History of creation
The great poetess wrote the poem “Homesickness” in 1934. This was a very difficult time for Marina Ivanovna, since at that time she was in exile in Prague. She had been away from her homeland for quite some time. Initially, the poetess went to Berlin, which she did not like at all. Marina Ivanovna liked the Czech Republic. The young woman traveled from an early age, so it became a habit for her.
But now the situation was different. Tsvetaeva had to leave for Prague for the reason that her work was not clear to the Soviet authorities, and she refused to accept it. Since Marina Ivanovna belonged to the intelligentsia, she could not change her direction and start writing hymns of the revolution that were pleasing to the authorities. Therefore, there was no place for her personal creativity. The poetess shows the reader this entire range of feelings.
Marina Ivanovna does not say this openly, but having delved into the written lines, it becomes clear that Tsvetaeva dedicates her poem to the Motherland. For her, she became animated because she played a significant role in the fate of the poetess.
Brief Analysis
Before reading this analysis, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the poem Homesickness!.
History of creation - having found her husband, who served in the White Army during the Civil War, Tsvetaeva went to him for a family reunion. In Soviet Russia, her poetry was considered bourgeois and harmful, but Marina Ivanovna did not want to leave the country, it was a forced step. In 1922, she and her daughter ended up in Berlin, then came to her husband in the Czech Republic, and in 1925 the family settled in France, in the suburbs of Paris. There, in 1934, the poem “Longing for the Motherland! For a long time…".
The theme of the poem is nostalgia for the homeland, longing for separation from it.
The composition - the work is distinguished by a special rhythm, characteristic of Tsvetaeva’s poems. The composition is linear; tension gradually increases in the heroine’s feelings.
Genre : lyric poem.
The poetic meter is iambic tetrameter.
Metaphors - “to bristle among persons”, “to be squeezed out of the human environment”, “sole feelings”, “swallower of newspaper tons”, “milker of gossip”, “I - until every century”, “soul born - somewhere “, “a detective along the whole soul will not find a birthmark.”
Epithets - “exposed darkness”, “captive lion”, “milky call”, “Kamchatka bear”, “sharp detective”, “the house is alien”, “the temple is empty”.
Comparisons - “a house is like a hospital or a barracks”, “stunned like a log”, “bristling with a captive lion”, “not getting along with a Kamchatka bear”.
Genre, size
The poem “Homesickness” is a lyrical work. But with the direction, everything is not so clear. Initially, the poetess wrote works in a romantic direction, but gradually elements of folklore began to be added to it.
When the years of her emigration began, she became increasingly closer to futurism. In her works, Tsvetaeva begins to practically scream, and most of all they resemble a lyrical cry. These changes can be traced very well in the poem “Longing for the Motherland.”
To write the poem, Marina Ivanovna uses iambic tetrameter, while the rhythm remains jagged - creating the feeling of a scream, thanks to which emotions are perfectly conveyed. But at the same time, the poem is not devoid of melody. On the contrary, thanks to the special rhythm, a unique mood is created, which perfectly conveys Tsvetaeva’s emotional state.
Composition
The composition in the poem “Longing for the Motherland” is characteristic of Marina Ivanovna - linear. With each line, the main idea of the work is revealed - the poetess seems to be thinking out loud.
At the very beginning, the woman speaks of her indifference. She is tired, burned out and now it doesn’t matter to her where exactly to be alone. But continuing her thoughts, the poetess understands that longing for her homeland has not gone away, and is still a hot topic for her.
Every house is foreign to me, every temple is empty to me,
And everything is equal, and everything is one.
But if there is a bush along the way
Especially the mountain ash stands up...
In the final lines, Marina Ivanovna admits to the reader and herself that in fact she is still not indifferent to her native land. She associates her homeland with the mountain ash, which for her is a symbol of Russia.
It is the dangling thought in the last lines that is the main feature of the composition of the work.
Genre, size, composition
The lyric poem “Homesickness” is written in iambic tetrameter. The torn rhythm of the work and imprecise rhyme make the poetic text melodic, melodious, allowing for a deeper revelation of the author’s sincere emotions and feelings, experiences, and creating a special mood.
The work “Homesickness” is written in a linear composition. In it, the poetess shares her thoughts and reflects. At first she says that she is indifferent to everything and nothing touches her anymore, that she doesn’t care “where to be completely alone.” But then Tsvetaeva changes her mind and makes it clear to the reader that longing for Russia still lives in her soul, she is still concerned about the fate of the country. The verse ends with the lines interrupted mid-thought:
But if along the way a bush stands up, especially a mountain ash...
In them, in these last lines, the poetess hints, makes it clear that she cares that her native Russian mountain ash tree reminds her of her homeland, for which Marina Ivanovna yearns and misses. This unique construction of the work contains the compositional and innovative features of the author.
Images and symbols
The narration in the poem occurs in the first person. The lyrical hero is a clear reflection of the poetess herself. She shares with the reader her own story, the experiences that were in her soul. Marina Ivanovna shares her unbearable longing for her homeland, although she tries to convince herself otherwise. She tries to deceive herself that nostalgia is no longer the same, memories no longer cause melancholy and pain, but at the end of the work she still admits that the emotional wounds are still bleeding.
Using a rowan bush at the end of the poem, which for the poetess was a symbol of the Motherland, Russia... In the last two lines it clearly becomes clear that Tsvetaeva means the Motherland, and not just a bush of berries.
Patriotic theme in the lyrics of M. Tsvetaeva (Using the example of the poem “Longing for the Motherland! Long time ago...”
Every noble person is deeply aware of his blood ties with his fatherland.
V. G. Belinsky
The range of topics touched upon in M. Tsvetaeva’s lyrics is very wide. But they all converge to one center, which becomes the main and defining one in her work. She is a poet of the Russian national origin.
Ancient Rus' is often present in the poems of the young Marina Tsvetaeva. For the poetess, she is embodied in the elements of riot, in the revelry of the Russian soul. In her early poems, the image of a Russian rebel woman appears. Her love is willful and daring, it does not tolerate any obstacles. The image of Rus' is associated in Tsvetaeva’s lyrics either with the noblewoman Morozova, or with a resident of the old Zamoskvorechye, or with a wanderer.
During a period of grave upheaval for Russia, Tsvetaeva’s poems are filled with pain for her Motherland. She never accepted the revolution; she was horrified by civil war, when a father goes to war against his son, and a brother goes to war against his brother. The image of Rus' in poems of this period is associated with a grieving woman from Russian songs. She “staggers and wails in the field” because her children are dying. The poems themselves, for example, “Oh, my mushroom, little mushroom, white milk mushroom...” (1920), are close in genre to such a folklore form as crying. During this period, the main theme of Tsvetaeva’s work is the theme of the injustice of war, which is tearing the country apart. In every line one hears pain and bewilderment at how people of the same country - children of the same mother Russia - can fight among themselves:
It was white - it became red: The blood stained. Was red - became white: Death whitened.
In the subsequent work of M. Tsvetaeva, the theme of the Motherland is painted in increasingly tragic tones. The poem “Homesickness! A long time ago..." reveals the thoughts and feelings of a person who is far from his homeland. It was written by the poetess during the most difficult period of her life - in exile. As you know, Tsvetaeva was forced to leave Russia, but she did not belong among the emigrants either. The poetess found herself, as it were, between two worlds, in neither of which she had a place.
The lyrical heroine (and in this poem she practically coincides with Tsvetaeva herself) is trying to convince everyone, and above all herself, that a person does not care where to live if he feels bad and does not find understanding.
The poem clearly sounds a paraphrase of Hamlet’s famous question: “To be or not to be?” In Tsvetaeva, the word “to be” is separated from the phrase: “Where completely alone...” and moved to another line. Moreover, it begins a new stanza, thereby taking on a greater semantic load. When a person lives, it is important for him to be, and when he exists, the word “to be” loses its meaning for him.
The life of a poetess in a foreign land is so terrible and devoid of joys that it can be compared to a barracks. Her life turned into a difficult daily chore, when she had to wander “with a market bag.” And since the poetess does not live, then she
...it doesn’t matter at all - Where to be completely alone...
That is why Tsvetaeva highlights the word “where” in a different font and separates it with a dash. The rhyme “long ago” - “all the same”, formed by transferring the word “where”, once again emphasizes the idea that there are no more feelings in the soul of the lyrical heroine - they have all burned out. She simply bears her cross, asserting: “Where to humiliate myself is one for me.” The rhyme “one” - “ice floes” is again not accidental. It shows that the life of a person without a homeland is ice, a cold deserted desert.
The poem is constructed so emotionally, and the rhymes are so precise, that the reader begins to truly feel pain both for the lyrical heroine and for the poetess herself, who was “not saved” by her “native land”, who was not appreciated in her homeland. And now she doesn’t care what language they don’t understand her in. A seemingly absurd phrase turns out to be very accurate in terms of meaning: only if we are understood does it matter to us what language we speak.
The key phrases of the poem are the words: “I don’t care,” “I don’t care.” Tsvetaeva, through the mouth of the lyrical heroine, asserts with despair:
And, perhaps, most equal - dearer than the former - everything.
That is, she allegedly feels the greatest indifference to the place where her soul was once born. The motif of indifference, which runs like a red thread throughout the entire poem, is strengthened by parallels with the word “house”. Tsvetaeva rethinks the concept of home as a native place, hearth, as a symbol of the Motherland. Here the house is a barracks, a hospital. “Every house is alien to me, every temple is empty to me” - this is the formula the poetess develops for herself, having lost her homeland, and, therefore, having lost everything.
She can't talk to people because they don't understand her. She is deprived of a reader for whom she could write poetry. Tsvetaeva compares herself to a lion locked in a cage. She is forced out of her usual environment and is doomed to lack of freedom. And here another important thought arises - a person cannot be free, and a poet cannot create away from his homeland.
Thus, the motif of the poet’s loneliness, which is quite common in Russian lyric poetry, acquires a particularly tragic overtones in Tsvetaeva’s work. Her lyrical heroine cannot find peace in nature, like, for example, Lermontov’s lyrical hero, because she has lost it too. She lost everything: her homeland, her identity, and her nationality.
But the intensity of pain and passion reaches a critical point - the heroine has nothing left: neither her soul, nor her homeland, nor life itself. Even the temple is alien to her. And here the tone of the poem suddenly changes dramatically:
But if along the way a bush stands up, especially a mountain ash...
The rowan turns out to be a symbol of the Motherland for the poetess. The poem begins with a denial of nostalgia, and ends with an expression of the most severe longing for Russia. It ends with an ellipsis. A lump comes to my throat. The poetess falls silent mid-sentence. This is the truest expression of love for one’s Motherland.
Tsvetaeva was destined to become a poet who revealed the tragedy of her contemporary - a man who found himself cut off from his homeland. It was never altered to suit the tastes of readers or publishers. All her works - sincere and frank - are subject only to the truth of the heart.
Topics, problems
The main theme of the poem “Homesickness” is the poetess’s love for the Motherland, her longing and nostalgia. Marina Ivanovna tries in vain to prove that she has become indifferent, but she still misses her native land, the language and Russia. It is this very nostalgia that becomes the main theme and problem of the poem.
The second theme of the work is loneliness. The poetess was faced with the fact that she was very lonely far from her homeland, no one understood her, and their speech was foreign to her. She suffers greatly from this misunderstanding and indifference.
The poem raises the issue of emigration. This forced measure affected many people who had to leave their home due to the current circumstances. This problem greatly worries the poetess, so she shares it with the reader.
The issue of freedom is also touched upon. Marina Ivanovna cannot feel free, because she had to leave her home because of her views. Now she feels like an exile who has no place anywhere and no way to return home.
As for the mood of the work, it should have become indifferent if sarcasm and anger were not visible between the lines.
Text
Homesickness! A long-debunked problem! I don't care at all - Where completely alone
To be, along some stones, to walk home with a market purse Into a house, and not knowing what is mine, Like a hospital or a barracks.
I don’t care which Persons bristle as a captive Lion, from which human environment To be forced out is certain -
Into oneself, in the sole presence of feelings. A Kamchatka bear without an ice floe Where you can’t get along (and I don’t bother!), Where you can humiliate yourself - that’s the only thing for me.
I will not be deceived by my native tongue, by its milky call. It makes no difference to me which Misunderstood one I meet!
(A reader, tons of newspapers, a swallower, a milker of gossip...) Of the twentieth century - he, And I - to every century!
Stunned like a log left over from the alley, everything is equal to me, everything is the same to me, And, perhaps, most equal -
The former is dearer than anything. All the signs from me, all the marks, All the dates - as if by hand: The soul, born - somewhere.
So my land did not save me, like the most vigilant detective Along my entire soul, across my entire soul! He won’t find a birthmark!
Every house is alien to me, every temple is empty to me, And everything is the same, and everything is one. But if along the way a bush stands up, especially a mountain ash...
May 3, 1934
Means of artistic expression
In the work “Homesickness” Marina Tsvetaeva uses a large number of different paths. She resorts to this technique in order to convey her feelings to the reader as clearly and clearly as possible.
The main thing in the work are epithets that add color to the poem. Also in the text there are comparisons with the help of which the poetess clearly notices the features of a particular subject.
To create the rhythm of the poem, the poetess uses anaphora. N, and the author conveys the main idea of the poem using the rowan symbol. It is thanks to this symbol that the ending of the work becomes dramatic and tragic.
↑ Expressive means
Tsvetaeva practically does not use epithets. The main means of expression is the nervous rhythm of the work, an abundance of exclamation marks. The poem contains many comparisons (“exposed hassle”, “like a hospital or a barracks”, “Kamchatka bear”). The strength and magnitude of the feeling experienced is reflected by words such as “all”, “all”, “all the same”, “any”, “every”, etc.
The main idea is that a person whose homeland was taken away by force becomes a mental cripple, an indifferent person to everything. His suffering is unbearable, it cannot be hidden or hidden.
Main thought
The main idea of the poem “Homesickness” is that even after moving far from his native land, leaving his home forever, even after many years a person will experience longing and a desire to return. Especially if the Motherland means as much to him as it meant to Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva. But, unfortunately, not every person has such an opportunity.
There is a category of people who have imbibed love for their native land with their mother’s milk. It’s the hardest thing for them to be far from their home. It is impossible not to kill this feeling in yourself, not to get rid of it. A person begins to live with memories, yearn, and try to find something native in a foreign land.
Marina Ivanovna tries, first of all, to convince herself that she has become indifferent and it doesn’t matter to her where exactly she is. And only after throwing out all her feelings and emotions, she admits that this is not so. She treats with trepidation the very rowan bush that she meets on her way, because it has forever become a symbol of Russia for her.
Tropes and figures of speech
Epithets: “trouble exposed.”
Metaphors: “bristling as a captive / Lion”, “newspaper tons / Swallower”, “milker of gossip”, “the most vigilant detective / Along the whole soul”, “across everything! / He won’t find a birthmark.”
Comparison: “Into a house that doesn’t know that it’s mine, / Like a hospital or a barracks,” “Stunned, like a log / What’s left of the alley.”
Personification: “To the house, and not knowing that it is mine,” “with the language / Native, its milky call.”
Hyperbole: “It doesn’t matter to me what / incomprehensible person I meet,” “Everyone is equal to me, everything is the same to me,” “Every house is alien to me, every temple is empty to me, / And everything is the same, and everything is one.”
Repeats: “I don’t care at all / Where I’m completely alone / To be.”
Default: “But if along the way there is a bush / Stands up,
especially the mountain ash..."
