Derzhavin's creativity. Innovation in the work of Derzhavin

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

Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (1743-1816) - an outstanding Russian poet of the 18th - early 19th century. Derzhavin's work was innovative in many ways and left a significant mark on the history of our country's literature, influencing its further development.

Life and work of Derzhavin

Reading Derzhavin's biography, it can be noted that the young years of the writer did not indicate in any way that he was destined to become a great man and a brilliant innovator.

Gavrila Romanovich was born in 1743 in the Kazan province. The family of the future writer was very poor, but belonged to the nobility.

Young years

As a child, Derzhavin had to endure the death of his father, which further worsened the financial situation of the family. The mother had to go to any lengths to provide for her two sons and give them at least some upbringing and education. There were not so many good teachers in the province where the family lived, they had to put up with those who could be hired. Despite the difficult situation, poor he alth, unqualified teachers, Derzhavin, thanks to his abilities and perseverance, still managed to get a decenteducation.

Military service

While still a student of the Kazan gymnasium, the poet wrote his first poems. However, he did not manage to finish his studies at the gymnasium. The fact is that a clerical error made by some employee led to the fact that a year earlier the young man was sent to military service in St. Petersburg, in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, as an ordinary soldier. Only ten years later did he manage to achieve the rank of officer.

With the entry into military service, Derzhavin's life and work have changed a lot. The duty of service left little time for literary activity, but despite this, during the war years Derzhavin composed quite a lot of humorous poems, and also studied the works of various authors, including Lomonosov, whom he especially revered and considered a role model. German poetry also attracted Derzhavin. He knew German very well and was engaged in translations into Russian of German poets and often relied on them in his own poems.

However, at that time, Gavrila Romanovich did not yet see his main vocation in poetry. He aspired to a military career, to serve the motherland and improve the financial situation of the family.

In 1773-1774 Derzhavin participated in the suppression of the uprising of Emelyan Pugachev, but he did not achieve promotion and recognition of his merits. Having received only three hundred souls as a reward, he was demobilized. For some time, circumstances forced him to earn a living in a not entirely honest way - playing cards.

Discovering Talent

It is worth notingthat it was at this time, by the seventies, that his talent first revealed itself for real. "Chatalagay odes" (1776) aroused the interest of readers, although in creative terms this and other works of the seventies were not yet completely independent. Derzhavin's work was somewhat imitative, in particular to Sumarokov, Lomonosov and others. The strict rules of versification, which, following the classic tradition, were subject to his poems, did not allow the author's unique talent to fully reveal.

In 1778, a joyful event happened in the writer's personal life - he passionately fell in love and married Ekaterina Yakovlevna Bastidon, who became his poetic muse for many years (under the name Plenira).

Own path in literature

Since 1779, the writer has chosen his own path in literature. Until 1791, he worked in the genre of an ode, which brought him the greatest fame. However, the poet does not just follow the classicistic patterns of this strict genre. He reforms it, completely changing the language, which becomes unusually sonorous, emotional, not at all the same as it was in measured, rational classicism. Derzhavin completely changed the ideological content of the ode. If earlier state interests were above all, now personal, intimate revelations are also being introduced into Derzhavin's work. In this regard, he foreshadowed sentimentalism with its emphasis on emotionality, sensuality.

Recent years

In the last decades of his life, Derzhavin stopped writing odes, his work began to dominatelove lyrics, friendly messages, humorous poems.

The poet died on July 8, 1816 at the Zvanka estate, a place he loved very much.

Derzhavin's work briefly

The poet himself considered his main merit the introduction of the "funny Russian style" into fiction, in which elements of high and colloquial style were mixed, lyrics and satire were combined. Derzhavin's innovation was also in the fact that he expanded the list of topics of Russian poetry, including plots and motifs from everyday life.

Solemn odes

Derzhavin's work is briefly characterized by his most famous years. In them, everyday and heroic, civil and personal beginnings often coexist. Derzhavin's work thus combines previously incompatible elements. For example, "Poems for the Birth of a Porphyrogenic Child in the North" can no longer be called a solemn ode in the classic sense of the word. The birth of Alexander Pavlovich in 1779 was described as a great event, all geniuses bring him various gifts - intelligence, we alth, beauty, etc. However, the wish of the last of them ("Be a man on the throne") indicates that the king is a man, which was not characteristic of classicism. Innovation in the work of Derzhavin manifested itself here in a mixture of civil and personal status of a person.

Felitsa

In this ode, Derzhavin dared to turn to the empress herself and argue with her. Felitsa is Catherine II. Gavrila Romanovich represents the reigning person as a private person, which violatesthe strict classical tradition that existed at that time. The poet admires Catherine II not as a statesman, but as a wise person who knows her own path in life and follows it. The poet then describes his life. Self-irony in describing the passions that owned the poet serves to emphasize the dignity of Felitsa.

That is, the genre of the ode, completely focused on the object of praise, turns the poet into a friendly message, where there are two sides, and each of them is important, and not just the addressee. In Catherine II, the poet appreciates most of all generosity, simplicity, condescension, that is, personal, human qualities.

To capture Ishmael

This ode depicts the majestic image of the Russian people conquering the Turkish fortress. Its strength is likened to the forces of nature: an earthquake, a sea storm, a volcanic eruption. However, it is not spontaneous, but obeys the will of the Russian sovereign, driven by a sense of devotion to the motherland. The extraordinary strength of the Russian warrior and the Russian people as a whole, his power and greatness were depicted in this work.

Waterfall

In this ode, written in 1791, the image of a stream becomes mainly, symbolizing the frailty of life, earthly glory and human greatness. The prototype of the waterfall was Kivach, located in Karelia. The color palette of the work is rich in various shades and colors. Initially, it was just a description of the waterfall, but after the death of Prince Potemkin (who died unexpectedly on the way home, returning with a victory in the Russian-Turkish war), GavrilRomanovich added semantic content to the picture, and the waterfall began to personify the frailty of life and lead to philosophical reflections on various values. Derzhavin was personally acquainted with Prince Potemkin and could not but respond to his sudden death.

However, Gavrila Romanovich was far from admiring Potemkin. In the ode, Rumyantsev is opposed to him - this is who, according to the author, is the true hero. Rumyantsev was a true patriot, caring about the common good, and not personal glory and well-being. This hero in the ode figuratively corresponds to a quiet stream. The noisy waterfall is contrasted with the unprepossessing beauty of the Suna River with its majestic and calm flow, clear waters. People like Rumyantsev, who live their lives calmly, without fuss and passions, can reflect the beauty of the sky.

Philosophical odes

The themes of Derzhavin's work continue philosophical odes. Ode "On the Death of Prince Meshchersky" (1779) was written after the death of Paul's heir, Prince Meshchersky. Moreover, death is depicted figuratively, it "sharpens the blade of the scythe" and "gnashes its teeth." Reading this ode, at first it even seems that this is a kind of "hymn" to death. However, it ends with the opposite conclusion - Derzhavin calls on us to appreciate life as "heaven's instant gift" and live it so as to die with a pure heart.

Anacreon lyrics

Imitating the ancient authors, creating translations of their poems, Derzhavin created his own miniatures, in which the national Russian flavor is felt,life, Russian nature is described. Classicism in the work of Derzhavin has undergone its transformation here as well.

The translation of Anacreon for Gavrila Romanovich is an opportunity to go into the realm of nature, man and life, which had no place in strict classic poetry. The image of this ancient poet, who despises the world and loves life, attracted Derzhavin very much.

In 1804 they published a separate edition of "Anacreontic Songs". In the preface, he explains why he decided to write "light poetry": the poet wrote such poems in his youth, and published now because he left the service, became a private person and is now free to publish whatever he wants.

Late lyrics

The peculiarity of Derzhavin's work in the late period is that at this time he practically stops writing odes and creates mainly lyrical works. The poem "Eugene. Life of Zvanskaya", written in 1807, describes the daily home life of an old nobleman who lives in a luxurious rural family estate. The researchers note that this work was written in response to Zhukovsky's elegy "Evening" and was polemical to the emerging romanticism.

Derzhavin's late lyrics also include the work "Monument", filled with faith in the dignity of man despite adversity, life's vicissitudes and historical changes.

The significance of Derzhavin's work was very great. The transformation of classic forms begun by Gavrila Sergeevich was continued by Pushkin, and later by others. Russian poets.