"Lyudmila" - Vasily Zhukovsky's ballad: plot, main characters, content

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In 1808, a world of romantic horrors opened up in Russia. The plot of the ballad "Lyudmila" contains an interesting legend. Along with living characters, the work contains the dead and an invisible force. The summary and theme of the poem will retell the material presented.

German folklore

Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky is one of the best Russian poets. He was the founder of domestic romanticism, which in his works took on a completely different look. The author's works immediately became famous due to their exceptional style. The writer had already tried to compose ballads before, but none of them received universal recognition. However, this work became a kind of experiment that turned out to be successful.

Readers especially like the ballad "Lyudmila". Zhukovsky wrote it in 1808. The author took as a basis the work "Lenora", written by the German poet Gottfried August Burger. His work was created on the basis of folklore, where stories about a girl getting marrieddead man were not uncommon. The initial task of the German was to reproduce the native way of life and traditions. However, the Russian poet was not going to simply translate someone else's work into his native language. Vasily Andreevich tried to convey the plot through Russian motifs.

The plot of the story

Based on a German source, it is very easy to analyze Zhukovsky's ballad. Lyudmila in the original work bore the name Lenora. The author transfers the place of action to the Slavic lands. Time doesn't matter. When reading a ballad, the audience can easily visualize events as they are not tied to specific years.

The main character is a girl. The plot begins with the fact that a young woman is waiting for her beloved, who is fighting in a distant land. Standing at a crossroads and looking out for a soldier, Lyudmila thinks: perhaps her beloved has forgotten her, betrayed her, or even worse, died. Then an army appears on the horizon. It goes home in victory. However, her beloved is not among the soldiers.

The ballad "Lyudmila" begins with these events. The summary of the first part and the acquaintance of readers with the main character evokes disturbing feelings.

Two way dialogue

With grief and sadness, the beauty goes home, saying that you can't love twice. She is ready to die. An alarmed mother meets a sad young lady and asks what happened. The girl replies that God has forgotten about her and does not wish her happiness. Lyudmila curses the Lord and says that he is not merciful.

To this mother answers her that the Almighty knows what he is doing and if he sent suffering, therefore, soshould be. But the daughter declares that the prayers and requests that she repeated in front of the icons had no power and were fruitless. There will be no more joy in life - Lyudmila is sure. The ballad is full of pain and despair. But an elderly woman reports that suffering is not eternal, and those who survive it, a direct road to heaven. In turn, hell awaits those who disobey fate. However, the daughter does not agree, she is sure that with her beloved she will find happiness everywhere. The girl continued to curse God.

Long road

Night fell and everyone fell asleep. When midnight struck, a rider appeared in the valley. Suddenly someone came up to the house and started talking. Lyudmila immediately recognized the voice of her beloved. The guy asked if his beloved was sleeping, crying because of him, and perhaps she had already forgotten about grief. When the sad girl saw the groom, she thought that God had pity on her. This is how the main characters of the ballad "Lyudmila" met.

The soldier said we had to go. They saddled the horse and began their journey. The man noted that the road is very long and it is impossible to delay. On the way, the horseman told about his home. His new home in Lithuania. The house is cramped, knocked down from six boards, and above it stands a cross. However, the girl is not afraid of a dead friend. She is happy that her beloved is near.

The moon was already hiding, and dawn came to earth when the couple reached the place. The young lady looked all around. It was a cemetery with coffins and crosses, and in the middle stood a church. The horse took the girl to the grave. There the coffin opened and her lover was waiting, dead and cold. Wasn't expecting the endLyudmila. The ballad came to a climax.

Tragic ending

Instead of a cozy home, the girl got a grave, and her fiancé got a corpse. Once a beautiful and lively person turned into a cold blue body. His hands were folded in a cross, his eyes blurred. Suddenly the dead man stood up and beckoned the girl to him with his finger. He also said that from now on their home is cold and damp earth. The girl fell into the coffin with a stone. Other dead rose from their graves and claimed that God hears absolutely everything that people say and think. He is just and punished the young lady for reproaches.

So ends the ballad "Lyudmila". The summary partially conveys the emotions that the work evokes.

The main character did not obey her mother and continued to curse fate, therefore, heaven fulfilled a terrible request. The death of the girl was terrible and tragic. Beauty did not expect such an end. At the end of the work, the author leaves no room for an alternative. The finish is crisp and clear. The girl paid for her lawless thoughts and reproaches.

Dualism of thought

The author also made sure that each hero had his own clear character. His characters throughout the work have a position that they adhere to. An analysis of Zhukovsky's ballad "Lyudmila" is best to start with a description of the main characters.

The image of a girl is a kind of symbol of disobedience to fate. The heroine cannot accept that her beloved has died, and prefers to go with him to the grave. because ofthrough her blindness, the young lady herself brings disaster upon herself. In one of the dialogues, the beauty notes that there is no paradise without a sweetheart, but with a young man she will be fine anywhere. At first, it seems to the reader that the girl is very strong, because she does not want to put up with the loss. However, it soon becomes clear that in fact it is driven by weakness. The girl is not able to survive troubles and deal with difficulties.

The theme of the ballad "Lyudmila" revolves around religion and the relationship between man and the Lord. If a girl puts her own desires above heavenly will, then her mother is the actual opponent in this situation. The old woman is on the side of God and believes that this suffering is a kind of stage that needs to be experienced.

Invisible characters

Another hero of the ballad is Lyudmila's favorite. He is a soldier who died in a foreign land. But unlike mother and daughter, this character has no character of its own. He is only a weapon in the hands of God. The love story of young people is not mentioned, but their feelings are very strong, because the girl is killed for a very long time due to the death of her fiancé. The soldier appears in the form of a ghost, which leads Lyudmila to another world. He does the will of heaven. In fact, the person the girl loved is no longer there.

The genre of Zhukovsky's ballad "Lyudmila" is romanticism. This style is characterized by the theme of man and fate. The author introduced another character into the work, which he hid behind the details. The fourth character is God. It was he who was the creator of these events. Also, the Almighty, following the conversations andcursing the girl, decided to fulfill the desire and forever connect her with her beloved.

Whether the young lady liked this end of life or not, it is difficult to argue. However, the author clearly points out that the reason for everything that happened in the final is the meaningless words of people.

Mystical nature

From the first lines, the master of the word does not give hope for happiness. The pessimistic mood is reinforced by verbal turns. For example, the part where the girl talks about her own death is extremely emotional. She does not want to live without her beloved, and she asks the earth to part and form a grave.

The ballad "Lyudmila" constantly keeps the reader in suspense. Zhukovsky repeatedly addressed such dark themes in his works. Also often the author used mystical details. Not devoid of the presence of otherworldly forces and this work. The main character has conversations with God, talks about her own death. Another significant moment - Lyudmila meets with her late fiancé. When the lovers find themselves in a gloomy cemetery, the girl sees the grave of her beloved. Zhukovsky clearly describes the deceased. His image is terrible and terrible. Beauty falls dead into the coffin of her beloved. In general, the story is tragic, but also instructive to some extent.

The role of the image of nature in the work

It immediately becomes clear to the reader that he will not know happiness without his beloved Lyudmila. The ballad is constantly in suspense. The author achieved this effect thanks to the images of nature. When the girl shared her grief with her mother, the day was already ending. Vasily Andreevich attached special importance to this event. He noted that the sun had set behind the mountains, and the valleys and groves grew sad. The moon either hid or peeked out from behind the clouds, and the shadows were long and terrible. The forests in his poems are dense, the water mirrors are tragically shaky and cold, and the sky is dressed in sadness.

Nature maintains a sad mood even when she travels to a foreign land with her beloved Lyudmila. The ballad is shrouded in mysticism, which the reader feels even through the lines. The leaves rustle, a whistle is heard in the wilderness and the movement of shadows is felt. The writer also uses comparisons. For example, the whisper of grass is very similar to the voice of the dead.

Vasily Andreevich throughout the whole work perfectly supports one note of feelings. His poem is full of sadness and longing. The reader is involuntarily imbued with mystical energy.