Features of lyric poetry and Bunin. Motives of I.A.’s early landscape lyrics
It occupies a fairly significant place in his work, despite the fact that Ivan Alekseevich gained fame primarily as a prose writer. However, Ivan Bunin himself claimed that he was first and foremost a poet. This author’s path in literature began with poetry.
It is worth noting that Bunin’s lyrics run through his entire work and are characteristic not only of the early stage of development of his artistic thought. Bunin's original poems, unique in their artistic style, are difficult to confuse with the works of other authors. This individual style reflected the poet's worldview.
Bunin's first poems
When Ivan Alekseevich turned 17 years old, his first poem was published in the magazine "Rodina". It's called "Village Beggar". In this work, the poet talks about the sad state in which the Russian village was at that time.
From the very beginning of Ivan Alekseevich’s literary activity, Bunin’s lyrics have been characterized by their special style, manner and themes. Many of his poems from his early years reflect Ivan Alekseevich, his subtle inner world, rich in shades of feelings. Bunin's quiet, intelligent lyrics from this period are reminiscent of a conversation with a close friend. However, she amazed her contemporaries with her artistry and high technique. Many critics admired Bunin's poetic gift and the author's mastery of language. It should be said that Ivan Alekseevich drew many accurate comparisons and epithets from works of folk art. Paustovsky highly valued Bunin. He said that every line of it was clear, like a string.
In his early work, not only Bunin’s landscape lyrics are found. His poems are also devoted to civil themes. He created works about the plight of the people; with all his soul he longed for change for the better. For example, in a poem called “Desolation,” the old house tells Ivan Alekseevich that he is waiting for “destruction,” “brave voices,” and “mighty hands” so that life will bloom again “from the dust on the grave.”
"Leaf Fall"
The first collection of poetry by this author is called "Falling Leaves." It appeared in 1901. This collection included a poem of the same name. Bunin says goodbye to childhood, to his inherent world of dreams. In the poems in the collection, the homeland appears in wonderful pictures of nature. It evokes a sea of emotions and feelings.
In Bunin's landscape lyrics, the image of autumn is most often encountered. It was with him that his work as a poet began. This image will illuminate the poems of Ivan Alekseevich with its golden radiance until the end of his life. Autumn in the poem "Falling Leaves" "comes to life": the forest, which has dried out from the sun over the summer, smells of pine and oak, and autumn enters its "mansion" as a "quiet widow."
Blok noted that few people can know and love their native nature like Bunin. He also added that Ivan Alekseevich claims to occupy one of the central places in Russian poetry. A distinctive feature of both the lyrics and prose of Ivan Bunin was the rich artistic perception of his native nature, the world, and also the people in it. Gorky compared this poet in terms of his skill in creating landscapes with Levitan himself. And many other writers and critics liked Bunin’s lyrics, their philosophical nature, laconicism and sophistication.
Commitment to poetic tradition
Ivan Alekseevich lived and worked at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. At this time, various modernist movements were actively developing in poetry. Word creation was in vogue, many authors were engaged in it. To express their feelings and thoughts, they looked for very unusual forms, which sometimes shocked readers. However, Ivan Bunin adhered to the classical traditions of Russian poetry, which were developed in their work by Tyutchev, Fet, Polonsky, Baratynsky and others. Ivan Alekseevich created realistic lyrical poems and did not at all strive for modernist experiments with words. The poet had enough of the events of reality and the riches of the Russian language. The main motives of Bunin's lyrics remain generally traditional.
"Ghosts"
Bunin is classic. This author has absorbed into his work all the enormous wealth of Russian poetry of the 19th century. Bunin often emphasizes this continuity in form and content. Thus, in the poem “Ghosts” Ivan Alekseevich defiantly declares to the reader: “No, the dead did not die for us!” For the poet, vigilance for ghosts means devotion to the departed. However, this same work indicates that Bunin is sensitive to the latest phenomena in Russian poetry. In addition, he is interested in poetic interpretations of myth, everything subconscious, irrational, sad and musical. It is from here that the images of harps, ghosts, dormant sounds come from, as well as a special melodiousness akin to Balmont.
Transformation of landscape lyrics into philosophical ones
Bunin in his poems tried to find the meaning of human life, the harmony of the world. He affirmed the wisdom and eternity of nature, which he considered an inexhaustible source of beauty. These are the main motives of Bunin's lyrics, running through all of his work. Ivan Alekseevich always shows human life in the context of nature. The poet was sure that all living things are intelligent. He argued that one cannot talk about a nature separate from us. After all, any, even the most insignificant movement of air is the movement of our life.
Gradually, Bunin's landscape lyrics, the features of which we noted, turn into philosophical ones. For the author, the most important thing in a poem is now thought. Many of Ivan Alekseevich’s creations are devoted to the theme of life and death. Bunin is very diverse thematically. His poems, however, are often difficult to fit into the framework of any one topic. This is worth mentioning separately.
Thematic facets of poems
Speaking about the lyrics of Ivan Alekseevich, it is difficult to clearly define the themes of his poetry, since it represents a combination of various thematic facets. The following faces can be distinguished:
- poems about life,
- about her joy
- about childhood and youth,
- about longing
- about loneliness.
That is, Ivan Alekseevich wrote in general about a person, about what touches him.
"Evening" and "The Sky Opened"
One of these facets are poems about the human world and the natural world. Thus, “Evening” is a work written in the form of a classic sonnet. In both Pushkin and Shakespeare one can find philosophical sonnets and sonnets about love. Bunin glorifies the natural world and the human world in this genre. Ivan Alekseevich wrote that we always only remember happiness, but it is everywhere. Perhaps this is the “autumn garden behind the barn” and clean air flowing through the window.
People are not always able to look at familiar things with an unusual perspective. We often simply do not notice them, and happiness eludes us. However, neither a bird nor a cloud escapes the poet’s watchful eye. It is these simple things that bring happiness. Its formula is expressed in the last line of this work: “I see, I hear, I am happy. Everything is in me.”
The image of the sky predominates in this poem. Connected with this image, in particular, is the affirmation of the eternity of nature in Bunin’s lyrics. It is the leitmotif in the entire poetic work of Ivan Alekseevich. The sky represents life because it is eternal and extraordinary. His image is depicted, for example, in the verse “The sky opened.” Here it is the center of reflection on life. However, the image of the sky is closely connected with other images - light, day, birch. All of them seem to illuminate the work, and the birch gives a satiny light.
Reflection of modernity in Bunin's lyrics
It is noteworthy that when the revolution had already begun in Russia, its processes were not reflected in the poetic work of Ivan Alekseevich. He remained faithful to the philosophical theme. It was more important for the poet to know not what was happening, but why it was happening to a person.
Ivan Alekseevich correlated modern problems with eternal concepts - life and death, good and evil. Trying to find the truth, he turned in his work to the history of various peoples and countries. This is how poems about ancient deities, Buddha, Mohammed appeared.
It was important for the poet to understand by what general laws an individual and society as a whole develop. He recognized that our life on earth is only a segment of the eternal existence of the Universe. This is where the motives of fate and loneliness emerge. Ivan Alekseevich foresaw the coming catastrophe of the revolution. He considered this to be the greatest misfortune.
Ivan Bunin sought to look beyond the boundaries of reality. He was interested in the mystery of death, the breath of which can be felt in many of this author’s poems. The destruction of the nobility as a class and the impoverishment of the landowners' estates gave him a feeling of doom. However, despite the pessimism, Ivan Alekseevich saw a way out, which lies in the merging of man with nature, in its eternal beauty and peace.
Bunin's lyrics are very multifaceted. Briefly, within the framework of one article, we can note only its main features and give only a few examples. Let's say a few words about the love lyrics of this author. She is also quite interesting.
Love lyrics
In Bunin's works, the theme of love is one of the most frequently encountered. Ivan Alekseevich often glorified this feeling in both poetry and prose. The poetry of love by this author anticipates the famous cycle of stories by Bunin
Poems dedicated to this topic reflect various shades of love. For example, the work “The Sadness of Shining and Black Eyelashes...” is filled with the sadness of saying goodbye to a loved one.
"The sadness of shining and black eyelashes..."
This poem consists of two stanzas. In the first of them, the author remembers his beloved, whose image still lives in his soul, in his eyes. However, the lyrical hero bitterly realizes that his youth has passed, and his former lover cannot be returned. His tenderness in the description of the girl is emphasized by various means of expression, such as metaphors (“sadness of eyelashes,” “fire of eyes,” “diamonds of tears”) and epithets (“heavenly eyes,” “rebellious tears,” “shining eyelashes”).
In the second stanza of the poem, the lyrical hero thinks about why his beloved still comes to him in a dream, and also remembers the delight of meeting this girl. These reflections are expressed in the work by rhetorical questions, to which, as we know, there is no answer.
"What's ahead?"
Another poem on a love theme - "What's ahead?" It is filled with an atmosphere of calm and happiness. To the question "What's ahead?" the author replies: “Happy long journey.” The lyrical hero understands that happiness awaits him with his beloved. However, he thinks sadly about the past and does not want to let it go.
Bunin's lyrics: features
In conclusion, we list the main features that are characteristic of Bunin’s lyric poetry. This is the brightness of details, the desire for descriptive detail, laconicism, classical simplicity, poeticization of eternal values, especially native nature. In addition, the work of this author is characterized by a constant appeal to symbolism, a wealth of subtext, a close connection with Russian prose and poetry, and an attraction to the philosophical. He often echoes his own stories.
Poetry occupies a significant place in the work of I. A. Bunin, although he gained fame as a prose writer. He claimed to be first and foremost a poet. It was with poetry that his path in literature began.
When Bunin turned 17, his first poem, “The Village Beggar,” was published in the Rodina magazine, in which the young poet described the state of the Russian village:
It's sad to see so much suffering
And longing and need in Rus'!
From the very beginning of his creative activity, the poet found his own style, his own themes, his own original manner. Many poems reflected the state of mind of young Bunin, his inner world, subtle and rich in shades of feelings. Smart, quiet lyrics were similar to a conversation with a close friend, but amazed contemporaries with high technique and artistry. Critics unanimously admired Bunin's unique gift for feeling the word, his mastery in the field of language. The poet drew many precise epithets and comparisons from works of folk art - both oral and written. K. Paustovsky greatly appreciated Bunin, saying that each of his lines was as clear as a string.
He started with civil poetry, wrote about the difficult life of the people, and with all his soul wished for change for the better. In the poem “Desolation,” the old house says to the poet:
I'm waiting for the cheerful sounds of the axe,
I'm waiting for the destruction of daring work,
Mighty hands and brave voices!
I'm waiting for life, even in brute force,
Blossomed again from the ashes of the grave.
In 1901, Bunin's first poetry collection, Falling Leaves, was published. It also included a poem of the same name. The poet says goodbye to childhood, the world of dreams. The homeland appears in the collection’s poems in wonderful pictures of nature, evoking a sea of feelings and emotions. The image of autumn is the most frequently encountered in Bunin’s landscape lyrics. The poet’s poetic creativity began with him, and until the end of his life this image illuminates his poems with a golden radiance. In the poem “Falling Leaves,” autumn “comes to life”:
The forest smells of oak and pine,
Over the summer it dried out from the sun,
And autumn is a quiet widow
Enters his motley mansion.
A. wrote about Bunin that “few people know how to know and love nature,” and added that Bunin “claims one of the main places in Russian poetry.” A rich artistic perception of nature, the world and the people in it became a distinctive feature of both Bunin’s poetry and prose. compared Bunin the artist with Levitan in terms of his skill in creating landscapes.
Bunin lived and worked at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when modernist movements were rapidly developing in poetry. Many poets were engaged in word creation, looking for unusual forms to express their thoughts and feelings, which sometimes shocked readers. Bunin remained faithful to the traditions of Russian classical poetry, which were developed by Baratynsky, Polonsky and others. He wrote realistic lyric poetry and did not strive to experiment with words. The riches of the Russian language and the events of reality were quite enough for the poet.
In his poems, Bunin tried to find the harmony of the world, the meaning of human existence. He affirmed the eternity and wisdom of nature, defined it as an inexhaustible source of beauty. Bunin's life is always inscribed in the context of nature. He was confident in the rationality of all living things and argued “that there is no nature separate from us, that every slightest movement of air is the movement of our own life.”
Landscape lyrics gradually become philosophical. In a poem, the main thing for the author is thought. Many of the poet’s poems are devoted to the theme of life and death:
My spring will pass, and this day will pass,
But it's fun to wander around and know that everything passes,
Meanwhile, the happiness of living will never die,
While the dawn brings out the dawn above the earth
And young life will be born in its turn.
It is noteworthy that when revolutionary processes had already begun in the country, they were not reflected in Bunin’s poems. He continued the philosophical theme. It was more important for him to know What, A Why something or other happens to a person. The poet correlated the problems of our time with eternal categories - good, evil, life and death. Trying to find the truth, in his work he turns to the history of different countries and peoples. This is how poems about Mohammed, Buddha, and ancient deities arise. In the poem "Sabaoth" he writes:
The ancient words sounded dead.
The spring glow was on the slippery slabs -
And a menacing gray head
Flowed between the stars, surrounded by fogs.
The poet wanted to understand the general laws of development of society and the individual. He recognized earthly life as only a segment of the eternal life of the Universe. This is where the motives of loneliness and fate arise. Bunin foresaw the catastrophe of the revolution and perceived it as the greatest misfortune. The poet is trying to look beyond the boundaries of reality, to unravel the riddle of death, the gloomy breath of which is felt in many poems. His feeling of doom is caused by the destruction of the noble way of life, impoverishment and destruction of landowners' estates. Despite his pessimism, Bunin saw a solution in the merging of man with wise mother nature, in her peace and eternal beauty.
Was originally known as a poet. Precision, uniqueness - these qualities enter into landscape poetry and move it forward. Precision of the poetic word. Critics unanimously admired Bunin's unique gift for feeling the word, his mastery in the field of language. The poet drew many precise epithets and comparisons from works of folk art - both oral and written. K. Paustovsky greatly appreciated Bunin, saying that each of his lines was as clear as a string.
There were two prohibitions:
- ban on pathos
- ban on hierarchy
His lyrics are a collection of subtle thematic facets. In Bunin's poetry one can distinguish such thematic facets as poems about life, about the joy of earthly existence, poems about childhood and youth, about loneliness, and melancholy. That is, Bunin wrote about life, about man, about what touches a person. One of these facets is poems about the natural world and the human world. Poem "Evening" written in the genre of a classic sonnet.
Landscape is a touchstone in the depiction of reality. It is in this area that Bunin is especially persistent against the symbolists. For the Symbolist, nature is raw material that he processes.
A symbolist is the creator of his own landscape, which is always arranged as a panorama around him. Bunin is more humble and chaste: he wants to be a contemplator. He reverently steps aside, making every effort to reproduce the reality he idolizes as objectively as possible. He is most afraid of somehow accidentally “re-creating” her. But the symbolist, depicting not the world, but, in essence, himself, in each work achieves his goal immediately and completely. By narrowing the task, he expands his capabilities. There is no doubt that Bunin’s landscape is true, accurate, alive and magnificent in a way that no symbolist has ever dreamed of. But from Bunin, the multiplicity of phenomena requires the same multiplicity of reproductions, which is impossible. The quality of Bunin’s recreations in itself does not lead to the goal: it requires reinforcement by quantity, theoretically speaking, unlimited
Landscape lyrics occupy a leading place in Bunin's poetry. In it he reflected the signs of the nature of the Oryol region, which the poet passionately loved. Poems about nature are written in gentle, soft colors and resemble the picturesque landscapes of Levitan. A striking example of a verbal landscape is a poem "Russian Spring". The poem is remarkable for its observation and faithfulness in conveying light, smell, and color. "The full month is high..." Bunin's landscape lyrics are in the traditions of Russian classics (“Autumn”, “Autumn Landscape”, “In the Steppe”).
Bunin's early poems are full of a feeling of the joy of being, one's connectedness, oneness with nature. In a poem "Thaw" the harmony of the poet and the world is conveyed.
Bunin’s external description is not distinguished by bright colors, but is rich in internal content. Man is not an observer, a contemplator of nature, but, in the words of Tyutchev, a “thinking reed,” a part of nature.
Bunin is attracted not by the static, frozen state of the landscape, but by the eternal change of state. He knows how to capture the beauty of a single moment, the very state of transition.
Love for nature is inseparably linked with love for the homeland. This is not an open, declarative patriotism, but a lyrically colored feeling, poured out in descriptions of pictures of native nature. (“Motherland”, “Motherland”, “In the steppe”, cycle “Rus”).
In later poems, a characteristic feature of Bunin’s poetry clearly emerges: This longing for beauty and harmony, which are becoming less and less in the surrounding life. Images of the darkness of the night, the melancholy of autumn slush, the sadness of abandoned cemeteries are constant in poems, the theme of which is the ruin of noble nests, the death of noble estates.
Not only nature, but also ancient legends, myths, and religious traditions nourish Bunin’s poetry. In them Bunin sees the wisdom of centuries, finds the fundamental principles of the entire spiritual life of mankind ("Temple of the Sun", "Saturn" ),
Bunin's poetry has strong philosophical motives. Any picture - everyday, natural, psychological - is always included in the universal, in the universe. The poems are permeated with a sense of wonder at the eternal world and an understanding of the inevitability of one’s own death (“ Loneliness", "Rhythm").
Bunin's poems are short, laconic, lyrical miniatures. His poetry is restrained, as if “cold,” but this is a deceptive “coldness.” Rather, it is the absence of pathos, poses that outwardly express the “pathos of the soul”
9Prose of I. Bunin 1890-1900s. Artistic features of Bunin's short stories. Bunin's substantive depiction.
We know him not only as a prose writer, but also as a poet, with beautiful and memorable poems. Bunin begins his literary work by writing poems, presenting himself to readers as a person with a special view of the world. Bunin's poetic activity developed under the influence of Nikitin and Koltsov, who glorified the peasantry and Russian nature. All these topics were close to Bunin.
Themes and motives of Bunin's lyrics
In general, the poet’s lyrical world was not rich in a variety of topics. Basically, the writer writes about his native nature, where he depicts its beauty, and also reminds us that nature and man are inseparable. In Bunin's work as a poet, among the motives and images of his lyrics, the theme of childhood can be seen. The author writes about the beginning of life, about children, about the discovery of the world. Often revealing the theme of childhood, Bunin depicts pictures of the evening period, when children are preparing to go to bed. Maybe that's why many of his works are somewhat similar to lullabies.
Through the lines of his poems, through the main motives of his lyrics, Bunin reveals to the reader the theme of the present and the past, philosophically reflecting on the brevity of human existence. Bunin's poetry is a special, harmonious world. As Gorky said, if you remove Bunin and his poetry from literature, it will immediately fade, losing its iridescent shine.
In general, the main theme and motives of Bunin’s lyrics always remained the theme of the Motherland, but the writer also touched on other topics, although they are not so diverse.
Bunin's love lyrics
A person who writes about the beauty of nature and man cannot ignore the theme of love, so Bunin is worried about the mystery of this feeling. Love lyrics were not the main one in his work and poetry, so Bunin wrote few poems on the theme of love. If we get acquainted with the love lyrics in Bunin’s works, we will understand that although they are saturated with a thirst for love, they are always filled with tragedy, unfulfilled hopes, and memories.
Eternal and transitory in Bunin's lyrics
Peculiar and unique in artistic style, Bunin's lyrics with their themes and motifs are multifaceted and rich. It is filled with philosophical questions about the meaning of life, the eternal and the transitory. In the lines of Bunin’s poems one can read confusion and disappointment, but at the same time one can feel faith in life. And the poet’s lyrics are filled with light and greatness. In his poems, the poet reflects the theme of memory, touches on the past, reflects on the connection between nature and man, and raises the theme of death and life. Bunin does not believe that he will ever die, because he felt the eternity of matter and believed in the continuity of existence.
Loneliness and nature in Bunin's lyrics
As we have already said, Bunin wrote very often about nature. But, as the poet wrote, it was not the landscape that attracted him and it was not the colors that he sought to notice, but the fact that love and the joy of being shine in these colors. By describing nature, the poet made it possible to understand the mental state of the lyrical hero and his experiences. Meanwhile, the hero of Bunin’s works is constantly sad about his youth and the moments he experienced. He tries to look into the future and accept the past.
Speaking about the state of the heroes of Bunin’s poems, this is eternal loneliness, and the theme of loneliness is played out by the writer in different ways. So we can see that loneliness is like grace for the soul, but it can also turn out to be a dark dungeon, imprisonment for the soul.
As a result, we can say for sure: Bunin’s lyrics are laconism, sophistication and philosophy.
Working with the texts of the poems “Falling Leaves”, “Motherland”, “Night and Gray Distance...”, “Leaves rustled as they flew around...”, “Fire”, “Word”. Analysis of artistic techniques based on the implementation of interactive tasks. (In the process of analyzing the poem, new terms are introduced and known ones are repeated) - Repetition of the concept of antithesis. Lexical and compositional antithesis. It is important to show that antithesis can manifest itself at all levels of the poem: semantic, compositional, linguistic, emotional. – Compare the state of the lyrical hero of the poem “The leaves rustled, flying around...” with the mood created by the description of the autumn forest. What contradiction arises and how does the author himself explain it? (The description of the autumn forest creates an alarming and sad mood: the forest is afraid of the impending death, “howls” - cries. And the lyrical hero does not understand what is scary in the autumn hum and “dance” of leaves. He has fun spinning with her. This is explained by the fact that the lyrical hero is a child - he “was small". Thus, children do not have access to the awareness of mortality and the premonition of the end. Life seems to them long, if not eternal, therefore the sound of autumn leaves does not cause sadness in him, but “joyfully crazy" delight.) - How Do you think what additional semantic meaning does the author put into the image of a burning and dying fire in the poem “Fire”? What images and why does he contrast it? Explain your answer. – What artistic techniques are found in the poem “Fire”? Can the entire poem be called an extended metaphor? – Draw a conclusion about the color painting in Bunin’s lyrics. – Why do you think in the poem “Night and Gray Distance...” we can talk not about color painting, but about light painting? Try to give your own definition of this artistic technique. – Re-read the poem “Night and Gray Distance...”. What details are used to create the image of silence? – Pay attention to the peculiarity of the epithets in the poem “Motherland”. What artistic effect does the poet achieve? (Compound epithets (“dead lead”, “milky blue”) are characteristic of Bunin’s poetry: one part is usually descriptive, the other is evaluative. Similar epithets are found in the lyrics of F. I. Tyutchev.)