ancient times, people in Russia did not sniff tobacco, and therefore they did not know snuffboxes, but instead of them they used the so-called doskans, in which they kept flies, pins, and similar little things belonging to women's attire ”(214).

Let us add to what Derzhavin has said, following the words of colloquial vocabulary that we have highlighted in the text of this passage of the ode, requiring explanation that tales are a colloquial word meaning fabrications or inventions (201); rastabars - vernacular, meaning the same as stories or chatter, or idle conversations (25), often tedious and lengthy, also emphasized by the well-known phrase "tare-bars, rastabars", which appeared as if from nursery rhymes (225).

In the fairy tale of the famous Russian poet, prose writer and playwright Pyotr Ershov (1815-1869) "The Little Humpbacked Horse" (1834), which has become a classic of Russian literature, (226) we read:

The guests of the shop open,
Baptized people call out:
"Hey, honest gentlemen,
Please visit us here!

How are we TARA-BARS,
All sorts of different goods ... ".

The word virshy, borrowed from Polish wiersz and Ukrainian virsh, is not just poetry representing one of the types of poetry that developed first in Poland, then in Ukraine and Belarus from the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 18th centuries, and then, at the end of the 17th and the beginning of 18th century, which also passed into Russian literature (227). “Subsequently, in colloquial Russian, the word “virshi” acquired a disparaging meaning - “bad poetry”” (227).
The colloquial dialect is surreptitiously formed as “an fusion from under the tishka, where the tishka is a genus. p. units h. from tishok "silence, calmness" (228).
To act on the sly means "secretly, furtively, secretly" (25,201).
Dragie - discreet phonetic archaism from dear.

The archaism Doskantsy meant various boxes and drawers, and etymologically came from the word board (119). Now it can be considered an outdated historicism.

We also find the word doskanets in Zhukovsky's ballad "Alina and Alsim" (1814), which was a translation of the corresponding poem by the popular French poet François-Augustin Paradis de Montcrif (1687-1770) (229):

Alina silently, as if killed,
He gives Brocade DOSKAN entwined,
Sheds tears himself.

Finally, chervonets (from Polish czerwony red) were originally called coins made of the finest or purest gold (230). In Soviet times, ten-ruble paper banknotes (230) began to be called chervonets.

II.2.3.3.4 Derzhavin's fourth explanation: description of the portrait of the empress based on the painting by Levitsky

The next fragment of the ode, which Derzhavin also accompanied with his own explanation, will be given again in the next fragment, highlighting archaisms in it that require comments:

And she found herself a priestess
Or a goddess in front of me.
White clothes flowed
On it a silver wave;
city ​​crown on the head,
Shined under PERSYA belt of gold;
From black-FIRE WISSON,
Rainbow-like outfit
From the shoulder GINGIAL stripe
HANGED ON THE LEFT THIGH;
With outstretched hand on the altar
On the sacrificial she heat
Burning poppies are PERFECT,
SERVED THE HIGH DEITY.
Eagle MIDNIGHT, huge,
Companion of lightning to triumph,
Heroic herald of glory,
Sitting in front of her on a pile of books,
SACRED kept her statutes;
FADE-OUT THUNDER IN HIS CLAW
AND LAUREL WITH OLIVE BRANCHES
He held it as if asleep.

Derzhavin explains:

“...and found herself a priestess // Or a goddess in front of me. - This whole picture is to the very verse: "He was holding it, as if falling asleep" - an original copy from the portrait of the late Empress, painted by Mr. Levitsky, an invention of the city of Lvov "(214).

Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Russian artist-painter of Ukrainian origin, Dmitry Levitsky (circa 1735 - 1822), who bore the name of his father, a priest, whose real name was Nos, or Nosov, was a master of ceremonial and chamber portraits (231).

In Derzhavin's explanation, we are talking about Levitsky's painting "Catherine II - Legislator in the Temple of the Goddess of Justice", written in the same year as Derzhavin's ode "Vision of Murza" (1783).

Russian poet Nikolai Lvov (1753-1803) was one of the brightest and most versatile representatives of the Russian Enlightenment, an architect, graphic artist, translator and musician. He was a friend of both Derzhavin and Levitsky, and it was he, as can be seen from Derzhavin’s words: “... from a portrait ... an invention of the city of Lvov” (214), who gave the idea of ​​such a portrait, which, by the way, also reflects Order of Vladimir, the project of which was also created by Lvov (232).

Let us give the following commentary on the description of Levitsky's painting, published in the literary magazine Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word in 1783 (233):

“The Empress is represented as a priestess of the Greek goddess Themis. The marble statue of the Goddess of Justice with scales in her hand symbolizes justice. On the pedestal of the statue is a bas-relief with the profile of the ancient legislator Solon. At the feet of the empress of the book is a set of laws that she intended to publish, an eagle sitting on them with outstretched wings means their strength and security.

With a majestic gesture, the empress points to the poppies she burns on the altar - a symbol of peace. Levitsky explained the meaning of this allegory in this way: "Her Imperial Majesty sacrifices her precious peace for the common good." In the depths of the picture, ships of the merchant fleet are visible - a sign of the prosperity of Russia.

The Empress is depicted in a mantle with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, as well as with a ribbon and a cross of St. Vladimir I degree, which was awarded for civic merit. On the head of the empress is a civil crown, intertwined with a laurel wreath, symbolizing glory.

Before us is the image of the Empress - Citizen, vigilantly caring for her fatherland, for the good of the people. Here the artist demonstrates the ideal of a wise monarch, as understood by the philosophers of the Enlightenment of the 18th century.

The program of this work was compiled by the poet Lvov, whom his contemporaries called "the genius of taste".

The golden belt shone with PERSYA.

Percy, if we look at the deep roots of this archaism, is a biblical word.
Here are the characteristic places from the Revelation of St. John the Theologian, which also tells about the golden belt:

“I turned to see whose voice that spoke to me; and turning, he saw seven golden lampstands
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, like the Son of Man, clothed in a robe, and girded around his chest with a golden sash” (Rev. 1:13).
“And seven angels went out of the frame, having seven plagues, clothed in clean and bright linen clothes and girded around their chests with golden belts” (Rev.15:6). (128)

Let us clarify that the podir is the long garment of the Jewish high priests and kings (210, 234,235).
In later poetic works, the stylistic, bookish, ecclesiastical archaism of Persian, which has become poetic, is used in a narrow sense - the chest (25,201, 236).

At the same time, Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary (119) also gave a broader meaning to Persian archaism: "the front of the body, from the neck to the stomach", and it is this interpretation that is most suitable for understanding Derzhavin's line, because the golden belt in Levitsky's painting was depicted at all on the breasts of the empress, and under it and just above her stomach.

From the black-fiery WISSON,
Rainbow-like outfit
From the shoulder GINGIAL stripe
HANGED ON THE LEFT HIP.

In the highlighted fragment, let us first of all pay attention to the word fine linen.
This is a biblical word (Gen.41:42, Ex.25:4, Luke.16:19, Rev.19:8) (128).

This is a word of foreign origin (from English byssus, Greek bussos (linen, linen), from Hebrew - buts (237), meaning luxurious fabric, often white or purple, used in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to dress royal people and for the priestly costumes of the priests, the mummies of the pharaohs were wrapped in it.
This tissue is no longer produced, perhaps with rare exceptions (237). In the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (74) we read:

“In the Roman Empire, such linen (byssus) was the favorite fabric of Roman ladies, and the most fashionable, so-called koan, dresses (coa vestis) were made from it. From this it becomes clear the testimony of Pliny the Elder that V. was a special source of pleasure for women (mulierum maxime deliciis) and was sold worth its weight in gold.
Next, let's move on to Derzhavin's Explanations regarding the subsequent lines in the selected fragment.

The poet explained that in these lines he gave “A description of the Order of Vladimir, which the Empress, after writing her institution about the provinces, imposed on herself as a reward for her labors, declaring herself the chamberlain of this order” (214).

The Order of St. Vladimir of the first degree was worn on a ribbon hanging from the right shoulder to the left thigh, that is, “from the right shoulder” (238).

In the analyzed fragment from Derzhavin's poem, let's pay attention to the phrase in the last line: "hung on the left thigh." Stylistically and orthographically, such a phrase does not correspond to the modern literary norm, but, as we see, it was applicable in the time of Derzhavin. Stylistically, it would be more correct to say that it did not hang, but hung down, and not “on the left thigh”, but “on the left thigh”.

Desnoy from gum is an archaic Church Slavonic (205.239) word, the modern synonym of which is right, that is, located on the right side.
Lexical archaism right hand, meaning the right hand, has the same root as the adjective gum.

This archaism is found, for example, in Pushkin's early poem Kolna (Imitation of Ossian) (1814):

The sharp sword on the thigh shines,
The spear equips the HAND.

By the way, let's pay attention to the fact that in the above line of Pushkin it is written “arms”, instead of the modern orthographically correct arming. We will return to this example and other deviations from modern orthographic norms in one of the following sections.
The right hand used archaism in his poem "The Lord, preparing me for battle ..." (1857) and Alexei Tolstoy:

Lord, prepare me for battle
Love and anger put into my chest,
And to me with the holy right hand
He showed the right way.

With outstretched hand on the altar
On the sacrificial she heat
Burning poppies are PERFECT,

SERVED THE HIGH DEITY.
Eagle MIDNIGHT, huge,
Companion of lightning to triumph,
Heroic herald of glory,
Sitting in front of her on a pile of books,
SACRED kept her statutes;
FADE-OUT THUNDER IN HIS CLAW
AND LAUREL WITH OLIVE BRANCHES
He held it as if asleep.

Here it is necessary to note the expressions “FADE-OUT THUNDER”, “LAUREL WITH OLIVE BRANCHES”, “MIDNIGHT EAGLE”, which “held, as if asleep”, in its COWLS FADE-OUT THUNDER AND LAUREL WITH OLIVE BRANCHES. All these are “symbols of peace”, because Russia did not wage wars from 1774 to 1787 (219).

The line "Served the Highest Deity ..." meant, in other words, "Served the Most High Deity", since in the Old Slavonic beliefs the highest deity was called "Vyshnya", and in later texts "The Most High" (240).

So, for example, in the 5th Prayer, St. Basil the Great read:

Lord Almighty, God of hosts and of all flesh, living in the highest... (211)

And also in Prayer 6, of the same saint:

We bless you, most high God... (211)

II.2.3.3.5 On Derzhavin's fifth explanation: archaisms in describing the impression of the empress's gaze

Derzhavin in his "Explanations" (214) further described "the attitude towards the fact that, as mentioned above, the author was presented to the empress on Sunday, IN THE ROOM OF THE GUARDS, with a multitude of spectators; then, going up to him, she stopped a few paces away and, having examined the author several times with a quick glance from head to toe, finally gave him her hand. This majestic sight he could never forget:

The image will remain forever in me,
She who impressed” (214).

To the words “in the cavalry guard room” highlighted in Derzhavin’s Explanation, let’s add Podolskaya’s note:

"... in the cavalry guard room ... - that is, in the room of the Empress's guard of honor" (217).

In the fragment of the ode under consideration, let's pay attention to the highlighted archaisms in the order they are presented in the verses.
In the first verse, Derzhavin wrote:

SAFIRO-LIGHT EYES.

The poet used the poetism of the eye, which is a lexical archaism, the modern synonym of which is the eye. This is one of the most common poeticisms in Russian poetry, i.e. archaic words "with the color of elevation, limited to use mainly in the poetic genres of literature of the 18th-1st half of the 19th century." (176).

We will turn to this archaism and other examples of its application later, when we specifically consider lexical archaisms. Now let's pay attention to the fact that the poet brought this archaism along with an epithet indicating the color of Empress Catherine's eyes: "safiro-light." At the same time, it is known that sapphire is a blue stone, and Derzhavin’s word safiro-light, apparently, is written in the old orthography, with the letter “p” omitted.

Let us pay attention in the above fragment to the lexical archaism, and also beheld and in vain, which Derzhavin also used in the same ode and which, as we will see in further examples, were noted not only by him and his predecessors, but even by the poets of the 20th century :

I SAW a wonderful vision ...
"Vision of Murza"

SEE - the stars of thought lead
My secret choir is around the earth.
Khomyakov. "Stars" (1856)

Here, in the form you will see the emphasis on "-y" corresponds to the old norm (the modern norm - you will see).

Also in Blok's poem "Born in Deaf Years ..." (1914):

And let over our deathbed
Ravens will rise with a cry, -
Those who are more worthy, God, God,
May your kingdom be seen!

This pronunciation of the specified verb corresponds to the old church. Blok, turning in his verses with a prayer to God, correctly used the church pronunciation required in this case.

Also in Brodsky's poem "Great Elegy to John Donne" (1963):

Climbing up a pine tree, suddenly SEE the fire.

Archaism was in vain used before by Lomonosov:

For good reason on you, the fields are wide.
"Ode composed by Monsieur Francis de Salgnac de la Motta Fénelon, Archbishop Duke of Cambrai, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire" (1735)

Who with him ONLY menacingly SIGHTS to the south ...
"Ode on the Capture of Khotyn" (1739)

And in Derzhavin we note this lexical archaism:

Whom I vain so boldly ...
Derzhavin. "Vision of Murza"

Vostokov's poem "Autumn" (1801) uses the reflexive form of the same verb:

In deep contrition SEE,
She is in tears and trembling;
Her sacred chariot
Immersed in the waters...

In Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" we find the passive form of seeing:

In home life, SEE one
A series of boring pictures.
Chapter Four. Line V.

In Klyuev's poem "The Song of the Great Mother" (1930-1931) we also find this form:

They cut down the akathist and you can hear and VISIBLE...

In the sketches of Tyutchev's unfinished fragments, we note the following quatrain:

You SEE the leaf and color on the TREE:
Or did the gardener glue them on?
Or the fruit ripens in the womb
The play of external, alien forces? ..

Here we have also identified a phonetic archaism tree. We will talk about these archaisms in the next section.

In conclusion of the review of examples with lexical archaism to see, we point out that its modern synonyms are the verbs to see, look, look (25).

Note that not related to the indicated archaism to mature is another meaning of the same phonetic form: “to reach maturity; grow, maturing” (25).

In this second meaning, the verb to see is still a modern literary word, and the first of its indicated meanings refers to obsolete usage. These two meanings of the verb have different forms of the word, distinguished by Zaliznyak, which cannot be confused (189).

So, the forms of the word to see in the first meaning are, for example, the following: I see, I see, I see, I see, I see, I see, in vain, I see, I see, etc.

The forms of the verb see in the second sense are, for example, the following:
ripening, ripening, ripening, ripening, ripening, ripening, ripening, ripening, ripening, etc.

The forms of the words mature, mature, mature, mature are common to both meanings.

Nevertheless, the basis of the verb to see in the first, archaic meaning has also firmly entered the modern literary vocabulary in some verbal forms. Meaning, for example, nouns viewers, vision, worldview and insight, as well as the corresponding verb to see the light, adjectives invisible and boundless , as well as their corresponding short adjectives or adverbs invisibly and boundlessly.

Note: This is a continuation of the work "On literary norms in Russian poetry."
To be continued.

(1743-1816)

“Derzhavin is a complete expression, a living chronicle, a solemn anthem, a fiery dithyramb of the age of Catherine, with his lyrical animation, with his present pride and hopes for the future, his enlightenment and ignorance, his epicureanism and thirst for great deeds, his feasting idleness and inexhaustible practical activities,” Belinsky wrote in 1834 in Literary Dreams.

Derzhavin was able to turn poetry to life, to its earthly joys, he was able to turn everyday life, low pictures of nature into the property of poetry. In contrast to the poetics of classicism, Derzhavin introduces autobiographical themes into poetry, the author's individual "I". The poet himself, his way of thinking and feeling, his surrounding life, became the subject of poetry. Instead of an abstract ideal of the rational - a real human person, an individual worthy of attention and respect in itself.

Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin was born on July 14, 1743 in the Kazan province in the family of a poor nobleman. Derzhavin himself spoke about his life in the "Note of Incidents Known to All and True Cases Containing the Life of Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin" (1812). It was a story about the poet's private life. Derzhavin's father served in small officer ranks near Kazan, then in Orenburg. He received his primary education from a deacon in a village church. When a gymnasium was opened in Kazan in 1759, the mother sent her son there. For a well-drawn map with views of the city, which came to the nobleman I.I. Shuvalov, Derzhavin was enlisted in the Guards Regiment. However, this award turned into ten years of soldiering for Derzhavin. Since 1762 (he was recalled from the gymnasium) Derzhavin was pulling a soldier's strap. He received his first officer rank only in 1772. During the outbreak of the Pugachev uprising, Derzhavin, thirsting for activity, was among those who took part in the suppression of the rebellion. He considered it a duty. Sharp, direct, independent and bold in his judgments, Derzhavin managed to turn the military authorities against him and, having received a promotion in rank, was dismissed from the army and transferred to the Senate. He went from soldier to minister. He was governor in the Olonets region, then in Tambov, secretary of Catherine II, senator, Minister of Justice under Alexander I.

Derzhavin first appeared in print in 1773 with an ode "On the marriage of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich with Natalia Alekseevna." Of his early works, the cycle of odes related to the events of the Pugachev uprising is more interesting. The odes, "Translated and composed at Mount Chitalagai", were published as a separate book in St. Petersburg in 1776. In these original and translated odes, Derzhavin touched on themes that would be characteristic of his subsequent work. In the ode "For Her Majesty's Birthday", the poet writes:

So you are a mother to all.

Enemies, the monarch, the same people;

Hit again and undress

But in order to shed mercy on them ...

Like the enlighteners who preceded him, Derzhavin hoped for an enlightened monarch, on whose will everything depends:

For that, for that, is this only light,

So that slaves, tyrants live in it,

trampled on each other by barbarism,

Did you carry your harm with you?

In the odes “To Greatness”, “To Nobility”, he, continuing the theme of the natural equality of people, speaks of the need for a person’s personal merits before society, the state:

Listen, princes of the whole universe,

Statues without merit, you!

Derzhavin's early odes are characterized by imitativeness, he largely follows the traditions of Lomonosov, they are "written in a very unclean and obscure style" - the poet himself admitted; “wanting to soar,” he, in his words, could not withstand the “magnificence and pomp” characteristic of Lomonosov. But since 1779, as Derzhavin himself wrote, "he chose a completely different path." In 1779 he wrote the poem "Key", "Poems for the Birth of a Porphyritic Child in the North" and an ode "On the Death of Prince Meshchersky". Already in these works, which appeared in the Saint Petersburg Bulletin, a new word of the poet was heard, perceiving the world around him, the surrounding nature through the eyes of a simple person in all its lively and colorful reality, with all everyday details. In these works, he violates both genre and style unity. The ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky” is an ode-elegy that differs sharply from the usual laudatory ode of classicism. Speaking about a specific person, Derzhavin reflects on the eternal philosophical problem of life and death, which will run through all his work. The immediate reason for writing it was the death of Derzhavin's friend, the Epicurean Prince A.I. Meshchersky, which deeply struck the poet with its unexpectedness. On a biographical basis, the philosophical problematics of the ode grows, incorporating the enlightening ideas of the century.

The theme of death is revealed by Derzhavin in the order of a gradual forcing of phenomena subject to the law of destruction: the poet himself is mortal, all people are mortal, “Death is greedy swallowing the kingdoms.” And finally, "The stars will be crushed by it, / And the suns will be extinguished by it, / And it threatens all the worlds."

In the face of death, there is a kind of reassessment of values. The idea is born of the natural equality of people, regardless of their rank and condition, since they are all subject to the same law of destruction. Derzhavin creates expressive, visually tangible pictures, achieving this by means of contrasting images, by colliding conflicting concepts:

The monarch and the prisoner are a meal of worms,

......................................................

Today is God, tomorrow is dust.

Where the table was food, there is a coffin.

Wealth and titles turn out to be miserable and insignificant:

Take happiness away possible

You are all changeable and false here:

I stand at the door of eternity.

But while recognizing the omnipotence of death, Derzhavin does not come to a pessimistic conclusion about the meaninglessness of human existence. On the contrary, the transience of life gives it special significance, makes it higher to appreciate the unique joys of life:

Life is heaven's instant gift;

Set her to rest

And with your pure soul

Bless the fate of the blow.

Derzhavin often paints the same picture: people are overthrown, like a waterfall, from the heights of happiness. Hence the image of death, in all its terrifying concreteness. Hence the motif of the transience of life and the inevitability of the end, which evokes in Derzhavin the image of the “river of time”. In the ode “On the death of Prince Meshchersky”, the idea of ​​the transience of death is embodied in a specific figurative form:

Verb of time! Metal ring! – the sound of the pendulum, as it were, symbolizes the inexorable passage of time.

The ode acquires a philosophical character: the poet reflects on death and life, on the mysteries of being, on the inevitability of the future. But the life-affirming beginning wins, Derzhavin's craving for earthly life, earthly joys wins.

The “special path”, which Derzhavin chose for himself, manifested itself with special courage in his now famous ode “Felitsa” (from the Latin felicx - happy). The ode was first published in 1783 in the journal Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word. The name of the ode was lengthy: “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa, written by some Murza, who has long lived in Moscow, and lives on business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic in 1782." The image of Felitsa is borrowed from The Tale of Tsarevich Chlorus, written by Catherine II for her grandson Alexander. The poet himself appeared in the image of Murza, sometimes as an individual self, sometimes as a generalized image of the nobles. "Special Way" affected the destruction of the ode genre. Derzhavin combines odic elements with satirical ones, high style with colloquial. Depicting Catherine, Derzhavin sincerely endows her with the ideal traits of an enlightened monarch: she is smart, active, gracious in manner, and modest. Catherine responds to the poet's ideal idea of ​​a monarch: "Be on the throne - a man." The poet freely talks about the virtues of the empress, primarily as a person. The virtues of the monarch are all the more visible because her deeds, which "shed bliss to mortals", as well as the very behavior of Catherine, are opposed to the idle pastime of the nobles. Derzhavin creates satirical portraits of nobles, endowing each of them with those concrete everyday features that made it possible for contemporaries to easily recognize Orlov, Potemkin, Vyazemsky, Naryshkin.

In the ironic characterization of Potemkin, thoughts about "intimidating" the universe calmly coexist with the dream of a new "caftan". It also contains a specific image of a festive table that is impossible for high odic poetry. The picturesqueness and brilliance inherent in Derzhavin's poetry is manifested, the ability to make everyday, ordinary - a table laden with dishes - become the property of poetry. The concreteness of the everyday picture, low, prosaic speeches - all this was new and led to the convergence of poetry with life, and consequently the overcoming, destruction of classicism. In "Felitsa" one of Derzhavin's poetic discoveries was discovered - for his poetry there are no low, unworthy objects in nature for the image. This testifies to the realistic tendencies of his work. Glorifying the virtues of Felitsa, her merits and concern for the education and health of the people, the poet also allows himself to speak in a joking tone in relation to the empress. There are many hints in the ode regarding how a true monarch should govern the state.

In the ode "Vision of Murza", which Derzhavin began to write in May 1783, he answers the accusations leveled against "Felitsa". He sharply satirically denounces the nobles, capable only of groveling, flattery. With the help of an unexpected everyday comparison, the author finally destroys the dissatisfied:

And in a word: he wanted a watermelon,

And that pickled cucumber...

Here the author's individual self sounds, the image of the poet, his position in life is captured. The poet is full of self-esteem. In the ode "The Vision of Murza", as in other works, the colorfulness, picturesqueness, vivid imagery in the perception of the surrounding world is striking. This beautiful, real world, filled with colors and sounds, was reflected not only in the poet's landscape sketches, in which he also acted as an innovator, but also in the ability to paint both the room interior and the festive dining table. Derzhavin himself called poetry "talking painting" and considered it "the sister of music."

Derzhavin was the first to discover the beauties of Russian nature, he paints pictures of “ruddy autumn”, which carries “sheaves of gold on the floor”, conveys the noise of “red-yellow leaves”, draws Russian winter. No wonder Belinsky considered Derzhavin's work "the first real manifestation of the Russian spirit in the field of poetry." In Derzhavin's poetry, for the first time, real conditions, household items are given, living people, his contemporaries, act.

The ode "God" (1784) was very popular in the 18th and even 19th centuries. It has been translated into several European languages, as well as Chinese and Japanese. It speaks of a beginning opposed to death. God for Derzhavin is the “source of life”, the root cause of everything on earth and in space, including man himself. Derzhavin's idea of ​​a deity was influenced by the philosophical thought of the 18th century. This was pointed out by the poet himself in his "Explanations" to this ode. Commenting on the verse “Without persons in the three faces of a deity!”, he wrote: “The author, in addition to the theological concept, understood here three metaphysical persons, that is: infinite space, uninterrupted life in the movement of matter and the endless flow of time, which God combines in himself” . Thus, without rejecting the church's idea of ​​the three essences of the deity, Derzhavin simultaneously comprehends it in terms of categories drawn from the arsenal of sciences - space, movement, time. Derzhavin's god is not an incorporeal spirit that exists apart from nature, but a creative principle, embodied, dissolved in the material world he created ("alive in the movement of matter"). The inquisitive thought of the Enlightenment did not take anything for granted. And Derzhavin, like the son of his age, seeks to prove the existence of God.

The combination of science and religion is a characteristic feature of the philosophy of the 18th century, in which such great thinkers as Herder, Wolf, Kant are involved. The existence of God, according to Derzhavin, is evidenced primarily by the "nature of the ranks", i.e. order, harmony, patterns of the surrounding world. Another proof is purely subjective: a person's desire for a higher, powerful, just and blissful creative principle: "My soul longs to be you." At the same time, Derzhavin adopted from the Enlightenment the idea of ​​the high dignity of man, of his limitless creative possibilities:

I'm rotting in the ashes,

I command the thunders with my mind,

I am a king - I am a slave - I am a worm - I am a god!

Like Lomonosov, Derzhavin struck with the grandeur of the picture of the universe, in which man is only a small particle. But man is the pinnacle of the creation of nature and his significance on earth is great:

I am the connection of worlds that exist everywhere,

I am the extreme degree of matter,

I am the center of the living

The trait of the initial deity.

One of the most important themes of Derzhavin's poetry is the preaching of civil service to the fatherland and nation. Derzhavin seeks to substantiate his views on poetry and the role of the poet in his theoretical work Discourse on Lyric Poetry (1811). Derzhavin affirmed the civic, educational role of poetry, the original role of the poet as a herald of truth. Truth makes a poet immortal, Derzhavin noted. As a person incorruptibly honest and direct, Derzhavin was more characteristic of "atic salt", i.e. satire, rather than odic dithyrambs, and this is fully manifested in his poetry. In 1780, Derzhavin's poem "To Rulers and Judges" was published in the November book of the journal "Saint Petersburg Bulletin" - with the help of biblical motifs, Derzhavin boldly and sharply expressed his attitude towards rulers, "earthly gods" who violate laws and forget about the benefits of subjects and states. The events of the French Revolution gave his poem a particularly sharp, accusatory sound. In the spirit of "enlightened absolutism," Derzhavin, seeing evil, lawlessness, and arbitrariness around him, boldly denounces and instructs "rulers and judges." Derzhavin demands observance of laws, humanity, but "the mighty of the world":

Do not heed! They see and don't know!

Hair covered with bribes:

Atrocities shake the earth

Falsehood shakes the sky.

And although Derzhavin, with his poems, wanted to strengthen Russian statehood on the basis of respect for the rule of law and was far from encroaching on the throne, nevertheless these poems had an exciting effect on the minds.

The pathos of public duty, service to the fatherland and, at the same time, passionate denunciation of nobles who do not correspond to the ideal of a statesman - a man of incorruptible honesty, an enlightened, noble and disinterested servant of society, the state, is permeated with Derzhavin's stairic ode "The Nobleman" (1794). The ode is clearly structured compositionally. Derzhavin uses his characteristic technique of contrasting juxtaposition, with the help of which he achieves great expressive power and clarity of the idea he pursues. In the ode, a large place is occupied by the direct author's speech, the poet's passionate monologue, which is interrupted by inserted genre paintings taken from real life, observed by Derzhavin. The ode is full of hints that gave contemporaries the opportunity to imagine specific individuals, although the satirical image of the nobleman is of a generalizing nature. Before us is a special genre: an ode-satire, in which the poet appears as a citizen, a demanding judge. The poet begins with a monologue in which he defines his position, his understanding of what a true nobleman should be like:

I want to honor dignity

who by themselves

Were able to earn titles

laudable deeds;

Whom no noble family, no dignity,

Neither happiness was decorated;

But who valiantly earned

Respect from the citizens.

Derzhavin is convinced that a nobleman should be composed of "A sound mind, an enlightened heart." A true nobleman is a servant of the “common good”:

All his thought, words, deeds

Should be - benefit, glory, honor.

But the contemporaries of the nobleman were far from the outlined ideal, and it took all the power of "athic salt" to expose idleness, selfishness, indifference, turning into cruelty. It is not the concerns of the state, their own good, worldly successes that such nobles put above all else. Having painted a satirical picture of the idle, luxurious life of the nobles, Derzhavin paints a different picture that sounds like a sharp dissonance. While the nobleman sybaritizes “and yawns in satiety”, in the hallway the “wounded hero”, “the former boss of yours” is waiting for a reception. Concrete everyday realities of life break into the solemn, pathetic structure of the ode.

In the same 1794, Drzhavin wrote the ode "Waterfall", called Belinsky "the most brilliant creation" of the poet. In it, Derzhavin is concerned about the same problems. A person lives in society and his duty is to serve the fatherland, to be the personification of civic virtues. This ode is a deep philosophical reflection on the meaning of life, on human existence, on the right to immortality. Life is fleeting. Derzhavin develops philosophical motives for life and death. An ode written on the death of Prince Potemkin. The poet's attitude towards Potemkin is complex. The majestic figure of this minion of fate, in which good and evil were combined, the abilities of a statesman, a commander who carried out a number of useful reforms in the army, an outstanding, courageous and decisive person, and at the same time cruel, vindictive and power-hungry, more than once attracted the attention of Derzhavin. In "Waterfall" the poet recreates the titanic image of Potemkin in all its contradictory complexity.

The sudden death of Potemkin, the most powerful nobleman, who "shook the earth with thunders", became famous for the capture of Ochakov and Ishmael, death in the deaf Moldavian steppe could not help but amaze the poet's imagination:

Whose corpse, like a haze at a crossroads,

Lying in the dark bosom of the night?

.........................................................

Aren't you, happiness, glory son,

The magnificent prince of Taurida?

Are you not from the height of honor

Suddenly fell among the steppes?

Derzhavin compares life with a waterfall, life falls from the heights of happiness like a waterfall. An ode opens with an unusually visible and colorful picture:

A mountain of diamonds is falling

From the heights of four rocks;

Pearls abyss and silver

Boils at the bottom, beats up with mounds;

From the splashes the blue hill stands,

In the distance, a roar rumbles in the forest.

In addition to the real sound, the waterfall at Derzhavin symbolizes eternity. Against the backdrop of this eternal beauty of nature, the fragility of power and glory is especially noticeable, but the fragility of “false glory”, which Derzhavin contrasts with those who were faithful to the truth, to the common good:

Only truth gives crowns

Merit that will not fade

Only singers sing the truth.

Reflections on those who are worthy of immortality lead Derzhavin to create the image of another commander, Rumyantsev, in whose activities the poet sees the ideal of true citizenship:

Blessed when striving for glory

He kept the common good,

Was merciful in the bloody war

And he spared the very lives of his enemies ...

Blessed in later ages

May this friend of men be.

The deep, philosophical thought underlying the ode, the majestic images created by Derzhavin, made "Waterfall" one of the poet's most remarkable creations. Gogol wrote about "Waterfall": it is "as if the whole epic has merged into one striving ode."

One of the most important themes of Derzhavin's poetry is the preaching of civic service to the fatherland and the nation, the theme of poetry and the role of the poet, for whom the truth should be above all (“To the Rulers and Judges”, “Nobles”, “Monument”, “Swan”).

Derzhavin's favorite hero was Suvorov, whom he highly valued for his military genius, courage and modesty ("To capture Ishmael", "To capture Warsaw", "To cross the Alpine mountains", "To victories in Italy", "Bullfinch"). Derzhavin admires the Russian generals, especially Suvorov, he sympathizes with them and the Russian heroic soldiers. Derzhavin is convinced: “Above the glory and majesty of tsars and nobles is the glory of the Russian people”:

Oh Ross! no to you, no example,

And death itself gives you the laurel...

What courage is zealous in the troops!

What a great spirit in the leaders!

Depicting Suvorov, Derzhavin either uses the technique of hyperbolization, creating a hero, the “Russian Hercules”, or endows the image of Suvorov with specific features, making him uniquely individual. In the ode-elegy "Bullfinch" Derzhavin recreates the image of Suvorov, revealing, first of all, his human traits of character, his appearance, way of life. A modest, unpretentious, courageous man, living the same life with the soldiers, sharing with them the hardships of a camp life - such is Suvorov. The name of the poem is connected with the fact that, having returned home after the death of Suvorov, the poet heard how the learned bullfinch, who lived in his house, sang the first measures of the military march.

“The mind and heart of a person were my genius,” the poet wrote in the poem “Confession” (1807) and Derzhavin carried this love for a person, regardless of his class affiliation, through all his work.

Since the mid-90s, the poet has increasingly turned to the themes of private life, to the glorification of the earthly joys of life. In glorifying private life, free from duties imposed by the entire system of the state hierarchy, in avoiding worldly fuss, Derzhavin draws closer to the sentimentalists. However, Derzhavin is not characterized by feelings of melancholy, disappointment in life, the desire to withdraw into the world of personal experiences. Even in the Anacreontic verses he remains a citizen poet.

In the poem “To Myself” (1789), Derzhavin is ready to resign from his official duties (he was a senator at that time) not because of a conflict with the “sad world”, but because his fight against the abuses of high-ranking officials in led by the Attorney General of the Senate remains inconclusive. This is already a conflict with the nobles and even the king.

Derzhavin's Anacreontics acquires an autobiographical character ("Gift", "The Nightingale in a Dream", "To the Lyre", "Desire", "Grasshopper", "Silence", etc.). He sings of modest joys in silence, in the circle of his family, his freedom and independence.

Imitating the poetry of Horace and Anacreon - the singer of love, wine and fun, Derzhavin remained himself. He Russified plots, images, filling them with the elements of Russian life, Russian life, Russian nature ("Russian Girls"). The poet invariably "inclines" Anacreon to the Russian way. He creates his own image of Anacreon: not only a lover of life, a merry fellow, but also a free, independent singer (“Lyubushka”). Derzhavin's democracy and originality were also reflected in his ability to paint real life with vivid pictures of peasant life, in a lively, sometimes rude, common language ("Peasant Holiday").

Derzhavin's autobiographical anacreontics prepared the writing of one of the most remarkable works - a poetic message “Eugene. Zvanskaya Life "(1807). Bishop Yevgeny Bolokhvitinov was a friend of Derzhavin. Zvanka - the estate of Derzhavin. Derzhavin depicts real life, domestic life, leisure activities of the Russian master-poet, poetically reproduces pictures of Russian nature. In this work, the life of a humane, kind master is given in all its specificity, for whom the servants are slaves, but the relationship between the masters and the peasants is idyllic.

In Derzhavin's poetry, as Belinsky noted, “... one can see the practical philosophy of the Russian mind; why the main distinguishing feature is nationality, which consists not in the selection of peasant words ... but in the fold of the Russian mind, in the Russian way of looking at things. In this regard, Derzhavin is a people in the highest degree.

Russian poets learned from Derzhavin his ability to convey the poetry of real life. The poet himself, as it were, sums up all his activities in the poems: “Monument”, published in 1789 under the title “To the Muse. Imitation of Horace”, and “The Swan” of 1804. Derzhavin sees the immortality of the poet who, with his “amusing Russian style,” was the first to dare to “tell the truth to the kings with a smile” (“Monument”).

In the poem "Swan" he writes:

Over time, they will know about me:

Slavs, Huns, Scythians, Chud...

And all that are blazing with abuse today,

They will show with a finger - and they say:

“Here he flies, that, building a lyre,

spoke the language of the heart

And preaching peace to the world,

He made everyone happy."

Lecture 11

Gabriel Derzhavin
"Vision of Murza"

On dark blue air
The golden moon swam;
In her silver porphyry
Shining from the heights, she
Illuminated my house through the windows
And with its fawn ray
Golden glass painted
On my varnished floor.
Sleep with your languid hand
Dreams are scattered,
Sprinkling oblivion with dew,
He put my family to sleep.
Around the whole region rested,
Petropolis with towers dozed,
Neva from the urn flickered a little,
A little Belt sparkled in his shores;
Nature, deep into silence
And in deep sleep,
Dead seemed to hearing, eye
High and deep;
Only marshmallows blew,
Bringing coolness to feelings.
I did not sleep - and, with the sound of a lyre
My quiet voice agrees
Blessed, I sang, who is pleased
In this world by your lot,
Abundant, healthy, calm, free
And happy only with himself;
Who has a pure heart, right conscience
And a firm disposition keeps in his time
And puts all his glory in that,
That he is only a kind person;
That he is a dwarf and a giant
And the diva of the world was not born,
And what is not created by an idol
And they are not forced to honor them;
That all this bliss of the world
He finds in his family;
What is his tender Plenira
And a few true friends
With him they can in a solitary hour
Share boredom and work!
Blessed is the one to whom the princesses
Whatever the horde
From their amber towers
And silver-pink lights,
As if from distant uluses,
Furtively from courtiers,
For stories, for rastabars,
For verses or for something
Secretly precious gifts
And in doskants they send chervonets;
Blessed! - But with this speech suddenly
My whole building shook
The walls moved apart, and a hundred times
Brighter than lightning spilled
The radiance around me is heavenly;
Hiding, turning pale, the moon.
I saw a wonderful vision:
The wife descended from the clouds, -
Came down - and found herself a priestess
Or a goddess in front of me.
White clothes flowed
On it a silver wave;
Gradskaya crown on the head,
The golden belt shone with the Persians;
From black-fiery fine linen,
Rainbow-like outfit
From the shoulder of the gum line
Hung on the left thigh;
With outstretched hand on the altar
On the sacrificial she heat
Burning fragrant poppies
Served the highest deity.
The midnight eagle, huge,
Companion of lightning to triumph,
Heroic herald of glory,
Sitting before her on a pile of books,
Sacred kept her statutes;
Extinct thunder in their claws
And a laurel with olive branches
He held it as if asleep.
Safiro-light eyes,
As in anger or in heat, flashing,
The goddess looked at me.-
The image will remain forever in me,
She who impressed!-
"Murza! she told me,
You tea yourself to be happy,
When day and night
You play your lyre
And you only sing songs to kings.
Tremble, unhappy Murza!
And fearful truths listen,
With which the poets are passionate
They hardly believe on earth;
Only kindness to you
He tells me to open them. When
Poetry is not crazy
But the supreme gift of the gods - then
This gift of the gods is only to honor
And to learn their ways
Should be turned, not to flattery
And the perishable praise of people.
The lords of light are the same people,
Passions are in them, even though they have crowns;
The poison of flattery harms them no less,
And where are the poets who are not flatterers?
And you are the sirens singing to the thunder
Do not build to the detriment of virtue;
Benefactor direct
There is no need for praise.
Keeping husband honest morals,
Do your duty, do your deeds,
Brings more glory to the king
Than all piits praise.
Leave me filled with nectar
I will dangerous the cup where the poison is hidden.
Who do I see so boldly
And whose mouth smashes me?
Who are you? Goddess or priestess?
Dream standing I asked.
She said to me: "I am Felitsa";
Advertising - and a bright cloud hid
From my unsaturated eyes
Her features are divine;
Smoking mastics priceless
My home and place is flowers
They covered where she appeared.
My God! my angel in the flesh!..
My soul longed for her
But I couldn't follow her.
Like thunder deafened,
I was insensitive, I was speechless.
But, irrigated with tear current,
He came to his senses and said:
"Is it possible, meek princess!
And you to Murza so that your
She was so harsh and angry
And arrows to my heart
And you, and you to throw,
And the flame of my soul
Didn't you approve of yourself?
Enough people without you
Enough without you poet
For every thought, for every verse
Respond to dashing light
And from the satyrs to shield the evil ones!
Enough golden idols
Without my feelings that the songs were;
Enough Qadis, fakirs,
Which in envy considered
You their indecent flattery;
I've made enough enemies!
Another attributed to himself dishonor,
That they do not tear his mustache;
Someone else felt hurt
That he does not sit as a hen;
To another - very arbitrary
Your Murza speaks to you;
Another accused me of a crime,
That I am a messenger from heaven
You be thought in admiration
And shed tears in delight.
And in a word: he wanted a watermelon,
And that pickled cucumber.
But let the muse prove to them here,
That I am not one of the flatterers;
That the hearts of my goods
I don't sell for money
And what is not from other people's anbars
I'll make clothes for you.
But, crowned virtue!
I sang not flattery and not dreams,
And what the whole world is witness to:
Your works are the essence of beauty.
I sang, I sing and I will sing them
And in jokes I will proclaim the truth;
Tatar songs from under a bushel,
Like a ray, I will tell posterity;
Like the sun, like the moon, I will put
Your image for future ages;
I will exalt you, I will glorify you;
I will be immortal by you.

Murza's vision

(fragment)

And she found herself a priestess
Or a goddess in front of me.
White clothes flowed
On it a silver wave;
Gradskaya crown on the head,
the golden belt shone with the Persians;
from black-fiery fine linen,
Rainbow-like outfit
C shoulder gum strip
Hung on the left thigh;
With outstretched hand on the altar
On the sacrificial she heat
Burning fragrant poppies,
Served the highest deity.
The midnight eagle, huge,
Companion of lightning to triumph,
Heroic herald of glory,
Sitting before her on a pile of books,
Sacred kept her statutes;
Extinct thunder in their claws
And a laurel with olive branches
He held it as if asleep.

Mikhail Derzhavin 1783

M. Derzhavin writes that the ode was written under the impression of D.G. Levitsky "Catherine II - Legislator in the Temple of the Goddess of Justice" ("The whole picture is to the very verse:" Held as if falling asleep "- an original copy from the portrait of the late Empress, painted by Mr. Levitsky, an invention of the city of Lvov")

Lines
...From black-fiery fine linen,
rainbow-like outfit
From the shoulder of the gum line
Hung on the left thigh ...

Derzhavin gave the following explanation: “A description of the Order of Vladimir, which the Empress, after writing her institution about the provinces, imposed a reward for her labors on herself, declaring herself the chamberlain of this order.” The Order of St. Vladimir of the first degree was worn on a ribbon hanging from the right shoulder to the left thigh, that is, "from the shoulder of the gum."

About his painting D.G. Levitsky writes in the journal Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word:

“The middle of the picture represents the inside of the temple of the goddess of Justice, before whom, in the form of the Legislator, Her Imperial Majesty, burning poppy flowers on the altar, sacrifices her precious peace for the general peace. Instead of the usual imperial crown, she is crowned with a laurel crown, which adorns the civil crown placed on her head. The badges of the Order of St. Vladimir depict the distinction famous for the labors done for the benefit of the Fatherland, of which the books lying at the feet of the Legislator testify to the truth. The victorious eagle rests on the laws, and the guard, armed with a thunderbolt, wails about their integrity. In the distance you can see the open sea, and on the waving Russian flag, the rod of Mercury depicted on the military shield means protected trade.

Bible word " fine linen"(Gen. 41:42, Ex. 25: 4, Luke. 16: 19, Rev. 19: 8) - from the Hebrew - "buts", Greek. bussos (linen, linen) - means a luxurious fabric, often white or purple, used in ancient Egypt (for clothes and mummies of pharaohs and priests), Greece and Rome (for dressing royals and clergymen).

“In the Roman Empire, such linen (byssus) was the favorite fabric of Roman ladies, and the most fashionable, so-called koan, dresses (coa vestis) were made from it. From this it becomes clear the testimony of Pliny the Elder that V. was a special source of pleasure for women (mulierum maxime deliciis) and was sold worth its weight in gold ”(Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron)