Sail history of creation. The poem "Sail" M.Yu

"Sail" Mikhail Lermontov

White sail lonely
In the fog of the blue sea! ..
What is he looking for in a distant country?
What did he throw in his native land? ..

Waves are playing - the wind is whistling,
And the mast bends and hides ...
Alas! he is not looking for happiness
And not from happiness runs!

Under it, a stream of lighter azure,
Above him is a golden ray of sunshine...
And he, rebellious, asks for a storm,
As if there is peace in the storms!

Analysis of Lermontov's poem "Sail"

The poet Mikhail Lermontov, despite his harsh and quarrelsome nature, was an incorrigible romantic in his soul. That is why in his creative heritage quite a lot of lyrical works. One of them is famous poem"Sail", written in 1832, when Lermontov was barely 17 years old. This work fully reflects the emotional throwing young poet who found himself at a crossroads in life. In the spring of 1832, after a verbal skirmish at an exam in rhetoric, he refused to continue his studies at Moscow University, leaving behind his dreams of becoming a philologist. His further fate and his career were in doubt, and, in the end, Lermontov, under pressure from his grandmother, entered the School of Guards ensigns and cavalry junkers. The prospect of becoming a military man, on the one hand, did not greatly inspire the young poet. But at the same time, he dreamed of the exploits that befell his ancestors, although he understood that in best case fate will throw him into the Caucasus, where military operations were taking place at that time.

On the eve of entering the cadet school, Lermontov wrote the poem "Sail", which fully reflects his mood and far from the most joyful thoughts. If we discard the background and do not take into account the facts, then this work can rightly be attributed to one of the most romantic and sublime poems of the poet. However, this is far from being the case, because the author did not set himself the task of creating a sample landscape lyrics. In this poem, he identifies himself with the sail, which turns white lonely “in the blue fog of the sea”, thereby emphasizing that, perhaps, for the first time in his life, he faced the need to make an important decision.

“What is he looking for in a distant country?” the poet asks himself, as if foreseeing that from now on his life will be full of wanderings. And at the same time, the author mentally looks back, realizing "what he threw in his native land." The poet does not consider leaving the university a serious loss for himself, since he sees no point in continuing his studies and doing science. Lermontov is much more worried about the fact that he will have to leave his beloved Moscow and the only person truly close to him - his grandmother Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, who replaced both his father and mother.

However, the poet understands that this separation is inevitable, since he is destined for his own life path, which, as Lermontov suggests, will by no means be simple. The author expresses this idea in the poem with the help of a surprisingly beautiful metaphor, noting that "the wind whistles, and the mast bends and creaks." At the same time, the poet notes with bitterness that in his forthcoming wanderings "he does not seek happiness, and does not run away from happiness."

However, before the poet's life changes dramatically, several more years will pass, which will seem unbearably boring to Lermontov. Having decided in favor of a military career, he rushes into battle and dreams of glory. That is why the idyllic picture of the seascape, so reminiscent of the life of Lermontov the Junker, does not appeal to him at all. And, answering himself the question of what he wants in life, the poet notes that “he, rebellious, asks for a storm, as if there is peace in the storm”, again personifying himself with a lonely sail.

Thus, this poem is Lermontov's philosophical reflection on his own future. Subsequently, it was the thirst for a feat that pushed him to risky and rash acts. However, fate decreed otherwise: Lermontov did not become a great commander, but went down in history as a brilliant Russian poet and writer, whose works, almost two centuries later, still arouse sincere admiration.

M.Yu. Lermontov was a very demanding artist. Of the many works written in his youth, nothing was sent to print. After the death of Lermontov, the reader got acquainted with his youthful lyrical creativity, in which there were unforgettable masterpieces: "Angel", "Beggar", "Mermaid". This article will be devoted to the analysis of Lermontov's poem "Sail".

Continuer of the reform of Russian poetry

Lermontov appeared before the public, according to most of his contemporaries, Pushkin's successor. One of the first poems, widely known, was "On the death of a poet."

In Russian literature, after Pushkin, the Pushkin canon was formed. One of his characteristic features- speech that is connected by a smooth literary flow. The origins of Pushkin are "the days of Alexander, a wonderful beginning", the heroic time of Russian history, the era of popular patriotism, light and time of hope. Pushkin's canon - the canon of a clear solid masculine solar ratio to life.

General characteristics of the poet's work

Lermontov grew up at a different time. The heroic era of Russian history has passed. The central, landowner, bureaucratic authorities were strengthened. The attitude of a man of the 1930s to the world could not be expressed in Pushkin's language. Lermontov's artistic tastes developed at the Moscow Noble Boarding School, at Moscow University, where interest in philosophical knowledge prevailed over socio-political issues, where they were engaged in philosophical aesthetics.

In his youth, Lermontov was imbued with the ideas of Schelling. It was he who substantiated the romantic idea of the complete freedom of the artist: opposition to the lonely romantic personality world, a contrasting way of depicting reality and expressing the poet's soul.

Byron and Rousseau were also close to Lermontov. The English poet did not accept the hypocrisy of social institutions, placing the individual and society in hostile relations. As for Rousseau, Lermontov is closest to the Rousseauist conflict: nature is civilization, especially in the Byronian refraction. This will be reflected in Lermontov's poem "Sail", the analysis of which is to be done.

Nature, society, personality in the work of M. Lermontov

Lermontov opposes nature public man who invented his own laws. Harmonious nature and a society suffering from contradictions are at enmity with each other. For romanticism, the world, as it was conceived by God, is beautiful and perfect in design. But it is not perfect in execution, because the Creator entrusted its completion to man. However, man did not adequately fulfill the task set before him by the Creator.

These briefly outlined sources that nourished Lermontov predetermined the style of his early lyrics. It brought to the fore the idea of a person who declared his inalienable rights, turned to the world with her questions, doubts and claims. The expression of the idea of personality required a new style. Everyone felt the destruction of Pushkin's canon.

Young Lermontov brought tension to our poetry. He deprives verse and poetry of harmony and balance, so that the verses sound more passionate and sharp. In the future, an analysis of Lermontov's poem "Sail" will serve as an example.

In the poet, everything is designed to inspire the reader with a certain emotional impression. Everything should work to create the expressiveness of the whole. There are two conflicting trends associated with this. On the one hand, the poet does not avoid simple definitions. On the other hand, refined and sophisticated literary and poetic painting, as well as the tension of psychological states.

And now, having familiarized ourselves with the trends in the poetry of the young creator in general, we will begin to analyze Lermontov's poem "Sail".

History of creation

In 1832, M. Lermontov left Moscow for northern capital, to go to university. But he is not counted for two years of study in Moscow. Therefore, he hesitates: should he connect his life with the army. He thinks a lot, listening to the advice of relatives. Walking on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, he sees sailing fleet and stand-alone ships.

Inspirational lines appear short poem M. Lermontov "Sail", the analysis of which we began.

The subject of the poem

This is a philosophical and lyrical work, which includes a landscape. In the blue fog of the sea, the author sees, against the background of light azure waves, under a ray of sunshine, a lonely sail. The landscape in the poem is the inner world of a person. Next, we will develop this thought of the poet and consider Lermontov's poem "Sail". The analysis will briefly analyze all the elements of the work.

Theme, idea of the poem

What does the sea mean for a poet? Stormy waves of life. And the sail is he himself, restless and undecided what to do. Loneliness in the world of officials, the big world, where he aspires, and where he is not accepted, is the main thought that occupies the young man. He wants perfection in everything, but no one appreciates this.

In the Nikolaev era, after the December uprising, most of the nobles are tremblingly afraid of contradicting the emperor in anything. The rebellious spirit of the poet breaks through in the poem "Sail", which is looking for storms without fear of them. That is, for Lermontov, a collision with the world of officials is inevitable, as are inevitable storms that the sail will not only meet on its way, but even find them. He will find his high goal, for which it makes sense to live, overcoming all obstacles and obstacles in his path. We continue the analysis of Mikhail Lermontov's poem "Sail".

Compositional construction

The poem has only three stanzas. Each of them begins with a description of the landscape, which is constantly changing: it is either calm, then the wind plays out and the mast bends under it, then again the sea calms down, shines with azure, and a ray of the sun breaks through. In each stanza, we see the author, anxiously watching the sail. He asks questions that are related to the psychologically unstable state of the poet.

images

The author used allegory in his work. Life is designated as an image of the sea, sometimes calm, sometimes stormy. It symbolizes thorny, tangled, harsh paths. The sail is a symbol of a person with his problems, searches, aspirations. Thus, a conflict arises between a person and the life into which he is thrown, and the meaning that he wants to find.

Artistic means of the author

Continuing the analysis of M. Yu. Lermontov's poem "Sail", we will consider artistic techniques author. The work is written in iambic tetrameter with cross rhyme. The poet uses inversion (the sail is lonely, the sea is blue), antithesis (thrown - looking for, country - distant, land - native), personification (waves play, the wind whistles), an abundance of verbs. All this enhances the impression of the poem.

Linguistic analysis of the text of Lermontov's poem "Sail"

We have already mentioned that the whole poem is built on oppositions. Landscape couplets collide with psychological ones. The antithesis is also the steam of the sea (existential) and the sail, which is understood as a person who struggles with the obstacles of life. To enhance expressiveness, in addition to the means already mentioned, anaphora (“what is looking for”, “what he threw”) was used. A large number of verbs express dynamics, variability of nature and sails.

The second stanza is especially tense. Everything is alive: nature, sea, sail. It is here that it is indicated that he does not seek happiness, but does not run away from it either. This design is mirrored. Here for the first time we meet with fatalism, which will deepen in the later works of Lermontov: "let happen what should happen." Parallelism is interesting in the syntax:

"The sail turns white in the fog...";
"He is looking for in the country...";
"He threw in the edge ...".

The word "sail" is used only once. Instead, there are 6 pronouns "he". In the syntax of the last two lines of each quatrain, either question marks or exclamation marks are used. This concludes our analysis of Lermontov's "Sails".

This poem has become a romance. A. Varlamov wrote music in 1848, A. Rubinstein - a year later. Our contemporary A. Matyukhin also set it to music in 1985 and performed it heartily.
"Sail" was published after the death of M. Lermontov in 1841.
It was first mentioned in a letter to V. Lopukhina.
The first line in original version sounded like "The distant sail turns white."

Lermontov's "Sail" is one of the most popular poems of the poet. This is evidenced by numerous linguistic studies of the text and various transcriptions and interpretations of the work.

In September 1832 M.Yu. Lermontov writes to M.A. Lopukhina a letter, where he admits that he is upset unsuccessful attempt enroll in St. Petersburg University. The young poet was lonely and depressed. In the same message were the lines of the poem "The lonely sail turns white." The first line is borrowed from Bestuzhev-Marlinsky's unfinished poem "Andrei the Prince of Pereyaslavl". The question of what kind of "sea" landscape inspired Mikhail Yuryevich remains debatable. It could be the Gulf of Finland or the Neva River.

Genre, direction and size

"Sail" is written in the genre of a lyrical novel. It is characterized by the intimacy of the statement, combined with the presentation of the storyline. Interest in this genre was characteristic of the poetry of the Decembrists, which Lermontov was fond of in his youth.

The meter used by the author is iambic tetrameter, one of the most popular in Russian lyrics of the 19th century. This makes the text more dynamic, brings the intonation of the work closer to colloquial. Lermontov uses cross rhyme with alternating feminine and masculine endings of the verse.

The meaning of the name

The poem has the name "Sail" in tune with its central character. Everyone is free to interpret its meaning and meaning of the allegory in its own way.

Firstly, one can relate the sail to the eighteen-year-old Lermontov, who left Moscow and came to the capital to enter the university. However, his dream - to study as a philologist - collapsed, and he felt alone in the raging life of the capital.
Secondly, the image is presented thinking person who does not want to come to terms with the reality surrounding him. He longs for change and is ready to fight the waves, like a sail, if only they happen.

Images and symbols

The poem is filled with symbols and allegories. If a human life- this is the sea, then the person in it is a sail, lonely, persecuted, not knowing peace and shelter. Lermontov reflected this image not only in poetry, but also in painting: his watercolor work is known, as if illustrating a poem. The storm in this work is also much larger than a sea squall. It is associated with revolution, and these thoughts are caused by a reaction to December Uprising 1825.

The lyrical hero realizes that if he wants to achieve his goals, then a serene path illuminated by the sun is not for him. Only overcoming this storm can lead him to his cherished dream.

Themes and motif

Loneliness. This is the main theme of the poem. It is revealed through the central image of the composition - the white sail, which was left motherland and fight the cruel sea element. The motive of loneliness is one of the key in Lermontov's lyrics.
freedom. Target lyrical hero- gain freedom. That is why he decided to leave his native land, to run away from sun rays towards adversity.
The revolution. She is personified in the poem by the image of a storm. In addition, it is no coincidence that the author considers the lyrical hero to be rebellious, because his actions are contrary to generally accepted traditions. He wants to conquer new horizons, looking for adventure.

Idea

the main idea poems - the search for one's destiny. A lone sail does not see salvation in serene peace and decides to fight the elements. He does not feel satisfied in the azure and the sun and tries to find himself in the opposite.

Common places in romanticism poetry, such as loneliness, a thirst for adventure, the image of the sea, are rethought in "Sail" and united by a new motif. In literary criticism, it is called the motive " extra person". Such heroes include Onegin, Pechorin, Rudin. Thus, the role and meaning of "Sail" can hardly be overestimated: a very significant topic for Russian literature began to develop from this small poem.

Means of artistic expression

One of the main techniques used in the poem is the antithesis. Many things are opposed: peace is a storm, a distant country is a native land. And also there are opposite actions: looking for - threw.

In the shape of a sail great importance have epithets: lonely, rebellious.

There are many inversions, for example, in the second verse of the first quatrain.

The role of punctuation in this work is great. Early romanticism is characterized by understatement, the silence of some thoughts, which was expressed by dots. Lermontov uses the same technique in the second lines of each quatrain. An excited character is given rhetorical questions and exclamations.

Not without impersonations. For this path, the role of verbs is especially significant: waves play, the wind whistles, threw, searches, runs, asks (for a sail).

In addition, the entire poem can be considered an allegory of the life of a person trying to find the meaning of life.

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The poem reflected the personal experiences of the young man. Shortly before that, he left Moscow University, leaving the dream of becoming a philologist. At the insistence of his beloved grandmother, Lermontov moved to St. Petersburg, intending to enter the cadet school. Before entering, the young man thought a lot about his past and possible future fate- these thoughts and feelings formed the basis of the work.
Along with the motive of loneliness, Lermontov raises in "Sail" a theme that is invariably of interest to him - the problem of the purpose and meaning of human existence.
To depict the changing picture of the seascape, the poet uses onomatopoeia: in the first stanza, with the help of the predominance of the sounds “l”, “n”, “m”, “p”, the effect of measured swaying of waves during a calm is created; sea change (wave noise and wind whistling) is transmitted by the prevalence of the sounds "s", "t", "u", "h". In the poem, the poet himself, his soul, is seen in the image of a sail. " Sail "- Lermontov's poem about himself, because the real Poet always remains "lonely" and "rebellious", and his freedom-loving soul, full of anxious restlessness, longs for eternal searches, longs for a storm. Poetic size of iambs, cross rhyme. The key phrase is "Alas! He does not seek happiness And does not run away from happiness!". The poem "Sail" was created in
days of Lermontov's fracture. the main idea is enclosed in the lines "Alas! he does not seek happiness And does not run from happiness!", That is, he goes there not of his own free will, not for happiness, not for happiness, but out of need
In "Sail" the author's "I" is hidden, but it is easy to guess behind the pronoun "he": in contrast to the word "sail", used only in the first line, it occurs six times in the text.
In the first stanza the images of the sail and the lyrical hero are united by the word "loneliness". The loneliness of the hero is caused by disappointment in life, the bitterness of some losses; he asks a painful question: how to achieve inner harmony.
In the second stanza the hero seeks salvation from loneliness in the fight against the elements, but, “alas”, meeting with the storm does not bring happiness - happiness cannot be found from the outside, it is contained within a person.
In the third stanza contrary to the peaceful, harmonious picture of the world, the hero seeks to find peace of mind in the renewal of life, in a cleansing storm.

The poem “Sail” was written by M.Yu. Lermontov in 1832. He left his studies at Moscow University and came to St. Petersburg in the hope of continuing his education. However, study in metropolitan university did not have to: students expelled from Moscow University were not admitted to other educational establishments. Lermontov had to enter the School of Guards Ensigns and Cavalry Junkers. During this period, he thinks a lot, often walks near the Gulf of Finland. It was during one of these walks that this poem was written.
Genre "Sails" - lyrical short story; work can be attributed to philosophical lyrics, in which there is a symbolic landscape. The work is full of romantic images and motifs.
Researchers have repeatedly noted the allegorical nature of the images of the poem. Thus, “a lonely sail” is associated with the image of a lyrical hero, while the sea is associated with life. All three stanzas of the poem are built according to the same scheme. The first two verses convey the state of nature, the last two - the state human soul. However, in the first stanza, the hero and the sail are removed from each other. The first is on the shore, and the second is “in the mist of the sea”. However, these are related images. A sail wandering in the fog and a hero wandering in the "sea of life". In the first quatrain of movement, there is practically no dynamics in the landscape, peace reigns everywhere:

White sail lonely
In the fog of the blue sea! ..
What is he looking for in a distant country?
What did he throw in his native land? ..

The sail, personifying the lyrical hero, on the contrary, is restless. This state of a restless soul is conveyed by the verbs: “threw”, “searches”. The hero of the poem probably feels the bitterness of some losses and tries to find harmony in his inner world.
The second stanza spatially brings together the lyrical hero and the landscape he sees. An objective observer seems to move from the shore to the ship itself: he hears the whistle of the wind, the creak of the mast, sees the play of the waves. In the same quatrain we see the answer to the question posed by the hero at the beginning of the poem:

Alas! he is not looking for happiness
And not from happiness runs!

The particle “alas” here tells us about the disappointment of a person, about a tired soul that does not believe in the very possibility of happiness. Meanwhile, this concept is the main one for the lyrical hero.
The third stanza, according to V.M. Markovich, creates a "grand image of universal harmony":

Under it, a stream of lighter azure,
Above him is a golden ray of sunshine...

Only a storm can destroy this image, but it is precisely to it that the sail and the soul of the lyrical hero strive:

And he, rebellious, asks for a storm,
As if there is peace in the storms!

The image of the storm and the image of peace in "Sail" are antithetical. These are "typical for romanticism landscape equivalents of the corresponding emotional experiences» . But each of them is a kind of romantic ideal for the hero. His soul longs to reunite the incompatible. The poem contains "an allusion to the need to reunite opposites, none of which can fully satisfy." Obviously, this is where happiness lies for him.
Compositionally, the work is divided into three parts (by stanza). In the first part, the hero seems to give us a riddle about the mysterious fate of the sail. The second part already contains some assumption. The third part is the key to the incomprehensible soul of the lyrical hero who identifies himself with the sail.
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter, quatrains, rhyming is cross. uses a variety of means artistic expressiveness: epithets (“golden ray of the sun”), inversion (“In the blue mist of the sea”), anaphora and syntactic parallelism(“What is he looking for in a distant country? What did he throw in his native land? ..”), alliteration (“A golden ray of sun above him”), assonance (“In the fog of the blue sea”).
The poem "Sail" in a certain sense set the tone for some of the motives of Lermontov's entire work. So, we find similar motifs (storms, loneliness, escape, happiness) in such works as the poems “The Cross on the Rock”, “It is lonely in the wild north”, “I go out alone on the road”, “Clouds”, “Cliff” , "Leaflet", the poem "Mtsyri". The poem "Sail" is of constant interest to modern criticism.