The main motives of Bunin's lyrics. Lyrical hero and his worldview

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is one of the recognized classics of Russian literature. Moreover, his name is also known abroad, because for many years the poet and writer was forced to live in exile. Many know him exclusively as a writer, meanwhile he began as a poet. Bunin's lyrics occupies a huge place in his work.

The future writer was born in 1870, in a family from an old noble family. Bunin's father owned a small estate in the Oryol region - little Vanya's childhood passed there. He will later reflect the impressions of those years in his work, and he will remember the quiet life in the estate until the end of his days. Ivan loved to read from an early age and began to compose small poems himself. In addition, he grew up as a very artistic child, which later helped him become a wonderful reader.

At the age of ten, he went to study at a gymnasium in the city, and he did not like city life. Nevertheless, he survived four years, and then simply did not return from the holidays and was expelled. After that, fourteen-year-old Ivan began to live on his grandmother's estate with his older brother Julius, who was closely involved in Vanya's education. I must say that the brothers maintained a close, warm relationship throughout their lives. Thus, Ivan Alekseevich spent his teenage years in his beloved village among peasant children, from whom he heard many interesting stories, later expressed by him in his work.

The beginning of the creative path

Little Vanya wrote his first timid poems at the age of seven or eight. Then he read Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Maykov, Lermontov, Fet. He tried to imitate them in his "verses". The very first serious poems, which were even published, Ivan Alekseevich composed at the age of seventeen. They were published in one of the St. Petersburg newspapers - only twelve pieces during the year. There also appeared two debut stories of the young author - "Nefedka" and "Two Wanderers". Ivan Alekseevich embarked on the path of literature.

Writer or poet?

Most of the population Ivan Alekseevich is known primarily as a prose writer. "Dark Alleys", "Mitya's Love", "Antonov's Apples" and other iconic stories of his are studied in schools and universities. What can we say about the extensive autobiography "The Life of the Arsenievs"! Nevertheless, Bunin himself considered himself primarily a poet. This is no coincidence - after all, it was with a love for poetic forms that his passion for literature in principle began.

Influence of colleagues

In the mid-1890s, Bunin met Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy - he had admired him before. His ideas, character and views had a huge impact on Bunin's life, which manifested itself both in his prose and in lyrics. Also, the author was greatly impressed by his acquaintance with Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, the actors of the Moscow Art Theater, as well as the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Bunin's work was reflected in his entry into Moscow literary circles, and rotation among such personalities as Alexander Kuprin, Konstantin Balmont, Fedor Sologub and others.

First collections

The first poetry collection of Ivan Alekseevich was published in 1891. It was called uncomplicatedly - "Poems of 1887-1891", contained the first, trial, youthful poems, which were perceived favorably by reviewers as a whole. Even then, it was noted how accurately and picturesquely the novice poet conveys the beauty of nature - Bunin's first poems belonged precisely to landscape lyrics. They also said that the future “great writer” appeared before the readers.

However, those poems did not bring real fame, large-scale, to Ivan Alekseevich. And they brought the following two collections: the first book of stories published in 1897 and the second - of poems, published a year later (the collection was called "Under the open sky"). Then Bunin, as they say, woke up famous.

"Leaf fall"

The third book of poems by Ivan Alekseevich was published in 1901 by a Moscow publishing house. It was called "Leaf Fall" and contained poems written under the impression of communicating with the Symbolists. Reviews of critics varied - who was restrained, who admired, who was perplexed. But two years later, the Pushkin Prize put everything in its place - Ivan Bunin was awarded it precisely for this collection.

Features of Bunin's poetry

Perhaps Bunin's lyrics are not studied as diligently as his stories and novels, but it occupies an honorable place in Russian literature, which all literary critics can easily confirm. It has many features that you will not find more in the work of any other author.

First of all, you need to remember what time Ivan Alekseevich lived - the turn of two centuries, the time of searching for oneself, which was also reflected in Russian literature. How many different circles and movements arose! Futurists, acmeists, symbolists... Poets strove to become innovators, experimented, searched for new forms of the word. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, unlike most of his colleagues, was never attracted by this. He remained a conservative in literature, continuing to sing of classical Russian traditions, continuing the work of his predecessors - Tyutchev, Fet, Lermontov, Pushkin and others.

Lyricism in Bunin's work occupies an important place. He wrote in a "traditional" style, but nevertheless showed new facets and possibilities of the poem. The writer has always remained faithful to the once and for all found style - clear, restrained, harmonious. It sometimes seems that his language is dry, but how surprisingly accurately he conveys the beauty of nature, and the pain of love, and feelings about life ... The state of the author's soul is what Bunin's lyrics absorbed. Its philosophy, laconicism and sophistication did not leave indifferent readers, and many of his fellow writers, and critics who admired Ivan Alekseevich's ability to feel and convey the word. His sense of language and great skill were spoken about everywhere.

Another characteristic feature of Bunin's lyrics is that even showing the negative facets of life, thinking about it, he does not give himself the right to judge anyone. It only gives the reader the right to decide for himself "what is good and what is bad." His poetry is real, it is not for nothing that Ivan Alekseevich is called the successor of Chekhov's realism.

If we talk about the features of the poetics of Bunin's poems, we can single out the following: the preservation of the traditions of the nineteenth century, the exact use of epithets (his lyrics abound with them), the simplicity and naturalness of the word (it seems to be alive in his poems), the presence of existential motifs even in poems on other topics, the indispensable use of stylistic figures and techniques, such as sound writing, oxymoron, metaphors, personifications, the already mentioned epithets, and many others. He actively uses synonyms, like beads, stringing words one on top of the other, so that the reader has a vivid picture.

Themes of Bunin's lyrics

Relatively speaking, the poems of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin can be divided into three large parts - landscape, philosophical and love. Of course, he touched on other topics in his work, but it is these three that dominate the lyrics of Ivan Bunin.

landscape lyrics

It was with landscape poems that Ivan Bunin began his career. The verses of Bunin's landscape lyrics have incredible expressiveness, they are so picturesque that it seems that you are looking at the picture, and not reading the text. Not without reason, Bunin's colleagues spoke of him as a creator of nature, they said that in the depiction of the landscape he is similar to Levitan, that, apart from him, few people feel and understand nature like he does. Perhaps this is true - according to Bunin, nature is the only harmonious one, it is an integral part of human life. Only in it there is beauty that can heal humanity - such is the law of Bunin's landscape lyrics.

The image of autumn and the Russian forest is most often used by the poet. The forest for him is like music, which he sings with great love, and therefore all his poems are musical. In Bunin's depiction of landscapes, there are many different colors and sound effects, accurately selected epithets, personifications, metaphors, helping the author to create amazingly accurate images. There is no lyrical hero here, all attention is focused on the beauty of nature.

Very often, Bunin shows night landscapes, since night is his favorite time of day. At night, the sleeping nature seems magical, alluring, enchants even more - that is why many poems are dedicated to the night. As a rule, in most of his poems, in addition to the night and the forest, there are images of the sky, stars, and endless steppes. Composing landscape lyrics, the poet saw before him his beloved Oryol region, where he spent his childhood.

Philosophical lyrics

Bunin's landscape lyrics gradually gave way to philosophical ones, or rather, smoothly flowed into it. It began at the turn of the century, at the beginning of the new century. Then the poet was very fond of the Koran, read the Bible, which, of course, could not but be reflected in his works.

Bunin's philosophical lyrics speak of life and death. Bunin wanted to figure out why an event happens, he thought about the eternal - about good and evil, about truth, about memory, about the past and the present. During this period, in his poems one can find many appeals to the history of different countries. He was interested in the legends of the East, ancient Greece, deities, Christianity. Loneliness and doom, eternity, human destiny - these topics are also not uncommon in Bunin's philosophical lyrics. He sought in his poems to understand the meaning of life - and the connection between philosophical poems and landscape ones becomes characteristic: it was in love for nature and reverence for her that the poet found salvation for the human soul.

The philosophical lyrics of Ivan Alekseevich are distinguished by a special atmosphere - absolute silence. When you read poems on this subject, it seems that even the air stops oscillating. You completely immerse yourself in the experiences of the lyrical hero (here he is present), you surrender to them as if they were your own. Such silence, according to Bunin, is needed in order to be able to hear God, who is the bearer of Light, Truth and Love. Many of the author's poems have been written about God and biblical motifs.

love lyrics

Poems about love in the work of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin are presented in somewhat smaller quantities, but nevertheless play a large role among his works. A long time ago, Bunin's love lyrics were defined as tragic - perhaps this is the most capacious and accurate definition.

Love for Ivan Alekseevich is the most intimate, important, the main thing, for which it is worth living on earth. He is absolutely sure of the existence of true love, and although many of his poems are devoted to love suffering, he also writes about mutual, happy love, albeit less often. One of the main motives of Bunin's love lyrics is loneliness, unrequited love, the inability to experience happiness. It is tragic because it is dominated by thoughts about what did not come true, memories of the departed, regrets about the lost, the fragility of human relationships.

Bunin's love lyrics are in contact with the philosophical - love and death, and with the landscape - love and the beauty of nature. Bunin is pessimistic - in his poems, happiness cannot live long, love is followed by either separation or death, a successful outcome is not given. However, love is still happiness, because it is the highest that a person can know in life. At the same time, the poet himself in his personal life, after several unsuccessful attempts, nevertheless found family happiness and a wife who, until the end of his days, supported him in everything.

As in any other, Bunin's love lyrics have a number of features. These are, for example, the avoidance of beautiful phrases, the use of nature as an observer of love suffering, the mention of spring (the poet's favorite season) as a symbol of love, an open protest against the imperfection of the universe, an indispensable combination of spiritual and physical (it is impossible to know the soul without comprehending the flesh). At the same time, there is nothing shameful or vulgar in Bunin's poetry, it is holy and remains a great mystery for him.

Other motives of Bunin's lyrics

In addition to the topics mentioned above, the following are present in the work of Ivan Alekseevich: civil lyrics - poems about the hard fate of the common people; the theme of the Motherland is nostalgia for old Russia, poems on such topics are not uncommon for the emigre period of the poet's work; the theme of freedom, history and man; the theme of the poet and poetry is the purpose of the poet in life.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin made a great contribution to the development of Russian literature. No wonder it was he who became the first Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize - in fact, world recognition. Every person should know both Bunin's prose and poetry, especially if he considers himself a connoisseur of literature.

It occupies a rather significant place in his work, despite the fact that Ivan Alekseevich gained fame primarily as a prose writer. However, Ivan Bunin himself claimed that he was primarily a poet. The path in the literature of this author began precisely with poetry.

It is worth noting that Bunin's lyrics go through all his work and are characteristic not only for the early stage of development of his artistic thought. Bunin's original poems, unique in their artistic style, are difficult to confuse with the works of other authors. This individual style reflects the poet's worldview.

Bunin's first poems

When Ivan Alekseevich was 17 years old, his first poem was published in the Rodina magazine. It's called "The Village Beggar". In this work, the poet talks about the sad state in which the Russian village was at that time.

From the very beginning of the literary activity of Ivan Alekseevich, Bunin's lyrics are characterized by their special style, manner and themes. Many of his early poems reflect Ivan Alekseevich, his subtle inner world, rich in shades of feelings. Bunin's quiet clever lyrics of this period resemble a conversation with a close friend. However, she impressed her contemporaries with artistry and high technology. Many critics admired Bunin's poetic gift, the author's skill in the field of language. It should be said that Ivan Alekseevich drew many accurate comparisons and epithets from the works of folk art. Paustovsky highly appreciated Bunin. He said that each line of his is clear, like a string.

In early work, not only Bunin's landscape lyrics are found. His poems are also devoted to civil themes. He created works about the hard lot of the people, with all his soul he longed for changes for the better. For example, in a poem called "Desolation", the old house tells Ivan Alekseevich that he is waiting for "destruction", "brave voices" and "powerful hands" so that life blooms again "from the dust on the grave."

"Leaf fall"

The first collection of poetry by this author is called Falling Leaves. He appeared in 1901. This collection included a poem of the same name. Bunin says goodbye to childhood, to his inherent world of dreams. In the poems of the collection, the homeland appears in wonderful pictures of nature. It evokes a sea of ​​emotions and feelings.

In Bunin's landscape lyrics, the image of autumn is most often found. It was with him that his work as a poet began. This image until the end of his life will illuminate the poems of Ivan Alekseevich with his golden radiance. Autumn in the poem "Falling Leaves" "comes to life": the forest smells of pine and oak, which dried up during the summer from the sun, and autumn enters its "terem" "quiet widow".

Blok noted that few people know how to know and love their native nature like Bunin. He also added that Ivan Alekseevich claims to occupy one of the central places in Russian poetry. A distinctive feature of both the lyrics and prose of Ivan Bunin was the rich artistic perception of native nature, the world, as well as the person in it. Gorky compared this poet in terms of skill in creating a landscape with Levitan himself. Yes, and many other writers and critics liked Bunin's lyrics, its philosophicism, conciseness and sophistication.

Commitment to poetic tradition

Ivan Alekseevich lived and worked at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. At this time, various modernist movements were actively developing in poetry. Word creation was in vogue, many authors were engaged in it. To express their feelings and thoughts, they were looking for very unusual forms, which sometimes shocked readers. However, Ivan Bunin adhered to the classical traditions of Russian poetry, which Tyutchev, Fet, Polonsky, Baratynsky and others developed in their work. Ivan Alekseevich created realistic lyrical poems and did not at all strive for modernist experiments with the word. The poet was quite satisfied with the events of reality and the riches of the Russian language. The main motifs of Bunin's lyrics remain generally traditional.

"Ghosts"

Bunin is classic. This author absorbed into his work all the great wealth of Russian poetry of the 19th century. Bunin often emphasizes this continuity in form and content. So, in the poem "Ghosts" Ivan Alekseevich defiantly declares to the reader: "No, the dead have not died for us!" For the poet, vigilance for ghosts means devotion to the departed. However, the same work testifies that Bunin is sensitive to the latest phenomena in Russian poetry. In addition, he is interested in poetic interpretations of the myth, everything subconscious, irrational, sad and musical. It is from here that the images of harps, ghosts, dormant sounds, as well as a special melody akin to Balmont come from.

Transformation of landscape lyrics into philosophical

Bunin in his poems tried to find the meaning of human life, the harmony of the world. He affirmed the wisdom and eternity of nature, which he considered an inexhaustible source of beauty. These are the main motifs of Bunin's lyrics, passing through all his work. Ivan Alekseevich always shows human life in the context of nature. The poet was sure that all living things are reasonable. He argued that one cannot speak of nature separate from us. After all, any, even the most insignificant movement of air is the movement of our life.

Gradually, Bunin's landscape lyrics, the features of which we noted, turn into a philosophical one. For the author in the poem now the main thing is thought. Many of Ivan Alekseevich's works are devoted to the theme of life and death. Bunin is very diverse thematically. His poems, however, are often difficult to fit into the framework of any one topic. This is worth mentioning separately.

Thematic facets of poems

Speaking about the lyrics of Ivan Alekseevich, it is difficult to clearly define the themes of his poetry, since it is a combination of various thematic facets. The following facets can be distinguished:

• poems about life
• about her joy
• about childhood and youth
• about sadness
• about loneliness.

That is, Ivan Alekseevich wrote in general about a person, about what touches him.

"Evening" and "The Sky Opened"

One of these facets are poems about the world of man and the world of nature. So, "Evening" is a work written in the form of a classic sonnet. Both Pushkin and Shakespeare have philosophical and love sonnets. Bunin, in this genre, sang the world of nature and the world of man. Ivan Alekseevich wrote that we always only remember happiness, but it is everywhere. Perhaps this is the "autumn garden behind the barn" and clean air pouring through the window.

People are not always able to look at familiar things with an unusual look. We often simply do not notice them, and happiness eludes us. However, neither bird nor cloud escapes the poet's keen eye. It is these simple things that bring happiness. Its formula is expressed in the last line of this work: "I see, I hear, I am happy. Everything is in me."

This poem is dominated by the image of the sky. This image is connected, in particular, with the assertion of the eternity of nature in Bunin's lyrics. He is the leitmotif in all the poetic work of Ivan Alekseevich. The sky represents life, because it is eternal and extraordinary. His image is depicted, for example, in the verse "The sky opened up." Here it is the center of reflection on life. However, the image of the sky is closely connected with other images - light, day, birch. All of them seem to illuminate the work, and the birch gives a satin light.

Reflection of modernity in Bunin's lyrics

It is noteworthy that when the revolution had already begun in Russia, its processes were not reflected in the poetic work of Ivan Alekseevich. He remained true to the philosophical theme. It was more important for the poet to know not what was happening, but why it was happening to a person.

Ivan Alekseevich correlated modern problems with eternal concepts - life and death, good and evil. Trying to find the truth, he turned in his work to the history of various peoples and countries. So there were poems about ancient deities, Buddha, Mohammed.

It was important for the poet to understand according to what general laws an individual and society as a whole develop. He recognized that our life on earth is only a segment of the eternal existence of the Universe. From here appear the motives of fate and loneliness. Ivan Alekseevich foresaw the coming catastrophe of the revolution. He considered it to be the greatest misfortune.

Ivan Bunin sought to look beyond reality. He was interested in the mystery of death, the breath of which can be felt in many of the poems of this author. The destruction of the nobility as a class, the impoverishment of the landowners' estates, made him feel doomed. However, despite the pessimism, Ivan Alekseevich saw a way out, which is the fusion of man with nature, in its eternal beauty and peace.

Bunin's lyrics are very versatile. Briefly, within the framework of one article, only its main features can be noted, only a few examples can be given. Let's say a few words about the love lyrics of this author. She is also very interesting.

love lyrics

In Bunin's works, the theme of love is one of the most frequently encountered. Ivan Alekseevich often sang this feeling both in verse and in prose. The poetry of love by this author anticipates the famous cycle of stories by Bunin

Poems dedicated to this theme reflect various shades of love feelings. For example, the work "The sadness of shining and black eyelashes ..." is filled with the sadness of parting with his beloved.

"The sadness of eyelashes shining and black ..."

This poem consists of two stanzas. In the first of them, the author recalls his beloved, whose image still lives in his soul, in his eyes. However, the lyrical hero bitterly realizes that his youth has passed, and his former lover can no longer be returned. His tenderness in the description of the girl is emphasized by various means of expression, such as metaphors ("sadness of eyelashes", "eye fire", "diamonds of tears") and epithets ("heavenly eyes", "rebellious tears", "shining eyelashes").

In the second stanza of the poem, the lyrical hero thinks about why his beloved still comes to him in a dream, and also recalls the delight of meeting this girl. These reflections are expressed in the work by rhetorical questions, which, as you know, should not be answered.

"What's ahead?"

Another poem on a love theme - "What lies ahead?" It is filled with an atmosphere of calm and happiness. To the question "What lies ahead?" the author replies: "Happy long journey." The lyrical hero understands that happiness awaits him with his beloved. However, he sadly thinks about the past, does not want to let him go.

Bunin's lyrics: features

In conclusion, we list the main features that are characteristic of Bunin's lyrical poetry. This is the brightness of details, the desire for descriptive detail, laconism, classical simplicity, poeticization of eternal values, especially native nature. In addition, the work of this author is characterized by a constant appeal to symbolism, a wealth of subtext, a close connection with Russian prose and poetry, and a gravitation towards the philosophical. He often echoes his own stories.

The Nobel Prize winner Bunin began his career as a poet. He was greatly influenced by such poets as Nikitin, Koltsov, and partly Nekrasov. They sang of Russian nature, the countryside, poetized the peasantry, and in this they were close to Bunin. Bunin was not attracted by experiments, the search for a new technique of versification.
The themes of Bunin's poetry are not very diverse. Basically, these are poems about nature. Poems on a peasant theme are almost absent, except for "The Village Beggar", in the center of which is the image of a homeless old man, tortured by poverty. Civic motifs are also rare (“Giordano Bruno”, “The Poet”, “Over the Grave of S. Ya. Nadson”).
The leading place in Bunin's poetry is occupied by landscape lyrics. In it, he reflected the signs of nature in the Oryol region, which the poet passionately loved. Poems about nature are written in gentle, soft colors and resemble the picturesque landscapes of Levitan. A vivid example of a verbal landscape is the poem “Russian Spring”. Observation, fidelity in the transmission of light, smell, color, the poem “A full month stands high ...” is noteworthy. Bunin's landscape lyrics are sustained in the traditions of Russian classics (“Autumn”, “Autumn Landscape”, “In the Steppe”).
Bunin's early poems are full of a sense of the joy of being, their unity, fusion with nature. In the poem "Thaw" the harmony of the poet and the world is conveyed:
And, reveling in beauty,
Only in it breathing more fully and wider,
I know that all living things in the world
Lives in the same love with me.
Bunin's external description does not differ in bright colors, but is saturated with internal content. A person is not an observer, a contemplator of nature, but, in the words of Tyutchev, a “thinking reed”, a part of nature:
No, it's not the landscape that attracts me,
The greedy gaze will not notice the colors,
And what shines in these colors:
Love and joy of being.
Bunin is attracted not by the static, the stillness of the landscape, but by the eternal change of state. He knows how to capture the beauty of a single moment, the very state of transition. Moreover, in this single moment, the poet sees the eternity and indestructibility of nature (“Zarnitsa face, like a dream ...”, the poem “Falling Leaves”), Love for nature is inseparably linked with love for the motherland. This is not an open, declarative patriotism, but a lyrically colored feeling, diffused in the descriptions of pictures of native nature (“Motherland”, “Motherland”, “In the Steppe”, the cycle “Rus”).
In later verses, a feature characteristic of Bunin's poetry clearly emerges:
... in my joy there is always longing, in longing there is always a mysterious sweetness.
This longing for beauty, harmony, which is less and less in the surrounding life. The images of night twilight, the melancholy of autumn slush, the sadness of abandoned cemeteries are constant in the poems, the theme of which is the ruin of noble nests, the death of manor estates (“And I dreamed ...”, “The world was empty ... The earth has cooled ...”).
Not only nature, but also ancient legends, myths, religious traditions nourish Bunin's poetry. In them, Bunin sees the wisdom of the ages, finds the fundamental principles of the entire spiritual life of mankind (“Temple of the Sun”, “Saturn”),
Bunin's poetry has strong philosophical motives. Any picture - everyday, natural, psychological - is always included in the universal, in the universe. The poems are permeated with a sense of surprise before the eternal world and an understanding of the inevitability of one's own death (“Loneliness”, “Rhythm”).
Bunin's poems are short, concise, they are lyrical miniatures. His poetry is restrained, as if "cold", but this is a deceptive "coldness". Rather, it is the absence of pathos, poses that outwardly express the “pathos of the soul”.

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We are known not only as a prose writer, but also as a poet, with beautiful and memorable poems. Bunin begins his literary work by writing poems, presenting readers with a personality with a special view of the world. Bunin's poetic activity developed under the influence of Nikitin and Koltsov, who sang of the peasantry and Russian nature. All these topics were close to Bunin.

Themes and motifs of Bunin's lyrics

In general, the poet's lyrical world was not rich in a variety of topics. Basically, the writer writes about his native nature, where he draws its beauty, and also reminds us that nature and man are inseparable. In the work of Bunin, as a poet, among the motives and images of his lyrics, the theme of childhood is visible. The author writes about the beginning of life, about children, about the discovery of the world. Often revealing the theme of childhood, Bunin depicts pictures of the evening period, when children are preparing to go to bed. Maybe that's why many of his works are somewhat similar to lullabies.

Through the lines of his poems, through the main motifs of his lyrics, Bunin reveals to the reader the theme of the present and the past, philosophically reflecting on the brevity of human existence. Bunin's poetry is a special, harmonious world. As Gorky said, if Bunin and his poetry are thrown out of literature, then it will immediately fade, losing its iridescent brilliance.

In general, the theme of the Motherland has always remained the main theme and motives of Bunin's lyrics, but the writer also touched on other topics, although they are not so diverse.

Bunin's love lyrics

A person who writes about the beauty of nature and man cannot pass by the theme of love, so Bunin is also concerned about the mystery of this feeling. Love lyrics were not the main ones in his work and poetry, therefore Bunin has few poems on the love theme. If we get acquainted with the love lyrics in Bunin's work, then we will understand that, although they are saturated with a thirst for love, they are always filled with tragedy, unfulfilled hopes, and memories.

Eternal and transient in Bunin's lyrics

Bunin's lyrics, peculiar and unique in their artistic style, with their themes and motifs, are multifaceted and rich. It is filled with philosophical questions about the meaning of life, about the eternal and the transient. In the lines of Bunin's poems one can read confusion, disappointment, but at the same time one feels faith in life. And the poet's lyrics are filled with light and majesty. In his poems, the poet reflects the theme of memory, touches on the past, reflects on the relationship between nature and man, raises the theme of death and life. Bunin does not believe that he will ever pass away, because he felt the eternity of matter and believed in the continuity of being.

Loneliness and nature in Bunin's lyrics

As we have already said, Bunin wrote very often about nature. But, as the poet wrote, it was not the landscape that attracted him and he did not seek to notice the colors, but the fact that love and the joy of being shine in these colors. Describing nature, the poet made it possible to understand the state of mind of the lyrical hero and his experiences. Meanwhile, the hero of Bunin's works is constantly sad about his youth and experienced moments. He tries to look into the future and accept the past.
Speaking about the state of the heroes of Bunin's poems, this is eternal loneliness, and the theme of loneliness is played up by the writer in different ways. So we can see that loneliness is like grace for the soul, and it can also turn out to be a dark prison, imprisonment for the soul.

The fullness and joy of being, interpreted as "Bunin's sensuality", do not contradict the Christian worldview. The world created by God is complete, perfect, cannot but please a person and cause him admiration. I.A. Bunin especially deeply and subtly felt that "union of love" and "harmony" with which "God bound the whole world, consisting of heterogeneous parts." “Love and Joy of Existence as a Christian Dominant of I.A. Bunina refutes the widespread doctrine of Buddhist influence on the foundations of the artist's worldview.

The motif of "sweetness" is one of the prevailing in the poet's lyrical work, and the tropes formed from the word "sweetness" are most frequent in his poetic works. "Sweetness" as a taste quality is a manifestation of I.A. Bunin. However, sweetness is not related to taste. Sweet at I.A. Bunin can be smell, sound, light, name, sensation, memory. Consequently, sweetness becomes the main characteristic of a person's perception of "God's world", the leitmotif of his poetry: "God's world is sweet again" ("They became smoke, they became taller", 1917), "God's world is so sweet to the heart" (1947), etc. . The transfer of this perception of the world into the heart of a person animates him, transfers him from the category of simple tactile sensuality to the spiritual level. Natural world I.A. Bunin did not perceive it as a "temptation". For him, natural beauty is sinless.

Spiritualized, “sweetness” becomes a characteristic of that worldview, which I.A. Bunin called "paradise sensuality." Most of all, it is characteristic of the nature of the artist and inherent in the lyrical subject of his poetry. In theological literature, the concept of "sweetness of paradise" is a stable phrase, and the sweetness of "God's world" in the creative heritage of I.A. Bunin is due to the "traces" of paradise in the world and man, which the poet is tirelessly looking for.

The motives of paradise and the biblical scenes and images associated with it are included in the poetry of I.A. Bunin as the most significant in his picture of the world.

Paradise is found in many poems by I.A. Bunin ("Paradise Lost", "The Ancient Abode Opposite the Moon", etc.), acquiring a dominant position in his creative mind and, at the same time, receiving various semantic content. From the very beginning in the poetry of I.A. Bunin, a geographical paradise appears. Travels in the Holy Land and a trip to Ceylon contributed to the intensification of the search for an earthly paradise in those places where, according to various legends, he was. Striving for authenticity, originality, I.A. Bunin is looking for evidence at the level of natural symbols. At the same time, paradise is perceived by I.A. Bunin as the ancestral home of mankind common to all people. In this regard, in his poetry, the "geographical paradise" acquires the exotic features of the "paradise" of Ceylon. The motifs of the “earth of the ancestors”, “red clay”, from which Adam was created, the beauty and sweetness of earthly life become common. At the same time, the “tropical paradise” of I.A. Bunin actualizes the motive of temptation, since Ceylon is perceived by him as the heavenly places of Adam and Eve, where the feeling of the constant tempting power of life is reflected. For I.A. Bunin, the sensually experienced "geography" is aesthetically significant. Wanderings in "paradise places" turn out to be movement both in space and in time. Geographical realities are "remembered" by the poet-traveler, as they have already become the subject of artistic development in the Bible. The authenticity of the places surrounding the lyrical narrator is the main indicator of their significance, and the accuracy in the description of the path is a necessary condition for the poetic reflection of reality.

Travel I.A. Bunin to the holy places of Christianity, which he called a pilgrimage, bring a Christological dimension to his hero's search for the "lost paradise". The way the lyrical subject and the narrator experiences the events of the earthly life of Christ is a synthesis of the memory of culture, the intuition of the artist and a special poetic gift. As a result, the journey “in the footsteps of Christ” turns out to be the “acquisition” of Christ in the Gospel for the Bunin subject. For I.A. Bunina Christ is important as a real winner of death, as a winner of Satan. Christ is realized by him as the eternal Essence of the world. Travels of I.A. Bunin were both sensually experienced and spiritually meaningful "return" of Adam to the "lost paradise".

The most frequent landscape image of paradise in line with the biblical and cultural tradition of I.A. Bunin becomes a garden, which symbolizes "eternal and fragrant beauty", which can be sensually felt. I.A. Bunin rarely describes a blooming garden that corresponds to human ideas about paradise. As a rule, the poet depicts a garden in early spring or late autumn. Unlike the classical tradition, the autumn or spring garden at I.A. Bunina is most often an “empty”, “naked” garden. Trees or air in such a garden give a visual effect of a harmoniously holistic universe in which a person feels "the happiness of life." The garden is the most frequent "sign" of the creative state of the lyrical hero - a special feeling of freedom. The autumn or spring garden actualizes the image of Adam and the motif of the "lost paradise" at the level of a lyrical hero, for whom his "heavenly sensuality" becomes "paradise returned".

For I.A. Bunin, Russia becomes "Paradise Lost" ("Paradise Lost", 1919). In this poem, which is written in the traditions of the folk spiritual verse "Adam's Lament", the author's attitude towards the Russian people, who found themselves in the position of the progenitors of mankind expelled from paradise, succumbed to temptation, the social revolution, is clearly traced. The spiritual aspect is especially significant in this poem. The presence of Adam and Christ in the semantic space of one text testifies to the exact following of I.A. Bunin to the position that the sacrifice of the Savior is called to atone for the original sin of the forefathers. The final penitential "prayer" of the fallen forefathers, who personified the Russian people, echoes the poet's prophetic words that humanity is destined to "return" to Nazareth as the "father's abode" of the entire Christian world ("On the Way from Nazareth", 1912). Having survived "the fall of Russia and the fall of man", in poems of 1917-1923. I.A. Bunin penetrates more deeply into the Christian meaning of history.

In the work of I.A. Bunin, the integral biblical paradigm of the "lost paradise" is preserved in the system of motifs and images characteristic of it. The sensually experienced memory of paradise, "overgrown" with religious, cultural and landscape symbols, becomes the dominant feature of his poetry.

Biblical anthropology, which is present in the world of I.A. Bunin at the level of images and motives and the level of universal models of a person (“the heroes” of his poetry are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samson, Rachel, etc.), allowed him to show different facets of a person in his personal and spiritual manifestations.

For I.A. Bunin, the most interesting is the biblical image of Adam. It is relevant for I.A. Bunin in two aspects.

In the anthropological aspect, while maintaining the basis of the biblical meaning, which represents Adam as a person in general, an exile from paradise, a progenitor, I.A. Bunin endows his Adam with an individual author's characteristic - "a living passion" ("Satan to God", 1903-1906). In poetry, the "living passion" of Bunin's Adam is transformed into the creative ability of the lyrical hero to remember paradise. So, transforming into a heavenly worldview of a creative person, his sensual experiences acquire spiritual characteristics. In the lyrics of I.A. Bunin, a person acts in the "role" of Adam, who retained the creative ability to return the "lost paradise".

For the poet, Adam is relevant in line with Christian anthropology as a holistic and harmonious person who, on the one hand, has a god-like status (in the image and likeness of the Creator), and on the other hand, is co-natural with the created world (“from the dust of the earth”). It is these characteristics that the lyrical hero receives in his work.

In his works, I.A. Bunin quite often used the images of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, as well as the motives of the Apocalypse. Spirituality of I.A. Bunin is not limited only to them. In his works, he also uses the images of the Koran, liturgical images, apocrypha. The landscape acquires mystical features, especially the image of the starry sky. One of the most striking poems, embodying the mysterious imagery and content, is "Sirius":

Where are you, my cherished star,

A crown of heavenly beauty?

Charm unrequited

Snows and lunar heights?

Where youth is simple, pure,

In the circle of beloved and dear,

And the old house, and resinous spruce

In white snowdrifts under the window?

Blaze, play with centicolor power,

inextinguishable star,

Above my distant grave,

Forgotten by God forever! .

The image of Sirius, "the crown of heavenly beauty", biplanes. This, on the one hand, is the brightest star of the Northern Hemisphere, the crown of light of the northern night sky, and on the other hand, it is also an indication of the crown of otherworldly, supernatural, heavenly beauty, the Divine ideal and standard of beauty. The image, from our point of view, associatively points to Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, overcoming the universal disgrace - sin and its consequences - death. It is about God and eternity that the last two lines, which largely accumulate the content of the work, contain the image of the grave: “Forgotten by God forever.”

In the first two stanzas, which begin with rhetorical questions, there is a loss, probably irretrievable, of a star, youth, small homeland, fatherland, and, ultimately, life. In the third stanza, which implies an ellipse of significant meaning, the image of a “far grave” is created, that is, the death of a lyrical hero is depicted. However, in "Sirius" death is a fait accompli, and, as it becomes obvious upon re-reading, the initial moment of the emergence of a lyrical plot, and, therefore, a semantic ellipse is also assumed before the first stanza.

The grave acquires a concrete sign. She appears before us abandoned, far from her homeland. By its nature, Bunin's image is cosmic, mystical. It contains all three worlds of mystery - the world of the dead, "underground" ("grave"); the world of the valley (far grave - spatial, "earthly" characteristic); finally, the heavenly world is a blazing "inextinguishable star" and God. In this regard, the lyrical plot of this poem lies in the literal overcoming of death, in the ascent from "hell" through the earthly world to the heavenly world, similar to what Jesus Christ did, who immediately after his death descended into hell, destroyed it, resurrected and ascended through forty days to heaven.

The leitmotif of the poem by I.A. Bunin is the ascent of the lyrical hero from "hell", in which all people, including the Old Testament righteous, were located, before the coming into the world of Christ and His Resurrection, through overcoming death - resurrection into the heavenly world with his spirit, and not the body.

I. Bunin's attention is attracted by the state of the world at the moment of God's revelation, the transitional, most crucial moment when the issue of life and death is being decided. In the interpretation of I.A. Bunin's theme of the Apocalypse reveals the immensity and triumph of power over a person of higher powers, incomparably superior to his capabilities. Before us is a state of the world that no longer has itself:

And there will be an hour: the moon is at its zenith

Come in and stand over me

The forest will flood with white

And the dead will bare the granite

And the world will freeze - on weight ....

In the system of apocalyptic motifs, the poet depicts the death of the Saint:

And the hot sun hid in the forests,

And the star powder turned white.

And he understood, having reached the limit,

Numbered, he is weighed in the balance.

That's just a breath in the hair,

Here again the heart fell and fainted;

How the forest freezes, that the body gets cold in a moment,

And the abyss in the sky shines with snow.

Grass in dew. Swamp with milky smoke

Lies in the forest. He's on his knees. With Eternal..

The Apocalypse in the artistic picture of I. Bunin demonstrates the absolute superiority of the world Power, God over man.

Bunin's works also reflected an independent artistic understanding of the events of the Savior's earthly life and the realities associated with them, primarily the Holy Land.

Among the realities of the Holy Land, to which Bunin repeatedly returned, Jericho occupies a special place. “Jericho (in Jewish sources Jericho) is a famous city that lay within the tribe of Benjamin. The usual meaning of the word is the following: fragrant, fragrant, but, according to some interpreters, it means a month or moon, which the founders of Jericho may have idolized.<…>Jericho - the city of palm trees and Jericho roses, for which it was so famous, now almost does not exist.

Attention is drawn to the characteristic features of cultural associations associated with Jericho and the fact that this description was known to the writer himself and had some influence on his works of art.

The dominant style of his works, which is focused on description, is the landscape associated with the complexly organized artistic time of the work. Bunin's lyrical landscape, embodying the image of the Holy Land, is symbolic. It contains direct references to the great events that took place here and to the Bible that conveys their sacred meaning. According to the poet ("Valley of Jehoshaphat"), “On the hard slopes stone slabs / Stand with the open Book of Genesis” .

The poem "Jericho" (1908) is replete with details of the landscape, sometimes unexpected in the development of an unusually responsible and rich in traditions literary theme. The work opens with the following line: "Sliding, flowing lights of green flies" .

In the next stanza, the poet draws something very far from the expectations of Salvation and Life associated with the Holy Land - the Dead Sea: "Hot and foggy over the Dead Sea".

The landscape is not only not pleasing, but languid, almost oppressive:

And a vague rumble, trembling, conjures the ear.

It's the murmur of frogs. It goes on relentlessly

Calling, tormenting ...

But the midnight hour is deaf.

In accordance with the existing descriptions and personal impressions of I.A. Bunin draws Jericho not as a "city of palm trees" and Jericho roses. His image is dominated by pictures of desolation and savagery, where, it seemed, all the reminder of the fact that the most important events took place here, saving for man to this day:

At the bottom of languor. Sickening and sweet

Mimosas smell. Sugarcane

It burns from flies ... And the fever is dormant,

Under the toad's delirium, throwing back his pale face " .

The quoted final lines of the poem contain the personification fever, which translates the work into another - folklore, fabulous, mythopoetic plan.

In Jericho, fever as an image is introduced in the final episode, the key to the work. As a matter of fact, fever as a personification, it semantically includes the entire previous gloomy landscape, its external, visible and perceived side. The image of the abandoned ancient city is no longer striking with devastation, but with a strange, unexpected, perhaps impure and inappropriate life there - and at the same time not devoid of some kind of secret charm - life. Thanks to such details, the landscape in the poem "Jericho" turns out to be transformed, possessing additional semantic planes. Such a transformation, a semantic transformation of the landscape is emphasized by the word order. The detail significant for its interpretation is usually found at the end of a phrase or sentence. In each of the first three stanzas, it is reinforced by hyphenation. Thus, if the first line quoted contains only a faint allusion to light (“the fires of the flies”), then in the next sentence, underlined by the transfer, it becomes much more specific: “sultry and foggy from the light of the stars.”

The biblical allusion in the third line leaves no doubt about the special nature of the symbolism of the landscape. Transfer with semantic functions is used again. The new semantic plan, which appears so vividly in the poem for the first time, in addition to hyphenation and the position of the end of the sentence, is also enhanced by the punctuation mark - dash: "The sand in the distance is like manna".

In biblical sources, manna is “bread sent by God to the Israelites in the wilderness during their 40-year journey”, the Creator’s visible concern for the salvation and deliverance of his people in a difficult moment for them. In view of the foregoing, the meaning of the final line of the first stanza is: "And a vague rumble, trembling, conjures hearing" is changing.

This is no longer just a detail of an alarming, gloomy landscape. The “vague rumble” and its witchcraft are rather an indication of a different, supernatural, purifying, Divine principle.

However, I.A. Bunin does not just point to God through the details of the landscape. In a poetic way, he conveys the main idea of ​​the Holy Scriptures and realizes the Creator's plan for the salvation of mankind. So, after the Book of Exodus (1st stanza), which conveys the visible, spatial path of the people through the desert to deliverance from slavery and genuine service, the poet gives another fundamentally significant allusion. He creates the image of the last prophet of the Old Testament and the first prophet of the New Testament, John the Baptist - the greatest of the people born of women, connecting both Testaments:

It's the murmur of frogs.<…>

Heeds them, maybe only the Spirit

Among the stones in the wilderness of John" .

Due to the peculiarities of poetic syntax, I.A. Bunin creates a very ambiguous image. The spirit receives its ultimate concretization in the image of the God-man.

The poet not only introduces a new allusion, but also semantically additionally loads or, in accordance with the mystical component of the lyrical plot and the peculiar spiritual ascent of the lyrical hero, clarifies the images-details of the landscape already created by him - the stars, perceived in the 1st stanza as a timid allusion to the otherworldly :

There, between the stars, a sharp peak blackens

Post Mountains. Slightly flickering lamp" .

The key allusion for the work - Mount Lent, reminiscent of the forty-day fast of the Savior and the temptations that He overcame, is emphasized by the transfer. However, as in a number of prose works (“Light Breath”, “The Gentleman from San Francisco”), it is, in fact, hidden and forms the semantics of the work in such a way that the attentive reader has the opportunity to freely join the image of Mystery and Eternity. as well as to the true content of the poem.

With regard to following the Bible and the providential Way of the salvation of mankind, which is reflected in the text, I.A. Bunin takes the next necessary step. From the Ministry of the Savior, he poetically passes to His Church, the head of which he was and remains. This happens through the landscape, or rather through its special internal form. The contrast between light and darkness (“it turns black between the stars”) finds its resolution in an image that has a liturgical character - “The lamp is slightly glowing”. Seen “between the stars”, the Top of Mount Lent reminds the poet of a burning lamp, a sign of continuous prayer and unceasing spiritual wakefulness. At the same time, a burning lamp is one of the important and necessary attributes of a temple (or a house as an analogue of a temple), which is an indication of the unceasing ministry of the Church of Christ, which God founded by His earthly Ministry and, in particular, overcoming the temptations of Satan on Mount Lent (the first step actual Service).

In such a context of a lyrical plot, which has a clearly expressed mystery plan, the quoted final quatrain is comprehended in a different way. It is perceived not as an image of the triumph of desolation, of “low” life, but as the sacrament of the Incarnation and Salvation, requiring love and attention to oneself.

It is the landscape, according to I.A. Bunin, allows you to associatively link the time of Rachel (distant antiquity, almost eternity) and the artistic present. The name Rachel is one of those that unites the theme of love and the Holy Land in Bunin's work, while giving an unexpected, deeply personal and unique experience of the authenticity of the Holy History:

"I approach in the dusk timidly

And with awe I kiss the chalk and dust

On this stone, convex and white ...

The sweetest of earthly words! Rachel!("Tomb of Rachel").

A small but semantically rich work by I.A. Bunin also has a deeper plan. Its main theme is the overcoming of death and eternal life. This is already mentioned in the first sentence: "As a sign of faith in eternal life, in the resurrection from the dead, in the East in ancient times they put the Rose of Jericho in the coffin, in the grave." The theme of such a scale is solved by the writer not just lyrically, but based on the techniques of the poetic in prose.

I.A. Bunin did not emphasize his religiosity. He lived, absorbing the system of religious values, feeling his blood relationship with the earthly and the Divine, which found full and adequate expression in his work.

Bunin's poetry is a unique phenomenon of the cultural era at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, which largely reflected and, in accordance with the characteristics of the individual author's style, uniquely refracted its characteristic features. The poet perceives and comprehends biblical images and motifs in a new way, from the position of a person living in the 20th century.

Portrait images in the works of I.A. Bunin is not only a description of the appearance that characterizes the hero from all sides, not only a reflection of his inner world, but also the result of working on himself, his inner world. Therefore, the active use of icon-painting images and plots in the work of I.A. Bunin is quite logical (poems: "Mother", "New Temple", "Rachel's Tomb", "Jerusalem", "Sabaoth", "Michael", "Flight to Egypt", "Kupala's Eve", etc.). The image of the Virgin in this list occupies a special place.

I.A. Bunin directly or indirectly, using the associative series, introduces the image of the patroness, the Mother of the whole world, who gave humanity the Savior and salvation, wisdom and hope. The poet believes in Divine compassion to Man on his difficult life path.

The images that the poet creates are not declared as biblical either in the title or in the plot of the work. However, the author embodies them in such a way that the connection between the artistic content and the Holy Scripture becomes obvious. So, in the poem “Mother” (1893), the reader is presented with a night picture of a snowstorm, a farm lost in the steppe, a dead house, an image of a mother rocking a child in her arms:

And days and nights until the morning

Storms raged in the steppe,

And the milestones were covered with snow,

And they brought the farms.

They broke into the dead house -

And the glass in the frames rattled,

And the snow is dry in the ancient hall

Circling in the dusk of the night.

But there was a fire - not quenched,

Shined in the annex at night,

And mother went there all night,

Eyes do not close until dawn.

She's a flickering candle

Covered with an old book

And putting the child on his shoulder,

Everyone sang and walked ... .

Everyday sketch, which is overgrown with symbolic details, in the context of the poem turns into a generalized philosophical picture of the universe. In it, maternal compassion for her child is conveyed as the intercession of the Mother of God for the entire human race, caught in an endless life storm:

When is the storm in a wild rush

A sudden squall swooped in, -

It seemed to her that the house was trembling,

Called for help in the steppe..

A description of a snowstorm, a dead house, a crying mother with a child in her arms, trying to save the fire of a candle and an old book - all these motifs are combined into a dramatic plot that is as generalized as possible, conveys a picture of the world and determines the place of a person in this world.

The theme of a global catastrophe, global fear of the threat of death, of a universal blizzard, and the motherly intercession of the Mother of God for all living people is presented in such poems by I.A. Bunin, as "Mother" (1893), "Kupala's Eve" (1903), "Flight to Egypt" (1915), etc. Using gospel stories and icon-painting, the author thereby not so much reflects epoch-making apocalyptic moods, but rather emphasizes faith in salvation and divine protection. The poet emphasizes that the Mother of God, protecting and saving the Baby, saves the world.

It should be noted the special role of anaphora and dots, which, together with numerous imperfective verbs ("raged", "swept", "carried", "rushed" etc.) create an unlimited temporal space in the work: just as the change of day and night (“both days and nights”) is endless, so is the storm of life, so true and reliable is the “flickering candle” in it, which gives faith and hope for protection and patronage in this gloomy, gray world. Indicative is the fact that in the text of the poem the verb “shielded” is used, which I.A. Bunin emphasizes the undoubted, absolute intercession of the Mother of God. Hence the intonational opposition: the deliberate anaphora of the first stanza (emphasizing and as if repeating the howling of the wind) is suddenly interrupted by the opposing union “but” and the biblical turn “but there was fire - not quenching ...” (Compare with the text of the Gospel: And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not embrace him (John 1:5)).

It seems to us that images, houses, books and candles have a special meaning in the context of the text of the poem. Of course, a candle is a symbol of faith, an “old book” has a transparent allusion to the Book of Books, and the image of a house is associated with understanding the human soul. A candle can save this house - faith in Divine compassion.

It is noteworthy that the strophic design of the text carries a special emotional load. The poem consists of three stanzas. There are 8 lines in the first two stanzas, 13 in the last. The five-line last stanza, in which the concrete grows to the size of the universal, acquires a philosophical meaning and develops into the climax of the entire poem.

When is the storm in a wild rush

A sudden flurry grew, -

It seemed to her that the house was trembling,

That someone is a weak, distant cry

Called for help in the steppe.

The dramatic dynamics of the poem, which is conveyed through the description of the landscape, is aimed at creating a poetic icon-painting image. The image itself is given in the last 4 lines of the poem, in which the image of the Virgin with the baby in her arms becomes obvious. Therefore, the title of the poem acquires a generalized symbolic meaning - a mother as an intercessor for all people who find themselves in a difficult life situation and need compassion and help. The image, prepared by the dramatic plot of the poem, is given both as the result of the work, and as a picturesque confirmation of what was said, and as a discovery, as an insight, as a beacon necessary for salvation. The dynamics of the poem is replaced by a small description of the portrait of a mother with a baby in her arms. The image is conveyed through the appeal of the eyes of the mother and baby to the reader. And this becomes enough for the portrait to turn into an icon-painting face:

And until the morning more than once with tears

Her weary eyes shone

And the boy shuddered, looked

Big dark eyes... .

Thus, the epic plot in the poem, combined with a sketch of the landscape, a number of symbolic details and images, special intonation-syntactic constructions and turns, turns out to be a means of creation not only for creating a portrait of the heroine, but also for recreating and “revitalizing” the icon-painting image conveyed in motion. .

In the poem "Mother" I.A. Bunin reveals not only the theme of the Apocalypse and the intercession of the Virgin for the human race. By transforming a dramatic lyrical plot into a picturesque portrait image, the author recreates the icon-painting plot, and thus the specific lyrical image of a woman turns into the image of the Mother of God - the intercessor of lost and lost people. Thus, a concrete everyday plot conflict is transformed into a portrait sketch, and then, with the help of a magical artistic word, it grows to the maximum degree of generalization and symbolic interpretation.

Signs of the genre of prayer appear in the early, youthful poems of I.A. Bunin “Under the organ the soul yearns ...” (1889), “In the church” (1889), “Trinity” (1893), etc. Prayer appeal to Christ primarily correlates with the aesthetic experience of the majestic, mysterious space of the temple. The pictorial series of these prayers is based on symbolic generalizations about personal existence in the world, about the presence of Being in the earthly and perishable. The “torment of the cross” of Christ, captured in the crucifixion, turns out to be involved in the lyrical experience of social smallness, the poverty of human life:

O good and sorrowful! Budi

Merciful to the earth!

Meager, poor, miserable people

Both in good and in evil! .

Here we see that direct prayer appeals are combined with a deep reflection on prayer, in which the inquiring, searching spirit of the lyrical "I" is expressed. Through a religious experience, the hero seeks to sanctify the movements of the heart, which are inexpressible in ordinary human language. (“There are holy sounds in the heart, - // Give them a tongue!”), to find in the finite earthly world the enduring joy of God who conquered death and through this to feel the natural cosmos as a temple not made by hands: “The life-giving hymn of nature // Flows to heaven // In it is your temple not made by hands, // Your great temple!”..

In the poem "Trinity", where the prayerful feeling is clothed in landscape images, pictures of peasant labors and holidays, the mysticism of church life and being reveals the innermost depth and life-giving roots of the people's soul, which becomes here the subject of lyrical experience:

You are now from the labor sown fields

He brought here simple offerings as gifts:

Garlands of young birch branches,

Sorrow, a quiet sigh, prayer - and humility ....

Such a youthfully enthusiastic introduction to the prayer experience is also used in later poems by I.A. Bunin. It is associated with the image of childhood - as a time of complete communion with God, which is difficult to achieve in subsequent years.

In the poem “An early dawn is fresh in April…” (1907), in a lyrical appeal to the Creator, a symbolic gospel picture of the movement of female and infant souls towards a joyful meeting with the sacrament of the Church is depicted:

Accept, Lord, happy mothers,

Open the temple with the shining throne... .

In the autobiographical poem "Michael" (1919), we are presented with a remarkable example of prayer, expressed in a childish sense of the existence of God's temple, the course of a church service, and the penetration of a child's gaze into the image of a formidable archangel, who personifies "the spirit of anger, retribution, punishment." Here the system of images is based on the associative unity of the objective and mystical plans, the direct directness of children's perceptions and the depth of the subsequent reflection of the lyrical "I" about the mystery of the greatness and severity of the angelic world:

Baby I thought about God

And I saw only curls to the shoulders,

Yes, big brown legs,

Yes, Roman armor and a sword ...

The spirit of anger, retribution, punishment!

I remember you Michael

And this temple, dark and old,

Where did you capture my heart!.

I.A. Bunin, the prayerful orientation of lyrical experience is also revealed through an appeal to natural being. In the poem "In the Garden of Gethsemane" (1894), the prayer addressed to the "Lord of the Sorrowful" is conducted on behalf of nature. In the polyphonic prayer structure of the thorn - the future "crown of torment"; "cypress", which is destined to become the material for the cross; the wind, yearning to alleviate the suffering of the Savior with the “caress of aroma” and “announce” His teaching “from the east to sunset”, the mysterious unity of the natural universe is revealed. In the style of this poetic prayer, echoes of ancient tradition and a living, direct appeal to Christ, the image of which appears through the prism of psychological details, merged. The elements of the description and the lyrical monologue mediated by landscape images turn out to be in deep interpenetration:

But again he bowed in anguish,

But again he grieved in soul -

And the gentle wind

His forehead in silence touched ....

Through a solitary dialogue with natural infinity, Bunin's hero ascends to personal prayerful communion with the Creator - as, for example, in the poem "For all of you, Lord, I thank you ..." (1901), where the figurative background of natural and spiritual life describes the transcendental beauty and mystery of this prayerful dialogue-praise, combined with a lyrical confession:

And I'm happy with a sad fate

And there is a sweet joy in the mind,

That I am alone in silent contemplation,

That I am a stranger to everyone and I say - with You..

The discovery of the abyss of the Universe in the process of prayerful appeal to God also occurs in a number of other poems, in different ways leading the lyrical “I” to spiritual renewal. In the poem “Oh the joy of colors!..” (1917), comprehension through prayer of the angelic presence in the human universe allows you to overcome spiritual confusion, “returning to the lost paradise ... languor and dreams.” The late lyrical miniature “And again the sea surface is pale…” depicts an astonished and enthusiastic prayerful thanksgiving to the Creator, realized as the result of everything lived – “for everything in this world // You gave me to see and love…”. The expression of sacred liturgical vocabulary in the poem "A Star Trembles in the midst of the Universe..." (1917) (a star like a "precious" vessel overflowing with moisture) emphasizes the cosmism of poetic experience. In fact, the prayer, permeated with a sense of the mysterious predestination of individual human existence, unfolds here in the question addressed to God: “Why, O Lord, above the world // You raised my being?”.

In the poem "The Eve of Kupala" (1903), we see the involvement of the individual prayer experience of the ancient folk-religious tradition. Here, a mystical image of the world is drawn, appearing in the hypostasis of the temple space, nature (“the golden iconostasis of sunset”), in the center of which is the image of the Mother of God gathering “God's herbs”. The climax here is Her intimate communion with the Son, the meaning of which lies in praying for the triumph in the human world of Love over the forces of Death. Thus, the figurative horizons of the genre of poetic prayer are expanding, combining the existence of the lyrical "I" with the ancient archetypal layers of the folk mystical idea of ​​the mountain world.

The feeling of infinity, which dominates in the poetic prayer of I.A. Bunin, contributed to the release of religious feelings into the supracultural, supra-confessional spheres. In the genre under consideration, the poet often refers to oriental motifs, lyrically refracting the images and plots of the Koran. Thus, the poems "Night of Al-Qadr" (1903) and "Sacred Ashes" (1903-1906) are based on the understanding of the Muslim tradition about Gabriel - the "holy pilgrim", God's messenger to people. The spiritualization of the “earthly dust” performed by Gabriel becomes for the poet an image of the incomprehensible contact of the damaged earthly world with Divine mercy. The solemn odic images of the Sacred texts (“Great Throne”, “Diamond River”), the allegories used in them organically enter the figurative-emotional sphere of Bunin's poetic prayer. In the poem “The Sun is Drowning…” (1905), based on the motives of the Koran, bearing the image of the mysterious “text” of the world of heavenly bodies, the childishly artless immediacy and poetry of the appeal to the Eternal, pouring from the lips of simple “shepherds of the desert”, are sung. Figurative parallelism expressed the dialectic of the decisive energy of prayer and a contrite spirit as an indispensable condition for its fullness:

Let us crumble in the dust before You,

Like a wave on the seashore.