Topic: "Analysis of the poem" The Bronze Horseman "

Lesson Objectives: reveal the historical, literary and genre originality of The Bronze Horseman; determine the composition of the work; help to comprehend the main conflict of the poem; develop the ability to analyze the work; to cultivate in the reader a sense of beauty, the ability to feel and understand what is read.

Methodical methods: teacher's story, students' messages, vocabulary work, elements of text analysis.

During the classes

1. Checking homework.

Implementation of an individual task: the message "The image of Peter I in the poem" Poltava ".

2. Teacher's word.

The image of Peter I was depicted by Pushkin not only in the poem "Poltava", where he appears as an inspired military leader - the winner, but also in many other works: "The Feast of Peter the Great", "Arap Peter the Great", etc. Each of these works reveals new facets character of the king, his state activities.

In the early 1930s, Pushkin had a desire to start work on The History of Peter. He gained access to the state archives and to the Voltaire library kept in the Hermitage, began to search for and collect materials from Golikov's multi-volume work "Acts of Peter the Great" and "Additions .." to it. The materials collected by the writer have not reached us in full, but they make up a whole volume in the collection of his works.

By this time, his ideas about Peter, his services to the country, his strengths and weaknesses had deepened. Pushkin has a note: “The difference between the state institutions of Peter the Great and his temporary decrees is worthy of surprise. The former are the fruit of a vast mind, full of benevolence and wisdom, the latter often cruel, capricious and, it seems, written with a whip. The first were for eternity, or at least for the future, the second escaped from impatient autocratic landowner. Pushkin notes that the arbitrariness of Peter I grew from year to year.

What Pushkin realized as a historian, he wanted to reflect as an artist. Thus was born in 1833 one of his best poems - "The Bronze Horseman". In it, Pushkin expressed an insoluble conflict, a contradiction between historical necessity and the lives of living people, who often become victims of this necessity. It is no longer Peter himself who acts in the poem, but his “idol”, a monument. This image is inseparable from the image of St. Petersburg, it is a symbol of the northern capital.

3. Implementation of an individual task.

Message from a trained student about the history of the creation of St. Petersburg, the history of the creation of the monument to Peter I.

4. Expressive reading of an excerpt from the poem "The Bronze Horseman" by the teacher.

5. Conversation on questions. Elements of text analysis "Introduction".

1. Find the definition of the composition of the work in the dictionary. Remember the elements of plot composition:

a) tie (change in the initial situation, entailing the emergence of a conflict);

b) development of action;

c) culmination;

d) denouement;

e) obligatory framing elements - prologue and epilogue.

2. Is there a framing element in the composition of the plot of the work? How is it named?

uses epic ways of depicting a historical personality: a broad view of the world “strengthens” the personality of the hero: “... he, full of great thoughts ..”, the king is shown against the backdrop of a vast space that has to be transformed, conquered.

6. Find lexical and other means of artistic expression that show the author's attitude to the activities of Peter as historically necessary and aimed at the good of the state.

The introduction is written in the traditions of the Lomonosov ode in a high style. The text contains Slavicisms (otsel, hail, dilapidated, porphyry-bearing), techniques of oratory. The genre of the introduction to the story "The Bronze Horseman" chosen by the author emphasizes his state wisdom and patriotism in the image of Peter.

Let us explain the meaning of the words "midnight", "blat", "porphyritic".

6. What he once “thought about”, that is, Peter, standing on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, happened. What does Peter's creation look like now?

6. Understanding the conflict in the work.

But at what cost did this city "ascend magnificently, proudly"? The idea was realized at the cost of violence against nature and people. The introduction to the story is intended to bring the reader to an understanding of its main conflict - history and personality.

Dictionary work. Find a definition of conflict.

The conflict in a literary work is a collision, a struggle on which the development of the plot is built.

Is the conflict in the work "The Bronze Horseman" unambiguous?

(The conflict in the poem is branched, complex. This is a conflict between a “little” person and power, between nature and a person, between a city and the elements, between personality and history, between the real and the mythological.)

7. Questions session.

In the story, next to the image of a great statesman, the image of an ordinary person appears.

1) How is the image of Eugene revealed through a comparison of his “thoughts” (“What was he thinking about?”) With Peter’s monologue (“And he thought ...”)?

Pushkin contrasts Peter, who personifies power, with an ordinary person whose fate depends on power.

2) How is this opposition emphasized stylistically?

The story about Peter is conducted in the genre of an ode, about Eugene - in a reduced style, with the mention of many everyday details that recreate the lifestyle of an ordinary person.

8. The description of the flood occupies the main place in the first part of the story.

Is it sudden for Eugene?

Suddenly. Falling asleep, he wishes "that the wind howled not so sadly and that the rain did not knock on the window so angrily." The hero does not lose hope for a successful outcome of events.

And now let's compare the description of the raging elements with the author's double assessment of Peter's plan to build a city. How does the introduction say that Peter's will intrudes and changes the natural state of the world?

How does nature take revenge for man's intrusion into its environment? What does Pushkin note in her actions?

Siege! Attack! evil waves,

Like thieves climbing through the windows. Chelny

With a running start, glass is smashed astern.

Trays under a wet veil.

thrifty commodity,

The belongings of poor poverty,

Storm-blown bridges

A coffin from a blurry cemetery

Float through the streets!

Sees God's wrath and awaits execution.

The flood should be understood as the retribution of nature to man for the violence done to her. This event is the trigger for the action.

Eugene, fleeing the elements on a marble lion, is the tragicomic "double" of the guardian of the city, "an idol on a bronze horse", standing "in an unshakable height." The parallel between them emphasizes the sharp contrast between the greatness of the “idol” raised above the city and the miserable position of Eugene.

What terrifies Eugene after the death of the bride? Why is the Bronze Horseman chasing him? What is the symbolic meaning of this scene?

In Yevgeny's mind, this "miraculous builder", Peter, is the culprit of the misfortunes of ordinary St. Petersburg people. The rider, with his outstretched hand, seems to bless the flaring up element, but he cannot control it, tame it. Gradually, Yevgeny "cleared up" "terrible thoughts", and he "became gloomy."

The question asked before: “Where are you galloping, proud horse? ..” - it would seem that it does not imply a simple, immediate answer, and suddenly the answer is received. The horse "lowered its hooves", the Horseman breaks off the pedestal and starts chasing the poor rebel. The autocrat cannot forgive the threats from the timid, confused "little man." Let it only seem to Eugene that the Horseman is chasing him, galloping through the square and streets of the capital. Some great moral laws were not taken into account and even violated by the reformer of Russia. That is why this monument is so lonely in the midst of the motley life of a huge city.

Did the elements, in turn, manage to destroy what was created by the people at the will of the great man?

affirms the immortality of Peter's deeds as the deeds of the people and the state as a whole. But, fulfilling the law of historical necessity, the state breaks the fate of ordinary people, destroys them, showing state egoism towards them. This is the denouement of events, the resolution of the conflict.

9. Genre Definition

What is the subtitle of "The Bronze Horseman"?

("Petersburg Tale")

However, in the works of many literary critics we meet the designation of this work as a poem.

Look up the definitions of novel and poem in the dictionary. What genre is closer to the work "The Bronze Horseman" and why?

The story is one of the types of epic work. The story is more in volume and coverage of life phenomena than a short story, and less than a novel.

Poem (gr. poiema - creation) - one of the types of lyrical epic works, which are characterized by plot and expression by the author or lyrical hero of his feelings.

Pushkin calls the work a story, the reliability of the events of which is emphasized by the “Preface”: “The incident described in this story is based on truth. The details of the flood are borrowed from contemporary magazines. The curious can handle the news made up.”

It was important for the author to emphasize that this is not just a poem like "Gypsies", but something deeper and more ambitious. Very often, authors complicate the genres of their works. The dictionary definition of a genre is only a certain basis, and true masterpieces, complex in design, often do not fit into the readers' usual ideas about genres, and the author thus gives them hints.

Homework:

1. Learn an excerpt from The Bronze Horseman by heart (at the choice of the students).

2. Answer in writing the question: “How did Pushkin’s attitude towards Peter change during the writing of the poem “The Bronze Horseman” in relation to the image of Peter, which is given in the poem “Poltava”?

The poem "The Bronze Horseman" by A.S. Pushkin is one of the most perfect creations of the poet. In its style, it resembles "Eugene Onegin", and in content it is close at the same time to history and mythology. This work reflects the thoughts of A.S. Pushkin about Peter the Great and absorbed various opinions about the reformer.

The poem became the final work of those written during the Boldin autumn. At the end of 1833, The Bronze Horseman was completed.

At the time of Pushkin, there were two types of people - some idolized Peter the Great, while others attributed to him a relationship with Satan. On this basis, myths were born: in the first case, the reformer was called the Father of the Fatherland, they talked about an unprecedented mind, the creation of a city-paradise (Petersburg), in the second, they prophesied the collapse of the city on the Neva, accused Peter the Great of having connections with dark forces, called the Antichrist.

The essence of the poem

The poem begins with a description of St. Petersburg, A.S. Pushkin emphasizes the uniqueness of the place for construction. Eugene lives in the city - the most ordinary employee, poor, does not want to get rich, it is more important for him to remain an honest and happy family man. Financial well-being is required only for the need to provide for your beloved Parasha. The hero dreams of marriage and children, dreams of meeting old age hand in hand with his girlfriend. But his dreams were not destined to come true. The work describes the flood of 1824. A terrible time when people perished in layers of water, when the Neva raged and swallowed up the city with its waves. In such a flood, Parasha dies. Eugene, on the other hand, shows courage during a disaster, does not think about himself, tries to see the house of his beloved in the distance and runs to him. When the storm subsides, the hero hurries to the familiar gate: here is a willow, but there is no gate and no house either. This picture broke the young man, he is doomed to drag along the streets of the northern capital, leads the life of a wanderer and every day relives the events of that fateful night. In one of these cloudings, he comes across the house where he used to live and sees a statue of Peter the Great on a horse - the Bronze Horseman. He hates the reformer because he built a city on the water that killed his beloved. But suddenly the rider comes to life and angrily rushes at the offender. Later, the tramp will die.

In the poem, the interests of the state and the common man collide. On the one hand, Petrograd was called the northern Rome, on the other hand, its foundation on the Neva was dangerous for the inhabitants, and the flood of 1824 confirms this. Yevgeny's vicious speeches against the reforming ruler are interpreted in different ways: the first is a rebellion against the autocracy; the second is the revolt of Christianity against paganism; the third is the pitiful murmur of a small man, whose opinion is not put on a par with the force necessary for changes on a national scale (that is, to achieve grandiose goals, you always have to sacrifice something, and the mechanism of collective will will not be stopped by the misfortune of one person).

Genre, meter and composition

The genre of "The Bronze Horseman" is a poem written, like "Eugene Onegin", in iambic tetrameter. The composition is quite strange. It has an exorbitantly large introduction, which in general can be considered as a separate independent work. Then 2 parts, which talk about the main character, the flood and the collision with the Bronze Horseman. There is no epilogue in the poem, more precisely, it is not singled out by the poet himself separately - the last 18 lines about the island on the seaside and the death of Eugene.

Despite the non-standard structure, the work is perceived as a whole. This effect is created by compositional parallelisms. Peter the Great lived 100 years earlier than the main character, but this does not interfere with creating a sense of the presence of a reforming ruler. His personality is expressed through the monument of the Bronze Horseman; but the person of Peter himself appears at the beginning of the poem, in the introduction, when it is about the military and economic significance of St. Petersburg. A.S. Pushkin also carries the idea of ​​the immortality of the reformer, because even after his death, innovations appeared and the old ones were in force for a long time, that is, he launched that heavy and clumsy machine of change in Russia.

So, the figure of the ruler appears throughout the poem, either as his own person, or in the form of a monument, he is revived by the confused mind of Eugene. The time interval of the narrative between the introduction and the first part is 100 years, but, despite such a sharp jump, the reader does not feel it, since A.S. Pushkin connected the events of 1824 with the so-called "culprit" of the flood, because it was Peter who built the city on the Neva. It is interesting to note that this book on the construction of composition is completely uncharacteristic of Pushkin's style, it is an experiment.

Characteristics of the main characters

1. Eugene - we know little about him; lived in Kolomna, served there. He was poor, but had no ill taste for money. Despite the perfect commonness of the hero, and he would easily be lost among thousands of the same gray residents of St. Petersburg, he has a lofty and bright dream that fully meets the ideals of many people - marrying his beloved girl. He - as Pushkin himself liked to call his characters - "the hero of the French novel." But his dreams are not destined to come true, Parasha dies in the flood of 1824, and Eugene goes crazy. The poet painted for us a weak and insignificant young man, whose face is instantly lost against the background of the figure of Peter the Great, but even this layman has his own goal, which is commensurate with or even surpasses the personality of the Bronze Horseman in strength and nobility.
2. Peter the Great - in the introduction, his figure is presented as a portrait of the Creator, Pushkin recognizes an incredible mind in the ruler, but emphasizes despotism. First, the poet shows that although the emperor is higher than Eugene, he is not higher than God and the elements that are not subject to him, but the power of Russia will pass through all adversity and remain unharmed and unshakable. The author has repeatedly noticed that the reformer was too autocratic, did not pay attention to the misfortunes of ordinary people who became victims of his global transformations. Probably, opinions on this topic will always differ: on the one hand, tyranny is a bad quality that a ruler should not have, but on the other hand, would such extensive changes be possible if Peter was softer? Everyone answers this question for himself.

Subject

The clash of power and the common man is the main theme of the poem "The Bronze Horseman". In this work, A.S. Pushkin reflects on the role of the individual in the fate of the whole state.

The Bronze Horseman personifies Peter the Great, whose reign was close to despotism and tyranny. His hand introduced reforms that completely changed the course of ordinary Russian life. But when a forest is cut down, chips will inevitably fly. Can a small man find his happiness when such a lumberjack does not take into account his interests? The poem answers no. A clash of interests between the authorities and the people in this case is inevitable, of course, the latter remain the losers. A.S. Pushkin reflects on the structure of the state in the time of Peter the Great and the fate of a single hero taken in it - Yevgeny, coming to the conclusion that the empire is cruel to people in any case, and whether its greatness is worth such sacrifices is an open question.

The creator also addresses the topic of the tragic loss of a loved one. Eugene cannot stand loneliness and grief of loss and does not find what to cling to in life if there is no love.

Issues

• In the poem "The Bronze Horseman" A.S. Pushkin raises the problem of the individual and the state. Eugene is a native of the people. He is the most ordinary petty official, lives from hand to mouth. His soul is full of high feelings for Parasha, with whom he dreams of marrying. The monument of the Bronze Horseman becomes the face of the state. In oblivion of the mind, a young man comes across the house where he lived before the death of his beloved and before his madness. His gaze stumbles upon the monument, and his sick mind revives the statue. Here it is, the inevitable clash of the individual and the state. But the rider is viciously chasing Yevgeny, pursuing him. How dare the hero grumble at the emperor?! The reformer thought on a larger scale, considering plans for the future in a full-length dimension, as from a bird's eye view he looked at his creations, not peering at the people who were overwhelmed by his innovations. The people sometimes suffered from the decisions of Peter, just as now they sometimes suffer from the ruling hand. The monarch erected a beautiful city, which during the flood of 1824 became a cemetery for many residents. But he does not take into account the opinion of ordinary people, it seems that with his thoughts he went far ahead of his time, and even after a hundred years, not everyone was able to comprehend his plan. Thus, a person is not protected in any way from the arbitrariness of higher persons, his rights are rudely and with impunity trampled.
• The problem of loneliness also bothered the author. The hero could not bear a day of life without the second half. Pushkin reflects on how vulnerable and vulnerable we are, how the mind is not strong and subject to suffering.
• The problem of indifference. No one helped the townspeople to evacuate, no one corrected the consequences of the storm either, and officials did not even dream of compensation for the families of the dead and social support for the victims. The state apparatus showed a surprising indifference to the fate of its subjects.

State as the Bronze Horseman

For the first time, we encounter the image of Peter the Great in the poem "The Bronze Horseman" in the introduction. Here the ruler is depicted as the Creator, who conquered the elements and built a city on the water.

The emperor's reforms were disastrous for the common people, since they were guided only by the nobility. Yes, and she had a hard time: remember how Peter forcibly cut the beards of the boyars. But the main victim of the monarch's ambitions was the ordinary working people: it was they who paved the road to the northern capital for hundreds of lives. The city on the bones - that's it - the personification of the state machine. It was comfortable for Peter himself and his associates to live in innovations, because they saw only one side of the new affairs - progressive and beneficial, and the fact that the destructive effect and "side effects" of these changes fell on the shoulders of "little" people did not bother anyone. The elite looked at St. Petersburg drowning in the Neva from "high balconies" and did not feel all the sorrows of the water foundation of the city. Peter perfectly reflects in himself the peremptory absolutist state system - there will be reforms, but the people "will live somehow."

If at first we see the Creator, then closer to the middle of the poem, the poet propagates the idea that Peter the Great is not God and it is completely beyond his power to cope with the elements. At the end of the work, we see only a stone likeness of the former ruler, who was sensational in Russia. Years later, the Bronze Horseman has become only an occasion for unreasonable anxiety and fear, but this is only a fleeting feeling of a madman.

What is the meaning of the poem?

Pushkin created a multifaceted and ambiguous work, which must be evaluated in terms of ideological and thematic content. The meaning of the poem "The Bronze Horseman" lies in the confrontation between Eugene and the Bronze Horseman, the individual and the state, which criticism deciphers in different ways. So, the first meaning is the opposition of paganism and Christianity. Peter was often awarded the title of Antichrist, and Eugene opposes such thoughts. Another thought: the hero is a layman, and the reformer is a genius, they live in different worlds and do not understand each other. The author, however, admits that both types are needed for the harmonious existence of civilization. The third meaning is that the main character personified the rebellion against autocracy and despotism, which the poet propagated, because he belonged to the Decembrists. The same helplessness of the uprising he allegorically retold in a poem. And one more interpretation of the idea is a pitiful and doomed to failure attempt by a “little” person to change and turn the course of the state machine in the other direction.

Little Man Theme

A. S. Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" was created in Boldin in 1833. It was not immediately allowed to print because of the issues raised in it of the superiority of power over an ordinary person. Therefore, the poem was published only after the death of the writer. From the very first lines, the reformer tsar Peter I appears before the reader, making the most important decision for all of Russia to build a majestic city on the banks of the Neva, which will later become the capital of the empire for many years. The following chapters show the city in all its glory a hundred years later. Despite the fact that Peter I is no longer alive, he remained in the city in the form of a "bronze horseman" - a gigantic idol on a bronze horse with a look fixed on the future and with an outstretched hand.

The protagonist of the poem is a "little man", a poor St. Petersburg official Evgeny, who lives in a dilapidated house and barely makes ends meet. He is very burdened by his position and is trying his best to fix it. Evgeny connects all his dreams and hopes with the poor girl Parasha, who lives with her mother on the other side of the Neva. However, fate was unfavorable to him and took away Parasha from him. During another natural disaster, the Neva overflowed its banks and flooded the nearest houses. Among the dead was Parasha. Eugene could not bear this grief and went crazy. Over time, he understood the cause of all his misfortunes and recognized in the bronze statue the culprit, by whose will the city was built here. One night during another storm, Eugene went to the giant to look into his eyes, but immediately regretted it. As it seemed to him, anger flashed in the eyes of the “brazen horseman”, and the heavy clatter of copper hooves pursued him all night. The next day, Eugene went to the statue, took off his cap in front of the formidable king, as if apologizing for his act. Soon he was found dead in a dilapidated house after another flood.

Who, after all, is to blame for the misfortunes of the “little man”: the state or he himself because he was not interested in the greatness of history? The construction of St. Petersburg on the banks of the Neva was dictated by state interests. The author is aware of how much he had to pay for this slender appearance of the military capital. On the one hand, he understands and supports the ideas of Peter. On the other hand, he tries to show how these dreams affected ordinary people. Along with high humanity, there is also a harsh truth. In the poem "The Bronze Horseman", a simple person with his own private interests is opposed to the state. However, in fairness, the author shows that the neglect of the interests of the "little man" leads to natural disasters, in this case, to the revelry of the rebellious Neva.

The poem "The Bronze Horseman" was created by A. S. Pushkin in 1833. This is the last work that was written by the great Russian poet in Boldin. It is written in poetic form, and the two main characters of the work are Eugene and the monument to the emperor. Two themes intersect in the poem - Emperor Peter and a simple, "insignificant" person. The poem is considered one of the most perfect works of the great Russian poet.

Historical vantage point chosen by the poet

In the analysis of The Bronze Horseman, it can be mentioned that Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin managed to overcome the canons of the genre in his work. In the poem, Peter does not appear as a historical character (he appears in the guise of an "idol" - a statue). Also, nothing is said about the time of his reign.

The Petrine era for the poet himself is a time that did not end with the death of the great ruler. At the same time, A. S. Pushkin refers not to the beginning of this great period in the history of the Russian state, but to its results. One of the historical points, from the height of which the poet looked at the emperor, was the flood of November 7, 1824, the “terrible time”, which remained in memory for a long time.

Analyzing The Bronze Horseman, it can be noted that the poem was written in iambic tetrameter. In this short work (contains less than 500 verses), the poet combined history and modernity, the private life of a "little man" with the history of the country. The Bronze Horseman has become one of the immortal monuments to St. Petersburg and the period of Peter's reign.

The main plan of the poem, theme, main idea

The theme of The Bronze Horseman is a conflict between a person and the state system. The central event of the work is a flood. The story about him forms the first plan of the poem - historical. The flood is one of the main plots of the entire poem. It is also a source of conflict between the individual and the country. The main idea of ​​the work is that an ordinary person can go crazy with grief, anxiety and anxiety.

Conditionally literary plan

There is also a second plan in the poem - conditionally literary. It also needs to be told in the analysis of The Bronze Horseman. The poet sets it with the help of the subtitle "Petersburg Tale". And Eugene is the central character in this story. The faces of the rest of the inhabitants of the city can not be distinguished. This is the crowd that floods the streets, drowning; cold and detached residents of the city in the second part of the work. The poet's story about the fate of the protagonist sets off the historical plan and interacts with him throughout the entire work. At the climax of the poem, when the Horseman is chasing Eugene, this motif dominates. A mythical hero enters the stage - a statue that has come to life. And in this space, the city turns into a fantastic space, losing its real features.

"Idol" and understanding of St. Petersburg

In the analysis of The Bronze Horseman, the student may mention that the Bronze Horseman is one of the most unusual images in all of Russian literature. Awakened by the words of the protagonist, he ceases to be an ordinary idol and turns into a formidable king. From the very moment of the founding of St. Petersburg, the history of the city received different interpretations. In myths and legends, it was considered not an ordinary city, but the embodiment of completely mysterious and incomprehensible forces. Depending on who held the post of king, these forces were understood as beneficent or as hostile, anti-people.

Emperor Peter I

At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, two large categories of myths began to take shape, opposite each other in their content. In some, Emperor Peter appeared as the "father of the Fatherland", a kind of deity who managed to organize a reasonable cosmos and a "dear country".

These ideas often appeared in poetry (for example, in the odes of Sumarokov and Derzhavin). They were encouraged at the state level. Another trend tends to represent Peter as a "living Antichrist", and Petersburg as a "non-Russian city". The first category of myths characterized the founding of the city as the beginning of a "golden era" for Russia; the second predicted the imminent destruction of the state.

Combining the two approaches

Alexander Sergeevich in the poem "The Bronze Horseman" was able to create a synthetic image of St. Petersburg and the emperor. In his work, those images that exclude each other in their meaning complement each other. The poem begins with a description of the poetic myth about the founding of the city, and the myth of destruction is reflected in the first and second parts of the work, which describes the flood.

The image of Peter in the poem "The Bronze Horseman" and the historical plan of the work

The originality of the poem is reflected in the simultaneous interaction of three planes. It is legendary-mythological, historical, and also conventionally literary. Emperor Peter appears on the legendary mythological plane, because he is not a historical character. He is the nameless hero of the legend, the builder and founder of the new city, the executor of the highest will.

But Peter's thoughts are distinguished by concreteness: he decided to build a city "for the evil of an arrogant neighbor" so that Russia could "cut a window into Europe." A. S. Pushkin emphasizes the historical plan with the words "a hundred years have passed." And this phrase envelops the ongoing events in the haze of time. The emergence of the "young city" is likened by the poet to a miracle. In the place where there should be a description of the process of building the city, the reader sees a dash. The story itself begins in 1803 (on this day, the “city of Peter” turned a hundred years old).

Parallels in the work

In Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman, the reader discovers many semantic and compositional parallels drawn by the poet. They are based on the relationships that have been established between the fictional character of the work, the elements of the flood, the city and the monument - the "idol". For example, the poet parallels the “great thoughts” of the emperor with the reflections of the “little man”, Eugene. The legendary emperor thought about how the city would be founded, the fulfillment of the interests of the state would be achieved. Eugene, on the other hand, reflects on the small deeds of a simple person. The emperor's dreams come true; the dreams of the "little man" collapsed along with a natural disaster.

Eugene - "little man"

Eugene is one of the main characters in Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman. He is burdened by his plight, as he is poor and barely makes ends meet. He connects his hopes for a happy future with the girl Parasha. But his life is tragic - it takes away his only dream. Parasha dies during a flood, and Eugene goes crazy.

"The Bronze Horseman": excerpt

To learn by heart, schoolchildren are often asked to learn part of the poem. It could be, for example, the following passage:

"I love you, Peter's creation,
I love your strict, slender look,
Neva sovereign current,
Its coastal granite ... ".

A student can have several stanzas to get a higher grade. Learning an excerpt from The Bronze Horseman is a pleasure, because the poem is written in the beautiful Pushkin language.

The image of the "city of Peter" in the poem

The world of Petersburg appears in the poem as a closed space. The city exists according to the laws that are adopted in it. In the poem "The Bronze Horseman" he seems to be a new civilization built on the expanses of wild Russia. After Petersburg appears, the “Moscow period” in history becomes a thing of the past.

The city is full of many internal contradictions. The great Russian poet emphasizes the duality of St. Petersburg: on the one hand, it “rises magnificently”, but on the other hand, it comes “from the darkness of the forests”. In the poet's wish to the city, anxiety sounds - "May the conquered element be reconciled with you ...". The beauty of the city may not be eternal - it stands firmly, but it can be destroyed by the raging elements. For the first time, the image of a raging element appears on the pages of the poem.

A. S. Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" combined both historical and social issues. This is the author's reflection on Peter the Great as a reformer, a collection of various opinions and assessments about his actions. This poem is one of his perfect writings that have a philosophical meaning. We offer a brief analysis of the poem for review, the material can be used to work in literature lessons in grade 7.

Brief analysis

Year of writing– 1833

History of creation- During his "golden autumn", when Pushkin was forced to stay in the Boldin estate, the poet had a creative upsurge. In that "golden" time, the author created many brilliant works that made a great impression on both the public and critics. One of such works of the Boldino period was the poem "The Bronze Horseman".

Subject- The reign of Peter the Great, the attitude of society to his reforms - the main theme of "The Bronze Horseman"

Composition– The composition consists of a large introduction, it can be considered as a separate poem, and two parts, which deal with the main character, the devastating flood of 1824, and the meeting of the hero with the Bronze Horseman.

Genre- The genre of "The Bronze Horseman" is a poem.

Direction - Historical poem describing actual events, direction- realism.

History of creation

At the very beginning of the history of the creation of the poem, the writer was in the Boldin estate. He thought a lot about the history of the Russian state, about its rulers and autocratic power. At that time, society was divided into two types of people - some fully supported the policy of Peter the Great, treated him with adoration, and the other type of people found in the great emperor a resemblance to evil spirits, considered him a fiend, and treated him accordingly.

The writer listened to different opinions about the reign of Peter, the result of his reflections and the collection of various information was the poem "The Bronze Horseman", which completed his Boldino heyday of creativity, the year of writing the poem is 1833.

Subject

In The Bronze Horseman, the analysis of the work displays one of the main topics- power and a small person. The author reflects on the rule of the state, on the collision of a small man with a huge colossus.

Myself the meaning of the name- "The Bronze Horseman" - contains the main idea of ​​the poetic work. The monument to Peter is made of bronze, but the author preferred another epithet, more ponderous and gloomy. Thus, through expressive artistic means, the poet depicts a powerful state machine, for which the problems of small people suffering from the power of autocratic rule are indifferent.

In this poem, conflict between the little man and the authorities does not have its continuation, a person is so small for the state, when "the forest is cut down - the chips fly."

In different ways one can judge the role of one person in the fate of the state. In his introduction to the poem, the author characterizes Peter the Great as a man of amazing intelligence, far-sighted and decisive. Being in power, Peter looked far ahead, he thought about the future of Russia, about its power and invincibility. The actions of Peter the Great can be judged in different ways, accusing him of despotism and tyranny in relation to the common people. It is impossible to justify the actions of a ruler who built power on the bones of people.

Composition

Pushkin's ingenious idea in the features of the composition of the poem serves as proof of the poet's creative skill. A large introduction dedicated to Peter the Great and the city he built can be read as an independent work.

The language of the poem has absorbed all genre originality, emphasizing the author's attitude to the events he describes. In the description of Peter and Petersburg, the language is pretentious, majestic, completely in harmony with the appearance of the emperor, great and powerful.

A completely different language is the story of a simple Eugene. Narrative speech about the hero is in the usual language, reflects the essence of the "little man".

The greatest genius of Pushkin is clearly visible in this poem, it is all written in the same meter, but in different parts of the work, it sounds completely different. The two parts of the poem following the introduction can also be considered a separate work. These parts tell about an ordinary man who lost his girlfriend in a flood.

Eugene blames the monument to Peter for this, implying in it the emperor himself - the autocrat. A person who dreams of simple human happiness has lost the meaning of life, having lost the most precious thing - he has lost his beloved girl, his future. It seems to Evgeny that the Bronze Horseman is chasing him. Eugene understands that the autocrat is cruel and ruthless. Crushed by grief, the young man goes crazy, and then dies, left without the meaning of life.

It can be concluded that in this way the author continues the theme of the “little man”, developed at that time in Russian literature. By this he proves how despotic government is in relation to the common people.

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Genre

The work "The Bronze Horseman" belongs to the genre of a poetic poem with a realistic direction.

The poem is large-scale in its deep content, it includes both historical and philosophical issues. There is no epilogue in the poem, and the contradictions between the little man and the whole state remain open.