A.S. Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman": the history of the creation of the poem

The "Bronze Horseman" poem is one of Pushkin's most capacious, mysterious and complex poems. He wrote it in the autumn of 1833 in the famous Boldin. This place and time gave an extraordinary inspiration to Alexander Sergeyevich. The idea of Pushkin's Bronze Horseman clearly echoes the writings of writers who lived much later and dedicated their creations, firstly to the theme of St. Petersburg, and secondly, to the topic of the clash between the big power idea and the interests of the "little man." In the poem there are two opposing heroes and an insoluble conflict between them.

"The Bronze Horseman": the history of the creation of the poem

Above the poem Pushkin worked intensively and finished it very quickly - in just twenty-five October days. In this fruitful period of creativity, Alexander Sergeevich also worked on the "Queen of Spades", written by him in prose, and on the poetic story "Angelo". The stunning "Bronze Horseman" was organically integrated here, the history of its creation is closely connected not only with the realistic motives and documents of the epoch, but also with the mythology that arose around the great man and the city that arose from his highest will.

Censorship restrictions and disputes around the poem

"Petersburg Story", as the author designated its genre, was censored by the Emperor Nicholas I himself, who returned the manuscript with nine pencil marks. The frustrated poet printed the text of the introduction to the poem "The Bronze Horseman" (the story of the creation of the verse story is marred by this fact) with eloquent voids in place of the prince's notations. Later, Pushkin nevertheless rewrote these places, but so that the meaning invested in them does not change. Reluctantly, the emperor permitted the publication of the poem The Bronze Horseman. The history of the creation of the work is connected with the heated polemics that erupted around the poem after its publication.

The points of view of literary critics

The debate has not subsided to this day. Traditionally, it is customary to talk about three groups of interpreters of the poem. The first group includes researchers who affirm the "state" aspect, which shines with the poem "The Bronze Horseman". This group of literary critics, headed by Vissarion Belinsky, put forward a version that Pushkin in the poem justified the right to commit fateful affairs for the country, sacrificing the interests and life itself of a simple inconspicuous person.

Humanistic interpretation

Representatives of another group, headed by the poet Valery Bryusov, Professor Makagonenko and other authors, completely took the side of another character - Eugene, arguing that the death of even the most insignificant from the point of view of the power idea of man can not be justified by great accomplishments. This point of view is called humanistic. Many literary critics tend to evaluate the story "The Bronze Horseman", the history of the poem, based on the personal tragedy of a "small" person suffering from the results of a volitional decision of the authorities, is proof of this.

Perpetual conflict

Representatives of the third group of researchers express a system of views on the tragic insolubility of this conflict. They believe that Pushkin gave an objective picture in the story "The Bronze Horseman." History itself has settled the eternal conflict between the "builder of the miraculous" Peter the Great and the "poor" Evgeny - an ordinary citizen with his modest inquiries and dreams. Two truths - a simple man and a statesman - remain equal, and neither is inferior to the other.

Scary events and the poem "The Bronze Horseman"

The history of the creation of the poem, of course, firmly fits into the cultural and historical context of the time when it was created. That was the time of disputes about the place of the individual in history and the influence of great transformations on the destinies of ordinary people. This theme worried Pushkin from the end of 1820. Taking as a basis documentary information about the flood that happened in St. Petersburg on November 7, 1824, about which newspapers printed, a brilliant poet and thinker comes to major philosophical and social generalizations. The personality of the great and brilliant reformer Peter "put Russia on its hind legs" appears in the context of the personal tragedy of a minor official Eugene with his narrow-philistine dreams of his little happiness, not such an unconditionally great and worthy chanting. The poem "The Bronze Horseman" of Pushkin therefore does not exhaust the odic praise of the converter, who opened the "window to Europe."

Contrast Petersburg

The northern capital arose due to the willful decision of Tsar Peter the Great after the victory over the Swedes. Its foundation was intended to confirm this victory, to show the strength and power of Russia, as well as to open the way for free cultural and trade exchange with European countries. The city in which the greatness of the human spirit manifested in a strict and harmonious architectural form, speaking the symbolism of sculptures and monuments, was felt before us in the story "The Bronze Horseman". The history of the creation of Petersburg, however, rests not only on greatness. Built on "marshmallow", in which bones of thousands of unknown builders have fallen, the city is enveloped in an ominous and mysterious atmosphere. The oppressive poverty, high mortality, superiority in diseases and the number of suicides - this is another side of the magnificent crowned capital at the time of which Alexander Pushkin wrote. Two faces of the city, emerging through each other, strengthen the mythological component of the poem. "Transparent Twilight" of pale urban illumination gives the inhabitants the feeling that they live in a mysterious and symbolic place in which monuments and statues can come alive and with an ominous determination. And with this, too, to a large extent, the history of the creation of the Bronze Horseman. Pushkin, as a poet, could not help but occupy such a transformation, which culminated in the plot. In the artistic space of the story, a cold bronze monument galloping along the deserted pavement came to life, chasing the distraught from grief after the loss of his beloved and the collapse of all the hopes of Eugene.

The idea of joining

But before we hear how the earth shakes under the hoof of the iron horse, we are going to experience the sad and cruel events that happened in the life of the unhappy Eugene, who will blame the great Builder for setting the city on the lands subject to devastating floods, and also to realize the bright And a grand opening, which opens the poem "The Bronze Horseman."

Peter stands on the shore of a wild river, on the waves of which a fragile boat sways, and around it rustle the dense gloomy forests, here and there the poor huts of the "Chukhont people" stick out. But in his mind's eye the founder of the northern capital already sees a "marvelous city" that ascended "proudly" and "magnificently" over the Neva, dressed in granite, a city connected with future state successes and great achievements. Pushkin does not mention the name of Peter - the emperor is mentioned here with the pronoun "he", and this underlines the ambiguity of the odic structure of the introduction. Reflecting on how one day "resettlement" Russia will "threaten the Swede", the great figure does not see today's "Finnish fisherman" who threw his "seine" into the water. The sovereign sees the future, in which ships are directed to rich piers from all corners of the earth, but does not notice those who swim in a lonely canoe and huddled in rare huts on the shore. When creating a state, the ruler forgets about those for whom it is created. And this painful inconsistency nourishes the idea of the poem "The Bronze Horseman". Pushkin, whose history was not just a collection of archival documents, but a bridge thrown into the present and the future, especially acutely feels and expressively conveys this conflict.

Why did the bronze rider find himself in the mouth of the poet copper?

The point, of course, is not only that the writers of the 19th century did not see a significant difference in meaning between bronze and copper. It is profoundly symbolic that this is the Bronze Horseman. The history of the writing of the poem in this case is linked with the biblical allegory. It is not by chance that the poet calls the statue of Peter "idol" and "idol" - exactly the same words the authors of the Bible say, telling about the golden calves, which Jews worshiped instead of the Living God. Here, the idol is not even golden, but only copper - so the author reduces the brilliance and grandeur of the image, sparkling with an external dazzling luxury, but concealing inside is not a precious content. This is the story behind the creation of the Bronze Horseman.

Pushkin can not be suspected of unconditional sympathy for the idea of the state. Ambiguously, however, his attitude to the fictional idyll, designed in the dreams of Eugene. The hopes and plans of the "little man" are far from the deep spiritual quest, and in this Pushkin sees their limitations.

Culmination and denouement of the plot

After a colorful introduction and a declaration of love for the city, Pushkin warns that further it will be a question of the events of "terrible". A hundred years after the incident on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, St. Petersburg official Eugene returns home after service and dreams of his bride Parasha. With it, he is no longer destined to see, since her, like her modest house, will carry away the "frenzied" waters of the "mad" Neva. When the element is silent, Eugene rushes in search of his beloved and make sure that she is no longer alive. His mind can not stand the blow, and the young man goes insane. He wanders around the uninvited city, becomes a target for ridicule of local children, completely forgets the way home. In his troubles, Eugene blames Peter, who erected the city in an unsuitable place and thereby subjected people to mortal danger. In desperation, a madman threatens a bronze statue: "You are right now! .." In the wake of that inflamed consciousness, he hears a heavy and sonorous "jumping" over the stones of the pavement and sees the Horseman following him with his outstretched hand. After a while, Eugene finds dead at the door of his house and is buried. Thus ends the poem.

Element as a full-fledged hero

What part does the element play here that does not depend on human will and can destroy everything to the ground? The researchers of the story are convinced that, by dividing people, it connects the times with a certain metaphorical causal chain. It combines two plots of the story - external and internal - event and symbolic. Conflict of interest as if awakens the energy of the elements, which in the outer plan destroys destinies and hinders the happiness of man. The solution to this conflict lies in the fact that the gap between the grandeur of the state's ideas and the spiritual space of the personality of the common man has been overcome, closed. Such are the problems of Pushkin's work The Bronze Horseman, the history of the creation of the poem and the beginning of the mystical succession of "Petersburg" novels and novels, which the nineteenth and twentieth centuries creators will sate Russian literature.

Poem and Monument

The opening of the monument to Peter the Great on the Senate Square in St. Petersburg took place at the end of the summer of 1782. The monument, impressive with grace and grandeur, was staged by Catherine II. The French sculptors Etienne Falcone, Marie Anne Collot and the Russian master Fyodor Gordeyev, who sculpted a bronze serpent under the fierce hoof of Petrov's horse, worked on the creation of the equestrian statue. At the foot of the statue there was a monolith, called a thunder-stone, its weight was slightly less than two and a half tons (the whole monument weighs about 22 tons). From the place where the block was discovered and found suitable for the monument, the stone was carefully transported about four months.

After the publication of Alexander Pushkin's poem, the hero of which the poet made this particular monument, the sculpture was called the Bronze Horseman. The inhabitants and guests of St. Petersburg have an excellent opportunity to contemplate this monument, which without exaggeration can be called a symbol of the city, almost in a pristine architectural ensemble.