“Lyrics” is a long-established designation for one of the three genres in fiction, in contrast to the other two genres - epic and drama. This word comes from the ancient Greek name of one of the stringed musical instruments - the lyre, similar to our ancient Russian gusli.
Currently, the term “lyrics” has quite a lot of definitions, which can be found, in particular, in such authors as R.M. Werner, G.L. Abramovich, F.M. Golovenchenko, T.I. Silman and others. These definitions in many works are more descriptive - psychological, rather than methodological in nature.
G. L. Abramovich in his “Introduction to Literary Studies” gives the following definition of lyrics: “The epic method was based on the reproduction of the world external to the writer. Lyrical - on the direct expression by the poet of thoughts and feelings caused by certain phenomena of life"
In the work of F.M. Golovenchenko’s “Introduction to Literary Studies” we come across the following definition: “Lyrics are poetry that expresses the experiences, sensations, mood of a person... The lyrical method, in contrast to the epic method of literary depiction, does not presuppose the depiction of the world external to the writer, but the direct expression of thoughts and feelings caused by certain phenomena of this external world"
T.I. Silman gives a definition of works of the lyrical genre, lyrics: “lyrics model the relationship between a person and the world around him through the paradigm of subjective experience and with the goal of discovering the true essence of this experienced relationship.
Let us first take as an example one of the special and very detailed studies on the issue that interests us - the book of the German literary theorist Richard Werner “Lyrics and Lyricists”, published back in 1890. Here is the judgment about lyricism given in it: “Feelings, sensations or contemplation in some specific case, in the susceptibility rising through it or above it, we will call something lyrical; the expression of such feelings, sensations or contemplations in poetic form - lyric poetry"
These definitions suggest the identity of poetic feelings with ordinary experiences.
By tradition, the subject content of the lyrics is limited to the expression of only the artist’s inner world, his author’s subjectivity. According to M.A. Palkina, “...the idea of lyricism as a literary genre, in the works of which everything or almost everything comes down to the expression of the inner world of the poet himself, is firmly held in modern literary theory”
If for some lyrical works the presence of objective-pictorial components is indeed not necessary, then in general it, as an art, cannot do without the knowledge and reproduction of “external” phenomena.
Continuing the conversation about the content and subject of the lyrics, we need to touch on the issue of the features of the form. A lyric poem - both thematically and in its construction - reflects the special, extremely tense state of the lyrical hero, which, by its nature, cannot be long-lasting.
A lyric poem, reflecting the very moment of knowing the truth, the moment of “grasping” it, must necessarily be brief. In this respect, it is somewhat reminiscent of other genres, also distinguished by their brevity, such as proverbs and sayings. Striving for extreme brevity, a lyric poem still rarely fits into one phrase, like a proverb, since “it seems to strive willy-nilly to expand, it is “bursting” from within with its significant multifaceted content, and this is one of the most significant driving contradictions of the lyrical genre, making it so mysterious and difficult to implement in artistic practice, if you approach the lyrics with the highest aesthetic requirements."
When talking about lyrics, it is necessary to remember that they are not homogeneous. This must be remembered, since genre determines the methodology for working on a lyric poem. However, an analysis of the literature allows us to conclude that there is no division into genres. Only in the work of M.A. Palkin we find a distinction between lyrics by genre.
He believes that “the nature and direction of the feeling that is predominant for a particular lyrical genre” is of particular importance for the distinction. The author identified three emotional
states that characterize the attitude of the lyrical subject to the world around him - approval, regret and disgust. On the basis of these three experiences, lyrical genres arose and developed, which have become most widespread in European literature since antiquity - the hymn (and its version of the ode), elegy, and satire.
The leading lyrical genres include elegy - “song of sad content.” The defining feature of an elegy is the ideological and emotional orientation of the verse.
A prominent place in the lyrics is occupied by the genre of lyrical satire - “a special way of artistic censure of social ills and vices.” The most classic type of lyrical satire is the fable.
Another type of satire is a poetic feuilleton - a satirical poem rich in topical journalistic content; such a feuilleton is usually published in a newspaper.
An epigram is also a type of satire. Her M.A. Palkin defines it as “a witty - satirical attack against a specific person or group of people... As a rule, an epigram is constructed in the form of a single stanza - a quatrain; six- or eight-line verses are used less frequently. What makes the epigram especially poignant is the contrast between its main part, which gives a generally accepted, albeit caricatured, description of the person being ridiculed, and the unexpected ending, which pronounces the final verdict on the denounced “hero”.
Another genre feature is the form of organization of the poetic structure of the work. These are the genres with constant forms of verse: sonnet, stanzas, rondo, etc. Sonnets are written in one poetic meter. The strict form of the sonnet corresponds to a high lyrically intense and ideologically rich content. Stanzas are a relatively small poem consisting of quatrains, separated from each other when reading by a short pause. Each quatrain contains a complete thought.
The relationship between thought and feeling, intelligible and intuitively felt in lyrical works of different genres can be very different. In the genres of civil lyricism, the rationalistic principle, as a rule, is expressed more clearly than in intimate lyricism. Particularly rich in thought is characteristic of philosophical lyrics - “... poetry that is based on a single and integral philosophical and aesthetic worldview and actively promotes this worldview.”
Thus, we can conclude about the variety of genres in lyrics. And, consequently, schoolchildren, turning to lyric poetry, also deal with many genres.
The next important question is the types of lyrics. G.E. Pospelov in his work “Lyrics: Among Literary Genres” distinguishes the following types of lyric poetry: meditative, meditative-figurative and actually figurative. In the first two of these varieties, lyrics can be predominantly “addressed to introspection, containing emotional or mental reflection. Or lyrical meditation can be directed outward, at the relationships and events of the objective world and at comprehending the ideal.”
Works of meditative lyrics are reproductions of certain states and processes of the inner world, which have a completely independent and self-sufficient generalizing meaning. These are emotional monologues, detached in the text of the works from any individualized concreteness of existence. The experiences reproduced in lyrical meditation do not represent the empirical reality of the spiritual life of an individual, but the essential properties of the inner world of some social environment and era, realized in the light of the ideological interests of the poet and revealed by him with particular clarity and force in some of his fictional individualization.
In works of abstract meditative poetry, the ideological interests of the lyrical subject are directed to the outside world and, above all, to the relationships and circumstances of social existence. This expands the cognitive capabilities of the lyrics.
The emotional thoughts of the lyrical subject about his own inner world, if they remain entirely meditative, in most cases exhaust themselves quite quickly, their poetic expression is usually very brief. This is how meditative-figurative lyricism arises, which undoubtedly occupies a much larger place in the history of world poetry than meditative lyricism itself.
In works of meditative and visual lyricism, the thoughts of the lyrical subject not only reveal his emotional state and the development of his thoughts, but at the same time reproduce the phenomena of the external, objective world. Thus, “lyrical meditation” develops its own world of objective representation, sometimes very rich and diverse.
There is also visual poetry itself, it can be descriptive or narrative, most often descriptive - visual. In most cases, the subject of knowledge and the image in it are views of nature or, in other words, “landscapes”. Landscape lyrics, as defined by G.N. Pospelov, “this is verbal art, and in it all the basic properties of art find their special expression. This applies, first of all, to its subject matter. Poets depict views of nature and make them the main themes of their poems not because of the beauty of these views, but because of their characteristic nature.”
Concluding the conversation about the types of lyrics, I would like to repeat that this knowledge is necessary for organizing the correct methodological work when working with lyrical works.
Which, first of all, addresses the personal feelings of the poet and reader, their mood. The lyrics reflect sensitive experiences, emotions; often works of this type of literature are characterized by sincerity and emotion.
Poem
The poem is the main genre of lyrics, which is familiar to everyone without exception. This is a relatively small work, written in verse.
In a broad sense, a poem is understood as works of different genres and even types; these often include elegies, sonnets and ballads, but in the 19th-20th centuries there was a clearer definition. During this period, a poem was understood exclusively as a work that reflected the inner world of the author, the multifaceted manifestations of his soul; it was supposed to be associated with lyricism.
With the development of the classical poem, its purpose for the lyrical exploration of the world became clearer. It was separately emphasized that in the poem the author always strives to connect life in one moment, focusing on the state of the world around him. In this fundamental function, the genre of lyric poetry is contrasted with short stories and stories written in verse, as well as lyric poems, which describe a large number of interrelated experiences.
You can find many examples of poems in Pushkin's works. The genre of lyricism, to which this section of our article is devoted, was one of the main ones in his work. As an illustration, the poem “Winter Road” can be cited.
Through the wavy mists
The moon creeps in
To the sad meadows
She sheds a sad light.
On the winter, boring road
Three greyhounds are running,
Single bell
It rattles tiresomely.
Something sounds familiar
In the coachman's long songs:
That reckless revelry
That's heartbreak...
No fire, no black house,
Wilderness and snow... Towards me
Only miles are striped
They come across one...
Bored, sad... Tomorrow, Nina,
Returning to my dear tomorrow,
I'll forget myself by the fireplace,
I'll take a look without looking at it.
The hour hand sounds loud
He will make his measuring circle,
And, removing the annoying ones,
Midnight will not separate us.
It’s sad, Nina: my path is boring,
My driver fell silent from his doze,
The bell is monotonous,
The moon's face is clouded.
Sonnet
Having studied the main genres of epic, lyricism and drama, you will be able to easily navigate world and domestic literature. Another popular genre that must be discussed in this article is the sonnet.
Unlike most other genres of lyric poetry, the sonnet has a strictly defined structure. It necessarily consists of 14 lines, which form two quatrains and two tercets. This is what a classic sonnet looks like, but the so-called Shakespearean sonnet, which consists of three quatrains and one final concluding couplet, is also popular in literature. The sonnet gained particular popularity in this form thanks to the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare.
It is believed that a sonnet must contain an emotional and plot turning point. Often their theme is about love.
In Russia, sonnets also had a certain popularity. As a rule, they were written in iambic 5-foot with minor deviations. The best known are the Russian sonnets of Genrikh Sapgir, Timur Kibirov, and Sergei Kalugin.
An example is the sonnets of William Shakespeare, which are well known in Russian in translations by Boris Pasternak.
Exhausted by everything, I want to die.
It’s sad to see how the poor man suffers,
And how the rich man lives in jest,
And trust, and get into trouble,
And watch how arrogance creeps into the light,
And the girl’s honor goes down the drain,
And know that there is no room for perfection,
And see strength in weakness in captivity,
And remember that thoughts are closed,
And the mind demolishes nonsense and blasphemy,
And straightforwardness is reputed to be simplicity,
And kindness serves evil.
Exhausted by everything, I would not live a day,
Yes, it will be difficult for my friend without me.
Oh yeah
Among the genres of epic, lyricism, and drama, there are similar ones that are aimed at achieving one or another goal. For example, odes are required to praise a specific person, event or state. There are similar analogues in other types of literature.
In Russia, the ode was extremely popular at one time. At the same time, the ode originated in Ancient Greece; this genre of lyric poetry was widespread in Roman literature thanks to Horace. In Russia it was used in the 18th century. The most prominent representatives are Gavriil Derzhavin and Mikhail Lomonosov. As an example, let us cite Derzhavin’s work.
O You, endless space,
Alive in the movement of matter,
Eternal with the passage of time,
Without faces, in three faces of the Divine,
The spirit is everywhere present and united,
For whom there is no place and no reason,
Whom no one could comprehend
Who fills everything with Himself,
Encompasses, builds, preserves,
Whom we call God!
Measure the ocean deep,
Count the sands, the rays of the planets,
Although the mind might be high,
You have no number or measure!
Enlightened spirits cannot
Born from Your light,
To explore Your destinies:
Only the thought of ascending to You dares,
Disappears in Your greatness,
Like a moment gone by in eternity.
Chaos existence before time
From the abysses You called to eternity;
And eternity, born before the age,
You founded it in Yourself.
Making up myself,
Shining from Myself,
You are the light from where the light came.
Creating everything with one word,
Stretching out into the new creation,
You were, You are, You will forever be.
You contain a chain of beings in Yourself,
You support it and live it;
You match the end with the beginning
And you give life to death.
How sparks fly, strive,
Thus the suns will be born from You.
Like on a foul, clear day in winter
Specks of frost sparkle,
They rotate, they sway, they shine,
So are the stars in the abysses under You.
The light of the kindled millions
They flow in immeasurability;
They make your laws
Life-giving rays pour down;
But these lamps are fiery,
Or the red crystals of the mass,
Or waves of golden boiling host,
Or burning ethers,
Or together all the luminous worlds,
Before You is like night before day.
Like a drop dropped into the sea,
The whole expanse is before You;
But what is the visible universe to me,
And what am I before You? —
In that ocean of air,
Multiplying the worlds by a million
A hundred times other worlds, and then
When I dare to compare with You,
It will only be one point;
And I am nothing before You.
Nothing! - but You shine in me
By the Majesty of Your kindnesses;
You portray yourself in me,
Like the sun in a small drop of water.
Nothing! - but I feel life,
I fly unfed
Always a tall guy.
My soul yearns to be with you,
He delves into, thinks, reasons:
I am - of course, you are too.
You are! - The order of nature speaks,
My heart tells me that
My mind assures me;
You exist - and I am no longer nothing!
A particle of the whole universe,
Placed, it seems to me, in venerable
In the middle of nature I am the one
Where did you end the bodily creatures,
Where did you begin the heavenly spirits
And a chain of creatures connected everyone with me.
I am the connection of worlds that exist everywhere,
I'm the extreme of substance
I am the center of the living
The initial trait of the Deity.
My body is crumbling into dust,
I command thunder with my mind;
I am a king, I am a slave, I am a worm, I am a god!—
But being so wonderful, I
Where did I come from? — Unknown;
But I couldn’t be myself.
I am your creation, Creator,
I am a creature of your wisdom,
Source of life, Giver of blessings,
Soul of my soul and King!
Your truth needed it
So that the abyss of death may pass
My immortal being;
So that my spirit is clothed in mortality
And so that through death I return,
Father! into Your immortality.
Inexplicable, incomprehensible!
I know that my soul
Imagination is powerless
And draw Your shadows.
But if praise must be given,
That is impossible for weak mortals
There is nothing else to honor you with,
How can they only rise to You,
Getting lost in the immeasurable difference
And grateful tears are shed.
Romance
In the genre of lyrics, works written in the form of romances occupy a special place. After all, this is a special genre that is at the intersection of literature and music. As a rule, this is a short poetic work set to music.
Domestic romance was mainly formed at the beginning of the 19th century. Romanticism, popular at that time, had a great influence on him. The most famous representatives of this genre were Varlamov, Alyabyev, Gurilev. In many Russian romances you can find gypsy motifs, and even several subgenres have been formed. For example, cruel or salon romance.
The beginning of the 20th century marked the so-called golden age of Russian romance, when Vertinsky, Vyaltsev, and Plevitskaya set the tone. During Soviet times, this genre did not lose its popularity.
An example is the classic novel by Vertinsky.
I got some angels
Started up in broad daylight.
Everything I once laughed at
Everything amazes me now!
I lived noisily and cheerfully - I repent,
But the wife took everything into her hands,
Completely disregarding me
She gave birth to two daughters for me.
I was against it. The diapers will start...
Why complicate your life?
But the girls got into my heart,
Like kittens in someone else's bed!
And now with new meaning and purpose
I, like a bird, make my nest
And sometimes over their cradle
I sing to myself in surprise:
Daughters, daughters,
My daughters!
Where are you, my little nights,
Where are you nightingales?..
Lots of Russian sun and light
Will be in the lives of my daughters,
And what is most important is this
That they will have a homeland!
There will be a home. There will be a lot of toys.
We will hang a star on the Christmas tree.
I'm some kind old ladies
I’ll start one especially for them.
So that the Russians sing songs to them
To weave fairy tales at night,
So that the years rustle quietly,
So that childhood cannot be forgotten!
True, I'll get a little older
But I will be young at heart, like them!
And I will ask the good God,
To prolong my sinful days.
Daughters will grow up
My daughters...
There will be nightingales for them, there will be nightingales!
And my very dear daughters will close,
The same nightingales will sing for me in the cemetery!
Poem
We will not be able to find a novel in the lyric genre, but a poem can be considered its full-fledged analogue. This is a fairly large work, which is lyrical-epic in nature, which allows it to stand out among other similar works.
As a rule, it belongs to a specific author and has not only a poetic, but also a narrative form. Literary critics distinguish romantic, heroic, satirical, and critical poems.
Throughout the history of literature, this genre has undergone many changes. For example, if many centuries ago a poem was an exclusively epic work, for example Homer’s Iliad, then already in the 20th century examples of exclusively lyrical examples of this genre appeared, which include Anna Akhmatova’s “Poem without a Hero.”
It’s interesting that prose works are also sometimes called this way. For example, “Moscow - Cockerels” by Venedikt Erofeev, “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol, “Pedagogical Poem” by Anton Makarenko.
An example is an excerpt from “Poem without a Hero” by Anna Akhmatova.
I lit the treasured candles
And together with those who did not come to me
I'm celebrating the forty-first year,
But the Lord's strength is with us,
The flame drowned in the crystal
And the wine burns like poison...
These are bursts of creepy conversation,
When all the delusions are resurrected,
And the clock still doesn't chime...
There is no measure of my anxiety,
I, like a shadow, stand on the threshold
I guard the last comfort.
And I hear a long bell,
And I feel cold and wet.
I'm cold, I'm freezing, I'm burning
And, as if remembering something,
You're wrong: Venice of the Doges
It's nearby. But the masks are in the hallway
And cloaks, and wands, and crowns
You will have to leave today.
I decided to glorify you today,
New Year's tomboys.
This one is Faust, that one is Don Juan...
Elegy
When describing which genres of lyric poetry deserve the most attention, it is necessary to talk about elegy. This is a kind of emotional result of deep philosophical reflection, which is enclosed in a poetic form. As a rule, in an elegy the author tries to understand complex life problems.
Elegy originated in ancient Greek poetry. At that time, this was the name for a poem written in a stanza of a certain size, without putting any more meaning into this concept.
For Greek poets, elegy could be accusatory, philosophical, sad, political, and militant. Among the Romans, elegies were mainly dedicated to love, while the works became more free-form.
The first successful attempts to write elegies in Russian literature were made by Zhukovsky. Before this, there were attempts at writing in this genre by Fonvizin, Ablesimov, Bogdanovich, Naryshkin.
A new era in Russian poetry was marked by Zhukovsky’s translation of Gray’s elegy entitled “Rural Cemetery.” After this, the genre finally went beyond rhetorical boundaries, indicating that the main thing is to appeal to intimacy, sincerity and depth. This change is clearly visible in the new techniques of versification used by Zhukovsky and the poets of subsequent generations.
By the 19th century, it became fashionable to call their works elegies, as Baratynsky, Batyushkov, and Yazykov often do. Over time, this tradition faded away, but the elegiac tone remained in the works of many poets not only of the 19th, but also of the 20th centuries.
As a classic example, it would be correct to consider an excerpt from “Rural Cemetery” in Zhukovsky’s translation.
The day is already turning pale, hiding behind the mountain;
Noisy herds crowd over the river;
Tired villager with slow feet
He goes, lost in thought, to his quiet hut,
The surroundings disappear in the foggy twilight...
There is silence everywhere; dead sleep everywhere;
Only occasionally, buzzing, the evening beetle flickers,
Only the dull ringing of horns can be heard in the distance.
Only a wild owl, hiding under the ancient vault
That tower, laments, listened to by the moon,
On the one who outraged the midnight arrival
Her silent dominion is peace.
Ballad
The ballad is a famous lyrical genre that was often used by Romantic poets in the 18th and 19th centuries. It came to Russia in parallel with the popularity of romanticism in literature.
The first Russian ballad, which was also original in both content and form, was a work by Gabriel Kamenev called “Gromval”. But the most famous representative of this genre is rightfully considered to be the one who even received the nickname “balladeer” from his contemporaries.
In 1808, Zhukovsky wrote “Lyudmila,” which made a strong impression on those around him, then translated the best ballads of European romantic poets, under whose influence the genre penetrated into Russia. These are, first of all, Goethe, Schiller, Scott. In 1813, Zhukovsky’s famous ballad “Svetlana” was published, which many literary critics still consider his best work.
Pushkin also wrote ballads, in particular, many researchers attribute his “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” to this genre. To get a complete picture of this original genre, we will give as an example an excerpt from “Svetlana” by Zhukovsky.
Once on Epiphany evening
The girls wondered:
A shoe behind the gate,
They took it off their feet and threw it;
The snow was cleared; under the window
Listened; fed
Counted chicken grains;
The ardent wax was heated;
In a bowl of clean water
They laid a gold ring,
The earrings are emerald;
White boards spread out
And over the bowl they sang in harmony
The songs are amazing.
Novel in verse
A novel in verse is a genre that is frozen at the intersection of poetry and prose. It organically combines composition, a system of characters, chronotopes; in the author's variations, analogies are possible between the poetic epic and the novel in verse itself.
The formation of this genre occurs when the genre of the poem has already taken final shape. A novel in verse is, as a rule, a more voluminous work that sets itself more global goals. At the same time, the boundaries between these genres remain to a certain extent arbitrary.
In Russia, the most famous novel in verse is Pushkin’s work “Eugene Onegin”; we will cite an excerpt from it as an example. Many critics believe that it is through the example of this “encyclopedia of Russian life” that one can clearly see how a novel in verse differs from a poem. In particular, in the first one one can observe the development of characters and an analytical attitude, which is not found in most poems.
My uncle has the most honest rules,
When I seriously fell ill,
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of anything better.
His example to others is science;
But, my God, what a bore
To sit with the patient day and night,
Without leaving a single step!
What low deceit
To amuse the half-dead,
Adjust his pillows
It's sad to bring medicine,
Sigh and think to yourself:
When will the devil take you!
Epigram
The epigram is a lyrical genre that was extremely popular at one time, although many no longer associate it with literature, but with journalism and journalism. After all, this is a very small work in which a social phenomenon or a specific person is ridiculed.
In Russian poetry, famous epigrams began to be written by Antioch Cantemir. This genre was popular among poets of the 18th century (Lomonosov, Trediakovsky). During the times of Pushkin and Zhukovsky, the genre itself was somewhat transformed, becoming more of a salon satire, similar to album poetry.
An example of an epigram would be one of Zhukovsky’s works.
NEWLY AWARDED
“Dude, why did you sit down?”
"The villain put the crown on me!" -
“Well! I don’t see the evil in this!” -
"Oh, it's heavy!"
Limerick
Let's finish our review of the main lyrical genres with a somewhat frivolous limerick. It appeared in England, has a clear form and specific content.
This is a satirical five-line poem that is absurdist in nature. The main thing is that his composition is subject to strict rules. The first line names the character and also mentions where he is from. The second tells what he did, or some peculiarity of it. The remaining lines are devoted to the consequences of these actions or properties of the hero.
Once upon a time there was an old man from Hong Kong,
Dancing to the music of the gong.
But they told him:
"Stop it - or
Get out of Hong Kong completely!”
Edward Lear
The main thing in lyrics is emotionally charged descriptions and reflections. Reproduction of relationships between people and their actions does not play a big role here; most often it is absent altogether. Lyrical statements are not accompanied by images of any events. Where, when, under what circumstances the poet spoke, to whom he addressed - all this either becomes clear from his words themselves, or turns out to be completely unimportant.
I hate her and love her.
“Why?” - you ask.
I don't know myself
but this is how I feel - and I languish.
(Translated by F. Petrovsky)
The above couplet of the ancient Roman poet Catullus is a completed work of art. From Catullus's poem the reader learns nothing about the events and facts that caused the feeling expressed here. He knows nothing about the woman to whom the couplet is dedicated, nor about the fate of the person who speaks out. The poem soulfully conveys the very feeling of a person in whose soul hatred and love have merged, a feeling before which he himself seems to stop in bewilderment.
The main object of artistic knowledge in lyric poetry is the character of the “speaker” himself, first of all his inner world, his state of mind and emotions. Unlike novels and epics, stories and short stories, tragedies and comedies, lyrics, mastering the inner world of a person, do not depict events, actions, deeds, relationships. In this sense, it takes on the features of expressive arts.
At the same time, there is a fundamental difference between lyrics, on the one hand, and dance, music, architecture, on the other. In the latter, moods and experiences arise outside of their specific connections with the external, objective world. Lyrics, being a kind of literature, invariably retains the figurative principle inherent in verbal art. In a lyrical work there are always impressions of some facts, thoughts about something and the experience of something.
Pure expression of speech sounds (phonemes) does not exist. This was proven (by contradiction) by the extreme left futurists, in particular Kruchenykh, who offered meaningless sound combinations as examples of poetic statements. Lyrical speech (as opposed to musical sounds) invariably relies on the meanings of words, on the cognitive and visual capabilities of language. Unlike the expressive arts, lyric poetry recreates not only the moods themselves (sadness and sadness, liveliness and fun, thoughtfulness and contemplation, determination and effectiveness), but also thoughts and feelings caused by the objective world and directed towards it.
The lyrically expressed experiences can belong both to the poet himself and to others who are not similar to him. The ability to “instantly feel someone else’s as your own” is, according to Fet, one of the properties of poetic talent. Lyrics that express the experiences of a person noticeably different from the author are called role-playing. Such are the poems “You have no name, my distant...” by Blok - the spiritual outpouring of a girl living in a vague expectation of love, or “I was killed near Rzhev” by Tvardovsky, or “Goya” by Voznesensky, where the “vision of the world” inherent in the great Spanish artist. It even happens (though this happens rarely) that the subject of a lyrical statement is exposed by the author. Such is the “moral man” in Nekrasov’s poem of the same name, who caused many sorrows and misfortunes to those around him, but stubbornly repeated the phrase: “Living in accordance with strict morality, I have never done harm to anyone in my life.” Something similar is easy to see in some of Heine’s poems, full of mournful and caustic irony. Aristotle's earlier definition of lyricism (the poet "remains himself without changing his face") is thus inaccurate: a lyric poet may well change his face and reproduce an experience that belongs to someone else.
But in most cases, the lyrics capture the mood of the author himself. Poems whose lyrical subject is identical or at least close to the poet are called autopsychological. Lyrical creativity is mainly autopsychological. Thus, from the poems of Pushkin and Lermontov, Blok and Yesenin, Mayakovsky and Tsvetaeva, one can get a vivid and complete picture of the intellectual and emotional world of the authors themselves.
Spontaneity and directness of “self-expression” is one of the most important properties of lyrics. “He (the lyric poet),” Hegel wrote, “can search within himself for inspiration for creativity and content, dwelling on internal situations, states, experiences and passions of his heart and spirit. Here the man himself in his subjective inner life becomes a work of art, while the epic poet is given content by a hero different from himself, his exploits and the incidents that happen to him.” Similar thoughts were repeatedly expressed subsequently. A lyricist, argued the German poet J. Becher, is “a person expressing himself. He himself is the “hero” of his lyrics.”
In lyrical creativity, the “object” and “subject” of an artistic image are close to each other and in most cases seem to merge: both are the inner world of the author. Knowledge of life here acts, first of all, as self-knowledge. This is one of the reasons for the special charm of the lyrics. The reader enters into such direct and close emotional contact with the poet that is impossible when perceiving epic or dramatic works.
Lyrical self-expression can be different. Most often, the author embodies the thoughts and feelings inherent in him as an individual, and a certain lyrical “I” is present in his works. But sometimes a lyric poet acts as a direct exponent of the views, moods and aspirations of a group of people, sometimes an entire class, an entire people and even humanity. Here the lyrical “I” is replaced by the lyrical “we” (“To Chaadaev” by Pushkin, “Scythians” by Blok, “The Internationale” by Potier, “Left March” by Mayakovsky).
Self-expression in lyrics is noticeably different from a person’s expression of his thoughts, feelings and intentions in everyday life. The lyrically embodied moods are not a literal copy of the poet’s experience. The lyrics are in no way a transcript of the feelings that the author experienced in real life.
The lyric poet does not embody everything he has experienced in poetry. The most significant emotions usually fall into the sphere of his creativity. Sometimes poetic experiences differ sharply from the everyday, everyday feelings of the poet.
Lyrics not only reproduce the poet’s feelings, but to a large extent activate them, ennoble them, and create them anew. The lyrical experience therefore acquires special intensity and richness. The poet is, as it were, “possessed” by the emotion that he poetically expresses.
At the same time, in the process of creativity, the author often creates, through the power of imagination, those psychological situations that did not exist at all in reality. Literary scholars have repeatedly been convinced that many lyric poems cannot be correlated with specific facts of the writer’s biography. In particular, the content of Pushkin's love poems does not always agree with the facts of his personal life. The signature that Blok made in the margins of the manuscript of one of his poems is significant: “Nothing like that happened.” The poet portrayed himself either in the lyrical image of a young monk, an admirer of the mystically mysterious Beautiful Lady, or in the “mask” of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, or in the role of a regular in St. Petersburg restaurants.
Autopsychological and role principles of lyrical creativity are thus inextricably linked. The lyric poet, in the words of E. Vinokurov, is one in two persons. This is, firstly, a person with a certain destiny, life experience, mindset and views, and secondly, the hero of his own poems. The transformation of the poet's personality traits into the image of a lyrical hero is the most important property of lyrics.
The non-identity of the subject of the lyrical utterance with the individuality of the poet himself is quite natural. Poetically embodied experience is the result of artistic generalization. The feelings expressed in the lyrics have a socio-historical character. The imprint of national-cultural traditions and social relations, one way or another, lies on the subject of lyrical speech. At the same time, a lyrical work, like any other, always contains the poet’s understanding of life - let it be his own inner world. Therefore, those concepts (theme, problem, emotional assessment) with the help of which the content of other literary works are understood are quite applicable to lyrics, with all its originality.
At the same time, the content of lyrical works has a special quality that is very significant for readers. When getting acquainted with a short story, novel or drama, we perceive what is depicted from a certain psychological distance, to a certain extent detached. By the will of the author (and sometimes by our own), we accept or do not accept the positions of the characters, we share or do not share their moods, we approve or disapprove of their actions, we mock them or sympathize with them. The lyrics are another matter. To fully perceive a lyrical work means to be imbued with the poet’s state of mind, to feel and experience them once again as something one’s own, personal, sincere. A lyrical statement has the power of suggestion.
The experience captured in the lyrics has an unusual capacity. It turns out to be close and consonant with an infinitely wide range of people. The reader easily identifies himself with the lyrical hero and perceives the thoughts and feelings expressed by the poet as his own. The feelings of the lyric poet powerfully “infect” the reader, becoming his spiritual property.
Lyrical works are characterized by a special type of artistic image - an image-experience. Unlike epic or drama, which tell about a person and the manifestations of his character under a variety of circumstances, the work shows a single and specific state of the human soul in a certain situation.
Lyrical works are divided into the following: ode - a solemn poem glorifying a great person or event (ode originated and reached the height of popularity in the 18th century, currently it has become an archaic genre); hymn - a poem of praise; elegy - a lyrical work of reflection; epigram - a short satirical poem; epistole - a lyrical message, or letter to; sonnet - a poem consisting of fourteen lines with a special rhyme and style; satire - poetic denunciation and ridicule of vices or individuals; ballad is a lyric-epic poem with a detailed plot. Often a literary work combines the characteristics of several lyrical genres.
The central character of such a work is the lyrical hero; it is through his inner world that the author conveys to the reader certain experiences and feelings. The outside world fades into the background and is depicted in terms of the impressions it makes on the hero. By creating a unique image of a literary hero, the poet can make it very close to himself. For example, Sergei Yesenin, who in his lyrics identifies himself with a simple peasant guy. However, with a correct analysis of a lyrical work, it is necessary to talk not about the feelings and experiences of the author himself, but about the internal state of his lyrical hero.
Lyrics in general are characterized by a conversation about the beautiful, sublime and exciting; the lyrical work proclaims the ideals of human life. The basic principle of lyrical literature: as short as possible, but as bright and complete as possible.
SCHEME FOR ANALYSIS OF A LYRIC WORK
place in creativity, to whom it is dedicated, how the poem was received
(reviews about it).
II. The structure of images and conflict development.
Theme and idea of the poem
Emotional coloring of feelings.
Composition, plot (if any).
The figurative series of the poem.
Traits of a lyrical hero.
III. Genre originality (ode, elegy, hymn, romance, ballad, etc.).
IV. Main features of poetic language.
Paths and figures.
Language level analysis:
a) poetic phonetics (alliteration, sound writing, assonance);
b) poetic vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, historicisms, neologisms);
c) the use of the phenomena of morphology and syntax.
Rhythm, poetic meter, rhyme.
VI. Personal perception of the poem.
Associations, thoughts, evaluation, interpretation.
Analysis is a logical method with which we dissect objects or phenomena, isolating in them (for further reasoning) individual parts and properties.
Analysis of a work of art is an analysis that should lead to an in-depth reading of it, i.e. to insight into the thoughts and feelings expressed by the artist.
We should not forget that in the center of a lyrical work is the image of the lyrical hero. Therefore, the content and meaning of the poem must be sought in its “key words,” with the help of which the experience of the lyrical hero is expressed. This means that analyzing a work of art involves reading, highlighting “key words” and “phrases,” drawing up a plan, selecting quotes, etc. The purpose of this work must be determined in advance. For example, you pay attention to the epithets (metaphors, comparisons...) of the poem. For what? To understand what their role is in a literary text, what their characteristics are for a given author, what features of his talent they are talking about.
However, it is impossible to deeply and fully understand the meaning of each part highlighted in the process of analysis and draw correct conclusions on this basis if you are not able to see these parts together, in unity, as a whole. This goal is served by synthesis - the mental unification of the essential properties of homogeneous objects and phenomena.
And the thesis (judgment, thought), and its evidence (arguments), and logical actions (reasoning), and analysis, and synthesis - all this is like “building material”, “bricks” from which the “building” of scientific research is built in different ways . Comparing logical categories with building material is not accidental: what is important is not only and not so much the number of judgments - theses, arguments or logical actions, but the consistency, persuasiveness, simplicity and brightness of your thoughts and feelings.
COMMENT ON THE ANALYSIS SCHEME
LYRICAL WORK
Lyrics recreate not the external, but the internal world, the subjective thoughts and feelings of the lyrical hero, expresses the state and experience caused by some life circumstance or containing the public mood.
I. "Output data."
Information about the output can be found in the comments to the poems; it is better to use the collected works of poets, the information in them is comprehensive. You need to reflect on the meaning of the name, establish its direct, and perhaps figurative meaning.
II. The structure of images and the development of conflict.
1. Theme (motive) - a circumstance, event, fact, impression that served as a reason, stimulus for lyrical reflection or state (gone love “I loved you”, true love “I remember a wonderful moment”, friendship “My first friend, my friend priceless...", the position of the people and the purpose of poetry "Elegy" by N.A. Nekrasov).
The idea is the author’s assessment of what is depicted, his thoughts on this matter (“I loved you...” - a blessing of departed love, “I remember a wonderful moment” - glorification of the image of his beloved, “Elegy” - a call to change the existing situation.
2. Emotional coloring of feelings.
The topic presupposes a certain mood (emotional state or reflection). In M.Yu. Lermontov’s poem “On the Death of a Poet,” we capture both the pain and suffering caused by the death of the poet, and outright hatred of the murderer, who did not see a national genius in Pushkin, and admiration for the talent of the great poet, and anger at the reaction to this death of the conservative part of society.
Even in landscape poetry, in which pictures of nature predominate, one should look for a transmission of the emotional state of the individual (associative image). (“A mournful wind drives a flock of clouds to the edge of heaven” (a feeling of melancholy, anxiety), a flock of clouds (“predatory” movement (a pack of wolves), massiveness, lack of lightness, height, oppressive darkness, a feeling of being lost, etc.)
3. Composition, plot (if any).
Certain facts, events, circumstances, actions, memories and impressions mentioned in the text of the poem are usually interspersed with thoughts and emotions, which gives a feeling of dynamics and movement. The change and sequence of these components makes up the composition (structure) of a lyrical work. Although in each specific case the composition is unique and original, some general trends can be outlined.
Almost any poem is “divided” into two parts (as a rule, unequal): “empirical” (narrating) and “generalizing”, which contains that comprehensive, universal, philosophical meaning for which the poem was written.
The summary part in the poem “On the Hills of Georgia”:
And the heart burns and loves again - because
That it cannot help but love.
It sounds like a hymn to man in general; it is a humanistic, life-affirming chord of the entire poem. Everything else is the empirical part. The poem can be constructed in a different sequence: first the generalizing part, then the empirical one.
From the point of view of composition, poems can be divided (conditionally) into 3 types:
|
Event-emotional |
Emotional-figurative |
Actually pictorial or narrative |
|
Events, facts, circumstances, actions, memories, impressions are interspersed with thoughts and emotions (A.S. Pushkin “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” (the sequence is more or less logically organized; M.Yu.Lermontov “Goodbye, unwashed Russia” (the sequence is not entirely logical, it is broken, nevertheless it exists.) |
Alternation of facts, impressions and emotional reactions. (M.Yu. Lermontov’s “Sail” - in it, 2 lines of each quatrain are, as it were, figurative, and the next two are expressive). Often the internal state is revealed at the end of the poem: Snowy plain, white moon // Covered with a shroud our side // And birches in white cry through the forests. Who died here? Died? Isn't it me? (S. Yesenin) |
In poems of this kind only alternations of facts and phenomena are presented; the emotional-mental principle is not expressed in them, but it is implied (A.A. Fet “This morning, this joy”, F.T. Tyutchev “Spring waters”, “Winter is angry for good reason” |
The plot in lyrical works is most often absent. It occurs in event and epic poems (most often by N.A. Nekrasov, sometimes his lyrics are called prosaic).
