The image of nature in the work of poor Lisa. Works. Landscape portrait
The meaning of the landscape in the story of N.M. Karamzin "Poor Lisa"
Content:
Introduction 3 – 5 pp.
Main part 6 – 13 pp.
Conclusion page 14
List of used literature 15 pages.
Introduction.
In the history of Russian literature at the end of XVIII- the beginning of the XIX century there is a transitional period, characterized by the coexistence of various trends, currents and philosophical worldviews. Along with classicism, another literary trend, sentimentalism, is gradually forming and taking shape.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin is the head of Russian sentimentalism. He became an innovator in the genre of the story: he introduced the image of the author-narrator into the narrative, used new artistic techniques to characterize the characters and express the author's position. To reflect the changes in the worldview of the man of the beginning XVIIIcentury, sentimentalism needed to create a new hero: “He is represented not only and not so much in the actions dictated by the “enlightened mind”, but in his feelings, moods, thoughts, searches for truth, goodness, beauty. Therefore, the appeal to nature in the works of sentimentalists is natural: it helps in depicting the inner world of the hero.
The image of nature is one of the most important aspects of the very essence of the figurative reflection of the world, in all types of art, among all peoples and in all ages. Landscape is one of the most powerful means for creating an imaginary, “virtual” world of a work, an essential component of artistic space and time. Artistic images of nature are always saturated with spiritual, philosophical and moral meaning - after all, they are that “picture of the world” that determines a person’s attitude to everything around. Moreover, the problem of depicting landscape in art is also filled with a special religious content. Researcher of Russian icon painting N.M. Tarabukin wrote: “... The art of landscape is called upon to reveal in the artistic image the content of nature, its religious meaning, as a revelation of the Divine spirit. The problem of landscape in this sense is a religious problem...”.
In Russian literature, there are almost no works in which there would be no landscape. Writers have sought to include this extra-plot element in their works for a variety of purposes.
Of course, when considering the evolution of the landscape in Russian literature of the endXVIII- startXIXcentury, the main attention of researchers is attracted by the work of N.M. Karamzin, who became for his contemporaries the head of a new literary school, the founder of a new - Karamzin - period in the history of Russian literature. Karamzin in his literary landscapes most consistently and vividly presented that new perception of the world that distinguished both sentimentalist and pre-romantic Russian literature.
The best work of N.M. Karamzin is considered the story "Poor Liza", written by him in 1792. It touches upon all the main problems, the disclosure of which requires a deep analysis and understanding of the Russian reality of the 18th century and the essence of human nature as a whole. Most of the contemporaries were delighted with "Poor Lisa", they quite correctly understood the idea of the author, who at the same time analyzed the essence of human passions, relationships and the harsh Russian reality. It is in this story that picturesque pictures of nature, at first glance, can be considered random episodes that are just a beautiful background for the main action. But Karamzin's landscapes are one of the main means of revealing the spiritual experiences of the characters. In addition, they serve to convey the attitude of the author to what is happening.
Objective.
The purpose of this work is:
Determine the meaning of the landscape in the story of N.M. Karamzin "Poor Lisa";
Determine how the state of nature is connected with the actions and spiritual world of the characters, how the landscape helps to reveal the ideological and artistic concept of the writer. Determine what opportunities this technique opens up and what is its limited use by Karamzin;
Compare landscapes with descriptions of nature in the works of his predecessors Lomonosov M.V. “Morning reflection on the Majesty of God” and “Evening reflection on the Majesty of God in the event of the great northern lights” and Derzhavin G.R. "Waterfall".
Tasks.
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:
Familiarize yourself with literary and critical works.
Determine the purpose for which landscapes are introduced into the works.
Work structure.
The work consists of an introduction, the main part, a conclusion and a list of references.
The 18th century, as a transitional epoch in the development of Russian literature, gave rise to several types of literary landscape. Classicism was characterized by a conventional vision of nature and genre fixation of one or another type of "ideal" landscape. The landscape of the “high” genres of classicism, especially the solemn ode, saturated with allegories and emblems, had its stable features. Prayerful and reverent admiration for nature - the Universe, God's creation sounded in the poetic transcriptions of the texts of the Holy Scriptures, primarily the transcriptions of the psalms. Its own system of landscape descriptions also existed in idyllic-bucolic, pastoral genres", in the love lyrics of classicism, especially in the early elegy XV III century.
Thus, Russian classicism partly created, partly inherited from its literary "models" a fairly rich palette of landscape images. However, the conquest of sentimentalism can be called a new look at the world around man. Nature is no longer regarded as a standard, as a set of ideal proportions; rational comprehension of the universe, the desire to understand the harmonious structure of nature with the help of reason is no longer put in the forefront, as it was in the era of classicism. In the works of sentimentalists, nature has its own spirit of harmony. Man, being a part of nature, refers to it as a link with the Creator in search of true existence, which is opposed to meaningless secular life. Only alone with nature can a person think about his place in this world, comprehend himself as part of the universe. The action takes place, as a rule, in small towns, in the countryside, in secluded places conducive to reflection, while much attention is paid to the description of nature, which is associated with the spiritual experiences of the author and his characters, and interest in folk life and poetry is shown. That is why in the works of sentimentalists close attention is paid to both the description of rural life and rural landscapes.
The story "Poor Liza" begins with a description of Moscow and "a terrible mass of houses and churches," and immediately after that the author begins to paint a completely different picture: a fresh river flows, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats ... On the other side of the river, an oak grove is visible, near which numerous herds graze ... " Karamzin takes the position of defending the beautiful and natural, he dislikes the city, he is drawn to "nature". Thus, here the description of nature serves to express the author's position.
Most of the landscapes of the story are aimed at conveying the state of mind and experience of the main character. It is she, Lisa, who is the embodiment of everything natural and beautiful, this heroine is as close to nature as possible: “Even before the sun rose, Liza got up, went down to the banks of the Moscow River, sat down on the grass and looked at the white mists in a sulky mood ... but soon the rising luminary of the day awakened all creation…”
Nature at this moment is beautiful, but the heroine is sad, because a new, hitherto unknown feeling is born in her soul, it is beautiful and natural, like the landscape around. Within a few minutes, when an explanation takes place between Lisa and Erast, the girl's experiences dissolve in the surrounding nature, they are just as beautiful and pure. "What a wonderful morning! How fun everything is in the field! Never have larks sang so well, never have the sun shone so brightly, never have flowers smelled so pleasantly!”
A wonderful romance begins between Erast and Lisa, their attitude is chaste, their embrace is "pure and immaculate." The surrounding landscape is just as clean and immaculate. “After this, Erast and Lisa, afraid not to keep their word, saw each other every evening ... most often under the shade of hundred-year-old oaks ... oaks overshadowing a deep, clean pond, dug in ancient times. There, the often quiet moon, through the green branches, silvered Liza's blond hair with its rays, with which the marshmallows and the hand of a dear friend played.
The time of an innocent relationship passes, Liza and Erast become close, she feels like a sinner, a criminal, and the same changes take place in nature as in Liza’s soul: “Meanwhile, lightning flashed and thunder roared ... black clouds - it seemed that nature was lamenting about Liza's lost innocence, ” This picture reveals not only Lisa's state of mind, but also portends the tragic ending of this story.
The heroes of the work part, but Lisa does not yet know that this is forever, she is unhappy, her heart is breaking, but a faint hope still glimmers in it. “The morning dawn, which, like a“ scarlet sea ”, spills“ over the eastern sky ”, conveys the pain, anxiety and confusion of the heroine and also testifies to an unkind ending.
Lisa, having learned about Erast's betrayal, ended her miserable life, she threw herself into the very pond, near which she was once so happy, she was buried under the "gloomy oak", which is a witness to the happiest moments of her life.
Before the development of the plot begins, the themes of the main characters of the story are clearly marked in the landscape - the theme of Erast, whose image is inextricably linked with the "terrible bulk of houses" of "greedy" Moscow, shining with the "gold of domes", the theme of Liza, coupled with an inextricable associative link with life beautiful natural nature, described with the help of the epithets “blooming”, “bright”, “light”, and the theme of the author, whose space is not physical or geographical, but spiritual and emotional in nature: the author acts as a historian, chronicler of the life of his heroes and keeper of memory about them.
The image of Liza is invariably accompanied by the motif of whiteness, purity and freshness: on the day of her first meeting with Erast, she appears in Moscow with lilies of the valley in her hands; at the first appearance of Erast under the windows of Liza's hut, she gives him milk to drink, pouring it from a "clean pot covered with a clean wooden circle" into a glass wiped with a white towel; on the morning of Erast's arrival for the first date, Lisa, "grown up, looked at the white mists that were agitated in the air"; after a declaration of love to Lisa, it seems that “the sun has never shone so brightly,” and during subsequent dates, “the quiet moon silvered Lisa’s blond hair with its rays.”
Each appearance of Erast on the pages of the story is somehow connected with money: at the first meeting with Lisa, he wants to pay her a ruble instead of five kopecks for lilies of the valley; buying Liza's work, he wants to "always pay ten times more than the price she sets"; before leaving for the war, "he forced her to take some money from him"; in the army, he “instead of fighting the enemy, played cards and lost almost all his property,” which is why he is forced to marry an “elderly rich widow” (we involuntarily compare Lisa, who refused “the son of a rich peasant” for the sake of Erast). Finally, at the last meeting with Liza, before driving her out of his house, Erast puts one hundred rubles in her pocket.
The semantic leitmotifs set in the landscape sketches of the author's introduction are realized in the narration of images synonymous with them: the gold of the domes of greedy Moscow is the motif of money that accompanies Erast; blooming meadows and a bright river of nature near Moscow - the motifs of flowers; whiteness and purity surrounding the image of Lisa. Thus, the description of the life of nature extensively extends to the entire figurative system of the story, introducing an additional aspect of the psychologization of the narrative and expanding its anthropological field by the parallelism of the life of the soul and the life of nature.
The whole love story of Lisa and Erast is immersed in a picture of the life of nature, constantly changing according to the stages of development of a love feeling. Particularly obvious examples of such a correspondence between the emotional content of a landscape sketch and the semantic content of one or another plot twist are given by the melancholy autumn landscape of the introduction, foreshadowing the general tragic denouement of the story, the picture of a clear, dewy May morning, which is the declaration of love for Liza and Erast, and the picture of a terrible night thunderstorm, accompanying the beginning of a tragic turning point in the fate of the heroine. Thus, “the landscape turned from an auxiliary device with “frame” functions, from a “pure” decoration and an external attribute of the text into an organic part of the artistic structure that implements the general idea of the work”, became a means of producing reader emotions, gained “correlation with the inner world of a person as a kind of mirror souls".
The above examples show how important the description of pictures of nature in a work of art is, how deeply they help to penetrate into the soul of the characters and their experiences.
Not only Karamzin, but also his predecessors M.V. Lomonosov and G.R. Derzhavin paid much attention to the image of nature.
M.V. Lomonosov used solemn occasions to create vivid and majestic pictures of the universe.Lomonosov made his extensive knowledge in the field of science the subject of poetry. His "scientific" poems are not a simple transcription of the achievements of science into poetic form. This is really poetry, born of inspiration, but only unlike other types of lyrics, poetic delight here was aroused by the inquisitive thought of the scientist. Lomonosov devoted poems with scientific themes to natural phenomena, primarily to the cosmic theme. Being a deist philosopher, Lomonosov saw in nature a manifestation of the creative power of a deity. But in his poems, he reveals not the theological, but the scientific side of this issue: not the comprehension of God through nature, but the study of nature itself, created by God. Thus, two closely related works appeared: “Morning Reflection on the Majesty of God” and “Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God in the Case of the Great Northern Lights”. Both poems were written in 1743.
In each of the "Reflections" the same composition is repeated. First, phenomena are depicted that are familiar to a person from his daily impressions. Then the poet-scientist lifts the veil over the invisible, hidden region of the Universe, introducing the reader into new worlds unknown to him. Thus, in the first stanza of the Morning Reflection, the sunrise, the onset of morning, the awakening of all nature are depicted. Then Lomonosov begins to talk about the physical structure of the Sun. A picture is drawn that is accessible only to the inspired gaze of a scientist who is able to speculatively imagine what the “mortal” human “eye” cannot see - the hot, raging surface of the sun:
There, the shafts of fire strive
And they do not find shores;
There whirlwinds are fiery spinning,
Struggling for many centuries;
There stones, like water, boil,
The rains are burning there.
Lomonosov appears in this poem as an excellent popularizer of scientific knowledge. He reveals the complex phenomena that occur on the surface of the Sun with the help of ordinary, purely visible "earthly" images: "fiery shafts", "fiery whirlwinds", "burning rains".
In the second, “evening” reflection, the poet refers to the phenomena that appear to a person in the firmament of heaven with the onset of night. First, as in the first poem, a picture is given that is directly accessible to the eye:
The day hides its face;
The fields were covered with gloomy night;<...>
The abyss of stars has opened up full;
The stars have no number, the abyss of the bottom.
This majestic spectacle awakens the inquisitive thought of the scientist. Lomonosov writes about the infinity of the universe, in which a person looks like a small grain of sand in a bottomless ocean. For readers accustomed, according to the Holy Scriptures, to consider the earth as the center of the universe, this was a completely new look at the world around him. Lomonosov raises the question of the possibility of life on other planets, offers a number of hypotheses about the physical nature of the northern lights.
G.R.Derzhavin takes a new step in the image of man. In the poem "Waterfall", dedicated to G. A. Potemkin, Derzhavin tries to draw people in all their complexity, depicting both their positive and negative sides.
At the same time, in Derzhavin's work of these years, the image of the author is significantly expanding and becoming more complex. To a large extent, this is facilitated by the poet's increased attention to the so-called Anacreontic songs - small poems written to the motives or "in the spirit" of the ancient Greek lyric poet Anacreon. The basis of Derzhavin's Anacreontics is "a lively and tender impression of nature," in the words of Derzhavin's friend and Anacreon's translator, N. A. Lvov. “This new and large section of Derzhavin’s poetry,” writes A. V. Zapadov, “served for him as an outlet to the joyful world of nature, allowed him to talk about a thousand small, but important things for a person that had no place in the system of genres of classic poetics Addressing Anacreon, imitating him, Derzhavin wrote his own, and the national roots of his poetry come through "especially clearly" in the Anacreon songs.
In the ode “Waterfall”, Derzhavin comes from a visual impression, and in the first stanzas of the ode, the Kivach waterfall on the Suna River in the Olonets province is depicted in magnificent word painting:
A mountain of diamonds is falling
From the heights of the four rocks,
Pearls abyss and silver
Boils at the bottom, beats up with mounds<...>
Noisy - and among the thick forest
Lost in the wilderness afterwards<...> .
However, this landscape sketch immediately acquires the meaning of a symbol of human life - open and accessible to the gaze in its earthly phase and lost in the darkness of eternity after the death of a person: “Does not the life of people // This waterfall depict us?” And then this allegory develops very consistently: a sparkling and thundering waterfall open to the eyes, and a modest stream originating from it, lost in a dense forest, but singing with its water to everyone who comes to its banks, are likened to time and glory: “Isn’t it time from heaven pouring<...>// Honor shines, glory is distributed? ; “O glory, glory in the light of the mighty! // You are definitely this waterfall<...>»
The main part of the ode personifies this allegory by comparing the lifetime and posthumous fates of two great contemporaries of Derzhavin, Catherine's favoriteIIPrince Potemkin-Tauride and the disgraced commander Rumyantsev. It must be assumed that the poet, sensitive to the word, was fascinated, among other things, by the possibility of a contrasting play on their meaningful surnames. Rumyantsev, who is in the darkness of disgrace, Derzhavin avoids calling him by his last name, but his image, which appears in the ode, is completely shrouded in the brilliance of luminous metaphors, consonant with it: "like a ruddy ray of dawn", "in a crown of lightning blushes." On the contrary, Potemkin, brilliant, omnipotent, who amazed his contemporaries with the luxury of his way of life, the brilliance of an extraordinary personality, in a word, who was in sight during his lifetime, in the ode “Waterfall” is immersed in darkness by untimely death: “Whose corpse, like darkness at a crossroads, // Lying in the dark bosom of the night? The bright and loud fame of Potemkin, like his very personality, is likened in Derzhavin's ode to a magnificent but useless waterfall:
Marvel at the people around you
Always gathers in crowds, -
But if he with his water
Conveniently does not get everyone drunk<...>
The life of Rumyantsev, no less talented, but undeservedly bypassed by fame and honors, evokes in the mind of the poet the image of a stream, whose quiet murmur will not be lost in the stream of time:
Isn't it better or less famous
And be more useful;<...>
And a quiet murmur in the distance
Offspring to attract with attention?
The question of which of the two commanders is more worthy of life in the memory of posterity remains open for Derzhavin, and if the image of Rumyantsev created by the poet in the ode "Waterfall" is in the highest degree consistent with Derzhavin's ideas about the ideal statesman ("Blessed is when, striving for glory, // He kept the common good " , then the image of Potemkin, overtaken by sudden death at the highest rise of his brilliant fate, is fanned by the author’s penetrating lyrical emotion: “Are you not from the height of honor // Suddenly fell among the steppes?” The resolution of the problem of human immortality in the memory of descendants is given in a universal human plane and in an abstract-conceptual way:
Hear, waterfalls of the world!
O glorious noisy chapters!
Your sword is bright, purple is colored,
If you love the truth,
When they had only a meta,
To bring happiness to the world.
The considered natural landscapes in the works of M.V. Lomonosov and G.R. Derzhavin are just as beautiful as in the story “Poor Lisa” by N.M. Karamzin, but they are introduced into the works for a different purpose. In the work of Karamzin, nature conveys the state of mind, the mood of the characters depicted. Lomonosov glorifies the universe in his works. And Derzhavin compares the greatness of nature with the greatness of the glorified heroes, but does not convey their state of mind.
Conclusion.
The work we have done allows us to conclude that the reflection of nature in Russian literature of the late 18th - early 19th centuries has a multifaceted significance. The landscape literally from the beginning of the work receives an emotional characteristic - it is not just a passionless background against which events unfold, and not a decoration that adorns the picture, but a piece of wildlife, as if rediscovered by the author, felt by him, perceived not by the mind, not by the eyes, but by the heart .
In "Poor Liza" the landscape is not only used to create an atmosphere, mood, but also carries a certain symbolic meaning, emphasizes the close connection between "natural man" and nature.
A special role belongs to the narrator, whose image was also new to literature.XVIIIcentury. The beauty of direct communication surprisingly affected the reader, creating an inextricable emotional bond between him and the author, which develops into a substitution of fiction for reality. With "Poor Lisa" the Russian reading public received one important gift - the first place of literary pilgrimage in Russia. Having experienced for himself what emotional charge the effect of co-presence conceals in itself, the writer accurately indicates the place of action of his story - the vicinity of the Simonov Monastery. Even Karamzin himself did not imagine what effect his innovations would have on the reader. Almost immediately, "Poor Lisa" began to be perceived by readers as a story about true events. Numerous pilgrims rushed to the modest reservoir near the monastery walls. The real name of the pond was forgotten - from now on it became Liza's pond.
Actually, with "Poor Liza" a new era in Russian literature began, from now on the sensitive person becomes the main measure of everything.
Undoubtedly, N.M. Karamzin is one of the most significant figures in the history of Russian literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
List of used literature:
G.Derzhavin. N. Karamzin. V. Zhukovsky. Poems. Tales. Publicism. – M.: Olimp; LLC "Publishing House AST-LTD", 1997.
M.V. Lomonosov. Selected works. Northwestern book publishing house. Arkhangelsk. 1978.
T.A. Kolganova. Russian literatureXVIIIcentury. Sentimentalism. – M.: Bustard. 2002.
Vishnevskaya G.A. From the history of Russian romanticism (Literary and theoretical judgments of N.M. Karamzin 1787-1792).M., 1964.
Tarabukin N.M. landscape problem. M., 1999.
Grigoryan K.N. Pushkin's Elegy: National origins, predecessors, evolution. - L., 1990.
V. Muravyov Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. M., 1966.
Orlov P.A. Russian sentimental story. M., 1979.
A. V. Zapadov G.Derzhavin. N. Karamzin. V. Zhukovsky. Poems. Tales. Publicism. – M.: Olimp; LLC "Publishing House AST-LTD", 1997. P. 119
G.Derzhavin. N. Karamzin. V. Zhukovsky. Poems. Tales. Publicism. – M.: Olimp; LLC "Publishing House AST-LTD", 1997. P. 123
At the end of the 18th century, the works of N. M. Karamzin aroused great interest in Russian literature. For the first time, his characters spoke in a simple language, and their thoughts and feelings were in the foreground. What was new was that the author openly expressed his attitude to what was happening and gave him an assessment. The role of the landscape was also special. In the story "Poor Liza" he helps to convey the feelings of the characters, to understand the motives of their actions.
Beginning of the work
The environs of "greedy" Moscow and magnificent rural expanses with a bright river, lush groves, endless fields and several small villages - such contrasting pictures appear in the exposition of the story. They are absolutely real, familiar to every resident of the capital, which initially gives the story credibility.
The panorama is complemented by the towers and domes of the Simonov and Danilov monasteries shining in the sun, symbolizing the connection of history with the common people who keep it sacred. And with the beginning of acquaintance with the main character.
Such a landscape sketch cultivates the idyll of village life and sets the tone for the entire story. The fate of the poor peasant woman Lisa will be tragic: a simple peasant girl brought up close to nature will become a victim of an all-devouring city. And the role of the landscape in the story "Poor Lisa" will only increase as the action develops, since the changes in nature will be in complete harmony with what will happen to the characters.
Features of sentimentalism
This approach to writing was not something unique: it is a distinctive feature of sentimentalism. The historical and cultural trend with this name in the 18th century became widespread first in Western Europe, and then in Russian literature. Its main features:
- the predominance of the cult of feeling, which was not allowed in classicism;
- the harmony of the inner world of the hero with the external environment - a picturesque rural landscape (this is the place where he was born and lives);
- instead of the sublime and solemn - touching and sensual, connected with the experiences of the characters;
- the protagonist is endowed with rich spiritual qualities.
Karamzin became the writer in Russian literature who brought the ideas of sentimentalism to perfection and fully implemented all its principles. This is confirmed by the characteristics of the story "Poor Lisa", which occupied a special place among his works.
The image of the main character
The plot at first glance seems quite simple. In the center of the story is the tragic love of a poor peasant woman (something that did not exist before!) For a young nobleman.
Their chance meeting quickly turned into love. Pure, kind, brought up far from city life, full of pretense and deceit, Lisa sincerely believes that her feeling is mutual. In her desire to be happy, she steps over the moral standards by which she has always lived, which is not easy for her. However, Karamzin's story "Poor Lisa" shows how untenable such love is: very soon it turns out that her lover deceived her. The whole action takes place against the backdrop of nature, which has become an involuntary witness first to the boundless happiness, and then to the heroine's irreparable grief.
The beginning of a relationship
The first meetings of lovers are filled with joy from communicating with each other. Their dates take place either on the banks of the river, or in a birch grove, but more often near three oaks growing near a pond. Landscape sketches help to understand the smallest changes in her soul. In the long minutes of waiting, she is lost in thought and does not notice what has always been a part of her life: a month in the sky, the singing of a nightingale, a light breeze. But as soon as a lover appears, everything around is transformed and becomes surprisingly beautiful and unique for Lisa. It seems to her that never before have larks sang so well for her, the sun has not shone so brightly, and flowers have never smelled so pleasantly. Absorbed by her feelings, poor Liza could not think of anything else. Karamzin picks up the mood of his heroine, and their perception of nature in the happy moments of the heroine's life is very close: this is a feeling of delight, peace and tranquility.
Fall of Lisa
But there comes a point when pure, pure relationships are replaced by physical intimacy. Poor Liza, brought up on Christian precepts, perceives everything that happened as a terrible sin. Karamzin again emphasizes her confusion and fear of the changes taking place in nature. After what happened, the sky opened up above the heads of the heroes, and a thunderstorm began. Black clouds covered the sky, rain poured out of them, as if nature itself was mourning the “crime” of the girl.
The feeling of impending trouble is strengthened by the scarlet dawn that appeared in the sky at the moment of the farewell of the heroes. It reminds of the scene of the first declaration of love, when everything seemed bright, radiant, full of life. Contrasting landscape sketches at different stages of the heroine's life help to understand the transformation of her inner state during the acquisition and loss of the person dearest to her heart. Thus, Karamzin's story "Poor Liza" went beyond the classical depiction of nature. From a previously insignificant detail that played the role of decoration, the landscape turned into a way to convey heroes.
Final scenes of the story
The love of Lisa and Erast did not last long. The nobleman, ruined and in dire need of money, soon married a rich widow, which was the most terrible blow for the girl. She could not survive the betrayal and committed suicide. The heroine found peace in the very place where the most passionate dates took place - under the oak by the pond. And next to the Simonov Monastery, which appears at the beginning of the story. The role of the landscape in the story "Poor Liza" in this case comes down to giving the work of compositional and logical completeness.
The story ends with a story about the fate of Erast, who never became happy and often visited the grave of his former lover.
The role of the landscape in the story "Poor Lisa": results
When analyzing the work of sentimentalism, it is impossible not to mention how the author manages to convey the feelings of the characters. The main technique is the creation of an idyll based on the complete unity of rural nature with its bright colors and a pure soul, a sincere person, like poor Lisa was. Heroes like her cannot lie, pretend, so their fate is often tragic.
The story "Poor Lisa" is the best work of N. M. Karamzin and one of the most perfect examples of Russian sentimental literature. It has many beautiful episodes that describe subtle emotional experiences.
In the work there are pictures of nature, beautiful in their picturesqueness, which harmoniously complement the narrative. At first glance, they can be considered random episodes that are just a beautiful backdrop for the main action, but in fact everything is much more complicated. Landscapes in "Poor Lisa" are one of the main means of revealing the emotional experiences of the characters.
At the very beginning of the story, the author describes Moscow and the “terrible mass of houses,” and immediately after that he begins to paint a completely different picture: “Down below ... along the yellow sands, a bright river flows, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats ... On the other side of the river an oak grove is visible, near which numerous herds graze; there young shepherds, sitting under the shade of trees, sing simple, dull songs ... "
Karamzin immediately takes the position of everything beautiful and natural. The city is unpleasant to him, he is drawn to "nature". Here the description of nature serves to express the author's position.
Further, most of the descriptions of nature are aimed at conveying the state of mind and feelings of the main character, because it is she, Lisa, who is the embodiment of everything natural and beautiful. “Even before the sun rose, Liza got up, went down to the banks of the Moskva River, sat down on the grass and, grieving, looked at the white mists ... silence reigned everywhere, but soon the rising luminary of the day awakened all creation: groves, bushes came to life, birds fluttered and sang, the flowers raised their heads to be nourished by the life-giving rays of light.
Nature at this moment is beautiful, but Lisa is sad, because a new feeling is born in her soul, which she has not experienced before.
Despite the fact that the heroine is sad, her feeling is beautiful and natural, like the landscape around.
A few minutes later, an explanation takes place between Lisa and Erast. They love each other, and her feelings immediately change: “What a beautiful morning! How fun everything is in the field! Never have larks sang so well, never have the sun shone so brightly, never have flowers smelled so pleasantly!”
Her experiences dissolve in the surrounding landscape, they are just as beautiful and pure.
A wonderful romance begins between Erast and Lisa, their attitude is chaste, their embrace is "pure and immaculate." The surrounding landscape is just as clean and immaculate. “After this, Erast and Liza, afraid not to keep their word, saw each other every evening ... most often under the shade of hundred-year-old oaks ... - oaks that overshadow a deep, clean pond, dug up in ancient times. There, the often quiet moon, through the green branches, silvered Liza's blond hair with its rays, with which the marshmallows and the hand of a dear friend played.
The time for an innocent relationship passes, Liza and Erast become close, she feels like a sinner, a criminal, and the same changes take place in nature as in Liza’s soul: “... not a single star shone in the sky ... Meanwhile, lightning flashed and thunder struck ... "This picture not only reveals Lisa's state of mind, but also portends the tragic ending of this story.
The heroes of the work part, but Lisa does not yet know that this is forever. She is unhappy, her heart is breaking, but a faint hope still glimmers in it. The morning dawn, which, like a "red sea", spills "over the eastern sky", conveys the pain, anxiety and confusion of the heroine and testifies to an unkind ending.
Lisa, having learned about Erast's betrayal, ended her miserable life. She threw herself into the very pond, near which she had once been so happy, she was buried under the “gloomy oak”, which is a witness to the happiest moments of her life.
The examples given are quite enough to show how important the description of pictures of nature in a work of art is, how deeply they help to penetrate into the soul of the characters and their experiences. It is simply unacceptable to consider the story "Poor Lisa" and not take into account the landscape sketches, because they help the reader to understand the depth of the author's thought, his ideological intent.
Almost all works Russian literature there is a landscape.
landscapes - this is one of the main means of revealing the emotional experiences of the characters. In addition, they serve to convey the attitude of the author to what is happening. Writers aspire include this extra-plot element in works with different purposes.
In the story "Poor Liza" Karamzin uses picturesque pictures of nature, at first glance, as random episodes, as a beautiful background for the main action. Most of the landscapes of the story are aimed at conveying the state of mind and experience of the main character, because Liza is as close to nature as possible.
Exercise: determine what is the role of the landscape in passages:
1. Let's get back to Lisa. Night came - the mother blessed her daughter and wished her a good sleep, but this time her wish was not fulfilled; Liza slept very poorly. The new guest of her soul, the image of Erasts, seemed to her so vividly that she woke up almost every minute, woke up and sighed. Even before the sun had risen, Liza got up, went down to the banks of the Moskva River, sat down on the grass and, grieving, looked at the white mists that waved in the air and, rising up, left brilliant drops on the green cover of nature. Silence reigned everywhere. But soon the rising luminary of the day awakened all creation; groves, the bushes came to life, the birds fluttered and sang, the flowers lifted their heads to drink the life-giving rays of light. But Liza was still sitting in a huff. Oh Lisa, Lisa! What happened to you? Until now, waking up with the birds, you had fun with them in the morning, and a pure, joyful soul shone in your eyes, like the sun shines in drops of heavenly dew; but now you are pensive, and the general joy of nature is alien to your heart - Meanwhile, a young shepherd drove his flock along the river bank, playing the flute. Lisa fixed her eyes on him and thought: “If the one who now occupies my thoughts was born a simple peasant, a shepherd, and if he now drove his flock past me; ah! I would bow to him with a smile and say affably : "Hello, dear shepherd boy! Where are you driving your flock?" And here grows green grass for your sheep, and here flowers bloom red, from which you can weave a wreath for your hat." He would look at me with an affectionate air - he would, perhaps, take my hand, .. A dream! ”The shepherd, playing the flute, passed by and with his motley flock hid behind a nearby hill ....
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2. She threw herself into his arms - and in this hour, purity was to perish! Erast felt an extraordinary excitement in his blood - Liza had never seemed so charming to him - her caresses had never touched him so much - her kisses had never been so fiery - she knew nothing, suspected nothing, was not afraid of anything - the darkness of the evening nourished desires - not a single star shone in the sky - no ray could illuminate the delusions. - Erast feels a tremor in himself - Liza also, not knowing why, but knowing what is happening to her ... Ah, Liza, Liza! Where is your guardian angel? Where is your innocence? The delusion passed in one minute. Liza did not understand her feelings, she was surprised and asked questions. Erast was silent - he was looking for words and did not find them. “Ah, I’m afraid,” said Liza, “I’m afraid of what happened to us! It seemed to me that I was dying, that my soul ... No, I don’t know how to say this! .. Are you silent, Erast? Are you sighing? .. My God! What is it?" Meanwhile, lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Lisa trembled all over. "Erast, Erast!" she said. "I'm scared! I'm afraid that the thunder won't kill me like a criminal!" Erast tried to calm Lisa and walked her to the hut. Tears rolled down from her eyes when she said goodbye to him ...
Methodological development in literature.
The meaning of the landscape in Karamzin's story "Poor Lisa".
One of the features of European literature of the 18th century, compared with the literature of an earlier period, is the aesthetic understanding of the landscape. Russian literature is no exception; the landscape in the works of Russian writers has an independent value. The most indicative in this regard is the literary work of N. M. Karamzin, one of whose many merits is the discovery of the multifunctionality of the landscape in Russian prose. If the poetry of Russia could already be proud of natural sketches in the works of Lomonosov and Derzhavin, Russian prose of that time was not rich in pictures of nature. After analyzing the descriptions of nature in Karamzin's story "Poor Lisa", we will try to comprehend the meaning and functions of the landscape.
Karamzin's story is very close to European novels. We are convinced of this by the opposition to the city of a morally pure village, and the world of feelings and life of ordinary people (Lisa and her mother). The introductory landscape with which the story opens is written in the same pastoral style: “... a magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it ...! Fat, densely green flowering meadows spread below, and behind them, along the yellow sands, a bright river flows, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats. This landscape has not only a purely pictorial meaning, but also performs a preliminary function, it introduces the reader into the spatio-temporal situation created in the story. We see “the golden-domed Danilov Monastery; ... almost at the edge of the horizon ... the Sparrow Hills are blue. On the left side, you can see vast fields covered with bread, forests, three or four villages, and in the distance the village of Kolomenskoye with its high palace.
In a certain sense, the landscape not only precedes, but also frames the work, since the story also ends with a description of nature “near the pond, under a gloomy oak ... a pond flows in my eyes, leaves rustle above me,” although not as detailed as the first.
An interesting feature of Karamzin's story is that the life of nature sometimes moves the plot, the development of events: "The meadows were covered with flowers, and Liza came to Moscow with lilies of the valley."
The story of Karamzin is also characterized by the principle of psychological parallelism, which is expressed in the comparison of the inner world of man and the life of nature.
Moreover, this comparison takes place in two plans - on the one hand - comparison, and on the other - opposition. Let's turn to the text of the story.
“Until now, waking up with the birds, you had fun with them in the morning, and a pure, joyful soul shone in your eyes, like the sun shines in drops of heavenly dew ...,” writes Karamzin, referring to Lisa and recalling the times, when her soul was in perfect harmony with nature.
When Liza is happy, when joy controls her whole being, nature (or “nature”, as Karamzin writes) is filled with the same happiness and joy: “What a beautiful morning! How fun it is in the field!
The larks never sang so well, the sun never shone so brightly, the flowers never smelled so pleasantly!..” At the tragic moment of the loss of innocence by Karamzin’s heroine, the landscape perfectly matches Liza’s feelings: “Meanwhile, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Liza trembled all over ... The storm roared menacingly, rain poured from black clouds - it seemed that nature was lamenting about Liza's lost innocence.
The juxtaposition of the feelings of the characters and the picture of nature at the moment of the farewell of Lisa and Erast is significant: “What a touching picture! The morning dawn, like a scarlet sea, spilled over the eastern sky. Erast stood under the branches of a tall oak, holding in his arms his poor, languid, sorrowful girlfriend, who, bidding farewell to him, said goodbye to her soul. All nature was silent. Nature echoes Lisa’s grief: “Often a sad turtledove combined her plaintive voice with her moaning ...”
But sometimes Karamzin gives a contrasting description of nature and what the heroine is experiencing: Soon the rising luminary of the day awakened all creation: groves, bushes came to life, birds fluttered and sang, flowers raised their heads to drink life-giving rays of light. But Lisa was still sitting in a sad mood. Such a contrast helps us to more accurately understand the sadness, Lisa's split, her experience.
“Oh, that the sky would fall on me! If the earth had swallowed up the poor!..” Memories of former happy days bring her unbearable pain when, in a moment of grief, she sees ancient oaks, “which, a few weeks before, were weak-willed witnesses of her delights.”
Sometimes Karamzin's landscape sketches cross both descriptive and psychological boundaries, growing into symbols. Such symbolic moments of the story include a thunderstorm (by the way, this technique - the punishment of a criminal with a thunderstorm, a thunderstorm as God's punishment - later became a literary cliché), and a description of the grove at the time of the parting of the heroes.
The comparisons used by the author of the story are also based on a comparison of man and nature: “not so soon the lightning flashes and disappears in the clouds, as quickly her blue eyes turned to the earth, meeting his gaze, her cheeks burned like a dawn on a summer evening.”
Karamzin's frequent appeals to the landscape are natural: as a sentimentalist writer, he primarily addresses the feelings of the reader, and it is possible to awaken these feelings through descriptions of changes in nature in connection with changes in the feelings of the characters.
Landscapes that reveal to the reader the beauty of the Moscow region, though not always vital, but always truthful, recognizable; therefore, perhaps, "Poor Liza" so excited Russian readers. Accurate descriptions gave the story a special credibility.
Thus, we can single out several lines of landscape meaning in N.M. Karamzin's story "Poor Liza": the descriptive, pictorial role of the landscape, which is reflected in the detailed pictures of nature; psychological. The function of natural descriptions is in those cases when, with the help of a landscape, the author emphasizes the feelings of his characters, showing them in comparison or contrast with the state of nature, the symbolic meaning of nature paintings, when the landscape carries not only pictorialism, but also embodies a certain supernatural power.
The landscape in the story also has, in a certain sense, a documentary meaning, which creates the authenticity and truthfulness of the image, since all the pictures of nature are almost written off by the author from nature.
The appeal to the pictures of nature goes on at the language level of Karamzin's story, which can be seen in the comparisons used in the text.
N.M. Karamzin significantly enriched Russian prose with natural sketches and detailed landscapes, raising it to the level that Russian poetry was at that time.
