One of the founders of Russian symbolism and a characteristic representative of the poetry of the "silver" age was V. Ya. Bryusov (1873-1924). Difficult to communicate, in his own way related to many phenomena in art, V. Bryusov is one of the founders of modernist poetry in Russia. In 1894-95, Valery Yakovlevich published three collections "Russian Symbolists", the main author of which was the poet himself, who presented samples of the "new poetry". This was the first collective declaration of modernism in Russia. According to Bryusov, symbolism should become "poetry of shades", expressing "subtle, barely perceptible moods." By the end of the 90s of the 19th century, V. Bryusov became one of the most prominent poets of the symbolist orientation. In 1900, the poetic collection "The Third Guard" was published, in which modernity is comprehended through a deepening into history and mythology. The Poetry Collection “To the City and the World” (1903) reflected the impressions and reflections caused by a trip to Italy and France, where V. Bryusov became acquainted with the culture of the Renaissance. The collection was built on the principle of a single compositional whole (which became important for the practice of symbolist poets in general), and was distinguished by genre and thematic diversity. A. Blok spoke enthusiastically about the book, noting that it "has a succession from Pushkin - and in a straight line."

In the lyrics of V. Ya. Bryusov, two leading themes stand out: the historical-mythological and the theme of the city. The symbolist poet perceives the modern world as "shamefully petty, wrong, ugly." Combining the past, present and future, Bryusov tries to find a connecting thread of history. The textbook poem of this subject is "Assargadon", in which a strong, outstanding personality, the Assyrian conquering king of the 7th century BC, is chosen as a lyrical hero. Assargadon, or rather Esarhaddon. On the wall in Syria, inscriptions about his crushing victories have been preserved. The pathos of the poem is the affirmation of an extraordinary personality, prone to proud solitude, since “I have exhausted you to the bottom, earthly glory!” The lyrical hero, King Assargadon is a commander who is able, with the help of his mind, strength, energy, to influence the course of history, the movement of time:

As soon as I assumed power, Sidon rebelled against us. I overthrew Sidon and threw stones into the sea. To Egypt my speech sounded like a law, Elam read fate in my single glance...

The hero is “drunk with the greatness” of his victories, does not know defeats, military failures, but is alone:

And here I stand alone, intoxicated with greatness ...

Describing the king as a man who was overly proud, who forgot about ordinary people, who dreams of exploits as child's play, the poet reveals the tragic essence of a strong personality. The poem is written in the form of a sonnet. In the first two stanzas, the author affirms the power of Assargadon, describing his crushing victories over entire peoples, countries, cities. The last two stanzas of the sonnet are a disappointing result of the devastating campaigns of the king-commander. The pathos of most of the poetic works of V.Ya. Bryusov on historical topics (“Assargadon”, “Antony”, “Alexander the Great”, etc.) is the statement of a strong personality, whose deeds often lead not to creation and progress, but destroy the very foundation of human society. V. Ya. Bryusov represented the movement of history as a change of cultural epochs, occurring under the influence of the internal decomposition of the old world and under the onslaught of uncivilized tribes, barbarians, designed to destroy the past.

V. Ya. Bryusov is concerned about the high rates of development of civilization, general mechanization, the flourishing of cities and, in connection with this, the loss of moral values ​​and moral guidelines by a person. A modern city with a booming industry, with the replacement of manual labor by machine production, causes the poet's fears:

The street was like a storm. Crowds passed, As if they were pursued by the inevitable Doom. Omnibuses, cabs and automobiles rushed by, A furious stream of people was inexhaustible.

"Steel", "brick", "glass", with "iron veins" the city rules over people, being the focus of vice: malice, poverty, depravity. In the poetic world of Valery Bryusov, the city, combining all the horrors of civilization, itself becomes its own executioner and causes irreparable harm to itself:

An insidious snake with a magical look! In a fit of rage you raise a blind knife with your deadly poison above yourself. ("City")

Attracting a person with ephemeral grandeur, scale (You are a tireless enchanter, / You are an unweakening magnet ...), the city is also the center of existing science and industry:

Burning with electricity of the moon On curved long stems; Telegraph strings are ringing In invisible and tender hands... ("Twilight")

The poet's ambivalence towards the city forces V. Bryusov to look for ways out of this situation. And here the artist comes to the aid of a strong personality who will intervene in the process of mechanization of life, challenge the viciousness of modern civilization, overcome everything, and life will again be filled with the energy of struggle, strive for renewal, become capable of changing the world, cause progress world science, art, industry. And as a result, a civilization will flourish, which will reach unprecedented heights: Material from the site

But as soon as I heard the cherished call of the trumpet, As soon as the fiery banners were spread, I - I shout out to you, I am the songwriter of the struggle, I echo the thunder from the sky. Dagger of poetry! Bloody lightning light, As before, ran through this true steel, And again I am with people - because I am a poet. Then, that lightning flashed. ("Dagger")

In Bryusov's poetry, the urban theme echoes the search for a bright, strong personality, capable not only of rebirth and his own rebirth, but also of changing modern civilization, of overcoming the imaginary, empty relationship of the world with art.

In the last years of his life, Bryusov is engaged in translations, writes articles on the theory of versification, the study of Pushkin's work, and Russian literature. In his work, V. Ya. Bryusov combined the strict precepts of classical literature with the search for new poetic means. The poet said the following about his own place in literature: “I want two lines about me in the history of universal literature. And they will."

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Introduction

Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov - poet, prose writer, playwright, critic, translator, literary critic and historian, one of the organizers and recognized leader of Russian symbolism.

Creativity of Valery Bryusov in the context of symbolist poetics

The creative heritage of Valery Bryusov is diverse and multifaceted both in genre and stylistic terms. He is the author of more than ten poetry collections, several novels, as well as novellas, short stories and short stories, dramas, essays, literary and critical articles. The main trends in the development of not only Russian symbolism, but, more broadly, of all Russian literature of the late 19th - early 20th centuries were reflected in the work of Bryusov.

Valery Bryusov was born into a merchant family, where an atmosphere of materialism and atheism reigned. According to Bryusov himself, at the age of eight he read Dobrolyubov and Pisarev. Since childhood, Bryusov's favorite poet was N. Nekrasov, later - S. Nadson. However, a real revelation for Bryusov was his acquaintance with the poetry of the French symbolists C. Baudelaire, P. Verlaine, S. Mallarme. Intensely searching for his own unique path in art and driven by a strong sense of his, in general, self-imposed mission and hypertrophied youthful ambition, Bryusov writes in his diary on March 4, 1893: "Talent, even genius, will honestly give only slow success if It's not enough! It's not enough for me. I have to choose something else... Find a guiding star in the fog. And I see it: it's decadence. Yes! Say what you like, whether it's false, whether it's funny, but it goes forward, develops, and the future will be his, especially when it finds a worthy leader, and that leader will be I! Yes, I am!" .

And then Bryusov (together with a few comrades-in-arms, of whom only A. Miropolsky was a professional writer) performs an experiment unprecedented in its audacity. He is trying to plant in Russia a new literary trend, symbolism, releasing three collections called "Russian Symbolists" (1894-95), which consisted mostly of his own poems, placed under false names, works of his friends, amateur poets , as well as from numerous translations. The resonance caused by the appearance of these collections exceeded the wildest expectations of the author. Paradoxically, the brilliant ironic reviews and parodies of V. Solovyov, who, however, was revered by Bryusov as the forerunner of Russian symbolism, contributed a lot to the popularity of the movement that had barely declared itself.

Of course, such a rapid success and spread of symbolist ideas had grounds in the very literary situation of that time. A new poetics has already begun to take shape, the features of which are found in the work of the so-called pre-symbolists (they include A. Fet, A. Apukhtin, A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, V. Solovyov, sometimes the names of K. Fofanov, K. Sluchevsky are added to this list, M. Lokhvitskaya). However, these features are still reduced only to the expression of the desire to resist "poor realism."

The theoretical foundations of the new art were outlined in D. Merezhkovsky's lecture "On the Causes of the Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature" (published in 1893). Merezhkovsky identified three features that should characterize the art of the future: mystical content, symbols, and the expansion of artistic impressionability. The mystical content was understood as artistic idealism, "a return to the eternal, never dying." Symbols are a central category in later symbolist aesthetics, developed by such prominent theorists of symbolism as V. Ivanov and A. Bely (23 definitions of a symbol are given in the Emblematics of Meaning alone), - Merezhkovsky defined it through a comparison with a word that limits thought , in contrast to the symbol expressing its limitless side, then through the opposition of its allegory, which is not “taken from the depths of reality”, but “artificially invented”.

Art, according to D. Dolgopolov and I. Rodnyanskaya, was understood by the Symbolists as an intuitive comprehension of world unity through symbolic “correspondences” and analogies; music was considered the ancestral basis of life and art. In the work of the Symbolists, the lyrical-poetic principle dominates, based on the belief in the closeness of the poet's inner life to the absolute and in the supra-real or irrational-magical power of poetic speech. However, not all stages of the development of symbolism have these characteristics to the same extent. Thus, the older symbolists paid great attention to the poetics of "correspondences" (due to the focus on French literature) and the development of new forms and techniques of "artistic impressionability", while the younger ones - to the theory of the symbol and mystical content, embodying the idea of ​​"new religious art".

Bryusov prefers metaphors and paraphrases to symbols and allegories, considering the latter as an optional feature of a symbolist work. After the Russian Symbolists, he releases two collections of poems: Chefs d "oeuvre" ("Masterpieces", 1895) and "Me eum esse" ("This is me", 1896), which ends the first period of his creativity. In these collections, some contemporaries saw "attitude", outrageousness, which were fully manifested at the very beginning of the poet's creative path. But it is in "Chefs d" oeuvre "and" Me eum esse "themes and motifs that are rightfully considered discoveries already sound Bryusov.

First of all, this is the theme of the city, the “terrible world” (later picked up by Blok, to whom this definition belongs). Bryusov combines the descriptive style with the style of "aesthetic transformation, re-creation of things", which in symbolism is one of the ways of liberation from the laws of reality. This goal is also served by exoticisms, which play the same role in Bryusov as stylization in K. Balmont, M. Kuzmin and A. Bely. Again, in a new way, unconventionally for Russian literature, the theme of love is revealed in the poet's erotic poems ("Kisses" (1895), "To my Mignon" (1895)) .

One of the most famous poems in the Chefs d "oeuvre" collection - "At Night" demonstrates all the features of Bryusov's style of that period. In it, the city is described through exotic correspondences, Moscow is compared with a "sleeping ostrich female", spreading its wings and stretching out its neck ("silent , black Yauza"). The metaphor unfolds. Initially used for comparison, the images of African nature acquire an independent meaning, turning the Moscow sky into a tropical one, where "constellations sparkle brightly."

Bryusov's metaphors are distinguished by their impressionism, that is, for the poet, the perception of a thing becomes more important than the thing itself, which is thereby “rematerialized”, and the word is freed from the subject. The poetic technique is enriched with inaccurate and truncated rhymes (for example, a forest is a cross, a cloud is about). The use of exoticisms leads to the appearance of exquisite, unexpected rhymes. The introduction of new words into poetic everyday life provides new combination possibilities for those that have long been in Russian poetic vocabulary.

The second period of Bryusov's work was marked by the release of several collections of poems: "Tertia Vigilia" ("The Third Guard", 1900), "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World", 1903), "Stephanos" ("Wreath"), 1906), " All tunes" (1909).

The beginning of the 20th century was the time when younger symbolists, poets and writers, who had a new vision of life and art, followers and preachers of V. Solovyov's ideas, entered the literary arena. Bryusov, who created the symbolist literary school in Russia, could not remain aloof from these trends and tried to understand, or at least come closer to understanding, what dominated the minds of the young symbolists. However, their mystical aspirations were alien to Bryusov. The notorious rationalism did not allow him to recklessly believe in one thing, surrendering to it entirely. Nevertheless, the younger generation fascinated Bryusov, influenced him, which, in particular, affected his understanding of art.

In the treatise “Keys of Secrets”, Bryusov writes: “art is what in other areas we call revelation. The creation of art is a half-open door to eternity, while in an earlier article On Art he insisted that it is only an expression of the artist's soul.

It cannot be said that Bryusov was not at all interested in mysticism. He took a direct part in the seances that became fashionable at the beginning of the 20th century, and until the end of his days he retained faith in them. Bryusov combined an attraction to the mysterious and a desire to scientifically explain it. This opportunity was provided by spiritualism in combination with occultism, the study of which the poet was specially engaged.

In the early 900s, Bryusov created a number of prose and dramatic works. He includes short stories and the futurological drama "Earth" in the book "The Earth's Axis" (1907). In 1905-06, he wrote his most famous novel, The Fiery Angel, based on material from German history. The later novels "Altar of Victory", "Jupiter Defeated", "Rhea Sylvia" (1911-16) are devoted to the history of Ancient Rome, the period of the struggle between paganism and Christianity. It was precisely the transitional periods that interested Bryusov most of all, who looked for analogies in history with the state of the contemporary world and tried to comprehend modernity through these analogies (“correspondences”).

The desire for experimentation was always characteristic of Bryusov. Life, including personal life, became a kind of stage. Performances were played on it, the results of which were then “recorded” in works. In the circle of symbolists, Bryusov played the role of a spokesman for dark forces (one of his poetic masks is the Old Norse god Loki) as opposed to the bright god (White).

In the poetry of this period, the priority role of the theme in relation to other technical means of verse is clearly defined; impressionistic side by side with relative "thingness" (poems "Closed", "World"); contradictory tendencies of rationality and sensuality, will and desire to surrender to the power of elemental principles are combined. D. Maksimov distinguishes two directions in which the inner life of the lyrical hero Bryusov flows: “descent” and “ascent”, in other words, self-giving to the gloomy forces of the “terrible world” and strong-willed opposition, self-affirmation. The latter prevails in the mature work of Bryusov, including in his third period, during which the Mirror of Shadows (1912), Seven Colors of the Rainbow (1916), The Ninth Stone (1916-17), Last Dreams » (1917-19).

After the revolution, Bryusov organized and headed the Higher Literary and Art Institute. In 1919 he joined the RCP(b), a fact emphasizing his desire to overcome isolation, to join a new society in which, as it seemed to him, it was possible to embody the heroic ideal that had occupied the poet's imagination for a long time. In creativity there is a turn to "scientific poetry" (collections "Dali" (1922), "Mea" (1924)). Bryusov supported the idea of ​​Rene Gil about the possibility of such a thing for a long time. However, these verses were overloaded with names and terms, and the discoveries sung by the poet quickly grew old.

Bryusov's idea of ​​creating a grandiose poetic cycle "Dreams of Mankind" was connected with the "scientific" epic of René Gil "Euvre", in which the forms of the lyrics of all times and peoples were to be embodied: Australian natives, Egyptians, early Christians, German romantics, French symbolists and even the inhabitants of the legendary Atlantis. This plan was not carried out in full, which, however, does not negate the brilliant stylistic talent of Bryusov, who wrote the continuation of Pushkin's Egyptian Nights and, by the way, proposed using the devination method when publishing his collected works - additional creation of drafts and sketches. The novel The Fiery Angel, stylized as an autobiographical story of the 16th century, was perceived by one German collector as a real translation of an ancient manuscript.

We are given a feat by someone higher,
And he will ask authoritatively for a report.
Work until the fog falls
Look, the work has just begun!
V. Bryusov

Poetry occupied an important place in the literature of the Silver Age. The era of the rapid development of lyrics has come, bright creative individuals have appeared in poetry, among which one of the first places belongs to V. Ya. Bryusov.

Valery Bryusov is called the leader of Russian symbolism. His work was characterized by selfless devotion to his calling as a poet, passionate service to literature, regardless of the social system. He argued that skill is the most important element of artistic creativity.

In 1894-1895. three collections of poems "Russian Symbolists" were published. As it turned out later, the author of most of the poems was Bryusov, who spoke under various pseudonyms in order to create the impression of the existence of a large association of like-minded poets. The hoax was a success - readers and critics started talking about Russian symbolism.

V. Ya. Bryusov was one of the theorists of Russian symbolism. He expressed his understanding of art in the article "Keys of Secrets" (1904). For him, art is "comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways." At the moment of creative insight, Bryusov believed, poets intuitively comprehend the world around them. It is impossible to rationally convey the contemplated secrets, so the poet is forced to resort to the help of symbolic images. Bryusov's poetry conveys this understanding of art, it expresses the complex and refined perception of the world by the "new man" of the 20th century.

The first poems by Valery Bryusov were published in 1894-1895 and immediately attracted the attention of readers with their unusualness, audacity, and exoticism. The young poet seeks to see the unusual in everyday life, to capture transient feelings in vivid images. Hence the unusual words, strange pictures, unusual comparisons: “Violet hands / On the enamel wall / Sleepily draw sounds / In the sonorous silence” (“Creativity”).

Under the canopy of a captivatingly unsteady foggy square, And the evening kisses with a smile In the eyes - passing hetaerae. ("Twilight")

In his poetry collections of the early 20th century, V. Bryusov touches on many historical topics: ancient Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Napoleonic era. Turning to the heroes of history, Bryusov tries to find in their thoughts and actions something that is consonant with modernity.

The heroes of Bryusov are united by purposefulness, devotion to the chosen path, faith in their historical destiny. Bryusov is attracted by the power of mind and spirit, which allows him to rise above everyday worries, to discover the unknown. But they are always alone, they are not capable of self-sacrifice, they do not have a sense of serving people.

The disconnection of the characters from the surrounding people, alienation lead Bryusov to some picturesqueness, rhetoric, coldness of poetry. Dedicating his poems to "all the gods", the author, in essence, remains indifferent to the content of their case.

Bryusov always gravitated towards urban lyrics - he was the singer of the city, which seemed to him the center of civilization and at the same time a kind of octopus. Bryusov foresaw that Rock would fall on this octopus city. This foreboding of the poet is symbolically expressed in the poem "The Pale Horse": Material from the site

The street was like a storm. Crowds passed, As if they were pursued by the inevitable Doom.

The theme of loneliness, life disorder, defenselessness and weakness of a person are colored lines dedicated to urban life. In the poet’s imagination, “a dying city near a bright star” is increasingly appearing. "A dull and weary world" is drawing to a close. Beyond the fatal line, either slavish obedience to the established order is possible, or an explosion of spontaneous forces of protest.

Bryusov feels the doom of civilization. He considers the approaching revolution inevitable, historically natural, therefore there is no fear in him, no hatred. The forces of the future revolution appear to him as an element, a shaft that moves "through the yet undiscovered Pamirs." The future world will be "the common gift of the coming generations." But how it will be built, on what foundations, who will be the "free man" who will live in it - all this for Bryusov is extremely vague and indefinite.

From his first poetic steps, Bryusov carefully worked on "a refined and complete phrase." A man of encyclopedic education and high culture, the poet encourages the reader to expand his knowledge, teaches respect for human thought, gives pleasure to the mind.

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I got a secret music verse.

V. Bryusov

In literary criticism, it is customary to call modernist, first of all, three literary movements that declared themselves in the period from 1890 to 1917. This is the symbolism of acmeism and futurism, which formed the basis of modernism as a literary movement.

Symbolism - the first and largest of the modernist movements that arose in Russia. The beginning of the theory of Russian symbolism was laid by D. Merezhkovsky, who in 1892 delivered a lecture "On the Causes of the Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature."

Already in March 1894, a small collection of poems with the program name "Russian Symbolists" was published in Moscow, then two more collections with the same name appeared.

Later it turned out that the author of most of the poems in these collections was the novice poet Valery Bryusov, who resorted to several different pseudonyms in order to create the impression of the existence of a whole poetic movement. Indeed, the collections attracted new poets, different in their talents and creative aspirations.

From the very beginning of its existence, symbolism turned out to be a heterogeneous trend: several independent groups took shape in its depths.

According to the time of formation and according to the peculiarities of the worldview position, it is customary to distinguish two main groups of poets in Russian symbolism.

Adherents of the first group, who made their debut in the 1890s, are called "senior symbolists" (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, F. Sologub, and others). In the 1900s, new forces poured into symbolism, significantly updating the appearance of the current (A. Blok, A. Bely, Vyach. Ivanov, etc.)

The accepted designation for the "second wave" of symbolism is "young symbolism". The "senior" and "junior" symbolists were separated not so much by age as by the difference in worldviews and the direction of creativity.

For example, Vyach. Ivanov is older than Bryusov, but he showed himself as a symbolist of the second generation.

Symbolists of different generations not only cooperated, but also clashed with each other. For example, the Moscow grouping of the 1890s, which developed around Bryusov, limited their tasks to the framework of literature proper: the main principle of their aesthetics is "art for art's sake."

On the contrary, the senior symbolists from Petersburg with D. Merezhkovsky and 3. Gippius at the head defended the priority of religious and philosophical searches, considered themselves to be genuine symbolists, and their opponents - "decadent".

In the minds of most readers of that time, the words "symbolism" and "decadence" were almost synonymous, and in the Soviet era, the term "decadence" began to be used as a generic designation for all modernist movements, meanwhile, in the minds of new poets, these concepts were correlated not as homogeneous concepts, but almost like antonyms.

Decadence, or decadence(fr. - decline), - a certain mentality, a crisis type of consciousness, which is expressed in a feeling of despair, impotence, mental fatigue. It is associated with rejection of the surrounding world, pessimism, awareness of oneself as a bearer of a high, but perishing culture. In works that are decadent in mood, extinction, a break with traditional morality, and the will to die are often aestheticized.

In one way or another, decadent moods affected almost all symbolists. Decadent attitudes were characteristic at different stages of creativity and 3. Gippius, and K. Balmont, and V. Bryusov, and A. Blok, and F. Sologub was the most consistent decadent, although the symbolist worldview was not limited to moods of decline and destruction.

Creativity, according to the symbolists, is higher than knowledge. For Bryusov, for example, art is "the comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways." The Symbolists argued that the artist required not only super-rational sensitivity, but the finest mastery of the art of allusion: the value of poetic speech is in “understatement”, “concealment of meaning”. They considered the symbol to be the main means.

Symbol- the central aesthetic category of the new trend. It cannot be taken as a simple allegory, when one thing is said, but something else is meant.

Symbolists believed that the symbol is fundamentally opposed to tropes, for example, allegory, which suggests unambiguous understanding. The symbol, on the other hand, polysemantic: it contains the prospect of a limitless unfolding of meanings.

Here is how I. Annensky wrote about it: “I do not at all need the obligation of one common understanding. On the contrary, I consider the merit of a play if it can be understood in two or more ways, or, if misunderstood, only to feel it and then finish it mentally myself.

"The symbol is a window to infinity" - F. Sologub claimed.

So, for example, Blok's "The Stranger" can be read as a story in verse about a meeting with a charming woman: the subject plan of the central image is perceived in addition to the symbolic possibilities contained in it.

And every evening, at the appointed hour (Is it just my dream?),

Maiden's camp, seized by silks, Moves in a foggy window...

It is possible to “naively-realistically” explain the phenomenon of the Stranger to the lyrical hero as the arrival of a belated visitor to the restaurant. But "The Stranger" is also the author's anxiety about the fate of beauty in the world of earthly vulgarity, and disbelief in the possibility of a miraculous transformation of life, and a dream of other worlds, and a dramatic comprehension of the inseparability of "dirt" and "purity" in this world, etc.

It is important to note that it is not possible to compile any kind of dictionary of symbolic meanings. The fact is that a word or an image is not born as symbols, but becomes them in a context with the author's attitude towards reticence.

Another feature of the works of the Symbolists is that they are sometimes built as a stream of verbal-musical consonances and roll calls. Sometimes such a desire for musical smooth writing becomes hypertrophied.

The swan sailed away in the semi-darkness, Into the distance, turning white under the moon. The waves caress the oar, the lily caresses the moisture...

The symbolist poet did not seek to be universally intelligible. His poem was not so much to convey the thoughts and feelings of the author, but to awaken his own in the reader.

Symbolist lyrics awakened the "sixth sense" in a person, sharpened and refined his perception, developed a kindred artistic intuition.

To do this, the Symbolists tried to make the most of the associative possibilities of the word, turned to the motives and images of different cultures, widely used explicit and hidden quotations.

Mythology has become for them an arsenal of universal psychological and philosophical models, convenient for comprehending the deep features of the human spirit and for embodying modern spiritual problems.

The Symbolists not only borrowed ready-made mythological plots, but also created their own myths. Myth-making was inherent, for example, in the work of F. Sologub, Vyach. Ivanov, A. Bely.

Symbolism sought to become not only a universal worldview, but also a form of life behavior. Such universalism manifested itself in the inclusiveness of the creative searches of artists.

The ideal of personality for the symbolists was thought of as a "man-artist". There was not a single sphere of literary creativity in which the Symbolists did not make an innovative contribution: they updated fiction (especially F. Sologub and A. Bely), raised the art of literary translation to a new level, came up with original dramatic works, actively acted as literary critics, art theorists and literary scholars.

Particular attention in symbolism was paid to the word, the main style was intensely metaphorical. An interesting statement about this by A. Blok in Notebooks: “Every poem is a veil stretched out on the points of a few words. These words shine like stars. Because of them, the poem exists."

Symbolism has enriched Russian poetic culture with many discoveries. The Symbolists gave the poetic word mobility and ambiguity, taught Russian poetry to discover additional shades and facets of meaning in the word.

Therefore, the heritage of symbolism has remained a true treasury for modern Russian culture.

30.03.2013 34573 0

Lessons 20–21
Features of Russian symbolism
as a modernist movement. Bryusov as
the founder of symbolism in Russian poetry

Goals : reveal the features of Russian symbolism; consider the originality of the sound of cross-cutting themes of Bryusov's poetry; develop the skills of analyzing a poetic text.

Course of lessons

I got a secret music verse.

V. Bryusov

I. Checking homework(see homework of the previous lesson).

II. Teacher's lecture.

In literary criticism, it is customary to call modernist, first of all, three literary movements that declared themselves in the period from 1890 to 1917. These are symbolism, acmeism and futurism, which formed the basis of modernism as a literary movement.

Symbolism - the first and largest of the modernist movements that arose in Russia. The beginning of the theory of Russian symbolism was laid by D. Merezhkovsky, who in 1892 delivered a lecture “On reasons for the decline and new trends in modern Russian literature.

Already in March 1894, a small collection of poems with the program name "Russian Symbolists" was published in Moscow, then two more collections with the same name appeared.

Later it turned out that the author of most of the poems in these collections was the novice poet Valery Bryusov, who resorted to several different pseudonyms in order to create the impression of the existence of a whole poetic movement. Indeed, the collections attracted new poets, different in their talents and creative aspirations.

From the very beginning of its existence, symbolism turned out to be a heterogeneous trend: several independent groups took shape in its depths.

According to the time of formation and according to the peculiarities of the worldview position, it is customary to distinguish two main groups of poets in Russian symbolism.

Adherents of the first group, who made their debut in the 1890s, are called "senior symbolists" (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, F. Sologub, and others). In the 1900s, new forces poured into symbolism, significantly updating the appearance of the current (A. Blok, A. Bely, Vyach. Ivanov, etc.)

The accepted designation of the “second wave” of symbolism is “young symbolism”. The "senior" and "junior" symbolists were separated not so much by age as by the difference in worldviews and the direction of creativity.

For example, Vyach. Ivanov is older than Bryusov, but he showed himself as a symbolist of the second generation.

Symbolists of different generations not only cooperated, but also clashed with each other. For example, the Moscow grouping of the 1890s, which developed around Bryusov, limited its tasks to the framework of literature itself: the main principle of their aesthetics is “art for art's sake”.

On the contrary, the senior symbolists from St. Petersburg, headed by D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius, defended the priority of religious and philosophical searches, considered themselves to be genuine symbolists, and their opponents - "decadent".

In the minds of most readers of that time, the words "symbolism" and "decadence" were almost synonymous, and in the Soviet era, the term "decadence" began to be used as a generic designation for all modernist movements, meanwhile, in the minds of new poets, these concepts were correlated not as homogeneous concepts, but almost like antonyms.

Decadence, or decadence(French - decline), - a certain mentality, a crisis type of consciousness, which is expressed in a feeling of despair, impotence, mental fatigue. It is associated with rejection of the surrounding world, pessimism, awareness of oneself as a bearer of a high, but perishing culture. In works that are decadent in mood, extinction, a break with traditional morality, and the will to die are often aestheticized.

In one way or another, decadent moods affected almost all symbolists. Decadent attitudes were characteristic at different stages of creativity and Z. Gippius, and K. Balmont, and V. Bryusov, and A. Blok, and F. Sologub was the most consistent decadent, although the symbolist worldview was not limited to moods of decline and destruction.

Creativity, according to the symbolists, is higher than knowledge. For Bryusov, for example, art is "the comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways." The Symbolists argued that the artist required not only super-rational sensitivity, but also the finest mastery of the art of allusion: the value of poetic speech is in “understatement”, “concealment of meaning”. They considered the symbol to be the main means.

Symbol- the central aesthetic category of the new trend. It cannot be taken as a simple allegory, when one thing is said, but something else is meant.

Symbolists believed that the symbol is fundamentally opposed to tropes, for example, allegory, which suggests unambiguous understanding. The symbol, on the other hand, polysemantic: it contains the prospect of a limitless unfolding of meanings.

Here is how I. Annensky wrote about it: “I do not at all need the obligation of one common understanding. On the contrary, I consider the merit of a play if it can be understood in two or more ways, or, if misunderstood, only to feel it and then finish it mentally myself.

"The symbol is a window to infinity" - F. Sologub claimed.

So, for example, Blok's "The Stranger" can be read as a story in verse about a meeting with a charming woman: the subject plan of the central image is perceived in addition to the symbolic possibilities contained in it.

A trained student reads an excerpt from A. Blok's poem by heart:

And every evening, at the appointed hour

(Is it just my dream?)

Maiden's camp, seized by silks,

In a foggy window moves...

It is possible to “naively-realistically” explain the phenomenon of the Stranger to the lyrical hero as the arrival of a belated visitor to the restaurant. But “The Stranger” is also the author’s anxiety about the fate of beauty in the world of earthly vulgarity, and disbelief in the possibility of a miraculous transformation of life, and a dream of other worlds, and a dramatic comprehension of the inseparability of “dirt” and “purity” in this world, etc.

It is important to note that it is not possible to compile any kind of dictionary of symbolic meanings. The fact is that a word or an image is not born as symbols, but becomes them in a context with the author's attitude towards reticence.

Another feature of the works of the Symbolists is that they are sometimes built as a stream of verbal-musical consonances and roll calls. Sometimes such a desire for musical smooth writing becomes hypertrophied.

The swan swam away in the semi-darkness,

In the distance, whitening under the moon.

The waves crash to the oar,

Lily caresses to the moisture...

The symbolist poet did not seek to be universally intelligible. His poem was not so much to convey the thoughts and feelings of the author, but to awaken his own in the reader.

Symbolist lyrics awakened the "sixth sense" in a person, sharpened and refined his perception, developed a kindred artistic intuition .

To do this, the Symbolists tried to make the most of the associative possibilities of the word, turned to the motives and images of different cultures, widely used explicit and hidden quotations.

Mythology has become for them an arsenal of universal psychological and philosophical models, convenient for comprehending the deep features of the human spirit and for embodying modern spiritual problems.

The Symbolists not only borrowed ready-made mythological plots, but also created their own myths. Myth-making was inherent, for example, in the work of F. Sologub, Vyach. Ivanov, A. Bely.

Symbolism sought to become not only a universal worldview, but also a form of life behavior. Such universalism manifested itself in the inclusiveness of the creative searches of artists.

The ideal of personality for the symbolists was thought of as a "man-artist". There was not a single sphere of literary creativity in which the Symbolists did not make an innovative contribution: they updated fiction (especially F. Sologub and A. Bely), raised the art of literary translation to a new level, performed original dramatic works, actively acted as literary critics, art theorists and literary scholars.

Particular attention in symbolism was paid to the word, the main style was intensely metaphorical. An interesting statement about this by A. Blok in Notebooks: “Every poem is a veil stretched out on the points of a few words. These words shine like stars. Because of them, the poem exists."

Symbolism has enriched Russian poetic culture with many discoveries. The Symbolists gave the poetic word mobility and ambiguity, taught Russian poetry to discover additional shades and facets of meaning in the word.

Therefore, the heritage of symbolism has remained a true treasury for modern Russian culture.

III. Work with the textbook.

– Read the article “Symbolism” in the textbook on p. 22–23. What fundamental provisions of the new trend were reflected in the program articles of symbolist poets?

IV. Acquaintance with the work of V. Bryusov.

And again I am with people - because I am a poet.

Then, that lightning flashed.

1. The word of the teacher.

Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov (1873–1924) is one of the largest and most fundamental figures in Russian poetic culture at the beginning of the 20th century. He entered the history of national culture as the organizer and "master" of the Symbolist movement.

Here is how Vladislav Khodasevich tells about this in the essay "Bryusov": “... he founded Scorpio and Libra and ruled autocratically in them; he waged polemics, concluded alliances, declared wars, united and separated, reconciled and quarreled. Managing many overt and secret threads, he felt like the captain of some literary ship and did his job with great vigilance. To rule, in addition to natural inclination, he was also pushed by the consciousness of responsibility for the fate of the ship.

In addition to poetic activity, Bryusov conducted literary work: he studied the work of Tyutchev, Baratynsky, Pushkin, studied the culture of the Renaissance, traveling through Italy and France. He acted as a polemical critic, wrote innovative works on versification and systematization of the "secrets" of the poetic craft.

He was an active participant in the cultural life of the country. Indeed, the silver age of Russian poetry cannot be imagined without this universal talent.

1. An individual student's report on the life path of V. Bryusov based on the material of the textbook, p. 118–119.

2. Let's pay attention to the cross-cutting themes of the poet's lyrics. (Students make notes in their notebooks as they work.)

A) In the early lyrics of V. Bryusov, it is necessary to highlight endless dream motif, which took the poet, like most Symbolists, to a world far from the "gray" reality:

My dream loves the horizon of the deserts,

She wanders in the steppes like a free chamois.

From the everyday life of modern life, the symbolist poet "leaves" together with his readers into the distant past. Nikolai Gumilyov wrote about it this way: “At the wave of his hand, flowers bloom again in our world, which intoxicated the eyes of the Assyrian kings, and passion becomes immortal, as in the time of the goddess Astarte”.

B) Historical the theme is quite widely disclosed in Bryusov's poetry. An interesting thought on this subject by Pavel Antokolsky, which is presented in his article "Valery Bryusov":

“In Russian poetry, for the first time after Pushkin, such an ability arose to completely transform a contemporary into an image of a distant past.

Each new meeting of Bryusov with history is an intrusion into history - masterly, without delay and objections. He commands in epochs and countries like a director... In his best books... he switches to YOU ​​with history and talks in a familiar way with any of his idols:

Relentless striving from fate to another fate,

Alexander the Conqueror, I - trembling - pray to you!

This is how Alexander the Great is born.

And right next to it - another fate, another era, another random crossroads in medieval Venice:

But suddenly among the shameful string

A gloomy face appeared before me.

- So sometimes birds look from the cliff, -

It was a stern, scorched face,

Not a dead face, but enlightened and passionate,

Without age - not a boy, not an old man ...

This is Dante.

Bryusov also resurrected nameless slaves chained to Rome. trireme, overheard their mournful and vague dreams of freedom. He resurrected a nameless woman discovered during the excavations of Pompeii, who died giving herself to her lover.

Bryusov not only boldly traveled from one era to another, but also skillfully used the ability of reincarnation, which also characterizes him as a symbolist poet:

I am the leader of the earthly kings and the king, Assargadon...

I have exhausted you to the bottom, earthly glory!

And here I stand alone, intoxicated with greatness,

I, the leader of the earthly kings and the king - Assargadon.

I am a pitiful servant of the king. Sunrise to sunset

Among other slaves I do hard work,

And rotten bread is the only fee

For tears and sweat, for thousands of minutes.

C) Many of the poet's works are closely connected with his ideas about the development of culture and its offspring - cities. Bryusov admitted:

I love big houses

And the narrow streets of the city...

I love the city and stones

Its roar and melodious noises...

And in another poem:

I love one thing: to wander aimlessly

Through the noisy streets, alone...

Under the free roar of the carriages

I'm used to dreaming and thinking

In the gorge of the walls I am all on guard;

May I catch the face of the Lord!

– See for yourself how the urban theme is revealed in the work of V. Bryusov.

2.Work on options(differentiation according to the level of complexity).

1st option. Work with the textbook, p. 121–123. Answer to question 1, p. 161: “How is the theme of the city revealed in the poetry of V. Bryusov?”

2nd option. Self-analysis of the text. Answer to question 2 (see tasks for self-analysis of the text of the textbook, p. 162): “Uncover the figurative embodiment of the contradictions of the city in V. Bryusov’s poem “To the City”.

CITY
Dithyramb

The king is powerful over the valley,

Fires piercing the sky

You're factory palisade chimneys

Inexorably surrounded.

Steel, brick and glass,

wrapped in a network of wires,

You are a relentless enchanter

You are an unrelenting magnet.

Dragon, predatory and wingless,

Sowing - you guard the year,

And through your iron veins

Gas flows, water flows.

Your infinite womb

Centuries of prey is not full, -

Anger murmurs incessantly in her,

Poverty groans menacingly in it.

You, clever, you, stubborn,

He built palaces of gold,

Set up holiday temples

For women, for paintings, for books ;

But you yourself call, recalcitrant,

To storm their palaces - a horde

And you send the leaders to the black rally:

Madness, Pride and Need!

And in the night when in the crystal halls

Laughing fiery debauchery

And gently foaming in glasses

Moments of voluptuous poison,

You oppress the slaves of the gloomy back,

So that, frantic and light,

Rotary machines

Forged sharp blades.

An insidious snake with a magical look!

Blind in a fit of rage

You are a knife with your deadly poison

You rise above yourself.

The contradictions of the City are embodied in the images of the "relentless enchanter" and the predatory dragon. Among the golden palaces and festive temples, the "slave of the gloomy back" bends.

Here, in the city, live Anger, Poverty, fiery Debauchery. To enhance the readers' impressions of the contradictions of life in the city, the author uses an oxymoron: "gently foaming in glasses ... poison", "an insidious snake with a magical look."

D) The central image in Bryusov's poetry - image of a person.

Read the textbook article on p. 123-124, highlight the main directions in the work on creating the image of a person.

As a result of work on the board and in notebooks, a table is drawn up:

The image of a person in the poetry of V. Bryusov
A) spiritual secrets of man, their comprehension	B) The role of man in the destinies of the world
1. Hopes and dreams	1. King, lord
2. Everyday work is an “earthly prison”
3. Man-creator	3. "Consumer" of life
4. High feeling of love
5. Man - "nature's spy"

3. Quiz.

After listening to the lines of poems, correlate them with one of the items in this table.

1. I have exhausted you to the bottom, earthly glory!

And here I stand alone, intoxicated with greatness ...

2. I love the city and stones,

Its roar and melodious noises, -

At the moment when the song is deeply melting,

But I am delighted to hear consonances.

3. They shout: we have the right!

They curse: you are a rebel,

You raised the banner of bloody war,

You raised brother against brother!

4. Your contentment is the joy of the flock,

Finding a piece of grass.

To be full - you don't need more

There is chewing gum - and you are blessed!

5. When sometimes the soul is embraced by despair,

A cruel whip whistles over a hunched back,

And every new day comrade or brother

They are dragged into the common grave with hooks.

6. Like a father's house, like an old highlander of the mountain,

I love the earth: the shadow of its forests,

And the sea of ​​murmurs, and patterns of stars,

And the strange structures of the clouds.

Answers: 1 - B1; 2 - A1; 3 - B2; 4 - B3; 5 - B4; 5 - A5.

V. The results of the lessons.

Homework. Answer the questions (orally):

1) What distinguishes modernism from realism?

2) What are the views of the Symbolists on the development of Russian literature?

3) How did the work of V. Bryusov manifest itself in the symbolist group?