Features of Lermontov's work: issues, themes and artistic techniques

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

Features of Lermontov's work are studied in high school. At first, students pass only the poet's poems, then, in the 8th grade, the novel "The Hero of Our Time", and in the 10th grade they repeat the material covered. Of course, it is possible to fully understand the work of this brilliant poet and prose writer only at an older age. The deep psychologism of his works is not for everyone. The work of Mikhail Lermontov is also a fruitful field for the work of literary critics. After all, it has a lot of different subtleties.

Periodization of M. Yu. Lermontov's creativity

One can say that the poet's work is quite integral. It is difficult to single out any periods, changes in worldview. However, it is customary to single out early and late periods in Lermontov's work. The border is a poem written by him dedicated to the death of Pushkin, "The Death of a Poet". In general, the death of A. S. Pushkin was a turning point for Lermontov. Now he began to feel all the responsibility that lies with him as the successorthe country's first poet. So, everything that Mikhail Yuryevich wrote before 1837 is early lyrics, and what is after is late.

Features of Lermontov's early period creativity

The poet started writing quite early. If Pushkin narrated about hopes, lyceum creativity was full of aspirations, then Lermontov began with disappointment. After all, the case of the Decembrists was wasted, they were sent to hard labor or executed. The dissatisfaction with reality that surrounds the poet permeates all his work and is clearly manifested in his early poems. Of course, the works of earlier years give off youthful maximalism. In early work, such a direction in literature as romanticism is realized. We see in the works of Lermontov the separation of reality, characteristic of romantics, into the earthly, real world, and the world of dreams, ideal, into which the lyrical hero would like to get. The peculiarities of the problems of Lermontov's work are that the poet has practically no civil and political issues. He does not raise the topic of serfdom, does not speak of the arbitrariness of power. But we can guess about his discontent from poems dedicated to the Russian village or the theme of the poet and poetry. Nevertheless, the main problems of Lermontov's work are psychological. From the very first verses, the motive of loneliness is clearly heard, which intensifies and transforms over time.

Image of a demon in early lyrics

At the beginning of the journey, Lermontov relies on the work of English romantics, in particular George Byron. Englishthe poet also showed the image of a demon. Creativity is associated with romantics of this kind not as a gift, but as a curse. The young poet Lermontov (and his lyrical hero) is sure that he, like a demon, will never be able to find a place for himself in this universe. After all, the demon was cast down from heaven, and on earth people do not accept him. Now he is doomed to wander between two worlds, sentenced to eternal loneliness. The image of a demon is closely connected with such a poetic image as a storm. After all, the demon, whose element is "a collection of evils", loves fatal storms and passions. The features of Lermontov's work are also manifested in this: usually lyrical heroes, suffering and searching, strive for peace, a quiet and peaceful life. Lermontov's hero is not like that: he wants to live in order to "think and suffer." Calm bliss is not for him, life is only where passions rage. An example of such a worldview is given to us by the poem "Sail": "And he, rebellious, asks for storms, as if there is peace in storms."

Lermontov's late lyrics

The work of Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov should be considered as a whole, without omitting any of the periods. In the later lyrics there is a change of poetic perspective. If earlier Lermontov blamed the whole world for his troubles, suffered from misunderstanding and loneliness, could not put up with anything that he did not like, now he is more sedate. And his poems are filled with sadness and longing, they have become more psychological, more accurate. The motive of loneliness is closely related to the motive of wandering and searching for a place in life. However, these wanderings end in nothing.

Philosophical lyrics

Such problems have always interested the poet. But for him philosophy and psychology have always been indivisible. In a peculiar way, Lermontov depicts his attitude to this world and to life. He almost always does this using pictures of nature. An example is the poem "When the yellowing field is agitated." Very vivid poetic images found a place in this lyrical work. The poet compares plants with living beings, he feels an indivisible connection with them, something that, unfortunately, he does not feel in communication with people. It is in nature that Lermontov finds solace, begins to feel harmony in himself. Moreover, higher truths are revealed to him ("And in heaven I see God").

One of the last poems has a similar problem - "I go out alone on the road." Here, nature is also depicted harmoniously, these are not separately existing elements, but an integral universe, where "a star speaks with a star." But at this moment the poet does not feel calm. He is in pain and hard. Perhaps, for the first time in all his work, he expresses a desire for peace. But the peace that Lermontov speaks of differs from the usual idea. After all, the poet wants to see blooming nature forever, feel the movement of the wind and hear about love.

Poet and Poetry Theme

Features of M. Yu. Lermontov's creativity cannot be considered in isolation from such a topic as poetry. It is in the verses, which speak of creativity, the writer's gift, that the basic principles of the poet's worldview are realized. A vivid example is the poem "Prophet". In it, the poet conducts a kind of dialogue with Pushkin. He begins his poem from the point where Pushkin once stopped: “God gave the poet the omniscience of a prophet. However, if Pushkin hoped that he would“burn the hearts of people with a verb”, Lermontov, on the contrary, feels alienation. He sees in people only malice and vice. He wants, like Pushkin, to get through to people with a word, but he will not be able to do it. After all, people (the incomprehensible crowd) accuse him of self-confidence and pride. The opposition of the poet and the crowd is one of the main features of Lermontov's poetry.

Analysis of the poem "Mtsyri"

This poem reflects, first of all, the romantic principles of poetry. But there are also peculiar features of Lermontov's work in it. Briefly, the story is as follows: a young man who was brought up in a monastery wanted to be released, but a day in the wild turned out to be his death. Mtsyri, an uninitiated monk, felt like a prisoner all his life. He is a characteristic romantic hero for whom the world in which he lives is unbearable. Mtsyri wanted to feel life, to know all its manifestations. He admired the beauty of nature and enjoyed walks in the forest. The voice of a young Georgian woman made a special impression on him. Hearing him, Mtsyri realized that he was free. In the forest, he came across a leopard - the personification of strength and courage. In an equal fight, the leopard died, Mtsyri also receives a mortal wound. The poem demonstrates loveLermontov to the nature of the Caucasus. The poet describes the local landscapes very brightly and colorfully. The poem most fully embodied the artistic features of Lermontov's work. The image of nature in it is comparable with the pictures that the poet himself painted during a trip to the South of Russia and the Caucasus.

The novel "A Hero of Our Time"

This is a prose work, which also vividly presents the features of Lermontov's work. The novel is very polemical. There are different interpretations of the character of the main character - Pechorin. Researchers also argue about how Lermontov treated his hero and whether Pechorin can be called a double of the poet himself. Of course, like all the work of M. Lermontov, this novel has an autobiographical background. The similarity of the hero with the writer is obvious: he serves in the Caucasus, he is lonely, he opposes himself to other people. However, there are too many demonic and purely negative features in Pechorin, thanks to which we understand that for the author himself, Pechorin is clearly not a hero in the full sense of the word.

The skills of the writer-psychologist were realized in the novel. On the one hand, Pechorin evokes sympathy in the reader, but on the other hand, we cannot say that he is a good person. He deceives girls, he despises people and even kills Grushnitsky in a duel. But he is smart, he is honest, principled. Lermontov uses such an artistic technique of psychologism as a detail. The negative aspects of Pechorin's character are manifested in the smallestdetails: in movements that speak of his secrecy, in his behavior with Maxim Maksimych, which speaks of his coldness and indifference to people, even in his tears, which do not come from grief, but from wounded pride. In addition, we can find examples of psychological parallelism in the novel.

Novel with full confidence can be called philosophical. In it, the author talks about friendship, love, and fate. All the action is designed on the central character - Pechorin, and all storylines are reduced to him. However, the novel did not turn out boring: Pechorin's personality is so multifaceted and complex.

General conclusions

So, the main themes in Lermontov's work.

1. The theme of nature. It usually involves philosophical questions.
2. The theme of loneliness. In some poems, it is complicated by the motive of wandering.
3. The theme of the poet and poetry. What is a poetic gift, what is poetry for, what is its significance in the modern world.
4. Love theme. It is also painted in gloomy colors by Lermontov, love lyrics are included in the thematic group of poems about loneliness.

The work of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov is permeated through and through with deep feelings. Perhaps, the lyrics attract him so much precisely because he put his soul into it, because his lyrical hero is practically inseparable from the author. Of course, Lermontov's talent is manifested not only at the level of content, but also at the level of form. Many of the poet's poems (especially in later works) are absolutely small in volume,but very deep and capacious.