Analysis of the ballad "Svetlana"

Zhukovsky is the founder of romanticism in Russian literature. His romanticism is usually called romantic or elegiac. The hero of many of Zhukovsky's works is a dreamer, all of whose thoughts are directed towards an ideal world. This gives rise to the opposition of “here” - and “there” - being (“There will not be here forever.”) Often in Zhukovsky, like other romantics, we meet the motive of sleep. And this is natural, because a double world is associated with it (the poem "Happiness in a Dream").

These features of Zhukovsky's romanticism can be seen on the example of the elegy "Sea" and the ballad "Svetlana". These genres, ballad and elegy, are characteristic of him as a romantic. Elegy is a song of sad content, reflecting reflections on the transience of everything earthly, the transience of life, and unhappy love. This genre corresponded to the state of mind of a romantic, dissatisfied with reality. And the ballad reflects another part of romantic thinking - an interest in mysticism, in the fantastic.

The elegy "The Sea" also expresses such a feature of the works of romantics as a tendency to symbolism and allegory. In this poem, three main symbolic images stand out: sea, sky, storm. The interaction between them also determines the peculiarity of the composition of the poem. In which three parts can be distinguished. In the first part of the work, we see the harmony of the sky and the sea, while the first expresses the soul of the romantic, open to all beauty, in the second, that is, the sky, expresses the ideal world. The soul of a romantic cannot exist without connection with this world. Even the epithets in this poem reflect this connection: the sea is called azure because it reflects the blue of the sky:

You are pure in the presence of his pure ...

You pour it with radiant azure

Anaphora, in this case the repetition of the pronoun "you" at the beginning of the line, also expresses this connection. It is thanks to this connection that the sea is called calm. The impression of harmony, calmness is conveyed by the rhythm of the poem itself. Chosen by Zhukovsky poetic meter(four-foot amphibrachium) conveys this measured movement of waves:

Silent sea, azure sea

I stand enchanted over your abyss.

The image of the sea is also created with the help of assonances and alliterations. The repetition of the vowels "o" and "e" and the sonorous consonants "m" and "l" creates the impression of a measured movement. We seem to hear the sound of rolling waves. In the second part of the poem, a new symbolic image appears - a storm. And immediately the mood changes dramatically, it becomes alarming, because the sky is covered with clouds, its connection with the sea is disrupted, harmony is disrupted. The storm symbolizes the confusion of real life, separating the poet from the ideal world, preventing the achievement of harmony. In connection with the change in mood, the nature of alliteration also changes. Now it is not the sonorous consonants that are repeated, but the growling "r", which conveys the drama of what is happening:

You tear and torment the hostile mist ...

In the third part of the poem, the sea triumphs over the storm. But the return of the original harmony does not occur, because everything is permeated with the fear that the storm may repeat itself. This inner anxiety is transmitted through a combination of opposing concepts:

You hide confusion in the abyss of the deceased,

Admiring the sky, you tremble for it ...

Through the symbolic images in this poem, the author shows the fragility of harmony. Real life will always interfere with the achievement of the ideal, but this does not mean that it is not necessary to strive for it.

And now let's turn to the ballad "Svetlana" and see how romantic dualism is manifested in it.

The title itself is significant, it carries light, creates a certain mood. Far from gloomy. From the very beginning, the author plunges us into the fairy-tale world of fortune-telling, divination, and the rhythm of the poem itself corresponds to the given theme.

Once in the Epiphany evening

The girls wondered ...

But after the description of funny fortune-telling, sad notes appear in the text:

The moon shines dimly

In the twilight of the fog -

Silent and sad

Sweet Svetlana

Next comes the mystical plot of sleep. Zhukovsky uses a move characteristic of ballads - a meeting with the world of the dead. Svetlana was waiting for her fiancé, and in a dream she meets him, but in a very strange way. Then she will understand that it was a meeting with a dead groom. However, this will not be revealed immediately. Gradually, the author builds up an atmosphere of fear. We still do not understand what is happening, together with Svetlana, something seems to us, we see someone with "bright eyes" and this "someone" is calling the girl on the way. Zhukovsky describes in detail the scene of the race with the dead groom, all the while aggravating the feeling of anxiety and fear. This is facilitated by a certain series of images: "Suddenly a blizzard is around ...", "black lie", screaming "sadness!", "Dark distance".

Then Svetlana's fiancé suddenly disappears somewhere, she is left alone in terrible places, sees a hut, opens the door and in front of her is a coffin. But in the end, Svetlana is saved by her prayer.

For Zhukovsky, the theme of faith is very important, it sounds not only in this ballad. “By faith was my counselor,” says The Traveler. And it is she who points the way to many of the poet's heroes. This is what happens in the ballad "Svetlana".

The dream turns out to be only a reflection of Svetlana's fears. Awakening follows, and everything changes at once. The world is flooded with light again, the girl meets her fiancé, who returns to her safe and sound.

In conclusion, we can say that Zhukovsky's world as a whole is bright and kind. A poet can plunge the reader into an atmosphere of fear, but then he still gives hope and allows him to return to something bright.

Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky fell in love with the readers for the originality and nationality of his works. His poems are saturated with Russian traditions and the magic of beliefs.

The ballad "Svetlana" was written by Vasily Andreyevich in 1812. He found inspiration in the work of Burger "Leonora"

The main theme of the poem

The ballad tells us about the most intimate mystery of the girls of that time - the Christmas fortune-telling for the betrothed.

Zhukovsky skillfully draws with his lines a picture of awe, excitement and expectation of a miracle. But the joyful mood turns into anxiety and superstitious fear. The heroine of the poem, Svetlana, exhausted in the unrequited expectation of the groom, decides to open the veil of secrecy and look into the future. But instead of the desired wedding bells, only the cry of a raven is heard above her. Fear and horror attack the girl, showing her chilling visions: an old abandoned house, a coffin, a dead man standing. Only sincere faith and prayer help the girl to awaken from the nightmare. And with the sun's rays she is met by her betrothed, alive and well. The ballad ends on a positive note, with a wedding and a denial of superstitious fears and apprehensions.

The main character of the work appears before the reader as a girl with a very pure and bright heart. Her prayer and love help overcome fears and doubts. The "prophecy" she saw is capable of shaking anyone, but the girl is strong in her faith.

Zhukovsky created the standard of the Russian bride, loved by many.

Structural analysis of the poem

The ballad amazes with its compositional structure. It is built so realistically that you don't immediately understand the difference between reality and sleep. The transition to the nightmare is so smooth that only the sharp cock-crowing, mentioned in the ending of the poem, "awakens" the reader.

Interjections, rhetorical exclamations and questions create a special mood. The ballad seems lively, energetic and very dynamic.

Zhukovsky very accurately depicts the world of a nightmare in front of the reader. A detailed description of what is happening, the surrounding landscape and even such trifles as the cry of a crow, creates a sense of the reality of what is happening. The author spiritualizes nature, giving its phenomena a sacred meaning: the cries of a crow, the joyful song of a rooster.

Distinguishing dream from reality with epithets, Zhukovsky solves several problems at once: describing the reality surrounding the heroine, conveying Svetlana's mood and state of mind.

Conclusion

The romantic plot, connection to national traditions and a special syllable make this work close to folklore. It is thanks to this that "Svetlana" has been resonating in the hearts of readers for over 200 years.

Ballad of Zhukovsky "Svetlana" (1812) also goes back to the plot of "Lenore". The plot is close - but the denouement is different. Fortune-telling and sleep are the central episodes of Svetlana:

Once in the Epiphany evening

The girls wondered:

Slipper behind the gate,

Having taken it off their feet, they threw it;

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.

And against the background of this peaceful Epiphany evening (and at the same time such a “folkloric” one) with its indispensable custom - fortune-telling (a typical “everyday” scene), the heroine appears - silent and sad. Verbal leitmotifs (sad, silent, sad) express the emotional tone of the ballad (the moon, “glows dimly”, the groom is “pale and dull” and the crow croaks: “Sadness!”). Zhukovsky seeks to show the national-Russian female type, an example of devoted love and fidelity to the betrothed (“How can I, girlfriends, sing? Joy il kruchinu? "), The image is surprisingly poetic. Svetlana is an ideal heroine, close to the heroines of Russian sentimentalism.

Zhukovsky transfers the action into real everyday life, and this is where the rejection of the supernaturalness of "Lyudmila" is manifested - everything is explained by a simple dream. All horrors are just a dark dream, in the morning the heroine is in a familiar and peaceful atmosphere, and a loving groom awaits her:

What is yours, Svetlana, dream,

A soothsayer of torment?

Friend with you; he is still the same

In the experience of separation;

The same love in his eyes

Those are pleasant looks ...

The action of the ballad seems to be repeated twice: a terrible "terrible dream" (knock - groom - fog - horses - church) and joyful awakening (fog - bell - real groom - horses - church). Zhukovsky seeks to convey the national flavor: a hut ("a hut under the snow", fortune telling, a board gate, a priest with a deacon, with clerks, an icon and "signs" of the Russian winter - a blizzard and a blizzard). Flakes of snow, sleighs (fast horses and a "ringing bell"). There is a lot of stylization in the national color of Svetlana, everything seems to be idealized: "A candle with a quivering fire // A little shine", the girls "took their slippers out of the gate and threw them from their feet."

The dialogue at the beginning of the ballad and the ending with the singing "many years": "What, friend, with you?" Has a ritual-folklore character. Svetlana's answer is a kind of version of the Russian folk song about the dear who left ("dear friend is far away", "or you won't remember me ...").

Song style, motives of folklore ("light is red", "dark distance", "horse greyhounds", "prophetic heart"), sentimental tone ("ah, but the light is only red for them"), an episode with a white dove that protects the heroine from the terrible owner of the hut, poetically intertwined in Zhukovsky's ballad. The emotional expressiveness of the ballad is achieved by a quick change of joyful and light motives with sad and sad ones. Peaceful picture of fortune telling - Svetlana's sadness - dark dream - joyful awakening. “Dark in the mirror”, “black coffin”, “black lie”, horses run into “dark distance”, and lighter tones penetrate into this gloomy picture: “the coffin is covered with a white cuff”, “a snow-white dove with bright eyes” appears. The melody of speech is just as changeable: questions, exclamations, parallelisms, etc.:

"Oh! Svetlana, what's the matter with you?

Whose monastery have you entered?

The same love is in his eyes

Those are pleasant to the eyes;

Those on sweet lips

Lovely conversations.

“Svetlana” is the most optimistic ballad of Zhukovsky - all the nightmares and horrors of the heroine lose their mystery - this is not the intervention of otherworldly forces, but only a dream (though a “prophet of torment”); the visions are caused by the emotional experiences of the heroine waiting for the groom. Svetlana believes in love, does not grumble at fate. Let's compare two passages:

"Lyudmila":

What to look to heaven?

What to pray to the unforgiving?

I will return the irrecoverable ...

"Svetlana":

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.

Svetlana finds happiness. We meet such happy love only in the "Russian" (according to the plot) ballads of Zhukovsky (with the exception of "Lyudmila"). The optimistic tone, the national flavor - everything attracted the attention of contemporaries to this ballad and its author, the singer of "Svetlana". Pushkin more than once took epigraphs from Svetlana - Chapter V of Eugene Onegin (and he himself compared Tatyana with Svetlana), Snowstorm.

Read also other articles about the life and work of V.A. Zhukovsky.

The work "Svetlana" (1812) is an appeal to the ballad of G.-A. Burgher "Leonora", only here the author makes even more extensive use of Russian folklore and changes the ending, making it happy for the heroine. Such a reworking of the ballad's plot, a change in its poetics can be viewed as a definite step forward towards the original work, as a conscious departure from a foreign source in order to "bring Russian romanticism closer" to the domestic reader.

The ballad "Svetlana" by Zhukovsky, the analysis of which interests us, begins with a description of the traditional folk custom associated with the "Epiphany" fortune-telling of girls who are trying to define their "friend" in this way. This custom is associated with the belief that fate can be guessed by signs, and the "girls" are happy to "torture their share." But the heroine of the ballad "Svetlana" does not take part in the general fun, she is "silent and sad." Her sadness is caused by the fact that she does not need to find out exactly whom she loves, she yearns that "the year has passed - there is no news, He does not write to me ..." Her words speak about the strength and depth of the heroine's feelings "Ah! and only the light is red to them, It is only the heart that breathes for them ... "Here folklore elements are used to depict a feeling of deep affection for a loved one. The strength of the heroine's feelings is also indicated by the fact that she is ready to overcome her fear ("secret timidity") in order to learn not only her fate ("You will know your lot"), but also her beloved, which worries her even more. than your own destiny.

Zhukovsky subtly conveys fear and the heroine's simultaneous ardent desire to find out the truth: "The timidity in her worries her breasts, It is scary for her to look back ..." - she is afraid, but does not retreat from her plans either. When describing what Svetlana saw in the mirror, Zhukovsky uses a technique that was used quite often in romantic poetry: he paints a picture, absolutely real, extremely reliable, in which the reader recognizes the world of folklore, but in the end it turns out that everything that happens is this is only a dream of the heroine. Such a "game" with the reader keeps him in constant tension, he closely follows the plot of the work, sympathizes with the heroes, experiences with them the circumstances in which they find themselves, and thus becomes, as it were, a participant in the action, personally interested in its outcome. Since Zhukovsky was a talented poet, he knew Russian folklore perfectly, his verse was light and sonorous, the dream of Svetlana described by him captures the reader, and he simply is not able to realize that this is all happening in a dream.

The path to the temple, which was supposed to unite loved ones, in fact turns out to be a false path: instead of a wedding, the "girl" hears from the priest: "I will be taken by the grave!" (about his sweetheart, who is silent all the way, "pale and dull" - the author emphasizes these words twice), and they drive by. The croaking of the raven ("The raven croaks: sadness ..."), the landscape, and the oppressive silence of her companion, who eventually disappears, leaving the heroine alone "in the scary ones, speaks of the fact that misfortune awaits them." . places ... "Zhukovsky with great graphic power conveys state of mind the heroine, who found herself in an "empty hut", in which "the coffin is Covered with a white cuff". However, here God himself comes to the aid of the heroine (the image of his messenger - "Snow-white dove"), who protects Svetlana from death. However, "Her dear friend is dead!" This becomes the most terrible for the heroine, she wakes up in horror "At the mirror, alone in the middle of the room ...", and only then it becomes clear to the reader that everything that happens is just her dream. .. But after all, this dream must be a prophetic dream, which means, "a terrible, terrible dream. It does not broadcast good - a bitter fate; the secret darkness of the days to come ..."? However, in reality, everything happens differently: the morning brings with it the bright return of a loved one, which should end in a "church of God" with a wedding. A description of how Svetlana and her "friend" meet is also given in the traditions of Russian folklore, we can say that Zhukovsky draws in the ballad "Svetlana" folk ideas about the happiness of lovers who have managed to overcome all obstacles on the way to this happiness.

The ballad ends with an exposition of its "sense" (as the author calls the allegorical meaning of his work): "Our best friend in this life is Faith in Providence. The law of the creator is good: Here misfortune is a false dream; Happiness is awakening." This interpretation of happiness and unhappiness is quite original for Russian literature of that time, Zhukovsky prepares it with the whole course of the ballad, the logic of revealing artistic images. Despite the fact that Zhukovsky's ballad "Svetlana", which we analyzed, is based on a borrowed plot, its original processing, the richness of the work with Russian folklore, the national flavor makes "Svetlana" a truly Russian romantic ballad, which rightfully enjoyed great success with contemporaries and took its rightful place in the history of Russian literature in the first third of the 19th century.

A ballad is a narrative song with a dramatic plot development based on an unusual incident. The world knows Italian, French love and heroic ballads. Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky made a great contribution to the development of this genre, supplementing the canonical basis with signs of Russian culture and everyday life. He made this genre understandable for the Russian reader.

The ballad "Svetlana" is one of the most famous works of Zhukovsky. It was written in 1812.

The author based his poetic work on the ballad "Lenore" by G. Burger. But he expanded it and literally adapted it for the Russian reader, brought up on lullabies, fairy tales, proverbs, sayings and other genres of folk art. At the beginning of the text, Zhukovsky puts an opening characteristic of Russians folk tales, here there is a special syllable, permanent epithets ("gold ring"), borrowed from the same place. For the same purpose, at the beginning of the ballad, the method of assonance is used, that is, the repetition of a vowel sound (in this case, a lingering "o").

It is worth paying attention to the name of the main character - Svetlana. Today it is a very common name. But it turns out that it was invented by Vostokov shortly before writing this ballad and gained popularity after the publication of the work. Svetlana is the light that gives the way in the darkness of the night, this is the hope for a brighter future, then the way out of any situation. Giving his the main character such a name, and even putting it in the title of the work, the author seems to hint at a good ending.

And the reader has to worry about the heroine more than once! That there is only a scene of a race with a dead groom ... And the images of a black raven, a dark distance, from which and breathes mysticism. The rhythmic trochee also contributes to this.

But the whole feeling of anxiety gradually disappears as soon as the description of the present begins - bright and kind. Impersonations help the author in creating this picture.

In this ballad, Zhukovsky once again managed to prove that one should never despair, lose heart. It is necessary to fight to the last, and then the aspirant will surely win.