Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin
What's in a name?
It will die like a sad noise
Waves splashing onto the distant shore,
Like the sound of the night in a deep forest.
It's on the memorial sheet
Will leave a dead trail like
Tombstone inscription pattern
In an unknown language.
What's in it? Long forgotten
In new and rebellious unrest,
It won't give your soul
Memories pure, tender.
But on a day of sadness, in silence,
Say it in sadness;
Say: there is a memory of me,
There is a heart in the world where I live...
Karolina Sabanska
In the life of Alexander Pushkin there were quite a lot of romantic hobbies, and the poet dedicated amazing poems, sublime and sophisticated, to each of his chosen ones. However, Pushkin himself admitted that the fatal passion of his life was the Polish aristocrat Caroline Sabanska, whom the poet met in the summer of 1821 in Kyiv. The unapproachable beauty, about whom, nevertheless, there were quite piquant rumors (and this is not surprising, since Caroline’s husband was 30 years older than her and, compared to his wife, looked like a decrepit old man), made an indelible impression on Pushkin. The poet fell madly in love, but was not even awarded the attention of the cold and calculating socialite.
Subsequently, fate brought Pushkin and Sabanskaya together several times, and the poet’s feelings flared up with renewed vigor after each meeting. He complained that Caroline had become an evil demon for him, who seemed to lure him into her net, promising heavenly pleasure, but at the very last moment she showed coldness and complete indifference. Sabanskaya knew about the poet’s feelings, since during the 10 years of their acquaintance, Pushkin regularly dedicated poems to her. And - she deftly manipulated their author, now bringing them closer to herself, now rejecting them. This was not only female vanity, but also pragmatism: documents and memories of eyewitnesses have survived to this day that Sabanskaya, who loved to live in grand style, earned money as an espionage. Her secular salon, which hosted a wide variety of people, from military men and politicians to writers and musicians, was a successful cover for collecting information and transmitting it to interested people. One of them, in particular, was Caroline’s lover, Count Ivan Witt, who headed the secret detective department in the south of Russia.
A page from the manuscript of “Eugene Onegin.” Portrait of Sobanska at the bottom of the page
Pushkin, far from political intrigues, did not even suspect that Sabanskaya’s interest in his person was of such a mercantile nature. Therefore, in January 1830, at the next reception with the socialite, he wrote into her album another dedication poem, “What’s in my name for you?..”, which, as it turned out later, became the last in the cycle of works dedicated to Caroline. In this poem, Pushkin not only once again reveals his feelings to the arrogant beauty, but also asks the question - what does he mean in her life? He does not understand the double game that Caroline is playing, but he hopes that years of acquaintance will still leave in the soul of this mysterious woman at least some memories of who was her most faithful and devoted admirer. The poet notes that his name “will leave a dead trace on the memorial sheet, like the pattern of a tombstone inscription,” without even suspecting that he is destined to become one of the outstanding representatives of Russian literature. But at the moment this does not interest Pushkin at all. It is much more important for him that the beautiful Caroline, “in new and rebellious worries,” at least occasionally remembers the person to whom she once meant so much. “Say: there is a memory of me, there is a heart in the world where I live,” the poet conjures his chosen one, not realizing that very soon he will forever get rid of his destructive and soul-searing passion.
Several months will pass, and at the next reception with Sabanskaya, Pushkin will meet young Natalya Goncharova, who will outshine the aging Polish intriguer with her freshness and immaculate beauty. From now on, Caroline will be forgotten forever, and she will no longer be able to invite the poet to her social events. However, the poet, with his characteristic frankness, still admits that even after the wedding, the image of Sabanskaya sometimes haunts him, and memories of unrequited love cause a slight feeling of sadness mixed with disappointment.
“Happiness was created for me so little that I did not recognize it when it was in front of me,” said A.S. Pushkin, because he did not hope for reciprocity. His message is addressed to a woman who apparently never loved him:
What's in a name?..
What's in it? Forgotten long ago In new and rebellious unrest,
It will not give your soul pure, tender memories.
The poet knew the power of the highest and most beautiful exciting feeling - love - both the lines of the poem and the lines of the letter are about this: “I owe you the fact that I learned everything that is most convulsive and painful in the intoxication of love, and everything that is in it stunning." Suffering ennobles the human soul. Especially the suffering of love. This high feeling elevates Pushkin, makes him more noble:
What's in a name?
This rhetorical question attracts the reader’s attention because it not only does not require an answer, but also contains the statement that in it, in this name, there is nothing for the one to whom the lines of the poem and the lines of the letter are addressed:
“From all this I have only the weakness of a convalescent, one attachment, very tender, very sincere, and a little timidity that I cannot overcome.” Human life is not endless. Time is merciless over human life: “Your soul... will not meet it (the poet’s soul) in boundless eternity.”
And it is no coincidence that the anaphoric statement: “it will die, it will leave a dead trace.” Another anaphora: “what’s in a name... What’s in it?..” - leads to the same bitter thought about oblivion, disappearance. After all, the verb “die” has precisely the meaning: “oblivion”, “disappearance”, “stops sounding”.
But reading the poem, listening to the rhythm of its stanzas, thinking about the meaning of the epithets (sad, night, deaf, dead, new, rebellious, pure, tender), we begin to understand the duality of the composition. The categoricalness of the statement: “What is in my name for you? “It will die,” weakens. There is hope for memory, because only memory resists the destroying power of time.
The comparisons that the poet uses, taking for comparison the wave and the sound of the night, both stop the moment and give hope that nothing in the world passes without a trace. Only memory, which alone conquers time, can prolong human life. “Memory is overcoming time, overcoming death,” says D. S. Likhachev. As long as we are remembered, we are alive.
And the inversion of the third part of the poem: “pure, tender memories” - confirms this hope.
The conjunction “but,” with which the fourth part of the poem begins, makes a turning point in the psychological development of the poem. In Pushkin’s autograph in Countess Sobanska’s album, after this union there is an ellipsis, that is, a pause. And this pause carries a deep meaning, helps to understand the deep psychologism of the poem.
In the last lines of the poem, unlike the previous ones, present tense verbs are used, which also strengthen the hope for the memory of the feeling of the person writing in the album, about the heart in which the beloved lives, love for her lives, humility before fate and selflessness towards the beloved live.
But on a day of sadness, in silence,
Say it while yearning;
Say: there is a memory of me,
There is a heart in the world where I live...
Philosophical poem “What is in your name?” refers to the so-called meditative lyrics, has the character of deep reflection on the problems of human life, reflections on love.
What's in a name?
It will die like a sad noise
Waves splashing onto the distant shore,
Like the sound of the night in a deep forest.It's on the memorial sheet
Will leave a dead trail like
Tombstone inscription pattern
In an unknown language.What's in it? Long forgotten
In new and rebellious unrest,
It won't give your soul
Memories pure, tender.But on a day of sadness, in silence,
Say it in sadness;
Say: there is a memory of me,
There is a heart in the world where I live...
Analysis of Pushkin’s poem “What’s in my name for you?..”
In the life of Alexander Pushkin there were quite a lot of romantic hobbies, and the poet dedicated amazing poems, sublime and sophisticated, to each of his chosen ones. However, Pushkin himself admitted that the fatal passion of his life was the Polish aristocrat Caroline Sabanska, whom the poet met in the summer of 1821 in Kyiv. The unapproachable beauty, about whom, nevertheless, there were quite piquant rumors (and this is not surprising, since Caroline’s husband was 30 years older than her and, compared to his wife, looked like a decrepit old man), made an indelible impression on Pushkin. The poet fell madly in love, but was not even awarded the attention of the cold and calculating socialite.
Subsequently, fate brought Pushkin and Sabanskaya together several times, and the poet’s feelings flared up with renewed vigor after each meeting. He complained that Caroline had become an evil demon for him, who seemed to lure him into her net, promising heavenly pleasure, but at the very last moment she showed coldness and complete indifference. Sabanskaya knew about the poet’s feelings, since during the 10 years of their acquaintance, Pushkin regularly dedicated poems to her. And – she cleverly manipulated their author, now bringing them closer to herself, now rejecting them. This was not only female vanity, but also pragmatism: documents and memories of eyewitnesses have survived to this day that Sabanskaya, who loved to live in grand style, earned money as an espionage. Her secular salon, which hosted a wide variety of people, from military men and politicians to writers and musicians, was a successful cover for collecting information and transmitting it to interested people. One of them, in particular, was Caroline’s lover, Count Ivan Witt, who headed the secret detective department in the south of Russia.
Pushkin, far from political intrigues, did not even suspect that Sabanskaya’s interest in his person was of such a mercantile nature. Therefore, in January 1830, at the next reception with the socialite, he wrote into her album another dedication poem, “What’s in my name for you?..”, which, as it turned out later, became the last in the cycle of works dedicated to Caroline. In this poem, Pushkin not only once again reveals his feelings to the arrogant beauty, but also asks the question - what does he mean in her life? He does not understand the double game that Caroline is playing, but he still hopes that years of acquaintance will still leave in the soul of this mysterious woman at least some memories of who was her faithful and devoted admirer. The poet notes that his name “will leave a dead trace on the memorial sheet, like the pattern of a tombstone inscription,” without even suspecting that he is destined to become one of the outstanding representatives of Russian literature. But at the moment this does not interest Pushkin at all. It is much more important for him that the beautiful Caroline, “in new and rebellious worries,” at least occasionally remembers the person to whom she once meant so much. “Say: there is a memory of me, there is a heart in the world where I live,” the poet conjures his chosen one, not realizing that very soon he will forever get rid of his destructive and soul-searing passion.
Several months will pass, and at the next reception with Sabanskaya, Pushkin will meet young Natalya Goncharova, who will outshine the aging Polish intriguer with her freshness and immaculate beauty. From now on, Caroline will be forgotten forever, and she will no longer be able to invite the poet to her social events. However, the poet, with his characteristic frankness, still admits that even after the wedding, the image of Sabanskaya sometimes haunts him, and memories of unrequited love cause a slight feeling of sadness mixed with disappointment.
Pushkin's love poetry is beautiful. With what audacity and love of freedom Alexander Sergeevich could write about the suffering of the Russian people under the yoke of serfdom, with the same great tenderness and passion he could write about love. This wonderful feeling overtook the poet and it is about him that the poem “What is in your name?”
It is with these lines that the work begins, and we understand that in this rhetorical question addressed to the one whom Pushkin had already fallen in love with lies the answer: nothing. The suffering of unrequited love, bright, noble love, should purify the human soul. Feelings such as love make a person out of a person with high moral principles, with ideas, desires, even if this feeling is unrequited.
The entire poem is imbued with a mood of sadness and melancholy; the author claims that, without meeting an answer, a person will leave only a dead trace, his life will end and there will be nothing left after. This is evidenced by the words that Pushkin uses: “oblivion,” “disappearance,” “will cease to sound.” However, gradually, listening to his story, the idea of hope is affirmed. After all, if a trace of a person remains in memory, he will live. Only memory can prevent it from disappearing without a trace.
The turning point in the work is the beginning of the third stanza. The author begins it with the word “but”. In one of the variants of writing the poem, Pushkin put an ellipsis after the “but”, and it carries a deep meaning. This pause makes you comprehend everything said above and helps you understand the psychologism of the work.
The last stanza uses present tense verbs, which further strengthens the hope for memory, the memory of a person, of love in the heart of a beloved.
The poem “What is in your name?” refers to meditative lyrics. In it, the author reflects, and these thoughts concern the meaning of love in the life and existence of man himself.
Pushkin's lyrical poetry is beautiful; it will probably not touch only the hardest heart.
All the lines in his poems make you empathize with the lyrical hero, imbued with the warmest feelings for him. The author makes you love and suffer, rejoice and experience the pangs of jealousy along with your heroes. And no matter what Pushkin’s love poems are, happy and serene or sad and melancholy, they are beautiful in their diversity.
