Where the Roman judge judged a foreign people,
There is a basilica, and - joyful and first, -
Like once Adam, spreading his nerves,
The cross light arch plays with muscles.
But a secret plan reveals itself from the outside:
Here, the strength of the girth arches took care,
So that the mass of the heavy wall does not crush -
And the vault of the impudent ram is inactive.
Elemental labyrinth, incomprehensible forest,
Souls of the gothic rational abyss,
Egyptian power and Christianity timidity,
With a reed next to it is an oak, and everywhere the king is a plumb line.
But the more attentively, the stronghold of Notre Dame,
I studied your monstrous ribs -
The more often I thought: from the gravity of the unkind
And someday I will create something beautiful ...
One of the program works of Mandelstam in the collection "Stone" is the poem "Notre Dame".
To reveal the meaning of this poem, it is necessary to enter its analysis:
- 1) in the unity of the concept of the collection "Stone";
- 2) in the creative concept of the poet's worldview;
- 3) in the historical and cultural context.
As in the poem “Self-portrait”, the stone becomes the central, culminating image-symbol.
“Acmeists reverently raise the mysterious Tyutchev stone and put it at the base of their building.”
The rough materialistic weight of the stone expresses the acceptance of reality, being.
“The stone, as it were, yearned for a different existence. He himself discovered the potential ability of dynamics hidden in him - as if asked to the “cross vault” - to participate in the joyful interaction of his own kind.
In the context of O.E. Mandelstam, a person directs his creative efforts on a stone, strives to make matter a carrier of high content. Let's recall the lines from the poem "I hate the light ...":
... Lace, stone, be
And become a web.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame becomes an image of the transformation of stone. By the hand of the mysterious “builder of the generous” the stone became an airy and luminous temple, a receptacle of wisdom.
Notre Dame - Notre Dame Cathedral, a famous monument of early French Gothic. From the first line of the poem, Mandelstam, as it were, superimposes contextual layers on top of each other, evoking associative rows in the reader.
“Where the Roman judge judged a foreign people…” - the author clearly refers us to a historical fact. Notre Dame stands on the island of Cité, where ancient Lutetia, a colony founded by Rome, was located. Thus, the Roman theme appears in the poem. Rome is "the root of the Western world", "the stone that closes the vault".
The Roman theme makes it possible to experience history as a single architectural concept. Indirectly stated, this theme carries a unifying principle, hence the compatibility of various cultural contexts in the poem.
The metaphorical comparison of the temple with the first man, Adam, gives a hidden analogy: the correlation of body parts with parts of the temple.
Traditionally, the image of Adam is associated with the motive of the joy of existence, the happiness of being. Mandelstam plays with this idea by shifting the emphasis: metaphorically clearly associated with Adam, he carries the idea of beingness.
The first two stanzas of the poem are built on the principle of antithesis: the external is opposed to the internal. The “light cross vault” reveals a “secret plan” - a “mass of a heavy wall”. Through the tangible heaviness of the building under construction, the formidable pressure of the massive vault on the girth arches, the motif of the stone is realized. The metaphor “and the arch of the daring ram is inactive” is built on the principle of antithesis. The same contrast as in the poem “Self-Portrait”: the latent volcanic energy froze only for a moment, like the fifth element, hovering between Heaven and Earth.
The existence of Notre Dame is a challenge thrown by a man to Heaven, eternity ("Heaven's empty chest // With a thin needle wound"). This daring project is a frozen element created by man.
In the third stanza, various cultural epochs are combined into an “unmerged unity” (O. Mandelstam's definition), embodied in the “spontaneous labyrinth” of the temple. Through the architectural perfection of the cathedral, through its virtuoso “creation” and majestic “corporality”, the features of past cultures appear.
To show this synthesis, to emphasize the capacity of the opening surreal space of the temple, the poet uses an oxymoron (“Gothic souls of the rational abyss”), connects opposite phenomena in a row: “Egyptian power and Christian timidity”; “with a reed next to it is an oak, and everywhere the king is a plumb line.”
And finally, the fourth stanza becomes the quintessence of the author's idea. There is a mirror reversibility of the stronghold of Notre Dame into the “evil heaviness” of the Word.
The word becomes the object of man's creative efforts.
The ingenious artistic intuition of the poet makes it possible to discover the unity of the cultural space. In this single cultural space, where all epochs coexist, the traces of which Mandelstam saw in the “stronghold” of Notre Dame, the “conscious meanings” of words, the Logoi, are dissolved. But only in the architectural organization, the alignment of poetry, the Word-Logos acquires its true being, true meaning, more mobile than that given in the dictionary, existing only in a given architectonics, a given combination.
“Out of unkind gravity, I will create something beautiful someday.”
It is only in the context of the poem “Notre Dame” that the phrase “heaviness is unkind” acquires a completely new, unexpected semantics: it denotes the Word.
“Love the existence of a thing more than the thing itself and your being more than yourself…” O. Mandelstam will say.
The word, as it were, is likened to a stone, revealing its internal dynamics, and seeks to participate in the “joyful interaction of its own kind” in the semantic field of culture.
poem style poet mandelstam
"Notre Dame" Osip Mandelstam
Where the Roman judge judged a foreign people,
There is a basilica, - and, joyful and first,
Like once Adam, spreading his nerves,
The cross light arch plays with muscles.But a secret plan betrays itself from the outside:
Here, the strength of the girth arches took care,
So that the mass of the heavy wall does not crush,
And the vault of the impudent ram is inactive.Elemental labyrinth, incomprehensible forest,
Souls of the gothic rational abyss,
Egyptian power and Christianity timidity,
With a reed next to it is an oak, and everywhere the king is a plumb line.But the more attentively, the stronghold of Notre Dame,
I studied your monster ribs
The more often I thought: from the gravity of the unkind
And someday I will create something beautiful.
Analysis of Mandelstam's poem "Notre Dame"
In 1908, Osip Mandelstam became a student of the Sorbonne, studying French literature at a prestigious European university. Along the way, the young poet travels a lot and gets acquainted with the sights of the country. One of the deepest and most indelible impressions on him is made by Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, to which in 1912 Mandelstam would dedicate his poem "Notre Dame".
The inner world of this poet is very changeable and unpredictable. Therefore, starting to read his poems, it is sometimes very difficult to imagine what their ending will be. The work "Notre Dame" in this case is no exception. Shocked by the grandeur and beauty of the cathedral, the author notes that "spreading the nerves, the cross light vault plays with the muscles." Grandeur and grace, monumentality and airiness coexist perfectly in this building. This combination excites the imagination of Osip Mandelstam, in which a sense of fear struggles with a sense of admiration. The cathedral itself consists of precisely the same contradictions, the powerful dome of which would have collapsed long ago if it had not been “taken care of by the force of the girth arches”. At the same time, the design, thought out to the smallest detail, looks so dizzying that the poet does not get tired of admiring the cathedral and gradually not only imbued with its spirit, but also understands why this building is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful in the world.
Studying the cathedral from the inside, the author comes to an amazing discovery, noting that here "the souls of the Gothic rational abyss, Egyptian power and timidity of Christianity" organically intertwined. The fragility of the reed in the temple is adjacent to the massiveness of the oak, and at the same time, "everywhere the king is a plumb line."
The poet sincerely admires the skill of the ancient architects, although he is well aware that it took a huge amount of time and effort to build such a cathedral. At the same time, building materials that are not distinguished by modernity and sophistication look as if the temple was assembled from air fluffs. This riddle haunts Mandelstam, who, examining the farthest nooks and crannies of the cathedral, cannot find the answer to his question: how exactly could such an architectural masterpiece be created from stone, wood and glass? Turning to the cathedral, the poet notes: "I studied your monstrous ribs." Moreover, he did it with special attention, trying to comprehend the secret of "Notre Dame". However, the conclusions that the poet made do not lie in the material, but in the philosophical plane. “Out of unkind gravity, I will someday create something beautiful ...”, the author notes, implying that words are the same building material as stone. Rough and rough. But if a person has a gift, then even with the help of such “material” one can “build” a real literary masterpiece, which even centuries later will be admired by grateful descendants.
The poem "Notre Dame" was written by Osip Mandelstam in 1912. It was at this time that a new direction separated from the literary society "Workshop of Poets". Its authors called themselves acmeists - "being at the top." Among the acmeists was Osip Mandelstam. His lyrics declared this before the poet joined the new trend. Mandelstam's poems have never been characterized by abstractness and immersion in the inner world, characteristic of the symbolists.
Each line, each metaphor of his is a clear line of an integral artistic canvas of a poetic work. Such is the poem dedicated to the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. It is worth noting that Mandelstam converted to Christianity in 1911. And most of all he was interested in the origins of the Catholic faith. Research in this area inspired the poet to create several works, including "Notre Dame".
The size of the poem is iambic six-foot. It gives the stanzas both melodiousness and rhythm at the same time. Hence the feeling of lightness of the lines, as if they really take off to the very dome of the cathedral. And if for the Symbolists epithets play a “service”, passing role, then for Mandelstam they emphasize, enhance the qualities of the described object: “... There is a basilica, and - joyful and first - / Like Adam once, spreading his nerves, / Plays with his muscles a cross light vault " .
The keyword “arch” has four epithets and a metaphorical comparison with the first person on Earth. Just as Adam appeared before the Creator, the architectural crown appears before the lyrical hero, who is the author himself. The tension created in the first quatrain dissipates in the second: “...Here the force has taken care of the girth arches, / So that the mass of the heavy wall does not crush, / And the ram of the impudent vault is inactive.” In fact, dynamic statics is described here.
Strong, expressive epithets - "girth" arches, "heavy" mass, "daring" vault - paint us a picture of an architectural creation that lives its own life. And they cope with this better than almost imperceptible verbs - “took care of”, “crushed”, “is inactive”.
In the third quatrain, the poet speaks of the synthesis of antagonistic cultures and religions, from which the incomprehensible beauty of a man-made masterpiece arose: "The souls of the Gothic rational abyss, / Egyptian power and Christianity's timidity," In the final quatrain, the poet sums up his observations. Like a nesting doll in a nesting doll, it contains a metaphor within a metaphor: the overhanging vault of the cathedral symbolizes a certain threat, which in turn personifies the doubts and creative throwing of the author.
Reflecting, the lyrical hero discovers that the threat is at the same time a stimulus to creation: “But the more attentively, the stronghold of Notre Dame, / I studied your monstrous ribs, - / The more often I thought: from the gravity of the unkind / And I ever I will create beautiful…”
The poem "Notre Dame" was written by young Mandelstam in 1912 and was included in his first poetry collection "Stone" (1916).
Literary direction and genre
In 1913, the poem was published as an appendix to the manifesto (declaration) of acmeism as its ideal example. The essence of the poem corresponds to the acmeist postulate that poetry should find the subject of the image in the ordinary, earthly. Acmeism is the poetry of exact words and tangible objects. Mandelstam chooses Notre Dame as such a subject.
Theme, main idea and composition
The title of the poem indicates the subject of the description - Notre Dame Cathedral.
The poem consists of four stanzas. Each stanza is a new look at the subject, a new turn of thought. Thus, the whole is made up of harmonious parts. The poem is like a majestic cathedral, which is perceived by the lyrical hero as a living organism.
The first stanza is a view of the lyrical hero from the inside at the vault of the cathedral. The second stanza is a description of the cathedral from the outside. The third and fourth stanzas are a closer look at the cathedral inside and out. This criss-crossing is in harmony with the cathedral's cruciform vault, a 12th-century find.
The composition of the poem is connected not only with the description of the cathedral, but also with the reasoning of the lyrical hero looking at it about the past, present and future of mankind and himself in the context of historical and cultural development.
The first stanza describes the past of mankind: the cathedral was founded at the end of the 12th century. where there was once a Roman colony. Comparing the first used cruciform vault design with the first man Adam, Mandelstam refers to the theme of the first, new, discovery in human history and culture.
The second and third stanzas describe the cathedral as a combination of three cultures: Roman classical antique, Gallic (pagan) and Christian as a spiritual filling of the material creation of architects.
The third stanza looks to the future. Mandelstam, 21, aspires to create a "beautiful", like a harmonious cathedral, consisting of "monstrous ribs".
Mandelstam, like Adam, must correctly name earthly things, and this is the purpose of the poet from the point of view of acmeism. The theme of the poem is the purpose of the poet and his connection with the cultural heritage of all mankind. The main idea is the connection of all objects and things: the past and the future, Christianity and paganism, the ugly and the beautiful, the artist and his creations.
Paths and images
The main idea is best reflected by the main symbol of this poem - a stone. This is an ideal material, the embodiment of everything earthly. The stone is filled with the wisdom of the ages, becoming a cathedral.
The poem is built on contrasts and oppositions. This structure is dictated by the architectural style of the cathedral. Gothic is a system of opposing forces. The cathedral, like a perfect organism, combines opposites. The vault of the cathedral, which seems light from the inside, presses with such force that girth arches are needed to support this “ram”.
The third stanza is entirely built on contrasts. The labyrinth and the forest are images of horizontal and vertical obstacles. The labyrinth was sometimes laid out on the floor in Gothic temples; it was a symbol of the path to the mountainous Jerusalem. The image of a dense forest in which a person, traditional for culture, errs, is used, for example, in Dante's Divine Comedy.
Oak and reed are contrasted as heterogeneous elements of the cathedral (thick and thin). There is philosophical depth in this opposition: a person as a thinking reed (according to Pascal) in all his vulnerability and misunderstanding is opposed to a person of a different worldview, who understands everything and is self-confident.
Egyptian (pagan) power is opposed to Christian timidity. The mental abyss is an oxymoron. The abyss may not be reasonable, but for a gothic soul that unites opposites, the world looks just like that.
In the last stanza, the monstrous is contrasted with the beautiful, just as the material from which masterpieces are created (“bad weight”) is opposed to the creation of human hands.
The whole poem is built on the personification of the cathedral. The cathedral has monstrous ribs, the vault plays with muscles, spreading nerves.
The epithets of the poem are very emotional: a daring vault, an incomprehensible forest, monstrous ribs, unkind heaviness. Most epithets are metaphorical. There are also separate metaphors: "everywhere the king is a plumb line."
Size and rhyme
The poem is written in iambic six-foot with many pyrrhichi, which is why the poem does not have an artificial strict rhythm. The rhyme in the stanzas is circular. The researchers noticed that the author's surname rhymes with the first and last lines of the fourth conclusion stanza. It seems that Mandelstam signs the poem.
- "Leningrad", analysis of Mandelstam's poem
