Analysis of the poem “Village” (A.S. Pushkin)

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The village atmosphere gave peace to the soul of A.S. Pushkin, at the same time the poet was oppressed by the lack of rights of the peasants. These mixed feelings are reflected in the poem that will be discussed in the article. Schoolchildren study it in 9th grade. We invite you to familiarize yourself with a brief analysis of the “Village” plan.

The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.

Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.

History of creation

A.S. Pushkin began writing the work in 1819. The first half of the 19th century was associated with increasing discontent among the population, which demanded the abolition of serfdom, so many literary figures touched on the topic of slavery in their works. The poem "Village" is also among them.

Pushkin refused to publish the original version of the work, because he always approached the creation of poems with the trepidation of a perfectionist. In 1825, the poet decided to publish his revised creation, but due to recent events in Russia, which forced the authorities to tighten censorship (the Decembrist uprising in 1825), amendments had to be made to the text. In 1826 the poem was published under the title "Solitude". The “full version” of the work was published only in 1829.

Genre originality of A.S. Pushkin’s poem “Village”

The poem “Village” was written by A.S. Pushkin in 1819 on his father’s estate and dates back to the St. Petersburg period of creativity. “The Village” is a socio-political monologue and touches upon the problems of the present and future of Russia that deeply concern the author. Being by his convictions a supporter of a constitutional monarchy, Pushkin denounces the serfdom prevailing in the country and believes that the deliverance of peasants from a heavy burden should happen “from above,” “at the tsar’s mania.”

An interesting feature of the poem is the author’s use of genre mixing. Composition, vocabulary, and visual means create a gradually increasing emotional upsurge.

The first part of the work is filled with the poet’s contemplative and elegiac reflections on the Russian village; the compositional core here is Mikhailovsky’s lyrical landscape, similar to the pictures of nature from the poem “I Visited Again.”

The sentimental rural landscape with its “bright streams”, “azure plains” of lakes and “wet shores” creates a feeling of calm and bliss. The boundlessness and spaciousness of the horizon is like a natural symbol of the poet’s liberation from “vain shackles”, finding the desired peace “in the bosom of happiness and oblivion” and the opportunity to indulge in spiritual quests.

Unlike the first part of the poem, the genre of which is closest to sentimental pastoral, the second part most closely resembles a political pamphlet, that is, a work of accusatory nature.

The poetic beauty of native nature does not hide other pictures of the Russian village from the gaze of the lyrical hero:

“ignorance is a murderous shame”, wretched “huts”, “yard crowds of exhausted slaves”.

The author mourns the plight of the peasantry, blaming the suffering of the people on the “relentless Owner”, the “wild lordship”, which

without feeling, without law, It appropriated to itself with a violent vine And the work, and the property, and the time of the farmer.

The poet is determined to turn the eyes of those in power to the difficult and humiliated existence that “skinny slavery” drags out, dreams of seeing “unoppressed people”, and with all his soul regrets the inadequacy of his call.

Therefore, the poem “Village” ends not with a statement, but with an insistent question:

Will I see, oh, friends, the unoppressed people And Slavery, which has fallen due to the Tsar’s mania, And over the fatherland of enlightened Freedom Will the beautiful Dawn finally rise?

This ending is not accidental. Pushkin is waiting for an answer and does not find it. Thus, the contrast between the beauty of nature and real life is supported by the genre contrast of the poem - idyll and pamphlet.

The poet uses means of poetic expression, thanks to which the effect intended by the poet is achieved.

Antonymic images and contrasts play a huge role:

“Wild lordship” - “Skinny slavery”,
“free idleness” - “burdensome with a yoke”,
“creative thoughts” - “a terrible thought”
“everywhere are traces of contentment and labor” - “everywhere is Ignorance a murderous Shame,”
“I am here, freed from the vain shackles...” - “the courtyards of a crowd of tormented slaves,”
“the vicious courtyard of Circe” - “the peaceful noise of the oak forests.”

Pushkin includes exclamations characteristic of the odic genre in the poem “Village”:

“Oracles of the ages, here I ask you!”, “Oh, if only my voice could disturb hearts!”

as well as rhetorical questions:

“Why is there a barren heat burning in my chest?” “Will I see, oh, friends! unoppressed people?

By the way, such appeals are also characteristic of the journalistic style of the pamphlet. The work also gives a solemn sound to the poetic meter - iambic hexameter, the so-called Alexandrian verse, characteristic of the odic genre. During Pushkin's lifetime, only the first part of the poem was published. The second was distributed only in lists. The entire “Village” was published by Herzen abroad in 1856, and in Russia only in 1870.

Genre, direction, size

It is impossible to single out one specific genre in the work. It contains both a message (an appeal to the village) and an elegy (reflections on life, sad reflections on modern society, the pronounced melancholy of the lyrical hero).
It is also impossible to unambiguously determine the direction. Romanticism in the work is felt from the first lines: the hero idealizes nature, condemns society and despises civilization. He finds himself in solitude and dwells in detail on the state of his inner world. At the same time, the author focuses on social issues that are not characteristic of romanticism. He describes in detail the problems of serf Russia and does it without embellishment, dwelling on the most brutal manifestations of the “wild lordship.” These are signs of realism. The work relates to both landscape poetry (description of pictures of rural nature) and philosophical poetry (reflections on the difficult situation of peasants, on the essence of life, on freedom). Most often, such works are classified as freedom-loving lyrics.
The poem “Village” is written in iambic hexameter, all types of rhyme are clearly visible in it: cross, ring, parallel.

Composition

According to its meaning, the poem “Village” can be divided into two parts.

In the first, the lyrical hero enjoys meeting his favorite “desert corner” and admires the beauty of the “peaceful” landscapes. He wanders through familiar places, pays attention to every detail, feels all the smells, hears all the sounds. In this region, the lyrical hero finds spiritual harmony. He gets rid of the bustle, noisy balls, meetings and, alone with nature, comprehends the great truths of existence (“I am learning to find bliss in the truth”).
In the second part of the poem, the lyrical hero talks about what thought darkens his soul. “Among the flowering fields and mountains” it is impossible not to notice the miserable life of the peasants, their eternal suffering. Weak-willed, ignorant, enslaved, they are forced to work for other people, having no right to their own opinion, or to hopes, or to decent living conditions. At the end of the work, the poet’s desperate cry is heard. He dreams of seeing those days when, “at the king’s behest,” slavery will leave this corner, and a free, happy life will begin for these poor people.

Theme and idea

The main theme of the work is the problem of serfdom. Pushkin strives to show its destructiveness, barbarism and anti-humanism. To focus on cruelty and unfair treatment of the people, the poet resorts to contrast. Structural analysis of the verse “Village” (Pushkin) allows us to talk about a two-part composition.

The first part of the poem (ends with the words “In the depths of the soul…”) reflects an idyllic picture of village life. Pushkin glorifies its peace, natural beauty, harmony; it gives inspiration and promotes creativity and poetic pursuits, and morally purifies. The second part sounds like a sharp contrast, where the poet openly speaks out against autocratic despotism, points out the suffering of the oppressed people, the unnaturalness of serfdom and the cruelty of the slave system.

Images and symbols

The works of A.S. Pushkin are full of many images and symbols.

Thus, in the center of the work there is a multi-valued image of the Russian village
. For the lyrical hero, this is not only the embodiment of spiritual harmony, admiration for the beauty of nature, peace, discovery of truths, but also a reflection of a terrible page in the history of Russia - slavery. Among the landscape views, it is impossible not to notice the poverty of the peasants, forced to work hard for the benefit of the “wild nobility.” One cannot help but sympathize and sympathize with their weak-willed life. Therefore, the lyrical hero experiences internal contradiction, being in the “shelter of work and inspiration,” but seeing injustice, grief and fear around him.
The image of the lyrical hero
is revealed in his ideological position - “friend of humanity.” He is a conscientious and virtuous poet who does not even believe that he is endowed with the gift of speech, because his lines are powerless against tyranny. His sensitive heart suffers from the fact that injustice reigns around. But he not only regrets, he tries to correct the mistakes of society, directing all his powers of reflection to create a powerful call that will awaken people and force them to abandon slavery. He sacrifices fun and pleasure in order to direct all his energy to work. Thus, the lyrical hero dedicates his lyre to the people, and his willingness to devote himself to public needs is an excellent motivating example for the nobility of that time. No wonder the Decembrists loved Pushkin so much and the Tsar was so afraid.
The image of the “wild lordship”
is presented in all its glory: these are people without honor and conscience, indifferent to the grief of others. They corrupt peasant girls “for an insensitive whim,” and force their brothers and fathers to work, which exhausts their strength. But the owner is inexorable, and the fate of the people does not bother him; he appropriated it, as a robber does.
The image of the peasantry
is painted in gloomy colors: “slavery is meager,” “ignorance is a murderous shame,” “a painful yoke drags everyone to the grave.” People are deprived of will, they have no right even to hope, because at any moment a lordly whim can cross out their lives. In such an atmosphere of hopelessness, there is no incentive to strive for anything, so the peasantry itself cannot save itself from captivity. “Crowds of exhausted slaves” are doomed to extinction.
The image of Russia
has an emphasized duality. On the one hand, there is a city where vices and vanity flourish. Fun is equated with delusion, and the author emphasized the illusory nature of light by mentioning Circe, the heroine of the ancient Greek legend, who deceived the famous Odysseus into captivity. He contrasts this Russia with another - the countryside, where the “wild lordship” pushes around with “meager slavery” and spreads poverty, ignorance, and impoverishment on Russian lands. The author clearly shows the relationship between two worlds: while undeserved idleness blooms in one, in the other the working people are strained by an unbearable burden.

The image of a lyrical hero

The lyrical hero is a person who is able to appreciate the beauty and harmony of the world that exists according to the laws of nature, which is the village. For him, this is an idyllic world, “a haven of peace... and inspiration,” here he finds freedom. The poet paints a heavenly picture: fields, meadows, “a garden with its coolness and flowers,” “bright streams,” “the peaceful sound of oak forests.”

The hero in the first part appears as a romantic with a finely organized soul and the ability to feel beauty, in the second part - from a civic position, which is confirmed by the analysis. “Village” (Pushkin) is a work where the poet’s lyrical “I” is dramatically transformed, the romantic turns into a politician who perfectly understands the shortcomings of the monarchical system of his country. The image of the landowners is noteworthy: “The lordship is wild, without feeling, without law...” This ignorant oppressive force lives off the “skinny slavery.”

The lyrical hero bitterly regrets that his voice cannot “disturb hearts,” so he is unable to change the arbitrariness going on in the country. His cherished dream is to see the “dawn of enlightened freedom” so that the landowners stop appropriating “the labor, the property, and the time of the farmer.”

Themes, moods, problems

The poem “Village” by A.S. Pushkin has multifaceted themes and topical issues.

The main theme is the duality of village life
. On the one hand, it is beautiful and joyful there, on the other, it is poor and gloomy. The contentment of nature is opposed to the need of the robbed peasants. All the results of their labor are accumulated by the masters and wasted in their endless wasteful game. The author described all aspects of life in the Russian hinterland and brought together its contradictions in one elegy.
From the very first lines, the inextricable connection between man and nature
. The lyrical hero finds harmony with himself among calm landscapes, among native species. They are the ones who awaken his creative powers. He contrasts the beauty of the countryside with the bustle of the city and concludes that his place is in the outback, where he can think and create freely. If nature gives, then civilization in the form of a city takes away; if in the village the poet finds his muse and listens to the oracles, then outside it he is bound by the conventions of society and blinded by its illusions.
The surrounding environment sets him up for philosophical reflection. He thinks about the truths of life: you cannot envy a fool, you must live and think freely, never listen to the grumbling of the “unenlightened crowd” (the themes of freedom, the poet and the crowd
). The hero, being alone with himself, is freed from prejudices and misconceptions. He gains wisdom and strength to reach people.
In the second part of the poem, the main problem is raised - slavery and tyranny
that shackled the village. The lyrical hero describes the horrors of the weak-willed life of a dependent person, the lawlessness and depravity of his owner. He sympathizes with the peasant, but finds that this is not enough. He understands that the solution to the problem must be sought not even in poetry, which is powerless to influence everyone, but in politics. He calls on the monarch to influence the situation, but doubts that he will live to see that day.
Another important problem is the powerlessness of the poet and poetry
. The author bitterly admits that he is not able to reach people and help slaves free themselves. He complains about the “sterile heat” that flared up in his soul, and regrets his inability to solve social problems with the gift of persuasion. Only the heavy hand of a monarch can create change, but will it be his will? Hardly.
The mood
in the poem is dual: in the first part it is filled with the joy of discovery and internal transformation, and in the second it is imbued with sympathy and regret: not only about the fate of the peasants, but also about one’s own helplessness.

Topics and issues

The main problem of the work is the injustice of serfdom . Pushkin strives to show his lack of freedom and cruelty. As long as some people have unlimited power over others, tension will brew in society, and a country with such a microclimate will not develop harmoniously.
Nature theme. The author admires the rural landscape, he is inspired by the beauty of the rural wilderness, where spiritual and moral values are added to natural resources: honest work, a large and healthy family, harmony with the outside world.
The problem of ignorance. The poet complains that he is not able to reach the evil hearts of the landowners, who probably do not read his poems, and indeed do not read anything at all. That’s why it seems to them that slavery is a normal phenomenon, that they really have the right to tyrannize the peasants and steal their last property.
Theme of creativity. The author is indignant that fate has deprived him of “the formidable gift of sophistication.” He believes that his lines are not convincing enough for those in power. In this appeal, Pushkin’s self-criticism and his eternal desire for perfection are obvious.
The problem of peasants' lack of rights. Not only the depravity of the masters is described, but also the heavy burden of their slaves. Girls are doomed to become toys for the master, and virtuous wives and mothers. Young people are just physical strength for the new needs of the landowner; their lives are fleeting and joyless due to exhausting work.
The antithesis of village and city. The countryside appears to be an ideal secluded place where any person can become a better person and find the strength to shake off laziness from the soul. But the metropolitan gloss only makes you sad and provokes idleness of thought and spirit. There is only pretense, but here the poet found the truth.

main idea

The main idea of the poem is a condemnation of serfdom and an exposure of the structure of Russian society. The lyrical hero sympathizes with the peasant, who is forced to carry his heavy burden to the grave, exhausted in constant work for his owner. He watches as these “crowds of exhausted slaves” increase. The hero looks with sadness at the state of life of the common people, strives to alarm the “hearts” with his voice, but all in vain: either he is not endowed with such a gift, or the people themselves are deaf to the prophet, because the pleasures and delusions of the city do not allow them to think about the fate of the country.

The meaning of the author’s position is not difficult to understand: Pushkin deliberately praises the village, where it is so good to think and create. This is a hint that the elite simply cannot see life in Russia without leaving their luxurious chambers. Only in the lap of nature can you listen to yourself and understand where you should direct your strength and capabilities. There, a person can clearly see how the working peasantry doomed to poverty lives. All these conditions and impressions will prove more effectively than the poetic word the need for change.

Means of expression

In the poem “Village” A.S. Pushkin used various paths, without which a detailed analysis of the work is impossible.

The main means of artistic expression is contrast. At the beginning of the work, the poet draws peaceful pictures of nature in the village, which inspire him to create works, and then he describes the “dark” part of his corner - slavery. In the last part, terrible pictures of the life of serfs appear, their hard work is depicted.
Antitheses are widespread: “wild lordship” collides with “skinny slavery”; the contentment and abundance of nature is contrasted with the shameful need in which the peasants live.
In these parts, special attention should be paid to the epithets: “peaceful noise of oak trees” and “skinny slavery”, “bright streams” and “crowds of exhausted slaves”.
The poet also uses personification: streams are rustling, “moving pictures” are everywhere.
Equally common are metaphors: the village is “a haven of peace, work and inspiration”, “winged mills”, “a bosom of happiness and oblivion”.

Author: Anastasia Smetanova

Analysis of the poem “Village”

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin's devoted love for his homeland is reflected in many lyrical works. The poet spent a long time in Mikhailovskoye, which was associated with joy, melancholy, and long expulsions from the capital. Here, in July 1819, he wrote the ode "Village". Dedicated to the problems of serfdom, it talks about the hard labor of peasants and the luxurious life of the rich. When analyzing the poem, one can note the statements of the great poet about despotic autocracy, inhuman serfdom (“...here is a wild nobility”). The theme of the poem bears the influence of the views of the Decembrists, friendly conversations with Chaadaev, and communication with Ryleev. The poet is concerned with issues of the social structure of Russia.

The creation of the work is associated with an important milestone in the poet’s life. This period of Pushkin’s work is called St. Petersburg. The poet actively participates in public life and meets with members of closed societies. Thinks about the problems of serfdom. The poet sees that most people around him still have no desire to notice the poverty in which the peasants live. Landowners use the labor of serfs, considering it fair. Pushkin talks about those poor people who do not know the sense of freedom and justice. The poet managed to come to the Mikhailovskoye estate for a short time. Village life attracts him. Pushkin likes rural loneliness; he feels freer to breathe and live. It was on the estate that the poet wrote the famous elegy “The Village”.

The theme and idea of Pushkin’s poem “Village” from simply a landscape one develops into a political theme. The work is dedicated to the topic of serfdom, which was relevant at that time. The poet shows its destructiveness, cruelty and injustice towards ordinary people. The poem has two important themes. In the first, the author confesses his love for his native places, and the second sounds like a political declaration, darkening the soul and setting one in a philosophical mood. Describing village life and the calm beauty of nature, the author talks about inspiration, literary creativity and spiritual purification. The second part is sharply opposed to everything the poet said at the beginning. There are statements against the autocracy, its despotism, cruelty (“a terrible thought here darkens the soul”). The work is complex in composition. The meter of the poem is iambic hexameter, which rhymes in different ways. There is a ring and cross rhyme.

The genre of the poem is unusual. In the ode “Village,” the poet combined political satire with the genre of elegy. In the first part, quiet pictures are created, around “the wilderness of solitude”, “desert corner”, etc. This rural landscape is conducive to poetry. Here is a haven of peace and harmony. Moments of inspiration come. The “shelter of tranquility”, sensitive and beautiful nature, is very poetic. Suddenly the work changes in tone and content. The poet, who moved to the village, cannot find peace; he notices poverty and troubles around him and calls their cause “skinny slavery.” Through opposition, thoughts are born about a bright dawn that should rise over the expanses of the fatherland. The young poet calls on the king to abolish slavery and give the people freedom and enlightenment. The author reflects on the injustice that reigns around, dreams of the time when it will disappear. But will Pushkin himself see this? Will the people be able to become free? Speaking to a people who are oppressed, the poet wishes that his voice “knew how to disturb hearts.” Having achieved this, the author will be able to make the world a better, fairer place with poetic lines. But this is impossible. The last lines indicate that the poet hopes for an august person who will put an end to human suffering.