Russian poetry of the early 20th century. Poetry of the late XIX - early XX centuries

This summary can be used for a review lesson on the topic "Poetry" Silver Age", and as a repeating and generalizing lesson using group technologies. This lesson allows you to repeat and generalize knowledge on the topic, develops Creative skills and the aesthetic taste of students, their research skills and ability to work in a group.

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Literature lesson in 11th grade
(using design technologies)

Prepared and carried out

Russian language teacher and

literature Zhagrova V.V.

Goals:

• repeat and summarize knowledge on the topic “Poetry of the Silver Age”: consider the features of the largest literary movements that made up the poetry of Russian modernism - symbolism, acmeism, futurism and imagism; determine their general artistic principles;
• develop students’ creative abilities and taste, their research skills, and ability to work in a group;
• contribute to increasing the general erudition of children.

During the classes.

Teacher's opening speech.

Silver Age... This very phrase is associated in our minds with something sublime and beautiful. The poetry of this period is essentially a melody of words, a kind of sound order.

Among the worlds, in the twinkling of the luminaries

I repeat the name of one Star...

Not because I loved her,

But because I languish with others.

And if it’s hard for me to doubt,

I am looking to Her alone for an answer,

Not because it’s light from Her,

But because there is no need for light with Her.

Innokenty Annensky... Notice how deep, figurative, philosophical!

However, the Silver Age, unlike the Pushkin era, called the “golden age” in Russian literature, cannot be called by someone’s name – even a great one; his poetics absolutely cannot be reduced to the work of one, two or even several outstanding masters of words. The peculiarity of this period is that poets representing many literary movements, professing different poetic principles, lived and worked in it. Each of them was distinguished by the extraordinary music of the verse, the original expression of feelings and experiences lyrical hero, focus on the future.

Today in the lesson we will talk about such a phenomenon in Russian literature as modernism. We talked about it a lot and in detail and today we are summing it up. The result of our research was a book about Russian modernism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, compiled by us based on materials from literary studies, our knowledge, tastes, and preferences.

Today we invited you to our Literary Salon for the presentation of this book.The owner of the salon is Elena Valieva. Over to her.

Presenter:

• The task that we set for ourselves when creating this book was to consider the features of the largest literary movements that made up the poetry of Russian modernism - symbolism, acmeism, futurism and imagism; determine their general artistic principles; try to recreate the overall picture of the poetic era called the Silver Age, without which it is quite difficult to understand its individual manifestations.
• The book was created through joint efforts. Groups of “symbolists”, “acmeists”, “futurists” and “imagists” worked, who, having studied literary sources, tried to compile a brief summary of the chosen literary direction, name the names of the most significant, in their opinion, representatives of this movement, make a selection of poems from these poets, reflecting their poetic style. At the same time, a group of art historians worked, selecting works by artists and composers of the Silver Age for decoration.
• Opens a book general characteristics concept of "modernism"

Page 1

Modernism.

The term "modernism" translated from French means the latest, modern and in a broad sense is a general designation for the phenomena of art and literature of the 20th century that moved away from the traditions of external similarity.

The term “modernism” quite accurately conveyed the idea of ​​​​creating new literature inherent in the literature of the Silver Age and was embodied “in a system of relatively independent artistic movements and movements, characterized by a feeling of disharmony in the world, a break with the traditions of realism, rebellious and shocking perception, the predominance of the motive of loss of connection with reality, loneliness and illusory freedom of the artist, locked in the space of his fantasies, memories and subjective associations. The essence of modernism was that modernists were blinded by the “crazy dream of being only artists in life.”

Symbolism, Acmeism, Futurism, Imagism are the main trends of modernism.

Page 2

Symbolism

Presenter. The next page of the book is devoted to the largest literary movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries - symbolism.Symbolism (from the Greek Symbolon - sign, symbol) - a movement in European art of 1870-1910; one of the modernist movements in Russian poetry at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Focused primarily on the expression through symbol of intuitively comprehended entities and ideas, vague, often sophisticated feelings and visions.

The very word “symbol” in traditional poetics means “multi-valued allegory,” that is, a poetic image expressing the essence of a phenomenon; in the poetry of symbolism, he conveys the individual, often momentary ideas of the poet.

The poetics of symbolism is characterized by:

• transmission of the subtlest movements of the soul;
• maximum use of sound and rhythmic means of poetry;
• exquisite imagery, musicality and lightness of style;
• poetics of allusion and allegory;
• symbolic content of everyday words;
• attitude to the word as a cipher of some spiritual secret writing;
• understatement, concealment of meaning;
• the desire to create a picture of an ideal world;
• aestheticization of death as an existential principle;
• elitism, orientation towards the reader-co-author, creator

Symbolism was a heterogeneous, motley and quite contradictory phenomenon. He united in his ranks poets who sometimes held very different views. In literary criticism, it is customary to distinguish between “senior” and “junior” symbolists.

	"Senior Symbolists"		"Young Symbolists"
	St. Petersburg group	Moscow group
Representatives	D. Merezhkovsky Z. Gippius F. Sologub I. Annensky	V. Bryusov K. Balmont	A. Blok A. Bely V. Ivanov Ellis
Theorists	D. Merezhkovsky	V. Bryusov	V. Soloviev
Articles	D. Merezhkovsky “On the causes of decline and new trends in modern Russian literature»	V. Bryusov “Keys of Secrets”; K. Balmont “Elementary words about symbolic poetry”	A. Bely “On religious experiences”
Magazines	"Northern Herald"	"Libra" "Apollo"

The division into “senior” and “junior” symbolists occurred not so much due to age, but because of the difference in worldview and direction of creativity.

The “Senior Symbolists” did not set out to create a system of symbols; they are more shocking decadents, impressionists who sought to convey the subtlest shades of moods and movements of the soul. Gradually, the word as a carrier of meaning for the symbolists lost its value. It acquired value only as a sound, a musical note, as a link in the overall melodic structure of the poem.

The “Young Symbolists” relied on the teachings of the idealist philosopher and poet Vl. Solovyov, who deepened Plato’s idea of ​​“two worlds.” Soloviev prophesied the end of the world, when humanity, mired in sins, would be saved and revived to a new life by a certain divine principle - the “World Soul” (aka “Eternal Femininity”), which would lead to the creation of the “Kingdom of God on earth.”

• One of the founders of Russian symbolismwas Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky

D.S. Merezhkovsky was one of the founders of Russian symbolism. His poetry collection “Symbols”, published in 1892 in St. Petersburg, gave its name to the emerging direction of Russian poetry. But, developing the main symbolist motifs of the hopeless loneliness of man in the world, the fatal duality of personality and preaching beauty that “saves the world,” Merezhkovsky was unable to overcome rationality and declarativeness in his poems. He did not accept the revolution; since 1920 he lived in exile.

I consider the poem to be the most striking poem reflecting the poet’s worldview"It won't happen."

• One of the representatives of the Moscow group of senior symbolists wasKonstantin Dmitrievich Balmont

At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, K.D. Balmont was perhaps the most famous among Russian poets. In his early poems one can hear the motifs of civil sorrow and self-denial, which arose under the influence of folk poetry. Following this, he acted as one of the early representatives of symbolism. In addition, Balmont is known as a prominent translator and a passionate traveler: he visited all continents.

In 1920, haunted by hunger and disease, the poet left for France. Forgotten by everyone and half-mad, he died on the outskirts of Paris.

"Bell Ringing"

• And, of course, a conversation about symbolism would be incompletewithout Alexander Alexandrovich Blok.

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok is the only Symbolist recognized during his lifetime as a poet of national importance. In Russian poetry, he took his place as a bright representative of symbolism, but later he significantly stepped over the boundaries and canons of this literary movement, significantly expanding it, but without destroying it.

The romanticism of the mature Blok no longer has anything in common with the subjectivism of his youthful lyrics, clearly indicated both in “Poems about a Beautiful Lady” and in the later demonic image of the Stranger.

Blok's contribution to Russian poetry is unusually great. His work brought to an end all the most important trends in Russian lyricism of the pre-October period.

“I have a feeling about you...”

Page 3

Acmeism

Presenter. Next in our book follows an article about a movement that was formed as a reaction to the extremes of symbolism - Acmeism.Acmeism (from the Greek Acme - the highest degree of something, flourishing, maturity, peak, edge) is one of the modernist movements in Russian poetry of the 1910s, formed as a reaction to the extremes of symbolism.

Basic principles of Acmeism:

**liberation of poetry from symbolist appeals to the ideal, returning it to clarity;

**refusal of mystical nebula, acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity, visible concreteness, sonority, colorfulness;

**the desire to give a word a specific, precise meaning;

objectivity and clarity of images, precision of details;

**appeal to a person, to the “authenticity” of his feelings;

echoes of past literary eras, broad aesthetic associations, “longing for world culture.”

• One of the founders of Acmeism wasNikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov

N.S. Gumilyov is a poet, prose writer, playwright, critic, one of the founders of Acmeism, and head of the “Workshop of Poets.” His poetry is characterized by a craving for the exotic, poeticization of history, a passion for bright colors, and a desire for compositional clarity.

In his youth, Gumilev traveled a lot. Anna Akhmatova's husband volunteered to go to the front in 1914; awarded two St. George's crosses. In 1921, he was arrested on false charges and executed as a participant in a counter-revolutionary conspiracy."On my way"

• Along with men, a woman’s voice has been heard in the poetry of Russian modernism. Anna Andreevna Akhmatova, who started her creative path within the framework of Acmeism, she became a truly great national poet.

The lyrics of A.A. Akhmatova entered Russian poetry with a fresh stream of sincere feeling. Clarity of language, balance of poetic tone, simple but extremely expressive images fill her lyrical poems with great psychological content. The poetess’s style seemed to have fused the traditions of the classics and the latest experience of Russian poetry, and the feeling of the era, empathy for its events, and the search for her place in them made Akhmatova a truly great national poet.

“Clenched her hands under a dark veil”

• The next page of our book is dedicated toOsip Emilievich Mandelstam.

O.E. Mandelstam - poet, prose writer, essayist; joined Acmeism from the first steps of this literary movement. His poetry is characterized by philosophical depth. keen interest in history. Mandelstam is a brilliant master of the poetic word. His poems are extremely brief, rich in historical and literary associations, musically expressive and rhythmically varied.

After the revolution, the poet was gradually forced out of print. In 1934 he was arrested and sent into exile. In 1938, he was arrested a second time and died in a camp near Vladivostok.

"For the explosive valor of the coming centuries"

Presenter. Any modernist movement in art asserted itself by rejecting old norms, canons, and traditions. However, futurism was extremely extremist in this regard.

Page 4

Futurism.

Futurism (from Latin Futurum - future) is the general name of the artistic avant-garde movements of the 1910s - early 1920s of the 20th century, primarily in Italy and Russia.

The main features of futurism:

• rebellion, anarchic worldview, expression of mass sentiments of the crowd;
• denial of cultural traditions, an attempt to create art aimed at the future;
• rebellion against the usual norms of poetic speech, experimentation in the field of rhythm, rhyme, focus on the spoken verse, slogan, poster;
• searches for a liberated “authentic” word, experiments in creating an “abstruse” language;
• cult of technology, industrial cities;
• shocking pathos.

	Cubofuturism "Gilea"	Egofuturism	"Mezzanine of Poetry"	"Centrifuge"
Representatives	David Burliuk, Vasily Kamensky, Velimir Khlebnikov, Alexey Kruchenykh, Vladimir Mayakovsky	Igor Severyanin, Vasilisk Gnedov, Ivan Ignatiev	Rurik Ivnev, Sergei Tretyakov, Konstantin Bolshakov	Nikolay Aseev, Boris Pasternak, Semyon Kirsanov
Articles	"A slap in the face to public taste"	"Tablets of Egopoetry"		S. Bobrov "Russian purism"
Magazines	Poetry collection “Tank of Judges”		Almanacs “Vernissage”, “Feast during the Plague”, “Crematorium of Sanity”	Collection "Rukogon"

• "Gilea" is the first futuristic group. They also called themselves “Cubo-Futurists” or “Budetlyans” (this name was suggested by Khlebnikov). The year of its foundation is considered to be 1908, although the main composition was formed in 1909-1910. David Burliuk, Vasily Kamensky, Velimir Khlebnikov, Alexei Kruchenykh, Vladimir Mayakovsky became representatives of the most radical flank of Russian literary futurism, which was distinguished by revolutionary rebellion, oppositional sentiment against bourgeois society, its morality, aesthetic tastes, and the entire system of social relations.

Vladimir Mayakovsky

V.V. Mayakovsky is one of the leaders of Cubo-Futurism and Russian avant-garde art. In Russian poetry of the 20th century he plays an exceptional role. The poet invaded the traditional system of versification, greatly transforming it. Mayakovsky's verse was based not on the music of rhythm, but on semantic stress, on intonation. The number of syllables in a line has lost its decisive importance in his poems, the role of rhyme has increased and qualitatively changed, and the colloquial nature of the verse has sharply manifested itself. This was a fundamentally new step in the development of Russian poetry.

The revolution largely changed Mayakovsky's views on the social role of art. In the late period of his creativity, he moved away from futurism. The poet's fate was tragic: unfortunate circumstances in the struggle of literary groups and in his personal life led him to suicide.

"Listen"

• Unlike Cubo-Futurism, which grew out of a creative community of like-minded people, Ego-Futurism was an individual invention of the poet Igor Severyanin. He did not have a specific creative program, and the slogans of his egofuturism were:

1. soul is the only truth;

2. self-affirmation of personality;

3. searching for the new without rejecting the old;

4. meaningful neologisms;

5. bold images, epithets, assonances and dissonances;

6. fight against stereotypes and screensavers.

As you can see, this “program” does not contain any theoretical innovations. In it, Severyanin actually proclaims himself the one and only poetic personality.

Northerner remained the only ego-futurist to go down in the history of Russian poetry. His poems were distinguished by their melodiousness, sonority and lightness. He was a master of words. His rhymes were unusually fresh, bold, and surprisingly harmonious.

Igor Severyanin

Igor Severyanin is the pseudonym of Igor Vasilyevich Lotarev. Already his first books secured Severyanin’s reputation as an exclusively salon poet. Many of his poems were characterized by mannerism; excessive predilection for neologisms and foreign vocabulary brought the poet to the brink of bad taste. At the same time, Severyanin owns a number of works that are characterized by colorfulness, expressiveness and melody of poetic speech, complex rhyming, and the presence of original poetic forms.

In the summer of 1918, the poet was in Estonia and after the creation of a bourgeois republic there, he found himself in exile. In his later poems the drama of separation from his homeland is clearly felt. "When at night"

• In the “Mezzanine of Poets” there were no major figures comparable to Mayakovsky or Khlebnikov, so it was quite difficult for its participants to develop some kind of independent theoretical basis for their group. This movement was not built on a common ideological platform, but rather on the business and publishing interests of its participants. The association collapsed at the end of 1913.
• The Moscow futuristic group "Centrifuge" was formed in January 1914. The main feature in the theory and artistic practice of the participants in “Centrifuge” was that when constructing a lyrical work, the center of attention moved from the word as such to intonation-rhythmic and syntactic structures. Their work organically combined futuristic experimentation and reliance on tradition, the desire to connect their activities with artistic creativity previous generations.

Boris Pasternak

One of the most prominent representatives of Centrifuge is B.L. Pasternak. The origins of Pasternak's poetic style lie in the modernist literature of the 20th century, in the aesthetics of impressionism.

His early poems are complex in form and densely saturated with metaphors. But already in them one can feel the freshness of perception, sincerity and depth. Over the years, Pasternak frees himself from the excessive subjectivity of images and associations. Remaining philosophically deep and intense, his verse acquires increasing transparency and classical clarity.

"February"

“The Candle Was Burning” (romance)

Presenter. The last sensational school in Russian poetry of the 20th century was imagism.

Page 5

Imagism

Imagism (from French and English Image - image) is a literary and artistic movement that arose in Russia in the first post-revolutionary years on the basis of the literary practice of futurism.

The main features of imagism:

• the primacy of the “image as such”; image is the most general category that replaces the evaluative concept of artistry;
• poetic creativity is the process of language development through metaphor;
• an epithet is the sum of metaphors, comparisons and contrasts of any subject;
• poetic content is the evolution of the image and epithet as the most primitive image;
• a text that has a certain coherent content cannot be classified as poetry, since it rather performs an ideological function; the poem should be a “catalogue of images”, read the same way from beginning to end.

Imagism was the last sensational school in Russian poetry of the 20th century. One of the organizers and recognized ideological leader of the group was V. Shershenevich, who began as a futurist, hence the dependence of Shershenevich’s poetic and theoretical experiments on the ideas of F. Marinetti and the creative quests of other futurists - V. Mayakovsky, V. Khlebnikov. The Imagists imitated the futuristic shocking behavior of the public, but their no longer new “audiences” were theatrically naive, if not downright derivative, in nature.

• Poetic creativity largely influenced the development of the movement Sergei Yesenin , which was part of the backbone of the association.

S.A. Yesenin considered “lyrical feeling” and “imagery” to be the main things in his work. He saw the source of imaginative thinking in folklore and popular language. All of Yesenin’s metaphors are built on the relationship between man and nature. His best poems vividly captured the spiritual beauty of the Russian people. The most subtle lyricist, a wizard of the Russian landscape, Yesenin was surprisingly sensitive to earthly colors, sounds and smells.

After the revolution, new “robbery and riotous” features appeared in Yesenin’s touching and tender lyrics, bringing him closer to the Imagists.

The poet's fate was tragic. In a state of depression, he committed suicide.

“Now we are leaving little by little...”

Teacher: We have closed the last page of the book, but the conversation about the poetry of modernism is not over. We have already said that the peculiarity of this period is that poets lived and worked in it, often diametrically opposed in their artistic preferences and creative quests. Sometimes they started a furious debate, offering different ways of comprehending existence. Gathering in cafes with colorful names “Stray Dog”, “Pink Lantern”, “Stable of Pegasus”, representatives of different movements attacked each other with criticism, proving the validity of only their direction, their chosenness in the creation of new art. I suggest you organize such a discussion.

Discussion.

Acmeists:

I agree that the generation of symbolists consisted of brilliantly educated people who felt free in the ocean of world culture and sought to revive cultural heritage own country, however, the requirement of mandatory mysticism and disclosure of secrets led to the loss of the authenticity of poetry. And the fascination with the musical basis of the verse led to the creation of poetry devoid of any logical meaning.

Symbolists:

- We believe that the poetics of associations, hints that require decoding, perception and comprehension of artistic detail gives impetus to the work of the reader’s imagination. And the maximum use of sound and rhythmic means of poetry, musicality and lightness of style help to write about the most ordinary or even tragic things with exquisite imagery.

An example of this is Blok’s poem"The girl sang in the church choir"written in August 1905, when the Russo-Japanese War was ending. The singing of the girl and the choir is a prayer for those who are torn from their native home, for those abandoned to a foreign land. And contrary to prayer and spiritual unity - a sad, unexpected, tragic result, given in an allusion to the tragic outcome of the war for Russia in the summer of 1905:“participated in secrets”, i.e. knowing in advance, prophetic; “high, at the royal gates... a child was crying” - the Savior-child in the arms of the Mother of God.Yes, sometimes it is difficult to “decipher” the symbols of a poem, but how beautiful it sounds!

You won’t understand anything from the futurists at all! Continuous “holes and holes...”!

Futurists:

It’s not true, I will read only one stanza from Mayakovsky, and you will see how talented he was:

I want to be understood by my country,

But I won’t be understood, well

I will pass through my native country,

How slanting rain passes.

But I believe that Yesenin’s poetry is not intellectual, there are no philosophical reflections in his poems: neither the philosophy of love, nor the philosophy of nature!

Imagists:

- But there is the very feeling of love, deep, sincere! The very breath of nature. He tells us about ourselves, about our simple, natural feelings, and therefore he is one of the popularly beloved poets even now, more than half a century later.

Excerpt “They Sing Yesenin”

(the song “Above the Window is a Moon”)

To end this debate, let's listen to Marina Kuznetsova. She spent a little research work: compared the work of the symbolist Blok and the imagist Yesenin. What conclusions did she come to?

Research by Kuznetsova M.

Conclusions, summing up.

The famous literary critic M.L. Gasparov in his work “Poetics of the “Silver Age”” rightly notes that “modernism in no way exhausts Russian poetry of the early 20th century. The poems of the modernists quantitatively constituted an insignificantly small part, an exotic corner of our literature at that time.” Nevertheless, when it comes to the phenomenon called “Poetry of the Silver Age,” we mean primarily the poetry of Russian modernism, consisting mainly of the largest poetic movements - symbolism, acmeism, futurism, and imagism.

Despite significant external and internal contradictions, each of them gave the world many great names and excellent poems that will forever remain in the treasury of Russian poetry and will find their admirers among subsequent generations.

Final word.

The Silver Age was short. Brief and dazzling. The biographies of almost all the creators of this poetic miracle were tragic. The time allotted to them by fate turned out to be fatal. But, as you know, “you don’t choose times - you live and die in them.” The poets of the Silver Age had to drink to the bottom the cup of suffering: the chaos and lawlessness of the revolutionary years and civil war destroyed the spiritual basis of their existence.

Soon after the revolution, Blok, Khlebnikov, and Bryusov passed away.

Many emigrated, unable to endure life in an inhospitable homeland, which suddenly became their stepmother: Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Bunin, Vyach. Ivanov, Balmont, Adamovich, Burliuk, Khodasevich, Sasha Cherny, Severyanin, Tsvetaeva and many others. Most of them lived the rest of their lives abroad, dreaming of returning to Russia.

Although, probably, this would have been an event no less sad for them, which is confirmed by the fate of Tsvetaeva, who committed suicide after returning to her homeland. Besides her, Yesenin and Mayakovsky committed suicide.

Those who remained in Russia were destroyed by the totalitarian regime: Gumilev was shot on false charges; disappeared in the Stalinist camps of Klyuev, Mandelstam, Narbut, Livshits, Klychkov, Vvedensky, Kharms.

Those who survived this meat grinder were doomed to silence. And the poets who decided to collaborate with new government, an unenviable literary fate also awaited: for Mayakovsky, Kamensky, Gorodetsky, it turned into a loss of talent and a loss of creative individuality.

Some deliberately sentenced themselves to silence, leaving poetry for other areas of literature, taking up journalism, prose, drama, and translations. Many of the names were forgotten for many years. But “nothing on earth passes without a trace.” A cultural phenomenon called the “Silver Age” has returned to us in the poems of its creators, in order to once again remind us that only beauty can save the world.

The song "Nostalgia" is playing

performed by I. Talkov

Home > Literature

Federal agency of Education

State educational institution

higher vocational education

"Vladimirsky State University»

Department national history

Karas S. I.

Art. gr. Rzh-109

"Silver Age" of Russian poetry (endXIX- StartXXcentury)

Supervisor:

Associate Professor Burlakov A.I.

Vladimir 2009

Introduction: Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries 3 “Silver Age” of Russian poetry (late 19th – early 20th centuries) 5

Symbolism. Definition, history, symbolist poets 5 Acmeism. Definition, history, main features of the movement 7 Futurism and its directions 13

Cubofuturism 15 Egofuturism 18 Imagism 23

Other poetic movements. Satiristic and peasant poetry, constructivism, poets who were not part of generally recognized schools 26

Constructivism 26 Satire 27 Peasant poets 28 Poets outside the currents 29

Connection of the Vladimir region with the poets of the “Silver Age” 29

Conclusion: “Silver Age” as a child of the century, blurring of the boundaries of this phenomenon 30

Literature 32

I. Introduction: Russia at the BrinkXIXAndXXcenturies

In 1894, Emperor Nicholas II ascended the throne, who declared his intention to follow the conservative course of his father (Alexander III) and called on the public to abandon “meaningless dreams” about expanding the rights of local governments and introducing any forms of popular representation. Bright historical event This period was the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), which began in January 1904 with a sudden attack by the Japanese fleet on the ships of the Pacific squadron stationed in the Port Arthur roadstead. Decisive fighting unfolded on the territory of Manchuria, where the Japanese army successively inflicted defeats on the Russian army in August 1904 in the battle of Liaoyang, and in September on the Shahe River. On December 20, 1904 (January 2, 1905), Port Arthur, besieged by Japanese troops, fell. In February 1905, the Russian army suffered a heavy defeat at Mukden; in May, the Japanese fleet almost completely destroyed the 2nd Pacific Squadron in the naval battle of Tsushima. In August 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, under the terms of which Russia transferred the southern part of Sakhalin Island to Japan, withdrew troops from Manchuria, ceded the rights to lease the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, and recognized Korea as Japan's sphere of influence. Beginning of the 20th century was marked by the rise of a mass workers' and peasants' movement. A strike at the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg in May 1901 resulted in clashes with the police. In 1902, a mass May Day demonstration took place in Sormovo (a suburb of Nizhny Novgorod). During a strike at the Zlatoust arms factory on March 13, 1903, troops opened fire on the workers (69 people were killed, 250 were injured). That same year, a general strike swept through industrial enterprises in southern Russia. An attempt by the head of the Moscow security department S.V. Zubatov to create in the early 1900s. legal workers' organizations, operating under the control of the authorities, did not meet with support in the highest spheres of government and failed. In the spring of 1902, mass uprisings of peasants took place in the Poltava and Kharkov provinces, suppressed by troops. In the summer and autumn of 1902, peasant unrest engulfed a number of counties in Kursk, Volyn, Chernigov, Voronezh, Kherson, Saratov, Simbirsk, Ryazan provinces and the Kuban region. The growth of the peasant movement contributed to the revival of faith among the radical intelligentsia in the revolutionary potential of the Russian peasantry. In 1901-02, various neo-populist circles and organizations united into the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), its Combat Organization carried out a number of terrorist acts against senior officials (the assassination of Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. by E. S. Sozonov on July 15, 1904 had the greatest public resonance). Plehve). The student movement intensified sharply: in 1900-10) unrest swept through almost all universities and some other higher education institutions. educational establishments. Many students were arrested and turned into soldiers. In response to these actions of the authorities, on February 14, 1901, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party P. V. Karpovich mortally wounded the Minister of Public Education N. P. Bogolepov. On March 4, 1901, the police brutally dealt with the participants in the demonstration of students and female students on the square of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The zemstvo movement expanded, whose participants sought to expand the rights of zemstvos. The liberal movement was headed by the “Union of Liberation” created in 1903, and in the same year the “Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists” took shape. During the “banquet campaign” organized by the Liberation Union in 1904, at meetings of representatives of the liberal intelligentsia, demands for the introduction of representative government in Russia were openly put forward. The aggravation of socio-political contradictions in Russia was aggravated by the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. By the end of 1904 the country was on the verge of revolution. II. "Silver Age" of Russian poetry (endXIX- StartXXcentury)

Symbolism. Definition, history, symbolist poets.

Symbolism is the first and most significant of the modernist movements in Russia. Based on the time of formation and the characteristics of the ideological position in Russian symbolism, it is customary to distinguish two main stages. Poets who made their debut in the 1890s are called “senior symbolists” (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, F. Sologub, etc.). In the 1900s, new forces joined symbolism, significantly updating the appearance of the movement (A. Blok, A. Bely, V. Ivanov, etc.). The accepted designation for the “second wave” of symbolism is “young symbolism.” The “senior” and “younger” symbolists were separated not so much by age as by the difference in worldviews and the direction of creativity.

The philosophy and aesthetics of symbolism developed under the influence of various teachings - from the views of the ancient philosopher Plato to the philosophical systems of V. Solovyov, F. Nietzsche, A. Bergson, contemporary to the symbolists. The symbolists contrasted the traditional idea of ​​understanding the world in art with the idea of ​​constructing the world in the process of creativity. Creativity in the understanding of the symbolists is a subconscious-intuitive contemplation of secret meanings, accessible only to the artist-creator. Moreover, it is impossible to rationally convey the contemplated “secrets”. According to the largest theoretician among the Symbolists, Vyach. Ivanov, poetry is “the secret writing of the ineffable.” The artist is required not only to have super-rational sensitivity, but also to have the subtlest mastery of the art of allusion: the value of poetic speech lies in “understatement,” “hiddenness of meaning.” The main means of conveying the contemplated secret meanings was the symbol.

“The category of music is the second most important (after symbol) in the aesthetics and poetic practice of the new movement. This concept was used by symbolists in two different aspects - general ideological and technical. In the first, general philosophical meaning, music for them is not a sound rhythmically organized sequence, but a universal metaphysical energy, the fundamental basis of all creativity. In the second, technical meaning, music is significant for symbolists as the verbal texture of a verse permeated with sound and rhythmic combinations, that is, as the maximum use of musical compositional principles in poetry. Symbolist poems are sometimes constructed as a bewitching stream of verbal and musical harmonies and echoes.”

Symbolism enriched Russian poetic culture with many discoveries. The symbolists gave the poetic word a previously unknown mobility and ambiguity, and taught Russian poetry to discover additional shades and facets of meaning in the word. Their searches in the field of poetic phonetics turned out to be fruitful: K. Balmont, V. Bryusov, I. Annensky, A. Blok, A. Bely were masters of expressive assonance and effective alliteration. The rhythmic possibilities of Russian verse have expanded, and the stanzas have become more diverse. However main merit This literary movement is not associated with formal innovations.

Symbolism tried to create a new philosophy of culture and, after going through a painful period of revaluation of values, sought to develop a new universal worldview. Having overcome the extremes of individualism and subjectivism, the symbolists at the dawn of the new century raised the question of public role artists, began to move towards the creation of such forms of art, the experience of which could unite people again. Despite the external manifestations of elitism and formalism, symbolism managed in practice to fill the work with the artistic form with new content and, most importantly, to make art more personal, personalistic.

Symbolist poets: Annensky Innokenty, Balmont Konstantin, Baltrushaitis Jurgis, Bely Andrey, Blok Alexander, Bryusov Valery, Gippius Zinaida, Dobrolyubov Alexander, Sorgenfrey Wilhelm, Ivanov Vyacheslav, Konevskoy Ivan, Merezhkovsky Dmitry, Piast Vladimir, Rukavishnikov Ivan, Sologub Fedor, Solovyova Polixena, Viktor Strazhev, Alexander Tinyakov, Konstantin Fofanov, Georgy Chulkov.

Acmeism. Definition, history, main features of the current

Acmeism (from the Greek akme - the highest degree of something, blossoming, maturity, peak, edge) is one of the modernist movements in Russian poetry of the 1910s, formed as a reaction to the extremes of symbolism. Overcoming the Symbolists’ predilection for the “superreal,” polysemy and fluidity of images, and complicated metaphors, the Acmeists strove for sensual plastic-material clarity of the image and accuracy, precision of the poetic word. Their “earthly” poetry is prone to intimacy, aestheticism and poeticization of the feelings of primordial man. Acmeism was characterized by extreme apoliticality, complete indifference to the pressing problems of our time. The Acmeists, who replaced the Symbolists, did not have a detailed philosophical and aesthetic program. But if in the poetry of symbolism the determining factor was transience, the immediacy of being, a certain mystery covered with an aura of mysticism, then a realistic view of things was set as the cornerstone in the poetry of Acmeism. The vague instability and vagueness of symbols was replaced by precise verbal images. The word, according to Acmeists, should have acquired its original meaning. The highest point in the hierarchy of values ​​for them was culture, identical to universal human memory. That is why Acmeists often turn to mythological subjects and images. If the Symbolists focused their work on music, then the Acmeists focused on the spatial arts: architecture, sculpture, painting. The attraction to the three-dimensional world was expressed in the Acmeists' passion for objectivity: a colorful, sometimes exotic detail could be used for purely pictorial purposes. That is, the “overcoming” of symbolism occurred not so much in the sphere of general ideas, but in the field of poetic stylistics. In this sense, Acmeism was as conceptual as symbolism, and in this respect they are undoubtedly in continuity. " Distinctive feature The Acmeist circle of poets was their “organizational cohesion.” Essentially, the Acmeists were not so much an organized movement with a common theoretical platform, but rather a group of talented and very different poets who were united by personal friendship.” The Symbolists had nothing of the kind: Bryusov’s attempts to reunite his brothers were in vain. The same thing was observed among the futurists - despite the abundance of collective manifestos that they released. The Acmeists, or - as they were also called - "Hyperboreans" (after the name of the printed mouthpiece of Acmeism, the magazine and publishing house "Hyperboreas"), immediately acted as a single group. They gave their union the significant name “Workshop of Poets.” And the beginning of a new movement (which later became almost a “mandatory condition” for the emergence of new poetic groups in Russia) was marked by a scandal. In the fall of 1911, a “riot” broke out in the poetry salon of Vyacheslav Ivanov, the famous “Tower”, where the poetry society gathered and poetry was read and discussed. Several talented young poets defiantly left next meeting“Academies of Verse”, outraged by derogatory criticism of the “masters” of symbolism. Nadezhda Mandelstam describes this incident as follows: “Gumilyov’s “Prodigal Son” was read at the “Academy of Verse,” where Vyacheslav Ivanov reigned, surrounded by respectful students. He subjected the “Prodigal Son” to real destruction. The speech was so rude and harsh that Gumilyov’s friends left the “Academy” and organized the “Workshop of Poets” - in opposition to it.” And a year later, in the fall of 1912, the six main members of the “Workshop” decided not only formally, but also ideologically to separate from the Symbolists. They organized a new commonwealth, calling themselves “Acmeists,” i.e., the pinnacle. At the same time, the “Workshop of Poets” as organizational structure preserved - the Acmeists remained in it as an internal poetic association. The main ideas of Acmeism were set out in the programmatic articles by N. Gumilyov “The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism” and S. Gorodetsky “Some Currents in Modern Russian Poetry”, published in the magazine “Apollo” (1913, No. 1), published under the editorship of S. Makovsky. The first of them said: “Symbolism is being replaced by a new direction, no matter what it is called, whether Acmeism (from the word akme - the highest degree of something, a blooming time) or Adamism (a courageously firm and clear view of life), in any case, requiring a greater balance of power and a more accurate knowledge of the relationship between subject and object than was the case in symbolism. However, in order for this movement to establish itself in its entirety and become a worthy successor to the previous one, it is necessary that it accept its inheritance and answer all the questions it poses. The glory of the ancestors obliges, and symbolism was a worthy father.” S. Gorodetsky believed that “symbolism... having filled the world with “correspondences”, turned it into a phantom, important only insofar as it... shines through with other worlds, and belittled its high intrinsic value. Among the Acmeists, the rose again became good in itself, with its petals, scent and color, and not with its conceivable likenesses with mystical love or anything else.” In 1913, Mandelstam’s article “The Morning of Acmeism” was also written, which was published only six years later. The delay in publication was not accidental: Mandelstam’s acmeistic views significantly diverged from the declarations of Gumilyov and Gorodetsky and did not make it onto the pages of Apollo. However, as T. Skryabina notes, “the idea of ​​a new direction was first expressed on the pages of Apollo much earlier: in 1910, M. Kuzmin appeared in the magazine with an article “On Beautiful Clarity,” which anticipated the appearance of declarations of Acmeism. By the time this article was written, Kuzmin was already a mature man and had experience of collaborating in symbolist periodicals. Kuzmin contrasted the otherworldly and foggy revelations of the Symbolists, the “incomprehensible and dark in art,” with “beautiful clarity,” “clarism” (from the Greek clarus - clarity). An artist, according to Kuzmin, must bring clarity to the world, not obscure, but clarify the meaning of things, seek harmony with the environment. The philosophical and religious quest of the Symbolists did not captivate Kuzmin: the artist’s job is to focus on the aesthetic side of creativity, artistic skill . “The symbol, dark in its deepest depths,” gives way to clear structures and admiration of “lovely little things.” Kuzmin’s ideas could not help but influence the Acmeists: “beautiful clarity” turned out to be in demand by the majority of participants in the “Workshop of Poets.” Another “harbinger” of Acmeism can be considered Innokenty Annensky, who, formally being a symbolist, actually paid tribute to it only in the early period of his work. Subsequently, Annensky took a different path: the ideas of late symbolism had practically no impact on his poetry. But the simplicity and clarity of his poems were well understood by the Acmeists. Three years after the publication of Kuzmin’s article in Apollo, the manifestos of Gumilyov and Gorodetsky appeared - from this moment it is customary to count the existence of Acmeism as an established literary movement. Acmeism has six of the most active participants in the movement: N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, S. Gorodetsky, M. Zenkevich, V. Narbut. G. Ivanov claimed the role of the “seventh Acmeist,” but such a point of view was protested by A. Akhmatova, who stated that “there were six Acmeists, and there never was a seventh.” O. Mandelstam agreed with her, who, however, believed that six was too much: “There are only six Acmeists, and among them there was one extra...” Mandelstam explained that Gorodetsky was “attracted” by Gumilyov, not daring to oppose the then powerful Symbolists with only "yellow mouths". “Gorodetsky was [by that time] a famous poet...” At different times, the following took part in the work of the “Workshop of Poets”: G. Adamovich, N. Bruni, Nas. Gippius, Vl. Gippius, G. Ivanov, N. Klyuev, M. Kuzmin, E. Kuzmina-Karavaeva, M. Lozinsky, V. Khlebnikov, etc. At the meetings of the “Workshop,” unlike the meetings of the Symbolists, specific issues were resolved: the “Workshop” was a school for mastering poetic skills, a professional association. Acmeism as a literary movement united exceptionally gifted poets - Gumilyov, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, the formation of whose creative individualities took place in the atmosphere of the “Workshop of Poets”. The history of Acmeism can be considered as a kind of dialogue between these three outstanding representatives. At the same time, the Adamism of Gorodetsky, Zenkevich and Narbut, who formed the naturalistic wing of the movement, differed significantly from the “pure” Acmeism of the above-mentioned poets. The difference between the Adamists and the triad Gumilyov - Akhmatova - Mandelstam has been repeatedly noted in criticism. As a literary movement, Acmeism did not last long - about two years. In February 1914, it split. The "Poets' Workshop" was closed. The Acmeists managed to publish ten issues of their magazine “Hyperborea” (editor M. Lozinsky), as well as several almanacs. “Symbolism was fading away” - Gumilyov was not mistaken in this, but he failed to form a movement as powerful as Russian symbolism. Acmeism failed to gain a foothold as the leading poetic movement. The reason for its rapid decline is said to be, among other things, “the ideological unadaptability of the movement to the conditions of a radically changed reality.” V. Bryusov noted that “the Acmeists are characterized by a gap between practice and theory,” and “their practice was purely symbolist.” It was in this that he saw the crisis of Acmeism. However, Bryusov’s statements about Acmeism were always harsh; at first he stated that “... Acmeism is an invention, a whim, a metropolitan quirk” and foreshadowed: “... most likely, in a year or two there will be no Acmeism left. His very name will disappear,” and in 1922, in one of his articles, he generally denies it the right to be called a direction, a school, believing that there is nothing serious and original in Acmeism and that it is “outside the mainstream of literature.” However, attempts to resume the activities of the association were subsequently made more than once. The second “Workshop of Poets,” founded in the summer of 1916, was headed by G. Ivanov together with G. Adamovich. But it didn’t last long either. In 1920, the third “Workshop of Poets” appeared, which was Gumilyov’s last attempt to organizationally preserve the Acmeist line. Poets who consider themselves to be part of the school of Acmeism united under his wing: S. Neldichen, N. Otsup, N. Chukovsky, I. Odoevtseva, N. Berberova, Vs. Rozhdestvensky, N. Oleinikov, L. Lipavsky, K. Vatinov, V. Posner and others. The third “Workshop of Poets” existed in Petrograd for about three years (in parallel with the “Sounding Shell” studio) - until the tragic death of N. Gumilyov. The creative destinies of poets, one way or another connected with Acmeism, developed differently: N. Klyuev subsequently declared his non-involvement in the activities of the commonwealth; G. Ivanov and G. Adamovich continued and developed many of the principles of Acmeism in emigration; Acmeism did not have any noticeable influence on V. Khlebnikov. IN Soviet time the poetic style of the Acmeists (mainly N. Gumilyov) was imitated by N. Tikhonov, E. Bagritsky, I. Selvinsky, M. Svetlov. In comparison with other poetic movements of the Russian Silver Age, Acmeism, in many ways, is seen as a marginal phenomenon. It has no analogues in other European literatures (which cannot be said, for example, about symbolism and futurism); the more surprising are the words of Blok, Gumilyov’s literary opponent, who declared that Acmeism was just an “imported foreign thing.” After all, it was Acmeism that turned out to be extremely fruitful for Russian literature. Akhmatova and Mandelstam managed to leave behind “eternal words.” Gumilyov appears in his poems as one of the brightest personalities of the cruel times of revolutions and world wars. And today, almost a century later, interest in Acmeism has remained mainly because the work of these outstanding poets, who had a significant influence on the fate of Russian poetry of the 20th century, is associated with it. Basic principles of Acmeism:

liberation of poetry from symbolist appeals to the ideal, returning it to clarity; rejection of mystical nebula, acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity, visible concreteness, sonority, colorfulness; the desire to give a word a certain, precise meaning; objectivity and clarity of images, precision of details; appeal to a person, to the “authenticity” of his feelings; poeticization of the world of primordial emotions, primitive biological natural principles; echoes of past literary eras, broad aesthetic associations, “longing for world culture.”

Futurism and its directions

Futurism (from Latin futurum - future) is the general name of the artistic avant-garde movements of the 1910s - early 1920s. XX century, primarily in Italy and Russia.

Unlike Acmeism, futurism as a movement in Russian poetry did not originate in Russia at all. This phenomenon was entirely brought from the West, where it originated and was theoretically justified. The birthplace of the new modernist movement was Italy, and the main ideologist of Italian and world futurism was the famous writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944), who spoke on February 20, 1909 on the pages of the Saturday issue of the Parisian newspaper Le Figaro with the first “Manifesto of Futurism”, which included its stated “anti-cultural, anti-aesthetic and anti-philosophical” orientation.

In principle, any modernist movement in art asserted itself by rejecting old norms, canons, and traditions. However, futurism was distinguished in this regard by its extremely extremist orientation. This movement claimed to build a new art - “the art of the future”, speaking under the slogan of a nihilistic negation of all previous artistic experience. Marinetti proclaimed the “world-historical task of Futurism,” which was to “spit every day on the altar of art.”

“Futurists preached the destruction of the forms and conventions of art in order to merge it with the accelerated life process of the 20th century. They are characterized by a reverence for action, movement, speed, strength and aggression; exaltation of oneself and contempt for the weak; the priority of force, the intoxication of war and destruction were asserted.” In this regard, futurism in its ideology was very close to both right-wing and left-wing radicals: anarchists, fascists, communists, focused on the revolutionary overthrow of the past.

The main features of futurism:

rebellion, anarchic worldview, expression of mass sentiments of the crowd; denial of cultural traditions, an attempt to create art aimed at the future; rebellion against the usual norms of poetic speech, experimentation in the field of rhythm, rhyme, focus on the spoken verse, slogan, poster; searches for a liberated “authentic” word, experiments in creating an “abstruse” language; cult of technology, industrial cities; shocking pathos.

Futurist poets: Sergei Bobrov, Vasily Kamensky, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Igor Severyanin, Sergei Tretyakov, Velimir Khlebnikov.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Russia lived in anticipation of grandiose changes. This was especially felt in poetry. After the work of Chekhov and Tolstoy, it was difficult to create within the framework of realism, since the heights of mastery had already been reached. That is why the rejection of the usual foundations and a vigorous search for something new began: new forms, new rhymes, new words. The era of modernism began.

In the history of Russian poetry, modernism is represented by three main movements: symbolists, acmeists and futurists.

Symbolists strove to depict ideals, saturating their lines with symbols and premonitions. The mixture of mysticism and reality is very characteristic; it is no coincidence that the work of M. Yu. Lermontov was taken as the basis. The Acmeists continued the traditions of Russian classical poetry of the 19th century, striving to depict the world in all its diversity. Futurists, on the contrary, rejected everything familiar, conducting bold experiments with the form of poems, with rhymes and stanzas.

After the revolution, proletarian poets came into fashion, whose favorite themes were the changes that were taking place in society. And the war gave birth to a whole galaxy of talented poets, including such names as A. Tvardovsky or K. Simonov.

The middle of the century was marked by the flourishing of bardic culture. The names of B. Okudzhava, V. Vysotsky, and Yu. Vizbor are forever inscribed in the history of Russian poetry. At the same time, the traditions of the Silver Age continue to develop. Some poets look up to the modernists - Eug. Yevtushenko, B. Akhmadullina, R. Rozhdestvensky, others inherit traditions landscape lyrics with a deep immersion in philosophy - these are N. Rubtsov, V. Smelyakov.

Poets of the "Silver Age" of Russian literature

K. D. Balmont. The work of this talented poet for a long time was consigned to oblivion. The country of socialism did not need writers who created outside the framework of socialist realism. At the same time, Balmont left a rich creative heritage that still awaits close study. Critics called him a “sunny genius”, since all his poems are full of life, love of freedom and sincerity.

Selected poems:

I. A. Bunin- the largest poet of the 20th century, working within the framework of realistic art. His work covers the most diverse aspects of Russian life: the poet writes about the Russian village and the grimaces of the bourgeoisie, about the nature of his native land and about love. Finding himself in exile, Bunin leans more and more towards philosophical poetry, raising global questions of the universe in his lyrics.

Selected poems:

A.A. Block- the largest poet of the 20th century, a prominent representative of such a movement as symbolism. A desperate reformer, he left as a legacy to future poets a new unit of poetic rhythm - the dolnik.

Selected poems:

S.A. Yesenin- one of the brightest and most original poets of the 20th century. The favorite theme of his lyrics was Russian nature, and the poet called himself “the last singer of the Russian village.” Nature became the measure of everything for the poet: love, life, faith, strength, any events - everything was passed through the prism of nature.

Selected poems:

V.V. Mayakovsky- a real lump of literature, a poet who left a huge creative legacy. Mayakovsky's lyrics had a huge influence on the poets of subsequent generations. His bold experiments with poetic line sizes, rhymes, tonality and forms became a standard for representatives of Russian modernism. His poems are recognizable, and his poetic vocabulary is replete with neologisms. He entered the history of Russian poetry as the creator of his own style.

Selected poems:

V.Ya. Bryusov- another representative of symbolism in Russian poetry. I worked a lot on the word, every line of it is precisely verified mathematical formula. He sang the revolution, but most of his poems are urban.

Selected poems:

N.A. Zabolotsky- a fan of the “cosmist” school, which welcomed nature transformed by human hands. Hence there is so much eccentricity, harshness and fantasticality in his lyrics. The assessment of his work has always been ambiguous. Some noted his loyalty to impressionism, others spoke of the poet’s alienation from the era. Be that as it may, the poet’s work still awaits detailed study by true lovers of fine literature.

Selected poems:

A.A. Akhmatova- one of the first representatives of truly “female” poetry. Her lyrics can easily be called “a manual for men about women.” The only Russian poet to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Selected poems:

M.I. Tsvetaeva- another adherent of the women's lyrical school. In many ways she continued the traditions of A. Akhmatova, but at the same time she always remained original and recognizable. Many of Tsvetaeva’s poems became famous songs.

Selected poems:

B. L. Pasternak- famous poet and translator, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. In his lyrics he raised current topics: socialism, war, the position of man in contemporary society. One of Pasternak’s main merits is that he revealed to the world the originality of Georgian poetry. His translations, sincere interest and love for the culture of Georgia are a huge contribution to the treasury of world culture.

Selected poems:

A.T. Tvardovsky. The ambiguous interpretation of this poet’s work is due to the fact that for a long time Tvardovsky was the “official face” of Soviet poetry. But his work breaks out of the rigid framework of “socialist realism”. The poet also creates a whole series of poems about the war. And his satire became the starting point for the development of satirical poetry.

Selected poems:

Since the beginning of the 90s, Russian poetry has been experiencing a new round of development. There is a change in ideals, society again begins to deny everything old. At the lyrical level, this resulted in the emergence of new literary movements: postmodernism, conceptualism and metarealism.

Silver age of Russian poetry.

silver Age- the heyday of Russian poetry at the beginning of the 20th century, characterized by the appearance of a large number of poets, poetic movements that preached a new aesthetic, different from the old ideals. The name “Silver Age” is given by analogy with the “Golden Age” (the first third of the 19th century). Philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev and writers Nikolai Otsup and Sergei Makovsky claimed the authorship of the term. The "Silver Age" lasted from 1890 to 1930.

The question of the chronological framework of this phenomenon remains controversial. If researchers are quite unanimous in defining the beginning of the “Silver Age” - this is a phenomenon at the turn of the 80s - 90s of the 19th century, then the end of this period is controversial. It can be attributed to both 1917 and 1921. Some researchers insist on the first option, believing that after 1917, with the outbreak of the Civil War, the “Silver Age” ceased to exist, although in the 1920s those who created this phenomenon with their creativity were still alive. Others believe that the Russian Silver Age was interrupted in the year of the death of Alexander Blok and the execution of Nikolai Gumilev or the suicide of Vladimir Mayakovsky, and the time frame for this period is about thirty years.

Symbolism.

The new literary movement - symbolism - was the product of a deep crisis that gripped European culture at the end of the 19th century. The crisis manifested itself in a negative assessment of progressive social ideas, in a revision of moral values, in a loss of faith in the power of the scientific subconscious, and in a passion for idealistic philosophy. Russian symbolism arose during the years of the collapse of Populism and the widespread spread of pessimistic sentiments. All this led to the fact that the literature of the “Silver Age” does not pose topical social issues, but global philosophical ones. The chronological framework of Russian symbolism is the 1890s - 1910. The development of symbolism in Russia was influenced by two literary traditions:

Domestic - poetry of Fet, Tyutchev, prose of Dostoevsky;

French symbolism - the poetry of Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire. The symbolism was not uniform. It distinguished schools and movements: “senior” and “junior” symbolists.

Senior Symbolists.

St. Petersburg symbolists: D.S. Merezhkovsky, Z.N. Gippius, F.K. Sologub, N.M. Minsky. At first, the work of the St. Petersburg symbolists was dominated by decadent moods and motives of disappointment. Therefore, their work is sometimes called decadent.

Moscow Symbolists: V.Ya. Bryusov, K.D. Balmont.

The “older” symbolists perceived symbolism in aesthetic terms. According to Bryusov and Balmont, a poet is, first of all, a creator of purely personal and purely artistic values.

Junior Symbolists.

A.A. Blok, A. Bely, V.I. Ivanov. The “younger” symbolists perceived symbolism in philosophical and religious terms. For the “younger”, symbolism is a philosophy refracted in poetic consciousness.

Acmeism.

Acmeism (Adamism) stood out from symbolism and opposed it. The Acmeists proclaimed materiality, objectivity of themes and images, precision of words (from the standpoint of “art for art’s sake”). Its formation is connected with the activities of the poetic group “Workshop of Poets”. The founders of Acmeism were Nikolai Gumilyov and Sergei Gorodetsky. Gumilyov’s wife Anna Akhmatova, as well as Osip Mandelstam, Mikhail Zenkevich, Georgy Ivanovi and others joined the flow.

Futurism.

Russian futurism.

Futurism was the first avant-garde movement in Russian literature. Assigning itself the role of a prototype of the art of the future, futurism as its main program put forward the idea of ​​​​destructing cultural stereotypes and instead offered an apology for technology and urbanism as the main signs of the present and the future. Members of the St. Petersburg group “Gileya” are considered the founders of Russian futurism. “Gilea” was the most influential, but not the only association of futurists: there were also ego-futurists led by Igor Severyanin (St. Petersburg), groups “Centrifuge” and “Mezzanine of Poetry” in Moscow, groups in Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, Baku.

Cubofuturism.

In Russia, the “Budetlyans,” members of the poetic group “Gilea,” called themselves Cubo-Futurists. They were characterized by a demonstrative rejection of the aesthetic ideals of the past, shocking behavior, and the active use of occasionalisms. Within the framework of Cubo-Futurism, “abstruse poetry” developed. Cubo-Futurist poets included Velimir Khlebnikov, Elena Guro, DavidiNikolai Burliuki, Vasily Kamensky, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Alexey Kruchenykh, Benedict Livshits.

Egofuturism.

In addition to general futuristic writing, egofuturism is characterized by the cultivation of refined sensations, the use of new foreign words, and ostentatious selfishness. Egofuturism was a short-term phenomenon. Most of the attention of critics and the public was transferred to Igor Severyanin, who quite early distanced himself from the collective politics of the ego-futurists, and after the revolution completely changed the style of his poetry. Most egofuturists either quickly outlived their style and moved on to other genres, or soon abandoned literature completely. In addition to Severyanin, Vadim Shershenevich, Rurik Ivnevich and others joined this trend at different times.

New Peasant Poetry.

The concept of “peasant poetry”, which has entered historical and literary usage, unites poets conventionally and reflects only some common features, inherent in their worldview and poetic manner. They did not form a single creative school with a single ideological and poetic program. As a genre, “peasant poetry” was formed in the middle of the 19th century. Its largest representatives were Alexey Vasilyevich Koltsov, Ivan Savvich Nikitin and Ivan Zakharovich Surikov. They wrote about the work and life of the peasant, about the dramatic and tragic conflicts of his life. Their work reflected both the joy of the merging of workers with the natural world, and the feeling of hostility to the life of a stuffy, noisy city alien to living nature. The most famous peasant poets of the Silver Age were: Spiridon Drozhzhin, Nikolai Klyuev, Pyotr Oreshin, Sergei Klychkov. Sergei Yesenin also joined this trend.

Imagism.

Imagists stated that the purpose of creativity is to create an image. The main expressive means of imagists is metaphor, often metaphorical chains that compare various elements of two images - direct and figurative. The creative practice of imagists is characterized by outrageous and anarchic motives. The style and general behavior of Imagism was influenced by Russian Futurism. The founders of imagism are Anatoly Mariengof, Vadim Shershenevich, Sergei Yesenin. Rurik Ivnevi and Nikolai Erdman also joined imagism.

Symbolism. "Young Symbolism".

Symbolism- a direction in literature and art first appeared in France in the last quarter of the 19th century and by the end of the century had spread to most European countries. But after France, it is in Russia that symbolism is realized as the most large-scale, significant and original phenomenon in culture. Many representatives of Russian symbolism bring new ones to this direction, often having nothing in common with their French predecessors. Symbolism becomes the first significant modernist movement in Russia; simultaneously with the birth of symbolism in Russia, the Silver Age of Russian literature begins; in this era, all new poetic schools and individual innovations in literature are, at least in part, under the influence of symbolism - even outwardly hostile movements (futurists, “Forge”, etc.) largely use symbolist material and begin with denials of symbolism. But in Russian symbolism there was no unity of concepts, there was no single school, no single style; even among the symbolism rich in originals in France you will not find such diversity and such similar friends for other examples. Apart from the search for new literary perspectives in form and theme, perhaps the only thing that united the Russian Symbolists was a distrust of ordinary words, a desire to express themselves through allegories and symbols. “A thought expressed is a lie” - a verse by the Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev, the predecessor of Russian symbolism.

Young Symbolists (second “generation” of Symbolists).

Younger Symbolists in Russia are mainly called writers who made their first publications in the 1900s. Among them were really very young authors, like Sergei Solovyov, A. Bely, A. Blok, Ellis, and very respectable people, like the director of the gymnasium. Annensky, scientist Vyacheslav Ivanov, musician and composer M. Kuzmin. In the first years of the century, representatives of the younger generation of symbolists created a romantically colored circle, where the skills of future classics matured, which became known as the “Argonauts” or Argonautism.

“I emphasize: in January 1901, a dangerous “mystical” firecracker was laid in us, which gave rise to so many rumors about the “Beautiful Lady”... The composition of the circle of Argonauts, students in those years, was extraordinary... Lev Lvovich Kobylinsky (“Ellis”), in the same years joined us and became the soul of the circle; he was literary and sociologically educated; an amazing improviser and mime... S. M. Solovyov, a sixth-grade high school student who surprises Bryusov, a young poet, philosopher, theologian...

...Ellis called it the circle of the Argonauts, coinciding it with an ancient myth telling about the journey on the ship "Argo" of a group of heroes to a mythical country: behind the Golden Fleece... the "Argonauts" did not have any organization; in the “Argonauts” walked the one who became close to us, often without suspecting that the “Argonaut”... Blok felt like an “Argonaut” during short life in Moscow…

...and yet the “Argonauts” left some mark on the artistic culture of Moscow in the first decade of the beginning of the century; they merged with the “symbolists”, considered themselves essentially “symbolists”, wrote in symbolic journals (me, Ellis, Solovyov), but differed, so to speak, in the “style” of their identification. There was nothing of literature in them; and there was nothing of external splendor in them; and meanwhile a number of the most interesting personalities, original not in appearance, but in essence, passed through Argonautism...” (Andrei Bely, “Beginning of the Century.” - pp. 20-123).

In St. Petersburg at the beginning of the century, the “tower” of Vyach is perhaps most suitable for the title of “center of symbolism”. Ivanova, is a famous apartment on the corner of Tavricheskaya Street, among the inhabitants of which at different times were Andrei Bely, M. Kuzmin, V. Khlebnikov, A. R. Mintslova, which was visited by A. Blok, N. Berdyaev, A. V. Lunacharsky, A. Akhmatova, “world artists” and spiritualists, anarchists and philosophers. A famous and mysterious apartment: legends tell about it, researchers study the meetings of secret societies that took place here (Haphysites, Theosophists, etc.), gendarmes carried out searches and surveillance here, in this apartment most famous poets of the era read their poems publicly for the first time, here for several years, three completely unique writers lived simultaneously, whose works often present fascinating riddles for commentators and offer readers unexpected language models - this is the constant “Diotima” of the salon, Ivanov’s wife, L. D. Zinovieva-Annibal, composer Kuzmin (author of romances at first, later of novels and poetry books), and - of course, the owner. The owner of the apartment himself, the author of the book “Dionysus and Dionysianism,” was called “the Russian Nietzsche.” With undoubted significance and depth of influence in culture, Vyach. Ivanov remains a “semi-familiar continent”; This is partly due to his long stays abroad, and partly to the complexity of his poetic texts, above all, requiring from the reader a rarely encountered erudition.

In Moscow in the 1900s, the editorial office of the Scorpion publishing house, where Valery Bryusov became the permanent editor-in-chief, was unhesitatingly called the authoritative center of symbolism. This publishing house prepared editions of the most famous symbolist periodical, “Scales.” Among permanent employees“Libra” were Andrei Bely, K. Balmont, Jurgis Baltrushaitis; Other authors regularly collaborated: Fyodor Sologub, A. Remizov, M. Voloshin, A. Blok, etc., many translations from the literature of Western modernism were published. There is an opinion that the story of “Scorpio” is the story of Russian symbolism, but this is probably an exaggeration.

The “Younger Symbolists,” following V. Solovyov, who had a serious influence on them, did not simply deny modern world, but they believed in the possibility of its miraculous transformation by Love, Beauty, Art... For the “young symbolists” Art, Beauty have life-creative energy, the ability to change, improve reality, so they received another name - theurgists (theurgy is the combination of art and religion in the pursuit transform the world). This “aesthetic utopia,” however, did not last long.

The religious and philosophical ideas of V. Solovyov were adopted by the “Young Symbolist” poets, including A. Blok in his collection “Poems about the Beautiful Lady” (1904). Blok glorifies the feminine principle of love and beauty, which brings happiness to the lyrical hero and is capable of changing the world. One of Blok’s poems in this cycle is preceded by an epigraph from V. Solovyov, directly emphasizing the successive nature of Blok’s poetic philosophy:

And the heavy sleep of everyday consciousness

You will shake it off, yearning and loving.

Vl. Soloviev

I have a feeling about you. Years pass by -

All in one form I foresee you.

The whole horizon is on fire - and unbearably clear,

And I wait silently, yearning and loving.

The whole horizon is on fire, and the appearance is near,

But I’m scared: you’ll change your appearance,

And you will arouse impudent suspicion,

Changing the usual features at the end.

Oh, how I will fall - both sadly and low,

Without overcoming deadly dreams!

How clear is the horizon! And radiance is close.

But I’m scared: You will change your appearance.

After the revolutionary events of 1905, after the revolutionary crisis, it becomes obvious that the “aesthetic revolt” of the older Symbolists and the “aesthetic utopia” of the Young Symbolists had exhausted themselves - by 1910, Symbolism as a literary movement ceased to exist.

Symbolism as a state of mind, as a literary movement with its uncertain hopes is an art that could exist at the turn of the era, when new realities are already in the air, but they have not yet been minted or realized. A. Bely, in his article “Symbolism” (1909), wrote: “Modern art is addressed to the future, but this future is hidden in us; we eavesdrop within ourselves on the trepidation of a new person; and we eavesdrop on death and decay within ourselves; we are dead men, decomposing the old life, but we are not yet born to a new life; our soul is pregnant with the future: degeneration and rebirth struggle in it... The symbolic flow of modernity also differs from the symbolism of any art in that it acts on the border of two eras: it is deadened by the evening dawn of the analytical period, it is vivified by the dawn of a new day.”

The symbolists enriched Russian poetic culture with important discoveries: they gave the poetic word previously unknown mobility and ambiguity, taught Russian poetry to discover additional shades and facets of meaning in the word; the search for symbolists in the field of poetic phonetics became fruitful (see the masterful use of assonance and effective alliteration by K. Balmont, V. Bryusov, A. Bely); the rhythmic possibilities of Russian verse were expanded, stanzas became more diverse, the cycle was discovered as a form of organization of poetic texts; despite the extremes of individualism and subjectivism, the symbolists raised the question of the role of the artist in a new way; Art, thanks to the Symbolists, became more personal.

Andrey Bely.

Andrey Bely created his own special genre– a symphony is a special type of literary presentation, primarily corresponding to the originality of his life perceptions and images. In form it is something between verse and prose. They differ from poetry in the absence of rhyme and meter. However, both seem to spontaneously flow in places. There is also a significant difference from prose in the special melodiousness of the lines. These lines are not only semantic, but also sound and musically matched to each other. This rhythm most expresses the iridescence and coherence of all the soulfulness and sincerity of the surrounding reality. This is precisely the music of life - and the music is not melodic... but the most complex symphonic. Bely believed that the symbolist poet was a link between two worlds: earthly and heavenly. Hence the new task of art: the poet must become not only an artist, but also “an organ of the world soul... a seer and secret creator of life.” That is why insights and revelations that made it possible to imagine other worlds from faint reflections were considered especially valuable.

Body of the elements. In the azure-lily petal the World is wonderful. Everything is wonderful in the fairy, veyn, serpentine World of Songs. We hung like a stream over a foamy abyss. Thoughts flow like sparkles of flying rays.

The author is able to see beauty even in the most absurd, unpretentious objects: “In an azure-lily petal.” In the first stanza, the author says that everything around is wonderful and harmonious. In the second stanza the lines “Like a stream over a foamy abyss. Thoughts flow with the sparkles of flying rays,” the author paints a picture of a stream, a waterfall cascading down into a foamy abyss, and from this thousands of small sparkling droplets scatter in different directions, and so do human thoughts.

Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov.

Ancient sayings, unusual syntax, the need to capture the most obscure meanings of a word make Ivanov’s poems very complex. Even those poems that seem very simple have many hidden meanings. But wise simplicity, which is understandable to anyone, is also found in them. Let's analyze the poem "Trinity Day".

The forester's daughter picked forget-me-nots in the sedge on Trinity Day; She wove wreaths over the river and swam in the river On Trinity Day... And she floated up like a pale mermaid in a turquoise wreath. The ax sounded loudly on the forest clearing On Trinity Day; A forester with an ax went out for a resinous pine tree on Trinity Day; He grieves and grieves and grieves the resin coffin. A candle in a small room shines in the middle of a dark forest on Trinity Day; Under the image, a faded wreath over the dead one is sad on Trinity Day. Bor whispers dully. The river rustles in the sedge...

Federal Agency for Education

State educational institution

"Vladimir State University"

Department of National History

Art. gr. Rzh-109

"Silver Age" of Russian poetry (endXIX- StartXX century)

Supervisor:

Vladimir 2009

I. Introduction: Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries 3

II. “Silver Age” of Russian poetry (late 19th – early 20th centuries) 5

1. Symbolism. Definition, history, symbolist poets 5

2. Acmeism. Definition, history, main features of the current 7

3. Futurism and its directions 13

a) Cubofuturism 15

b) Egofuturism 18

c) Imagism 23

4. Other poetic movements. Satiristic and peasant poetry, constructivism, poets who were not part of generally recognized schools 26

a) Constructivism 26

b) Satire 27

c) Peasant poets 28

d) Poets outside currents 29

5. Connection of the Vladimir region with the poets of the “Silver Age” 29

III. Conclusion: “Silver Age” as a child of the century, blurring of the boundaries of this phenomenon 30

Literature 32

I. Introduction: Russia at the BrinkXIX AndXX centuries

In 1894, Emperor Nicholas II ascended the throne, who declared his intention to follow the conservative course of his father (Alexander III) and called on the public to abandon “meaningless dreams” about expanding the rights of local governments and introducing any forms of popular representation.

A striking historical event of this period was the Russian-Japanese War (1904-05), which began in January 1904 with a sudden attack by the Japanese fleet on the ships of the Pacific squadron stationed in the Port Arthur roadstead. The decisive hostilities took place on the territory of Manchuria, where the Japanese army successively inflicted defeats on the Russian army in August 1904 at the Battle of Liaoyang, and in September on the Shahe River. On December 20, January 1, 1905), Port Arthur, besieged by Japanese troops, fell. In February 1905, the Russian army suffered a heavy defeat at Mukden; in May, the Japanese fleet almost completely destroyed the 2nd Pacific Squadron in the naval battle of Tsushima. In August 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, under the terms of which Russia transferred the southern part of Sakhalin Island to Japan, withdrew troops from Manchuria, ceded to Japan the rights to lease the Liaodong Peninsula, and recognized Korea as Japan's sphere of influence.

Beginning of the 20th century was marked by the rise of a mass workers' and peasants' movement. A strike at the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg in May 1901 resulted in clashes with the police. In 1902, a mass May Day demonstration took place in Sormovo (a suburb of Nizhny Novgorod). During a strike at the Zlatoust arms factory on March 13, 1903, troops opened fire on the workers (69 people were killed, 250 were injured). That same year, a general strike swept through industrial enterprises in southern Russia. An attempt by the head of the Moscow security department to create in the early 1900s. legal workers' organizations, operating under the control of the authorities, did not meet with support in the highest spheres of government and failed.

In the spring of 1902, mass uprisings of peasants took place in the Poltava and Kharkov provinces, suppressed by troops. In the summer and autumn of 1902, peasant unrest engulfed a number of counties in Kursk, Volyn, Chernigov, Voronezh, Kherson, Saratov, Simbirsk, Ryazan provinces and the Kuban region. The growth of the peasant movement contributed to the revival of faith among the radical intelligentsia in the revolutionary potential of the Russian peasantry. In 1901-02, various neo-populist circles and organizations united into the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), its Combat Organization carried out a number of terrorist attacks against senior officials (the assassination of the Minister of Internal Affairs on July 15, 1904 had the greatest public resonance). The student movement intensified sharply: in 1900–10, unrest swept through almost all universities and some other higher education institutions. Many students were arrested and turned into soldiers. In response to these actions of the authorities, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party on February 14, 1901 mortally wounded the Minister of Public Education. On March 4, 1901, the police brutally dealt with the participants in the demonstration of students and female students on the square of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The zemstvo movement expanded, whose participants sought to expand the rights of zemstvos. The liberal movement was headed by the “Union of Liberation” created in 1903, and in the same year the “Union of Zemstvo Constitutionalists” took shape. During the “banquet campaign” organized by the Liberation Union in 1904, at meetings of representatives of the liberal intelligentsia, demands for the introduction of representative government in Russia were openly put forward.

The aggravation of socio-political contradictions in Russia was aggravated by the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. By the end of 1904 the country was on the verge of revolution.

II. "Silver Age" of Russian poetry (endXIX - StartXXcentury)

1. Symbolism. Definition, history, symbolist poets.

Symbolism is the first and most significant of the modernist movements in Russia. Based on the time of formation and the characteristics of the ideological position in Russian symbolism, it is customary to distinguish two main stages. Poets who made their debut in the 1890s are called “senior symbolists” (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, F. Sologub, etc.). In the 1900s, new forces joined symbolism, significantly updating the appearance of the movement (A. Blok, A. Bely, V. Ivanov, etc.). The accepted designation for the “second wave” of symbolism is “young symbolism.” The “senior” and “younger” symbolists were separated not so much by age as by the difference in worldviews and the direction of creativity.

The philosophy and aesthetics of symbolism developed under the influence of various teachings - from the views of the ancient philosopher Plato to the philosophical systems of V. Solovyov, F. Nietzsche, A. Bergson, contemporary to the symbolists. The symbolists contrasted the traditional idea of ​​understanding the world in art with the idea of ​​constructing the world in the process of creativity. Creativity in the understanding of the symbolists is a subconscious-intuitive contemplation of secret meanings, accessible only to the artist-creator. Moreover, it is impossible to rationally convey the contemplated “secrets”. According to the largest theoretician among the Symbolists, Vyach. Ivanov, poetry is “the secret writing of the ineffable.” The artist is required not only to have super-rational sensitivity, but also to have the subtlest mastery of the art of allusion: the value of poetic speech lies in “understatement,” “hiddenness of meaning.” The main means of conveying the contemplated secret meanings was the symbol.

“The category of music is the second most important (after symbol) in the aesthetics and poetic practice of the new movement. This concept was used by symbolists in two different aspects - general ideological and technical. In the first, general philosophical meaning, music for them is not a sound rhythmically organized sequence, but a universal metaphysical energy, the fundamental basis of all creativity. In the second, technical meaning, music is significant for symbolists as the verbal texture of a verse permeated with sound and rhythmic combinations, that is, as the maximum use of musical compositional principles in poetry. Symbolist poems are sometimes constructed as a bewitching stream of verbal and musical harmonies and echoes.”

Symbolism enriched Russian poetic culture with many discoveries. The symbolists gave the poetic word a previously unknown mobility and ambiguity, and taught Russian poetry to discover additional shades and facets of meaning in the word. Their searches in the field of poetic phonetics turned out to be fruitful: K. Balmont, V. Bryusov, I. Annensky, A. Blok, A. Bely were masters of expressive assonance and effective alliteration. The rhythmic possibilities of Russian verse have expanded, and the stanzas have become more diverse. However, the main merit of this literary movement is not associated with formal innovations.

Symbolism tried to create a new philosophy of culture and, after going through a painful period of revaluation of values, sought to develop a new universal worldview. Having overcome the extremes of individualism and subjectivism, the symbolists at the dawn of the new century raised the question of the social role of the artist in a new way and began to move towards the creation of such forms of art, the experience of which could unite people again. Despite the external manifestations of elitism and formalism, symbolism managed in practice to fill the work with the artistic form with new content and, most importantly, to make art more personal, personalistic.

Symbolist poets: Annensky Innokenty, Balmont Konstantin, Baltrushaitis Jurgis, Bely Andrey, Blok Alexander, Bryusov Valery, Gippius Zinaida, Dobrolyubov Alexander, Sorgenfrey Wilhelm, Ivanov Vyacheslav, Konevskoy Ivan, Merezhkovsky Dmitry, Piast Vladimir, Rukavishnikov Ivan, Sologub Fedor, Solovyova Polixena, Viktor Strazhev, Alexander Tinyakov, Konstantin Fofanov, Georgy Chulkov.

2. Acmeism. Definition, history, main features of the current

Acmeism (from the Greek akme - the highest degree of something, blossoming, maturity, peak, edge) is one of the modernist movements in Russian poetry of the 1910s, formed as a reaction to the extremes of symbolism.

Overcoming the Symbolists’ predilection for the “superreal,” polysemy and fluidity of images, and complicated metaphors, the Acmeists strove for sensual plastic-material clarity of the image and accuracy, precision of the poetic word. Their “earthly” poetry is prone to intimacy, aestheticism and poeticization of the feelings of primordial man. Acmeism was characterized by extreme apoliticality, complete indifference to the pressing problems of our time.

The Acmeists, who replaced the Symbolists, did not have a detailed philosophical and aesthetic program. But if in the poetry of symbolism the determining factor was transience, the immediacy of being, a certain mystery covered with an aura of mysticism, then a realistic view of things was set as the cornerstone in the poetry of Acmeism. The vague instability and vagueness of symbols was replaced by precise verbal images. The word, according to Acmeists, should have acquired its original meaning.

The highest point in the hierarchy of values ​​for them was culture, identical to universal human memory. That is why Acmeists often turn to mythological subjects and images. If the Symbolists focused their work on music, then the Acmeists focused on the spatial arts: architecture, sculpture, painting. The attraction to the three-dimensional world was expressed in the Acmeists' passion for objectivity: a colorful, sometimes exotic detail could be used for purely pictorial purposes. That is, the “overcoming” of symbolism occurred not so much in the sphere of general ideas, but in the field of poetic stylistics. In this sense, Acmeism was as conceptual as symbolism, and in this respect they are undoubtedly in continuity.

“A distinctive feature of the Acmeist circle of poets was their “organizational cohesion.” Essentially, the Acmeists were not so much an organized movement with a common theoretical platform, but rather a group of talented and very different poets who were united by personal friendship.” The Symbolists had nothing of the kind: Bryusov’s attempts to reunite his brothers were in vain. The same thing was observed among the futurists - despite the abundance of collective manifestos that they released. The Acmeists, or - as they were also called - "Hyperboreans" (after the name of the printed mouthpiece of Acmeism, the magazine and publishing house "Hyperboreas"), immediately acted as a single group. They gave their union the significant name “Workshop of Poets.” And the beginning of a new movement (which later became almost a “mandatory condition” for the emergence of new poetic groups in Russia) was marked by a scandal.

In the fall of 1911, a “riot” broke out in the poetry salon of Vyacheslav Ivanov, the famous “Tower”, where the poetry society gathered and poetry was read and discussed. Several talented young poets defiantly left the next meeting of the Academy of Verse, outraged by the derogatory criticism of the “masters” of symbolism. Nadezhda Mandelstam describes this incident as follows: “Gumilyov’s “Prodigal Son” was read at the “Academy of Verse,” where Vyacheslav Ivanov reigned, surrounded by respectful students. He subjected the “Prodigal Son” to real destruction. The speech was so rude and harsh that Gumilyov’s friends left the “Academy” and organized the “Workshop of Poets” - in opposition to it.”

And a year later, in the fall of 1912, the six main members of the “Workshop” decided not only formally, but also ideologically to separate from the Symbolists. They organized a new commonwealth, calling themselves “Acmeists,” i.e., the pinnacle. At the same time, the “Workshop of Poets” as an organizational structure was preserved - the Acmeists remained in it as an internal poetic association.

The main ideas of Acmeism were set out in the programmatic articles by N. Gumilyov “The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism” and S. Gorodetsky “Some Currents in Modern Russian Poetry”, published in the magazine “Apollo” (1913, No. 1), published under the editorship of S. Makovsky. The first of them said: “Symbolism is being replaced by a new direction, no matter what it is called, whether Acmeism (from the word akme - the highest degree of something, a blooming time) or Adamism (a courageously firm and clear view of life), in any case, requiring a greater balance of power and a more accurate knowledge of the relationship between subject and object than was the case in symbolism. However, in order for this movement to establish itself in its entirety and become a worthy successor to the previous one, it is necessary that it accept its inheritance and answer all the questions it poses. The glory of the ancestors obliges, and symbolism was a worthy father.”

S. Gorodetsky believed that “symbolism... having filled the world with “correspondences”, turned it into a phantom, important only insofar as it... shines through with other worlds, and belittled its high intrinsic value. Among the Acmeists, the rose again became good in itself, with its petals, scent and color, and not with its conceivable likenesses with mystical love or anything else.”

In 1913, Mandelstam’s article “The Morning of Acmeism” was also written, which was published only six years later. The delay in publication was not accidental: Mandelstam’s acmeistic views significantly diverged from the declarations of Gumilyov and Gorodetsky and did not make it onto the pages of Apollo.

However, as T. Skryabina notes, “the idea of ​​a new direction was first expressed on the pages of Apollo much earlier: in 1910, M. Kuzmin appeared in the magazine with an article “On Beautiful Clarity,” which anticipated the appearance of declarations of Acmeism. By the time this article was written, Kuzmin was already a mature man and had experience of collaborating in symbolist periodicals. Kuzmin contrasted the otherworldly and foggy revelations of the Symbolists, the “incomprehensible and dark in art,” with “beautiful clarity,” “clarism” (from the Greek clarus - clarity). An artist, according to Kuzmin, must bring clarity to the world, not obscure, but clarify the meaning of things, seek harmony with the environment. The philosophical and religious quest of the Symbolists did not captivate Kuzmin: the artist’s job is to focus on the aesthetic side of creativity and artistic skill. “The symbol, dark in its deepest depths,” gives way to clear structures and admiration of “lovely little things.” Kuzmin’s ideas could not help but influence the Acmeists: “beautiful clarity” turned out to be in demand by the majority of participants in the “Workshop of Poets.”

Another “harbinger” of Acmeism can be considered Innokenty Annensky, who, formally being a symbolist, actually paid tribute to it only in the early period of his work. Subsequently, Annensky took a different path: the ideas of late symbolism had practically no impact on his poetry. But the simplicity and clarity of his poems were well understood by the Acmeists.

Three years after the publication of Kuzmin’s article in Apollo, the manifestos of Gumilyov and Gorodetsky appeared - from this moment it is customary to count the existence of Acmeism as an established literary movement.

Acmeism has six of the most active participants in the movement: N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, S. Gorodetsky, M. Zenkevich, V. Narbut. G. Ivanov claimed the role of the “seventh Acmeist,” but such a point of view was protested by A. Akhmatova, who stated that “there were six Acmeists, and there never was a seventh.” O. Mandelstam agreed with her, who, however, believed that six was too much: “There are only six Acmeists, and among them there was one extra...” Mandelstam explained that Gorodetsky was “attracted” by Gumilyov, not daring to oppose the then powerful Symbolists with only "yellow mouths". “Gorodetsky was [by that time] a famous poet...” At different times, the following took part in the work of the “Workshop of Poets”: G. Adamovich, N. Bruni, Nas. Gippius, Vl. Gippius, G. Ivanov, N. Klyuev, M. Kuzmin, E. Kuzmina-Karavaeva, M. Lozinsky, V. Khlebnikov, etc. At the meetings of the “Workshop,” unlike the meetings of the Symbolists, specific issues were resolved: the “Workshop” was a school for mastering poetic skills, a professional association.

Acmeism as a literary movement united exceptionally gifted poets - Gumilyov, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, the formation of whose creative individualities took place in the atmosphere of the “Workshop of Poets”. The history of Acmeism can be considered as a kind of dialogue between these three outstanding representatives. At the same time, the Adamism of Gorodetsky, Zenkevich and Narbut, who formed the naturalistic wing of the movement, differed significantly from the “pure” Acmeism of the above-mentioned poets. The difference between the Adamists and the triad Gumilyov - Akhmatova - Mandelstam has been repeatedly noted in criticism.

As a literary movement, Acmeism did not last long - about two years. In February 1914, it split. The "Poets' Workshop" was closed. The Acmeists managed to publish ten issues of their magazine “Hyperborea” (editor M. Lozinsky), as well as several almanacs.

“Symbolism was fading away” - Gumilyov was not mistaken in this, but he failed to form a movement as powerful as Russian symbolism. Acmeism failed to gain a foothold as the leading poetic movement. The reason for its rapid decline is said to be, among other things, “the ideological unadaptability of the movement to the conditions of a radically changed reality.” V. Bryusov noted that “the Acmeists are characterized by a gap between practice and theory,” and “their practice was purely symbolist.” It was in this that he saw the crisis of Acmeism. However, Bryusov’s statements about Acmeism were always harsh; at first he stated that “... Acmeism is an invention, a whim, a metropolitan quirk” and foreshadowed: “... most likely, in a year or two there will be no Acmeism left. His very name will disappear,” and in 1922, in one of his articles, he generally denies it the right to be called a direction, a school, believing that there is nothing serious and original in Acmeism and that it is “outside the mainstream of literature.”

However, attempts to resume the activities of the association were subsequently made more than once. The second “Workshop of Poets,” founded in the summer of 1916, was headed by G. Ivanov together with G. Adamovich. But it didn’t last long either. In 1920, the third “Workshop of Poets” appeared, which was Gumilyov’s last attempt to organizationally preserve the Acmeist line. Poets who consider themselves to be part of the school of Acmeism united under his wing: S. Neldichen, N. Otsup, N. Chukovsky, I. Odoevtseva, N. Berberova, Vs. Rozhdestvensky, N. Oleinikov, L. Lipavsky, K. Vatinov, V. Posner and others. The third “Workshop of Poets” existed in Petrograd for about three years (in parallel with the “Sounding Shell” studio) - until the tragic death of N. Gumilyov.

The creative destinies of poets, one way or another connected with Acmeism, developed differently: N. Klyuev subsequently declared his non-involvement in the activities of the commonwealth; G. Ivanov and G. Adamovich continued and developed many of the principles of Acmeism in emigration; Acmeism did not have any noticeable influence on V. Khlebnikov. In Soviet times, the poetic style of the Acmeists (mainly N. Gumilyov) was imitated by N. Tikhonov, E. Bagritsky, I. Selvinsky, M. Svetlov.

In comparison with other poetic movements of the Russian Silver Age, Acmeism, in many ways, is seen as a marginal phenomenon. It has no analogues in other European literatures (which cannot be said, for example, about symbolism and futurism); the more surprising are the words of Blok, Gumilyov’s literary opponent, who declared that Acmeism was just an “imported foreign thing.” After all, it was Acmeism that turned out to be extremely fruitful for Russian literature. Akhmatova and Mandelstam managed to leave behind “eternal words.” Gumilyov appears in his poems as one of the brightest personalities of the cruel times of revolutions and world wars. And today, almost a century later, interest in Acmeism has remained mainly because the work of these outstanding poets, who had a significant influence on the fate of Russian poetry of the 20th century, is associated with it.

Basic principles of Acmeism:

· liberation of poetry from symbolist appeals to the ideal, returning it to clarity;

· rejection of mystical nebula, acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity, visible concreteness, sonority, colorfulness;

· the desire to give a word a specific, precise meaning;

· objectivity and clarity of images, precision of details;

· appeal to a person, to the “authenticity” of his feelings;

· poeticization of the world of primordial emotions, primitive biological natural principles;

· echoes of past literary eras, broad aesthetic associations, “longing for world culture.”

3. Futurism and its directions

Futurism (from Latin futurum - future) is the general name of the artistic avant-garde movements of the 1910s - early 1920s. XX century, primarily in Italy and Russia.

Unlike Acmeism, futurism as a movement in Russian poetry did not arise in Russia. This phenomenon was entirely brought from the West, where it originated and was theoretically justified. The birthplace of the new modernist movement was Italy, and the main ideologist of Italian and world futurism was the famous writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (), who spoke on the pages of the Saturday issue of the Parisian newspaper Le Figaro on February 20, 1909 with the first “Manifesto of Futurism”, which declared “anti-cultural , anti-aesthetic and anti-philosophical" orientation.

In principle, any modernist movement in art asserted itself by rejecting old norms, canons, and traditions. However, futurism was distinguished in this regard by its extremely extremist orientation. This movement claimed to build a new art - “the art of the future”, speaking under the slogan of a nihilistic negation of all previous artistic experience. Marinetti proclaimed the “world-historical task of Futurism,” which was to “spit every day on the altar of art.”

“Futurists preached the destruction of the forms and conventions of art in order to merge it with the accelerated life process of the 20th century. They are characterized by a reverence for action, movement, speed, strength and aggression; exaltation of oneself and contempt for the weak; the priority of force, the intoxication of war and destruction were asserted.” In this regard, futurism in its ideology was very close to both right-wing and left-wing radicals: anarchists, fascists, communists, focused on the revolutionary overthrow of the past.

The main features of futurism:

· rebellion, anarchic worldview, expression of mass sentiments of the crowd;

· denial of cultural traditions, an attempt to create art aimed at the future;

· rebellion against the usual norms of poetic speech, experimentation in the field of rhythm, rhyme, focus on the spoken verse, slogan, poster;

· searches for a liberated “autonomous” word, experiments in creating an “abstruse” language;

· cult of technology, industrial cities;

· pathos of shocking.

Futurist poets: Sergei Bobrov, Vasily Kamensky, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Igor Severyanin, Sergei Tretyakov, Velimir Khlebnikov.

a)Cubofuturism

Cubo-futurism is a direction in the art of the 1910s, most characteristic of the Russian artistic avant-garde of those years, which sought to combine the principles of cubism (decomposition of an object into component structures) and futurism (development of an object in the “fourth dimension”, i.e. in time).

When it comes to Russian futurism, the names of the Cubo-Futurists - members of the Gileya group - immediately come to mind. They were remembered both for their defiant behavior and shocking appearance(Mayakovsky’s famous yellow jacket, pink frock coats, bunches of radishes and wooden spoons in buttonholes, faces painted with unknown signs, shocking antics during speeches), and scandalous manifestos and sharp polemical attacks against literary opponents, and the fact that Vladimir Mayakovsky was among their ranks , the only futurist “not persecuted” in Soviet times.

In the 1910s of the last century, the fame of the “Gileans” really surpassed other representatives of this literary movement. Perhaps because their work was most consistent with the canons of the avant-garde.

"Gilea" is the first futuristic group. They also called themselves “Cubo-Futurists” or “Budetlyans” (this name was suggested by Khlebnikov). The year of its foundation is considered to be 1908, although the main composition was formed in the years. “We didn’t even notice how we became Gilaeans. This happened by itself, by general tacit agreement, just as, having realized the commonality of our goals and objectives, we did not take Hannibal’s oaths of allegiance to any principles to each other.” Therefore, the group did not have a permanent composition.

At the beginning of 1910 in St. Petersburg, “Gilea” announced its existence consisting of D. and N. Burlyuk, V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky, V. Kamensky, E. Guro, A. Kruchenykh and B. Livshits. It was they who became representatives of the most radical flank of Russian literary futurism, which was distinguished by revolutionary rebellion, oppositional sentiment against bourgeois society, its morality, aesthetic tastes, and the entire system of social relations.

Cubo-futurism is considered to be the result of the mutual influence of futurist poets and cubist painters. Indeed, literary futurism was closely associated with avant-garde artistic groups of the 1910s, such as the “Jack of Diamonds”, “Donkey’s Tail”, “Youth Union”. The active interaction of poetry and painting, of course, was one of the most important incentives for the formation of Cubo-Futurist aesthetics.

The first joint appearance of the Cubo-Futurists in print was the poetic collection “The Judges’ Fishing Tank,” which actually determined the creation of the “Gilea” group. Among the authors of the almanac are D. and N. Burliuk, Kamensky, Khlebnikov, Guro, Ek. Niesen and others. Illustrations by D. and V. Burliuk.

The idea of ​​the exhaustion of the cultural tradition of previous centuries was the starting point of the aesthetic platform of the Cubo-Futurists. Their manifesto, which bore the deliberately scandalous title “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste,” became the programmatic one. It declared a rejection of the art of the past, and there were calls to “throw out Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc., etc. from the steamship of modern times."

Showing a keen sense of words, futurists reached the point of absurdity when designing. They attached particular importance to word creation, “the word itself.” The program article “The Word as Such” contained the following abstruse lines:

Dyr bul schyl ubeshshur

The result of such activities of the futurists was an unprecedented surge in word creation, which ultimately led to the creation of the theory of “absent language” - zaumi.

In literary terms, zaum was a kind of action in defense of the “self-contained word” against the subordinate meaning that the word had in the poetics of symbolism, where it played only an auxiliary role in the creation of a symbol and where poetic vocabulary was extremely strictly separated from the vocabulary of colloquial speech.

In an article by L. Timofeev, characterizing this phenomenon, it is said that “Acmeism had already significantly expanded its vocabulary boundaries, ego-futurism went even further. Not content with inclusion in the poetry dictionary spoken language, cubo-futurism further expanded its lexical and sound capabilities, going along two lines: the first line - the creation of new words from old roots (in this case, the meaning of the word was preserved), the second line, i.e., zaum - the creation of new sound complexes, devoid of meaning - which brought this process of returning its “rights” to the word to the point of absurdity.”

In the spring of 1914, an attempt was made to create an “official” cubo-futurism, which was to become the “First Journal of Russian Futurists”, published in the “Publishing House of the First Journal of Russian Futurists” created by the Burliuk brothers. But the publication stopped after the first issue - the war began.

This most directly affected Gilei, which by the end of 1914 ceased to exist as a single group. Its members each went their own way. Many futurists left Moscow and Petrograd, hiding from conscription, or, on the contrary, ending up at the front.

Young people, who in peacetime constituted the main fertile audience of the futurists, were mobilized. Public interest in “futuristic audacity” began to quickly decline.

Despite all the cardinal external differences, the history of Cubo-Futurism in Russia is strikingly similar to the fate of Russian symbolism. The same furious non-recognition at first, the same noise at birth (among the futurists it was only much stronger, developing into a scandal). Following this was the rapid recognition of the advanced strata of literary criticism, triumph, and enormous hopes. A sudden breakdown and fall into the abyss at the moment when it seemed that unprecedented possibilities and horizons had opened up before him in Russian poetry.

Exploring futurism at the dawn of its inception, Nikolai Gumilyov wrote: “We are present at a new invasion of barbarians, strong in their talent and terrible in their disdain. Only the future will show whether they are “Germans” or… Huns, of whom not a trace will remain.”

b)Egofuturism.

“Egofuturism” was another variety of Russian futurism, but apart from the consonance of names, it essentially had very little in common with it. The history of egofuturism as an organized movement was too short (from 1911 to early 1914).

Unlike Cubo-Futurism, which grew out of a creative community of like-minded people, Ego-Futurism was an individual invention of the poet Igor Severyanin.

He found it difficult to get into literature. Starting with a series of patriotic poems, he then tried his hand at poetic humor and finally moved on to lyric poetry. However, newspapers and magazines also did not publish the young author’s lyrics. Having published in At his own expense, 35 poetic brochures, Northerner never gained the desired fame.

Success came from an unexpected direction. In 1910, Leo Tolstoy spoke with indignation about the insignificance of modern poetry, citing as an example several lines from Severyanin’s book “Intuitive Colors.” Subsequently, the poet gladly explained that the poem was satirical and ironic, but Tolstoy took it and interpreted it seriously. “The Moscow newspaper men instantly notified everyone about this, after which the all-Russian press started howling and wildly hooting, which made me immediately famous throughout the country! - he wrote in his memoirs. - Since then, each of my brochures was carefully commented on by criticism in every way, and with the light hand of Tolstoy... everyone who was not too lazy began to scold me. Magazines began to willingly publish my poems, and the organizers of charity evenings intensively invited me to take part in them...”

In order to consolidate success, and perhaps with the aim of creating a theoretical basis for his poetic creativity, the ideological and substantive basis of which was the most common opposition of the poet to the crowd, Severyanin, together with K. Olimpov (the poet’s son), founded the “Ego” circle in 1911 in St. Petersburg, from which, in fact, egofuturism began. The word, translated from Latin, meaning “I am the future,” first appeared in the title of Severyanin’s collection “Prologue. Egofuturism. Poetry grandos. Apotheotic notebook of the third volume" (1911).

However, unlike the Cubo-Futurists, who had clear goals (an attack on the positions of symbolism) and sought to substantiate them in their manifestos, Severyanin did not have a specific creative program or did not want to make it public. As he himself later recalled: “Unlike the Marinetti school, I added to this word [futurism] the prefix “ego” and in brackets “universal”... The slogans of my ego-futurism were: 1. The soul is the only truth. 2. Personal self-affirmation. 3. Searching for the new without rejecting the old. 4. Meaningful neologisms. 5. Bold images, epithets, assonances and dissonances. 6. Fight against “stereotypes” and “spoilers”. 7. Variety of meters."

Even from a simple comparison of these statements with the manifestos of the Cubo-Futurists, it is clear that this “program” does not contain any theoretical innovations. In it, Severyanin actually proclaims himself the one and only poetic personality. Having stood at the head of the new movement he created, he initially opposed himself to literary like-minded people. That is, the inevitable collapse of the group was predetermined by the very fact of its creation. And it is not surprising that this soon happened.

A very precise description of ego-futurism (both St. Petersburg and later Moscow) is given by S. Avdeev: “This movement was some kind of mixture of the epigonism of early St. Petersburg decadence, bringing to limitless limits the “songability” and “musicality” of Balmont’s verse (as is known, Severyanin did not recite, but sang his poems at “poetry concerts”), a kind of salon-perfume eroticism, turning into light cynicism, and an assertion of extreme egocentrism<...>This was combined with the glorification of the modern city, electricity, borrowed from Marinetti. railway, airplanes, factories, cars (from Severyanin and especially from Shershenevich). Ego-futurism, therefore, had everything: echoes of modernity, and new, albeit timid, word-creation (“poetry”, “to numb”, “mediocrity”, “olilien” and so on), and successfully found new rhythms for conveying measured swaying car springs (Severyanin’s “Elegant Stroller”), and a strange admiration for a futurist for the salon poems of M. Lokhvitskaya and K. Fofanov, but most of all a love for restaurants and boudoirs<...>cafe-chantants, which became a native element for Northerner. Apart from Igor Severyanin (who soon abandoned ego-futurism), this movement did not produce a single poet of any brilliance.”

Northerner remained the only ego-futurist to go down in the history of Russian poetry. His poems, for all their pretentiousness and often vulgarity, were distinguished by their unconditional melodiousness, sonority and lightness. The Northerner, undoubtedly, had a masterly command of words. His rhymes were unusually fresh, bold and surprisingly harmonious: “in the evening air - there is a perfume of delicate roses in it!”, “on the waves of the lake - like life without roses is sulfur,” etc.

Severyanin’s books and concerts, along with cinema and gypsy romance, became a fact of mass culture at the beginning of the century. The collection of his poems “The Thundering Cup,” which was accompanied by an enthusiastic preface by Fyodor Sologub, won unprecedented recognition from readers and went through nine editions from 1913 to 1915!

Their own “egoists” tried to belittle the Northerner’s triumph. For example, K. Olimpov, who with some justification considered himself the author of the main provisions of the “Tablets of Egopoetry”, the term “poetry” and the symbol “Ego” itself, did not fail to publicly declare this. The northerner, irritated by attempts to challenge his leadership, parted with his apologists, with whom, having established himself as a poet, he did not need to cooperate. He was more interested in the recognition of the older Symbolists. Having played enough with “ego,” Severyanin buried his own invention by writing “Epilogue of Egofuturism” in 1912.

Only a year passed between the “Prologue of Egofuturism” and its “Epilogue”. After a fierce debate, Olympov and Severyanin, having said many unpleasant words to each other, separated; then Grail-Arelsky and G. Ivanov publicly renounced the “Academy”... It seemed that the fragile, not yet formed movement had come to an end. But the banner of egofuturism was picked up by 20-year-old Ivan Ignatiev, creating the “Intuitive Association of Egofuturists” - a new literary association, which, besides him, also included P. Shirokov, V. Gnedov and D. Kryuchkov. Their program manifesto “Gramdt” characterized egofuturism as “the constant striving of every Egoist to achieve the possibilities of the Future in the Present through the development of egoism - individualization, awareness, admiration and praise of the “I”,” essentially repeating the same vague, but very crackling slogans as the “Tablets” preceding it.

Acting as the ideological inspirer and theoretician of the “Association,” Ignatiev (I. Kazansky) sought to move from the general symbolist orientation of Northern ego-futurism to a deeper philosophical and aesthetic justification for the new direction. He wrote: “Yes, Igor Severyanin abandoned egofuturism in print, but whether egofuturism abandoned it is a question<...>for the ego-futurism that existed before the departure of the “master of the school” is only ego-northernism.”

Another representative of the “Association” was the notorious Vasilisk Gnedov, whose eccentric antics were in no way inferior to the Cubo-Futurists who were skilled in this matter. One of the notes from that time said: “Basilisk Gnedov, in a dirty canvas shirt, with flowers on his elbows, spits (literally) on the audience, shouting from the stage that it consists of “idiots.”

Gnedov wrote poetry and rhythmic prose (poets and rhythms) based on Old Slavonic roots, using alogisms, destroying syntactic connections. In search of new poetic paths, he tried to update the repertoire of rhymes, proposing instead of traditional (musical) rhyme a new coordinated combination - rhymes of concepts. In his manifesto, Gnedov wrote: “Dissonances of concepts are also extremely necessary, which will subsequently become the main building material. For example: 1) ...yoke - arc: rhyme of concepts (curvature); here - sky, rainbow... 2) Taste rhymes: horseradish, mustard... the same rhymes - bitter. 3) Olfactory: arsenic - garlic 4) Tactile - steel, glass - rhymes of roughness, smoothness... 5) Visual - both in the nature of the writing... and in concept: water - mirror - mother of pearl, etc. 6) Color rhymes -<...>s and s (whistling, having the same basic color (yellow<ый>color); k and g (laryngeal)… etc.”

However, he entered the history of literature not as a theoretical poet or innovator, but rather as the founder of a new genre - poetic pantomime. Developing the program provisions of the “Association”, where the word as such was given a minimal role, Gnedov put an end to verbal art completely and irrevocably, creating a cycle of 15 poems called “Death to Art”. This entire essay fit on one page and was consistently reduced to a single letter, which made up the poem “U”, devoid of even the traditional period at the end. The cycle ended with the famous “Poem of the End,” which consisted of a silent gesture. V. Piast recalled the performance of this work in the artistic cabaret “Stray Dog”: “It had no words and all consisted of only one gesture of the hand, raised in front of the hair, and sharply lowered down, and then to the right side. This gesture, something like a hook, was the whole poem. The author of the poem turned out to be its creator in the literal sense of the word and covered the entire spectrum of its possible interpretations, from the vulgar and base to the sublimely philosophical.”

The community of “egoists” seems to be an even more motley movement than its opponents, the “Budetlyans”. This is especially noticeable in the example of another printed organ of the ego-futurists - “The Enchanted Wanderer”, in which Kamensky, N. Evreinov, M. Matyushin participated, and published their poems by Sologub, Severyanin, E. Guro, Z. Gippius.

In January 1914, Ignatiev committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. With his death, the official mouthpiece of egofuturism, the Petersburg Herald publishing house, ceased to exist. And although the almanac “The Enchanted Wanderer” continued to be published for some time, on the pages of which last time the name sounded literary group egofuturists, egofuturism itself gradually lost its position and soon ceased to exist.

c)Imagism

Imagism (from French and English image - image) is a literary and artistic movement that arose in Russia in the first post-revolutionary years on the basis of the literary practice of futurism.

Imagism was the last sensational school in Russian poetry of the 20th century. This direction was created two years after the revolution, but in all its content it had nothing in common with the revolution.

On January 29, 1919, the first poetic evening of imagists was held in the Moscow city branch of the All-Russian Union of Poets. And the very next day the first Declaration was published, which proclaimed the creative principles of the new movement. It was signed by the poets S. Yesenin, R. Ivnev, A. Mariengof and V. Shershenevich, who pretentiously called themselves “the leading line of imagists,” as well as artists B. Erdman and E. Yakulov. This is how Russian imagism appeared, which had only the name in common with its English predecessor.

There is still debate among researchers and literary scholars about whether imagism should be placed on a par with symbolism, acmeism and futurism, interpreting the creative achievements of this poetic group as “an interesting phenomenon in the literature of post-symbolism and as a certain stage of development,” or would it be more correct to consider this phenomenon is among numerous movements and associations of the 20s of the 20th century, which, developing in the general spirit of avant-gardeism, were unable to open up fundamentally new paths for the development of poetry and, as a result, remained only epigones of futurism.

Just like symbolism and futurism, imagism originated in the West and from there it was transplanted onto Russian soil by Shershenevich. And just like symbolism and futurism, it differed significantly from the imagism of Western poets.

The theory of imagism proclaimed the primacy of the “image as such” as the main principle of poetry. Not a word-symbol with an infinite number of meanings (symbolism), not a word-sound (cubo-futurism), not a word-name of a thing (Acmeism), but a word-metaphor with one specific meaning is the basis of imagism. In the above-mentioned Declaration, the Imagists argued that “the only law of art, the only and incomparable method is the revelation of life through the image and rhythm of images... The image, and only the image<...>- this is the instrument of production of a master of art... Only the image, like mothballs pouring over the work, saves this last thing from the moths of time. The image is the armor of the line. This is the shell of the painting. This is fortress artillery for theatrical action. Any content in work of art as stupid and meaningless as newspaper stickers on paintings.” The theoretical justification for this principle was reduced by the Imagists to likening poetic creativity to the process of language development through metaphor.

One of the organizers and recognized ideological leader of the group was V. Shershenevich. “Known as a theorist and propagandist of imagism, a fierce critic and subverter of futurism, he began precisely as a futurist. E. Ivanova rightly notes that “the reasons that prompted Shershenevich to declare war on futurism are partly personal (“By accepting futurism, I do not accept futurists”), and partly political. But if we ignore his anti-futurist rhetoric (“Futurism is dead. Let the earth be a clownery for him”), the dependence of Shershenevich’s poetic and theoretical experiments on the ideas of F. Marinetti and the creative quests of other futurists - V. Mayakovsky, V. Khlebnikov becomes obvious.”

The main features of imagism:

· the primacy of the “image as such”;

· poetic creativity is the process of language development through metaphor;

· an epithet is a sum of metaphors, comparisons and contrasts of any subject;

· poetic content is the evolution of the image and epithet as the most primitive image;

· a text that has a certain coherent content cannot be classified as poetry, since it rather performs an ideological function; the poem should be a “catalogue of images”, read equally from the beginning and from the end.

4. Other poetic movements. Satiristic and peasant poetry, constructivism, poets who were not part of generally recognized schools

a)Constructivism

The constructivists, as an independent literary group, first declared themselves in Moscow in the spring of 1922. Its first members were the poets A. Chicherin, I. Selvinsky and the critic K. Zelinsky (the group’s theorist). Initially, the constructivist program had a narrowly formal focus: the principle of understanding was brought to the fore literary work as designs. In the surrounding reality, technological progress was proclaimed to be the main thing, and the role of the technical intelligentsia was emphasized. Moreover, this was interpreted outside of social conditions, outside of the class struggle. In particular, it was stated: “Constructivism, as an absolutely creative school, affirms the universality of poetic technique; if modern schools, separately, shout: sound, rhythm, image, abstruse, etc., we, emphasizing I, say: And sound, And rhythm, And image, And abstruse, And every new possible technique in which the actual necessity when installing the structure<...>Constructivism is the highest mastery, deep, comprehensive knowledge of all the possibilities of the material and the ability to concentrate in it.”

But later the constructivists gradually freed themselves from these narrowly defined aesthetic frameworks and put forward broader justifications for their creative platform.

Constant sharp criticism of the constructivists from Marxist theorists led in 1930 to the liquidation of the LCC (Literary Center of Constructivists) and the formation of the “Literary Brigade M. I,” which became part of the Federation of Associations of Soviet Writers (FOSP), which carried out “the unification of various writer groups who wanted actively participate in the construction of the USSR and believe that our literature is called upon to play one of the responsible roles in this area.”

b)Satire

“April 1, 1908 became a symbolic date. On this day, the first issue of the new weekly magazine “Satyricon” was published in St. Petersburg, which then had a noticeable influence on public consciousness for a whole decade. The first editor-in-chief of the magazine was the artist Alexey Aleksandrovich Radakov (), and from the ninth issue this post passed to the satirist writer, playwright and journalist Arkady Timofeevich Averchenko.”

The editorial office of the magazine was located on Nevsky Prospekt, in house No. 9. “Satyricon” was a cheerful and caustic publication, sarcastic and angry; in it, witty text interspersed with caustic caricatures, funny anecdotes were replaced by political cartoons. At the same time, the magazine differed from many other humorous publications of those years in its social content: here, without going beyond the bounds of decency, representatives of the authorities, obscurantists, and Black Hundreds were uncompromisingly ridiculed and scourged. The position of the magazine in the last point was determined not so much by writers and journalists with Jewish roots - V. Azov, O. Dymov, O. L. D'Or, but by purebred Russians: A. Averchenko, A. Bukhov, Teffi and others, who gave to anti-Semites far more violently rebuffed than their Jewish counterparts.

Satirists such as V. Knyazev, Sasha Cherny and A. Bukhov were published by L. Andreev, A. Tolstoy, V. Mayakovsky, and famous Russian artists B. Kustodiev, I. Bilibin, A. Benois provided illustrations. In a relatively short period of time - from 1908 to 1918 - this satirical magazine (and its later version, “New Satyricon”) created an entire trend in Russian literature and an unforgettable era in its history.

Particular credit for such a resounding popularity of "Satyricon" largely belonged to the gifted poets - satirists and humorists who collaborated in the magazine.

In May 1913, the magazine split over financial issues. As a result, Averchenko and all the best literary forces left the editorial office and founded the magazine “New Satyricon”. The former "Satyricon" under the leadership of Kornfeld continued to appear for some time, but lost best authors and as a result closed in April 1914. And “New Satyricon” continued to exist successfully (18 issues were published) until the summer of 1918, when it was banned by the Bolsheviks for its counter-revolutionary orientation.

Satiric poets: Izmailov Alexander, Knyazev Vasily, Teffi, Cherny Sasha.

c)Peasant poets

The movement of peasant poets is closely connected with the revolutionary movements that began in Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Typical representatives of this movement were Drozhzhin Spiridon, Yesenin Sergei, Klychkov Sergei, Klyuev Nikolai, Oreshin Petr, Potemkin Petr, Radimov Pavel, and I will dwell in more detail on the biography of Demyan Bedny () (1883 - 1945 years of life)

Born in the village of Gubovka, Kherson province, in a peasant family.

He studied at a rural school, then at a military paramedic school in. - at the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University.

Began publishing in 1909

In 1911, the Bolshevik newspaper Zvezda published the poem “About Demyan the Poor - a harmful man,” from which the poet’s pseudonym was taken.

From 1912 until the end of his life he published in the newspaper Pravda.

Bolshevik partisanship and nationality are the main features of Demyan Bedny’s work. The program poems - “My Verse”, “The Truth-Womb”, “Forward and Higher!”, “About the Nightingale” - capture the image of a new type of poet who has set himself high goal: create for the masses. Hence the poet’s appeal to the most democratic, intelligible genres: fable, song, ditty, propaganda poetic story.

In 1913, the collection "Fables" was published, which was highly appreciated.

During the Civil War, his poems and songs played a huge role, raising the spirit of the Red Army soldiers, satirically exposing class enemies.

During the Great Patriotic War Demyan Bedny is working a lot again, publishing in Pravda and TASS Windows, creating patriotic lyrics and anti-fascist satire.

Awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner and medals.

d)Poets outside the currents

These include Nikolai Agnivtsev, Ivan Bunin, Tatyana Efimenko, Rurik Ivneva, Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva, Georgiy Shengeli, whose work is either too diverse or too unusual to be attributed to any movement.

5. Connection of the Vladimir region with the poets of the “Silver Age”

Unfortunately, we cannot say that the Vladimir region was the cradle of the “Silver Age” poets, but, however, they left a certain mark on the history of our region.

So from the autumn of 1915 to May 1917, Anastasia Tsvetaeva, the last poet of the Silver Age, lived in Alexandrov. Sister Marina often came to visit her. A famous meeting between Marina Tsvetaeva and Osip Mandelstam took place in Alexandrov.

And in 1867, Balmont Konstantin was born in the Shuisky district of the Vladimir province, who later studied at the Vladimir gymnasium

In addition, many streets, avenues, and alleys in the Vladimir region were named in honor of the poets of this period. Thus, in Vladimir there is a street (on the site of the former Fokeevskaya and Kochetova), named in honor of the outstanding representative of the poetry of the “Silver Age” Poor Demyan by resolution of the Presidium of the City Council, protocol No. 32 of 01/01/01.

IIIConclusion: “Silver Age” as a child of the century, blurring of the boundaries of this phenomenon

The feeling of an approaching catastrophe: retribution for the past and hope for a great change was in the air. The time was felt as borderline, when not only the old way of life and relationships are gone, but also the system of spiritual values ​​itself requires radical changes.

Socio-political tensions arise in Russia: a general conflict in which protracted feudalism is intertwined, the inability of the nobility to fulfill the role of organizer of society and develop a national idea, the onslaught of the new bourgeoisie, the clumsiness of the monarchy, which did not want concessions, the age-old hatred of the peasant for the master - all this gave birth to the intelligentsia a feeling of impending shock. And at the same time a sharp surge, a flourishing of cultural life. New magazines are published, theaters are opened, unprecedented opportunities appear for artists, actors, and writers. Their influence on society is enormous. At the same time, a mass culture is being formed, aimed at the unprepared consumer, and an elite culture, targeting connoisseurs. Art is splitting apart. At the same time, Russian culture is strengthening contacts with world culture. Unconditional authority in Europe of Tolstoy and Chekhov, Tchaikovsky and Glinka. “Russian Seasons” in Paris enjoyed worldwide fame. The names of Perov, Nesterov, Korovin, Chagall, Malevich shine in painting; in the theater: Meyerhold, Nezhdanova, Stanislavsky, Sobinov, Chaliapin; in ballet: Nezhinsky and Pavlova, in science: Mendeleev, Tsiolkovsky, Sechenov, Vernadsky. Marina Tsvetaeva argued that “after such an abundance of talent, nature should calm down.”

In literature, attention to individuality and personality has increased unusually: “War and Peace” (“War and Humanity”) by L. Tolstoy, “Man” by Gorky, “I” and the tragedy “Vladimir Mayakovsky” by V. Mayakovsky. There is a rejection of traditional moralizing, preaching, teaching topics: “How to live?”, “What to do?”, “What to do?”. All this - economic leaps, and the development of science, technological achievements and ideological searches at the turn of the century leads to a rethinking of values, to an awareness of the times that require different ideas, feelings, and new ways of expressing them. Hence the search for new forms.

All this together gave rise to such an unusual phenomenon as the “Silver Age” of Russian poetry, which was distinguished by a great difference in trends, and also left many questions for descendants. In particular, the debate about what time period should be considered the “Silver Age” has not yet subsided. “Did the Silver Age end with the revolution? Yes and no. One thing is certain: Russian literature has split..."

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