Alexander Blok's attitude to the revolution. The bloc's attitude to the revolution The bloc's ambivalent attitude to the revolution

The twentieth century was a difficult and dramatic period in the history of our state. At this time, the birth of a new state took place. This is a time of difficult trials and changes. The revolutionary events of 1917-1918 left their mark on the history of Russia. The revolution shook a huge country, it did not go unnoticed and affected everyone. Alexander Blok also did not remain indifferent. He expressed his attitude to revolutionary events in the poem “The Twelve.”

In parallel with the poem "" Blok worked on the poem "Scythians" and the article "Intellectuals and Revolution." These creative works also reflect the author’s attitude to the events of 1917-1918.

It is worth noting that Blok perceived the beginning of the revolution joyfully and enthusiastically. He called to listen to the voice of the revolution and follow it. The author saw something new and different in the revolution. Blok believed that now life in Russia would change. But later, we see how this delight goes away, the attitude towards the events changing. Blok tries to objectively look at revolutionary events and evaluate them. The poem “The Twelve” became a reflection of the author’s objective thoughts about those events.

The revolution in the poem “The Twelve” is shown as a spontaneous and uncontrolled event. The author compares it to a blizzard and blizzard, to a blizzard that sweeps away everything in its path. For Blok, the revolution became an inevitable event. It contains all the discontent and hatred that in an instant broke free and is now sweeping across the expanses of a great country, sweeping away figures of “bourgeois vulgarity.”

The revolution breaks the old world of “ladies”, “bourgeois”, “vitiy”. She is merciless to them. In the lines of the poem we hear lines about the death of Russia. But that's not true. The old world is dying, and a new one is taking its place.

For Blok, the revolution has two sides: black and white. Everything that happened at that time was drenched in blood and violence, accompanied by robberies and murders. That is why throughout the entire work there is a struggle between “black evening” and “white snow”. Blok is trying to understand whether a revolution can really create something new or is it only capable of destruction.

The driving force of the revolution is the image of the twelve. These are ordinary soldiers who walk with confident steps along the streets of a revolutionary city. The block does not clearly refer to them. In the poem, they are first depicted as bandits (“cigarettes in their teeth, wearing a cap”), but then the author says that they are simple Russian guys who went to serve in the Red Army. Then again Block shows their dirty deeds. They pour out their anger and hatred on innocent people. The Twelve kill Katka without any doubt, just because she is now with someone else.

The image of the revolution in the poem “The Twelve” is inextricably linked with the image of Christ. Although the twelve are constantly trying to get rid of him, he still leads their “victorious” procession. Christ, as once upon a time, once again descended to earth to illuminate the right path for the lost.

In the poem “The Twelve,” Blok never assesses the events taking place. The revolution for the author became an inevitable event, but he was never able to understand its cruelty and inhumanity.

Blok's attitude to the revolution

- a complex complex of thoughts and feelings, hopes and worries. From the poet’s biography you know that he, one of the few among the Russian intelligentsia, accepted the revolution and sided with the Bolsheviks. The poet sincerely writes about his mood in the poetic message “Z. Gippius":

Scary, sweet, inevitable, necessary

I should throw myself into the foamy shaft...

Blok expresses his thoughts about the revolution and the fate of man in an era of colossal achievements in the article “Intellectuals and the Revolution”, in the poems “Scythians” and “The Twelve”.

Let us make an attempt to understand Blok’s worldview through his magnum opus – “The Twelve”. The poem was written in January 1918. The author's first entry about her was made on January 8. January 29 Blok writes: “Today I am a genius.” This is the only self-characterization of this kind in the entire creative destiny of the poet.

The poem becomes widely known. On March 3, 1918, it was published in the newspaper “Znamya Truda”, in April - together with an article about it by the critic Ivanov-Razumnik, “Test in a thunderstorm and storm” - in the magazine “Our Way”. In November 1918, the poem “The Twelve” was published as a separate brochure.

Blok himself never read “The Twelve” aloud. However, in 1918–1920. At Petrograd literary evenings, the poem was read more than once by L. D. Blok, the poet’s wife and professional actress.

The appearance of the poem caused a storm of contradictory interpretations. Many of Blok’s contemporaries, even former close friends and associates, decisively and completely did not accept it. Among the irreconcilable opponents of the “Twelve” were Z. Gippius, N. Gumilyov, I. Bunin. Ivanov-Razumnik, V. Meyerhold, and S. Yesenin accepted the poem with delight. Blok received an approving review from A. Lunacharsky.

The most complex, subtle, and meaningful was the reaction of those who, without accepting the “topical meaning” of “The Twelve,” saw the brilliance, depth, tragedy, poetic novelty, and high inconsistency of the poem. This is how M. Voloshin, N. Berdyaev, G. Adamovich, O. Mandelstam and others rated “The Twelve”.

Listen to how M. Voloshin expressed his impressions:

The poem “The Twelve” is one of the beautiful artistic realizations of revolutionary reality. Without betraying himself, Blok wrote a deeply real and - surprisingly - lyrically objective thing. The internal affinity of “The Twelve” with “Snow Mask” is especially striking. This is the same St. Petersburg winter night, the same St. Petersburg blizzard... the same wine and love frenzy, the same blind human heart that has lost its way among the snow whirlwinds, the same elusive image of the Crucified One, gliding in the snowy flame... To convey the carbonated and dull lyrics of their heroes The block approached through the tunes and rhythms of ditties, street and political songs, common words and popular democratic words. The poet's musical task was to create a subtly noble symphony of rhythms from deliberately vulgar sounds.

...There is nothing unexpected in this appearance of Christ at the end of the blizzard Petersburg poem. As always with Blok, He is invisibly present and shines through the obsessions of the world, just as the Beautiful Lady shines through the features of Harlots and Strangers. After the first – “Eh, eh without a cross” – Christ is already here...

Now it (the poem) is used as a Bolshevik work, with the same success it can be used as a pamphlet against Bolshevism, distorting and emphasizing its other aspects. But its artistic value, fortunately, stands on the other side of these temporary fluctuations in the political exchange.

Blok felt the direction of the historical movement and brilliantly conveyed this future unfolding before his eyes: the state of souls, the mood, the rhythms of the procession of some segments of the population and the ossified doom of others.

Blok's attitude towards the poem was quite complex. In April 1920, a “Note on the Twelve” was written: “... In January 1918, I surrendered to the elements for the last time no less blindly than in January 1907 or March 1914... Those who see political poems in “The Twelve”, or very blind to art, or sitting up to their necks in political mud, or possessed by great malice - be they enemies or friends of my poem.” (Here Blok compares this poem with the cycles “Snow Mask” and “Carmen”.)

The poem “The Twelve” was the result of Blok’s knowledge of Russia, its rebellious elements, and creative potential. Not in defense, not in glorification of the “coup party” - but in defense of the “people's soul”, slandered and humiliated (from Blok’s point of view), erupting in rebellion, maximalist “all or nothing”, standing on the brink of death, cruel punishment - it was written poem. Blok sees and knows what is happening: the shelling of the Kremlin, pogroms, the horror of lynchings, burning of estates (Blok’s family estate in Shakhmatovo was burned), the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, the murder of the ministers of the Provisional Government Shingarev and Kokoshkin in the hospital. According to A. Remizov, the news of this murder became the impetus for the start of work on the poem. In these “lifeless” weeks of January 1918, Blok considered it the highest duty of a Russian artist, a “repentant nobleman,” a lover of the people to give to the people, to sacrifice to the will of the “people’s soul,” even his last asset—the measure and system of ethical values.

The poem is dictated by this sacrifice, awareness of one’s strength, immeasurable, unreasoning pity. Voloshin will call her “a merciful representative for the soul of Russian Razinovism.”

The problem of Blok's attitude to the revolution is complex and mysterious. On the one hand, ending “The Twelve” with the image of Christ carrying a flag, Blok makes it clear that revolution is a positive phenomenon, but despite this, in the murder scene there are notes of sincere pity and compassion for the murdered girl, who was, in general, representative of the old and outdated world. This position gives us the opportunity to assume that the poet’s understanding of the revolution was more mystical than logical. Blok saw in it not a historical phenomenon designed to liberate and make people happy, but a process of transition of the entire world into another, new state, leading to the degeneration of not only society , but also the person himself.

The construction of the poem “The Twelve” gives us a clear idea of the system of the world into which the revolution came. At the beginning of the work, a description is given of What remains from the former life. These are shreds and fragments of phrases, the constant and meaningless movement of snow and wind, poverty and darkness. The main properties of the old world are its fragmentation and aimlessness, its two-coloredness. Blok clearly does not recognize the right to life for such a world. A lady, a priest, a writer are just parodies of people. Such a world is like a shell from which a chick has already hatched, that is, twelve.

They are the only force capable of moving forward among the ruins of the old. They have no purpose, but there is structure and orderliness that gives the impression of meaning. The clash between two worlds, the world of chaos and the world of order, is shown in the scene of Katka's murder.

It must be said that different parts of the poem are written in different rhythms, and the theme of twelve is accompanied by the size of a march, while the theme of Katka before what happened to her* is given in the rhythm of ditties. This reveals a fundamental difference between two systems of views, two worldviews. In the first case, when describing the twelve, their unity and determination are emphasized - the most important, in my opinion, force of the revolution. The poet cannot fail to recognize the victory of this way of life. The size of the ditties, on the contrary, convinces us of the out-of-dateness and doom of everything old, everything that was dear to the poet himself. After all, the real feeling shines through in Petka’s monologue, which carries the music of Blok’s previous poems. But at the same time, the poet understands: what happened can no longer not only be returned, but even partially resurrected. That is why Petrukha refuses her love, because “these are not such times,” there is no place for feeling in a world remade by the revolution. In such duality lies the greatest tragedy of the poet. On the one hand, he cannot remain in the old world, but at the same time he cannot go along with the twelve who deny poetry.

It turns out that Blok accepts and at the same time does not accept the revolution, recognizing its unconditional and legal right to change the universe, but not finding his place in it. It is interesting that at the end of the poem the old world is transformed into a small stray dog, tagging along with people. This indicates that the twelve have really escaped from the old cosmos and are moving in a completely different space, led by Christ himself.

The image of Christ can have many meanings, and it is not clear which of them corresponds to the poet’s intention. It seems to me that this symbol was chosen by Blok because Christ is God and the messenger of God, that is, the bearer of a higher, universal meaning, but at the same time, he is a suffering man going to Calvary. It turns out that Christ, walking ahead of the twelve with a bloody flag, not only blesses and justifies them, but also shows them the path of suffering and, perhaps, death.

Summarizing all that has been said, we can conclude that. Blok accepted and justified the revolution, but did not see either his place in the changing world or the ultimate goal of everything that was happening. For him, the destruction of the old fit into the picture of the development of life because, in his opinion, all the vulgarity and filth of the society around him could not but be destroyed, and the only force capable of purifying the universe, he saw the archaic force of the “twelve” - either workers, either a soldier, or perhaps just prisoners who had nothing in common either with himself or with the society in which he lived.

Alexander Aleksandrovich Blok is one of the most talented and largest poets in Russia, who tried in his work to reflect the complex, harsh and turning point time at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

The Bloc enthusiastically accepted the October Revolution. The October Revolution discovered Blok as an artist, inspired him to create “12,” his best work, after finishing which he was usually mercilessly strict with himself and said: “Today I am a genius!”

A conversation about the poem “The Twelve” should begin with Blok’s diary entry, where he writes: “In January 1918, I surrendered to the elements for the last time no less blindly than in January 1907 or March 1914.”

Long before the revolution, the poet had a presentiment of it, prophesied it in his poems, wrote about “how anger matures in the heart,” and “the maturity of anger is rebellion.” And he observed this rebellion back in the revolution of 1905 and foresaw a “senseless and merciless” rebellion in the future:

Alexander Blok's poem “The Twelve” was written in the first winter after the October Revolution. Bolshevik power is gradually being established in the country, and new, completely unacceptable previously relations are emerging between representatives of various strata of society.

It was a terrible time: behind four years of war, the feeling of freedom in the days of the February Revolution, the October Revolution and the coming to power of the Bolsheviks.

Although Blok was one of the leaders of a movement that was generally far from real life - symbolism, in his works he constantly sympathized with the working people, especially workers.

The poem “The Twelve” was written by A Blok in January 1918, when the October events were already behind us, but not enough time had passed to comprehend them and give an objective historical assessment.

A.A. Blok is a tragic figure in our national history, “a lost child,” wrote Z. Gippius. He is tragic for his role as a romantic in the revolution, a genius captured by the elements and who saw with his own eyes the “blind and merciless Russian rebellion.”

Alexander Blok has come a long way from a chamber poet who sang the “pink cloud of dreams” and the “sweet warrior” “dressed in silver” to the creator of the poem “The Twelve”, who with great power expressed the terrible “music of destruction” and the longing for other music.

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok, who glorified patriotic feelings and sentiments with his poetry, created the most delightful image of the Beautiful Lady, who received great recognition during his lifetime and had great success among the fairer sex.

Why is the poem called "The Twelve"? Why does Jesus Christ at Blok precede the procession of a detachment of Red Guards? What is the role of contrast in the artistic structure of a poem?

Alexander Aleksandrovich Blok is a brilliant master of words, one of the first Russian poets who managed to hear and pour into poetry the “music of the revolution.” In the poem “The Twelve,” Blok tried to capture such an unusual, stormy and interesting time.

The central plot of the poem “The Twelve” is very simple: a Red Guard patrol walks along the winter night street of revolutionary Petrograd. But this night, this blizzard and blizzard, in which the oncoming figures are lost, involuntarily reminds one of Pasternak’s “Winter Night”.

A. A. Blok is a tragic figure in our national history, as Z. Gippius wrote about him, “a lost child.” He is tragic for his role as a romantic in the revolution, a genius captured by the elements and who saw with his own eyes the “blind and merciless Russian rebellion.”

Darkness and chaos in A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve”

Alexander Aleksandrovich Blok was everything - a poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator, literary critic. In addition, A. A. Blok is one of the classics of Russian literature of the twentieth century. Russian symbolism is unthinkable without this author. He made a huge contribution to its development and is one of its largest representatives. A. A. Blok lived in difficult historical times, which were rich in events. One of them was the October Revolution. Blok’s attitude towards the revolution cannot be defined as unambiguous, which is what will be discussed in this article.

Historical background - October Revolution

The October Revolution did not come out of nowhere; it had its own reasons. The people of that time were tired of hostilities, complete collapse threatened industry and agriculture, the peasants became increasingly poor every day in the absence of a solution to the agrarian issue. The implementation of social and economic reforms was constantly delayed, and a financial crisis of a catastrophic nature arose in the country. As a result of this, at the beginning of July 1917, Petrograd was shaken by popular unrest, which demanded the overthrow of the Provisional Government. The authorities issue a decree to suppress a peaceful demonstration with the use of weapons. A wave of arrests sweeps through, and executions begin everywhere. At this moment the bourgeoisie wins. But in August the revolutionaries regain their positions.

Since July, the Bolsheviks carried out extensive campaigning among workers and military personnel. And it brought results. The attitude has taken root in the minds of the people: the Bolshevik Party is the only element of the political system that truly stands for the protection of the working people. In September, the Bolsheviks receive more than half of the votes in the elections to the district dumas. The bourgeoisie is collapsing because it did not have mass support. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin begins developing a plan for an armed uprising in order to win power for the Soviets. On October 24, the uprising began, and armed units loyal to the government were immediately isolated from it. On October 25, in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks successfully captured bridges, the telegraph, and government offices. On October 26, the Winter Palace was captured and members of the Provisional Government were arrested. The October Revolution of 1917 divided the world into two large sides - capitalist and socialist.

What was Blok's attitude to the 1917 revolution?

He made a huge contribution to its development and is one of its largest representatives. A. A. Blok lived in difficult historical times, which were rich in events. One of them was the October Revolution.

Blok’s attitude towards the revolution cannot be defined as unambiguous, which is what will be discussed in this article.

Historical background – October Revolution

The implementation of social and economic reforms was constantly delayed, and a financial crisis of a catastrophic nature arose in the country. As a result of this, at the beginning of July 1917, Petrograd was shaken by popular unrest, which demanded the overthrow of the Provisional Government. The authorities issue a decree to suppress a peaceful demonstration with the use of weapons.

A wave of arrests sweeps through, and executions begin everywhere. At this moment the bourgeoisie wins. But in August the revolutionaries regain their positions.

Since July, the Bolsheviks carried out extensive campaigning among workers and military personnel. And it brought results. The attitude has taken root in the minds of the people: the Bolshevik Party is the only element of the political system that truly stands for the protection of the working people.

In September, the Bolsheviks receive more than half in the elections to the district dumas. The bourgeoisie is collapsing because it did not have mass support. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin begins developing a plan for an armed uprising in order to win power for the Soviets.

On October 24, the uprising began, and armed units loyal to the government were immediately isolated from it. On October 25, in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks successfully captured bridges, the telegraph, and government offices.

On October 26, the Winter Palace was captured and members of the Provisional Government were arrested. The October Revolution of 1917 divided the world into two large sides - capitalist and socialist.

The 20th century was a difficult period in Russian history. The October Revolution of 1917 shook society. This historical event left no one indifferent. One of the public groups that responded to what happened was the Russian intelligentsia. In 1918, the famous poem “The Twelve” was written by Alexander Alexandrovich Blok.

The author’s attitude towards the 1917 Revolution has been discussed for many generations, and each time more and more new interpretations of his position appear. No one can say that A. A. Blok adhered to a specific side (let’s say as simply as possible: “Was the uprising good for the country?”). Let's figure out what is contradictory about Blok's attitude towards the revolution.

Brief plot of the poem “The Twelve”

A patrol detachment consisting of twelve people is walking along the streets of Petrograd. The revolutionaries are discussing their former comrade Vanka, who abandoned the revolution for the sake of drinking and became friends with a former prostitute, Katka.

In addition to talking about a comrade, the patrolmen sing a song about serving in the Red Army.

The man who killed her regrets what happened, but the others condemn him for it. The patrol moves further down the street, and a stray dog, who was driven away with bayonets, joins them.

After this, the revolutionaries saw the vague outlines of a figure in front of them - Jesus Christ was walking in front of them.

Not only “Twelve”

During the period of time when Blok was creating the poem “The Twelve,” he was simultaneously working on the poem “Scythians” and the article “Intellectuals and Revolution.” Blok’s attitude towards the October Revolution in these works was very clear. He encouraged everyone to fully listen and hear the Revolution.

Delight is what the author initially felt in relation to what happened. Blok saw great changes that would in the future lead Russia to a time of prosperity and a truly better life. However, Blok's attitude towards the Revolution began to change over time. After all, sometimes hopes are not destined to be justified.

The wind of change. Blok's new attitude to revolution

In the poem “The Twelve,” the author rethinks history. The former enthusiasm and praise are absent.

Objectivity in relation to what is happening is what comes to the fore when determining the Bloc’s attitude towards the Revolution. Historical events are beginning to be perceived as spontaneous phenomena.

He compares them to a storm, a blizzard, which in their movement and action do not have any specific goal or direction.

What is Blok’s attitude towards the revolution now? From a symbol of a new better life, it is transformed into natural will and inevitability. Everything that had been accumulating for years, discontent and complaints, suddenly broke free and began to destroy everything that stood in the way. This is the reason why at the beginning of the poem, when describing the winter streets, the wind tears down the bourgeois posters.

A world that is dying

The symbolism of Blok, of which he became the personification, is also present in this poem. The pre-Soviet world is dying - it is represented by the “lady in karkul”, the “bourgeois” and others who feel uncomfortable under the revolutionary wind.

The lady slips, and the bourgeois hides his nose in his collar to keep warm. At the same time, Blok does not mean the death of the entire large country, but rather the departure of the old way of life.

Contrasting colors of events that happened

The natural contrast of black evening and white snow is transferred to people. Their emotions are painted in two contrasting colors: anger is divided into black and holy. Blok’s attitude towards the Revolution in the poem “The Twelve” becomes contradictory, because he understands the obviousness that revolutionary good goals are often achieved through violent and oppressive means.

Everywhere a reign of robbery, violence, murder and immorality is established. But at the same time, the thought runs through the entire work about whether there is still at least a drop of hope for the creative power of the revolution.

Twelve Red Guards

The main expression of Blok’s attitude to the revolution in the poem “12” is the image of patrolmen. The purpose of the patrol is to establish order. However, the Red Guards themselves are uncontrollable, like a storm or the wind. They act completely unpredictably, their actions cannot be predicted, and their emotions and feelings are unknown. This is the tragedy of the situation.

In addition, the outward expression of the image of the patrollers does not correspond to a new better life. They look more like prisoners - dented caps, rolled cigarettes in their teeth. On the other hand, for the poet, patrolmen are ordinary Russians who are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the Revolution, but specifically for what purpose remains unclear.

This symbolizes the death of Katka, killed in a spontaneous outburst of a patrolman who succumbed to a flash of momentary violent emotions. Blok cannot help but emphasize the tragedy of Katya’s death, since Blok’s woman is being killed. Holiness and sinfulness are combined in the poem.

Throughout the entire narrative, the patrolmen constantly talk about renouncing Christ. For Russian people, the “sacred” has always been characteristic, a symbol of morality and spiritual purity. But despite everything, the guards cannot completely renounce Christ.

At the end of the poem, they still meet with him, while the patrolmen were waiting for the enemy, and a holy image appeared. The importance of the image of Christ lies in the fact that he walks with a gentle step. Which is equal to how he came two thousand years ago to save human souls.

One of the provisions of Blok’s attitude towards the revolution is that he understood and accepted the inevitability of what was happening around him, but at the same time he never came to terms with immoral and inhuman revolutionary methods.

Finally

Considering the twentieth century, its events and the intelligentsia who lived at that time, one can notice how they reacted emotionally and deeply to the historical events taking place. A. A. Blok was one of the first to react to revolutionary actions, and at the same time his reaction was complex and mysterious.

In the poem “The Twelve” this problem reaches its peak. On the one hand, the fact that the poem ends with the image of Christ carrying a flag makes the reader understand that revolution can be a positive phenomenon. But on the other hand, the scene of the girl’s murder is accompanied by real and sincere pity and compassion.

Katya is the image of the old, passing world. This leads the reader to the fact that Blok’s rethinking of the revolution becomes less logical and more mystical in nature.

From a historical event for Blok, the revolution became a process of transition of society into a new, completely different state, which could lead to the degeneration of the human personality. The collision between two worlds must lead humanity somewhere.

Source: https://FB.ru/article/367304/kakovo-byilo-otnoshenie-bloka-k-revolyutsii-goda

A turning point, difficult and global changes

The 20th century was a difficult period in Russian history. The October Revolution of 1917 shook society. This historical event left no one indifferent. One of the public groups that responded to what happened was In 1918, the famous poem “The Twelve” was written by Alexander Alexandrovich Blok.

Brief plot of the poem “The Twelve”

For those who did not study well at school, let us briefly recall the plot of the poem. The first chapter introduces the plot of the action. The author describes the winter snowy streets of Petrograd, engulfed in revolution (winter of 1917-1918). The portraits of passers-by are striking in their brevity, but their imagery. A patrol detachment consisting of twelve people is walking along the streets of Petrograd. The revolutionaries are discussing their former comrade Vanka, who abandoned the revolution for the sake of drinking and became friends with a former prostitute, Katka. In addition to talking about a comrade, the patrolmen sing a song about serving in the Red Army.

Suddenly the patrol encounters a cart in which Vanka and Katka were traveling. The revolutionaries attack them, the cabman was able to escape, and Katya was killed by a shot from one of the patrolmen. The man who killed her regrets what happened, but the others condemn him for it. The patrol moves further down the street, and a stray dog, who was driven away with bayonets, joins them. After this, the revolutionaries saw the vague outlines of a figure in front of them - Jesus Christ was walking in front of them.

Not only "Twelve"

Report: Theme of Revolution in Blok's Creativity

Short biography.

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok was born in 1880 in St. Petersburg. His grandfather

mother A.N. Beketov was a prominent scientist, rector of St. Petersburg University.

The poet's father was a professor of philosophy and law at the University of Warsaw.

Blok’s wife is the daughter of the famous Russian chemist D.I. Mendeleev. Childhood

the future poet spent time in the Beketov family, lived on his grandfather’s estate Shakhmatovo

(near the city of Kalinin). The Blok family paid a lot of attention to literature

and art. Grandmother, Blok’s mother and her sisters were engaged in artistic and

scientific translations. The atmosphere that reigned in the Beketov family contributed to

the fact that Alexander Blok began to write poetry early. In 1906 Blok

graduated from the Faculty of History and Philosophy of St. Petersburg University, still

While a student, he began writing poetry. Blok’s memory retains a characteristic

episode from my student years. Your own poems, written based on paintings

V. Vasnetsov, he took it to V. P. Ostrovsky, editor of the democratic magazine

"Mirbozhiy". “Having run through the poems,” recalls Blok in his later autobiography,

- He said: “Shame on you, young man, when at the university God

knows what’s going on!” - and sent me away with ferocious indifference. Then this

it was a shame, but now it’s more pleasant to remember this than many later ones

praises." Blok lived a difficult life in difficult times.

Russia at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Life changes quickly and becomes more complicated.

The development of industry and transport, communications, technical progress is making

its intense. All this is accompanied by a social crisis, active

searches in philosophy and religion. Towards a new century, something new is emerging in the country

art, which we now call the art of the “Silver Age”. Naive and

flat “realism”, the truisms of “positivism” cease to satisfy;

The “harmonic” means of 19th-century verse are being largely erased.

Boldly and defiantly, new forces enter literature: Konstantin Balmont,

Valery Bryusov occupy key places on the poetic Olympus, and Dmitry

Merezhkovsky justifies the change in a special treatise “On the Causes of Decline

about new trends in modern Russian literature." This is the manifesto of the new

trends in literature. These are the so-called “senior symbolists”.

A decade later, the “younger” ones also appeared. Two young poets, no one

Famous, not even familiar with each other, mystically inclined, intently

We looked closely at everything new that the new 20th century brought with it. Even varied and

The bright sunsets of that time seemed to both an extraordinary “age of dawns” and

Associated with mystical expectation, an omen of something new,

Unusual, globally significant.

One of these people, Alexander Blok, watched these sunsets in St. Petersburg,

the other is Boris Bugaev, who entered literature under the pseudonym “Andrei Bely”,

in Moscow. Both were influenced by modern poetry, lived in the world of Ibsen,

philosophy of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, music of Wagner, novels of Dostoevsky, poetry

Tyutchev and Fet, philosophy and poetry of Vladimir Solov. A. Bely theoretically

He substantiated symbolism as the art of higher synthesis, which has not only

artistic, but also prophetic, life-creative meaning.

The poems of young A. Blok had not yet been published anywhere, and his mother forwarded them

to Moscow, to his cousin, the artist O. Solovyova, was there at that time

Andrey Bely, who lived next door. In letters to Zinaida Gippius, the famous

The St. Petersburg poetess O. Solovva wrote that Borya Bugaev (A. Bely) from

poems of the newly minted St. Petersburg poet A. Blok in delight.

In January 1903, their correspondence began, and both wrote at the same time

so that the letters met and passed each other on the road, which was given a mystical

significance. A year later in January 1904, when A. Blok arrived in Moscow with his

their young wife had a personal meeting.

Bely in Moscow became the head of the “Argonauts” circle, members of the circle

Having become acquainted with A. Blok’s poems, they took him to heart and considered him theirs.

The St. Petersburg poet, who had not yet been published, began to “rattle” in a group of enthusiastic

his followers.

Blok began writing poetry very early, but he did not immediately decide as a poet;

He was more interested in the career of a dramatic artist; he took part in several

amateur and semi-professional performances. Lyrical poems

were created along the way, as if for themselves, as a means of self-expression. The block is not

I was in a hurry to publish, although there were already several hundred poems. And when in 1903

two collections of Blok’s poems appeared in print, and then the first collection

“Poems about a Beautiful Lady” - it turned out to be an incomparable debut. Blok did not immediately perform

as a beginner, but as an established poet, who began to be compared with Fet.

He enters the literary circles of both capitals, meets Merezhskovsky,

Bryusov, gets closer to A. Bely and S. Solovyov - becomes a noticeable figure

a young movement at that time - symbolism.

The collection “Poems about a Beautiful Lady” was not a mechanical collection of everything

what was written by the poet by this time (1905) was carefully compiled and

was distinguished by the unity of theme and composition, where each poem developed a common

idea. This idea was instilled in Blok by the poetic philosophy of V.S. Solovyov: the idea

Eternal Femininity and the signs and “premonitions” associated with it. Premonitions

associated with the beginning of a new century, which the poet felt as new not only

calendar, but essentially. These mystical premonitions in social language

(alien at that time to Blok himself) were caused by a turning point in the life of the country at

turn of two centuries, the complication of the mental life of the creative intelligentsia.

Symbolism gained a strong influence, expressing complex

the experiences of a person living the spiritual aspirations of the new century. Blok the poet

developed within this current. But even before meeting him directly

The poetic quests of the young Blok were also connected with the poets who preceded him.

the works of Tyutchev, Fet, Apukhtin, Polonsky and especially Vl. Solovyov.

Idialistic mood, service to Femininity and Beauty, estate

motives, a combination of intimate, love and philosophical themes, musicality,

the melodiousness of the verse—such is Blok’s young lyricism, adopted by him from his predecessors.

Pushing away from rationalism and positivism that he hated, mastering technology

symbolism, Blok creates mystical-romantic works based on

fascinating inconsistencies and ambiguities, becomes a master

indistinct poetic speech, similar to the paintings of other impressionists.

The theme itself required such a darkening of the verse: a vague myth about the Mysterious,

Incomprehensible Femininity and Beauty that can transform the world.

“Poems about a Beautiful Lady” became the basis of the first book of lyrical

works by Blok, to which the poet himself gave the appearance and meaning of a lyrical diary.

However, these early lyrics with their mystical experiences were not accepted

traditional liberal criticism. The ideal of serving the Eternal Feminine in

“Poem to the Beautiful Lady” is contrasted with the base concerns of people “about gold

and bread,” but this motif is rare, and it is wrong to think that in the poet’s early poems there is no

no sociality: the expectation of a Beautiful Lady is combined with a vague consciousness

trouble, cosmic cataclysm, threatening world catastrophe.

The poet gazes intently into life and sees its realities, even the hardships

factory work and everyday city life. These motives are reinforced

in the second book (poems 1904-1908). The revolution of 1905 awakened in the poet

consciousness of civic responsibility: there is no peace and happiness when the world is divided into

hungry and well-fed. A rare openness bursts into the poet’s work.

political lyrics: “Fed”, “Rally”, “Hanging over the world city...”,

however, Blok accepted the revolution only emotionally, sacrificially

As a personal drama, there is no direct glorification of the revolution in Blok’s poems.

The volume was based on a collection of poems – “Unexpected Joy” (1907).

The title indicated the poet's discovery of the "image of the coming world" associated

the movement of the people, the social lower classes. In the opening volume of the program

poem that she was a beautiful Lady, “went to the fields without returning.”

The turmoil of city life gave rise to the appearance of “attic” poems depicting

city in the traditions of Nekrasov, Gogol, Dostoevsky - in all its factory-like

factory and household ugliness. Gradually from mystic-romantic

troubadour Blok turns into a poet who cares about the fate of Russia.

Another theme is nature, “bubbles of the earth” – with its material plane

also destroyed the style of “Poems about a Beautiful Lady.” Blok quarreled with

by their friends “Solovyovites” - A. Bely and S. Solovyov, who saw here

betrayed the canons of symbolism.

The central poem of the collection, “Stranger” (1906), brought Blok

great fame. Here the woman is a vision, the embodiment of an ideal, but in contrast

from the Beautiful Lady, the image is earthly, earthly, real and, moreover, restaurant, although

and contrasted with the vulgarity of everyday life.

The image of the lyrical hero also changes - this is a lonely person in a state of

psychological depression, the causes of which are social, fills its despair

alcohol. This image is autobiagrophic, lyrical, corresponds to worldview and

the poet’s “vagrant life” during these years. The figure of a tramp, a wanderer,

renouncing the traditional values of the urban culture and being

along the way, wandering through the homeless, poor native land, which he selflessly

loves. The poem “Autumn Will” was written, it is not by chance that it is marked not only

date, but also the place of its creation - Rogachevskoye Highway. Creativity begins with him

Blok is a huge theme of the Motherland.

The third book of poems (1907-1916) is the main and main one in the entire heritage

Blok, here poetry reached its highest maturity. The traces finally disappear

of the former “decadence”, the poems are distinguished by the perfection of form, strict

simplicity. The main theme of the book is Russia, its complex tragic history,

expresses pain for the fate of the homeland, plunged into a world war.

Russia is generally becoming the main topic of the Bloc. Thought about the people, the people

and intelligentsia, about Russia and the revolution, intelligentsia and revolution, hatred of

vulgarity and lack of spirituality of the “terrible” world are the main cross-cutting themes not only

Blok's lyrics, but also his dramas, articles, diary entries - all his creativity.

It is this theme that first of all creates a sense of Blok’s integrity, his personality and his

creative heritage in all genres.

Blok greeted the February Revolution of 1917 with enthusiasm and hope

life change. While on the front line in military service, he

wrote to his mother, “What is happening is happening in the spirit of my anxiety.”

In the spring of 1917, returning to St. Petersburg, he accepted the offer to be

one of the editors of the protocols of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission,

investigated the activities of former tsarist ministers. All the work of the commission

took place in the Winter Palace. The commission did not have time to complete its work, but the result

Blok’s work in it became his documentary book “The Last Days of the Imperial

authorities (1921).

At first the poet reacted more cautiously to the October Revolution.

In November and December, he did not reveal his moods in any way and even stopped conducting

diary, but in January 1918 he developed extraordinary creative activity.

Within a few days the poem “The Twelve”, a large poem, was created

“Scythians”, dedicated to the tragic events of the Brest Peace and relations with

West, and the article “Intellectuals and Revolution”

The poem "Twelve", caused by the October days, received a one-sided

interpretation both on the left and on the right. The Block itself with some delay

warned of this in the “Note on the Twelve” (1920); revolution theme

did not mean for the poet the political, agitational orientation of the poem.

“The Twelve” did not depict the revolution, but Russia at the moment of the revolution.

The poetic idealization of the Bolshevik revolution, if it is to some extent

present in the work, connected by Blok with an uncompromisingly realistic

depicting revolutionary Petrograd and the makers of the revolution themselves from

of the people's lower classes, bred without any beauty. In this dual, indefinite

position of the poet, rooting for the fate of Russia, showed sympathy for the revolution, but

at the same time, there is uncertainty about its results and prospects. Main in

The work contains the pathos of the destruction of the old world, which was most important for the poet.

Since 1905, Blok became involved in the revolution “as if he had long secretly wanted to die” (record

diary August 15, 1915). Inconsistency and weakness of perception

revolutionBlok emerged in the unconvincing image of Jesus Christ,

appearing at the very end of the poem as a kind of symbol of holiness

revolution.

It is characteristic that not only the literary elite in the person of A. Akhmatova,

D. Merezhskovsky, Z. Gippius, F. Solguba expressed their sharp rejection of the poem

Blok, but the revolution itself and its leading figures accepted it very restrainedly,

Moreover, this poem and Blok’s articles of that time were published in printed

organ-Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, with whom the poet, without organizational membership in any parties

had literary connections. In February 1919, he was briefly subjected to

temporary arrest and interrogation by the Cheka.

Blok believed in the cleansing power of revolution, imagined it

“musical pressure”, heard “the noise from the fall of the old world”, - “a terrible world”

a dislike for which had been brewing in the poet for a long time. Furious curses directed at

intelligentsia and bourgeois in the January and February diary of 1918 give out,

a state close to insanity can serve as material for a psychopathologist.

These materials could not have been better. But they exist, and they only help us understand

what kind of hatred for bourgeois “civilization” pushed the poet into the elements

revolution.

A revolution in Blok’s consciousness, his new works caused a whole storm

in society, split it in two. The poet's sincerity was beyond everyone's control.

suspicions, but none the more forgivable was his “fall” for both.

Blok “accepted” the idea of revolution, being not experienced in real politics,

obeying only the voice of one’s own emotions and one’s own conscience.Block

What I expected from the revolution was not at all what it was unrealistic. It soon became clear

that the expected cleansing “element”, “music” of the revolution, the appearance of “man

artist”, which Blok drew from Nietzsche and Wagner, did not materialize. Blok hoped

on the culturally transformative role of the revolution, but it turned out to be a

bureaucracy, cruelty, rampant banditry and unprecedented decline

morals

The image of Christ at the end of the poem caused misunderstanding and misunderstandings.

The subsequent time, until his death, became the way of the cross for Blok.

Blokne just stopped hearing the “music of the revolution,” he felt “a gap in history,

which we found ourselves in,” suddenly “air” disappeared for him and he suffocated. It’s hard for me

breathe, my heart took up half my chest... (one of the last entries in his diary on June 18

1921). Only immediate

departure to the sanatorium. M. Gorky and other writers petitioned in Moscow for

permission for the poet to travel to Finland. After a series of misunderstandings and delays

On August 5, permission was received, but the forms were lost and it was impossible to write out

foreign passports. On August 7, 1921, the poet died, as he later wrote

A. Bely “he suffocated from the very difficult air of life”

The wind of change. Blok's new attitude to revolution

In the poem “The Twelve,” the author rethinks history. The former enthusiasm and praise are absent. Objectivity in relation to what is happening is what comes to the fore when determining the Bloc’s attitude towards the Revolution. Historical events are beginning to be perceived as spontaneous phenomena. He compares them to a storm, a blizzard, which in their movement and action do not have any specific goal or direction.

A. Blok’s attitude to the revolution

A. Blok, Russian poet, classic of Russian literature of the 20th century. By the beginning of the First World War, the poet was already 34 years old. By this time, he already had significant authority in intellectual circles, but despite this, Blok was unable to avoid the war in its present form. The poet felt all its falseness and was able to understand the mood of the soldier dressed in a soldier’s overcoat.

The World War was truly a worldwide disaster in its consequences. The year 1917 was the biggest manifestation of the impending changes. By the beginning of 1917, those around Emperor Nicholas II understood that revolution was inevitable. And soon it erupted. Russia entered a period of revolutionary upheaval.

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For Blok, the revolution was not a surprise. The poet was waiting for her and preparing to accept her in all reality. In March 1917, A. Blok returned from the front to Petrograd. The poet was appointed secretary of the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry, which had just been established by the Provisional Government. The task of the commission was to investigate the illegal actions of former tsarist officials and ministers, since it was necessary to justify the overthrow of the previous regime.

A. Blok’s work on the commission led the poet to the idea that the activities of the Provisional Government were useless. By August 1917, A. Blok had already become disillusioned with the February revolution, so in October he enthusiastically welcomed the Bolshevik coup.

In the October Revolution, the poet saw a victorious uprising of the “elements”, a “world fire”. According to him, in the word “revolution” he felt something “terrible” - a lot of blood, innocent victims and the mercilessness of popular reprisals.

All these terrible sensations, thoughts, premonitions were embodied in the poem “The Twelve.”

The work was written by Blok “hot on the heels”, two months after the victory of October. Blok wrote the poem quickly, in just a few days. The poet heard the Revolution in his own way and sang about it. He went along with the people, gave them his knowledge, strength, experience, and did it of his own free will and in accordance with his convictions, after many years of intense thought about the fate of Russia.

Finished works on a similar topic

Coursework A. Blok and the October Revolution 420 ₽ Essay A. Blok and the October Revolution 240 ₽ Test paper A. Blok and the October Revolution 190 ₽

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A. Blok's poem "The Twelve" became the first monument to the Revolution, its phenomenon, the explosive force of its action. In this work, A. Blok rethinks history. The poem lacks the former praise and enthusiasm. Objectivity comes to the fore here when determining the poet’s attitude to the Revolution. And Blok begins to perceive historical events as spontaneous phenomena, comparing them with a blizzard, a storm, which in their action and movement do not have a specific direction and goal.

A. Blok's attitude towards the revolution is contradictory. Thus, in the poem “The Twelve,” the revolution is transformed from a symbol of a better new life into inevitability, into natural will. All the discontent and claims that had been accumulating among the people for years suddenly broke free and began to sweep away and destroy everything that was in the way.

A. Blok became the personification of symbolism. And this symbolism is also present in the poet’s last work. The dying pre-Soviet world in the poem is represented by the “lady in karkul”, “bourgeois”, etc., who are uncomfortable under the wind of revolution. Moreover, by death the poet does not mean the death of the entire country, but the departure of the previous way of life.

Contrasting colors of events that happened

Twelve Red Guards

The main expression of Blok’s attitude to the revolution in the poem “12” is the image of patrolmen. The purpose of a patrol is to establish order. However, the Red Guards themselves are uncontrollable, like a storm or the wind. They act completely unpredictably, their actions cannot be predicted, and their emotions and feelings are unknown. This is the tragedy of the situation.

In addition, the outward expression of the image of the patrollers does not correspond to a new better life. They look more like prisoners - wrinkled caps, rolled cigarettes in their teeth. On the other hand, for the poet, patrolmen are ordinary Russians who are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the Revolution, but specifically for what purpose remains unclear.

Issues of Morality and Holiness

Revolutionaries believed in creating a new world, but what kind? Blok's attitude towards the Revolution and the new world is frightening. In the newly created state, people rob, engage in looting, and bring death not only to the guilty, but also to completely innocent people. This symbolizes the death of Katka, killed in a spontaneous outburst of a patrolman who succumbed to a flash of momentary violent emotions. Blok cannot help but emphasize the tragedy of Katya’s death, since Blok’s woman is being killed. Holiness and sinfulness are combined in the poem. Throughout the entire narrative, the patrolmen constantly talk about renouncing Christ. Russian people have always been characterized by “sacred things,” a symbol of morality and spiritual purity. But despite everything, the guards cannot completely renounce Christ. At the end of the poem, they still meet with him, while the patrolmen were waiting for the enemy, and a holy image appeared. The importance of the image of Christ lies in the fact that he walks with a gentle step. Which is equal to how he came two thousand years ago to save human souls. One of the provisions of Blok’s attitude towards the revolution is that he understood and accepted the inevitability of what was happening around him, but at the same time he never came to terms with immoral and inhuman revolutionary methods.

Revolution in the work of Alexander Blok

Hating, cursing and loving: For torment, for death - I know - It doesn’t matter: I accept you!
Alexander Blok Our detachment in the pioneer camp had a motto: “And eternal battle!” We only dream of peace,” which I really liked. Only much later did I learn that the words were written by “a real poet, by the will of God,” according to A. M. Gorky’s definition, Alexander Aleksandrovich Blok (in the cycle “On the Kulikovo Field”), a wonderful patriot who said: “Oh my Rus'! My wife!". Although Blok was one of the leaders of a movement that was generally far from real life - symbolism, in his works he constantly sympathized with the working people, especially workers. In the famous poem “Factory” he talks about how “a motionless someone, a black someone” “calls with a copper voice.” Bend your weary backs. There are people gathered below. In another poem, written in the revolutionary year of 1905 (“Fed”), the poet sarcastically says that the rich—the “well-fed”—were “bored and did not live,” while “prays for bread” were heard all around. But then the revolution began, “red laughter” was heard. banners, and So - everything that is full is indignant, The dampness of important bellies yearns: After all, the trough is overturned, Their rotten stable is alarmed! However - and it is very important to pay attention to this - Blok does not call for reprisals: Let them live out their lives as usual - We are sorry to destroy their satiety. Accepting the overthrow of the old and outdated in the revolution, he does not want it to be harsh and bloody. After all, it is known that the lynchings of the 1917 revolution shocked Blok, although, apparently, he found justification for them. The episode of lynching is precisely the plot core of the complex poem about the revolution “The Twelve”, which is complex in composition and artistic means. The revolutionary fighter Petrukha kills his beloved Katka because she cheated on him with the traitor Vanka. He did not escape the knife. But overall the poem is a hymn to the revolution. It is not for nothing that at the end of it the “first revolutionary on earth” Jesus Christ appears. And in his article addressed to the Russian intelligentsia, “Revolution and the Intelligentsia,” Blok called: “Listen to the revolution!” It seems that the writer completely blesses the revolution: We will fan the world fire to the grief of all bourgeois, The world fire is in the blood - God bless! But the poem leaves an ambivalent impression, because the poet is realistic: Lock the floors, Today there will be robberies! Twelve people (a symbol of the twelve apostles, ahead of whom Christ walks) are depicted romantically: “There are lights, lights, lights all around. Shoulders - gun belts. “, That’s naturalistic: “There’s a cigarette in your teeth, you’ve got a cap on.” You should have an ace of diamonds on your back! "(sign of a convict). The poem, the language of which is difficult not to admire, introduces us to the atmosphere of the revolutionary months, colored by both the rapture of freedom and the beginning of violence against the will and rights of people. Today, the question of the role of the revolution is one of the main ones for many of us. From a distance of three quarters of a century, the mistakes and crimes of the revolution are clearly visible, but also the great energy of a great people, which was restrained for so long, is visible. Historians will argue about the role of October for decades to come, but today we should be very grateful to Alexander Blok for so accurately and vividly capturing the revolutionary era in his short work. And if we remember that he blessed the revolution, in the fire of which his outstanding library burned down (it had been collected by generations of his ancestors!), we will agree with A. M. Gorky that he is “a man of fearless sincerity,” and we will understand the words of K.