Lermontov, "Mtsyri": analysis of the work. M.Yu

Filchenkova Natalya

The student used additional material to write the essay. The essay contains many quotations from the text, and its own conclusions are made according to the points of the plan. The image of Mtsyra is fully disclosed.

Download:

Preview:

Composition

What is the meaning of Mtsyri's life?

(based on the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov "Mtsyri")

Plan

I. What is the meaning of the poem "Mtsyri"?

II. What is the meaning of Mtsyri's life?

1). Mtsyri's life in the monastery.

AND). What views does the monk Mtsyri reject?

B). What was Mtsyri striving for?

AT). Why did he call the monastery a prison?

2). Mtsyri's life in the wild.

A) Communication with nature.

B) Mtsyri's memories of his father's house.

AT). What does it mean to live for Mtsyra?

G). Meeting with a beautiful Georgian woman.

D). Fight for life.

E). What is the tragedy of Mtsyri?

AND). Did Mtsyri repent before his death in his

Aspirations and actions?

III. Conclusion.

1). V. G. Belinsky about Mtsyri.

2). My attitude to Mtsyri.

M.Yu Lermontov's poem "Mtsyri" is directed against religious morality and monastic bondage. The meaning of the poem is to glorify the will, courage, struggle, selflessness, in a word, all those qualities that are inherent in the hero.

The protagonist of the poem is a young man who lived his childhood in captivity. His name is Mtsyri. At confession, he argues with the monk and says to him:

Let the beautiful light now

I hate you: you are weak, you are gray,

And from desires you weaned.

What is the need? You lived, old man!

From these lines we see how great Mtsyri's love for life is. But it follows:

I lived little, and lived in captivity.

Such two lives in one

But only full of anxiety

I would change if I could.

We can conclude: all the aspirations of Mtsyri were directed towards one bright dream - to freedom, to that beautiful dream for which he gave his life. He asks the old man:

... you saved me from death -

What for? Gloomy and lonely

A torn leaf by a thunderstorm,

I grew up in dark walls

Soul - a child, fate - a monk.

Mtsyri assures the old monk that no force can subdue the will and feelings of the freedom-loving highlander. There is no way to force him to renounce the world that attracts him to itself with its wonderful mysteries of nature. The life of a slave for a little Caucasian is like a prison. He could not come to terms with the cruel captivity, separation from his homeland, and therefore he was led by passion for his native land, but he never thought of revenge on the people who separated him from his native Georgia. Dreaming of his homeland, he was alone among people, and this is the worst thing for a person, especially for a child.

And so, when Mtsyri runs away from the monastery and is left alone with nature, it seems to him that he understands the voices of birds, guesses the thoughts of dark rocks, hears a dispute between a pile of stones and a mountain stream, in a word, understands nature, its feelings. Not finding like-minded people among people, he communicates with nature. And he thinks she understands him. Describing nature, the poet wants the reader to imagine the picturesque pictures of the Caucasus.

God's garden blossomed all around me;

Rainbow plants

Kept traces of heavenly tears,

And curls of vines

Curled, showing off between the trees

Transparent greenery sheets.

Observing the beautiful landscapes, Mtsyri heard an unknown voice that told him that his home was located in these parts. And gradually the pictures of childhood passed before him more and more clearly. He represented either his father in military clothes, or young sisters bending over his cradle, or living pictures of his native village. And the more he imagined all this, the stronger his desire to return home grew.

To live for Mtsyri means to be free and independent. He admits that his life without these three days would be darker than the impotent old age of a monk.

Tell me what's between these walls

Could you give me in return

That friendship is short, but alive,

Between a stormy heart and a thunderstorm?

Mtsyri is happy because he could know happy moments of connection with nature. Mtsyri is fascinated by the beauty of the beautiful Georgian woman. From all these unknown feelings, he loses consciousness. Waking up, the young man sees how the girl moves away from the stream, and compares her to a slender poplar. And even more he wanted to go to that unknown country.

In the fight against the leopard, Mtsyri shows courage and dedication. After all, he fought not only for his life, but also for his freedom, that is, for his dream. He discovers in himself such qualities as resourcefulness, ingenuity, the extraordinary strength of a highlander, which he inherited. He is sure that, if not for the hand of fate, he "could be in the land of his fathers not from the last daring ones."

Having defeated the leopard, forgetting about the pain, he goes towards his dream. But ... again a shock. The young man realizes that he has lost direction and returned to the monastery. Is it really for this that he fought the leopard, for this he wandered through the thorny thickets? Is it possible that after his dream was almost fulfilled, he should return to the monastery? When he heard the ringing of bells, it seemed to him that this ringing was coming out of his chest, as if someone were hitting him with iron in the heart. And then the hero realized the terrible truth: he would never return to his homeland. What could be worse than this thought for Mtsyra?

The young man compares himself to a prison flower, which was transplanted into the neighborhood of roses, where he died from daylight. But even before his death, Mtsyri asks to be buried in the garden at the place where the Caucasus is visible. We see that the young highlander did not repent of his dreams and aspirations and was true to his dream. Having gone through such a difficult and overwhelming path, Mtsyri does not want to change his views. This is the tragedy of the freedom-loving young man: having lived a real life for three days in freedom, he again ends up in a monastery and ... dies, because he cannot live in captivity after he has taken a breath of the air of freedom.

V. G. Belinsky, reviewing the poem “Mtsyri”, spoke about her hero like this: “What a fiery soul, what a mighty spirit, what a gigantic nature this Mtsyri has! In everything that Mtsyri says, it breathes with his own spirit, strikes him with his own power ... "

Mtsyri attracted me with his courage, courage, perseverance. In the most difficult moments of his life, he does not submit to fate and goes towards his dream.

The Caucasus, with its pristine beauty, has attracted Russian poets more than once, but perhaps the theme of the beauty of southern nature manifested itself most clearly in the work of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. Having visited for the first time in the vicinity of Pyatigorsk at the age of ten, he was forever intoxicated by the majestic beauty of Mount Mashuk, at the foot of which he died before reaching the full 28 years.

When in 1837 Lermontov traveled along the Georgian Military Highway, studying local stories and legends, in Mtskheta he came across a lonely monk, an old monastic servant, “beri” in Georgian. He told the poet his story about how once, being a highlander, at the age of seven he was captured by the Russian general Yermolov, but due to illness he was left within the walls of the monastery, where the boy grew up.

At first, he could not get used to life in the monastery, repeatedly tried to escape to the mountains, but almost died during one such attempt. Having recovered, he became attached to the old monk, and so he remained in the monastery, taking the dignity.

The hero's story made a huge impression on Lermontov: he decided to write a poem about it, but the hero's original name "beri", which means "monk", was replaced by Mtsyri- that is, "non-serving monk." However, this word in Georgian also meant “alien”, “foreigner”, a lonely person who does not have relatives and friends.

This is how a romantic poem appeared, the main character of which was a young man who not only challenged his former existence, but also parted with his life because of this. The plot of the poem is simple: the captive boy was brought up in a Georgian monastery and is already preparing to be ordained a monk. But during a terrible storm, he found himself outside the walls of his eternal abode. For three days he disappeared, but when he was found on the fourth day weak and almost dying and transferred again to the monastery, he could not live as before and died.

In fact, the whole poem is a confession in which the boy tells what happened to him during these three days. However, to call Mtsyri’s monologue a confession, the tongue does not turn: the young man’s passionate story is not at all imbued with a sense of repentance, and the hero does not intend to talk about the sinfulness of his thoughts and beg forgiveness from the Almighty for them. Rather, it is more like a sermon, because defending his right to freedom and the happiness associated with it, Mtsyri denies the foundations of religious morality: "stuffy cells and prayers", "dark walls" in which the hero grew up - "a child with a soul, a monk with a destiny".

He understands that he was deprived of everything: the fatherland, home, friends, relatives - in a word, what ordinary people who grew up outside the walls of the monastery have. He defied fate and on a stormy night, without a shudder, ventured to escape. Mtsyri is fearless and even in the face of death says:

The grave doesn't scare me...

Such fearlessness is born from the power of his desires. The desire for freedom is prompted by the proud ridge of the Caucasian mountains, talking to the sky. Need "go to your native country" exacerbated by loneliness, desire "at least for a moment to press the flaming chest" to your own chest. The three days spent by Mtsyri in the wild regenerated him. During this short period of his life, he knew the happiness of love, the price of human life, and the feeling of freedom. Now he has the strength to enter into an argument with an old man who has come to hear a confession.

Obviously, the central part of the poem was supposed to represent a certain dispute: on the one hand, the humility of a monk, the rejection of earthly joys and hope for a mythical other life, and on the other hand, a thirst for struggle, a desire for freedom, a protest against church slavery, a rebellion against orders consecrated the name of God.

Only the dispute does not work, because only Mtsyri speaks. He constantly turns to his interlocutor, urges him to answer questions, but does not seem to listen to him, because at that moment he is able to hear only what is happening in his soul. The young man is so full of discoveries that he is unable to express all his feelings. There, behind the wall, the world opened up for Mtsyra as a tangle of trials. The delight of an embrace with a thunderstorm is replaced by silence, in which both the cry of a jackal and the rustle of a snake are heard. But the hero is devoid of fear of nature, because at this moment he is himself a part of nature.

Not by chance the climax of the poem becomes a fight with a leopard. Alone against a predator, unarmed, Mtsyri turns out to be stronger than the beast, because he is controlled not just by the instinct of self-preservation - a meeting with a leopard inspires the hero. He gives all his strength, wins, but in his soul he recognizes the power of the defeated beast:

He met death face to face
As a fighter follows in battle! …

Returning to the monastery destroys Mtsyri's belief that he will find a way to freedom and homeland. He calls his wishes "a game of dreams, a disease of the mind". And the loss of faith calls the hero to death. This idea is the tragedy of the author's perception: Lermontov was sure that the heroes devoted to freedom die in the struggle for it, because they cannot live without it.

This is the main sign of a romantic hero - without freedom, he dies. Therefore, such a romantic hero is called exceptional, and he acts according to the same formula romanticism, in exceptional circumstances. The exclusivity is also manifested in the fact that Mtsyri, before his death, blames only himself for the inability to achieve the desired freedom for himself. But the thought of a heavenly paradise, which he could have received if he had parted with his idea, does not appeal to him:

Alas! - in a few minutes
Between steep and dark rocks
Where I played as a child
I would change heaven and eternity ...

Mtsyri dies unknown, but not defeated. His name, even after a century and a half, delights millions of admirers of the talent of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.

In the article we will talk about the analysis of "Mtsyri". This is a work that is studied at school. It is very useful for children, as it allows you to look at many things from a different perspective. In the article we will analyze the history and try to draw conclusions.

History of creation

Before talking about the analysis of "Mtsyri", let's talk about the history of creation. The idea of ​​the author appeared in 1831. Then the 17-year-old Lermontov thought a lot about the fate of his acquaintance, a monk who languished in the monastery. Also, the young creator was influenced by the impressions he received after visiting the Caucasus and getting acquainted with its folklore. By the way, for the first time he visited there in early childhood with his grandmother. Traveling along the roads of the Caucasus, Lermontov met an old man.

He lived in a monastery and told his story. The monk told how he was captivated as a child and had to live in a monastery. He repeatedly attempted to escape, as he was a highlander and wanted to return to his interesting life. However, these attempts ended in failure, and he returned to the walls of the monastery. Finally, he became very ill, grew old, but became painfully attached to one monk. Thus, he decided to lead a more relaxed lifestyle and come to terms with his fate. Lermontov heard this story and decided to remember it, only modify it a little.

Note that the date on the poem is 1839. This means that it was in this year that the author completed his work. It was published a year later. By the way, the draft version was called "Beri", which means "monk" in Georgian. But "mtsyri" means "novice." We also note that the analysis of the work “Mtsyri”, which will be presented below, conveys not only the surface outline of history, but also its deep meaning. The theme of such a struggle of a person with circumstances is Lermontov's favorite. He greatly appreciated this work and read it aloud more than once.

Creative method and genre

Note that the genre of the poem was a favorite for Lermontov. In total, he wrote about thirty poems, of which he published only three. These works of the author were of a complex nature, often representing the ideals of the heroes and the lyrical worldview. Thus, Lermontov painted a psychological portrait of a person not just remotely and from the outside, but in the thick of all events. By the way, let's not forget that in the 30s, the main subject of the image was a person who is facing the world, and the resulting romantic conflicts. Considering all the characteristic features of the poem we are describing, you can see that it also has lyrical notes.

Peculiarities

An analysis of Lermontov's poem "Mtsyri" shows a real contradiction between harsh reality and ideals. For this, the author uses symbolic images and confessional narration.

Consider the image of the mtsyri himself. He has a whole character and romantic traits. Thanks to confession, we can understand his inner world and psychology. Note that the epigraph is the key to understanding this work. Lermontov cited a phrase from a biblical legend, where the son violated his father's prohibition not to eat until the evening.

Theme

An analysis of the poem "Mtsyri" by Lermontov shows that there is a lot of common sense and imagery here. Definitions and interpretations are very diverse, but they are all rational. Moreover, each of them expresses some part of Lermontov's intention.

We are considering the story of a man who dies from the thirst for life in a monastery that is contrary to him. By the way, in this work Lermontov expressed his attitude to the war in the Caucasus and the fate of many young people. Thus, we understand that the poem is not just figurative - it directly concerns the author's contemporaries. At the same time, he very harmoniously combines the image of the Motherland and Freedom into a single whole. The protagonist is ready to give up all blessings for the sake of his native land. The desire to leave the walls of the monastery and break free dooms the martyr to loneliness. He has to make a difficult choice, and he cannot reconcile the two principles in himself. All the topics that were touched upon in the work one way or another characterize M. Lermontov himself.

Idea

An analysis of the poem "Mtsyri" shows that it is full of rebellious pathos. In all speeches and monologues, one hears the voice of a person who feels his own fortitude and confidence. According to some critics, mtsyri is an ideal for M. Lermontov himself.

However, in the modern world, the philosophical meaning of the poem is much more clearly manifested, and not the rebellious pathos. Monastic society is far from the highlander, it is alien to him. That is why he wants to return to his cultural environment, which is close to him, but breaking ties with the monks is not so easy. A work of art consists of a man's struggle for his will. The hero is ready for anything in the struggle for freedom, his ideals and loyalty, even if defeat is coming.

The nature of the conflict

The analysis of the work "Mtsyri" by Lermontov is focused exclusively on the romantic aspect. The conflict between the protagonist and the monks is not just a story, it is a deep internal problem. That is why the author very often uses images of the wind, earth, birds, animals. In addition, invisible forces even appear that express fate itself. The author's contemporaries noted that his hero is seized by some unthinkable force, a passion that forces him to act against the orders accepted in society.

This is a very close and characteristic motif for M. Yu. Lermontov in his work, which consists in the struggle between the inner world and cruel reality. We observe how the highlander dreams of freedom, of flight, what plans he makes for the future. But the tragedy of the protagonist lies in the fact that he is torn between the strength of the spirit and the weakness of the body.

Plot and composition

And what else can be said about the analysis of Lermontov's "Mtsyra"? In short, it is based on a romantic story. However, the image of the monastery does not at all symbolize Lermontov's protest against faith. However, the author believed that walls, black clothes and meager food are not needed for true faith. To do this, it is enough to be a man and live by following your heart.

It should be noted that the poem consists of 26 chapters. In some of them, the protagonist is not only the actual hero, but also the narrator.

The psychology of the hero is revealed to the maximum in the form of a confession, which allows you to feel all his feelings. Before that, there is a small author's digression, which allows the reader to pay attention to the historical background of the events described. The plot begins with the scene of flight from the monastery during a thunderstorm. Then we watch the skirmish with the leopard, which is the climax. At the same time, the compositional construction is closed, since the action begins and ends in the monastery. Thus, the author focused on the fate of fate.

Artistic originality

Analysis of the poem "Mtsyri" allows us to reveal the image of a rebel hero who is not inclined to semitones and half measures. Such characters are very deep and complex, they require special psychological study. Despite this, the mountaineer's personality is whole and free, he is not in the grip of any fears or thoughts. But at the same time, for Lermontov, “Mtsyri” was rather a symbol in which he embodied his ideas about what a person and his path should be. We are watching a person who, at any opportunity, is ready to start a fight and defend his interests, even if in the end he gets only a breath of freedom.

An analysis of Lermontov's "Mtsyra" makes it possible to understand that in fact the author and the hero are very close, and the epigraph is the author's revelation. The poem delights, as it surprisingly combines the voices of the hero and the author, as well as the beautiful Caucasian nature. A correct understanding of history is helped by poetic images, the most important of which is a thunderstorm. It expresses not just a phenomenon of nature, but the real punishment of God.

An analysis of Lermontov's poem shows that the author gladly uses the means of artistic expression. His favorite technique is comparison. Thanks to him, he emphasizes the image of a highlander, comparing him with reeds or mountains. Also, thanks to the comparison, we can understand the dreaminess of the protagonist. This artistic technique allows you to feel how close he is to nature and how far from the world of people.

Meaning

The analysis of "Mtsyra" was carried out by us in order to understand the significance of this work. At the same time, it must be said that Lermontov is the largest representative of not only Russian, but also world romanticism. Almost all of his works are defined by romantic pathos. He continued the best traditions of the authors who preceded him. He revealed his poetic talent to the maximum in the poem "Mtsyri". Analysis of the work allowed us to see that the author himself has high ideals to which he aspires. We also note that this poem inspired many generations of creative people.

Summing up the article, I would like to say that the analysis of the poem is an interesting, fascinating process that makes you think about the eternal values ​​​​and the value of the individual himself, regardless of the circumstances. Not every person is capable of such fortitude, and, probably, it is very difficult to acquire this ability, you need to be born like that. However, this is still an unfair statement, since sometimes life allows a person to free himself from the superfluous and show his will.

The history of the creation of Lermontov's work "Mtsyri"

The idea for the poem “Mtsyri” came to Lermontov as early as 1831. The seventeen-year-old poet reflected on the fate of his peer, a monk languishing in a monastery: “To write notes of a young monk of 17 years old. - He has been in the monastery since childhood; I didn't read books except sacred ones. A passionate soul languishes. Ideals... The emergence of the poet's idea was also influenced by impressions of the nature of the Caucasus, acquaintance with Caucasian folklore. For the first time in the Caucasus, Lermontov visited in childhood with his grandmother. As a child, he was taken to the waters for treatment. Later, the impressions of the Caucasian nature intensified even more. Biographer of the poet P.A. Viskovatov writes (1891): “The old Georgian military road, the traces of which are still visible today, especially struck the poet with its beauties and a whole string of legends. These legends had been known to him since childhood, now they were renewed in his memory, rose in his fantasies, strengthened in his memory along with mighty, then luxurious pictures of Caucasian nature. One such legend is a folk song about a tiger and a young man. In the poem, she found an echo in the scene of the battle with the leopard.
The history of the origin of the plot "Mtsyri" according to Lermontov's cousin A.P. Shan Giray and a maternal relative of the poet A.A. Khastatov was presented by P.A. Viskovatov (1887): “When Lermontov, wandering along the old Georgian Military Highway (it could have been in 1837), was studying local legends, ... he came across in Mtskheta ... a lonely monk, or, rather, an old monastery servant, "beri" in Georgian. The watchman was the last of the brethren of the abolished nearby monastery. Lermontov talked to him and learned from him that he was a mountaineer, captured by a child by General Yermolov during the expedition. The general took him with him and left the sick boy to the monastery brethren. Here he grew up; For a long time he could not get used to the monastery, he yearned and made attempts to escape to the mountains. The consequence of one such attempt was a long illness that brought him to the brink of the grave. Having recovered, the savage calmed down and remained to live in the monastery, where he became especially attached to the old monk. The curious and lively story “take it” made an impression on Lermontov. In addition, he touched on a motive already familiar to the poet, and so he decided to use what was suitable in Confession and Boyar Orsha, and transferred all the action ... to Georgia.
On the manuscript of the poem, Lermontov's hand put the date of its completion: “1839. August 5". The following year, the poem was published in the book Poems of M. Lermontov. In the draft version, the poem was called "Bary" (Lermontov's footnote: "Bary in Georgian: monk"). Novice - in Georgian - "Mtsyri".
Poet and memoirist A.N. Muravyov (1806-1874) recalled: “The songs and poems of Lermontov thundered everywhere. He entered the Life Hussars again. It happened to me once, in Tsarskoye Selo, to catch the best moment of his inspiration. On a summer evening I went to see him and found him at his desk, with a burning face and fiery eyes, which were especially expressive in him. "What's wrong with you?" I asked. “Sit down and listen,” he said, and at that very moment, in a fit of delight, he read to me, from beginning to end, his entire magnificent poem “Mtsyri” (“novice” in Georgian), which had just poured out of under his inspired pen. Listening to him, I myself came into involuntary delight: so vividly he snatched out of the ribs of the Caucasus, one of the striking scenes and clothed it in living images before the enchanted gaze. No story has ever made such a strong impression on me. Many times later I re-read Mtsyri, but the freshness of colors was not the same as during the first animated reading of the poet himself.
"Mtsyri" is Lermontov's favorite work. He enjoyed reading it aloud. In May 1840, Lermontov read an excerpt from "Mtsyra" - a fight with a leopard - at Gogol's name day in Moscow. “And I read it, they say, it’s great,” the writer ST reported. Aksakov from the words of the guests present that day at the birthday dinner ”(according to Il. Andronikov).

Genus, genre, creative method of work

The analysis shows that the poem is Lermontov’s favorite genre, he wrote about thirty poems (1828-1841), but Lermontov published only three of them: “A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young guardsman and a daring merchant Kalashnikov”, “Tambov Treasurer” and "Mtsyri". "Hadji Abrek" was published in 1835 without the knowledge of the author. The Demon, on which Lermontov had been working since 1828, did not see the light either.
The poems, like Lermontov's lyrics, were confessional in nature, often they were a monologue or a dialogue of characters, becoming a psychological portrait of an exceptional personality. But unlike lyrics, the lyrical-epic genre provided a rare opportunity to show the hero in action, from the outside, in the very thick of life. The subject of the image, especially in the poems of the 30s, is the clash of the hero with the world, a romantic conflict.
The poem "Mtsyri" is a romantic work with all the characteristic features of this literary movement. This is, first of all, the contradiction between the ideal and reality, the confessional beginning, as well as the symbolic plot and images. The image of Mtsyri himself is also endowed with romantic features that are combined with realism. The hero's confession makes it possible to psychologically accurately reveal the hero's inner world.
The poem is preceded by an epigraph, which is the key to the content. This is a phrase from the biblical legend about the Israeli king Saul and his son Jonathan, who violated his father's prohibition not to eat until the evening. The whole earth exuded honey, and the soldiers were hungry after the battle. Jonathan violated the ban and the phrase “Eating, tasting a little honey, and behold I die,” he utters in anticipation of execution. However, the mind of the people triumphed over the "madness" of the king. The people stood up for the convict and saved him from execution, because the young man helped to defeat the enemies. “Honey of the earth”, “honey path” are once popular figurative expressions that go back to this legend and become symbolic.
The poem is written in the form of a passionate confession of the hero.

Numerous definitions of the theme of the poem "Mtsyri" are rational. Each of them complements the palette of Lermontov's poetic design.
A poem about a freedom-loving highlander who professes the Muslim faith and is dying far from his homeland in a Christian monastery. The poem expressed Lermontov's attitude to the Caucasian war and to the fate of young people of his generation (A.V. Popov).
"Mtsyri" is a poem "about a young man deprived of his freedom and dying far from his homeland. This is a poem about a contemporary of Lermontov, about his peer, about the fate of the best people of that time ”(IL. Andronikov).
In the poem "Mtsyri" "the problem of the struggle for moral values, human behavior, pride and beliefs, the problem of "proud faith in people and another life" (B. Eikhenbaum) is put forward.
Homeland and freedom are combined into one multi-valued symbol. For the sake of the motherland, the hero is ready to give up paradise and eternity. The motive of the prisoner develops into the motive of doomed to loneliness. But this loneliness also cannot be the state of the hero - he must either "take a monastic vow" or, "taking a sip of freedom", die. These two lives are irreconcilable, and the choice is due to the "fiery passion" that lives in Mtsyri. All of these topics are reflected in Lermontov's poem. All of them lead the reader to understanding the inner world of the hero, his thoughts and feelings.

An analysis of the work says that the rebellious pathos of the poem was close to the revolutionary democrats. Belinsky wrote that Mtsyri is “the favorite ideal of our poet, this is a reflection in poetry of the shadow of his own personality. In everything that Mtsyri says, it breathes with his own spirit, strikes him with his own power. According to N.P. Ogareva, Lermontov's Mtsyri is "his clearest or only ideal".
In the modern reading of "Mtsyri" it is not the rebellious pathos of the poem that is relevant at all, but its philosophical meaning. The natural environment, with which Mtsyri seeks to merge, opposes his monastic upbringing. Mtsyri is trying to jump over the abyss and return to a completely different cultural world, once dear and close to him. But breaking with the usual way of life is not so easy: Mtsyri is by no means a “natural person”, he does not know how to navigate in the forest, and suffers from hunger among abundance.
The ideas of life and freedom permeate the artistic fabric of the work. An active, active attitude to life is affirmed, its fullness, achieved in the struggle for freedom, in fidelity to the ideal of freedom, even in the tragic conditions of defeat.

The nature of the conflict

The romantic conflict of the poem is set by the exclusivity of the protagonist. The flight of Mtsyri is a desire for will and freedom, an irresistible call of nature. Therefore, in the poem such a large place is occupied by references to the wind, birds, animals. Yes, and in Mtsyra himself, nature gives rise to primitive animal strength. Lermontov's contemporaries pointed to the unbridled passion of Mtsyri, rushing into a wide expanse, seized by "insane power", crying out "against all social concepts and full of hatred and contempt for them."
The conflict, characteristic of Lermontov's work, between the world view and direct perception of the surroundings is revealed. Mtsyra's kinship with free, spontaneous nature noticeably alienates him from the world of people, against the background of nature, the measure of the hero's loneliness is more deeply comprehended. Therefore, for Mtsyra, closeness to nature is an opportunity to find a family, a homeland, to return to the original sources. The tragedy of Mtsyra lies in the contradiction between the masculinity of his spirit and the weakness of his body.

Main heroes

Lermontov's poem with one hero. This is a young highlander, taken prisoner at the age of six by a Russian general (it means General A.P. Yermolov). His entire short life was spent within the walls of the monastery. “A life full of anxieties” contrasts Mtsyri with “life in captivity”, “a wonderful world of anxieties and battles” - “stuffy cells and prayers”. He remains true to his ideals to the end. And this is his moral strength. The way home, an attempt to find a "native soul" becomes the only opportunity for existence.
The image of Mtsyra is complex: he is both a rebel, and a stranger, and a fugitive, and a “natural person”, and a spirit thirsty for knowledge, and an orphan who dreams of a home, and a young man entering a time of clashes and conflicts with the world. A feature of Mtsyra's character is an ironic combination of strict determination, powerful strength, strong will with exceptional gentleness, sincerity, lyricism in relation to the homeland.
Mtsyri feels the harmony of nature, seeks to merge with it. He feels its depth and mystery. In this case, we are talking about the real, earthly beauty of nature, and not about an ideal that exists only in the imagination. Mtsyri listens to the voice of nature, admires the leopard as a worthy opponent. And the spirit of Mtsyri himself is unshakable, despite his physical illness.
Belinsky called "Mtsyri" the poet's favorite ideal. For a critic, Mtsyri is a “fiery soul”, “a mighty spirit”, “a gigantic nature”.
One of the characters in the poem is nature. The landscape in the poem is not only a romantic background that surrounds the hero. It helps to reveal his character, that is, it becomes one of the ways to create a romantic image. Since nature in the poem is given in the perception of Mtsyri, his character can be judged by what exactly attracts the hero in her, as he speaks of her. The diversity and richness of the landscape described by Mtsyri emphasize the monotony of the monastic setting. The young man is attracted by the power, the scope of the Caucasian nature, he is not afraid of the dangers lurking in it. For example, he enjoys the splendor of the boundless blue vault in the early morning, and then endures the withering heat in the mountains.

The plot and composition of the work

In the course of the analysis of the work, we learn that the plot of "Mtsyri" is based on the traditional romantic situation of escaping from captivity. The monastery as a prison has always attracted the thoughts and feelings of the poet, and Lermontov did not put an equal sign between the monastery and faith. Mtsyra's flight from the monastic cell does not mean unbelief: this is a fierce protest of the hero against captivity.
The poem has 26 chapters. Mtsyri in the poem is not only a hero, but also a narrator. The form of confession is a means of the deepest and most truthful disclosure of the hero's psychology. In the poem, she occupies a large part. The confession is preceded by the author's introduction, which helps the reader to correlate the action of the poem with certain historical events. In the introduction, Lermontov pays attention to the most striking episodes of the poem: this is the contemplation of the nature of the Caucasus and the hero’s thoughts about his homeland, the scene of a thunderstorm and Mtsyri’s flight from the monastery, the hero’s meeting with a Georgian woman, his duel with a leopard, a dream in the steppe. The plot of the poem is the scene of a thunderstorm and the flight of Mtsyra from the monastery. The culmination of the poem can be called the duel of a young man with a leopard, in which the main motive of all the poet's work, the motive of struggle, was embodied. The compositional construction of the poem has a closed form: the action began in the monastery, and it ended in the monastery. Thus, the motive of fate, fate, finds its embodiment in the poem.

Artistic originality

M.Yu. Lermontov created in the poem "Mtsyri" a vivid image of a rebel hero, incapable of compromise. This character is exceptional in depth and thoroughness of psychological study. At the same time, Mtsyri's personality is amazingly whole, complete. He is a hero-symbol in which the author expressed his ideas about a certain type of personality. This is the personality of a prisoner, striving for absolute freedom, ready to enter into an argument with fate even for the sake of a sip of freedom.
The hero and the author are intimately close. The hero's confession is the author's confession. The voice of the hero, the voice of the author, and the majestic Caucasian landscape itself are included in a single excited and exciting monologue of the poem. Poetic images help to embody the author's intention. Among them, an important role is played by the image of a thunderstorm. A thunderstorm is not only a natural phenomenon, but also an expression of God's wrath. The images of the "God's garden" and the "eternal forest" are contrasted.
As already noted, the entire confession of the hero is devoted to the three days of freedom. Already in time: three days - freedom, all life - captivity, the author turns to the antithesis. The temporal antithesis is intensified figuratively: the monastery is a prison, the Caucasus is freedom.
The poem has a great variety of means of artistic expression. The most commonly used is such a trope as a comparison. Comparisons emphasize the emotionality of the image of Mtsyra (like a chamois of the mountains, shy and wild, and weak and flexible, like a reed; he was terribly pale and thin and weak, as if he had experienced long work, illness or hunger). Comparisons reflect the dreaminess of the young man’s nature (I saw mountain ranges, bizarre, like dreams, when at the hour of dawn they smoked like altars, their heights in the blue sky; in snows burning like a diamond; like a pattern, on it are the teeth of distant mountains). With the help of comparisons, it is shown how Mtsyra merges with nature, rapprochement with it (intertwining like a pair of snakes), and Mtsyra's alienation from people (I myself, like a beast, was alien to people and crawled hiding like a snake; I was a stranger to them forever like a beast of the steppe).
In these comparisons - the power of passion, energy, the mighty spirit of Mtsyri. A fight with a leopard turns into a consciousness of the high value of struggle, courage. With the help of comparisons, it is shown as a battle of wild natural forces. Comparisons emphasize the emotionality of the images, reveal the life experience and ideas of the characters.
Metaphorical epithets convey: spiritual mood, depth of feelings, their strength and passion, inner impulse (fiery passion; gloomy walls; blissful days; flaming chest; in cold eternal silence; stormy heart; mighty spirit), poetic perception of the world (snow, burning, like a diamond; a village scattered in the shade; sleepy flowers; two sakli as a friendly couple).
Metaphors convey tension, hyperbolic experiences, the strength of Mtsyri's feelings, and the emotional perception of the world around him. This is the language of high passions. The frantic thirst for freedom gives rise to a frantic style of expressing feelings (the battle boiled; but the damp cover of the earth will refresh them and death will heal forever; fate ... laughed at me! I caressed the secret plan; the world of God slept in a stupor of deaf despair in a heavy sleep). With the help of detailed personifications, an understanding of nature is conveyed, the complete merging of Mtsyri with it. Sublimely exotic landscapes are extremely romantic. Nature is endowed with the same qualities as romantic characters, it exists on a par with man: man and nature are equal and equivalent. Nature is human. In the nature of the Caucasus, the romantic poet finds the grandeur and beauty that human society lacks (where, merging, they make noise, embracing, like two sisters, the jets of Aragva and Kura; and with a million black eyes the darkness looked through the branches of each).
Rhetorical questions, exclamations, appeals are also a means of expressing strong emotional experiences. A large number of rhetorical questions and exclamations gives emotion and passion to poetic speech (my child, stay here with me; oh my dear! I will not conceal that I love you).
The creation of lyricism is facilitated by anaphora (single-heartedness). Anaphoras enhance the impression, force the rhythm. The stormy, joyful beat of life is felt in the very rhythm of the stanza with its endless variety of epithets, with the symmetrical syntax of the lines, with the repetition of unions.
Then I fell to the ground; And he sobbed in a frenzy, And gnawed at the damp breast of the earth, And tears, tears flowed ... From children's eyes more than once He drove away visions of living dreams About dear neighbors and relatives, About the will of the wild steppes, About light mad horses ... About battles wonderful between the rocks, Where all alone I defeated! ..
So, on the basis of the previous analysis, we can conclude that in the variety of figurative and expressive means of Lermontov's poem, a wealth of experiences and feelings of the lyrical hero is manifested. With their help, a passionate, upbeat tone of the poem is created. Poetics switches to a high and timeless wave. The time of the poem is closer to the generalized than to the real. This is a philosophical work about the meaning of being, about the true value of human life, which the poet sees in freedom, activity, human dignity. The pathos of freedom and human activity is felt not only in the words and thoughts of the hero, but in the whole poem.
The poem is written in iambic 4-foot with masculine endings, which, according to V.G. Belinsky, “... it sounds and abruptly falls, like a blow of a sword striking its victim. Elasticity, energy and sonorous, monotonous fall of it surprisingly harmonizes with the concentrated feeling, the indestructible strength of a powerful nature and the tragic position of the hero of the poem. Adjacent masculine rhymes, a clear and firm sounding of phrases framed or broken by these rhymes strengthen the energetic masculine tone of the work.

The meaning of the work

Lermontov is the largest representative of Russian and world romanticism. Romantic pathos largely determined the direction of all Lermontov's poetry. He became the successor of the best progressive traditions of the literature that preceded him. In the poem "Mtsyri" Lermontov's poetic talent was fully revealed. It is no coincidence that Mtsyri is a hero close in spirit to the poet himself, “Lermontov’s favorite ideal” (V. G. Belinsky).
The poem "Mtsyri" inspired more than one generation of artists. At different times, the poem by V.P. Belkin, V.G. Bekhteev, I.S. Glazunov, A.A. Guryev, N.N. Dubovskoy, F.D. Konstantinov, P.P. Konchalovsky, M.N. Orlova-Mochalova, L.O. Pasternak, K.A. Savitsky, V.Ya. Surenyants, I.M. Toidze, N.A. Ushakova, KD Flavitsky, E.Ya. Heeger, A.G. Yakimchenko. Drawings on the theme "Mtsyri" belong to I.E. Repin. Fragments of the poem were set to music by ML. Balakirev, A.S. Dargomyzhsky, A.P. Borodin and other composers.

It is interesting

Lermontov's poem gave rise to many legends. So, in 1958, the writers of Chechnya suggested that the prototype of the protagonist of the poem "Mtsyri" by M. Lermontov is the artist Pyotr Zakharovich Zakharov, a Chechen by nationality.
Pyotr Zakharov-Chechen was found in infancy by Russian soldiers during the Caucasian war in the village of Dady-Yurt. By order of General A.P. Yermolov, the boy was entrusted to the Cossack Zakhar Nedonosov, the name of this man served as the basis for the name of the Chechen boy - he was named Peter Zakharov. Until 1823, Peter was brought up by Nedonosov, then Yermolov himself took him up. After retiring and moving with his family to Moscow, Yermolov gave his adopted son to study with the portrait painter Lev Volkov. P.N. Yermolov is looking for opportunities to enroll a pupil in the Academy of Arts. Finally, in 1833, Peter Zakharov was enrolled as a volunteer in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. According to the charter of the academy, representatives of national minorities could not be its students. Gifted children from these categories were enrolled as "out-of-class" students. But the talent of Peter Zakharov was noticed. Pyotr Zakharov graduated from the Academy of Arts, received a certificate, the right of an honorary hereditary citizen and the title of a free artist. While still studying at the academy, the "artist from Chechens" began to paint portraits of his contemporaries - the historian T.N. Granovsky, surgeon F.I. Inozemtsev, writer AL. Muraviev. The skill of the portrait painter Zakharov grew with each new work - he became a famous portrait painter in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In 1843, a portrait of A.P. Yermolova brings him the title of academician. It was then that Academician Pyotr Zakharov - "Chechen", or "from Da-da Yurt", so he will sign his works - will write "Self-Portrait in a Burka with a Gun", which became the incarnation of Mtsyra in spirit (the painting was until January 1995 at the Grozny Museum of Fine Arts). The artist depicted himself in a shaggy mountain shepherd's hat and cloak - by this he showed his inner connection with his homeland. It was after the self-portrait that Karl Bryullov would call Pyotr Zakharov the best portrait painter after himself. Zakharov died of consumption in 1846, he was barely thirty years old. Many of his works are kept in the leading museums of our country. “Portrait of the writer A.N. Muravyov” is stored in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and portraits of the poet M.Yu. Lermontov and General A.P. Yermolov are included in the exposition of the State Russian Museum. Several paintings by Zakharov-Chechen were presented at the Grozny Art Museum. Among them are two of his best canvases - "Self-portrait in a cloak with a gun" and "Portrait of I.F. Ladyzhensky." In December 1994, the museum in Grozny was destroyed. Like other exhibits, the canvases of Zakharov-Chechen were badly damaged. However, they, along with other paintings, managed to be evacuated to Moscow. In the restoration center named after Academician Grabar, for several years now, work has been underway to restore them.
(According to the book "Moscow is the capital". - M., "OLMA-PRESS", 2004.)

Zhuravleva A.I. Lermontov in Russian literature. Problems of Poetics. M., 2002.
Lermontov Encyclopedia. M., 1981.
Lotman Yum. In the school of poetry. Pushkin. Lermontov. Gogol. M., 1988.
Mann Yu.V. Poetics of Russian romanticism. M., 1976.
Manuilov VA. Chronicle of the life and work of M.Yu. Lermontov. M.; L., 1964.
M.Yu. Lermontov in the memoirs of contemporaries. M., 1972.
Lyubovich N. "Mtsyri" in the ideological struggle of the 30-40s // Creativity M.Yu. Lermontov: 150 years from the date of birth, 1814-1964. — M.: Nauka, 1964.

Other materials on the work of Lermontov M.Yu.

  • Summary of the poem "Demon: An Oriental Tale" by Lermontov M.Yu. by chapters (parts)
  • The ideological and artistic originality of the work "Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young guardsman and a daring merchant Kalashnikov" Lermontov M.Yu.
  • Summary "A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young guardsman and a daring merchant Kalashnikov" Lermontov M.Yu.
  • "The pathos of Lermontov's poetry lies in the moral questions about the fate and rights of the human person" V.G. Belinsky
  • Lermontov's bitter thought about the fate of his generation (based on the lyrics and the novel "A Hero of Our Time")

History of creation

The idea of ​​the poem "Mtsyri" originated with Lermontov in 1831. The seventeen-year-old poet reflected on the fate of his peer, a monk languishing in a monastery: “To write notes of a young monk of 17 years old. - He has been in the monastery since childhood; I didn't read books except sacred ones. A passionate soul languishes. - Ideals... The emergence of the poet's idea was also influenced by impressions of the nature of the Caucasus, acquaintance with Caucasian folklore. For the first time in the Caucasus, Lermontov visited in childhood with his grandmother. As a child, he was taken to the waters for treatment. Later, the impressions of the Caucasian nature intensified even more. Biographer of the poet P.A. Viskovatov writes (1891): “The old Georgian military road, the traces of which are still visible today, especially struck the poet with its beauties and a whole string of legends. These legends had been known to him since childhood, now they were renewed in his memory, rose in his fantasies, strengthened in his memory along with mighty, then luxurious pictures of Caucasian nature. One such legend is a folk song about a tiger and a young man. In the poem, she found an echo in the scene of the battle with the leopard.

The history of the origin of the plot "Mtsyri" according to Lermontov's cousin A.P. Shan Giray and a maternal relative of the poet A.A. Khastatov was presented by P.A. Viskovatov (1887): “When Lermontov, wandering along the old Georgian Military Highway (it could have been in 1837), was studying local legends, ... he came across in Mtskheta ... a lonely monk, or, rather, an old monastery servant, "beri" in Georgian. The watchman was the last of the brethren of the abolished nearby monastery. Lermontov talked to him and learned from him that he was a mountaineer, captured by a child by General Yermolov during the expedition. The general took him with him and left the sick boy to the monastery brethren. Here he grew up; For a long time he could not get used to the monastery, he yearned and made attempts to escape to the mountains. The consequence of one such attempt was a long illness that brought him to the brink of the grave. Having recovered, the savage calmed down and remained to live in the monastery, where he became especially attached to the old monk. The curious and lively story “take it” made an impression on Lermontov. In addition, he touched on a motive already familiar to the poet, and so he decided to use what was suitable in Confession and Boyar Orsha, and transferred all the action ... to Georgia.

On the manuscript of the poem, Lermontov's hand put the date of its completion: “1839. August 5". The following year, the poem was published in the book Poems of M. Lermontov. In the draft version, the poem was called "Bary" (Lermontov's footnote: "Bary in Georgian: monk"). Novice - in Georgian - "Mtsyri".

Poet and memoirist A.N. Muravyov (1806-1874) recalled: “The songs and poems of Lermontov thundered everywhere. He entered the Life Hussars again. It happened to me once, in Tsarskoye Selo, to catch the best moment of his inspiration. On a summer evening I went to see him and found him at his desk, with a burning face and fiery eyes, which were especially expressive in him. "What's wrong with you?" I asked. “Sit down and listen,” he said, and at that very moment, in a fit of delight, he read to me, from beginning to end, his entire magnificent poem “Mtsyri” (“novice” in Georgian), which had just poured out of under his inspired pen. Listening to him, I myself came into involuntary delight: so vividly he snatched out of the ribs of the Caucasus, one of the striking scenes and clothed it in living images before the enchanted gaze. No story has ever made such a strong impression on me. Many times later I re-read Mtsyri, but the freshness of colors was not the same as during the first animated reading of the poet himself.

"Mtsyri" - Lermontov's favorite work. He enjoyed reading it aloud. In May 1840, Lermontov read an excerpt from "Mtsyra" - a fight with a leopard - at Gogol's name day in Moscow. “And he read, they say, perfectly well,” the writer S.T. Aksakov from the words of the guests present that day at the birthday dinner ”(according to I.L. Andronikov).

Genus, genre, creative method

The poem is Lermontov’s favorite genre, he wrote about thirty poems (1828-1841), but Lermontov published only three of them: “A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young guardsman and a daring merchant Kalashnikov”, “Tambov Treasurer” and “Mtsyri”. "Hadji Abrek" was published in 1835 without the knowledge of the author. The Demon, on which Lermontov had been working since 1828, did not see the light either.

The poems, like Lermontov's lyrics, were confessional in nature, often they were a monologue or a dialogue of characters, becoming a psychological portrait of an exceptional personality. But unlike lyrics, the lyrical-epic genre provided a rare opportunity to show the hero in action, from the outside, in the very thick of life. The subject of the image, especially in the poems of the 30s, is the clash of the hero with the world, a romantic conflict.

The poem "Mtsyri" is a romantic work with all the characteristic features of this literary movement. This is, first of all, the contradiction between the ideal and reality, the confessional beginning, as well as the symbolic plot and images. The image of Mtsyri himself is also endowed with romantic features that are combined with realism. The hero's confession makes it possible to psychologically accurately reveal the hero's inner world.

The poem is preceded by an epigraph, which is the key to the content. This is a phrase from the biblical legend about the Israeli king Saul and his son Jonathan, who violated his father's prohibition not to eat until the evening. The whole earth exuded honey, and the soldiers were hungry after the battle. Jonathan violated the ban and the phrase “Eating, tasting a little honey, and behold I die,” he utters in anticipation of execution. However, the mind of the people triumphed over the "madness" of the king. The people stood up for the convict and saved him from execution, because the young man helped to defeat the enemies. “Honey of the earth”, “honey path” are once popular figurative expressions that go back to this legend and have become symbolic.

The poem is written in the form of a passionate confession of the hero.

Theme

Numerous definitions of the theme of the poem "Mtsyri" are rational. Each of them complements the palette of Lermontov's poetic design.

A poem about a freedom-loving highlander who professes the Muslim faith and is dying far from his homeland in a Christian monastery. The poem expressed Lermontov's attitude to the Caucasian war and to the fate of young people of his generation. (A.V. Popov)

“Mtsyri” is a poem “about a young man deprived of his freedom and dying far from his homeland. This is a poem about a contemporary of Lermontov, about his peers, about the fate of the best people of that time. (I.L. Andronikov)

In the poem “Mtsyri” “the problem of the struggle for moral values, human behavior, pride and beliefs, the problem of “proud faith in people and another life” is put forward. (B. Eichenbaum)

Homeland and freedom are combined into one multi-valued symbol. For the sake of the Motherland, the hero is ready to give up paradise and eternity. The motive of the prisoner develops into the motive of doomed to loneliness. But this loneliness also cannot be the state of the hero - he must either “take a monastic vow”, or, “taking a sip of freedom”, die. These two lives are irreconcilable, and the choice is due to the "fiery passion" that lives in Mtsyri. All of these topics are reflected in Lermontov's poem. All of them lead the reader to understanding the inner world of the hero, his thoughts and feelings.

Idea

The revolutionary democrats were close to the rebellious pathos of the poem. Belinsky wrote that Mtsyri is “the favorite ideal of our poet, this is a reflection in poetry of the shadow of his own personality. In everything that Mtsyri says, it breathes with his own spirit, strikes him with his own power. According to N.P. Ogareva, Lermontov's Mtsyri is "his most clear or only ideal."

In the modern reading of "Mtsyri" it is not the rebellious pathos of the poem that is relevant at all, but its philosophical meaning. The natural environment, with which Mtsyri seeks to merge, opposes his monastic upbringing. Mtsyri is trying to jump over the abyss and return to a completely different cultural world, once dear and close to him. But breaking with the usual way of life is not so easy: Mtsyri is by no means a “natural person”, he does not know how to navigate in the forest, and suffers from hunger among abundance.

The ideas of life and freedom permeate the artistic fabric of the work. An active, active attitude to life is affirmed, its fullness, achieved in the struggle for freedom, in fidelity to the ideal of freedom, even in the tragic conditions of defeat.

The nature of the conflict

The romantic conflict of the poem is set by the exclusivity of the protagonist. The flight of Mtsyri is a desire for will and freedom, an irresistible call of nature. Therefore, in the poem such a large place is occupied by references to the wind, birds, animals. Yes, and in Mtsyra himself, nature gives rise to primitive animal strength. Lermontov's contemporaries pointed to the unbridled passion of Mtsyri, rushing into a wide expanse, seized by "insane power", crying out "against all social concepts and full of hatred and contempt for them."

The conflict, characteristic of Lermontov's work, between the world view and direct perception of the surroundings is revealed. Mtsyra's kinship with free, spontaneous nature noticeably alienates him from the world of people, against the background of nature, the measure of the hero's loneliness is more deeply comprehended. Therefore, for Mtsyra, closeness to nature is an opportunity to find a family, a homeland, to return to the original sources. The tragedy of Mtsyra lies in the contradiction between the masculinity of his spirit and the weakness of his body.

Main heroes

Lermontov's poem with one hero. This is a young highlander, taken prisoner at the age of six by a Russian general (it means General A.P. Yermolov). His entire short life was spent within the walls of the monastery. "A life full of anxieties" contrasts Mtsyri with "life in captivity", "a wonderful world of anxieties and battles" - "stuffy cells and prayers". He remains true to his ideals to the end. And this is his moral strength. The path to the Motherland, an attempt to find a "soulmate" becomes the only opportunity for existence.

The image of Mtsyra is complex: he is both a rebel, and a stranger, and a fugitive, and a “natural person”, and a spirit thirsty for knowledge, and an orphan who dreams of a home, and a young man entering a time of clashes and conflicts with the world. A feature of Mtsyri's character is an ironic combination of strict determination, powerful strength, strong will with exceptional gentleness, sincerity, lyricism in relation to the homeland.

Mtsyri feels the harmony of nature, seeks to merge with it. He feels its depth and mystery. In this case, we are talking about the real, earthly beauty of nature, and not about an ideal that exists only in the imagination. Mtsyri listens to the voice of nature, admires the leopard as a worthy opponent. And the spirit of Mtsyri himself is unshakable, despite his physical illness. "

Belinsky called "Mtsyri" the poet's favorite ideal. For a critic, Mtsyri is a “fiery soul”, “a mighty spirit”, “a gigantic nature”.

One of the characters in the poem is nature. The landscape in the poem is not only a romantic background that surrounds the hero. It helps to reveal his character, that is, it becomes one of the ways to create a romantic image. Since nature in the poem is given in the perception of Mtsyri, his character can be judged by what exactly attracts the hero in her, as he speaks of her. The diversity and richness of the landscape described by Mtsyri emphasize the monotony of the monastic setting. The young man is attracted by the power, the scope of the Caucasian nature, he is not afraid of the dangers lurking in it. For example, he enjoys the splendor of the boundless blue vault in the early morning, and then endures the withering heat in the mountains.

Plot and composition

The plot of Mtsyri is based on the traditional romantic situation of escaping from captivity. The monastery as a prison has always attracted the thoughts and feelings of the poet, and Lermontov did not put an equal sign between the monastery and faith. Mtsyra's flight from the monastic cell does not mean unbelief: this is a fierce protest of the hero against captivity.

The poem has 26 chapters. Mtsyri in the poem is not only a hero, but also a narrator. The form of confession is a means of the deepest and most truthful disclosure of the hero's psychology. In the poem, she occupies a large part. The confession is preceded by the author's introduction, which helps the reader to correlate the action of the poem with certain historical events. In the introduction, Lermontov pays attention to the most striking episodes of the poem: this is the contemplation of the nature of the Caucasus and the hero’s thoughts about his homeland, the scene of a thunderstorm and Mtsyri’s flight from the monastery, the hero’s meeting with a Georgian woman, his duel with a leopard, a dream in the steppe. The plot of the poem is the scene of a thunderstorm and the flight of Mtsyra from the monastery. The culmination of the poem can be called the duel of a young man with a leopard, in which the main motive of all the poet's work, the motive of struggle, was embodied. The compositional construction of the poem has a closed form: the action began in the monastery, and it ended in the monastery. Thus, the motive of fate, fate, finds its embodiment in the poem.

Artistic originality

M.Yu. Lermontov created in the poem "Mtsyri" a vivid image of a rebel hero, incapable of compromise. This character is exceptional in depth and thoroughness of psychological study. At the same time, Mtsyri's personality is amazingly whole, complete. He is a hero-symbol in which the author expressed his ideas about a certain type of personality. This is the personality of a prisoner, striving for absolute freedom, ready to enter into an argument with fate even for the sake of a sip of freedom.

The hero and the author are intimately close. The confession of the hero is the confession of the author. The voice of the hero, the voice of the author, and the majestic Caucasian landscape itself are included in a single excited and exciting monologue of the poem. Poetic images help to embody the author's intention. Among them, an important role is played by the image of a thunderstorm. A thunderstorm is not only a natural phenomenon, but also an expression of God's wrath. The images of "God's garden" and "eternal forest" are contrasted.

As already noted, the entire confession of the hero is devoted to the three days of freedom. Already in time: three days - freedom, all life - captivity, the author turns to the antithesis. The temporal antithesis is intensified figuratively: the monastery is a prison, the Caucasus is freedom.

The poem has a great variety of means of artistic expression. The most commonly used is such a trope as a comparison. Comparisons emphasize the emotionality of the image of Mtsyra (like a chamois of the mountains, shy and wild, and weak and flexible, like a reed; he was terribly pale and thin and weak, as if he had experienced long work, illness or hunger). Comparisons reflect the dreaminess of the young man’s nature (I saw mountain ranges, bizarre, like dreams, when at the hour of dawn they smoked like altars, their heights in the blue sky; in snows burning like a diamond; like a pattern, on it are the teeth of distant mountains). With the help of comparisons, it is shown how Mtsyra merges with nature, rapprochement with it (intertwining like a pair of snakes), and Mtsyra's alienation from people (I myself, like a beast, was alien to people and crawled hiding like a snake; I was a stranger to them forever like a beast of the steppe).

In these comparisons - the power of passion, energy, the mighty spirit of Mtsyri. A fight with a leopard turns into a consciousness of the high value of struggle, courage. With the help of comparisons, it is shown as a battle of wild natural forces. Comparisons emphasize the emotionality of the images, reveal the life experience and ideas of the characters.

Metaphorical epithets convey: spiritual mood, depth of feelings, their strength and passion, inner impulse. (fiery passion; gloomy walls; blissful days; flaming chest; in cold eternal silence; stormy heart; mighty spirit), poetic perception of the world (snow burning like a diamond; aul scattered in the shade; sleepy flowers; two sakli as a friendly couple).

Metaphors convey tension, hyperbolic experiences, the strength of Mtsyri's feelings, the emotional perception of the world around. This is the language of high passions. The frantic thirst for freedom gives rise to a frantic style of expressing feelings (the battle boiled; but the damp cover of the lands will refresh them and death will heal forever; fate ... laughed at me! I caressed a secret plan; carry to the grave with me the longing for the homeland of the saint, the hopes of the deceived reproach; the world of God slept in a stupor of deaf despair heavy sleep). Via expanded avatars the understanding of nature is transmitted, the complete merging of Mtsyri with it. Sublimely exotic landscapes are extremely romantic. Nature is endowed with the same qualities as romantic characters, it exists on a par with man: man and nature are equal and equivalent. Nature is human. In the nature of the Caucasus, the romantic poet finds the grandeur and beauty that human society lacks (where, merging, they make noise, embracing, like two sisters, the jets of Aragva and Kura; and with a million black eyes the darkness looked through the branches of each).

Rhetorical questions, exclamations, appeals are also a means of expressing strong emotional experiences. A large number of rhetorical questions and exclamations give poetic speech excitement and passion. (my child, stay here with me; oh my dear! I will not conceal that I love you).

The creation of lyricism is facilitated by anaphora (single-heartedness). Anaphoras enhance the impression, force the rhythm. The stormy, joyful beat of life is felt in the very rhythm of the stanza with its endless variety of epithets, with the symmetrical syntax of the lines, with the repetition of unions.

Then I fell to the ground;
And sobbed in a frenzy,
And gnawed at the damp breast of the earth,
And tears, tears flowed...
He has more than once from children's eyes
Chased visions of living dreams
About dear neighbors and relatives,
About the will of the wild steppes,
About light mad horses ...
About wonderful battles between the rocks,
Where all alone I won! ..

So, on the basis of the previous analysis, we can conclude that in the variety of figurative and expressive means of Lermontov's poem, a wealth of experiences and feelings of the lyrical hero is manifested. With their help, a passionate, upbeat tone of the poem is created. Poetics switches to a high and timeless wave. The time of the poem is closer to the generalized than to the real. This is a philosophical work about the meaning of being, about the true value of human life, which the poet sees in freedom, activity, human dignity. The pathos of freedom and human activity is felt not only in the words and thoughts of the hero, but in the whole poem.

The poem is written in iambic 4-foot with masculine endings, which, according to V.G. Belinsky, “... it sounds and abruptly falls, like a blow of a sword striking its victim. Elasticity, energy and sonorous, monotonous fall of it surprisingly harmonizes with the concentrated feeling, the indestructible strength of a powerful nature and the tragic position of the hero of the poem. Adjacent masculine rhymes, a clear and firm sounding of phrases framed or broken by these rhymes strengthen the energetic masculine tone of the work.

The meaning of the work

Lermontov is the largest representative of Russian and world romanticism. Romantic pathos largely determined the direction of all Lermontov's poetry. He became the successor of the best progressive traditions of the literature that preceded him. In the poem "Mtsyri" Lermontov's poetic talent was fully revealed. It is no coincidence that Mtsyri is a hero who is close in spirit to the poet himself, "Lermontov's favorite ideal" (V. G. Belinsky).

The poem "Mtsyri" inspired more than one generation of artists. At different times, the poem by V.P. Belkin, V.G. Bekhteev, I.S. Glazunov, A.A. Guryev, N.N. Dubovskoy, F.D. Konstantinov, P.P. Konchalovsky, M.N. Orlova-Mochalova, L.O. Pasternak, K.A. Savitsky, V.Ya. Surenyants, I.M. Toidze, N.A. Ushakova, K.D. Flavitsky, E.Ya. Heeger,

A.G. Yakimchenko. Drawings on the theme "Mtsyri" belong to I.E. Repin. Fragments of the poem were set to music by M.A. Balakirev, A.S. Dargomyzhsky, A.P. Borodin and other composers.