Rereading the classics: Sergei Yesenin, "Soviet Russia" - interpretation and analysis of the poem

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

When N. Tikhonov said that Yesenin is eternal, he did not sin against the truth at all. Indeed, the lyrics of Sergei Yesenin are a unique phenomenon. It looks like the purest spring, clinging to which, one wants to drink, without coming off, the life-giving moisture of the poet's poems.

Revolution and the peasant question

Those who know Yesenin's biography well will probably remember his special attitude to the revolution. Peasant roots, rural origin forever tied him to his native land. And therefore, any transformations in the country, whether political or social, the poet considered and evaluated from one, but extremely important side for him: what benefit will they bring to the peasantry, toiling farmers? Although his family was not considered poor, Sergei Alexandrovich knew perfectly well what life was like for those who barely make ends meet. Yes, and he also experienced the hardest physical labor of the peasants in full. And he well understood how disastrous for an agrarian country, which was tsarist Russia, the policy of ruining the people, which was pursued by the government. He welcomed the revolution. "Decree onearth" was the main reason for this. Yesenin fervently hoped that the new government would support the peasantry, help it in every way, and prevent new ruins. That the village people will breathe more freely, eat their fill, prosperity will appear in the huts.

Bitterness of disappointment

Time has shown that in his dreams the poet turned out to be an idealist. The first repressions, civil war and terrible famine, pestilence that swept through the country like a hurricane - all this could not add optimism. Letters from the village, stories of sisters who came to visit, painted a gloomy picture of the hopeless existence of the village. Strong owners were dispossessed, the “middle peasants” were deprived of the necessities for life. And those who belonged to the poor rarely actually began to live better. The power of the Bolsheviks obviously did not favor the peasantry too much, considering it a property-owning and politically backward class. In addition, the new order destroyed the age-old way of life to which people were accustomed and considered the basis of their existence. It became clear that not just an old village was fading into the past - a whole layer of folk culture had sunk into oblivion.

Blessed is he who visited this world in its fatal moments…

To evaluate what is happening, to rethink everything that he saw, what he encountered in the "furious" world around him, the poet tries in such works as "Heavenly Drummer", "Sorokoust", "Russia Leaving", in the epic poem "Anna Snegina" And in 1924, Yesenin wrote a very important, in fact, programmatic poem. "Soviet Russia" - that's what it's called. It's kind of a reflectionan attempt to reconcile and try on oneself to a new reality, a new system and worldview. And the bitter realization of the impossibility of this. And also - a deep, inwardly understood kinship with their homeland, with dear and infinitely beloved Russia. In it, in this original connection - the whole Yesenin. "Soviet Russia", every image of the poem, every line of it is a vivid confirmation of this.

Genre and composition

1924 - the last year of the poet's life, at the beginning of the 25th he will be gone. Therefore, everything that was written shortly before death is so important to us. In such works one can catch invisible signals, warning beacons, prophecies that a genius makes in moments of divine inspiration. And who will undertake to challenge that Yesenin was such a genius from God! “Soviet Russia” is interesting to us because it allows us to look at the past of our country through the eyes of a poet-prophet. By genre, the poem can rather be attributed to a short poem. It has a pronounced epic basis, dividing the entire text into 4 semantic parts. The main artistic technique is antithesis (opposition). The storyline is the return of the lyrical hero to his native land after a long absence. This hero is Yesenin. "Soviet Rus" - a look at peasant Russia through the prism of perception of the native village.

Text analysis

The first part of the poetic text consists of 9 stanzas. It is riddled with pessimistic moods. The poet says that time scattered friends,that he is lonely and does not at all feel like a "citizen of the village", a full-fledged resident of his native village. In the second part (the next 4 stanzas), “Soviet Russia” passes before our eyes. Yesenin analyzes the new time, the new system, in general, the new rural Bolshevik world for him, through everyday household sketches. They, like separate puzzles, put together, give an idea of the picture as a whole. What do we see and hear? Instead of fervent ditties, the youth sings to the harmonica the revolutionary agitation of Demyan Poor. The villagers gathered for a gathering near the building of the volost government, but before that, the square near the church was a gathering place, discussions of the sore and just conversations “for life”. And they are not talking about God, but about the civil war. Yesenin's poem "Soviet Russia" (second part) contains the conclusion: "My poetry is no longer needed here …" Part three (stanzas 15 to 19) reflect the poet's position in relation to the revolution. He puts up with everything, gives his soul to "October and May." That's just the lyre, poetry, inspiration, the divine gift does not want to give to anyone.

Internal conflict

So we come to the main thing - to that internal conflict that makes up the nerve of the work. Continuing the analysis of Yesenin's verse "Soviet Russia", it is important to dwell on this very moment. On the one hand, the poet resigned himself to what was happening. There is no point in arguing with history. The country, the people have chosen their path. And he, as a true citizen and patriot, is ready to share all the good and bad that the wind of change has prepared for Russia. But poetry, the mystery of creativity- this is something deeply personal, intimate, secret, which is given to a person from above and makes him a chosen one. This gift is above the vanity of life, momentary problems. This is how Pushkin treated his talent. Yesenin is close to such a position. In the final, 4th stanza, Yesenin expresses his life credo: the Motherland is what can be equaled in value and significance with a poetic gift. And only to her, his native Russia, can a poet give himself without a trace.

Yesenin is eternal!