Everyone knows and many love the classic of Russian literature Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynsky. The biography of the writer is full of many different events associated with frequent relocations and long separation with homeland. It is these bright moments of the author's life that our article is devoted to.

early years

Baratynsky was born in 1800, at which time Alexander I comes to power, whose liberal rule will be replaced by the laws of Nicholas I in the future, which will seriously affect the life of the writer. On March 19, in the estate of an old Polish family (Tambov province), Evgeny Baratynsky was born. The boy was brought up on the Mara estate by his mother and an Italian uncle. Thanks to the latter, he learned early Italian language. And by the age of eight, he could also communicate fluently in French. In 1808 he was sent to a St. Petersburg German boarding school, where he continued his studies as a writer.

After the death of his father Baratynsky Yevgeny Abramovich returns to Mara. At this time, the mother is preparing her son for admission to the Corps of Pages. And thanks to her efforts, the boy in 1812 becomes a pupil of this prestigious institution.

Tambov province

After graduating from the Corps of Pages, Baratynsky (the biography of this period is not distinguished by bright events) returns to his family in the Tambov province, where he begins to write poetry. At first, his works are very weak from a technical point of view, but gradually the poet masters the skill. By 1819, the style of Baratynsky was being formed, which the writer was proud of and considered the main advantage of his poetry.

Petersburg

In 1819, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the Jaeger Regiment as a private. During this period, Baratynsky got acquainted with the metropolitan literary society. The biography of the writer is full of meetings with Delvig, Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Kuchelbeker, Pletnev. He becomes a welcome guest in literary salons.

Thanks to the efforts of Delvig, the works of Baratynsky are published for the first time: “To Kuchelbecker”, “To Krenitsyn”, the poem “Feasts”. And in 1823, collections of the poet's poems appeared.

Finland

In 1820, Baratynsky was transferred to the Neishlotsky regiment, located in Finland. The regiment is commanded by a relative of the poet - G. A. Lutkovsky, therefore Baratynsky lives with him, enjoys considerable privileges and often visits St. Petersburg. However, the writer himself is weighed down by his position. He does not belong to the soldier class, but he is not given an officer rank, and he will not ask for service - such behavior can be perceived as disrespect for authority. And with the "light" Baratynsky has less and less in common. The biography of the nobleman did not provide for service in the soldiers, which is why the writer felt his inferiority.

Baratynsky spends five years in Finland - from 1820 to 1825. This excommunication from his homeland was clearly reflected in his poetry: the poems "Waterfall", "Finland", the poem "Eda".

In 1824, thanks to the petitions of friends, Baratynsky was transferred to Helsingfors, where he served at the headquarters of the Governor General. During this period, the poet falls in love with a married woman - A.F. Zakrevskaya. This love brought him a lot of suffering, but thanks to her, such poems as “Fairy”, “Justification”, “I am reckless - and it’s not wonderful ...” and many others were born.

Officer rank

That the poet for a long time could not get an officer's rank, was due to the independent tone of his work and a number of oppositional statements that Baratynsky very often allowed himself in the world. Yevgeny Abramovich rose to the long-awaited rank only seven years later (in 1825). This gave the poet the opportunity to control his own destiny. In the same year, Baratynsky went to visit his mother in Moscow and did not return back, and in 1826 he officially resigned.

Return to Russia

Immediately upon returning to his homeland, the poet marries Anastasia Lvovna Engelhardt and enters the service of the Land Survey Office. Baratynsky's life becomes dull and monotonous. Family life smooths out all the defiant, rebellious character traits of the writer.

This state of affairs greatly influenced the work of Yevgeny Abramovich. His works are less and less appreciated by the public, they no longer have such a grandiose success as early creations. However, the writer is not going to give up new settings and innovative ideas. The poetry of Baratynsky of this period was not understood by critics and contemporaries, only Pushkin was able to appreciate it. The poem "Eda" was awarded special attention of this great writer.

Attitude towards the Decembrists

Yevgeny Abramovich was not an active opponent of the political system and did not join the Decembrists, but the very idea secret societies captured him. However, Baratynsky's work nevertheless reflected the oppositional attitude of the poet towards the government. For example, the elegy "The Tempest" showed all the indignation and indignation of Baratynsky regarding the massacre of the Decembrists. For the poet, the collapse of the movement became a symbol of the defeat of the ideas of freedom and the best human aspirations.

Magazine "European"

In 1831, a friend of Baratynsky I. V. Kireevsky began to publish the magazine "European". Evgeny Abramovich, as a sign of support, began to write prose stories for the publication, among which the famous "Ring" can be noted. Baratynsky's articles for the magazine were full of criticisms of contemporary writers, reviews of political events. In "European" appeared not only Baratynsky the poet, but also Baratynsky the critic, as well as political figure. However, the magazine was soon closed, which greatly upset the writer, and he fell into depression.

Last years

IN last years Baratynsky's relationship with contemporary writers deteriorated greatly, and the poet found himself in isolation. The situation aggravates the gap with old friends - Kireevsky, Pushkin, Khomyakov. The result was the seclusion of the writer and his family in the Muranovo estate, located near Moscow.

Baratynsky's poems about love during this period of creativity fade into the background, giving way to tragic-philosophical reflections on modernity and loneliness. The style of the works themselves is also changing - they are distinguished by fragmentation, dissonance and extreme anguish.

In 1843, Baratynsky went on a trip abroad with his older children. During the trip, the writer visited Germany, Paris, where he made acquaintance with N.I. Turgenev, as well as France. Faith in the future and a cheerful mood return to the poet, which is reflected in his work (the poem "Piroskaf").

Baratynsky, via Marseille, goes by sea to Naples, where he writes his last work - the poem "Uncle-Italian". Even in Paris, shortly before his departure, Baratynsky felt unwell, but he ignored the doctor's advice about the dangers of a hot climate and continued his journey. On June 28, 1844, the poet had an attack of severe headache, followed by a fever, and he died the next day.

Baratynsky's wife, Anastasia Lvovna, outlived her husband by 16 years, and after her death she was buried next to him at the Tikhvin cemetery.

Features of the lyrics

Baratynsky's poems about love predominate in all the poet's work. This is due to the fact that Yevgeny Abramovich was one of the romantics. His work reflected the hardships and sorrows of the contemporary poet's time. The great merit of Baratynsky is his ability to vividly depict inner world man with his own contradictions and complexities. The poet was very passionate about what he described, his poems are full of anxiety, anxiety and deep feelings.

Baratynsky considered the following points to be the main ones for creativity: thought, originality and simplicity. And according to these three components, he created.

Evgeny Baratynsky: "Spring"

The famous poem "Spring, spring! How clean the air ”is an excellent example of Baratynsky’s landscape lyrics. The work describes the revival of nature with delight, awe and tenderness. The lyrical hero rejoices, he is happy, his soul sings.

The poem is simple and easy to hear. It does not differ in excessively high syllable or complexity of structure, but precisely because of this, reading can feel the delight and awe of the author, his exultation and the glorification of blossoming nature.

Spring was the poet's favorite season. In a letter to his mother, written in 1815, Baratynsky noted what a grandiose influence the contemplation of the transformation and decoration of nature in springtime had on his soul. He spoke about the joy and jubilation that filled his heart, about walks that gave him true pleasure.

Collection "Twilight"

It came out in 1842 and was latest compilation poems by Baratynsky. It includes works written from 1835 to 1842. They were presented as a lyrical cycle, a united image, which became the title of the entire book. Twilight here appears as a symbol that, on the one hand, marks the end of the life and work of Baratynsky himself, and on the other hand, contains a hint of the end of the existence of spirituality and culture of all mankind.

Baratynsky practically does not write about nature in this collection, the poet creates the philosophical genre of the epigram, where the object dissolves in abstraction and generalization. Examples of such works: “I love you, goddesses of feathers”, “To sow the forest”, “Cotterie” and many others.

The poet expresses his sorrowful thoughts about the fate of art, humanity. He is concerned about how society perceives and will perceive the poet. Makes a lot of disappointing conclusions.

Baratynsky's later poems differ sharply from his early creativity. If earlier clarity and clarity were the main things, now the writer often uses complex syntax, archaic vocabulary, oratory, which greatly complicates perception.

Museum of Baratynsky

Museum of Evgeny Abramovich Baratynsky is located in the historical center of Kazan. It is located in the wing of the estate, which once belonged to the poet's wife. For a long time, the family of the writer himself lived in the estate, and later - his numerous descendants.

The history of the museum began in 1977, when a literary exhibition dedicated to the heritage of Baratynsky was opened at the Kazan school No. 34. Only in 1981 the museum acquired the status of a state museum, and ten years later it moved to the estate, which Baratynsky loved so much.

The anniversary (2010) of the writer was celebrated in Kazan on a large scale, and the museum took an active part in this. Lectures on the life and work of Baratynsky were held on its territory, rare exhibits were exhibited, and additional excursions were held for schoolchildren.

Evgeny Abramovich Baratynsky (1800-1844) - Russian poet, was born in the family of an adjutant general, the owner of an estate in one of the villages of the Kirsanovsky district. The closeness of the parents to the imperial court made it possible to give the boy an excellent intellectual and aesthetic education.

In 1812, the twelve-year-old Baratynsky entered the St. Petersburg German boarding school, from where he was transferred almost immediately to the Corps of Pages. He could not finish his studies at this institution, as he was expelled for a serious misconduct. The poet himself considered the punishment too severe, because in addition to exclusion, its consequences had an extremely negative impact on his future career. This youthful tragedy was imprinted on all his work - all his poetic opuses are permeated with sadness and melancholy. The first attempts at writing that have come down to us date back to 1817.

Military service

1819 - the beginning of military service in the rank of private of the Life Guards of the Jaeger Regiment. An acquaintance with the poet Baron Delvig had a huge influence on the further creative fate of the novice writer. Communication with Pushkin, Kuchelbecker, poetic evenings in Ponomareva's salon, literary circles of Pletnev and Zhukovsky allowed the poet to master the poetic technique to such an extent that he took his rightful place among the famous romantic poets.

Service in Finland

At the beginning of 1820, Baratynsky was awarded the rank of non-commissioned officer and his regiment was sent to serve in Finland. The harsh beauty of Finnish landscapes and a secluded lifestyle influenced the nature of poetry - it acquired an amazing concentrated elegiac character ("Finland", "Waterfall", the first poem "Eda"). During his service in Finland, Baratynsky's poems are published in the almanac "Polar Star", created by the Decembrists Bestuzhev and Ryleev.

In 1824, thanks to the petition of a friend, the adjutant of the Governor-General of Finland, Putyata, Baratynsky was transferred to the headquarters of General Zakrevsky in Helsingfors. There he finds his love - an ardent passion for the wife of General Anastasia brings the poet many painful experiences. The image of the beloved is repeatedly reflected in the work of a talented young writer (the poem "Ball", the poems "To me with noticeable rapture", "No, the rumor deceived you", "Justification", "Fairy", "We drink sweet poison in love", "I reckless, and not surprising ... ").

In the autumn of 1825, having received news of his mother's illness, Baratynsky went to Moscow, where a year later, thanks to the influence of Denis Davydov, he retired. This is how it ends military career talented and promising young poet.

Moscow period.

Marriage to the daughter of Major General Anastasia Engelhardt (they married in the summer of 1826) brought Baratynsky material well-being and strengthened his very precarious position in Moscow society. In the same year, the poems "Eda" and "Feasts" were published - from that moment real fame came to the poet.

The first collection of lyric poems published in 1827 summed up the first half of creative way talented writer. Continuing the development of the genre of the poem ("The Ball" (1828), "The Concubine" (1831)), Baratynsky achieved unsurpassed mastery of form and graceful lightness of the literary style. At this time, the poet enters the civil service, but soon decides to devote himself exclusively to literary work. At this time, Baratynsky is actively involved in literary life capital - his works are published in Delvig's almanac "Northern Flowers" and Polevoy's magazine "Moscow Telegraph", he closely communicates with Prince Vyazemsky and a circle of famous capital writers (I. Kirievsky, A. Khomyakov, N. Yazykov).

In 1831, Baratynsky was preparing to collaborate with the European magazine, which was founded by I. Kirievsky, but soon after the opening, the magazine was banned. From then until 1835, the poet wrote only a few poems, he edits old works and prepares a new collection of poems for publication. The two-part poetry collection published in the same year seemed to Baratynsky to be the result of his work.

The poetry of Baratynsky in the 1930s acquires a solemn and mournful rhetorical appearance, he periodically turns to archaisms, the lyrical component occupies an increasingly less significant place in the poet's work. The year 1837 was marked by complete disillusionment with modern Russian reality. Baratynsky seriously thinks about going abroad.

In 1842, the last, most powerful and innovative collection of poems "Twilight" was published. This cycle is distinguished by its compositional alignment - all poems are a single poetic narrative. The collection was criticized by Belinsky - this led to severe moral consequences for the thin, vulnerable soul of the writer.

Euro-trip

In 1843, the Baratynsky couple with three older children (there were 9 in total) set off on a trip to Europe. Having traveled through all of Germany, the family stops in France, where Baratynsky meets the outstanding representatives of the French literary life of that time - Merimee, Thierry, Lamartine, Alfred de Vigny. Despite such interesting meetings Europe nevertheless disappointed the poet. In the spring of 1844, the Baratynskys moved to Italy by sea. During the move, the poet writes his last poem "Piroskaf". In Naples, Baratynsky's wife Anastasia suffered a severe nervous attack, which worsened the condition of Yevgeny Abramovich, who suffered from intense headaches and on June 29 (old style) 1844, the poet suddenly dies. The posthumous publication of Baratynsky's works was carried out by his sons in 1869, 1883 and 1884.

And the famous Russian poet of the golden age was born into a noble family. His father was a landowner, a retired lieutenant general. As a child, Boratynsky studied at a private German boarding school in St. Petersburg, and at the age of 12 he was sent to the Corps of Pages. However, pranks and refusal to obey the orders of the corps led to the fact that two years later he was expelled from there with a ban on entering military service except for ordinary.

After that, for several years the young man lived in the estates of his relatives, began to write poetry. At the beginning of 1819, Boratynsky nevertheless decided to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors and entered the Jaeger Regiment as a private in the Life Guards. He settled in the same apartment with Delvig, became friends with Pushkin, Kuchelbeker, Gnedich and began to publish. In 1820, Boratynsky received a non-commissioned officer rank and was transferred to the regiment of his relative, stationed in Finland. severity northern nature made a great impression on this romantic poet. In 1824 he was appointed to the headquarters of General Zakrevsky, where he became interested in his wife, Pushkin's Copper Venus. On next year he was promoted to officer. In 1826, due to his mother's illness, Boratynsky retired and settled in Moscow, marrying Anastasia Engelhardt - cousin wife of Denis Davydov.

After the publication of the poems "Eda" and "Feasts" in 1826, public opinion placed him among the best poets of his time. From 1828 to 1831 Boratynsky was on civil service, in particular as provincial secretary. After retiring, Boratynsky went to privacy, equipped the dowry of his wife - the Muranovo estate (later - the Museum of Tyutchev, a relative of the Engelhardts).

In 1843, Boratynsky, with his wife and three of his nine children, went on a trip abroad. In Naples, he died of a broken heart.

Along with the spelling of the surname through O - Boratynsky, the variant with the letter A was more common for a long time. It was fixed in encyclopedias and dictionaries, and not last role the fact that Pushkin, speaking of his friend's poetry, wrote about him "Baratynsky" played a role in resolving this issue.

Meanwhile, the spelling of the surname through O has dominated literary criticism since the 1990s and is confirmed by biographical information. So, the surname of the Boratynsky family, as stated in the work of the poet's nephew, comes from the name of the castle Boratyn in Galicia. After one of the representatives of the genus passed into Russian citizenship, due to the peculiarities of the new language, the letter A began to predominate in spelling. It is known that the double version of the surname caused a lot of trouble when it came to official documents. So, a letter from the poet's son, Nikolai Evgenievich Boratynsky, has been preserved, in which he points out an error in the papers and explains its origin: “... let me draw your attention to the fact that in the submitted documents my surname is written Ba-, and not Boratynsky, while the root spelling is Boratynsky ...<...>The alien letter came from the habit of Russians to pronounce O as A, but in letters one can often take this letter for the second ... "

Boratynsky himself signed the first verses as "Eugene Abramov, son of Baratynskaya." However, in the official publication of his works and in his last collection, he used another option in the signature - "Boratynsky". Also - through O - his name is immortalized on the tombstone of the poet in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

The original approach to the phenomenon of death is presented by the author in the poem "Death". It has two editions. In the first, Baratynsky clearly showed the difference between his point of view on this topic and public opinion. In the second, he completely removed the traditional description of death as a terrible end, from which the first edition begins:

O death! your name

We are in superstitious fear:

You are a creature of darkness in our thoughts,

Fall caused execution!

Incomprehensible to the world

Draw in his eyes

You're a disgusting skeleton

Baratynsky personifies the image of death. She appears as a skeleton with a scythe in her hands. This image is traditional. People are usually afraid of death, because no one knows what awaits us after it. Because of this uncertainty, there are various superstitions associated with it. For example, the fact that she is the embodiment of darkness and brings only pain and suffering. Death, a disgusting skeleton, with empty eye sockets, in a black cloak, rises above all mankind, holding a scythe in its bony hands, which, like a peasant's rye, will mow down everyone indiscriminately, right and wrong, guilty and innocent. The epithets "disgusting", "ugly" emphasize negative attitude To her. The poet also connects it with the motive of rock, which is replaced by the word "execution". Thus, he doubles the fear of death. She ceases to be natural.

Such a tragic perception of death is a feature of individual consciousness. This is how it is seen by the world, i.e. ordinary people who do not think about its global, world significance. It is not for nothing that the author uses the pronoun “us”, “our” in the first two stanzas, and also calls the fear of death “superstitious”, that is, having no real basis (“Superstition, superstition, cf. erroneous, empty, absurd, false belief in anything; faith in the miraculous, the supernatural, divination, divination, omens, signs; faith in cause and effect, where no causal connection is visible"). This is a subjective opinion about death that belongs to the light, but it is not necessarily true. Further, the author expresses his opinion about the image of death, about its meaning, transforming it in this way. Death appears in a completely different light:

You are the daughter of the supreme Ether,

You are a shining beauty

In your hand is the olive of peace,

Such unexpected turn quite expected, if you look at the author's style of description. The poem begins with a solemn appeal: "Oh death!". Patheticism gives it an odic character. We can assume, therefore, that the author will continue to praise death with enthusiasm and solemnity, as is customary in the odes. Moreover, already in the second stanza one can notice the poet's sympathetic attitude towards her from the words "incomprehensible to the world", characteristic of romantics, which the world does not understand. Society incorrectly interprets its image, its function, I consider it a misfortune and punishment. Baratynsky has a completely opposite opinion about her.

The poet raises the image of death to the gods (Ether as the upper layer of the sky, the abode of the gods), equates it with Zeus (Ether as a god, the father of Zeus). She becomes bright, beautiful, which is completely atypical for her image. In her hand she holds the olive of peace.

“This replacement of the attribute of death is essential: and in Greek mythology, and in the Christian tradition, the meanings of peace, fertility, God's blessing are associated with the olive. Death is called upon to protect the world order from chaos, to maintain the "balance of wild forces".

It is presented in this poem from a positive point of view. The author radically changes the reader's understanding of it, transforms the image of death that has been established in literature.

Baratynsky compares death with heroes ancient Greek mythology following the traditions of classicism. In the odes of the 18th century, such comparisons were obligatory. The praised personality is thus given a divine status, the ode itself - solemnity and pathos. For example, at M. Lomonosov:

... Revealing that Elizabeth

In Russia will aggravate the light

Power and crown.

Hermias, leader of the sciences,

And Mars, victorious in battle,

Shine together with him.

There is a husband, dotted with stars,

His bright bow strains,

Diana's arrows are gilded

He plays with him from beautiful hands.

(“Ode on the day of accession to the All-Russian throne of Her Majesty the Empress Empress Elisaveta Petrovna, Autocrat of All Russia”, 1746).

In this ode, Empress Elizabeth is equal to the god Mars and Hermes, and the Russian warrior is placed next to the goddess Diana.

How if you were angry with the Romans

Pluto, showing anger and power,

And if the City seemed to think that,

That Curtius, seeing the gloomy mouth,

He despised both youth and breed,

Died for Roman freedom

Having jumped into it, -

That to her! Quirites, your mark is alive

In every Ross that is without fear

Through fire and ditches it flows in a big way.

(Ode on the arrival of Her Majesty the Great Empress Empress Elisaveta Petrovna from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1742 after the coronation).

This ode praises Russian warriors. They are compared to Marcus Curtius, the hero of Roman lore.

For ancient philosophy, a positive attitude towards death is very characteristic. Socrates and his student Plato considered it a blessing. It frees the souls from the material body, from the dungeon in which they languished. The soul gets the opportunity to return to the world where it lived before earthly existence. In the Christian worldview, death is a punishment for sins. It is terrible and bitter, after it unrighteous souls will go to hell, where they will have to suffer forever. The current opinion of the world about death to the poet is based on the Christian understanding of it. Baratynsky, in turn, looks at death from an ancient point of view, for which such comparisons are quite acceptable:

When the blooming world arose

From the balance of wild forces,

In your keeping Almighty

His device was instructed.

And you fly over the creature

Oblivion of troubles everywhere

And cooling breath

Baratynsky shows us the role of death on a universal scale. He looks at it not from the point of view of an individual, for whom death, of course, will be terrible, but from the point of view of a god towering over the world. He sees that in fact death is not a product of darkness, but a daughter of light, which was created to protect the world order and natural balance. This task is very difficult, because the world is initially “wild” and consists of opposites. The Almighty has brought them into a balance that is difficult to maintain. At any moment, the world in its violence and rebelliousness can get out of control. Darkness does not get along with light, good with evil, love with hate. Death has the gift of oblivion. Troubles, disagreements are forgotten with the departure of their causes. It reminds people that there is something higher, more important than their petty quarrels in life, makes them unite in grief or struggle.

The global, world significance of death is a constant movement and development. Without her, there would be no progress. Generations must succeed each other in order to bring new ideas into this world, correct the mistakes of their ancestors and solve their own. The old kings and generals must go, leaving the young, more successful and ready for the new, the opportunity to set history and humanity in motion. They do not remember the mistakes of their predecessors and may step on the same rake, but perhaps they will manage to find a way out. If there were no death, then wars would last forever, not replacing each other, but simply not stopping. It stops conflicts, being their most terrible consequence, opening people's eyes to their delusions, mistakes through grief and shock. If they do not understand her lesson, she takes them away, thus "pacifying the violence of being."

You reconciled the Theban brothers,

You are in an immoderate blood

Mad Phaedra extinguished

The fire of painful love ...

You appear, holy virgin!

And from cooling cheeks

Spots of anger run instantly,

Baratynsky's style in this poem is in many ways reminiscent of the loud style Lomonosov. The whole poem resembles an ode with its majestically solemn, upbeat, lush mood. These are rhetorical exclamations (“Oh death!”, “You appear, holy maiden!”), And Slavicisms (“lord”, “beauty”, “cooling”, “compulsion”), and outdated vocabulary (“lanit”, “ Leah"). Baratynsky, like Lomonosov, refers to ancient myths and their heroes, giving examples from there. In addition to the "supreme Ether", the Theban brothers Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus and Jocasta, are represented here. Having learned the truth about his birth and that he was married to his mother, Oedipus cursed his sons and went into exile. The brothers decided to rule in turn, but at the end of the term, Eteocles refused to give the throne to his brother. This led to war and the action of "seven against Thebes." The brothers killed each other in a duel. There is a version that when they were burned on the same fire, the flame split in two, so it is not known exactly whether their death reconciled or not. Phaedra is the daughter of King Minos, the wife of the Athenian king Theseus. She fell in love with her stepson Hippolytus, but he rejected her, for which Phaedra slandered him. Because of this, Hippolyte died. Phaedra was unable to cope with remorse and committed suicide. Moreover, Baratynsky here depicts death allegorically, which is also characteristic of Lomonosov's odic style. She appears as a holy maiden, a luminous goddess, a daughter supreme god. She soars above the world, guarding its laws, and mercifully gives mortals peace of mind from earthly suffering.

Death extinguishes all passions, all malice and reduces all the emotions inherent in the living to the calm, indifference of the dead. In this, Baratynsky sees the benefits of death:

And the colors of restless life,

With their intemperate variegation,

Suddenly replaced by a decent one

Uniform whiteness.

Befriends meek you

People's unfriendly fate:

Caress with the same hand

Death equalizes everything and everyone. She brings everything to the same point. This delights the poet. In human passions, anger, feelings, he sees only anxiety, intemperance. They seem meaningless to him. Death, however, removes them and leaves peace, replacing the storm of emotions with "decent, monotonous whiteness." White color in the European tradition is the color of the deity. It has been associated since antiquity with daylight, purity, virtue, innocence, transparency. No wonder gods, angels and saints wear white robes. “Whiteness” for Baratynsky is clarity of thought, understanding of the meaning of being, acceptance of all truths, purification from emotions. This state occurs after death.

Not only in this poem, the poet has a negative attitude towards earthly passions. In all his lyrics there is a motif of their meaninglessness. They are the lot of the living. Emotions, desires do not allow people to see and understand the truth. Earth life characterized by epithets: "restless", "intemperate", "unfriendly", "immoderate", "torturous". All definitions give it a negative connotation. Almost everyone has prefixes not -, without -, showing the inferiority of life. Of the passions themselves, only destructive ones are presented in the poem: madness, anger, voluptuousness. Even love, a bright, in fact, feeling, does not bring joy and happiness, but only torment. Death, on the other hand, corresponds to the epithets: “meek”, “decent”, “holy”, “luminous”, emphasizing the meaning given to it. White color. The first one is especially interesting. Dahl's dictionary says:

“Meek, about a quiet person, modest, humble, loving, condescending; not quick-tempered, not angry, long-suffering. Gentle treatment, even and benevolent ... ".

Death does not wish harm to people. On the contrary, she pities them, sympathizes with them, does not make them suffer, but relieves them of suffering. Life and death are contrasted in this poem at the lexical level, with the second described from a negative point of view, and the first from a positive one.

Baratynsky ends the poem with his traditional conclusion, which is present in many of his poems:

confusion, compulsion,

The condition of our troubled days:

You solve all mysteries,

A chain of contextual synonyms (“perplexity, coercion”, “condition”, “permission”) characterizes death. She confuses people with her unexpected appearance and such a simple resolution of conflicts. Very often she forces a person to follow her, if he does not realize its significance, its benefits, he himself is not ready to leave for another world. And, of course, in many situations it is the only possible solution, an exit, and in troubled times and mandatory. Dying, a person realizes the truth, he opens secret meaning his life and path, the meaning of being of all mankind as a whole. At least the poet hopes so. The word "permission" at the end is repeated twice. This is also a traditional, favorite technique of Baratynsky (as a repetition of the same root, only here it is not the same root, but the same word). He focuses attention on it, reaffirms it, proves its accuracy. This is also emphasized by the repetition of the pronouns “you”, “everyone”, in an anaphora (“You are the solution of all riddles, you are the solution of all chains”). Death is precisely the resolution of all disputes, all doubts and reflections. It gives answers to rhetorical questions, it frees the human soul from the mortal body, the human mind from the heavy search for truth.

In this poem, Baratynsky changes the readers' view of the image of death, transforms it. He uses non-traditional epithets to describe death (“luminous”, “holy”), connects it with the motives of peace, fertility, light, atypical for this topic. The reader literally experiences cognitive dissonance when the author presents her as a beautiful goddess guarding the structure of the world, the secrets of its creation, giving peace to souls. The poet writes an ode to her, sings of her, worships her. This is not the only time Baratynsky transforms traditional motifs, portraying them in a completely different way.

Another edition of this poem was written in the same year and contains several important changes:

I won't take you out of the darkness

O death! and a childhood dream

Giving you a coffin camp,

I won't take you down with a scythe.

You tame the rebel

In the mad force of a hurricane,

You, running on your shores,

You turn the ocean back.

You give limits to the plant,

So as not to cover the boundless forest

Earth with a destructive shadow,

The grain would not rise to the skies.

And man! Holy maiden!

In front of you with his cheeks

Spots of anger disappear instantly

Baratynsky removed the introductory part, where death is traditionally described. He immediately directly declares that he does not give it the images and forms established by people. For him, canonical ideas are absolutely not important, he, on the contrary, completely refuses them. Thus, he completely opposes himself to the light, does not accept his opinion. He bluntly says that he “will not enlist” death with a scythe.

Moreover, the poet here develops his idea of ​​death as the guardian of world orders and laws. She not only mercifully protects people from their passions, but also subdues the ocean in its rampage, does not allow the plant to grow to heaven, although it has such power. Here the meaning of death is clearly traced in the limitation of that unbridled power that every person has in his soul, capable of destroying the whole world, creating chaos, is in the depths of the ocean, which can destroy all life on land in an instant, is inside the trees, which, give them free rein, under the light of the sun they will grow all over the planet. Death saves golden mean, equalizes the strong and the weak, so that everyone can exist in the world, observing the rule of natural balance. And man is included in this series.

If you look at her from this point of view, then she really does not seem unfair, cruel, terrible, but, on the contrary, a reasonable, wise being. It is only necessary to realize its role on a global scale. This is exactly what the poet proves.

Dahl V. Dictionary of the living Great Russian language: In 4 vols. T. 2. S. 509.

Baratynsky E. A. Poln. coll. cit.: In 2 volumes / Ch. ed. M.L. Hoffmann. T. 1. S. 107.

Baratynsky E. A. Poln. coll. cit.: In 2 volumes / Ch. ed. M.L. Hoffmann. T. 1. S. 188.