Philosophy in the works of Pushkin
All poets in one way or another address the theme of love. And for each poet this topic has a special, personal meaning. Ancient poets considered the feeling of love to be the most important: they drew inspiration from it, love enriched them spiritually. Such a literary movement as sentimentalism is completely based on the sacred feelings of love and friendship. The theme of love occupies a large place in the works of romantic poets.
For Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, love is one of the main themes in his lyrics. During the Lyceum period, Pushkin's poetry was still largely imitative. At this time, the young poet became interested in the philosophy of voluptuousness. In the poem “The Tomb of Anacreon,” the poet calls for “being tired of ardent passion” and proclaims the formula for all his lyrics of that period:
Let me enjoy life; Life, alas, is not an eternal gift!
In poems from the Lyceum period, Pushkin glorifies the carefree enjoyment of life, a friendly feast, and wine. Love for him is also one of life’s pleasures, a light, pleasant feeling, ranking on a par with feast and wine.
Very soon, light, life-affirming poetry, an understanding of love as fun entertainment, will be replaced by civic motives, the glorification of civic virtues. Pushkin rethinks the main themes of his poetry, and love receives a completely different light from him. In his message “To Chaadaev,” Pushkin seems to be trying to reconcile two completely different directions: sentimentalism and classicism. The poet combines civic ideals with intimate feelings. In the central lines of the poem, love experiences are compared with civic aspirations:
We wait with languid hope for the holy moment of freedom, Just as a young lover waits for the minute of a faithful meeting.
Love as an intimate value in Pushkin's civil lyrics is combined with patriotic feelings. Now love for a poet is, first of all, love for the Motherland. The poem “To Chaadaev” combines previously incompatible concepts of love for a woman and love for the homeland.
Pushkin creates a new philosophy of the feeling of love. In the message “To Kaverin” we read:
Pray to Bacchus and love, And despise the jealous murmuring of the mob.
Here love is a way of escaping from the outside world, from the crowd. Pushkin talks about the same thing in his poem “To Pluskova”:
Love and secret freedom inspired a simple hymn in the heart.
The feeling of love is placed on a line with inner freedom. Love helps the poet escape from the world into the depths of his feelings, where he is completely free and not dependent on anyone. In southern exile, during the romantic period of his creativity, love for Pushkin is no longer a “prank of his youth”, not a patriotic feeling for his homeland, but a deep, dramatic passion. The love of a romantic poet is often unrequited, always unhappy. She, like a leaf from the poem “Burnt Letter,” burns in the soul of the lyrical hero and burns out in one moment, leaving behind only ashes and a devastated soul. This bitter ending makes Pushkin disillusioned with romantic love. Does the poet need such free, but destructive, devastating love, which, except grief and pain, leaves nothing in the soul? Such love destroys the very source of inspiration.
The great poet refuses romantic love. In Mikhailovsky, he once again rethinks the theme of love in his work, returning to early lyrics, to the understanding of love as inner freedom and a source of inspiration. In the poems of the Mikhailovsky period, Pushkin rises much higher than the interpretation of love as a transitory, earthly passion.
In Pushkin's poems, love becomes an ideal, eternal feeling. It takes on a connotation of sacrifice and chivalry. In the poem “I loved you. "The poet proclaims selfless love:
I loved you: love, perhaps, has not yet completely died out in my soul; But don't let it bother you anymore; I don't want to make you sad in any way. I loved you silently, hopelessly, sometimes with timidity, sometimes with jealousy; I loved you so sincerely, so tenderly, As God grant you to be loved differently.
This is one of the most mysterious and heartfelt works of Pushkin's lyrics. The mystery of these lines lies in their simplicity and artlessness, but at the same time in the capacity and depth of the expressed feeling. To love, even unrequitedly, in Pushkin’s understanding, is in itself a great happiness. Repeating “I loved you” three times plays a huge role. “, as well as repetitions of the same type of verbal constructions: “silently, hopelessly,” “so sincerely, so tenderly.” These repetitions give the poetic monologue an elegiac mood. The last line sounds as if on an exhale, like a passionate and farewell wish.
In the poem “On the hills of Georgia. “The lyrical hero yearns for his beloved, but his sadness is “light” because she is full of love. For Pushkin, such love is long-awaited peace and tranquility.
Nothing torments or disturbs my despondency, And my heart burns and loves again - because it cannot help but love.
The great Russian poet showed that love is a source of inner freedom and harmony, a source of creative inspiration. In the poem “I remember a wonderful moment. “, dedicated to Anna Petrovna Kern, Pushkin paints an ideal, heavenly image of love. This image is alien to everything earthly. In the poem there is not a single specific feature of the beloved of the lyrical hero. Before us is an image of a pure, ideal manifestation of beauty. Only his appearance can give rise to high feelings and inspiration in the poet’s soul:
And the heart beats in ecstasy, And for him, both deity and inspiration have risen again. And life, and tears, and love.
We see that the theme of love in Pushkin’s lyrics is revealed differently by him in different periods of his work. During the lyceum period, this is a light, frivolous feeling, one of the pleasures of life. In the St. Petersburg period, love is associated with the patriotic aspirations of the poet: it is love for the Motherland. During the period of southern exile, Pushkin depicts love as a romantic, devastating passion. And only in Mikhailovsky Pushkin comes to an understanding of love as the highest human value. Love is now associated with inner freedom, capable of awakening inspiration and the best human feelings in the poet.
