Svetlana's analysis. Analysis of the ballad "Svetlana" (V

The works were created on the basis of poems by foreign lyricists, but they were distinguished by their originality and comprehensibility for the Russian reader. The characteristic national flavor is especially evident in Svetlana.

Analysis of "Svetlana" by V. A. Zhukovsky, carried out according to the plan, helps to get acquainted with the content of the work, to understand the features and ideological content of the ballad.

The history of the creation of the ballad

The composition "Svetlana" was completed four years after the publication of the translated ballad "Lyudmila". The works are based on the narrative song of the German poet G. A. Burger.

Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky (1783 - 1852) - Russian poet, one of the founders of romanticism in Russian poetry. Translator of poetry and prose, literary critic, teacher.

The verse itself became a kind of wedding gift for the wedding of Vasily Andreyevich's niece and student Alexandra Protasova and the poet Voeikov. The author dedicated his lyric lines to Alexandra Andreevna.

Reading the full text of "Svetlana" takes no more than 8 minutes. The ballad tells the story of Epiphany fortune-telling.

The first lines describe various ways to determine the future and know your betrothed. Svetlana alone is sad and does not participate in the fun of her friends. She grieves for her distant lover.

And yet, at night, the girl decides to conduct a fortune-telling ceremony and look in the mirror. There follows a description of what he saw in the mirror-like surface by the light of a candle. A beloved appears before Svetlana, they rush to church. In the temple, through the open doors, the girl sees a lot of people and a black coffin. The sleigh rushes past, away, to the lonely hut.

Both the horses and the groom disappear, and the girl enters the hut. On the table under a white tablecloth is a coffin with Svetlana's lover. What he saw makes a terrifying impression on the maiden, and she wakes up. What does this dream promise? "Svetlana sat down (her chest aches heavily) under the window." And she sees a racing sled on the road. A stately guest comes out of the sleigh, her fiancé.

All sad events turned out to be just a dark dream, "happiness is awakening." The author encourages to believe in providence and wishes not to know frightening dreams. The last lines contain wishes for a bright and cheerful life.

Analysis of the ballad "Svetlana"

V. A. Zhukovsky's work "Svetlana" received positive reviews from his contemporaries.

Analyzing the idea and artistic originality, V. G. Belinsky noted the saturation with "poetic pictures of Russian Christmastide customs and winter Russian nature." And N. V. Gogol emphasized the strong impression made by the ballad "on everyone at that time."

The meaning of the work

The main idea of ​​the ballad is contained in the final passage, where the author says that in life it is necessary to believe in Providence, and all misfortunes are “a false dream; happiness is awakening. "

There is no need to live with groundless forebodings and constant expectation of trouble. Reality has nothing to do with terrible dreams. People should not confuse reality and fantasy. And when doubts and fears arise, it is necessary to turn to faith.

Genre and direction

The work was written in the era of romanticism and bears the pronounced features of this direction. The main features of the ballad genre are clearly outlined in Svetlana. Therefore, it is erroneous to consider the work as a poem due to its significant volume. The ballad belongs to the main genres of the romantic style.

The lyrical work of Zhukovsky contains the main typical features of a ballad. It is a lyric-epic piece of fiction describing an extraordinary dramatic event. The poetic lines of "Svetlana" have a special melodiousness, and the plot is filled with mysticism and mysterious events.

The author actively uses means of artistic expression: metaphors, personifications, comparisons. There is an inextricable connection between the plot and Russian and German folklore. Typical of German folklore is the presence of a dead groom rising from a coffin. Russian folk art endows the rituals of Christmas divination with a special mysticism.

The ballad contains a lot of symbolism typical of the Russian folklore. The raven serves as the messenger of death, the mysterious dilapidated hut resembles the dwelling of the fabulous Baba Yaga, the white dove refers the reader to the embodiment of the biblical Holy Spirit. And all fears and mystical images disappear as soon as the cry of the Rooster is heard.

Another characteristic technique of romanticism, present in the poem, is the prompting by sleep. The main question arises before the main character: which side to take. Should you keep in your heart a holy faith in Providence or succumb to mystical temptations?

Poetic size and composition

The composition of the ballad is based on the method of opposition. The author draws such contrasting concepts as love and death, night and day, reality and sleep. Using this technique, V.A. Zhukovsky demonstrates the contradictory nature of a person's inner world.

The text of the ballad "Svetlana" (click to enlarge)

The composition is consistent and easy for the reader. The plot is based on the lyrical dream of the main character. The exposition is a poetic description of the rites of Epiphany divination.

The plot is Svetlana's decision to guess at midnight alone and the subsequent appearance on the doorstep of the groom.

The development of events takes place rapidly and is accompanied by winter bad weather and a frantic horse race.

The culmination is the appearance of the beloved young maiden in a mysterious hut in a coffin.

The crow of the rooster and the awakening of the girl from the dream, and then the appearance of the safe and sound groom Svetlana is the denouement.

The poetic meter of the ballad is an alternating trochee of four and three feet. The rhyme is cross.

The main characters and their characteristics

The ballad contains minor characters and symbolic images.

The main character is the girl Svetlana. In the first lines of the verse, the author gives the girl the following description: "She is silent and sad, dear." In the image of Svetlana Zhukovsky embodies the highest national qualities.

The heroine combines beautiful appearance and spiritual purity. Throughout the year, knowing nothing about her lover, she humbly waits. Her sadness is gentle and gentle. She is not looking for entertainment in separation, but quietly recollects.

Her “soul is like a clear day,” so happiness does not bypass Svetlana. The result of all doubts and worries is the long-awaited meeting and eternal love.

Another romantic hero of the ballad is Svetlana's fiancé. He possesses all the characteristic qualities: beauty, prowess, kindness and skill.

Ballad themes

The ballad covers several main themes:

• love;
• faith in God;
• predictions.

The love theme is the main driving force of the piece. It runs as a leitmotif throughout the story. Love encourages Svetlana to mystical fortune-telling, it gives strength and helps to believe in the best.

Sincere faith in God protects the heroine from the representatives of the other world and leads to a happy life.

The theme of Christmas predictions is presented by the author in an original manner. Visions arise not in a mirror, but in Svetlana's imagination, in a dream. The main rule of fortune-telling is rejected - the refusal of divine support, the removal of the pectoral cross before the ceremony. The girl is being tested "with her cross in her hand." And here Zhukovsky again speaks of the importance of faith in Providence.

Problematic

Evaluating the problematics of the poem, it is necessary to clearly understand in what historical era it was written. Zhukovsky wrote primarily for his contemporaries. He raised the problem of the Orthodox confession, the importance of ritual activities.

What the ballad "Svetlana" teaches

In Zhukovsky's lyric work, illustrations of folk life are given, unusual dramatic events are described, which turned out to be just a nightmare. The author teaches the reader resilience and loyalty, adherence to universal human values.

The dream and awakening of the main character are interpreted not only literally, but also symbolically. Dreams disturb the soul, create an erroneous understanding of reality. Awakening, a person is able to see and understand the true meaning of life.

Zhukovsky focuses on basic moral values ​​and teaches to cherish love, maintain hope and believe in the happy moments of life.

The name of V. A. Zhukovsky in our literature is associated primarily with such a genre of poetic creativity as a ballad. Despite the fact that most of the poet's works are translations, "Svetlana" is considered a symbol of early romanticism in Russia, since the national flavor of our Motherland is enhanced in it, which cannot be felt in the original German ballads.

Zhukovsky's first ballad is Lyudmila (1808), which is actually a free translation of Lenora (1773) by the German poet G. Burger. In order to adapt the text for the Russian reader, the writer changes the name of the main character, her location, introduces references to the folklore of the Russian people and its myths.

In 1812, "Svetlana" was published, also based on the plot of "Lenora", but here the national flavor is further enhanced by details and landscapes, which, of course, was not in "Lenore"; in addition, Zhukovsky changes the ending of the ballad.

To whom did Zhukovsky dedicated the ballad? He addressed her to his niece A. A. Protasova as a gift for her wedding with his friend A. Voyekov.

In 1831 he translated Lenore for the third time, now with minimal changes.

Genre and direction

A ballad is a poem based on an acutely dramatic plot, an extraordinary incident. The term itself comes from French and is translated as "dance song". Ballads appear in the Middle Ages. They are largely associated with folk legends, ancient legends. It combines the features of song narration and storytelling.

The romanticism in the ballad "Svetlana" is obvious. The conflict inherent in romanticism comes to the fore, which is presented here as a struggle between the fictional world and the real world. The feelings of the protagonist are clearly expressed through the landscapes that become the protagonists; plot elements such as sleep, fortune-telling, the symbolism of Russian folklore are also inherent in romanticism, in contrast to, for example, the classicism that preceded it.

The relationship between the real and the fantastic becomes interesting in the ballad. It turns out that the real here is fortune-telling, a dream, a meeting with a loved one at the end. The real (a dream as a process) gives rise to the fantastic (the content of a dream): a dead groom, a coffin in a hut, a crow and a dove, a ride on horses, etc. In Svetlana, the fantastic, surprisingly, acquires a different meaning: faith saves the main character. It turns out that it, fantastic, can not only destroy the human soul, but also become its protector. Usually in ballads it happens the other way around: in Lyudmila, Lenore, the Forest Tsar by I. Goethe, and Alexander Pushkin's Cup, the heroes lose to magic forces.

Composition

The composition of the ballad is based on the method of antithesis: dream and reality are opposed. This collision is due to the content, because the reality in the work is opposed to a harmful illusion, faith - superstition, truth - lies.

The role of the composition is to show the contrast and the need for a moral choice between mysticism, superstition, sleep and reality, faith, truth. The heroine chose her own path and returned to the real world, where happiness awaited her.

About what?

The plot of this work largely repeats the plot of the preceding "Lyudmila". Zhukovsky in them, as it were, resurrects the tune of songs that is common for the people: a young girl is waiting for her lover from the war.

Svetlana is very homesick for her fiancé, from whom there has been no news for a year now, and decides to tell fortunes on Epiphany evening in front of the mirror. The heroine looks in the mirror and suddenly hears the voice of her beloved, who calls her to church to finally tie the knot of their hearts. Of course, the girl agrees.

The road becomes a great test for her: she feels danger, hears the cries of a raven, sees a coffin. Much foreshadows trouble. When the sleigh with the heroine stops near a hut, the horses and the groom disappear. Svetlana enters the house and again sees the coffin, from which her deceased lover rises and stretches out her hands to her to seal their marriage. The girl is saved by a wonderful dove, covering her from the dead.

The heroine wakes up from fright and realizes that her whole adventure turned out to be a nightmare. She is in confusion, because, most likely, it was an omen, but in the finale a happy ending awaits her: the groom returns safe and sound.

The main characters and their characteristics

Many images in the ballad "Svetlana" have a symbolic connotation, that is, they represent a mystical power contained in the body.

1. Svetlana's characteristic... It seems that the ballad has only one acting character - Svetlana. She really becomes the central character in the story. This is a young girl, saddened that there is no news from her beloved, she worries about him. She cannot have fun like her girlfriends, and for her fortune-telling is not just a girl's fun. The heroine is pure and innocent: she does not murmur against God, does not blame fate when she finds out that her fiancé is dead, but on the contrary, she prays. Ludmila and Lenora behaved differently, who in a fit of despair accuse the Savior that he did not hear their prayers. The image of Svetlana is opposed to these heroines: she does not call God to judgment, therefore dark, evil forces cannot destroy her pure and beautiful soul. For humility, piety and loyalty, the author rewards the heroine with a happy ending.
2. Pigeon... A kind of double and protector of Svetlana becomes a snow-white dove, which closes her from the forces of darkness. This is the “angel-comforter” that Svetlana prayed to before starting to guess.
3. Crow... This bird personifies death and dark forces.

The ghost of the groom, who appears in a nightmare, the groom and Svetlana's friends do not have a well-developed characteristic, but the reader learns that the girl's lover is good-looking, courageous and faithful.

Themes

The main themes of the work are love and faith.

1. Love is the basis of the plot, what drives it. The devout Svetlana decides on fortune-telling, which is not approved by the Church, precisely because of her feelings for her beloved.
2. Vera, on the other hand, acts as the savior of the girl who does not give her into the arms of an ominous dead man, into the arms of darkness. Both love and faith give her the strength to fight for her happiness.
3. Traditions of Russia. It should be noted in the plot the importance of fortune-telling: in Russia, for girls, it was a favorite pastime. Zhukovsky, with his help, shows the life of the Russian people. The scene in the poem "Eugene Onegin" is constructed in a similar way - first Tatiana wonders with her friends, and then she has a bad dream.

Problems

The problems of "Svetlana" are quite multifaceted and original even for our time.

• In the ballad "Svetlana" Zhukovsky raises the problem of a person's perception and acceptance of his fate. The poet shows that it is possible to overcome one's grief and life's difficulties with dignity and meekness. Svetlana, humble and grateful to God, begs him for salvation and does not blame him for the death of her beloved.
• Also touched upon the problem of superstition - the cultural heritage of paganism. People willingly believe all sorts of legends and omens, rituals and dreams, but they do not see real life point-blank, where the system of moral and ethical norms matters, which can only be built by genuine religiosity.

the main idea

Svetlana has become very popular with readers. This is due, first of all, to the fact that the ballad contains a lot of details of the national color, it was close to the people and was perceived as a truly Russian and understandable work for the reader. There is a wide folklore, folk basis: some signs, typical fortune-telling, references to famous songs and legends, motives of Russian fairy tales and legends. Orthodox Russia at that time liked the end of the work, where, thanks to faith in God, a girl is saved from evil forces. This is the main idea of ​​the work: religiosity protects a person from filth and is the key to a happy life.

So, Zhukovsky turns to Russian history, which at the beginning of the 19th century gains popularity thanks to the works of N.M. Karamzin, and to the ideas of the Orthodox faith. The author of the ballad shows that you do not need to believe dreams, fortune-telling and superstitions, but you can rely on what is actually happening; one should never lose faith in the best and hope. He expresses the meaning of the ballad in the following lines: “Here misfortune is a false dream; / Happiness is awakening. "

Obsolete words

Thanks to a fairly light language, the modern reader can easily understand the text of the ballad. However, it is worth mentioning the historicisms and archaisms that are found in the text.

1. Histories- these are words denoting objects and phenomena that have ever existed that have disappeared from the life of society for one reason or another. In "Svetlana" there are the following historicisms: planks (gates) - made of tesa - thin boards made of coniferous wood; naloe - a high and narrow table for icons or the Gospel with a tilted tabletop for reading prayers while standing; Svetlitsa - a front room full of light (hence the name).
2. Archaisms- these are obsolete words that are most often not used anymore, but which have synonyms in the modern language. The following archaisms are encountered in this work: torpor - sadness, longing; eyes - eyes; face - face; mouth - lips; founder - founder; the day is the morning star.

What does it teach?

The ballad "Svetlana" teaches devotion, faith and meekness, as well as patience and endurance. The heroine is devoted to her beloved person and God, in whom she sincerely believes and does not forget in difficult times. She gets into trouble because she breaks the law of God by deciding to tell fortunes, but she does so because she does not receive news from the groom. The girl is saved by her humility and reverence for the Creator, who sent her a guardian dove.

At the end of the work, Zhukovsky prescribes the moral: "Glory - we were taught - smoke ...". Thus, he encourages the reader to abide by God's laws and beware of false values ​​and illusions.

Expression tools

There is also a large number of means of artistic expression, including epithets ("cute", "snow-white", "pleasant", "peaceful"), metaphors ("evil light-judge", "glory - smoke"), comparisons ("in her soul, like a clear day "," rush as if on wings "), hyperbolization (" darkness of people in the temple "), personifications (" chest aches "," cricket shouted ").

Such techniques help Zhukovsky to achieve the figurativeness of the text, which is intuitively understandable to the Russian reader.

Folklore elements

There are many folklore references in the text, among which is the image of the road as a life path. It is often used in fairy tales. In "Svetlana" the road, which she overcomes with anxiety, leads her from wedding to death.

In addition, light and darkness are contrasted with the help of color symbols ("snow-white", "white" dove and "black" raven). Also, snow acts as a source of light in the ballad, which “falls in tufts” and “shines in the sun”, while darkness is present without active action: “dark in the mirror”, “dark distance”, “in the dark”.

V. A. Zhukovsky's work, both translations and original works, is of invaluable importance for world literature. The poet experimented with themes and formats, introduced the Russian public to the experience of Western writers and created something new, his own. In Svetlana, he reflected to some extent the mentality of the people of his country, which significantly distinguishes this work both from its German original and from what was published in thick magazines of that time.

The main artistic conflict of the ballad "Lyudmila".
"Lyudmila" is Zhukovsky's first poem, which is a magnificent example of the romantic genre. The ballad "Lyudmila" is an example of the ballad of the initial period of romanticism. “Lyudmila” is a free translation of the ballad “Lenora” by the German poet Burger. In his version of this work, Zhukovsky gives it a greater degree of thoughtfulness and melancholy, enhances the moralistic element, and affirms the idea of ​​humility before the will of God. The main idea of ​​the work is Christian in nature. It is contained in the words of mother Lyudmila: "Paradise is for humble retribution, hell for rebellious hearts." These words are the main idea of ​​the ballad. Lyudmila was punished for deviating from the faith. Instead of a reward, eternal happiness, hell became her lot. Lyudmila murmured against God, and therefore died, that is, the heroine is punished for deviating from the faith. The main motive of "Lyudmila" is the motive of fate, the inevitability of fate. Using Lyudmila as an example, the author shows that any resistance of a person to his destiny is useless and meaningless.
The very beginning of the poem clearly conveys to the reader the depth of the feelings of Lyudmila awaiting her lover. She suffers from the unknown, waits, hopes, does not want to believe in the sad outcome of events.

Where are you, honey? What's the matter with you?

With a foreign beauty,

Know, on the far side

Cheated, unfaithful, to me;

Or a premature grave

Has extinguished your bright gaze.

Lyudmila appears as a romantic heroine, whose life can be happy only if a loved one is nearby. Without love, everything instantly loses its meaning, life becomes impossible, and the girl begins to think about death. Her very nature revolts against a cruel and unjust fate, the girl decides to grumble at her unhappy lot, sending a protest to heaven.

Lyudmila's fiance comes to her from that candle, carrying her away with him. The poem describes the terrible mystical journey of a girl with a dead man. The gradual escalation of an alarming, terrible, mystical situation allows the reader to immerse himself as deeply as possible with the idea of ​​the poem. The death of Lyudmila is, as it were, predetermined from the very beginning. She, in her recklessness, sent a curse to the heavens, for which death was sent down to her.

What, what is in Lyudmila's eyes? ..

Oh, bride, where is your sweetheart?

Where is your wedding crown?

Your house is a coffin; the groom is a dead man.

The role of landscape sketches.
As in elegies, landscape plays an important role in ballads. If in the elegy the landscape is intended to tune the consciousness of the reader to the mood necessary for the author, to prepare the consciousness of the reader, then in the ballad the landscape is fundamentally different; it is intended to describe a complex, elusive transition, the border between two worlds. In Zhukovsky, the opposition of heaven and earth, top and bottom, is outlined.
The landscape reveals the strange mystical changes that have occurred in the world after midnight.
The ballad "Svetlana" has a characteristic romantic landscape - evening, night, cemetery - a plot based on the mysterious and scary (such plots were loved by German romantics), romantic motives of graves, the living dead, etc. All this looks somewhat conventional and bookish, but not at all how bookish was perceived by the reader.
Interesting in the ballad "Svetlana" and colors. The entire text is permeated with white: first of all, it is snow, the image of which appears immediately, from the first lines, snow that Svetlana dreams of, a blizzard over the sleigh, a blizzard around. Further - this is a white scarf used during fortune-telling, a table covered with a white tablecloth, a snow-white dove, and even a snow cloth with which a dead man is covered. White is associated with the name of the heroine: Svetlana, light, “white light”. Zhukovsky's color here is white, undoubtedly a symbol of purity and purity.

The second contrasting color in the ballad is not black, but rather dark: it is dark in the mirror, the distance of the road along which the horses are racing is dark. The black color of a terrible ballad night, a night of crimes and punishments, in this ballad is softened, highlighted.

Thus, white snow, dark night and bright points of candles or eyes - this is a kind of romantic background in the ballad “Svetlana”.

The author's position in the ballad and ways of expressing it.
After the appearance of the 1811 ballad “Svetlana”, Zhukovsky became “Svetlana's singer” for many readers. The ballad became a particularly significant fact in his own life. He not only remembers Svetlana, but also perceives Svetlana, but also perceives her as if real, devotes poetry to her, conducts friendly, sincere conversations with her:
Dear friend, be calm
Your way is safe here:
Your heart is a keeper!
Everything in him is given by fate:
It will be here for you
Fortunately, the leader.

What is the originality of Zhukovsky's style?

For Zhukovsky the romantic, the lyricism of a special song type is becoming characteristic, which noticeably expanded the expressive possibilities of Russian lyric poetry: the varied range of moods in the song and romance is expressed more naturally, more freely and variedly, without obeying strict genre regulations.
Zhukovsky showed himself as an artist striving to recreate the inner world of his hero. This is how the poet conveys Lyudmila's emotional experiences: anxiety and sadness for the dear, hope for a date, grief, despair, joy, fear. Images and motives complement the romantic flavor of the work: night, mirage, ghosts, shroud, grave crosses, a coffin, a dead man.

Its language matches the romantic character of the ballad. Zhukovsky often uses lyric-emotional epithets; "Dear friend", "bleak abode", "deplorable eyes", "gentle friend". The poet refers to his favorite epithet "quiet" - "quietly rides", "quiet oak grove", "quiet chorus". The ballad is characterized by interrogative and exclamatory intonations: "Is it close, dear?", "A, Lyudmila?"

Zhukovsky seeks to give his work a folk flavor. He uses common words and expressions - "passed", "waits and waits" and constant epithets: "greyhound horse", "violent wind", uses traditional fabulous expressions.

In the ballad "Svetlana" Zhukovsky made an attempt to create an independent work, based in its plot on the national customs of the Russian people. He used the ancient belief about the fortune-telling of peasant girls on the night before Epiphany.
Zhukovsky discovered an interest in the psychological world of his characters. In "Lyudmila" and in all subsequent works, the psychological depiction of the characters becomes deeper and deeper. The poet seeks to recreate all the vicissitudes of Lyudmila's experiences: anxiety and sadness for the dear, revived hopes for a sweet date and uncontrollable grief, despair, bewilderment and joy, alternating with fear and mortal horror when her beloved brings her to the cemetery, to her own grave.

What means is used to enhance the “Russian flavor” in the ballad “Svetlana” / in comparison with the ballad “Lyudmila” /? What role do the divination scenes play in the structure of the ballad?
Zhukovsky dresses both "Lyudmila" and many other balds in song, folk clothes. In his consciousness - this is the consciousness of a truly romantic poet - the ballad not only genetically goes back to folklore, to folk poetry, but is also inseparable from it even in its modern, purely literary forms.
Regarding Zhukovsky's ballad "Lyudmila" and the adaptation of the same poem by Burger, performed by Katenin, immediately after the publication of these works, a heated discussion flared up, in which Gnedich and Griboyedov took part. Gnedich defended “Lyudmila” Zhukovsky, Griboyedov - on the side of Katenin. The dispute was mainly around the problem of ethnicity. It seemed to both Katenin and his supporter Griboyedov that Zhukovsky, contrary to the original, noticeably “oliteraturized”, did little of his folk ballad. There is a certain amount of truth in this. “Olga” Katenina, in comparison with “Lyudmila” by Zhukovsky, looks rougher, simpler, less literary and, accordingly, closer to Burger's ballad. But Zhukovsky did not completely neglect the folk character of Bürger's "Lenora". He gave only his own special version of the nationality, which was fully consistent with the elegiac mood of his poetry. He tried to capture and convey folk rhythms, folk songwriting of the syllable and intonations - and he deliberately avoided those folk pre-intonations and expressions that seemed to him too coarse and material. Zhukovsky and his poetry undoubtedly had a craving for nationality, but his nationality always had the stamp of dreaminess and ideality.
The ballad "Svetlana" by Zhukovsky, in comparison with his own "Lyudmila", is more popular. Folk elements in it are both more noticeable and more organic. They are by no means reduced only to the rhythmic structure of the ballad, to its choreic folk song verse. In "Svetlana" one can feel the general atmosphere of the nationality; it features the features of folk life, folk rituals, slightly stylized, but folk in their essence, the way of speech and the form of expression of feelings. The feeling of the atmosphere of the nationality arises from the very first verses:
Once in the Epiphany evening
The girls wondered:
Slipper behind the gate,
Having taken them off their feet, they threw them;
We poured snow; under window
Listened; fed
Counted Grain Chicken;
Ardent wax was drowned;
Into a bowl of clean water
They put a gold ring
The earrings are emerald;
Spread out the white board
And they sang in tune over the bowl
The songs are subtle.

Linking this ballad with Russian customs and beliefs, with folklore, song and fairytale tradition, the poet chose the subject of her image of a girl's fortune-telling on Epiphany evening. The Russian atmosphere is also emphasized here by such realities as a svetlitsa, a blizzard, a sled, a church, a priest. The national-folk color of the ballad is also facilitated by the imitation of sub-dish songs following the introduction (“Blacksmith, Bring me gold and a new crown”), interspersed throughout the ballad with folk-vernacular words (“utter a word”, “take out a ring for yourself”, “legohonko” , “Promise”) and song expressions (“girlfriend”, “the light is red”, “my beauty”, “joy”, “the light of my eyes”, “at the gates of the testimony”).

The general and the different in the images of the heroines / Lyudmila and Svetlana /.
Unlike Lyudmila, Svetlana does not forget about God. Finding herself in a hut with a dead man, she prays in front of the icon of the Savior, and a guardian angel in the form of a dove descends to her and saves her from the claims of the dead man.
Lyudmila, on the other hand, murmured against God, and therefore died, that is, the heroine is punished for deviating from the faith.
Faith in God, obedience to fate, that is, God, his will, or resistance to it are the main themes of the ballads, but the conclusion from all these works is the same: a person is a slave to fate, and it is absolutely impossible to try to change, resist fate, because for resistance a person will bear the judgment of God.

Conflict in the ballad "Svetlana".
The plot of the poem "Svetlana" is very similar to the poem "Lyudmila". But the events in this poem develop in a different way. At the beginning of the poem, Zhukovsky shows an inconsolable girl who has been waiting for her beloved for a long time. She is afraid of the tragic outcome of events and cannot help but think about the worst.

How can I, girlfriends, sing?

Dear friend far away;

I am destined to die

In lonely sadness.

In the sadness of the girl, all the feelings that can excite a young and quivering nature seem to converge. She cannot afford to have fun, she cannot forget about her sadness for a minute. But youth, which is characterized by hopes for the best, is looking for its way out of this situation. And Svetlana decides to tell fortunes in order to find out her fate and at least for a moment to see her betrothed.
The mood of the girl is conveyed very accurately: her romantic nature is waiting for a miracle, she hopes for the help of supernatural forces that can show her future destiny. When divining, Svetlana falls asleep imperceptibly. And in a dream she finds herself in the same situation that was described in the poem "Lyudmila".

The black raven becomes an unhappy omen, which portends sadness, a strong blizzard, which seems to want to hide everything around under the snow. And against such an alarming and terrible background, a hut appears, in which Svetlana finds her dead groom. A white dove saves the girl from trouble, which symbolizes everything bright and gives hope for salvation. Probably, the dove was sent to a submissive girl who relies on her guardian angel as a sign from above
After her terrible dream, Svetlana wakes up alone in her room. The girl was not only given life, but also the opportunity to be happy: her betrothed returns to her. Everything gloomy, tragic, terrible turns out to be unreal, it goes into the realm of sleep:

Happiness is awakening.

The meaning of Svetlana's dream and a happy ending. Images-symbols, their meaning.
For the heroine of the ballad, everything bad turns out to be a dream, ends with awakening. A fairy tale, the kind of fairy tale that “Svetlana” represents, is, for Zhukovsky, a form of expressing faith in the good. “Where there was no miracle, it’s just there to look for the lucky one,” writes Zhukovsky in his 1809 poem “Happiness”.
In Svetlana and in some other ballads, Zhukovsky's belief in the good appears not only in a fairytale, but also partly in a religious form, but the essence of this belief lies not in religiosity alone, but even more in Zhukovsky's deep humanity. At the end of the bald "Svetlana" there are words with an undeniable religious and didactic connotation:

Here are my ballads:
“Our best friend in this life
Faith in Providence.
The law of the builder is good:
Here misery is a false dream;
Happiness is awakening. "

The terrible dream is by no means a poetic joke, not a parody of romantic horrors. The poet reminds the reader that his life on earth is short-lived, and the present and eternal is in the afterlife. These words reflect both the religious consciousness of Zhukovsky and his deep optimism, which is based on a strong desire for good and joy for a person.

The ballad "Svetlana" can rightfully be considered a symbol of early Russian romanticism. The work has become so familiar to the reader, it reflects the national mentality so vividly that it is difficult to understand it as a translation of a German ballad. Among the works of Zhukovsky, this creation is one of the best, it is no coincidence that in the literary society "Arzamas" Vasily Andreyevich had the nickname "Svetlana".

In 1773, Gottfried Burger wrote his ballad Lenora and became the founder of this genre in Germany. Zhukovsky is interested in his work, he makes three translations of the book. In the first two experiments, the writer strives for a more national adaptation of the ballad. This is manifested even in the change in the name of the main character: in 1808 Zhukovsky gives her the name Lyudmila, and in 1812 - Svetlana. In the second arrangement, the author makes a reworking of the plot on Russian soil. Later, in 1831, Zhukovsky created the third version of the ballad "Lenora", as close as possible to the original.

Zhukovsky dedicated the ballad "Svetlana" to his niece and goddaughter A.A. Protasova, it was a wedding gift: the girl married his friend A. Voeikov.

Genre and direction

It is difficult to imagine the era of romanticism without the genre of ballads, where the narration is presented in a melodious syllable, and supernatural events often take place with the hero.

Romanticism in the ballad "Svetlana" is represented quite widely. Interest in folklore is a characteristic feature of this era. In an effort to make history the most Russian, Zhukovsky does not deprive her of one of the main motives of German folk art - the abduction of the bride by the dead. Thus, the fantastic in the ballad "Svetlana" belongs to two cultures: from the Russian the work received the theme of Epiphany fortune-telling, and from the German - the groom who rose from the grave.

The ballad is rich in symbolism of Russian folklore. For example, a raven is a messenger of death, a hut that gives a reference to Baba Yaga, whose dwelling is located on the border of the world of the living and the dead. The dove in the ballad symbolizes the Holy Spirit, who, like an Angel, saves Svetlana from the darkness of hell. The song of a rooster dispels the spell of the darkness of the night, announcing the dawn - everything returns to normal.

Another typical trick of romanticism is sleep motivation. The vision confronts the heroine with a choice: to sincerely believe that God will help her fiancé to return, or to give in to doubts and lose faith in the power of the Creator.

About what?

The essence of the ballad "Svetlana" is as follows: on the Epiphany evening, girls are traditionally going to tell fortunes for their betrothed. But the heroine is not amused by this venture: she worries about her lover, who is at war. She wants to know if the groom will return, and the girl sits down for fortune-telling. She sees her lover, the church, but then all this turns into a terrible picture: a hut where there is a coffin with her beloved.

The plot of "Svetlana" ends prosaically: in the morning the girl wakes up from sleep in confusion, she is frightened by an evil omen, but everything ends well: the groom returns unharmed. That's what this piece is about.

The main characters and their characteristics

The narrative brings to the fore only the main character. The rest of the images in the ballad "Svetlana" are in a haze from the undispersed sleep, their characteristic features are difficult to discern, because the main characters in this case are comparable to the scenery in the play, that is, they do not play an independent role.

At the very beginning of the work, Svetlana appears to the reader sad and alarmed: she does not know the fate of her beloved. A girl cannot be as careless as her friends, there is no place for girlish amusements in her heart. For a year now, she has found the strength to righteously hope and pray that everything will be fine, but on Epiphany evening curiosity prevails over righteousness - the heroine is guessing.

The characterization of Svetlana Zhukovsky is presented as positive, not ideal, but exemplary. There is a detail in her behavior that fundamentally distinguishes her from the girls in other versions of the translation by the author himself and from the original Lenora. Having learned about the death of her beloved, the bride does not murmur against God, but prays to the Savior. Svetlana's state of mind at the moment of a terrible vision can rather be described as fear, but not despair. The main character is ready to come to terms with the "bitter fate", but just not to blame God that he did not hear her.

For her steadfastness, Svetlana receives an award - the groom returns to her: "The same love is in his eyes." A small number of lines about the groom suggests that this is a man of his word, faithful and honest. He is worthy of such a sincerely loving and kind bride.

Themes of the work

• Love. This theme permeates the ballad, in a way, it drives the plot, because it is love that provokes an Orthodox girl into fortune-telling. She also gives the bride strength to wait and hope for the return of the groom, maybe Svetlana's feeling protects him from injury. The girl and her lover overcame a difficult test - separation, and their relationship only became stronger. Now a wedding and long joint happiness awaits them.
• Faith. Svetlana sincerely believes in God, she has no doubts that prayer will save her beloved. She also saves the girl from the hellish embrace of a dead man, which Lenore, the heroine of the original ballad, could not avoid.
• Divination. This topic is presented in a very original way. Firstly, Svetlana does not observe a certain vision in the mirrors, she only dreams of everything that happens. Secondly, the fortuneteller must remove the cross, otherwise the dark other world will not be fully revealed to her, and our heroine - "with her cross in her hand." Thus, the girl cannot fully guess: even during this mystical sacrament, she prays.

the main idea

As you know, Zhukovsky has three versions of translation of Burger's ballad "Lenora", but why exactly "Svetlana" gained such popularity during the writer's lifetime and remains a relevant work to this day?

Perhaps the secret of a book's success is its idea and the way it is expressed. In a world where there is good and evil, light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, man has a hard time: he succumbs to excitement, doubt. But there is a way to gaining confidence and inner harmony - this is faith.

Obviously, the option that has a happy ending was more attractive to the public. But it was precisely this ending that allowed Zhukovsky to more convincingly convey his author's position, because the meaning of the ballad "Svetlana" is that a person always strives for enlightenment. The fate of the protagonist vividly illustrates the benefits of the saving power of sincere faith.

Problems

V.A. Zhukovsky, as an educated person, a teacher of Emperor Alexander II, was worried about the problem that Russians almost never were Orthodox to the end. A man goes to church, but shuns a black cat, and when he returns home, forgetting something, he looks in the mirror. Along with the Christian Easter, the pagan Shrovetide is also celebrated, which continues to this day. Thus, religious issues come to the fore in the ballad "Svetlana".

Zhukovsky raises in the work the problem of superstitious ignorance, which has been relevant for Russians from the very moment of the adoption of Christianity. In his ballad, he drew attention to the fact that, celebrating the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, believing girls indulge in sinful fortune-telling. The author condemns this, but at the same time does not severely punish his beloved heroine. Zhukovsky only scolds her in a fatherly way: "What is your dream, Svetlana ...?"

Histories in "Svetlana" Zhukovsky

The ballad "Svetlana" was written by Zhukovsky in 1812. Despite this, in general, it is read and understood easily today, but it still contains outdated words. It is also important to take into account the fact that Zhukovsky wrote his work at a time when the Russian literary language was still being formed, therefore the book contains both short forms of adjectives (wedding, tesov) and incomplete variants of some words (plat, golden), which gives the lyric work a solemnity and a certain archaism.

The vocabulary of the ballad is rich in outdated words: historicisms and archaisms.

Histories are words that have left the lexicon along with the named subject. Here they are represented mainly by church-related vocabulary:

many years - I mean "Many years" - a chant sung by a choir, usually a cappella, on the occasion of a solemn holiday.

Songs are sub-dishes - ritual songs performed during fortune-telling, when a girl threw a personal object (a ring, an earring) into a saucer, accompanied by a special song.

Naloe is a kind of reading table, also used as a stand for icons.

Zapona - white cloth, part of the priest's clothing.

Archaisms are obsolete words, replaced by more modern ones:

1. Ardent - fiery
2. Zealous - zealous
3. Mouth - lips
4. Founder - founder
5. Incense - incense
6. To speak - to say
7. Tesovy - made of wood - specially processed thin boards
8. Good is good

What does it teach?

The ballad teaches steadfastness and devotion, and most importantly - reverence for God's law. Sleep and awakening here cannot be understood only unambiguously: it is not only the physical state of a person: sleep is a delusion that unnecessarily worries the soul. Awakening is an insight, an understanding of the truth of faith. According to the author, inner peace and harmony can be found by observing the commandments of the Lord and firmly believing in the power of the Creator. Digressing from the Christian context, let's say that a person, according to Zhukovsky's morality, must be firm in his convictions, and doubts, constant throwing and despair can lead him to trouble and even death. Hope, fortitude and love lead to happiness, which is clearly illustrated by the example of the heroes of the ballad "Svetlana".

Interesting? Keep it on your wall!

One of the best examples of early Russian romanticism is considered to be the ballad of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky "Svetlana". The work is a reflection of the national mentality, it contains a variety of folklore elements: signs, fortune-telling, folk tales and ritual songs. We offer for analysis a brief analysis of "Svetlana" according to the plan, which will be useful to the pupils of the 9th grade in preparation for the lesson in literature and the exam.

Brief analysis

History of creation- The verse was written in 1812. It is based on the work of the German poet August Burger "Lenora", but Zhukovsky managed to convey the folk flavor so masterfully that the Russian version differs in many respects from the German original.

Poem theme- A terrible dream during the Christmas fortune-telling, and the morning awakening, which brought relief and joy. Also in the work, the author reveals the themes of fate, happiness, loyalty, doubt and emotional experiences.

Composition- The composition of the ballad is based on the antithesis - the opposition of fantasy and reality, life and death, day and night. The main feature of the composition is Svetlana's mystical dream.

genre- Ballad.

Poetic size- Chorea with cross rhyme.

Metaphors – « dead silence "," evil light-judge ".

Epithets – « cute "," stately "," secret».

Comparisons – « rush as if on wings "," there is a soul in her, like a clear day».

Impersonations – « my chest aches heavily "," the cricket shouted plaintively».

Hyperbole– « the darkness of people in the temple "," from their hooves a blizzard rose under their feet».

History of creation

At the beginning of his career, Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky largely imitated English and German poets. He sincerely believed that domestic writers have a lot to learn from their Western colleagues, and did not hesitate to learn from them. However, in his works, Zhukovsky always took into account the peculiarities of the Russian mentality. As a result, even the reworked works were remarkable for their amazing originality and did not resemble the original sources.

One example of such imitation was the ballad "Svetlana", which is based on the work of the famous German poet Burger "Lenora". Putting the original source in his own way, in 1812 Zhukovsky presented Russian readers with a wonderful ballad that opens the door to the world of fairy tales, mysticism, legends and traditions.

Involuntarily, the question arises, to whom is such a mystical and mysterious work written by Zhukovsky with great love dedicated? Vasily Andreevich dedicated his ballad to his own niece and goddaughter A. Protasova. It was a kind of wedding present for a girl who was married to the poet's best friend, A. Voeikov.

Topic

At the center of the ballad's narrative is the Christmas divination of the betrothed, which in the old days was very popular among unmarried girls.

The poet masterfully portrays the thrill and anxious expectation of the protagonist's miracle. Tired of waiting for the groom, Svetlana decides to open the veil of secrecy over the future. But instead of the long-awaited wedding bells, terrible visions arise in front of her eyes: a memorial service for the deceased, an abandoned house, a coffin with a dead man.

And only faith and sincere prayer help Svetlana free herself from the bonds of the nightmare. The ballad has a happy ending in the form of a wedding and a complete denial of superstitious fears. So Zhukovsky expressed the main idea of ​​the work - true love and unshakable faith are able to eliminate any fears and doubts. With their help, it is possible to overcome all life's problems and adversities, it is faith and love that give strength, fill the soul of a person with confidence and inner harmony.

Composition

The composition of the work is based on such an artistic device as antithesis. In the ballad, the author reflects the struggle between love and death, night and day, reality and fantasy. Thanks to this technique, Zhukovsky was able to demonstrate the contradictions of a person's inner world, the interaction of his soul and the reality of the world around him.

The composition "Svetlana" is distinguished by its harmony and ease of perception. The plot is based on a mystical dream of a lyric hero - a girl named Svetlana. This is the main feature of the ballad composition.

• Exposition- a description of the Christmas divination of Russian girls.
• Tie- Svetlana alone looks in the mirror and falls asleep. The appearance of the groom, who persistently asks her to get married.
• Development of events- a rapid road through a blizzard and a blizzard to the church, in which a memorial service for the deceased is held. In a moment everything disappears, and Svetlana finds herself in a hut, where she sees a coffin with a dead man.
• Climax- in the deceased, Svetlana recognizes her lover and wakes up in horror.
• Interchange- Svetlana's awakening, her meeting with the groom.
• Epilogue- the author wishes the girl happiness with all his heart.

genre

When determining the genre, Zhukovsky's work is often confused with a poem, but it is written in the ballad genre, since it is presented in a melodic syllable, and the lyrical hero finds himself in the midst of mysterious, mystical events.

Particular lyricism and melodiousness of the ballad will come to the size of the poem - trore. This sounding effect is further enhanced by the cross rhyme.

Expression tools

The ballad is distinguished by a wide variety of means of artistic expression. So, the author uses metaphors("Dead silence", "evil light-judge"), epithets("Cute", "stately", "secret"), comparisons("They rush as if on wings", "there is a soul in it, like a clear day"), impersonations("The chest aches heavily," "the cricket shouted plaintively"), hyperbole("The darkness of people in the temple", "a blizzard rose up from their hooves under their feet").

Poem test

Analysis rating

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