Zhukovsky's works: a list

Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky is considered one of the founders of romanticism in Russia. This poet at the center of his work posed problems of the inner world of man. As Belinsky said about him, Zhukovsky's merit is invaluable - he gave the "soul and heart" of Russian poetry.

Zhukovsky's works emphasize the hero's inner experiences, feelings and emotions of the common man, which led to the poet's need to overcome the high syllable that the classicists and his predecessors wrote. The language of works has become more emotional, lively, conveying various psychological nuances. It includes phraseology and spoken language.

The origin of the poet

The poet was born on January 29, 1783 on the border of Orel, Kaluga and Tula provinces, in the village of Mishenskoye. He was the illegitimate son of a rich landowner, Afanasy Ivanovich Bunin and a Turkish woman, whom in 1770 the Russians were captured during the storming of Bendery.

Surname, the future poet received from his relative, Andrei Ivanovich Zhukovsky, a poor nobleman who lived in the estate Bunin, who adopted a boy. Thus, he escaped the status of the illegitimate.

Zhukovsky's works (list)

The poet wrote a lot, so it's very difficult to cover his work in one article. Nevertheless, we offer you the main works of Zhukovsky (the list is in chronological order).

1. "May morning" (1797).
2. "Thoughts at the Tomb" (1797).
3. "Rural Cemetery" (1802).
4. "Evening" (1806).
5. "Ludmila" (1808).
6. "The Svetlana" (1812).
7. "Singer in the camp of Russian soldiers" (1812).
8. "The Aeolian Harp" (1814).
9. "The inexplicable" (1819).
10. "The Tsarskoye Selo Swan" (1851).
11. "The Wandering Jew" (1851-1852).

Read more about each work below.

Young years and the first works

Back in his early teens, studying at the Noble Boarding School, located at the Moscow University, Zhukovsky Vasily Andreevich, whose works we will analyze, created his first poems. His most significant achievements at that time were: the poem "May morning" and the prose work "Thoughts at the Tomb," written in 1797. The poem "May morning" begins in the spirit of classicism: "Belorumyan, the dawn rises ...". The picture of nature is described abstractly, idealistically. Used high vocabulary ("face"), mythology ("Phoebus"), compound epithets ("belorumyan"). However, in the next lines there is a feeling of bitterness and loss of heart. The work ends in the spirit of sentimentalism: "Life, my friend, the abyss of tears and sufferings ...".

"Rural Cemetery"

Early works Vasily Zhukovsky often wrote in the genre of elegies. Karamzin, at that time a famous Russian writer, was a friend and teacher of the poet. He trusted Zhukovsky to evaluate one of his first serious works - the elegy "Rural Cemetery", the translation of the elegy of Thomas Gray, the English poet. Karamzin approved this work and made sure that in 1802 the finalized elegy was published in the "Bulletin of Europe", the publisher of which at that time he was. The main theme of the work is the meaning of life, as well as the relationship of man with the world around him. Elegy is constructed as the poet's reflection, caused by contemplation of a rural cemetery. In the poet's mind, questions arise spontaneously, to which he tries to answer. Their common idea about the transience of life and the vicissitudes of fate unites them. The poet prefers not to "confidants of fortune", but to those who work hard for the good of the earth.

"Evening"

A little later, there were already the first original works of Zhukovsky, for example, the elegy "Evening", written in 1806. Although the poet's own handwriting here is not yet fully formed, the harmony and musicality of the elegy's language is striking. The theme of "Evening" is the meaning of life, the destiny of man. The best things in life, according to the poet, are love and friendship, the beauty of nature. In this elegy, classical traditions were still guessed: mythology ("Bacchus", "Zephyr", "Alpin", "Minvana") and Slavicisms ("from the Breg", "Golden", "Oratai", etc.) were used.

"Don Quixote", critical articles

Zhukovsky's works for children opens the first of the six volumes of the translation of Cervantes "Don Quixote", which appeared in 1804, in which melodious speech and live Russian language are also celebrated.

In 1808, Zhukovsky (at the age of only 25 years) became editor-in-chief of the "Herald of Europe", Karamzin's successor. At the same time he translates a lot, writes fairy tales, reviews, poems, critical articles. In the latter, the poet speaks of romanticism as a new independent direction in Russian literature. Classic norms to romanticism are already inapplicable, it needs to be evaluated from the point of view of "proportionality" and "conformity" of taste, stylistic compatibility.

"Ludmila"

Genres of works by Zhukovsky were not limited to elegies. In 1808 the first ballad - "Lyudmila" was released, representing a free translation of the work of G. Burger, a German poet. This work takes the reader into an unknown beyond the world, frightening and alluring at the same time. The plot takes the reader into the Middle Ages, the period of the Livonian wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. The main character, Lyudmila, waits for her beloved from the battlefield and, without waiting, begins to grumble at fate. Mother tries to calm her down, saying that "paradise is a humble recompense, hell is a rebellious heart," and calls to be obedient to heaven. However, Ludmila loses faith, and her lot is hell instead of the expected reward.

"Svetlana"

The work "Svetlana" (Zhukovsky) is already an original ballad, which included Russian rituals and beliefs.

The mood of this work, unlike Lyudmila, is joyful, bright. Elements of Russian folklore are included in the ballad - the sublime songs and expressions ("blacksmith, scry me zlat and new crown", "my beauty", "podruzhenka", "joy, the light of my eyes", "red light", etc.). Svetlana also expects the groom, but, unlike Lyudmila, he finally meets him.

"Aeolian harp"

Romantic works of Zhukovsky continues the creation of the Aeolian Harp (1814). It organically combines ballad and lyric elements. An analysis of Zhukovsky's work suggested that Belinsky, in his opinion, "the whole meaning, the whole fragrant charm of Zhukovsky's romance" is concentrated in this ballad. " The heroine does not die, but passes into the other world, where she finally joins her lover. The motif of dvoemiriya permeates many famous works of Zhukovsky, passing through all his work.

"The singer in the camp ..."

The Patriotic War of 1812 could not but resonate in the heart of the poet, who was acquainted with it firsthand - Zhukovsky took an active part in military operations in the rank of lieutenant, fighting for his Motherland. Events of that time are devoted to the work "Singer in the camp of Russian soldiers," in which the patriotic theme sounds especially strong, because everything is connected with the personal experience of the author. The main part of the work was written on the front, before the Battle of Tarutin. The poet praises the courage and valor of the Russian people, his heroism and fearlessness in the face of the enemy. Characteristic here is the solemn solemnity, the sublime language, the use of Slavs such as "the host", "the host", "se," "see," "vpirel" and others. The work is written by a combination of a three-legged and a four-legged iambic, which was unusual at that time, since the odes before were written exclusively with a tetrameter iambic.

"Inexplicable"

After the death of Masha Protasova, the beloved and the muse, with whom the poet did not unite in life, as the mother of the girl was against their marriage, Zhukovsky begins to think ever more deeply of the eternal, heavenly, in verse there appear a mystical shade and religious motives. Works become a little stricter, sometimes the poet refuses and from favorite stylistic excesses, and even from rhyme. He is overwhelmed by the "surplus of inexplicable feelings", which he tried to convey in the poem "The Unexplained" (1819):

"All the immensity in a single sigh is crowded;
And only silence speaks clearly. "

Translations of the 20-30-ies.

In the 20-30-ies. The poet creates new ballads and translations. Plots he borrows from Goethe ("The Fisherman"), Schiller ("Knight Togenburg", "Cup"), Scott ("The Castle of Smeagholm, or Ivanov's Evening") and other poets. Zhukovsky translates "The Lay of Igor's Host", Byron's Chignon Prisoner (1818-1822), Schiller's "Orléansque", and also fond of Goethe, whom he met personally in 1821, when the poet first made a trip abroad.

The last works of Zhukovsky

The last ballads of Zhukovsky are translations of the poems "Rustem and Zorab" and "Nal and Damayanti", in which he thinks about eternity. These ballads sound very modern, because they are written in free verse and touch exciting topics. Zhukovsky Vasily Andreevich, whose works were no less original, often borrows motives and themes from foreign authors.

Only at the age of 58, in 1841, the poet finally found a family by marrying Elizabeth Reitern. However, some time after the marriage, Elizabeth fell ill, and the family went to Germany to amend her health. Here Zhukovsky fell ill, but continued to work.

In 1851, Zhukovsky wrote the elegy "Tsarskoye Selo Swan", which ends with the death of a swan, once inhabited in Tsarskoe Selo. The work is completely autobiographical, allegorical, but very sincerely tells about the tragic fate of the poet who survived his epoch and himself.

In the same year he began to dictate (because he could not hold the pen any longer) his last poem "The Wandering Jew," which was the original result of the author's entire work. To my great regret, it has remained unfinished.

April 12, 1852 Zhukovsky died in the German city of Baden-Baden.

Zhukovsky's works came out of the era of classicism and the literary movement of the first third of the 19th century, answered a number of pressing issues of the time and gave impetus to the development of literature in a new direction - in a romantic way.