Blok A.A. Poems

  • 05.02.2024
* "A spell of fire and darkness" – the titles of the eleven poems forming the cycle “The Spell by Fire and Darkness and the Dance of Blizzards” suggested a through reading in the first publications: “(1) I accept – (2) In the fire – (3) And in the darkness – (4) Under torture – ( 5) In the snow - (6) And in distant distances - (7) And at the edge of the abyss - (8) I conjure with madness - (9) In a wild dance - (10) And again submissive - (11) I surrender to you.
The cycle arose as the last rise of N. N. Volokhova’s passion for Blok (Natalya Nikolaevna Volokhova (1878–1966) - Russian, Soviet dramatic actress). ()

11. "Iambics"– the section arose in connection with Blok’s work on the poem “Retribution”, from which independent poems “spun off”. According to the poet, “iambic whips” most correspond to the rhythms of the time, when the world is preparing for “unheard-of events.”
"Iambas" continue the tradition of Russian civil lyrics (Tyutchev, Batyushkov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Nekrasov). At the same time, the title “Iambics” recalls the political poetry of A. Chenier and O. Barbier. The accusatory pathos of “Iambics” is accentuated by an epigraph from the first satire of the Roman satirist Juvenal: “Indignation gives birth to verse.”
Juvenal Decimus Junius (c. 60–c. 127) was a scathing critic of declining Roman society. “Iambas” is dedicated to Blok’s half-sister Angelina Aleksandrovna Blok (1892–1918), with whom he became close after the death of his father (1909). (

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok

Yes. This is what inspiration dictates:
My free dream
Everything clings to where the humiliation is,
Where there is dirt, and darkness, and poverty.

There, there, more humbly, lower, -
From there you can see another world...
Have you seen children in Paris?
Or beggars on a bridge in winter?
To the impenetrable horror of life
Open quickly, open your eyes,
Until the great thunderstorm
I didn’t dare everything in your homeland, -
Let your rightful anger ripen,
Get your hands ready...
If you can’t, let melancholy and boredom
It accumulates and burns in you...
But only - this false life
Wipe off the greasy blush,
Like a timid mole, from the light
Bury yourself in the ground - freeze there,
All my life I've been hating so hard
And despising this light,
Even if you don’t see the future,
For the present day I have said: No!

Alexander Blok

The harsh accusatory intonations of “Iambs” are caused by the dissonances and hypocrisy of the surrounding life, but the basis of the author’s emotions is not misanthropy, but a bitter “unrequited love” for humanity. The brave and noble lyrical hero of the cycle does not feel lonely: his “quiet poems”, which have a powerful sound, are an expression of the high humanistic traditions of Russian lyrics. The poet craves a response from society. He is ready both for ridicule and for enthusiastic recognition of the prophetic gift. Ruthlessly honest with himself, the author defines a creative credo that prescribes the abandonment of the tranquility of “beautiful comforts” in favor of civil struggle.

The poetic doctrine is formulated in a poem dating from 1911-1914. The work begins with an affirmative particle, designed to give credibility and strengthen the point of view of the lyrical “I”.

What does inspiration command the hero-poet? Emotional reflections concern the subject of art, which becomes the image of the miserable existence of the humiliated, vegetating in lack of money and darkness. Blatant examples of injustice are ragged children and beggars freezing in the winter wind. The author highlights the episode illustrating the most outrageous moments of the world order using italics and a special rhythmic pattern that differs from the rest of the text.

The direction of the vector given by the lyrical narrative is indicative. It calls on the celestial poet to overcome the arrogant intimacy of his subject matter, descending down to the social bottom. The latter receives the general metaphorical name of “the horror of life.” It is he who should be portrayed as a true creator, and in this imperative of Blok one can hear notes of uncompromising Nekrasov citizenship.

The prophetic mention of the coming “great storm” is followed by recommendations to fellow workers. The instructions are divided depending on the ideological beliefs of colleagues. Supporters of the lyrical “I” face honest work, opponents face tedious, soul-destroying inaction.

The subject of speech does not hide his contempt for opponents who seek to avoid describing social dissonances. The derogatory attitude is illustrated by a comparison with a “fearful mole” trembling with fear underground. However, in this case, there is a place for honesty: those who have abandoned the civil theme should fully concentrate on depicting intimate experiences, avoiding embellishment of reality.

Evil or good? - All of you are not from here.

Wise things they say about you:

For others, you are both a Muse and a miracle.

For me you are torment and hell.

A Block

Which of the great poets and writers has not thought about their calling, about the true purpose of their work? These thoughts also worried A. Blok, a wonderful poet who lived a short life, but left us, our descendants, a priceless, rich heritage of his lyrical and philosophical works.

Ordinary people almost always treated living (but not dead!) poets with prejudice. It seemed to them that if this is not yet a recognized person, then she is doing stupid things, but if a person has achieved fame and recognition, then he should immediately become extraordinary, mysterious - a “creator”! But poets are, in many ways, ordinary people, with their own shortcomings, habits, and passions. In the poems “To Friends” and “Poets” A. Blok even exaggerates the tensions between representatives of the “bohemians”, saying that “we are secretly hostile, envious, deaf, alien to each other.” We are faced with images of people who are far from ideal: drinkers, riotous people, “traitors in life and friendship,” arrogant and arrogant, often hypocrites. And yet they rise above the everyday, because they know how to touch the eternal, the secrets of the universe.

No, dear reader, my critic is blind! At the very least, the poet has braids, clouds, and a golden age, but all this is inaccessible to you!..

The poet has to pay for everything - for his uniqueness, for his vision of the world, for his difference from those around him. For many, creativity is the final stage of a difficult spiritual drama that plays out in the poet’s heart due to rejection of the world around him.

Yes, Thus dictates inspiration: My free dream Everything clings to where there is humiliation, Where there is dirt, and darkness, and poverty... All my life, cruelly hating And despising this light, Even if I do not see the future, I say to the present days: no!

The most difficult thing for a poet is the collision with the people for whom, it would seem, he is creating. Ordinary people constantly want to force a creative person to serve themselves, their interests, they strive to hear only what they want, they pretend to be great critics, thinking that only they are entrusted with the right to evaluate the pain of others. The poet loves people

But behind love, anger is brewing, contempt and chewing are growing. Read in the eyes of husbands and maidens the stamp of oblivion or recognition.

Surrounded by his admirers or persecutors, the poet often finds himself endlessly lonely, since he has very few real friends or loved ones who are able to rise above the swamp of everyday life and everyday life.

I keep unrequited love for people in the wilderness.

Blok compares the sensitive hearts of poets with a black diamond, which “sleeps in an unknown and strange sleep” deep in the bowels of the earth, until “the pickaxe sings in the mountains” until the time comes to act. But in real life, the spiritual depth and inner life of one who has touched Poetry is obscured for people by the “concerns of the vain world,” and they demand that the poet bring benefit with his creativity, that he “sweep away the rubbish” from their “noisy streets,” enlighten - spared them, cleansed their souls. But such service threatens the poet with death: Material from the site

Here is my cage - steel, heavy, Like gold, in the evening fire. Here is my bird, once cheerful, swinging the hoop, singing on the window. Wings are clipped, songs are memorized, Do you like to stand under the window?

It is not for nothing that A. Blok says that his calling and inspiration for him, as for many creators, is “torment and hell,” and not a reward, not a “miracle.” This divine gift condemns the poet to exhausting, inhuman work - thoughts, souls, hearts - and more often brings disappointment and dissatisfaction than joy and relief. Addressing the Muse, Blok says:

I wanted us to be enemies, So why did you give me a meadow with flowers and a firmament with stars - All the curse of your beauty?

The road to perfection is endless, and there are no stops along the way. This is probably why many great poets die young - they have no rest in life, “no comfort,” “no peace.” Blok managed to formulate the meaning of the life and work of poets - as he understood it: “to test hearts, to make a selection in piles of human slag, to extract the inhuman - stellar, demonic, angelic, even and only animal - from the fast-moving the decline of the breed that bears the name of the “human race”...

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  • Yes. this is how inspiration dictates... analysis
  • analysis of the poem by A.A. Blok. Yes, that’s what inspiration dictates

One of the works of the “Iambic” cycle, which is characterized in the author’s work by pronounced intonations, provoked by the dissonances of the surrounding world and the hypocrisy of other people. It must be emphasized that the basis in this case is a unique, “unrequited” love for humanity as a whole.

The main theme of the poem

The poem expresses the idea that the poet is not alone in this world. He openly seeks understanding among other people, but is also ready for negative reactions to his works, which express his personal, frank thoughts. The author presents the gift of poetry itself as a kind of gift of a prophet, since he believes that poets are able to look a little ahead.

The emotional reasoning into which the poet descends when writing refers to striking examples of social inequality and injustice, as well as illustrations of the most outrageous moments in modern society.

Structural analysis of the poem

To demonstrate the author's thoughts, clear, vivid images are used, such as beggar children freezing in the wind. The author highlights special moments in the work by rhythmic irregularities and peculiarities of the poem’s size. In this way, the main idea in the poem is highlighted and the reader’s attention is drawn to it.

The poet uses a position of honesty with himself and his readers, and openly expresses his thoughts that authors need to go down to simple earthly problems in order to attract public attention with the help of poetry to the problems that exist in the social sphere of the state.

Conclusion

The poet’s lines are quite understandable and simple, but issues of social injustice in Russia are still as pressing. This makes the work very relevant even now, despite the fact that it was written many decades ago.

Composition

Free topic “Analysis of a poem” - essay “A. Blok’s poem “Oh, I want to live like crazy...””

This poem opens the cycle “Iambics” (1907 – 1914), which the author ranked among his “best” poems (letter to V.S. Mirolyubov, 1918). A feature of his problems was an open civic orientation:

Yes. This is what inspiration dictates:
My love dream
Everything clings to where the humiliation is,
Where there is dirt, and darkness, and poverty.
There, there, more humbly, lower, -
From there you can see another world...

(“Yes. This is how inspiration dictates...”, 1911 – 1914)

The epigraph to the cycle was a quote from Juvenal’s “Satires” (96 c. 127): “Indignation gives birth to verse” (translated by V.N. Orlov). Blok’s “indignation” is directed at the “impenetrable horror of life,” which in the poems of the “Iambic” cycle represents “night,” “black,” “mourning,” “deceitful,” full of “impersonal” and “unfulfilled.” The reminiscent series of the cycle is extremely rich - in it
echoes of the works of A.S. can be heard. Pushkina, M.Yu. Lermontova, N.A., Nekrasova, F.I. Tyutcheva. The lyrical hero A. Blok, the heir and continuer of the Russian poetic tradition, addresses readers on behalf of its bearers:
But we are still the same. We, the poets,
We miss you again, we miss you again,
Keeping sacred love,
Keeping ancient vows...
(“Oh, how you laughed at us...”, 1911)
In the poem “Oh, I want to live madly...” the lyrical hero proclaims as the goal of his creativity:
All that exists is to perpetuate,
The impersonal - to humanize,
Unfulfilled - make it happen!
In contrast to the skepticism of “The Artist,” this poem is imbued with Pushkin’s trust in life (“I want madly
live"), the desire in her assessment to rise above the temporary and personal:
Let heavy sleep choke life,
Let me suffocate in this dream...
The concept of “life” is dual – it is the reality in which the lyrical hero “suffocates”, and the highest meaning of existence, which becomes accessible to him thanks to the creative gift, the ability to “embody” the devoid of flesh, “perpetuate” the momentary, breathe the soul into the “impersonal”. The lyrical hero of the poem appears as a new “prophet”, continuing the Pushkin and Lermontov tradition. Pushkin's "Prophet" (1826), filled with divine "will", in Lermontov turns into a "gloomy" hermit, about whom "the elders tell the children":
Look, children, at him:
How gloomy and thin and pale he is!
Look how naked and poor he is,
How everyone despises him!
("Prophet", 1841)
About Blok’s prophet “in the future he will say” “a cheerful young man”, reminiscent of the “tribe//Young, unfamiliar” of Pushkin’s passage “Once again I visited...” (1835), “grandson”
…When,
Returning from a friendly conversation,
Full of cheerful and pleasant thoughts,
He will pass by you in the darkness of the night
And he will remember me.
The descendant of the prophet Blok first of all asks for his “gloominess”, concentration on the dark side of reality:
Forgive the sullenness - is it really
Its hidden engine?
At the new stage, Lermontov’s pessimism is overcome, the basis of the prophet’s “omniscience” is again, as in Pushkin, “good and light” (“He is all a child of good and light...”). The final line is a reminiscence from another Pushkin poem, although one can say that it develops a motif characteristic of the entire work of the great poet, who glorified freedom in a “cruel age” (“I erected a monument to myself not made by hands...”, 1836). Freedom is the “hidden engine” of creativity, allowing the poet to continue his journey, “traversing the seas and lands,” like Pushkin’s prophet, overcoming time and fate.