In 1833, while in Boldin, Pushkin wrote the poem "The Bronze Horseman". What questions did the poet raise in this work? Questions about social contradictions and the future of Russia. But his contemporaries, unfortunately, did not know about it. The poem was banned by Nicholas the First. It was first published without censorship only in 1904.
The following is a summary and analysis of The Bronze Horseman. It was in this work that the "little man" first appeared - an image that became the most popular in Russian literature of the 19th century. Offended, oppressed and lonely - such is the protagonist of The Bronze Horseman. The problem of Pushkin's character is his social insecurity, his inability to withstand the blows of fate.
History of Creation
In 1812, Alexander I wished to remove the monument to Peter from the capital. However, the day before, one of the majors had a bizarre dream: the monument suddenly came to life and began to gallop along the streets of St. Petersburg. At the same time, the major assured that the bronze Peter Iin a dream, which was in some way symbolic, he uttered terrible words. Namely: “What have they brought Russia to! As long as I am here, my city has nothing to fear! The emperor was informed about the major's dream, the monument was left in its original place.
There is a version that it was this story that inspired Pushkin to write the famous poem "The Bronze Horseman". True, some researchers claim that the work is based on a completely different legend. However, the bronze statue at one time gave rise to many myths. From which of them the creation of the poem began is unknown.
The Bronze Horseman was completed in 1833 in Boldin. Shortly before this, Pushkin traveled to the Urals in order to collect materials about the Pugachev uprising. According to Pushkinists, work on the work on the monument to Peter did not last long - about a month. Although, of course, the idea arose even before arriving in Boldino.
Despite the fact that the poem was written in a short time, it cost the author incredible strength. Pushkin rewrote each verse many times, and in this way he managed to achieve the ideal form. "The Bronze Horseman" is a small work. You can read it in 15-20 minutes. The poem consists of five hundred verses, and includes the reflections of the Great Reformer after the significant Battle of Poltava, and the events of the 19th century. And most importantly, in this work the sad events of 1824 are conveyed very brightly and in a peculiar way.
At that time, it was impossible to simply publish a work of art. Especially the creation of Pushkin, who did not inspire confidence in the emperor. The writer sent"The Bronze Horseman" to the censors. Those, in turn, made many edits to the poem, which almost significantly distorted the author's intention.
The poet sincerely believed that the emperor himself made corrections to his works. However, the researchers claim that employees of the Third Division were engaged in this. The poem was not officially banned. But with numerous remarks from the "highest censorship", there could be no talk of any publication.
The poem was never published during the life of the author. Only a small excerpt was published, namely "Introduction", which has no direct connection with the main plot. In 1837, after Pushkin's death, the work appeared in the Sovremennik magazine. But it was a poor post. Before getting into print, the poem was revised by Zhukovsky, who had to comply with all the wishes of official criticism. So, a scene was cut out in the work, expressing the main idea of the poetic poem.
Completely, without extraneous edits, Pushkin's work was first published only in the twentieth century. Below is a summary. The poem is small, consists of "Introduction" and two parts. The content is outlined as follows:
- Intro.
- Eugene.
- Torment of the protagonist.
- Dreams.
- Later.
- King.
- On Petrova Square.
- Life is an empty dream.
- The misfortune of the Neva banks.
- Idol on a bronze horse.
- Madness.
Intro
On the shoreThe Great Reformer stands on the Neva and dreams of a new city, which will soon be built here "in spite of the arrogant neighbor", that is, the Swede. As you know, Peter I realized his dream. A hundred years pass, a beautiful city rises on the banks of the river, built, as they later say, on human bones.
Moscow faded in front of St. Petersburg, “like a porphyry-bearing widow before a new queen” – such a metaphor is used by Pushkin in the introduction to the poem “The Bronze Horseman”. The author admires the beauties of the city of Petra. And then he warns the reader: his story will be sad.
Eugene
The main character of the poem "The Bronze Horseman" has the same name as Onegin. It is no coincidence: this name sounds pleasant, besides, the author's pen is "friendly to him." Events take place in November. The waves of the Neva are noisily whipping. The weather is restless, windy, in a word, typical for autumn Petersburg.
Evgeny is heading to his house. He lives in Kolomna, serves somewhere - probably works in one of the faceless St. Petersburg departments. It just so happened that in Russian literature the most touching characters are petty officials. The protagonist of the poem "The Bronze Horseman" by Pushkin is a "little man", a modest, socially unprotected person. Literary critics compare Yevgeny with Bashmachkin from Gogol's The Overcoat.
Torment of the main character
So, Eugene came home. He took off his greatcoat, lay down, but could not fall asleep. The protagonist of "The Bronze Horseman" is in thought. What worries him? First of all, that he is poor, and therefore forced to work hardachieve at least some relative independence. He has neither money nor talent. But there are idle happy people who live easily and naturally! Alas, Eugene is not one of them.
The hero of The Bronze Horseman is in love with a certain Parasha who lives on the other side of the Neva. And on this day, he is also upset by the fact that the bridges were removed. This means that Eugene will not see his beloved for another two or three days. He sighs heartily and daydreams.
Dreams
Evgeny is sad, but at the same time full of hope. He is young, he althy, will work hard and someday will certainly marry Parasha. Eugene does not dream of anything unattainable. Just about a modest house, about a service that will bring him a small income. He marries Parasha. She will take care of the household and children. So they will live until their death, and their grandchildren will bury. The dreams of the hero of the poem "The Bronze Horseman" by Pushkin are quite earthly. But they are not destined to come true.
Flood
Yevgeny is dreaming, meanwhile the wind outside the window howls sadly. The young official falls asleep, and the next day something terrible happens. The Neva is overflowing. In the morning, people admire the splashes, "foam of furious waters." Pushkin compares the river with a beast that, in a frenzy, rushed to the city. The Neva sweeps away everything in its path: fragments of huts, roofing, logs, goods from a spare merchant, modest belongings of residents, coffins from a cemetery.
King
People are powerless before the violence of nature. Whom to ask for help, who will save them from the flood? According to the then tradition, they go to the king. He goes out tobalcony, sad, embarrassed. And he announces to the people: before the elements, the kings cannot cope. This episode is worth watching. Pushkin emphasizes that the autocrat, despite his seemingly unlimited power, should not compete in strength with nature.
However, in the poem "The Bronze Horseman" the image of the ruler of the Russian state is embodied in a huge monument towering in the center of St. Petersburg. After all, it was Peter who at the beginning of the 18th century dared to build a city on the Neva. His idea cost a lot of blood. The aforementioned expression “a city built on human bones” did not appear by chance. After more than a hundred years since the founding of St. Petersburg, a flood occurs that destroys ordinary people. The predecessor of the Great Reformer hastily leaves the capital.
Here it is worth making a small digression into history. The flood depicted in Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" is not fiction. The event took place in 1824. This is the most destructive flood in the history of St. Petersburg.
January 7, it was raining, a strong southeast wind was blowing. In the canals, a sharp rise in water began. This initially attracted onlookers, as the author of The Bronze Horseman also mentions. But very quickly, almost the entire city was under water. Only a small part of St. Petersburg was not affected. The next day a severe frost hit. Several hundred Petersburgers drowned, later researchers could not establish the exact number of deaths.
On Petrova Square
While the tsar leaves Petersburg,Eugene, pale, stricken, sits on a marble beast. What is this animal? This is a statue of a lion, one of the most famous sights of St. Petersburg. Eugene perched on the marble beast, the rain whipping into his face. He is afraid, but not for himself. His desperate gaze is directed to the other side of the Neva. Eugene is trying to see the house of his beloved.
The content of The Bronze Horseman can be summarized in a nutshell. But we will not do this, because, firstly, this poem is one of the greatest works of Russian literature, and secondly, there are many interesting episodes related to the history of St. Petersburg. So, what are these guard lions, which, as the author of the work "The Bronze Horseman" said, stand as if alive?
Many illustrations have been created for Pushkin's poem. The author of one of the most famous is the artist Ostroumova-Lebedeva. However, there is a factual error in this work. The illustration shows a lion from the Palace Pier. This monument was erected a few years after the flood. In fact, the hero of the poem "The Bronze Horseman", which depicts the tragic days in the history of the Northern capital, was sitting on a lion near the house of Lobanov-Rostovsky. This building was erected in 1817. In everyday life it is called "the house with lions." In the photo below you can see how this building looks today. Of course, the “house with lions” has been repeatedly restored.
Life is an empty dream
This is the thought that comes to Eugene's mind when he sees the terrible destruction the next day. Reading the summaryThe Bronze Horseman may inspire you to get acquainted with the original source. This is a wonderful work filled with vivid metaphors and images. Pushkin compares the Neva with a ferocious bandit gang that broke into the village, destroyed everything and robbed for a long time, and then disappeared in a hurry. The river was saturated with the destruction it had caused in St. Petersburg, and then “drew back.”
Water left the pavement. Yevgeny hurries to the shore in alarm: he wants to see Parasha. Sees a boat, finds a carrier. The one for a dime forwards him to the other side to his beloved. Finally, Eugene reached the shore. He walks through familiar streets and is horrified. Around everything is destroyed, demolished, around the body, as if "in a battlefield." Headlong, he, not remembering anything and exhausted from torment, hurries to where his bride is waiting. But suddenly it stops. There are no more gates or the house where the widow and her daughter Parasha lived. Only a lone willow…
The misfortune of the Neva banks
Petersburg came to life again, as if there had never been a flood. True, a certain Count Khvostov immediately wrote a poem dedicated to the tragedy. Nevertheless, people walk along the free streets with "cold insensitivity." Officials go to work. The merchant also does not lose heart, opening his shop, plundered by the Neva. And it seems that in St. Petersburg on this day there is only one person who, after a terrible flood, cannot continue his ordinary life. This is Eugene, the protagonist of the poem "The Bronze Horseman".
Peter I is mentioned in the work, of course, not only in the "Introduction". This is importantan image symbolizing power and strength, before which the "little man" is absolutely defenseless. It is worth saying a few words about the monument depicting the founder of St. Petersburg.
Idol on a bronze horse
The central image in the poem "The Bronze Horseman" is the famous monument to Peter. Pushkin calls him "Idol on a bronze horse." Monuments to Peter established in 1782. The name "copper" was attached to this moment, because until the 19th century in Russian bronze was often called copper.
The model of the statue was designed by Etienne Falcone, a French sculptor, a representative of classicism. Several other urban legends are associated with this monument. Including the story of how Emperor Paul I dreamed of the ghost of Peter. Moreover, he dreamed of it exactly where the Bronze Horseman is located today.
It is worth saying that the sculpture depicting Peter I got its name precisely because of the work of Pushkin. Later, Dostoevsky also conveyed the motif of the revived monument in his novel The Teenager. It is also mentioned in the works of later authors. However, let us return to Pushkin's hero. What happened to him after he learned about the death of his beloved?
Madness
Poor Yevgeny could not cope with the shock. He did not resist. For a long time the rebellious noise of the river and the terrible whistling of the Neva winds resounded in his mind. He, having learned about the death of Parasha, did not return home. Went to wander. For about a month, the former official, who once thought of simple earthly happiness, wandered the city streets, slept on the pier, and ate alms. Evil childrenthey threw stones after Yevgeny, the coachman's whips whipped him on the back. From now on, he did not understand the road and, it seemed, did not see anything around. Eugene lost his mind from grief.
Miraculous Builder
Once Evgeny's inflamed consciousness was visited by a terrible thought. He decided that "an idol with an outstretched hand" - that is, Peter, was guilty of his tragedy. A terrible and brilliant ruler once founded a city on the Neva. So, it is he, this "miraculous builder", who is guilty of the death of Parasha.
Eugene seemed to have forgotten about the event that turned him into a madman. And suddenly he woke up, saw the square, and the lions, and the Bronze Horseman. And he imperturbably towered in the darkness. Peter I, on whose whim the city under the sea was once founded, looked into the distance sternly and calmly.
The madman approached the monument. He stopped at the foot and looked into the face of the bronze king and began to threaten the "proud idol." But suddenly it seemed to Eugene that the formidable tsar came to life. The madman started to run, and the rider, as it seemed to him, overtook him on his bronze horse. Soon the body of poor Eugene was found by fishermen on a small deserted island. This is the summary of The Bronze Horseman.
The image of the "little man" in Pushkin's poem
The theme of the person offended, infringed on the rights, was raised more than once in the work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. It was quite topical in his time, has not lost its relevance today. What is the main idea of the poem "The Bronze Horseman"? The main idea of this work is that people who do not have connections and money and are incapable of cunning andmeanness, often become victims of a terrible combination of circumstances. There is no one to take care of people like Samson Vyrin from The Stationmaster, Eugene from the poem discussed in today's article. The theme of The Bronze Horseman is the criminal indifference of others.
Pushkin introduces the reader to his hero at the beginning of the first chapter. All the ambitions and aspirations of Eugene are centered around the dream of marrying Parasha. He indulges in dreams about the upcoming family life, and that is why the image of a poor petty official is so touching. After all, he never finds happiness. The dreams of a small person absorb the harsh elements of nature.
Pushkin did not endow the main character with a surname. By this he emphasized his facelessness. There were many like Eugene in 19th-century Petersburg. His position and character are typical for that time. We can say that Eugene from the poem "The Bronze Horseman" is not a person, but a reflection of St. Petersburg society. The society that was far from luxurious palaces and estates.
There is a flood. People are dying. The emperor makes a short speech to the people and disappears. So it has been since the dawn of time. The rulers went far ahead, while the common people suffered far from the nobility: timidly, quietly, hard. Eugene from Pushkin's poem symbolizes the suffering of representatives of the low social stratum.
Pushkin, of course, did not share the views of his hero. Eugene does not strive for high goals, he has no ambitions. His desires are limited to domestic pleasures. There is nothing extraordinary or outstanding in it. At the same time, the author feels for the poorcompassion official.
But what is ambition? Are they always attractive and inspire to implement lofty ideas? Of course not. The ambitions and ambition of those in power often lead to tragic consequences. This is what Pushkin showed in the poem "The Bronze Horseman". The image of the founder of St. Petersburg symbolizes the ruling class, which does not care about the suffering of ordinary people. Those in power have always disposed of their lives carelessly, cruelly. After all, in 1824, when there was a terrible flood, no one bothered about the inhabitants of the poor areas of St. Petersburg, no one saved them.
Image of Peter I
Pushkin had previously turned to the image of the reformer tsar. This historical figure is present in the works "Poltava" and "Moor of Peter the Great". It is worth saying that the attitude of the writer to the emperor was ambiguous. In the poem "Poltava", for example, the king is depicted as a romantic hero. And this image is radically different from the one created in the last poem.
At an early stage of his work, Pushkin saw in him an active sovereign who knew exactly what was needed for his state. The reforms carried out by Peter I, according to Pushkin, were aimed at the benefit of Russia. After all, the victory over the Swedes strengthened the position of the country in the eyes of Europeans. At the same time, the author of the poem "The Bronze Horseman" was critical of the despotism of the founders of St. Petersburg.
Pushkin collected materials about Peter for many years. In one of his works he said: "This king despised humanity more than Napoleon." But such a vision of the character and activities of Peterappeared later. More realistically than in "Poltava", the king is depicted in the story "Arap of Peter the Great". And in The Bronze Horseman. the features of the unlimited power of the Great Reformer are brought to the limit.
The introduction depicts a visionary politician. The author gives Peter's reasoning about the role of the future capital in the fate of Russia. In the construction of the new city, the tsar pursued trade, military, and other goals. The tsar, admiring the beauty of the Neva, does not pay attention to the shuttle sailing along it, to the blackening poor huts. He is passionate about his dream and doesn't care about ordinary people.
In the first part, which tells about the consequences of a natural disaster, the author calls the Bronze Horseman "a proud idol." Peter is the supreme being here. His descendant, Alexander I, humbly declares that he cannot cope with the elements of nature. Peter, meanwhile, proudly rises above the raging waves.
In the second part, the author uses an even more emotional expression in relation to Peter - "The Master of Destiny". The emperor, with his fatal will, once changed the life of an entire people. Beautiful Petersburg was built "under the sea". Peter, choosing a place for the new capital, thought about the greatness, we alth of the country, but not about the ordinary people who will live here. Against the backdrop of the great power plans of Peter I, the happiness of Yevgeny and those like him seems, of course, a trifle.
In the poem "The Bronze Horseman" in the form of an allegory, the author expressed another important thought for him. Eugene, distraught with grief, wanders around the city for some time. Suddenly he turns his gaze to the monument and realizes that in all his troublesthis "proud idol" is guilty. The unfortunate official gathers courage, approaches the monument and makes angry speeches.
But Evgeny's fuse doesn't last long. Suddenly, he sees with horror, or rather, it seems to him that the bronze Peter comes to life. This deprives Pushkin's hero of the remnants of reason. Soon he dies. What is this episode talking about?
It is no coincidence that Pushkin's work was banned by Nicholas I. In the last lines of the poem, in a veiled form, we are talking about a popular uprising, which always ends tragically. The power of the autocrat cannot be defeated. At least, Pushkin, who died eighty years before the revolution, thought so.
