Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov. "My genius

The 19th century gave us many female names and many love stories. Not all of them had a happy ending, but to almost all of them we owe the fact that either magnificent poems, or music, or paintings were born. On May 29, on the birthday of the Russian lyric poet, whom A.S. Pushkin compared with Petrarch, Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov, I would like to remember just such a love story. The President of the Academy of Arts and Director of the Public Library, Alexei Nikolaevich Olenin, had five children and one pupil, Yubim G.R. Derzhavina - Anna Fedorovna Furman. First, the translator of Homer, the poet N.I. Gnedich, and then the poet K.N. Batyushkov fell in love with her. And he dedicated one of his most famous poems to her...

Kiprensky O. A. Portrait of Anna Fedorovna Furman 1816

(Russian Museum, St. Petersburg)

MY GENIUS

Oh, memory of the heart! You are stronger
The mind of the sad memory
And often with its sweetness
You captivate me in a distant land.
I remember the voice of sweet words,
I remember blue eyes
I remember golden curls
Carelessly curly hair.
My incomparable shepherdess
I remember the whole outfit is simple,
And the image is sweet, unforgettable
Travels everywhere with me.
Guardian of my genius - with love
He was given the joy of separation:
Will I fall asleep? sticks to the headboard
And will sweeten the sad dream.
(1815)

In all the portraits she looks like a dreamer, a romantic person. “Blue eyes”, golden curls, a melancholy look, what else does a poet need for inspiration? In 1809, Nikolai Ivanovich Gnedich hopelessly fell in love with Anna Fedorovna, an eighteen-year-old girl. But Anna remained indifferent to his advances and made this clear to him. And how could a person who did not have the appearance of a prince count on reciprocity: Gnedich was missing one eye, and his face was disfigured by smallpox. The girl, brought up among beauty, wanted to have a different kind of husband next to her. Gnedich's friend, K.N. Batyushkov understood all this and wrote to him: " Anna Feodorovna is really good, and let her burn incense! You won't gain anything with this. Don't fly around the candle - you'll get burned. However, as you wish..." Having written this, Batyushkov did not even think that he, too, would soon fall into the same networks.

O.A.Kiprensky Portrait of K.N.Batyushkov 1815

(State historical museum, Moscow)

To Batyushkov

The philosopher is frisky and drinking,
Parnassian happy sloth
The pampered darling harits,
Confidant of the dear Aonides,
Mail on a golden-stringed harp
Silenced, singer of joy?
Is it possible that you too, young dreamer,
Finally broke up with Phoebus?

A.S. Pushkin

The year 1812 made Batyushkov a warrior - he himself, voluntarily went to war, was an adjutant legendary general Raevsky, seriously wounded. In 1814, he returned to St. Petersburg and, of course, immediately met people close to him. And this is the family of the Olenins and Ekaterina Muravyova. It was at this time that he falls in love with Anna Furman and makes an attempt to become her husband. A new cycle of poems has appeared. Hopes grow stronger that the poet, whose inspired images touch and excite, will gain strength for creativity. It was at this time that young Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, having read Batyushkov’s poems, said with admiration: “ Italian sounds! What kind of miracle worker is this Batyushkov?"The girl is persuaded to reciprocate both in the Olenin family and Batyushkov's relatives, but she again remains indifferent to the courtship. Icy character, search for freedom... Batyushkov at this time writes surprisingly lyrical poems dedicated to his beloved...

O.A. Kiprensky. K. N. Batyushkov 1815

ELEGY

Under a new burden of sorrow!
Like a wanderer thrown from the depths of the furious waves,
To the shore wild and flinty
He gets up and with horror sees the broken boat,
Roaring shafts and serpentine lightning,
Surrounding the leaden sky;
With a trembling hand he questions the darkness,
With his foot he glides over the abysses,
And the wild wind blows
His voice of prayer, sobs and groans... -
On the brink of death, I call for salvation
You, the last friend of the heart!
Sweet support, hope, consolation
In the midst of eternal sorrows and illness!
My guardian angel, left to me by God!..
I hid your image in my soul as a guarantee
All the beautiful things... and the goodness of the Creator.
With your name I flew under the banner of battle
Seek either destruction or a glorious crown.
In terrible moments, the purest hearts of tribute
I brought you on the Fields of Mars:
Both in peace and in war, in all lands of the earth
Your image followed me with love;
He became inseparable from the sad wanderer.
How often in silence, completely occupied with you,
In the forests where Zhuvizi stands proud over the river,
And Seina pours silver crystal over the flowers,
How often, among a crowd both noisy and careless,
In the capital of luxury, among lovely wives,
I forgot the singing of the magical sirens
And I thought about you only in heartfelt grief.
I repeated the cute name
In the cool groves of Albion
And he taught the echo to call the beautiful
In the flowering pastures of Richmont.
Places are charming and in their wildness,
O stones of Sweden, deserts of the Scandinavians,
An ancient monastery of virtues and morals!
You heard the vow and the voice of my love,
You often nourished the wanderer's thoughtfulness,
When the ruddy morning light reflected
And the distant rocks of the granite shores,
And the villages of the plowmen, and the booths of the fishermen
Through the thin morning mists
On the mirror waters of the desert Trolletana.
Always fulfilled only by you,
With what joy I set foot on the shores of my homeland!
“Here there will be,” I said, “peace for my soul,
The end of work, the end of the wandering life."
Oh, how I was deceived in my dreams!
How happiness betrayed me insidiously again
In love and friendship... in everything,
What sweetly flattered my heart,
What has always been a secret hope!
There is an end to wanderings - never to sorrows!
In your presence there is suffering and torment
I learned new things with my heart.
They are worse than separation
The most terrible thing! I saw, I read
In your silence, in your intermittent conversation,
In your sad gaze,
In this secret sorrow of downcast eyes,
In your smile and in your very gaiety
Traces of heartache...

And yet, Batyushkov’s pleas, his torment and the persuasion of his loved ones did their job - Anna Fedorovna gives her consent to marry the poet. But... but she honestly tells the groom that she does not love him and that her heart does not belong to him. Batyushkov nobly refuses marriage and becomes a deeply unhappy person; he will carry the tragedy of unrequited love throughout his life. And his future life would be tragic - he would go crazy in the thirty-fourth year of his life, living after that for more than thirty years.

Once, in a moment of enlightenment, he said about himself to the poet Vyazemsky: “I looks like a man who has not reached his goal, but he was carrying on his head a beautiful vessel filled with something. The vessel fell off the head, fell and broke into pieces. Go find out now what was in it" However, before all this, Batyushkov managed to do a lot for the Russian language and literature. Pushkin called him a happy associate of Lomonosov... But, alas, the best poet of the pre-Pushkin era published only one small book, “Experiments in Poetry and Prose,” in 1817 at the expense of his friend N.I. Gnedich.

Unknown artist Portrait of the poet K.N. Batyushkov 1850

PARTING

Hussar, leaning on his saber,
He stood in deep sorrow;
Separating from my sweetheart for a long time,
Sighing, he said:

"Don't cry, beauty! With tears
You can't help the evil one!
I swear on my honor and mustache
Love cannot be changed!

The power of love is invincible!
She is my faithful shield in the war;
Damask steel in hand, and Lila in the heart, -
Why should I be afraid?

Don't cry, beauty! Tears
You can't help the evil one!
And if I cheat... with a mustache
I swear, I will be punished!

Then my faithful horse stumbles,
Flying into the enemy camp like an arrow,
The scolded bridle is torn
And the stirrup under your feet!

Let the damask steel in your hand in a big way
It will break like a rotten rod,
And I, turning pale with fear,
I will appear before you!"

But the faithful horse did not stumble
Below our rider is dashing;
Bulat did not break in battles, -
And the honor of the hussar is with him!

And he forgot love and tears
My dear shepherdess
And plucked roses of happiness in a foreign land
With a different beauty.

But what did the shepherdess do?
I gave my heart to someone else.
Love for beauties is a toy,
And their oaths are words!

It's all here, friends! breathes treason,
Now there is no loyalty anywhere!
Cupid, laughing, writes all the vows
An arrow on the water.

Anna Fedorovna, in 1822, married businessman Wilhelm-Adolph Oom and went to live in Dorpat. Soon her husband was appointed to serve as a teacher and supervisor at the Educational School of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. But already in 1827 he died, and A.F. Oom took the position of chief matron of the Orphanage (Nikolaev Orphan Institute) in St. Petersburg. Contemporaries spoke of her as a “charming and highly moral person”... But did she remember the poor poet and his love?..

Oh, memory of the heart! You are stronger
The mind of the sad memory
And often with your sweetness
You captivate me in a distant country.
I remember the voice of sweet words,
I remember blue eyes
I remember golden curls
Carelessly curly hair.
My incomparable shepherdess
I remember the whole outfit is simple,
And a sweet, unforgettable image,
Travels everywhere with me.
My guardian genius - with love
He was given the joy of separation;
Will I fall asleep? - will lean against the headboard
And will sweeten the sad dream.

Analysis of the poem “My Genius” by Batyushkov

“My Genius” is a beautiful poetic creation of the great Russian poet Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov.

The elegy “My Genius,” written in 1813, is dedicated to the poet’s unrequited love for the charming girl Anna Furman. Despite the fact that Konstantin Batyushkov’s feelings remained unanswered, the image of his beloved remained with him for the rest of his life, inspiring the poet to write a cycle of poems, which includes this elegy.

Subject

The theme of the poem is the poet's unrequited love.

At the beginning of the work, the author describes the confrontation between the heart and mind, in which victory remains with the feelings. The memories stored in the hero’s heart captivate him even in the most distant lands. These confessions make us understand that in matters relating to love, reason has no power over the lover.

Idea

In his poem, the author incorporated the idea that sincere love is not afraid of either time or distance. Batyushkov showed that the “dear, unforgettable image” is for him a guardian angel who can always console the sad soul of the hero.

Meter and rhyme

The work in question by K. Batyushkov is written in iambic tetrameter. In the poem, the author uses cross-rhyme ABAB, as well as masculine and feminine rhymes.

Composition

“My Genius” can be roughly divided into two semantic parts: in the first, the hero turns to his heart, and in the next part, a portrait of the hero’s beloved is presented. It is worth highlighting that there is no visual division into stanzas in the work.

Genre

Genre poems - elegy, it conveys the author’s deep emotional experiences, imbued with sadness. The work conveys love and notes of sadness caused by separation.

Means of expression

K. N. Batyushkov uses various means artistic expression. Describing the memory of the heart, the author turns to syntactic parallelism, and when creating the image of his beloved, he uses expressive epithets that enhance the expressive coloring of the work (“blue eyes”, “sweet image”, “sad memory”, etc.).

To convey to the reader the inner state of the hero, the poet uses metaphors, for example, “curly hair,” “distant country,” “golden curls.”

The poem “My Genius” by K. N. Batyushkov is one of the poet’s most beautiful works. It reflects how deep and sincere a person’s feelings can be. In Russian poetry, the lyrics of Konstantin Batyushkov occupy a special place.

Oh, memory of the heart! You are stronger
The mind of the sad memory
And often with your sweetness
You captivate me in a distant country.
I remember the voice of sweet words,
I remember blue eyes
I remember golden curls
Carelessly curly hair.
My incomparable shepherdess
I remember the whole outfit is simple,
And a sweet, unforgettable image,
Travels everywhere with me.
Guardian of my genius - with love
He was given the joy of separation;
Will I fall asleep? - will lean against the headboard
And will sweeten the sad dream.

Analysis of Batyushkov’s poem “My Genius”

There have been fatal encounters in the life of every poet, and Konstantin Batyushkov is no exception in this matter. In 1813, while visiting friends in St. Petersburg, the poet met Anna Furman and fell madly in love with the girl. The parents of the young lady are not at all averse to marrying their daughter to a very wealthy nobleman, who, moreover, is a member of a prestigious public service. However, Anna Furman does not have reciprocal feelings for her groom. Realizing this, Batyushkov breaks off the engagement, but until the end of his life he keeps in his heart the image of the girl who captivated his imagination.

The poet devotes a whole series of poems to Anna Furman, one of which, entitled “My Genius,” dates back to 1815. This work was written a few months after the dissolution of the engagement, which the poet greatly regrets. It is for this reason that the first lines of the poem are filled with sadness and longing. “Oh, memory of the heart! You are stronger than the mind of the sad memory,” with this phrase the poet wants to emphasize that he is not able to subordinate his love to logic and common sense. Even knowing that the chosen one does not reciprocate, Baratynsky continues to love her and considers her the only one who is worthy of becoming his wife. However, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, Konstantin Batyushkov could become a completely happy family man and live with his young wife happy life. This is exactly what the poet dreamed of, but he understood that his beloved agreed to the marriage not because of high feelings, but under pressure from her parents. This assumption soon finds confirmation when the poet becomes an unwitting witness to a conversation between Anna Furman and her friend. It's about about the upcoming wedding, which the bride treats with disdain, believing that marriage will give her only the only consolation - freedom and deliverance from parental instructions. It was then that Batyushkov decides to talk to the bride’s father and casually mentions that he does not have enough money to support his family. This argument turns out to be decisive in the matter of Anna Furman's upcoming marriage, and the wedding is upset. However, the poet is unable to leave St. Petersburg immediately, since due to a deep nervous shock he falls ill and needs special care. It was then that he announced to his friends that his financial affairs had been shaken in order to hide the real reason experiences. But in the fit of another attack of clouding of reason, he still reveals his secret, declaring that he cannot live under the same roof with someone who is ready to tolerate him for the sake of money.

Realizing that way back no, and the relationship with Anna Furman is broken forever, the poet continues to keep her image in his own heart. “I remember the voice of sweet words, I remember blue eyes,” the author notes, recreating bit by bit the portrait of the person closest and dearest to him. However, it is not only Anna Furman’s appearance that attracts the poet. He is sincerely convinced that this extraordinary girl is his genius and guardian angel. It is she who inspires Batyushkov to create and forces him to put his feelings into poetry.

Even after breaking up with Anna Furman, the poet not only continues to love her, but also sincerely believes that meeting her is a gift of fate. The fact that the feelings were deprived of reciprocity does not sadden Batyushkov at all, who is happy simply because he loves himself. And it seems to him that it is this love that saves him from loneliness and life’s hardships, it helps to materialize the image of the chosen one, who at the very difficult moment“he will snuggle up to the headboard and sweeten the sad dream.”

It is noteworthy that Batyushkov carried his feelings for Anna Furman throughout his life, and every year they only became stronger, eventually driving the impressionable poet to the point of insanity.

K.N. Batyushkov can be called A.S.’s teacher. Pushkin, it was he who discovered many images and motifs, which were later developed and brought to perfection by the Russian genius. Poems by K.N. Batyushkov showed how melodic and sincere poetry can be. Before him, there was no such harmony and simplicity in Russian lyrics. The best of the entire creative heritage of this author are considered to be the poems dedicated to his beloved. And the work “My Genius” is a clear confirmation of this.

K.N. Batyushkov was lucky enough to experience true love. He was happy with her, despite the fact that this love was not mutual. The poet dedicated many poems to his beloved, which became the pearls of his creative heritage. The list of these love works includes the poem we are considering “My Genius”

To whom did the poet devote his poems? To a young girl - Anna Furman. The young people met in St. Petersburg in 1813. K.N. Batyushkov courted Anna for a long time, but she did not have reciprocal feelings. Ultimately, she agreed to marry the gentleman, not for love, but because of his rich fortune. When the poet found out about this, he broke off the engagement. But the bright image of love that Anna gave him remained in his heart forever.

Genre, direction, size

Batyushkov worked during the heyday of romanticism. His poems are imbued with sadness and melancholy. By genre, the poem “My Genius” is an elegy, since it conveys the poet’s deeply personal experiences, imbued with a mood of sadness. The lyrical hero turns to his memory and has a conversation with it about irrevocable happiness.

The poet in his elegy uses a poetic meter such as iambic tetrameter, which conveys a smooth, measured rhythm. The type of rhyme in this work is mixed. The author combines male and female rhyme, which gives a feeling of some confusion. So K.N. Batyushkov wants to show the sincerity of what the lyrical hero is talking about. His words are not memorized patterns, but living speech.

Images and symbols

The focus is on the lyrical hero, who mentally turns to memory: the memory of the heart and the memory of the mind. These two polar forces seem to be opposed. And the memory of the heart, it is the feeling that defeats reason. And then he sees, as if in reality, his genius - his beloved, who alone is capable of filling the whole world. The lyrical hero remembers the heroine in detail; he doesn’t even need her personal presence, because her image is always with him.

There is a lot of imagery used in the poem. So, for example, the image of a shepherdess. The lyrical hero wants to emphasize that the status and wealth of his beloved are not important to him, he loves her only because she is she. He doesn't need any other reasons. Equally significant are the images of memory, to which the narrator turns, pointing to the victory of the memory of the heart.

Topics and issues

The main theme of the poem is love. It is this feeling that the lyrical hero bows to. He is happy because he loves. Just the image of his beloved gives him comfort and the ability to create.
In addition, the author touches on the problem of the struggle between reason and feeling. If earlier, during the time of classicism, the conflict of duty and emotions was resolved in favor of the former, then in this work the lyrical hero, without hesitation, chooses feelings.

Idea

The meaning of the work is that love is consolation and joy. This bright feeling captivates and takes you into the world of dreams. Even in a foreign land, when everything around is different, heartfelt affection helps, does not allow a person to become discouraged, and fills his life with meaning.

Thus, the main idea of the work is that it is much more valuable to love than to be loved. Yes, it's wonderful when love is mutual. But, regardless of the feelings of the chosen one, your heart and soul are filled with life-giving force when you love.

Means of artistic expression

In his work K.N. Batyushkov uses all kinds of means of artistic expression. So, when describing the genius - his beloved, the author uses vivid epithets: “voice of sweet words”, “blue eyes”, “golden curls”. With their help, we can not only imagine the heroine, but also understand how tenderly and reverently the lyrical hero treats her.

The poet also uses metaphors, for example, “the incomparable shepherdess.” The author emphasizes the simplicity and naivety, the openness of his beloved.

In addition, in the poem by K.N. Batyushkov, we can encounter syntactic parallelism when describing the appearance of the heroine. And the use of words of high lecture “Vlasov”, “Golden”, which elevates the image of the beloved.

“My Genius” is a touching declaration of love. Schoolchildren study it in 9th grade. We invite you to learn more about the work by reading brief analysis“My Genius” according to plan.

Brief Analysis

History of creation- the work was written in 1813 after the poet broke up with Anna Furman. It was included in a poetic cycle dedicated to this woman.

Theme of the poem- sincere love for a woman, a bright image of a person dear to the heart.

Composition– The analyzed poem is conventionally divided into semantic parts: the hero’s appeal to his heart and a portrait of his beloved. Most of the lines of the work reveal a portrait of the beloved lyrical hero. It is not divided into stanzas.

Genre – love lyrics.

Poetic size– iambic tetrameter, cross rhyme ABAB.

Metaphors – “memory of the heart”, “often you captivate me with your sweetness in a distant land”, “I remember the voice of sweet words”, “it will cling to the head of the head and sweeten a sad dream.”

Epithets – “sad memory”, “distant country”, “blue eyes”, “golden curls”, “curly hair”, “sweet, unforgettable image”, “sad dream”.

History of creation

K. Batyushkov wrote the work “My Genius” in 1813. He was inspired by his love for A. Furman to create the touching lines. The poet met the girl in 1812, his heart was inflamed with sincere tender feelings. The man was ready to marry his beloved. Her parents were also not averse to such an alliance, knowing that Batyushkov was a wealthy nobleman.

But the one to whom the poem is dedicated treated the poet’s love with disdain. Once Konstantin Nikolaevich overheard a conversation between A. Furman and her friends. The girl admitted that marriage for her was only a way to get rid of the instructions and control of her parents. Batyushkov's heart was broken. He admitted to Furman’s parents that he did not have enough money to provide for the family. Now the father of Konstantin Nikolaevich’s beloved was not very happy about such a match.

The young poet did not create a family with Furman, but his love for the girl remained in his heart for many years. She inspired K. Batyushkov to create the cycle love poetry, which took its rightful place in Russian literature.

Subject

The poem reveals the theme of sincere love for a woman. To reveal it, the author creates landscape and psychological sketches. In the center of the work are two images - the lyrical hero and his beloved. The lines are written in the first person. This form allows you to convey all the nuances of the inner state of a man in love.

In the first verses, the lyrical hero addresses "memory of the heart" admitting that she is stronger than reason. The memories that are stored in the heart will captivate a lover even in distant lands. These confessions show that reason has no power over the hero in matters relating to love.

Gradually, the man’s memory recreates the image of his beloved. It consists of individual details that have been preserved in the hero’s soul: voice, blue eyes and curly golden hair. He affectionately calls the woman a shepherdess, admiring her simple clothes. It is such a bright image that is always next to a lover. The man believes that this is an angel who protects him and consoles him, clinging to the headboard.

In the poem, K. Batyushkov realized the idea that neither time nor distance has power over true love. The poet showed that the image dear to the heart is a guardian angel who is always ready to console a sad soul.

Composition

The analyzed poem is conventionally divided into semantic parts: the hero’s appeal to his heart and a portrait of the hero’s beloved. The parts are different in volume. Most of the lines are a description of the beloved woman. The work is not divided into stanzas.

Genre

The genre of the work is love lyrics. At the same time, the poems convey an undisguised sadness caused by separation. The poetic meter is iambic tetrameter. The text uses ABAB cross rhyme, masculine and feminine rhymes.

Means of expression

The artistic means used in the work serve to create the image of the beloved woman and convey the feelings of the lyrical hero. Main role they play in the work epithets: “sad memory”, “distant country”, “blue eyes”, “golden curls”, “curly hair”, “dear, unforgettable image”, “sad dream”. They add expressiveness to the described pictures. Metaphors- the main tool for reproducing the internal state of a man in love: “sad memory”, “distant country”, “blue eyes”, “golden curls”, “curly hair”, “sweet, unforgettable image”, “sad dream”.

Intonation plays an important role in the text. With the help of rhetorical questions and exclamations, K. Batyushkov makes the emotional background of the poem more expressive. In some lines the poet used alliteration. For example, words with the consonants “s” and “ch” express sadness: “you are stronger than the mind of the sad memory.”