Analysis of the poem “Testament” (M.Yu. Lermontov)

History of creation

It has been repeatedly said that many people feel that death is approaching. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was no exception. A year before his death, while serving his second exile in the Caucasus in 1840, the poet wrote his poem “Testament.” The basis of the poem was the author’s observations of the life that reigns during the war. He saw death - how ordinary soldiers lived and died.

There is an opinion that the poem is autobiographical. The author reveals his worldview, which he developed over the last years of his life. Lately he felt doomed and very lonely.

The poet's parents had already died by this time, the friends who were dear to Lermontov were in Moscow, and here, in the distant Caucasus, the poet was still unable to find close and dear people.

The prototype of the beloved lyrical hero was Varvara Lopukhina, separation from whom was not so easy for the poet.

He became disillusioned with life and no longer believed in possible happiness. “Testament” became a kind of summing up of the poet’s spiritual search.

Analysis of Lermontov's poem Testament

The author very accurately conveyed the character of the lyrical hero and even his physical condition through vocabulary, rhyme, phrase construction, and punctuation marks. All the words he utters are exactly what you would expect from an ordinary soldier. He accurately indicates the nature of his wound “right through the chest”), calls doctors doctors, and sends not greetings, not love, but a bow to his homeland. And “he died honestly for the king” is the exact wording of the death notice.

In 1840, the poet created the poem “Testament,” which at first glance has nothing to do with his own fate. In it, the author depicted a young soldier who, dying, says goodbye to a friend who served with him, and asks him to fulfill his last wish. He asks to bow to his native land and report his death.

This moment is perceived even more dramatically when the reader understands that the dying soldier, deep down in his soul, realizes that “no one is concerned about his fate.” They served in the tsarist army for 25 years and, having fulfilled their military duty, few found their parents alive. Leaving to serve very young, the future military man did not have time to start a family, and by the time of his return all his sisters were already married and living in their husband’s house. Often the soldier returned to nowhere. This is what the dying man was afraid of. He is afraid not because he is living his last hours, and maybe even minutes, but because he cannot say goodbye to his loved ones, and perhaps no one will be able to find out about his death.

A sad start to life with early orphanhood, the hostility of others and persecution from the authorities shaped his character and relationships with people. In the memoirs of contemporaries, Lermontov is given directly opposite assessments. The nature of the poet’s contradictory personality was accurately expressed by Alexander Ivanovich Herzen in his article: “You had to be able to hate out of love, despise out of humanity, you had to have boundless pride in order to hold your head high with shackles on your hands and feet.”

In the monologue of a wounded soldier there are many short, and often not even complete, sentences that are marked with ellipses (seven ellipses for four stanzas!). This is how the author conveys the hero’s intermittent speech and labored breathing. The same purpose is served by the accumulation of p sounds, which imitate difficulty speaking:

The poem is saturated with loneliness, it makes the reader sad. Particularly impressive is the calmness with which the soldier talks about his fate. He is calm in the face of imminent death, but the reader understands that what happened to the hero is unfair, he should have enjoyed a quiet life, but died on the battlefield, and no one will remember his death afterwards.

The lyrical hero admits that he was once in love with a neighbor and now only she can be told about his death. Too much time has passed - the former young girl has grown up, become a woman, she probably has a husband and children. And the image of a distant lover has long been erased from memory.

Annensky
Apukhtin
Akhmatova
Balmont
Baratynsky
Barto
Block
Baudelaire
Bryusov
Bunin
Gippius
Gumilev
Derzhavin
Yevtushenko
Yesenin
Zhukovsky
Zabolotsky
Lermontov
Maikov
Mayakovsky
Nekrasov
Nikitin
Parsnip
Polonsky
Pushkin
Northerner
Surikov
Turgenev
Tyutchev
Fet
Khlebnikov
Tsvetaeva

The poem appeared in the notebook of M. Yu. Lermontov in 1840, and soon the poet was killed in a duel. Many believe that Mikhail Yuryevich had a presentiment of his death, under the influence of which these lines were written. In fact, there are few autobiographical motives in The Testament.

It is customary for researchers to note that the hero of the “Testament” reflects the traits and moods of the poet himself. Lermontov's parents have already died, and the hero does not hope that his comrade will be able to catch them alive, but the lines about his parents contain the warmth of memories of the past.

Talking about the fate of an unknown Russian soldier, Mikhail Lermontov puts a secret meaning into this poem. Between the lines you can read the will of the poet himself, who knows that his life will be short and intuitively seeks death. Today, many researchers of Lermontov’s work come to the conclusion that this man had a prophetic gift and knew that he had to die. If we proceed from this, then the secret meaning of the poem “Testament” becomes clear. After all, the poet also died from a bullet in the chest during a duel, although he dreamed of dying on the battlefield. Just like the main character of the work, Lermontov at that time had neither father nor mother alive, and he had very complex and mixed feelings for his grandmother, not considering her a close person to him. As for the image of the girl-next-door, many women whom the poet admired could fall under this definition. However, most likely, the author means Varvara Lopukhina, who was his muse until his death, although Lermontov refused to tie the knot with the woman he idolized. It was he who was to blame for breaking off relations with his beloved, believing that he was unable to make her truly happy. However, in the poem the situation is presented exactly the opposite: the author actually accuses his chosen one of forgetting him. And this is the only inaccuracy in the work, which can be considered an inept attempt by Lermontov to justify his actions. He believed that Lopukhina would bear the news of his death much easier if she knew that everything was over between them. And he turned out to be wrong, because he deprived his beloved of the opportunity to spend the last months of her life with him, which Varvara Lopukhina regretted until her death.

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Many researchers agree that the poem is largely autobiographical. It reflected the poet’s attitude in the last years of his life, a feeling of loneliness and doom. By this time, Lermontov’s parents were no longer alive, a few devoted friends remained in Moscow, and in the Caucasus he was never able to truly get close to anyone. One of the possible prototypes of the beloved of the lyrical hero is considered to be Varvara Lopukhina, whose separation the poet had a hard time with.

The lyrical hero of the poem is a romantic hero with a tragic fate, typical of Lermontov’s work, who dies “in the prime of life.” The poem “Testament” is not rich in bright lexical means of expression. There is an epithet (empty heart), the address brother is used, which emphasizes the confidential intonation of the poem, and stable metaphorical expressions (catch alive; wound right through; send a bow: live in the world).

With the help of the compositional and rhythmic structure of the text, Lermontov masterfully manages to create a feeling of living conversational speech. The poem “Testament” is constructed from four eight-line stanzas, the poet alternates iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. In each stanza, the masculine rhyme is replaced by a feminine one in the last two lines, which allows us to indicate incompleteness and the possibility of further development of the hero’s thoughts.

Genre, size

The poet continues to develop the traditions of Romanticism in his lyrical works. The lyrical hero experiences loneliness; in his dreams the world looks beautiful and harmonious. But the harsh reality shatters all the dreams of the lyrical hero.

The lyrical hero is also unhappy due to the fact that he still cannot find his real place in society, which subsequently leads him to conflict. Society does not understand or accept him, which ultimately leads to the death of the hero.

This is exactly what the reader sees of the lyrical hero, who mocks the woman he loves, who abandoned him, and also about his own inevitable death. The world around him did not understand and did not accept him, so he remained a stranger to him. Therefore, the hero is not afraid to leave it.

The poem is presented in the form of a lyrical monologue, which is the confession of a dying soldier. He has one last request, with which he addresses a comrade who happens to be next to him. He needs him to talk to the people whom the lyrical hero values so much.

Thanks to composition and rhythm, the poet manages to create the impression of a live conversation.

The poem consists of four stanzas. As for the size of writing, Mikhail Yuryevich alternates iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. The rhyme also alternates between masculine and feminine, which gives the poem a certain incompleteness, which allows the idea to develop.

Composition

The compositionally analyzed poem is divided into four parts.

The first part of the work presents an exposition. The reader meets a dying soldier who asks his comrade to fulfill his last request.

You'll be going home soon:
Look... So what? my destiny
To tell the truth, very
Nobody is concerned.

In the second part of the work, we get to know the lyrical hero a little better. We learn his attitude towards his homeland, parents and lover. The narrator feels sad about the current situation, but still he misses his native land and gives him a deep bow.

That he died honestly for the king,
Why are our doctors bad?
And what about the native land
I send my respects.

In the third part of the poem, the lyrical hero talks about his parents. Here one initially feels the warmth and tenderness with which he treats his parents. He is not sure that they are alive, but is afraid to upset them with the news of his death. That is why he wants his comrade to change reality a little, replacing death with a long hike.

But if any of them are alive,
Tell me I'm lazy to write
That the regiment was sent on a campaign
And so that they don’t wait for me.

In the final part of the poem, the lyrical hero is given memories of his former love for a girl living nearby. He is not sure that the girl remembers him. But I am sure that his death will be a good reminder for her.

Analysis of the poem “Testament” M

Most literary scholars believe that this poetic work is autobiographical. It reflects the poet’s worldview, characteristic of the last years of his life, a feeling of hopelessness and loneliness. The situation was not going well:

The first verse is the prologue of the work. The reader is presented with a picture where a soldier, near death, gives instructions and instructions to his “brother in arms.” In this episode you can trace the mood of the hero, who says that no one needs him and no one cares about his life.
In the next three stanzas, some areas of a soldier’s life unfold: his attitude towards his native country, his parents and his beloved woman. “He died honestly for the Tsar” is the standard reason for the death of a soldier, which the government indicated in letters to relatives. It will not be difficult to understand that such a notice does not carry much meaning; behind it lies the huge history of each soldier, many moments experienced and an unfortunate death. The author does not hide his sad irony in the poem, speaking about death for the king and doctors, but still respects his homeland.
In the last episode, the lyrical character recalls the beloved girl with whom he lived nearby. Anger and frustration fill him after memories of the breakup flash through his mind. The soldier thinks that she is unlikely to take an interest in his fate, and is not against using his death to remind him of his existence.

The poem “Testament” is characterized by such characteristics as bad mood, loneliness, sadness, and thoughts of death. This did not prevent Mikhail Yuryevich from combining several directions, for example, realism and romanticism. The poetic size is not uniform. The author uses both consistent and cross rhymes. Subject to all formalities, the poem can be divided into quatrains with different sequences.

The theme of loneliness occupies one of the first places in the works of M. Yu. Lermontov. The author creates deep individual works in which the romantic hero is separated from other people. He is trying to find his own place in the world. The same idea can be seen in Lermontov’s poem “Testament,” the analysis of which helps the reader more clearly understand the issues raised, the plot and composition of the work.

The work “Testament” is not rich in artistic means. They are present, but in small quantities. This is due to the fact that this poem is a monologue, it uses simple speech that is easy for the reader to understand. Language means are close to colloquial speech:

The composition of the work is very simple. In the poem, the hero turns to his friend with a series of requests. He should tell about death only to those who ask and also to his beloved girl. The theme is traditional for literature of the 19th century - the death of a soldier. The lyrical hero understands that he does not have long left, but he does not cling to life. He only talks honestly about his life, feelings and thoughts. He doesn’t want to upset his parents, and if they are alive, he asks his friend to lie.

Analysis of Lermontov’s “Testament” allows us to better understand the details of the work. The poem is written in the genre of a message - the hero talks with a friend, opens his soul to him and asks him to carry out several assignments . The text also contains the hero's reflections. He admits that he behaved wrongly, so no one will remember him.

The poem was written in 1840, when Lermontov was exiled to the Caucasus for the second time . All his friends remained in the capital, but he never made good friends in exile. His parents died, and the poet began to worry that after death no one would remember him. He calmly accepts the possibility of death in battle.

The poem begins with the lyrical hero inviting his friend to a conversation . He admits that he has little time left to live in the world. After death, a friend must go home, but few people will take an interest in the fate of the hero. And even if someone asks, it is enough to briefly talk about death from a bullet and loyalty to the Tsar.

The idea of Lermontov's poem is very simple : before death, a person makes a confession. He talks about how he was unable to take his place in society. This is a sincere and sad story. Perhaps Lermontov did not predict his death, but he understood that no one would remember him after it.

He admits to a colleague that few will be interested in his fate. Still hoping that there will be people who care, the hero asks to tell them about his death. At the same time, he focuses on the details of his death: a bullet pierced his chest, and bad doctors could not help. The soldier declares that he died for the king, but there is irony in these words. But he sincerely sends his respects to his native land.

The semantic and formal composition of the poem is simple. After the introduction-exposition, there is an appeal from the dying soldier to his colleague, which can be divided into three parts: a request to tell everyone who is interested about his death, requests regarding his parents and neighbor. The work consists of four stanzas, which corresponds to the content.

The poem was presumably written in 1840, when the poet took part in hostilities in the Caucasus, about a year before his death. Many believe that Lermontov had a presentiment of his death, and in the lines there is a certain doom, submission to fate. In fact, there are few autobiographical features in The Testament.

The military theme found a place in the romantic works of M. Yu. Lermontov. It is interestingly interpreted in the poem “Testament,” which the poet wrote when he was in his second exile in the Caucasus. They study it in 8th grade. We invite you to familiarize yourself with a brief analysis of the “Will” according to the plan.

The poem reveals the traditional theme of the death of a soldier in literature of the first half of the 19th century. At the center of the work is a lyrical hero who, anticipating death, turns to his fellow countryman. The soldier knows that he does not have long to live, but does not try to cling to life. In fatal moments, he reveals his soul only to a close comrade. He turns to him with several requests.

Mikhail Lermontov's poem "Testament" was written in 1840. Very little time passed, and Lermontov died in an unsuccessful duel. Modern literary scholars believe that an immortal work is an encrypted message to humanity. What was the prerequisite for such conclusions? Let's conduct a detailed analysis and try to get to the truth.

“Testament” is one of Lermontov’s key lyrical texts, which combines themes that are significant for the poet: the theme of loneliness and self-searching, relations with the Motherland and society, the theme of love. The poem not only reveals to us the story of a dying soldier, but at the same time, it becomes a kind of testament of the poet himself, an attempt to say goodbye to the few close people and a society in which there was no place for him.

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The last stanza is dedicated to the neighbor. It is noticeable that the soldier still has feelings for her. It hurts him to remember the breakup. The guy realizes that his beloved will not ask about him. Even under such circumstances, he asks to tell the girl the whole truth, knowing that her tears will mean nothing.

The meter is not uniform: iambic tetrameter alternates with heterometers. The same can be said about rhyme: it is sometimes cross, sometimes line-by-line. Particles, pronominal nouns and indefinite pronouns rhyme. This construction of the poem helps to convey the speech of the people, to show that the hero is an ordinary soldier.

The poem reveals the traditional theme of the death of a soldier in literature of the first half of the 19th century. In the center of the work is a wounded lyrical hero who turns to his friend. The soldier knows that he does not have long to live, but does not try to cling to life. In fatal moments, he reveals his soul only to a close comrade. He turns to him with several requests.

Images and symbols

The main character of the poem is a dying soldier, about whom the story takes place. There is no direct information about the origin of the hero; the only thing that is known about him is that he was exiled to the Caucasus. The features of both a person of simple origin and an intellectual slip through him. From this we can conclude that the poet’s goal was to create a generalized image that would suit any person. But the author also gives him his own thoughts and reflections.

The similarity between the poet and the lyrical hero did not go unnoticed - the two of them have too much in common.

In the image of the neighbor's girl, you can also easily recognize Varvara Lopukhina, whom the poet loved for a long period of time.

Topics, problems

The main theme of the poem “Testament” is the theme of loneliness. The lyrical hero cannot find his place in the world, as well as in society, which is why he suffers a lot.

On the verge of death, the soldier is well aware that his death will upset few people. For the Motherland, he is just one of a thousand, for which an official report will be enough. The soldier’s parents most likely died just as long ago, so they won’t be upset by his death either. Although he worries about his parents, and if they are still alive, he does not want to upset them. And his beloved will quickly be comforted.

The search for one's place in this world was also unsuccessful. He begins to realize the hopelessness of his situation. He sought consolation in love - but it turned out to be just another blow for him.

Artistic means in the Lermontov will

M. Yu. Lermontov died not on the battlefield, but in a duel; at the time of writing the poem, his parents were no longer alive. Under the image of the neighbor, Varvara Lopukhina is most likely hiding, because it was for her that the poet had the strongest feelings. Although researchers admit that the heroine could have been copied from any of the poet’s muses, therefore they consider the image to be a composite one.

The first part is an exposition. The reader is presented with a picture where a dying soldier turns to a friend or comrade with a series of instructions. At the same time, the soldier’s main mood is immediately set: “To tell the truth, no one is very concerned about my fate.”
The next three stanzas reveal three areas of the hero’s life: his relationship with his homeland, with his parents and with his girlfriend. “He died honestly for the Tsar” is the official wording from nineteenth-century notices about the death of soldiers in war. It is obvious that behind each such notice hides the personal history of a person and his family, that this formulation is not capable of conveying the hero’s true love for his native land and the tragedy of his death. The narrator is sadly ironic when talking about death for the king and doctors, but still sends a sincere bow to his native land.
Warmth and tenderness sound in the soldier’s words about his parents. The hero doubts that they are still alive, and yet does not want to sadden them. He asks his comrade to tell his parents that he was sent on a long journey, so there is no point in waiting for him.
Finally, in the last stanza the hero remembers the “neighbor” with whom he was in love. The memory of parting with her gives rise to resentment and anger in the soldier; she is unlikely to ask about him, and yet the hero is ready to use his own death as a cruel reason to remind himself: “Let her cry... It means nothing to her!”

There's a lot to think about here. There seems to be no visible resemblance to the poet himself, but it remains a mystery what social class the man belongs to, and the rank of warrior is not mentioned. It is unknown where exactly the dying man served; there is not even the slightest hint of the place of the fatal battle.

Communication with his father's house has been interrupted, and the man does not even know for sure whether his relatives are alive. The dying man does not disclose the reasons why his parents did not correspond with him. But still he asks that they not upset the elderly with a sad message. It’s better to think that their son was sent to serve somewhere very far away, and he doesn’t send letters only out of laziness. This touching care speaks of love and tenderness for father and mother.

The hero, dying, seems to sum it up and tries to analyze his past. The bitterness of loneliness and rejection sounds like a ringing string in his words. This may well be an echo of the theme of the superfluous person, so typical of the disillusioned generation of the intelligentsia, the poet’s own peers.

From the words of the dying man, we can conclude that he loves his native land and yearns for a foreign land , where he probably ended up a long time ago. He fulfilled his military duty honestly, because of a wound in the chest he accepted death for the Tsar and the Fatherland - this is how the hero briefly asks to tell him if suddenly at least someone takes an interest in his fate. There is no need to go into details.

Despite the low social status of the hero, we recognize in him the author himself, who hints at his sad fate. Many agree that through the lyrical hero and his fate, Lermontov wanted not only to touch the hearts of readers, but also to convey his own testament, since he believed that a similar fate was destined for him. For example, the mysterious neighbor is Mikhail Yuryevich’s first love, Varvara Lopukhin, who married a rich landowner. The author’s parents had already died by that time, only the grandmother remained, who, due to her advanced age, might not live to hear the news of her grandson’s death.

Lermontov tried to reflect the immense loneliness of a man who realizes that his death will not cause grief to anyone. He doesn't value his life because no one values it. The meaning of his will is to at least express his melancholy to someone. Even if it’s just a random interlocutor who doesn’t care what needs to be conveyed to whom.

The lyrical hero is an ordinary soldier who was mortally wounded and, knowing that he is dying, gives several instructions to his friend, verbally conveying to him his peculiar will. He asks not to talk about death to his father and mother, but asks to convey this news to the woman he once loved, who, as he is sure, does not have any feelings for him. He is sure that there will be no one to worry about his death. Probably the hero is a simple peasant, and military service ruined his life. Perhaps he is still young, but he is already burying himself, since his military duty leaves him no chance of returning.

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The hero's isolation from the world
. The dying soldier immediately declares: it is unlikely that anyone will be interested in his fate. The homeland for which he is dying will be limited to the official death report, his parents are most likely no longer alive, and his beloved girl will cry and soon forget him.
The search for the meaning of life
and his place turns into a feeling of hopelessness and emptiness for the hero. Love turns out to be not a means of healing, but only another blow from a cruel, hypocritical society.
The hero's loneliness
is also determined by the fact that no one knows the truth about his real feelings and aspirations. The narrator becomes disillusioned with life and its temptations.

In his lyrics, Lermontov continued and developed the traditions of Romanticism. His hero is lonely, he strives for a beautiful harmonious world, and this desire is broken by the harsh reality. The hero of Romanticism cannot find his place in society, so he comes into conflict with it, rejects it, which is why he often dies in the finale. This is how the narrator of the poem appears before the reader, who, at his hour of death, speaks coldly and a little mockingly about the beloved who left him and even about his own inevitable death. He was a stranger to the world, and therefore is not afraid to leave it.

One of the main themes of the poetic heritage of M. Yu. Lermontov is the theme of loneliness. The poet creates bright, original texts, the lyrical hero of which acutely senses isolation from other people and tries to find his place in the world. Similar motives are heard in the poem “Testament,” which contains the bitter confession of a dying soldier and is a kind of poetic testament of the poet himself. The many-wise Litrecon offers you an analysis of the poem “Testament” according to a plan that will help you most fully consider the features of the composition and problems of the work.

The first part is an exposition. The reader is presented with a picture where a dying soldier turns to a friend or comrade with a series of instructions. At the same time, the soldier’s main mood is immediately set: “To tell the truth, no one is very concerned about my fate.”
The next three stanzas reveal three areas of the hero’s life: his relationship with his homeland, with his parents and with his girlfriend. “He died honestly for the Tsar” is the official wording from nineteenth-century notices about the death of soldiers in war. It is obvious that behind each such notice hides the personal history of a person and his family, that this formulation is not capable of conveying the hero’s true love for his native land and the tragedy of his death. The narrator is sadly ironic when talking about death for the king and doctors, but still sends a sincere bow to his native land.
Warmth and tenderness sound in the soldier’s words about his parents. The hero doubts that they are still alive, and yet does not want to sadden them. He asks his comrade to tell his parents that he was sent on a long journey, so there is no point in waiting for him.
Finally, in the last stanza the hero remembers the “neighbor” with whom he was in love. The memory of parting with her gives rise to resentment and anger in the soldier; she is unlikely to ask about him, and yet the hero is ready to use his own death as a cruel reason to remind himself: “Let her cry... It means nothing to her!”

“...This is a funeral song for life and all its seductions, all the more terrible because its voice is not dull or loud, but coldly calm; the expression does not burn and does not sparkle with images, but is careless and prosaic... The thought of this play: good and bad are all the same; it is not in our will to make it better, and therefore let it go as it wants...”

Means of artistic expression

In the poem “Testament,” the poet uses a large number of colloquial words and expressions, thanks to which he achieves the effect of a lively conversation.

In the text, the author uses only one metaphor: “empty heart.” With its help, he describes the feelings of his beloved, who was never able to understand and appreciate his relationship with her. These two words perfectly convey the emptiness that our lyrical hero had to meet.

The use of ellipsis also helps to create the impression of a living monologue, which periodically gets confused due to difficulty breathing. It is as if the reader is next to the dying soldier, and hears everything that he says in the last minutes of his life to his comrade in arms.

In his “Testament”, Mikhail Yuryevich reveals the most significant themes for himself: this is the theme of loneliness and the search for one’s own place in the world; his relationships in society; theme of the Motherland; theme of love.

The poem “Testament” tells the reader the story of a wounded soldier, at the same time becoming the testament of Lermontov himself.