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Total ratings received: 129.
According to writers, “Letter to a Woman” can be called, without exaggeration, the clearest example of Sergei Yesenin’s love lyrics. The poem sounds like repentance addressed to a loved one. But besides the sore points, his lines reflect the poet’s passion for the fate of his native country. The author seems to illustrate with the help of poetry one of the innovative doctrines of the Soviet Union - the personal is equal to the public. It is enough to carefully read the brief analysis of “Letter to a Woman” according to plan in order to analyze this work in literature lessons in the 9th grade.
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.
Brief Analysis
Before reading this analysis, we recommend that you read the poem Letter to a Woman.
History of creation: the poem was written in 1924 and is an appeal to the poet’s ex-wife Zinaida Reich
Theme of the poem: love for a woman and for one’s native country
Composition: in the poem, two emotionally polar parts are highlighted and separated by sharpening - “past” and “present”
Genre: letter-poem in verse
Poetic meter: iambic heterometer
Metaphors: “in the shock of tender feelings”, “Earth (Russia) is a ship”
Epithets: “sad fatigue”, “furious fellow traveler”
Comparisons: “I was like a horse driven into the mud, spurred by a brave rider”
Repetitions: “But you didn’t know that there was complete smoke...”
Colloquialisms and vulgarisms: “drunk stupor”, “vomiting”
Let's analyze briefly
For lovers of minimalism, a brief analysis of Yesenin’s lines written in 1924. This poem is an appeal to one of the former spouses, Zinaida Reich + a mix of expressions of feelings for the Motherland. The composition is divided into two components - about the past and the present and belongs to the genre of a poetic poem.
The meter is arbitrary iambic using colloquialisms (vomiting, drunken stupor), which break the distance between the author and the reader. Comparisons, epithets (furious fellow traveler, sad fatigue) and metaphors are used as means of expressiveness, for example, “in the shock of tender feelings.”
History of creation
Like all of Yesenin’s lyrics, “Letter to a Woman” is based on real events and involves a confession addressed to a real woman. It’s no secret to anyone who the work is dedicated to - Yesenin wrote to his ex-wife Zinaida. In 1924, she already became Meyerhold's wife and was quite happily married. The new husband loved Yesenin’s children as if they were his own. The poet continued to feel guilty before the children and their mother. As a poetic repentance, a “Letter to a Woman” appeared, where the “then” described in the first part refers to 1919, and the “now” described in the second refers to 1924. By this time, biblical images gradually disappeared from the poet’s work.
Means of artistic expression
The author uses many means of artistic expression:
- epithets : “crazy life”, “human host”.
- metaphors : “life torn apart by a storm”, “sea surface”.
- comparison: “like a horse driven into soap.”
The poet also uses the technique of antithesis, vividly contrasting the first part of the poem with the second.
To emphasize the depth of the moral fall of the lyrical hero, Yesenin uses such colloquial words and expressions as “drunken stupor”, “vomiting”. This adds emotionality to the work.
Subject
Philologists call this poetic appeal a “poem” and attribute it to a qualitatively new period of Sergei Yesenin’s literary activity, when he rethought his views regarding the future of Russia. The title of the poem sounds intimate and, despite the fact that the name of the addressee is not voiced in it, very personal. It is dedicated to the theme of finding oneself, which occurs against the backdrop of reforms and a turning point in the country. Thanks to the form of the letter, the work sounds very sincere. The poet, who is also a lyrical hero, turns to the once beloved woman, while reflecting on the past, present and future, his own and his Motherland.
In the poem “Letter to a Woman,” until the last line there is an interweaving of two lines: relationships with a woman and with one’s native country. The poet broke up with the woman who did not want to understand and accept his raging soul. On the contrary, he began to find a “common language” with the renewed Motherland.
The main thing the poet wanted to say is that he matured, admitted his mistakes to the fullest, and repented. He asks the woman for forgiveness and admits his mistakes on a public level: “Glory to the helmsman!”
Means of expression (tropes)
The poem “Letter to a Woman” is the quintessence of various means of expression, as the poet uses the above-mentioned reasoning to increase tension and internal anxiety. The clearest example is the use of rude and very loud words: “vomiting,” “drunken stupor,” “vomiting.” Yesenin also uses metaphors for a more expressive impact on the reader’s perception of him: “I was like a horse...”
Moreover, the poem uses open comparisons, such as: “The earth is a ship!”, and then the comparison is more of a metaphor that embodies the revolutionary events of past years: “... he majestically directed it into the thick of storms and blizzards.”
Personifications are an integral part of the system of means of expression in any work of art. So, Yesenin uses the above mentioned in this case: “Where the fate of events takes us.” The “fate of events” carries us in a figurative sense, guiding and setting the trajectory of movement during the path of life. However, under no circumstances can he “carry us in his arms.”
Means of expression
In the poem “Letter to a Woman,” in addition to the unusual structure, the author used various means of expression:
- To convey the mood, comparisons : “...I was like a horse driven into the soap, spurred by a brave rider”;
- Metaphors : “Earth (Russia) is a ship”, “in the shock of tender feelings”;
- And epithets : “sad fatigue”, “direct thicket”, “furious fellow traveler”;
- The morbid state of the people is emphasized by vulgarisms and colloquialisms : “... Well, which of us is the big one on the deck, did not fall, vomit and curse?...”, “drunk stupor”, “vomiting”;
- The importance and significance of certain moments are highlighted by repetitions : “But you didn’t know that in continuous smoke ...” (twice in the text);
At the end of his message, the poet asks for forgiveness and bitterly admits that he is not needed by the one to whom he wrote, wishes happiness and signs as a simple acquaintance:
“Always remembering you
Your friend Sergei Yesenin"
Poem text
You remember, you all, of course, remember how I stood, approaching the wall, you walked around the room excitedly and threw something sharp at my face. You said: It’s time for us to part, That you’ve been tormented by My crazy life, That it’s time for you to get down to business, And my destiny is to roll on, down. Darling! You didn't love me. You didn’t know that in the crowd of people I was like a horse driven into the soap, spurred by a brave rider. You didn’t know that I was in complete smoke, in a life torn apart by a storm. That’s why I’m tormented because I don’t understand - Where the fate of events is taking us. Face to face You can't see your face.
Big things can be seen from a distance. When the sea surface is boiling, the ship is in a deplorable state. The earth is a ship! But someone suddenly, for a new life, a new glory, majestically directed Her into the thick of storms and blizzards.
Well, who among us on the deck didn’t fall, vomit or swear? There are few of them, with an experienced soul, Who remained strong in the swing.
Then I, Amid the wild noise, But maturely knowing the work, Descended into the ship's hold, So as not to watch human vomit.
That hold was a Russian tavern. And I bent over the glass, So that, without suffering for anyone, I could ruin myself in a drunken stupor.
Darling! I tormented you, You had melancholy In your tired eyes: That I was showing off in front of you Wasting myself in scandals. But you didn’t know that in complete smoke, in a life torn apart by a storm, that’s why I’m tormented, because I don’t understand where the fate of events is taking us...
Now the years have passed. I'm at a different age. And I feel and think differently. And I say over festive wine: Praise and glory to the helmsman! Today I am in the shock of tender feelings. I remembered your sad tiredness. And now I’m rushing to tell you what I was like and what happened to me!
Darling! It’s nice for me to say: I avoided falling from the cliff. Now on the Soviet side I am the most furious fellow traveler. I am not who I was then. I wouldn't torture you like I did before. For the banner of freedom and bright labor I am ready to go even to the English Channel. Forgive me... I know: you are not the same - You live with a serious, intelligent husband; That you don’t need our toil, And you don’t need me myself one bit. Live as the star leads you, Under the tabernacle of the renewed canopy. With greetings, your acquaintance Sergei Yesenin, who always remembers you.
1924
Yesenin's success in the literary field
The poet's fame grew rapidly. Sergei began to have more and more admirers and admirers, as well as people who wanted to share a bottle of wine with the famous poet. Gradually, Yesenin began to behave cruelly with his wife: he threw hysterics and scandals, raised his hands to Zinaida, and then cried and fell to the floor, begging for forgiveness. In 1917, during the revolution, the poet’s wife was already pregnant. In anticipation of the birth of her daughter, Zinaida went to stay with relatives in the city of Orel.
The newborn girl was named Tatyana. Yesenin knew about the birth of his daughter, but did not show any desire to see the child and his wife. As a result, Zinaida came herself. After returning to Petrograd, the couple lived together for about three more years. However, three years turned out to be the decline of the relationship between Yesenin and Reich. In 1920, Yesenin had a son. Zinaida gave birth to a boy while in the Mother and Child Home. However, Sergei did not even want to look at his son. The poet saw the child only on the station platform. But he turned away - in disgust - noticing that the boy was born with black hair, and the Yesenins do not have black hair.
Divorce of Yesenin and Reich
Zinaida named her newborn son Konstantin. The boy was born weak and was often sick, so Reich took the child to Kislovodsk. Life's blows, a serious discord with her husband, and Kostya's illness simultaneously fell on Reich, which led to a nervous breakdown. Zinaida went for treatment to a sanatorium for those suffering from nervous diseases. Returning to her parents, Zinaida received another difficult news: Yesenin sent a telegram in which he asked for a divorce.
1921 is the point when the relationship between Zinaida and Yesenin officially ended. It was not for nothing that Sergei was called the robber of the curly fields,” for his ability to break women’s hearts. They say that the poet soon greatly repented of his past actions, dedicating the lines of the poem “Letter to a Woman” to his ex-wife as atonement.
Features of the verse “Letter to a Woman”
The theme of the work of the Russian poet is very ramified: several themes are touched upon here, first of all, the theme of love for the fatherland and love for a woman, as follows from the very name of the poem. The composition of the work hints at the existence of the past and the present, which do not intersect with each other.
Yesenin's letter dates back to 1924. It is quite ironic (and perhaps natural) that it was this year that the poet’s first wife, Zinaida Reich, remarried. The actress’s chosen one turned out to be the famous Russian theater director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Zinaida's family with Meyerhold turned out better than with Sergei. Vsevolod accepted his wife’s children from his first marriage, raising them as his own son and daughter. Yesenin suddenly realized how guilty he was towards his former family, towards Zinaida and the children.
As for the genre of “Letters to a Woman,” most literary scholars and philologists define it as a “poem.” This genre is not very typical for the early work of Sergei Yesenin, so the creation of “Letter to a Woman” marked the beginning of a new page in the book of the poet’s literary activity.
Information about the author, history of creation
The poem intertwines the personal, almost intimate, and the public - an understanding of the attitude towards Soviet power and new times. Literary scholars often call a work a poem, because it carries such a great load of significance in the poet’s work. The year it was written is 1924. This happened shortly before his death (1925), when Sergei Yesenin had already absorbed the tragic worldview of the Imagists and was able to convey both mental confusion and a change in his perception of changes in the country, calling himself a “fellow traveler” of the new system.
Analysis of the verse “Letter to a Woman” is impossible without understanding who the poet is addressing. Most researchers of Yesenin’s work consider the addressee to be Zinaida Reich, the only woman whom he sincerely loved. She was his married wife, and he officially separated from her in 1921. But he actually left her at the end of 1919 for the sake of a new hobby. At a time when the actress was expecting his second child, his son Konstantin.
In 1922, Reich married a director whose name is known to every theater lover - Vsevolod Meyerhold. He took upon himself all the worries about Yesenin’s children. Two years later, the poet tries to understand what happened and seems to ask for forgiveness from the woman. Zinaida Reich once told the poet that he would die “in a drunken stupor.” His poems are a response to the one whose prophecy, in his opinion, did not come true.
