F. Tyutchev's works. Analysis: "Not what you think, nature"

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

Fyodor Ivanovich is one of the most famous poets in Russian literature, his name is closely associated with political and philosophical lyrics and whirlpools of life.

Fyodor Tyutchev - poet-thinker

He was a thinker. He was remembered, despite the fact that he left behind little: several articles, translated and original poems, not all of which are successful. But after all, among others there are pearls of thought, the deepest and most subtle observations, immortal expressions, traces of a grandiose mind and inspiration. All his life he wrote poetry in order to find himself, to better understand his inner world, so that his reader is also a witness to the spiritual work of the poet in self-knowledge. Fyodor Tyutchev wrote, feeling the need to speak out to himself. He is very sensitive to nature. His dexterity in handling images of the elements is a gift that can be seen with the naked eye. It is pleasant to peer into the poet's poems, they are interesting to study, disassemble - the images contain a lot of hidden meaning, which is why their analysis is so fascinating. “Not what you think, nature …” - a poem written by Tyutchev in 1836 carries inan important thought of the poet. But what? This is what we will try to find out.

Geniuses think together

Before starting an analysis of Tyutchev's verse, one should get acquainted with the events that influenced his appearance and served as inspiration for the poet. Most of all, his thought has similarities with the natural philosophy of Friedrich Schelling, a German thinker. Creative relationships between them have been traced repeatedly, interest in his work arose back in those days when the poet joined the future Slavophiles, who shared the aesthetics and romantic metaphysics of German literature, in particular Schelling. Tyutchev was not a plagiarist, he did not borrow the ideas themselves, he only drew attention to the formulation of the relationship between man and nature, man and the Universe, the spiritualization of the Cosmos and the concept of the world soul. The Russian poet was one of the most faithful followers of the ideas of the German and for a long time adhered to the concepts of Schelling. Also, this poem by F. I. Tyutchev is a protest against Heine's essays, which were published in France and criticized the position of Friedrich, Hoffmann and Novalis and their natural philosophy.

The role of address in a poem

If you pay attention, the whole poem is built as an appeal to the reader - that's where you should start the analysis. "Not what you think, nature …" - this is the poet's message to us. If we globalize the phenomenon, then all literature can be called a dialogue between the creator and his reader. If in some works this is not striking, then here Fyodor Tyutchev asks us questions, suggesting that we find the answers ourselves and thinkover questions that may seem eternal. The appeal makes us feel the presence of the poet, as if he is our interlocutor, and at the same time allows us to retire with ourselves, look deep into our inner world and reflect on the proposed topic. We do not see a lyrical subject, but a lyrical hero, in which there are features of Tyutchev himself, because he himself was close to this kind of reasoning. Thanks to the appeal, a dialogue is built between the lyrical hero and the reader, which makes the poem more accessible, enlivens it.

Outline and main meaning

Analysis of Tyutchev's verse will not be complete if you ignore the presence of outflows. Instead, there were stanzas, but for one reason or another they were removed by censorship. After such a procedure, they are usually lost and rarely found. So it happened with this poem.

However, despite the fact that some pieces are missing, the poem has not lost its meaning. His main idea is the theme of the relationship between man and nature. The importance of a person's ability to feel is emphasized, because if a person is "deaf", then he does not live at all. If for such people nature has neither meaning nor face, then for Tyutchev it is important and is "the voice of the mother herself." It is with the images of nature that the poet expresses his innermost emotions, asks questions that concern him, seeks answers in something primordial. Tyutchev not only examines nature, admiring it, she prompts him to philosophical reflections, in it the poet sees a living organism with his feelings, with his soul and life,whose laws are not always able to comprehend by man.

The image of nature in Tyutchev's lyrics

Nature is one of the main characters in Tyutchev's poems. Moreover, she is often present not as a background for reflection, but as a character, in his poetry nature has a face, she speaks, thinks, feels.

Everything in her seems to Fyodor Ivanovich full of special meaning, which she seeks to convey to a person. But man does not always hear nature. To understand what she says, he needs to listen not with his ears, but with his heart, passing everything through his soul. A poetic analysis (“Not what you think, nature …”) cannot be built without reference to this image, which plays a key role here. The personification of nature makes it even more like a large living organism, with which each of us is closely connected, but anyone can speak the same language with him, this requires appropriate spiritual education, softness of heart and soul. Nature is diverse: it can be powerful, dangerous, uncompromising, and can look like a beautiful and bright child.

Tyutchev's light poems: what's the secret?

After some poems, a strange aftertaste remains, some kind of heaviness, when thoughts begin to swarm unpleasantly in the head.

But after Tyutchev's lyrics, this is not observed - there is some kind of obscure lightness in it. This does not mean that after it a person is not immersed in thoughts, only one poetic analysis (“Not what you think,nature … ) is already a confirmation of this, because this is a synthesis of thought, reasoning, the study of the intricacies of a poem. It’s just that Fyodor Tyutchev invites us to think in understandable images that do not require preparation, they are extremely clear and simple, like everything ingenious. Nature is both a mystery and something that surrounds us from our very birth, what can be closer to us? The spiritual closeness of man and nature is the key that the poet so skillfully operated on. The theme of these relationships is familiar to each of us, it is built on feelings and emotions, and not on something scientific and hard to reach. Each new analysis of Tyutchev's verse brings us closer to nature, which the poet loved, respected and spiritualized so much.