Description of the steppe in Gogol's story Taras Bulba

The main meaning of the work

The constant atmosphere of danger, betrayal and heroism allows you to keep the reader in suspense. The work “Taras Bulba” is as close as possible to a historical epic and heroic novel. The life of the Sich is described in detail, a picture of the Ukrainian steppe is presented. It tells in detail about the city, which is besieged by the Cossacks. He is depicted through the eyes of Andriy, admiring the beauty of music, girls, and nature. Gogol's hyperboles make it possible to recreate a heroic and epic image. The correctness of an action and external beauty are often contrasted in the poem.

The poet describes the maturation and formation of heroes . Taras specifically sends his sons to war to toughen them, to test them, to see what they are capable of. Andriy, having fallen in love with a Polish girl, goes over to the enemy side and dies, because in the choice between love for the Motherland and love for a girl, the girl comes first.

All the main characters die - Andriy dies at the hands of his father, who did not forgive the betrayal, Taras and Ostap are taken prisoner, where they also die - one from painful torture, the second at the stake. There are no famous historical figures in the poem; the main characters are ordinary people, but it is precisely this “ordinariness” that made them unusual for the reader, and turned the era itself into a heroic one.

Artistic images

The story is Gogol's favorite genre. The image of the main character in the work is based on outstanding leaders of the national movement:

Taras Shaky.
Nalivaiko.
Opage.
Gunya.
Loboda.

In the work, the author described the fate of freedom-loving people. The image of Taras is reproduced against the background of the confrontation of the Cossacks against the Tatar and Turkish conquerors. We are talking about several elements of the narrative at once - simple phenomena and the solemn lyrical pathos of the folk poetic epic. The meaning of the latter is to describe the power of the Russian land.

While creating the work, the poet studied folklore, historical and documentary chronicles. The author was a great connoisseur of folk art. Nikolai Vasilyevich found in his songs a reflection of the life of the common people.

The author draws images from heroic folk art. He uses epic and song techniques. Here is one of the striking fragments of the poem.

Like a hawk swimming across a clear and bright sky, having made many circles with its powerful wings, suddenly stops in one place, as if spread out in the middle of the air, and from there strikes with force a quail walking near a wheat field - so Taras’s son, Ostap, flew into the cornet and immediately threw a noose around his neck.

The artistic features in “Taras Bulba” lie in the widespread technique of triple repetition. So, Taras, in the midst of a battle, calls out to his soldiers three times: “What, boys? There is life in the old dog yet? Has the Cossack strength weakened?" And three times he hears: “There is a father, the Cossack strength has not weakened, the Cossacks do not bend!” Gogol's work is filled with thoughts about the value of his native land, about the desire to die for independence and freedom. There is no greater shame and crime in the world than treason.

Option 2

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s story “Taras Bulba” is a work that tells about brave warriors fighting for the freedom of their homeland. The story combines the features of prose and lyrics. The images of the main characters, three Cossacks, and their state of mind are revealed with the help of a landscape description of the steppe, which is not only the background of the events taking place, but also becomes a separate independent character in the work.

Gogol's creative formation as a writer took place under the influence of romantic ideas in the literature of the first half of the 19th century. The lyrical description of the landscape was a means of expressing the spiritual quests and experiences of the heroes. The state of nature was closely intertwined with the inner world of man.

The description of the steppe in the story appears for the first time in the second chapter of the work. Three Cossacks go to the Sich. Each hero is immersed in his own thoughts. Taras Bulba thinks about the past, about the youth that left him. He remembers his comrades with whom he had to fight side by side more than once in battle. Who will he meet at the Sich, and who will no longer be alive? These questions occupy the mind of the old Cossack.

Bulba's eldest son was a kind and straightforward person. When saying goodbye, he was deeply touched by his mother’s tears, they became the cause of the hero’s emotional unrest. The thoughts of Andriy, a young man in a hurry to live, are filled with memories of the beautiful Polish woman he saw in Kyiv. The heroes' thoughts dissipate when, in the pre-dawn hour, all the beauty of the endless expanses of the steppe appears before them. The writer compares it to a green-golden ocean, over which millions of wildflowers are scattered. And the further travelers travel, the more beautiful nature becomes.

The image of the Steppe becomes symbolic. It reflects the freedom-loving character of the Cossacks, their strength of character, power and faith. It seems that it is not the Sich, but the steppe itself that is accepting new Cossacks into its green embrace. The homeland in Nikolai Vasilyevich’s story is the beauty of nature, pristine, untouched by man. Therefore, when describing the region, there are no houses and buildings, only smoking areas, which can be easily removed in order to move to another place.

The steppe fascinates with its beauty, endless space and freedom that it breathes.

Description of nature

Enthusiasm, amazement, admiration, love and admiration - these are the feelings that overwhelm Gogol’s soul. The description of nature in “Taras Bulba” is highly emotional, it is pathetically excited and lyrically colored.

After reading the description of the steppe during the day, you can see “a picture of an artist-painter” - the poet seems to have everything drawn. The brightest colors were used. Their diversity and diversity simply dazzle the eye. The main background of the steppe is “green and gold”, while “many different colors are sprinkled on it.”

Excerpts about the steppe from “Taras Bulba”: through the steppe grass one can see the filling ears of wheat, “lilac, blue and blue hairs”, “white porridge”, “yellow gorse” with a pyramidal crown, a white seagull that “luxuriously” bathes “in the blue heavenly waves”, flashing a black dot in the heights. And all this is filled with the sun's rays peeking out. Nature does not know such a variety of different shades, so it is absolutely clear that the poet is trying to convey, first of all, not a variety of colors, but impressions.

The picture, which shows the steppe during the day, is divided into two parts:

The steppe and the vast, bottomless sky above it.
Greenish-golden surface of the earth.

Against the background of a greenish-golden endless sea that goes somewhere into the distance, the foreground is full of different colors. Partridges also run around, darting between the ears of wheat. There are a huge number of birds. “The steppe could be filled with thousands of different bird whistles,” but the author describes the birds themselves in unusual relief. For example, you can pay attention to hawks motionless in the sky with outstretched wings and gaze fixed on the ground. You can even trace the direction of their gaze, so the reader is looking at them from a fairly close distance.

“A cloud of wild geese” flies like a dark speck “to the side”, very far away. Need about geese” does not mean quantity, but impression - a lot! A seagull flies out from under the feet of travelers. Several moments can be highlighted in the picture - the flight of a bird and its transformation into a point in the heavenly distance.

Language tricks

Analysis of the passage “steppe” from “Taras Bulba” very clearly and colorfully shows the writer’s mood, his attitude towards his native nature. To convey the joyful admiration that the steppe evokes in Nikolai Vasilyevich, he uses the following techniques:

metaphor: a seagull bathed luxuriously in the air, red scarves flew across the sky, the night stars looked out;
comparison: the cry of a swan is like silver, clouds seem to be smeared across the sky with a brush;
the use of many verbs to emphasize the “liveness” of the steppe: the breeze touched, the steppe smoked, steam separated;
change in direct word order: flowers splashed, chenille tops;
hyperbole: immeasurable waves of wild plants; millions of flowers; the surface is a green-gold ocean; every flower emits ambergris;
epithets: transparent clouds, glowing worms, motley space, free steppe.

Comparison with the main characters

Gogol depicts Taras and his sons riding across the steppe like this: “Even the black hats are no longer visible, only the lightning of the compressed grass indicates their running.” In this case, the “lightning of compressed grass” is a visual image. It seems that from afar the Cossacks galloping across the grass move in zigzag movements, which are shaped like lightning. In addition, the grass, pushed apart by galloping horses, shrinks at lightning speed. Gogol introduces vivid verbal images into the poem. And most importantly, he strives to describe his mood and feelings. This can be seen in one of the monologues:

Damn you, steppes, how beautiful you are, how long ago I wanted to walk around you!

Tracing how the steppe is transformed at night, you can notice that in the descriptions the main place is given to the music that sounds at this time and the smells of flowers. That is, during the day you cannot hear the chirping of grasshoppers and the whistling of gophers. Everything in the description is fabulously mysterious, magnificent and beautiful. What comes to the fore is not the picture itself, but the impressions from it - the steppe at night is fantastic and unusual.

"Taras Bulba" is a unique combination of romantic and realistic poetics. From the author’s romantic description one can feel the high emotionality of the narrative, which is all the more brilliantly manifested in the pictures of nature with their increased power, pathos, brightness of metaphors, and unexpected plot lines.

Text examples

The description of the steppe clearly shows the connection between nature and the mood of the main characters, as well as their inner world. At first, “all three riders rode silently.” Taras thought “about the past,” remembering his dead friends, “a tear quietly formed on his eyelid, and his gray head drooped sadly.” Ostap “was emotionally touched by his mother’s tears, and only this embarrassed him, causing him to hang his head in thought.” Andriy “looked down into his horse’s mane and was sad about parting with the lady.”

However, the steppe space and its amazing spaciousness were dear and close to the hearts of the main characters. The steppe was their motherland, and she, like her own mother, taking several sad sons “into green arms,” comforting and encouraging them, poured vital energy and strength. Finally, Taras, throwing away his sad thoughts, cheerfully called out to his sons. They looked at the steppe, which was bathed in life-giving sun rays, and everything that was “vaguely in their souls instantly disappeared, their hearts took off like birds.”

Phrases that Gogol uses to describe nature:

“a wind as seductive as the waves of the ocean”;
“further, the steppe was completely smoky with incense”;
“red scarves flew across the frowning sky” (a string of swans is described);
“The swan’s cry echoed in the air like silver.”

One feels the surprise and beauty of such images, with a special emotional overtones. The difficulty can only be caused by the comparison of the swan cry and silver. The following interpretation is proposed: the swan is a proud and beautiful bird, silver is a noble and beautiful metal. This metaphor brings together the nobility and beauty of a cry.

Compositional methods

To realize the artistic concept in describing the steppe, Gogol uses various methods. The disclosure of a bunch of historical, cultural, moral theses occurs through the following techniques:

gain,
opposition,
installation.

The technique of intensification can be seen in the description of the vegetation cover of the steppe during the day: “The entire surface of the earth seemed like a green-golden ocean, over which millions of different colors splashed.” The author enhances the effect of a blooming ocean: blue-blue hairs are visible here and there, the porridge turns white, the gorse turns yellow and the wheat is pouring. An image of the night steppe was created, where each subsequent detail enhances and complements the previous one, creating a single ensemble. The daytime music died down and was replaced by another - gophers whistled, grasshoppers chattered, insects chirped.

The contrast can be seen in the description of virgin nature and a detachment of Cossacks. A beautiful fragment from the turbulent life of typical representatives of the Ukrainian Cossacks, an island of natural calm against the backdrop of endless civil strife. Nature contrasts its regularity and tranquility with the senseless human vanity called “war.”

The home and family left behind. Ahead lies the unknown, perhaps death, blood, chaos. But now there is only the steppe with its laws. The travelers involuntarily obeyed her moods: “The sun came out, bathed the steppe in a life-giving, warming light, and everything that was vague and sleepy in the Cossacks’ souls instantly flew away.” Their souls were cleansed by listening to the music of the steppe.

Nature was so pristine that it did not need people at all. It was they who dissolved in the golden ocean interspersed with yellow, blue, green, saw the reflections of the wings of a seagull, listened to the cry of moving clouds of wild geese and inhaled the aromas of the green blanket, their hearts skipped a beat, touching the primordial music of the steppe. She tuned their spiritual strings to a unique natural way, took away doubts, cured sadness and healed turmoil, nourished the roots and gave strength. They are united at this moment - the primordial power of the earth and people.

The installation is very clear here. The fusion of two meanings - natural and human, gives rise to a logical third - love for one’s Fatherland.

The image of the steppe in the story “Taras Bulba” carries precisely this semantic load: loyalty to the Motherland, patriotism, joy from communicating with nature, a “feeling of comradeship” with the native land. There is nothing better and more beautiful than your land!!! Either Bulba or Gogol himself is delighted and exclaims: “Damn you, steppes, how good you are!...”

Love for native land

In literary history, Gogol is the first poet who reveals the beauty of the Ukrainian steppe. The description of nature expresses, first of all, the poet’s ardent love for the Motherland, confidence in its power and strength, admiration for the endless expanses and beauty:

“Never before had a harrow passed through countless waves of wild plants, over which splashed countless different flowers.”
“The further away the steppe became, the more beautiful it became, and nothing in nature could be better than it.”
“A seagull rose from the thick grass with measured flapping of its wings, luxuriously bathing in the blue sky, then it turned over and flashed in the sun’s rays.”
“At dawn, the entire steppe changed completely. The entire motley space was covered in the last reflections of the sun's rays and gradually became dark; you could even see how a shadow slipped across it, and it became dark green. Large stripes of rose gold were painted across the blue sky with a gigantic brush...”
“...from afar, transparent and fluffy clouds appeared in white tufts, and a refreshing, seductive, like a sea breeze, breeze slightly swayed the tops of the grass...”

Essay: Description of the steppe in the story “Taras Bulba” (N.V. Gogol)

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol depicted the steppe in the story “Taras Bulba” so vividly and vividly that the pictures described by the author clearly appear before the reader. In the second chapter, Gogol describes nature in detail. The author shows the expanses of the Ukrainian steppe at different times of the day: during the day, in the evening and at night. In order to fully depict nature, the writer used artistic means of expression in the text. In the steppe you can feel the breath of nature, you can feel its eternal youth. Steppe latitudes interact with the air, birds, and sky. Everything appears as something single, indestructible, living.

Describing the steppe, Gogol conveyed the mood of nature, which merged with the mood of the characters riding through the steppe on horseback to the Zaporozhye Sich. The main characters were overwhelmed with their experiences. Taras Bulba thought about the times when he was young, thought about the friends he expected to meet in the Sich. Ostap was touched and embarrassed by the strong display of motherly love before leaving home. Andriy recalled how once, while studying in Kyiv, he met a beautiful young Polish girl. Seeing the beauty of the steppe, the heroes gradually forget about all their inner experiences and indulge in contemplation. The steppe represents an image of freedom and strength, and the characters in the story correspond to this image. She feeds the heroes with her power. The steppe is also an image of the Motherland, a picturesque, flourishing, free land.

N.V. Gogol presents us with the steppe in the daytime as the surface of the earth, appearing from the outside as a “green-golden ocean, over which millions of different colors splashed.” The captivating beauty of the landscape is organically combined with the sounds coming from different corners of this vast space: hawks, wild geese, seagulls - everything spoke its own language, everything echoed each other, thereby uniting this endless expanse. A bright blue sky hovered over the steppe, and the air flowed in “waves.”

In the evening the steppe changed. All the diversity, sparkling in the last rays of the sun, began to darken, and the steppe “ocean” became dark green. The flowers exuded a blissful aroma. In the “blue-dark” sky, the sunset flared up “pink gold”, as if carelessly painted with a huge brush. The wind was weak - it lightly touched the grass and the cheeks of the travelers. Daytime music gave way to night music: gophers filled the steppe with their whistles; the grasshoppers were chattering; Sometimes the cry of a swan could be heard from the lake in the area.

At night the stars appeared - they looked at the travelers who, having had dinner, went to bed in the open air and heard “the whole countless world of insects.” It was nice to fall asleep to such “music”. When one of the travelers got up, he saw that the steppe was dotted with “brilliant sparks of glowing worms.” Occasionally, the sky in some places was illuminated by a distant glow, because dry reeds were set on fire near the river. The swans flying across the sky towards the north were covered with a “silver-pink” glow, which made them look like floating “red scarves” in the dark sky.

The travelers did not see trees anywhere. Only sometimes the tops of the forest could be seen in the distance, which stretched along the banks of the Dnieper. As if nothing dared to overshadow the sprawling space. Perhaps the author meant that nothing could take away freedom and destroy the natural forces either in the heroes or in the surrounding landscape.

N.V. Gogol, like an artist, depicted in his story, as if on canvas, a charming picture of the Ukrainian steppe. Thanks to the created landscape, we can notice the greatest skill of the writer and deeply penetrate into the conveyed atmosphere. The description of the steppe filled the work with color and even greater realism, which brings readers closer to the characters. Nature becomes not just a place of action, but also a participant, because it is all in motion - full of life, wide and free.

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