Japan)

In this Japanese name, the family name (Matsuo) comes before the personal name.

Poetry and aesthetics of Basho significantly influenced Japanese literature of that time, "Basho style" determined the development of Japanese poetry for almost 200 years.

Biography

Matsuo Basho was born in Iga Province (now Iga City, Mie Prefecture), the exact day and month are not known. There are two theories about the place of birth: the Akasaki theory (the current Iga city, the former Ueno city, Akasaka village) and the Tsuge theory (the current Iga city, Tsuge village). This is because it is unknown exactly when the Matsuo family moved from Tsuge to Akasaka before or after Basho's birth. He was born into a poor family of samurai Matsuo Yozaemon (jap. 松尾与左衛門). Basho was the third child and second son in the family, in addition to his older brother, he had four sisters: one older and three younger. Basho's father died when he was 13 years old (1656). Over the years, Basho was named Kinsaku, Hanshichi, Toshichiro, Chuemon, Jinshichiro (甚七郎). Basho (芭蕉) is a literary pseudonym, which means "banana tree" in translation.

The father and elder brother of the future poet taught calligraphy at the courts of wealthier samurai, and already at home he received a good education. In his youth, he was fond of Chinese poets, such as Du Fu (in those days, books were already available even to middle-class nobles). From 1664 he studied poetry in Kyoto.

He was in the service of the noble and wealthy samurai Todo Yoshitada (藤堂良忠, 1642-1666), with whom he shared a passion for the genre haikai- a popular Japanese form of collaborative poetic creativity. In 1665, Yoshitada and Basho, with a few acquaintances, composed a 100-stanza haikai. Yoshitada's sudden death in 1666 ended Matsuo's quiet life, and he eventually left home. Having reached Edo (now Tokyo), from 1672 he was in the civil service here. The life of an official, however, turned out to be unbearable for him, he left the service and became a teacher of poetry.

It is believed that Basho was a slender man of small stature, with thin graceful features, thick eyebrows and a protruding nose. As is customary among Buddhists, he shaved his head. His health was poor, he suffered from indigestion all his life. According to the poet's letters, it can be assumed that he was a calm, moderate, unusually caring, generous and faithful person in relation to relatives and friends. Despite the fact that he suffered from poverty all his life, Basho, as a true Buddhist philosopher, paid almost no attention to this circumstance.

Basho left behind seven anthologies, in the creation of which his students also took part: “ winter days"(1684)," spring days"(1686)," dead field"(1689)," gourd"(1690)," Monkey's Straw Cloak"(book 1st, 1691, book 2nd, 1698)," A bag of coal"(1694), lyrical diaries, prefaces to books and poems, letters containing judgments about art and the creative process in poetry. Travel lyrical diaries contain descriptions of landscapes, meetings, historical events. They include their own poems and quotes from the works of prominent poets. The best of them is "On the Paths of the North"("Okuno hosomichi", 1689). Poetry and aesthetics of Basho significantly influenced Japanese literature of that time, "Basho style" determined the development of Japanese poetry for almost 200 years.

Basho titled the story of his journey through Japan "The Weathered Travel Notes". After a year of quiet reflection in his hut, in 1687, Basho publishes a collection of poems "Spring Days" (jap. 春の日 haru no hee) - himself and his students, where the world saw the poet's greatest poem - " old pond". This is a milestone in the history of Japanese poetry. Here is what Yamaguchi Moichi wrote about this poem in his study “Impressionism as the dominant trend in Japanese poetry”: “A European could not understand what was not only beauty, but even any meaning at all, and was surprised that the Japanese could admire similar things. Meanwhile, when a Japanese hears this poem, his imagination is instantly transferred to an ancient Buddhist temple, surrounded by centuries-old trees, far from the city, where the noise of people does not reach at all. This temple usually has a small pond, which, in turn, perhaps has its own legend. And then, at dusk in the summer, a Buddhist hermit, just looking up from his sacred books, comes out and approaches this pond with thoughtful steps. Everything is quiet around, so quiet that you can even hear how a frog jumped into the water ... "

Not only the complete impeccability of this poem from the point of view of the numerous prescriptions of this laconic form of poetry (although Basho was never afraid to violate them), but also the deep meaning, the quintessence of the beauty of Nature, the calmness and harmony of the soul of the poet and the surrounding world, make us consider this haiku a great work of art. .

Basho was not very fond of the traditional technique. marukekatombo, searching for hidden meanings. It is believed that Basho expressed in this poem the principle of mono no aware - "sad charm".

True beauty lies in the simplicity of images, Basho believed, and told his students that he was striving for poems "small as the Sunagawa River."

Philosophical and aesthetic principles of Basho's poetry

The Zen school of Buddhism, which came to Japan from China, had a profound influence on Japanese art. The principles of Zen entered the practice of the arts, becoming their basis, forming a characteristic style of Japanese art, characterized by brevity, detachment and a subtle perception of beauty. It was Zen, which determined the artist’s attitude, that allowed Basho to turn the emerging literary direction “haikai” (literally “comic”) into a unique phenomenon, a way of perceiving the world, in which creativity is able to aesthetically perfectly reflect the beauty of the world around and show a person in it without the use of complex structures, minimal means, with the accuracy necessary and sufficient for the task.

An analysis of the creative heritage of the poet and writer allows us to single out several basic philosophical and aesthetic principles of Zen, which Basho followed, which determined his views on art. One of these is the concept of "eternal loneliness" - wabi (vivikta dharma). Its essence lies in a special state of detachment, passivity of a person, when he is not involved in the movement, more often fussy and not filled with any serious meaning, of the outside world. Wabi leads us to the concepts of hermitage, to the lifestyle of a recluse - a person is not just passive, but consciously chooses the path of avoiding a hectic life, secluded in his modest abode. Renunciation of the material world helps on the path to enlightenment, to finding a true, simple life. Hence the emergence of the ideal of "poverty", since excessive material worries can only distract from the state of peaceful sadness and prevent us from seeing the world around us in its original beauty. Hence the minimalism, when in order to feel the beauty of spring, it is enough to see blades of grass breaking through the snow, without the need to see the lush cherry blossoms, snowmelt and the riot of spring streams.

The characteristic rejection of conventional ethics, characteristic of Zen, however, does not mean its absence. In Japanese culture, ethics in Zen has been embodied in ritual forms, through which there is an expression, albeit very sparingly, of attitudes towards the world and people. Relevant ideas have been embodied in the Japanese aesthetic worldview of wabi-sabi.

Living in a modest hut is not only and not so much following one's desires, it is, more importantly, the direct path of creativity, which finds expression in poetry.

Matsuo Basho.

Another sign of reduced ethics in Zen, which also manifested itself in the poetry of the Japanese, can be considered the use of humor in describing various phenomena of the surrounding world. Basho is able to smile where it would seem necessary to show compassion or pity, or laughs where another would feel dubious tenderness. Detachment and calm contemplation - they allow the artist to have fun in various difficult situations. As the philosopher Henri Bergson noted, "... step aside, look at life as an indifferent spectator: many dramas will turn into comedies." Indifference or, in other words, insensitivity - are rooted in Zen, but it is hardly possible to reproach Basho for indifference, since for him laughter is a way to overcome the hardships of life, including his own, and most importantly - really the ability to laugh at himself, sometimes even quite ironically, describing the hard life of wandering:

Matsuo Basho.

The principle of "eternal loneliness", freeing the creator from the bustle of the world, leads him along the road from utilitarian interests and goals to his highest destiny. Thus, creativity acquires a sacred meaning, it becomes a guideline on the path of life. From the entertainment that it was in youth, from the way to achieve success and gain recognition by defeating rivals, as it seemed in its heyday, in later years the poet's view of the pursuit of poetry changes to the point of view that it was precisely this that was his true purpose, it was it that led him along the path of life. The desire to free this sacred meaning from any signs of commercialism, to protect it, makes Basho write in the afterword to the poetry collection Minasiguri (Empty Chestnuts, 1683): ​​“Wabi and poetry (fugue) are far from everyday needs. These are bug-eaten chestnuts that people did not pick up when they visited the Saigyo hut in the mountains.

Memory

see also

Notes

1. German National Library, Berlin State Library, Bavarian State Library, etc. Record #118653369 // General Regulatory Control (GND) - 2012-2016.
2. Brief literary encyclopedia - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1962.
3. BNF ID: Open Data Platform - 2011.
4. SNAC-2010.
5. Babelio
6. Matsuo Basho // Japan from A to Z. Popular illustrated encyclopedia. (CD-ROM). - M.: Directmedia Publishing, Japan Today, 2008. -

Matsuo Basho

In poetry by the beginning of the 17th century. dominated the genre of haiku (haiku), seventeen-syllable three-verse lines with a size of 5-7-5 syllables. The richest poetic tradition and culture of Japan have created the conditions under which, in such a narrow poetic space as haiku provides (from 5 to 7 words in one poem), it became possible to create poetic masterpieces with several semantic series, allusions, associations, even parodies, with an ideological load, the explanation of which in a prose text sometimes takes several pages and causes disagreements and disputes of many generations of connoisseurs.
Many dozens of articles, essays, sections in books are devoted to interpretations of Basya's three-verse "Old Pond" alone. KP Kirkwood's interpretation of Nitobe Inazo is one of them, and far from the best.
convincing.

At the time described in the book, there were three schools of haiku: Teimon (founded by Matsunaga Teitoku, 1571-1653)
Matsunaga Teitoku (1571-1653)

Danrin (founder Nishiyama Soin, 1605-1686)

and Sefu (led by Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694).
In our time, the idea of ​​haiku poetry is primarily associated with the name of Basho, who left a rich poetic heritage, developed the poetics and aesthetics of the genre. To enhance expression, he introduced a caesura after the second verse, put forward three basic aesthetic principles of poetic miniature: graceful simplicity (sabi),
associative consciousness of the harmony of the beautiful (shiori) (The concept of shiori includes two aspects. Shiori (literally “flexibility”) introduces a feeling of sadness and compassion for the depicted into the poem and at the same time determines the nature of expressive means, their focus on creating the necessary associative overtones ...
...Kyorai explained shiori as follows: “Shiori is something that speaks of compassion and pity, but does not resort to the plot, words, or techniques. Shiori and a poem filled with compassion and pity are not the same thing. Shiori is rooted within the poem and manifests itself in it. This is something that is difficult to say in words and write with a brush. Shiori lies in the understatement (yojo) of the poem.” Kyorai emphasizes that the feeling that shiori carries in itself cannot be conveyed by ordinary means - it constitutes the associative subtext of the poem ... Breslavets T.I. Poetry by Matsuo Basho. M. Science. 1981 152 s)

And the depth of penetration (hosomi).

Breslavets T.I. writes: “Hosomi defines the poet’s desire to comprehend the inner life of each, even the most insignificant phenomenon, to penetrate into its essence, to reveal its true beauty and can be correlated with the Zen idea of ​​the spiritual merging of a person with the phenomena and things of the world. Following hosomi (lit. "subtlety", "fragility"), the poet in the process of creativity reaches a state of spiritual unity with the object of poetic expression and, as a result, comprehends his soul. Basho said: "If the poet's thoughts are constantly turned to the inner essence of things, his poem perceives the soul (kokoro) of these things."
病雁の 夜さむに落て 旅ね哉
Yamu kari no
Yosamu-ni otite
Tabine sick goose
Falls into the cold of the night.
Overnight on the way 1690
The poet hears the cry of a weak, sick bird, which falls somewhere not far from the place of his lodging for the night. He is imbued with her loneliness and sadness, lives the same feeling with her and feels himself like a sick goose.
Hosomi is the opposite of the futomi principle (lit., "juiciness", "density"). Before Basho, haiku written on the basis of futomi appeared, in particular, poems of the Danrin school. Basho also has works that can be characterized by this concept:
荒海や 佐渡によこたふ 天河
Areumi i
Sado-yai yokotau
Ama no gawa Stormy Sea!
Stretches to Sado Island
Sky River 1689
(Milky Way - 天の河, amanogawa; approx. Shimizu)
Haiku expresses the vastness of the world, the universal infinity. If, based on futomi, the poet depicts the greatness of nature in its powerful manifestations, then hosomi is of the opposite nature - it calls the poet to an in-depth contemplation of nature, awareness of its beauty in modest phenomena. The following haiku by Basho may serve to elucidate this point:
よくみれば 薺はなさく 垣ねかな
Yoku mireba
Nazuna hana saku
Kakine kana peered intently -
Shepherd's purse flowers bloom
At the fence 1686
The poem describes an inconspicuous plant, but for the poet it contains all the beauty of the world. In this regard, hosomi merges with the traditional Japanese idea of ​​beauty as fragile, small and weak.
The fascination with the worldview of Zen Buddhism and traditional aesthetics led the poet to improve the principle of understatement in haiku: the author singles out a characteristic feature with minimal linguistic means, giving a directed impetus to the reader's imagination, giving him the opportunity to enjoy music.
verse, and an unexpected combination of images, and the independence of instant insight into the essence of the subject (satori).

In world poetry, Matsuo Basho is not usually compared with any of the poets. The point here lies in the originality of the genre, and in the role of poetry in the culture and life of the Japanese, and in the specifics of the work of Basho himself. Analogies with European
symbolist poets usually relate to one feature of his work - the ability to generalize the image, comparing the incomparable. Fact in Basho turns into a symbol, but in symbolism the poet demonstrates the highest realism. In his
In his poetic imagination, he was able, as it were, to enter into the subject, to become it, and then to express it in verse with brilliant laconism. “The poet,” he said, “should become a pine tree into which the human heart enters.” Bringing it
saying, the Portuguese literary scholar Armando M. Janeira concludes:
“This process, if not opposite, is different from that described by Western poets. Poetry for Basho comes from spiritual insight."
When analyzing the image of "siratama" ("white jasper"), A. E. Gluskina noted the transformation of its content from the meanings of pure, expensive and beautiful to the meanings of fragile and fragile. Such an understanding of beauty was developed in the notion of the "sad charm of things", so it is no coincidence that Ota Mizuho says that Hosomi Basho goes back to that special subtlety of feelings that sounds in the poems of Ki no Tsurayuki. In the same period, as noted by K. Reho, the ideal of Japanese beauty in its essential features was expressed in the monument of the 9th century - “The Tale of Taketori” (“Taketori Monogatari”), which said that the old man Taketori found a tiny a girl who bewitched noble youths - "the aestheticism of the Japanese is based on the fact that the external signs of false significance are opposed to the significance of the weak and small."
Japanese researchers also show the correlation of hosomi with the ideas of Shunzei, who, when characterizing the tank, used the term “subtlety of the soul” (kokoro hososhi) and especially emphasized that the subtlety of the image of the tank should be combined with its depth, with the “depth of the soul” (kokoro fukashi). These ideas were close to Basho, who studied poetic skills with both predecessors. The same sincerity and penetration sound in the poet's verses. We can assume that the term "hosomi" itself has its source in the Japanese aesthetic tradition.
According to Japanese philologists, the comparison of Hosomi Basho with the theory of three types of waka put forward by Emperor Gotoba (1180 - 1239) is also legitimate. He taught that spring and summer should be written broadly and freely; tanka about winter and autumn should convey an atmosphere of withering, be fragile; one should write graceful, light tanka about love. The provision on winter and autumn tankas is indeed in tune with hosomi Basho, however, hosomi is not limited thematically or to any particular mood (sadness, loneliness), since it is the poet’s aesthetic attitude, reflecting one of the sides of his method of artistic comprehension of reality, and, like sabi, can manifest itself both in a sad poem and in a cheerful one.
The question of hosomi was addressed in haiku poetry by the poet's students; in particular, Kyorai explained in his notes: “Hosomi is not in a weak poem ... Hosomi is contained in the content of the poem (kui). For clarity, I will give an example:
toridomo mo
Neirite iru ka
Yogo no umi A birds
Are they sleeping too?
Lake Yogo.
Rotsu
Basho described this haiku as a poem containing hosomi. Kyorai emphasizes that hosomi, pointing to the feeling of subtle, fragile, suggests its emotional strength.
Rotsu speaks of birds that are just as cold to sleep on the lake as the poet who spent the night on the road. Rotsu conveys in the poem a feeling of empathy, a spiritual merging of the poet with the birds. According to its content, the haiku can be correlated with the following poem by Basho, which also describes the wanderer's lodging for the night:

Kusamakura
Inu mo sigururu ka
Yoru no koe
Herbal pillow
Does the dog get wet in the rain too?
Voice of the Night 1683
Breslavets T.I. Poetry Matsuo Basho, GRVL publishing house "NAUKA", 1981

Basho (1644-1694) was the son of a samurai from Ueno in Iga Province. Basho studied a lot, studied Chinese and classical poetry, knew medicine. The study of great Chinese poetry leads Basho to the idea of ​​the high appointment of the poet. The wisdom of Confucius, the high humanity of Du Fu, the paradox of Chuang Tzu influence his poetry.

Zen Buddhism had a great influence on the culture of his time. A little about Zen. Zen is the Buddhist way of achieving direct spiritual realization, leading to a direct perception of reality. Zen is a religious way, but it expresses reality in ordinary everyday terms. One of the Zen teachers Ummon advised to act in accordance with reality: “When you walk, walk; when you sit, sit. And there is no doubt that this is the case." Zen uses paradoxes to free us from our mental clutches. But this is of course a short and poorly explaining definition of Zen. It is difficult to define it.
For example, Master Fudaishi presented it like this:
"I'm going with empty hands,
However, I have a sword in my hands.
I'm walking down the road
But I'm riding a bull.
When I go across the bridge,
O miracle!
The river is not moving
But the bridge is moving.
Zen also denies opposites. It is a rejection of the extremes of total perception and total denial. Ummon once said, "There is absolute freedom in Zen."
And in Basho's poetry, the presence of Zen is felt. Basho writes: "Learn from the pine tree to be a pine tree."

Japanese poetry is constantly striving to free itself from everything superfluous. The poet is in the midst of life, but he is alone - this is "sabi". The shofu style, which was based on the sabi principle, created a poetic school in which such poets as Kikaku, Ransetsu and others grew up. But Basho himself went even further. He puts forward the principle of "karumi" - lightness. This ease turns into high simplicity. Poetry is created from simple things and contains the whole world. The original Japanese haiku consists of 17 syllables that make up one column of characters. When translating haiku into Western languages, traditionally - from the very beginning of the 20th century, when such translation began to take place - places where kiriji may appear correspond to a line break and, thus, haiku are written as three lines.
Haiku is just three lines. Each poem is a small picture. Basho “draws”, outlining in a few words what we think, rather, we recreate in the imagination in the form of images. The poem triggers the mechanisms of sensory memory - you can suddenly smell the smoke of burning hay and leaves while cleaning the garden in autumn, remember and feel the touch of blades of grass on the skin when lying in a clearing or in a park, the aroma of an apple tree of a special, unique spring for you, the moisture of rain on your face and feeling of freshness.
Basho, as it were, says: look into the familiar - you will see the unusual, peer into the ugly - you will see the beautiful, peer into the simple - you will see the complex, peer into the particles - you will see the whole, peer into the small - you will see the great.

Haiku Basho translated by V. Sokolov
x x x

Stretched iris
Leaves to his brother.
Mirror of the river.

The snow bent the bamboo
Like the world around him
Overturned.

Soaring snowflakes
Thick veil.
Winter ornament.

Wild flower
In the rays of the sunset me
Captivated for a moment.

The cherries have blossomed.
Don't open for me today
Songbook.

Fun all around.
Cherries from the mountainside
You weren't invited?

Over cherry blossoms
Hiding behind the clouds
Shy moon.

The clouds lay
Between friends. geese
Goodbye in the sky.

forest lane
On the side of a mountain like
Sword belt.

Everything you have achieved?
To the tops of the mountains, a hat
Lowered, lay down.

Wind from the slopes
Fuji would be taken to the city,
What a priceless gift.

It's been a long way
Behind a distant cloud
I sit down to rest.

Do not look away -
moon over mountain range
My motherland.

New Year's
Ate. Like a short dream
Thirty years have passed.

"Fall has come!" —
The cold wind whispers
By the bedroom window.

May rains.
Like sea lights, they shine
Guardians of the lanterns.

Wind and fog
All his bed. Child
Thrown into the field.

On the black line
Raven settled down.
Autumn evening.

add to my rice
A handful of fragrant sleep grass
On New Year's Eve.

Sawn cut
The trunk of an ancient pine
Burning like the moon.

Yellow leaf in the stream.
Wake up cicada
The coast is getting closer.

Fresh snow in the morning.
Only arrows in the garden
Eyes fixed.

Spill on the river.
Even the heron in the water
Short legs.

For tea bushes
Leaf picker - as if
Autumn wind.

mountain roses,
Looking sadly at your
The beauty of a vole.

Fishes in the water
They play and you catch -
Melt in the hand.

planted a palm tree
And upset for the first time
That the reed has risen.

Where are you, cuckoo?
Say hello to spring
The plums have blossomed.

The stroke of the oar, the wind
And splashes of cold waves.
Tears on cheeks.

Clothes in the ground
Even though it's a holiday
Snail catchers.

The moan of the wind in the palm trees,
I listen to the sound of rain
All night long

I am simple. Once
flowers open,
I eat rice for breakfast.

Willow in the wind
The nightingale sang in the branches,
Like her soul.

Feasting on a holiday
But cloudy is my wine
And my rice is black.

After the fire
Only I haven't changed
And an ancient oak.

Cuckoo song!
Transferred in vain
Poets today.

new year and me
Only autumn sadness
Comes to mind.

On the grave hill
Brought not a holy lotus,
But a simple flower.

The grasses subsided
No one else to listen
The rustle of a feather grass.

Frosty night.
The rustle of bamboo in the distance
That's how it draws me.

I'll throw it into the sea
Your old hat.
Short rest.

Threshing rice.
In this house they don't know
Hungry winter.

I lie down and keep quiet
The doors were padlocked.
Pleasant rest.

My hut
So tight that the moonlight
Everything in her shines.

Tongue of fire.
Wake up - went out, oil
Frozen in the night.

Raven, look
Where is your nest? around
The plums have blossomed.

winter fields,
A peasant wanders, looking for
First shoots.

Butterfly wings!
Wake up the clearing
To meet the sun.

Rest, ship!
Peaches on the beach.
Spring shelter.

Was captivated by the moon
But he got free. All of a sudden
The cloud has passed.

How the wind howls!
Only those who will understand me
Spent the night in the field.

To the bell
Will a mosquito fly to a flower?
It sounds so sad.

Eagerly drinking nectar
One day butterfly.
Autumn evening.

Flowers withered
But the seeds fly
Like someone's tears.

hurricane, foliage
Having plucked, in a bamboo grove
I fell asleep for a while.

Old old pond.
Suddenly a frog jumped
Loud water splash.

No matter how white the snow
And the pine branches are all the same
They burn green.

Be careful!
Shepherd's purse flowers
They look at you.

Kannon Temple. Lit
red tile
In cherry blossom.

You wake up soon
Become my friend
Night moth!

Bouquet of flowers
Back to old roots
Lie down on the grave.

West or East...
Everywhere cold wind
It hurts my back.

Light early snow
Only narcissus leaves
Slightly bent over.

I drank wine again
And I still can't sleep
Such a snowfall.

shakes the seagull,
Won't put you to sleep
Wave Cradle.

frozen water,
And the ice broke the pitcher.
I woke up suddenly.

I want at least once
Go to the market on holidays
Buy tobacco.

Looking at the moon
Life went so easy
I'll meet the New Year.

Who is this, answer
In New Year's dress?
I didn't recognize myself.

Shepherd, leave
Plum the last branch
Cutting whips.

cabbage is lighter
But baskets of snails
The old man delivers.

Remember buddy
Hiding in the wilderness
Plum flower.

Sparrow, don't touch
Fragrant flower bud.
The bumblebee fell asleep inside.

Open to all winds
Stork overnight. Wind,
The cherries have blossomed.

Empty nest.
Like an abandoned house
The neighbor left.

The barrel cracked
The May rain keeps pouring.
Woke up at night.

Mother buried,
A friend is standing at the house,
Looks at flowers.

Completely emaciated
And the hair grew back.
Long rains.

I'm going to see:
Duck nests flooded
May rains.

Knocks and knocks
At the forest house
hard worker woodpecker,

Bright day, but suddenly -
Little cloud and
The rain froze.

pine branch
Touched the water
Cool wind.

Right on the leg
Suddenly a nimble crab jumped out.
Clear stream.

In the heat of the peasant
Lie down on the bindweed flowers.
Our world is just as simple.

Sleep by the river
Among the intoxicating flowers
Wild carnation.

He grew melons
In this garden, and now -
The chill of the evening.

You lit a candle.
Like a flash of lightning
It appeared in the palms.

The moon has passed
The branches are numb
In the glitter of the rain.

hagi shrub,
homeless dog
Shelter for the night.

fresh stubble,
A heron is walking across the field
Late fall.

Thresher suddenly
Stopped work.
There the moon rose.

The holidays are over.
cicadas at dawn
Everyone sings quieter.

Get up off the ground again
Dropped by the rain
Chrysanthemum flowers.

The clouds are turning black
It's about to rain
Only Fuji is white.

My friend, covered in snow
Fell off a horse - wine
Hop knocked him down.

Shelter in the village
All good for a tramp.
Winter rose.

Believe in better days!
The plum tree believes:
Will bloom in spring.

On fire from needles
Dry the towel.
Snow whirlwind on the way.

The snow is spinning, but
Last year this year
Full moon day.
x x x

peach blossoms,
And I can't wait
Blossom cherries.

Into my glass of wine
Swallows, don't drop
Lumps of earth.

twenty days of happiness
I experienced when all of a sudden
The cherries have blossomed.

Goodbye cherries!
Bloom your my way
Warms up with warmth.

Flowers flutter,
But the cherry branch does not bend
Under the yoke of the wind.

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Matsuo Basho (pseudonym) named Kinzaku at birth, Munefusa upon reaching adulthood; another name - Jinshichiro - a great Japanese poet, theorist of verse.

Born in 1644 in the small castle town of Ueno, Iga Province (Honshu Island). He died October 12, 1694 in Osaka.

The masters of the past worked so diligently on haikai poetry that they were able to compose only two or three haiku in a lifetime. It is easy for a beginner to copy nature - that is what they warn us against.

Basho Matsuo

Basho was born into a poor family of samurai Matsuo Yozaemon, was his third child. The father and elder brother of the future poet taught calligraphy at the courts of wealthier samurai, and already at home he received a good education. In his youth, he was fond of Chinese poets such as Du Fu. In those days, books were already available even to middle-class nobles. From 1664 he studied poetry in Kyoto. He was in the service of the noble and wealthy samurai Todo Yoshitada, after saying goodbye to whom, he went to Edo (now Tokyo), where he had been in the civil service since 1672. But the life of an official was unbearable for the poet, he became a teacher of poetry. Among his contemporaries, Matsuo gained fame primarily as a master of renga. Basho is the creator of the genre and aesthetics of haiku.

In the 1680s, Basho, guided by the philosophy of the Buddhist school of Zen, put the principle of “illumination” at the basis of his work. Basho's poetic heritage is represented by 7 anthologies created by him and his students: "Winter Days" (1684), "Spring Days" (1686), "Dead Field" (1689), "Gurd" (1690), "Straw Monkey Cloak "(book 1st, 1691, book 2nd, 1698), "A bag of coal" (1694), lyrical diaries written in prose combined with poetry (the most famous of them is "On the paths of the North"), as well as prefaces to books and poems, letters containing thoughts about art and views on the process of poetic creativity. Poetry and aesthetics of Basho influenced the development of Japanese literature of the Middle Ages and Modern times.

Matsuo Basho is the third name of the poet, by which he is known to Japan and the world. His real name is Jinsichiro Ginzaemon.

Biography of Matsuo Basho

The future poet was born into the family of a poor but educated samurai. Matsuo Basho's father and older brother were both calligraphy teachers. And he chose a different fate for himself. He early awakened a craving for learning and remained with him forever. While still a young man, Basho began to diligently study Chinese literature. Among his idols was the great Chinese poet Li Bo. By analogy with his name, which means "White Plum", Basho called himself Tosei "Green Peach". It was Basho's middle name. The first - Munefusa - he took as soon as he began to write poetry.

Diligently studying Chinese and Japanese poetry, Matsuo Basho gradually came to understand that poets have a special place among people. In addition to literature, he studied philosophy and medicine. True, after a while he realized that neither man nor nature can be studied from books, and at the age of 28 he left his native places. To this step, Matsuo Basho was prompted by the untimely death of his master, the prince's son. They shared a love of poetry. Basho took the veil as a monk (which freed the samurai from the service of the feudal lord) and went to the largest Japanese city - Edo (modern Tokyo). Relatives persuaded him to abandon the "reckless act", but he was adamant.

In Edo, the aspiring poet began attending a poetry school. And soon he himself became a teacher of poetry for young people, most of whom were as poor as he was. Poverty did not bother Basho. He felt like a follower of Buddhist monks, for whom spiritual perfection was higher than any material wealth. He lived in a house donated by the father of one of the students on the outskirts of Edo. Wishing to beautify his habitat, he planted a banana tree (basho in Japanese).

Probably, the noise of wide banana leaves inspired the poet's last pseudonym - Basho. With this name, he entered the history of Japanese and world poetry. Basho did not manage to live long in his hut decorated with a banana tree. She burned out. From that time (1682) until the end of his days he was a wanderer, like many poets before him. Traveling poets are a Japanese tradition. They traveled their country, looking for the most beautiful places, then described them in verse and gave them to people. Matsuo Basho also traveled many roads in ten years of wandering and saw a lot of people. He left his impressions in travel diaries and in poetry. There are five travel diaries in total. In the memory of the Japanese, Matsuo Basho, whose biography we have reviewed, remained a poet in a monastic cassock and with a travel staff.

The main dates of the life of Matsuo Basho:

1644 - born in the castle town of Ueno, Iga province;

1672 - left his native city and went to Edo (Tokyo) with a volume of his poems;

1684 - left Edo and went to wander around Japan;

1694 - died in Osaka.

Poems by Matsuo Basho

He wrote poems unusual for our perception in just three lines. The Japanese call them haiku. This poetic form arose in Japan for a reason. Its appearance is due to the whole structure of Japanese life, which takes place in a closed geographical space - on the islands. This circumstance, apparently, formed the Japanese tendency to asceticism and minimalism in everyday life: a light empty house, a rock garden, bansai (small trees). This also influenced laconicism in art.

Literature, especially poetry, also expressed the inner craving of the Japanese for the small. An example of this haiku is three strings whose length is strictly defined. In the first - 5 syllables, in the second - 7, in the third - 5. In fact, haiku was formed as a result of cutting off the last two lines from the tank (5-7-5-7-7). In Japanese, haiku means opening verses. There is no rhyme in haiku, which we are used to when reading Russian poets. In fact, the Japanese never had a rhyme - such is their language.

Almost every haiku must have "seasonal words" that designate the time of year. Winter plum, snow, ice, black color - these are images of winter; singing frogs, sakura flowers - spring; nightingale, cuckoo, "bamboo planting day" of summer; chrysanthemums, yellow leaves, rain, moon - autumn.

What sadness!

Suspended in a small cage

Captive cricket.

Sadness - from the fact that winter is coming. A cricket in a cage is her sign. In China and Japan, chirping insects (cicadas, crickets) were kept indoors in winter in small cages, like songbirds. And they sold them in the fall.

Haiku is usually divided into two parts. The first line of the poem is its first part, which indicates the picture, the situation and sets the mood.

May rain is endless.

Mallows are reaching somewhere

Looking for the path of the sun.

In this haiku, the first line captures a monotonous slow-motion phenomenon and sets one on a wave of despondency and melancholy.

The second part of haiku must be opposed to the first. In this poem, immobility is compared with movement ("stretching", "searching"), grayness, despondency - with the "sun". Thus, in the poem there is not only a compositional, but also a semantic antithesis.

Each haiku is a small picture. We not only see it, but also hear it - the sound of the wind, the cry of a pheasant, the singing of a nightingale, the croaking of a frog and the voice of a cuckoo.

The peculiarity of haiku is that it creates pictures with hints, often expressed in one word. Japanese artists do the same.

What can you write about in hockey? About everything: about the native land, about mother, father, friend, work, art, but the main theme of haiku is nature... The Japanese love nature and it gives them great pleasure to contemplate its beauty. They even have concepts denoting the process of admiring nature. Hanami - admiring the flowers, tsukimi - admiring the moon, yukimi - admiring the snow. Collections of haiku were usually divided into four chapters: "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn", "Winter".

But the poems of Matsuo Basho were not only about flowers, birds, wind and moon. Together with nature, a person always lives in them - he plants rice sprouts, admires the beauty of the sacred Mount Fuji, freezes on a winter night, looks at the moon. He is sad and cheerful - he is everywhere, he is the main character.

I dreamed of an old story:

An old woman abandoned in the mountains is crying.

And only a month is her friend.

The poem captures the echoes of an ancient legend about how one man, believing his wife's slander, took his old aunt, who replaced his mother, to a desert mountain and left it there. Seeing how the clear face of the moon rose over the mountain, he repented and hurried to bring the old woman back home.

Matsuo Basho often speaks allegorically about a person and his life. Here is how in this, one of the most famous haiku of this author:

Old pond.

The frog jumped into the water.

A surge in silence.

Haiku - seemingly very simple, uncomplicated, it seems that it is not at all difficult to write them. But it seems so only at first glance. In fact, behind them lies not only the hard work of the poet, but also knowledge of the history and philosophy of his people. Here, for example, is one of Basho's acknowledged masterpieces:

On a bare branch

Raven sits alone.

Autumn evening.

It seems to be nothing special, but it is known that Matsuo Basho reworked this poem many times - until he found the only right words and put them in their place. With the help of a few precise details ("hints"), the poet created a picture of late autumn. Why did Basho choose the crow out of all the birds? Of course, not by chance. This is the omniscient raven. It symbolizes the Buddhist detachment from the vain world, that is, with its deep meaning, haiku is addressed to a person - his loneliness. Behind the images of nature, Matsuo Basho always hides moods, deep thoughts. He was the first in Japan to infuse haiku with philosophical thoughts.

Hokku is that part of the culture that was part of the life of every Japanese.

The main features of haiku:

• a certain number of syllables in three lines (5-7-5);
• opposition of one part of the poem to another;
• lack of rhyme;
• the presence of "hints";
• the use of "seasonal words";
• conciseness;
• picturesqueness;
• the statement of two principles: nature and man;
• designed for the reader's creativity.

In the creation of which his students also took part: “ winter days"(1684)," spring days"(1686)," dead field"(1689)," gourd"(1690)," Monkey's Straw Cloak"(book 1st, 1691, book 2nd, 1698)," A bag of coal"(1694), lyrical diaries, prefaces to books and poems, letters containing judgments about art and the creative process in poetry. Travel lyrical diaries contain descriptions of landscapes, meetings, historical events. They include their own poems and quotes from the works of prominent poets. The best of them is "On the Paths of the North"("Okuno hosomichi", 1689).

Poetry and aesthetics of Basho significantly influenced Japanese literature of that time, "Basho style" determined the development of Japanese poetry for almost 200 years.

Biography

Basho was born into a poor family of samurai Matsuo Yozaemon (Jap. 松尾与左衛門), was his third child. Over the years, he bore the name Kinsaku, Hanshichi, Toshichiro, Chuemon, Jinshichiro (Jap. 甚七郎). Basho (jap. 芭蕉) is a literary pseudonym, which means "banana tree" in translation.

The father and elder brother of the future poet taught calligraphy at the courts of wealthier samurai, and already at home he received a good education. In his youth, he was fond of Chinese poets such as Du Fu. In those days, books were already available even to middle-class nobles. From 1664 he studied poetry in Kyoto.

He was in the service of the noble and wealthy samurai Todo Yoshitada (jap. 藤堂良忠), with whom he shared a passion for the genre haikai- a popular Japanese form of collaborative poetic creativity. In 1665, Yoshitada and Basho, with a few acquaintances, composed a 100-stanza haikai. Yoshitada's sudden death in 1666 ended Matsuo's quiet life and he eventually left home. He got to Edo (now Tokyo), where he was in the civil service since 1672. But the life of an official was unbearable for the poet, he becomes a teacher of poetry.

It is believed that Basho was a slender man of small stature, with thin graceful features, thick eyebrows and a protruding nose. As is customary among Buddhists, he shaved his head. His health was poor, he suffered from indigestion all his life. According to the poet's letters, it can be assumed that he was a calm, moderate, unusually caring, generous and faithful person in relation to relatives and friends. Despite the fact that he suffered from poverty all his life, Basho, as a true Buddhist philosopher, paid almost no attention to this circumstance.

The characteristic rejection of conventional ethics, characteristic of Zen, however, does not mean its absence. In Japanese culture, ethics in Zen has been embodied in ritual forms, through which there is an expression, albeit very sparingly, of attitudes towards the world and people. Relevant ideas have been embodied in the Japanese aesthetic worldview of wabi-sabi.

Living in a modest hut is not only and not so much following one's desires, it is, more importantly, the direct path of creativity, which finds expression in poetry.

Yuki no asa Hitori Karazake-o Kamietari Snowy morning. One dried salmon Chew.

Another sign of reduced ethics in Zen, which also manifested itself in the poetry of the Japanese, can be considered the use of humor in describing various phenomena of the surrounding world. Basho is able to smile where it would seem necessary to show compassion or pity, or laughs where another would feel dubious tenderness. Detachment and calm contemplation - they allow the artist to have fun in various difficult situations. As the philosopher Henri Bergson noted, "... step aside, look at life as an indifferent spectator: many dramas will turn into comedies." Indifference or, in other words, insensitivity - are rooted in Zen, but it is hardly possible to reproach Basho for indifference, since for him laughter is a way to overcome the hardships of life, including his own, and most importantly - really the ability to laugh at himself, sometimes even quite ironically, describing the hard life of wandering:

The principle of "eternal loneliness", freeing the creator from the bustle of the world, leads him along the road from utilitarian interests and goals to his highest destiny. Thus, creativity acquires a sacred meaning, it becomes a guideline on the path of life. From the entertainment that it was in youth, from the way to achieve success and gain recognition by defeating rivals, as it seemed in its heyday, in later years the poet's view of the pursuit of poetry changes to the point of view that it was precisely this that was his true purpose, it was it that led him along the path of life. The desire to free this sacred meaning from any signs of commercialism, to protect it, makes Basho write in the afterword to the poetry collection Minasiguri (Empty Chestnuts, 1683): ​​“Wabi and poetry (fugue) are far from everyday needs. These are bug-eaten chestnuts that people did not pick up when they visited the Saigyo hut in the mountains.

Memory

Named after Basho crater on Mercury.

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Notes

1. Boronina I. A.// Great Soviet Encyclopedia: In 30 tons .. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
2. // Japan from A to Z. Popular illustrated encyclopedia. (CD-ROM). - M.: Directmedia Publishing, Japan Today, 2008. - ISBN 978-5-94865-190-3
3. // Brief literary encyclopedia. - M .: Soviet encyclopedia, 1962-1978.
4. Haiku- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd edition).
5. // Big Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ed. A. M. Prokhorova. - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2000.
6. , with. thirteen.
7. Ueda, Makoto. The Master Haiku Poet, Matsuo Bashō. - Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1982. - ISBN 0-87011-553-7. R. 20-21
8. Breslavets T. I. "Essays on Japanese poetry of the 9th-17th centuries." - M.: Publishing company "Eastern Literature" RAS, 1994. - 237 p. pp.149-215
9. Pomerants G.S. Zen // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: In 30 volumes / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1972. - T. 8.
10. Matsuo Basho shu (Collected Works of Matsuo Basho). - (The Complete Collection of Japanese Classical Literature). T. 41. Tokyo, 1972. (Translation of poems - Breslavets T. I. from the book "Essays on Japanese Poetry of the IX-XVII centuries." - 1994)
11. . Retrieved May 14, 2013. .

Literature

• Breslavets T. I. Overnight on the Road: Poems and Wanderings by Matsuo Basho. - Vldv. : Dalnevost Publishing House. un-ta, 2002. - 212 p. - ISBN 5-7444-1316-2.
• Breslavets T. I. The Poetry of Matsuo Basho / Ed. ed. T. P. Grigorieva. - M. : Nauka, 1981. - 152 p.
• Grigorieva T. P., Logunova V. V. Matsuo Basho // Japanese Literature. Brief essay. - M. : Nauka, 1964. - S. 45-52. - 282 p.
• Shiran H. Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Basho: [English ] . - Stanford University Press, 1998. - 400 p. - ISBN 978-0-8047-3098-3.

Links

An excerpt characterizing Matsuo Basho

A door opened from the inner rooms, and one of the princesses, the count's nieces, came in, with a gloomy and cold face and a long waist strikingly disproportionate to her legs.
Prince Vasily turned to her.
- Well, what is he?
- All the same. And as you wish, this noise ... - said the princess, looking at Anna Mikhailovna, as if she were a stranger.
“Ah, chere, je ne vous reconnaissais pas, [Ah, my dear, I didn’t recognize you,” Anna Mikhailovna said with a happy smile, approaching the count’s niece with a light amble. - Je viens d "arriver et je suis a vous pour vous aider a soigner mon oncle. J`imagine, combien vous avez souffert, [I came to help you follow your uncle. I imagine how much you suffered,] - she added, with participation rolling his eyes.
The princess made no answer, did not even smile, and went out at once. Anna Mikhailovna took off her gloves and, in a conquered position, settled down on an armchair, inviting Prince Vasily to sit down beside her.
- Boris! - she said to her son and smiled, - I'll go to the count, to my uncle, and you go to Pierre, mon ami, for the time being, don't forget to give him an invitation from the Rostovs. They invite him to dinner. I don't think he will? she turned to the prince.
“On the contrary,” said the prince, apparently out of sorts. – Je serais tres content si vous me debarrassez de ce jeune homme… [I would be very happy if you would get rid of this young man…] Sitting here. The Count never once asked about him.
He shrugged. The waiter led the young man up and down another staircase to Pyotr Kirillovich.

Pierre did not manage to choose a career for himself in St. Petersburg and, indeed, was exiled to Moscow for riot. The story told at Count Rostov's was true. Pierre participated in tying the quarter with a bear. He arrived a few days ago and stayed, as always, at his father's house. Although he assumed that his story was already known in Moscow, and that the ladies surrounding his father, who were always unfriendly to him, would take advantage of this opportunity to annoy the count, he nevertheless went to half his father on the day of his arrival. Entering the drawing room, the usual residence of the princesses, he greeted the ladies who were sitting at the embroidery frame and at the book, which one of them was reading aloud. There were three. The eldest, clean, long-waisted, strict girl, the same one who went out to Anna Mikhailovna, was reading; the younger ones, both ruddy and pretty, differing from each other only in that one had a mole above her lip, which made her very pretty, sewed in a hoop. Pierre was greeted as dead or plagued. The eldest princess interrupted her reading and silently looked at him with frightened eyes; the youngest, without a mole, assumed exactly the same expression; the smallest, with a mole, of a merry and humorous disposition, bent down to the hoop to hide a smile, probably provoked by the upcoming scene, the amusingness of which she foresaw. She pulled down the hair and bent down, as if sorting out the patterns and barely holding back her laughter.
“Bonjour, ma cousine,” said Pierre. - Vous ne me hesonnaissez pas? [Hello cousin. You don't recognize me?]
“I know you too well, too well.
How is the Count's health? May I see him? Pierre asked awkwardly, as always, but not embarrassed.
“The Count suffers both physically and morally, and it seems that you took care to inflict more moral suffering on him.
May I see the count? Pierre repeated.
“Hm!.. If you want to kill him, kill him completely, you can see. Olga, go and see if the broth is ready for the uncle, the time will soon be, ”she added, showing Pierre that they are busy and busy reassuring his father, while he is obviously busy only upsetting.
Olga left. Pierre stood for a moment, looked at the sisters, and, bowing, said:
- So I'll go to my place. When you can, tell me.
He went out, and the sonorous but quiet laughter of the sister with the mole was heard behind him.
The next day, Prince Vasily arrived and settled in the count's house. He called Pierre to him and said to him:
- Mon cher, si vous vous conduisez ici, comme a Petersbourg, vous finirez tres mal; c "est tout ce que je vous dis. [My dear, if you behave here as in Petersburg, you will end up very badly; I have nothing more to tell you.] The count is very, very sick: you don’t need to see him at all.
Since then, Pierre has not been disturbed, and he spent the whole day alone upstairs in his room.
While Boris entered him, Pierre was walking around his room, occasionally stopping in the corners, making threatening gestures to the wall, as if piercing an invisible enemy with a sword, and sternly looking over his glasses and then starting his walk again, pronouncing obscure words, shaking shoulders and arms outstretched.
- L "Angleterre a vecu, [End of England]," he said, frowning and pointing his finger at someone. - M. Pitt comme traitre a la nation et au droit des gens est condamiene a ... [Pitt, as a traitor to the nation and the people right, sentenced to ...] - He did not have time to finish Pitt's sentence, imagining himself at that moment as Napoleon himself and, together with his hero, having already made a dangerous crossing through the Pas de Calais and having conquered London, - as he saw a young, slender and handsome officer entering him He stopped. Pierre left Boris a fourteen-year-old boy and decidedly did not remember him, but, in spite of this, with his usual quick and cordial manner, he took him by the hand and smiled amiably.
- Do you remember me? Boris said calmly, with a pleasant smile. - I came with my mother to the count, but it seems that he is not completely healthy.
Yes, it looks unhealthy. Everything disturbs him, - Pierre answered, trying to remember who this young man was.
Boris felt that Pierre did not recognize him, but did not consider it necessary to identify himself and, without experiencing the slightest embarrassment, looked into his eyes.
“Count Rostov asked you to come and dine with him today,” he said after a rather long and awkward silence for Pierre.
- BUT! Count Rostov! Pierre spoke happily. “So you are his son, Ilya. You can imagine, I didn't recognize you at first. Remember how we went to Sparrow Hills with m me Jacquot ... [Madame Jaco ...] a long time ago.
“You are mistaken,” Boris said slowly, with a bold and somewhat mocking smile. - I am Boris, the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya. Rostov's father's name is Ilya, and his son's name is Nikolai. And I m me Jacquot didn't know any.
Pierre waved his arms and head as if mosquitoes or bees had attacked him.
- Oh, what is it! I confused everything. There are so many relatives in Moscow! You are Boris...yes. Well, here we are with you and agreed. Well, what do you think of the Boulogne expedition? Surely the English will have a hard time if only Napoleon crosses the canal? I think the expedition is very possible. Villeneuve would not have blundered!
Boris did not know anything about the Boulogne expedition, he did not read the newspapers and heard about Villeneuve for the first time.
“We are more busy here in Moscow with dinners and gossip than with politics,” he said in his calm, mocking tone. I don't know anything about it and don't think so. Moscow is busy with gossip the most,” he continued. “Now they are talking about you and the count.
Pierre smiled his kind smile, as if afraid for his interlocutor, lest he say something that he would begin to repent of. But Boris spoke distinctly, clearly and dryly, looking directly into Pierre's eyes.
“Moscow has nothing else to do but gossip,” he continued. “Everyone is busy with who the count will leave his fortune to, although perhaps he will outlive us all, which I sincerely wish ...
- Yes, it's all very hard, - Pierre picked up, - very hard. - Pierre was still afraid that this officer would inadvertently get into an awkward conversation for himself.
“And it must seem to you,” Boris said, blushing slightly, but without changing his voice and posture, “it must seem to you that everyone is only busy getting something from the rich man.
"So it is," thought Pierre.
- And I just want to tell you, to avoid misunderstandings, that you will be very mistaken if you count me and my mother among these people. We are very poor, but I, at least, speak for myself: precisely because your father is rich, I do not consider myself his relative, and neither I nor my mother will ever ask for anything and will not accept anything from him.
Pierre could not understand for a long time, but when he understood, he jumped up from the sofa, grabbed Boris by the arm from below with his characteristic speed and awkwardness, and, blushing much more than Boris, began to speak with a mixed feeling of shame and annoyance.
– This is strange! I really ... and who could have thought ... I know very well ...
But Boris interrupted him again:
- I'm glad I said it all. Maybe it’s unpleasant for you, you’ll excuse me, ”he said, reassuring Pierre, instead of being reassured by him,“ but I hope that I didn’t offend you. I have a rule to say everything directly ... How can I convey it? Are you coming to dine at the Rostovs?
And Boris, apparently having shifted from himself a heavy duty, himself getting out of an awkward position and putting another in it, became again completely pleasant.
“No, listen,” said Pierre, calming down. - You are an amazing person. What you just said is very good, very good. Of course you don't know me. We haven’t seen each other for so long… children yet… You can assume in me… I understand you, I understand you very much. I wouldn't do it, I wouldn't have the spirit, but it's wonderful. I am very glad that I got to know you. Strange,” he added, after a pause and smiling, “what you supposed in me! He laughed. - Well, so what? We will get to know you better. You are welcome. He shook hands with Boris. “You know, I have never been to the Count. He didn't call me... I feel sorry for him as a person... But what can I do?
- And you think that Napoleon will have time to transport the army? Boris asked smiling.
Pierre realized that Boris wanted to change the conversation, and, agreeing with him, began to outline the advantages and disadvantages of the Boulogne enterprise.
The footman came to summon Boris to the princess. The princess was leaving. Pierre promised to come to dinner in order to get closer to Boris, firmly pressed his hand, affectionately looking into his eyes through his glasses ... After his departure, Pierre walked around the room for a long time, no longer piercing an invisible enemy with a sword, but smiling at the memory of this sweet, smart and tough young man.
As happens in early youth, and especially in a lonely situation, he felt an unreasonable tenderness for this young man and promised himself to make friends with him without fail.
Prince Vasily saw off the princess. The princess held a handkerchief to her eyes, and her face was in tears.
- It's horrible! terrible! she said, “but whatever the cost, I will do my duty. I will come to spend the night. You can't leave him like this. Every minute is precious. I do not understand what the princesses are delaying. Maybe God will help me find a way to prepare it!… Adieu, mon prince, que le bon Dieu vous soutienne… [Farewell, prince, may God support you.]
- Adieu, ma bonne, [Farewell, my dear,] - answered Prince Vasily, turning away from her.
“Ah, he is in a terrible position,” said the mother to her son, as they got back into the carriage. He barely recognizes anyone.
- I don’t understand, mother, what is his relationship with Pierre? the son asked.
“The testament will say everything, my friend; our destiny depends on it...
“But why do you think he would leave anything for us?”
- Ah, my friend! He is so rich and we are so poor!
“Well, that’s not enough reason, mother.
- Oh my god! My God! How bad he is! mother exclaimed.

When Anna Mikhailovna went with her son to Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhy, Countess Rostova sat alone for a long time, putting a handkerchief to her eyes. Finally, she called.
“What are you, dear,” she said angrily to the girl, who kept herself waiting for several minutes. You don't want to serve, do you? So I will find a place for you.
The countess was upset by the grief and humiliating poverty of her friend and therefore was not in a good mood, which was always expressed in her by the name of the maid "dear" and "you".
“Guilty with,” said the maid.
“Ask the Count for me.
The count, waddling, approached his wife with a somewhat guilty look, as always.
- Well, Countess! What a saute au madere [saute in Madeira] of grouse will be, ma chere! I tried; I gave a thousand rubles for Taraska not for nothing. Costs!
He sat down beside his wife, valiantly leaning his hands on his knees and ruffling his gray hair.
- What do you want, countess?
- Here's what, my friend - what do you have dirty here? she said, pointing to the vest. "That's sauté, right," she added, smiling. - Here's the thing, Count: I need money.
Her face became sad.
- Oh, Countess! ...
And the count began to fuss, taking out his wallet.
- I need a lot, count, I need five hundred rubles.
And she, taking out a cambric handkerchief, rubbed her husband's waistcoat with it.
- Now. Hey, who's there? he shouted in a voice that only people shout, confident that those whom they call will rush headlong to their call. - Send Mitenka to me!
Mitenka, that noble son, brought up by the count, who was now in charge of all his affairs, entered the room with quiet steps.
“That’s what, my dear,” said the count to the respectful young man who entered. “Bring me…” he thought. - Yes, 700 rubles, yes. Yes, look, don’t bring such torn and dirty ones as that time, but good ones, for the countess.
“Yes, Mitenka, please, clean ones,” said the countess, sighing sadly.
“Your Excellency, when would you like me to deliver it?” Mitenka said. “If you please, don’t worry, don’t worry,” he added, noticing that the count had already begun to breathe heavily and quickly, which was always a sign of anger. - I was and forgot ... Will you order to deliver this minute?
- Yes, yes, then bring it. Give it to the Countess.
“What gold I have this Mitenka,” added the count, smiling, when the young man left. - There is no such thing as impossible. I can't stand it. Everything is possible.
“Ah, money, count, money, how much grief they cause in the world!” said the Countess. “I really need this money.
“You, countess, are a well-known winder,” said the count, and, kissing his wife’s hand, went back into the study.
When Anna Mikhailovna returned from Bezukhoy again, the countess already had money, all in brand new paper, under a handkerchief on the table, and Anna Mikhailovna noticed that the countess was somehow disturbed.
- Well, my friend? the countess asked.
Oh, what a terrible state he is in! You can't recognize him, he's so bad, so bad; I stayed for a minute and did not say two words ...
“Annette, for God’s sake, don’t refuse me,” the countess suddenly said, blushing, which was so strange with her middle-aged, thin and important face, taking out money from under her handkerchief.
Anna Mikhaylovna instantly understood what was the matter, and already bent down to deftly embrace the countess at the right time.
- Here's Boris from me, for sewing a uniform ...
Anna Mikhaylovna was already embracing her and crying. The Countess was crying too. They wept that they were friendly; and that they are kind; and that they, girlfriends of youth, are occupied with such a low subject - money; and that their youth had passed ... But the tears of both were pleasant ...

Countess Rostova was sitting with her daughters and already with a large number of guests in the drawing room. The count ushered the male guests into his study, offering them his hunter's collection of Turkish pipes. Occasionally he would come out and ask: has she come? They were waiting for Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, nicknamed in society le terrible dragon, [a terrible dragon,] a lady famous not for wealth, not for honors, but for her directness of mind and frank simplicity of address. Marya Dmitrievna was known by the royal family, all of Moscow and all of St. Petersburg knew, and both cities, surprised at her, secretly laughed at her rudeness, told jokes about her; yet everyone, without exception, respected and feared her.
In an office full of smoke, there was a conversation about the war, which was declared by the manifesto, about recruitment. No one has yet read the Manifesto, but everyone knew about its appearance. The count was sitting on an ottoman between two smoking and talking neighbors. The count himself did not smoke or speak, but tilting his head, now to one side, then to the other, he looked with evident pleasure at the smokers and listened to the conversation of his two neighbors, whom he pitted against each other.
One of the speakers was a civilian, with a wrinkled, bilious, and shaven, thin face, a man already approaching old age, although he was dressed like the most fashionable young man; he sat with his feet on the ottoman with the air of a domestic man, and, sideways thrusting amber far into his mouth, impetuously drew in the smoke and screwed up his eyes. It was the old bachelor Shinshin, the cousin of the countess, an evil tongue, as they said about him in Moscow drawing rooms. He seemed to condescend to his interlocutor. Another, fresh, pink, officer of the Guards, impeccably washed, buttoned and combed, held amber near the middle of his mouth and with pink lips slightly pulled out the smoke, releasing it in ringlets from his beautiful mouth. It was that lieutenant Berg, an officer of the Semyonovsky regiment, with whom Boris went to the regiment together and with which Natasha teased Vera, the senior countess, calling Berg her fiancé. The Count sat between them and listened attentively. The most pleasant occupation for the count, with the exception of the game of boston, which he was very fond of, was the position of the listener, especially when he managed to play off two talkative interlocutors.
“Well, how about it, father, mon tres honorable [most respected] Alfons Karlych,” said Shinshin, chuckling and combining (which was the peculiarity of his speech) the most popular Russian expressions with exquisite French phrases. - Vous comptez vous faire des rentes sur l "etat, [Do you expect to have income from the treasury,] do you want to receive income from the company?
- No, Pyotr Nikolaevich, I only want to show that in the cavalry there are much fewer advantages against the infantry. Now consider, Pyotr Nikolaitch, my position...
Berg always spoke very precisely, calmly and courteously. His conversation always concerned only him alone; he was always calmly silent while talking about something that had no direct relation to him. And he could remain silent in this way for several hours, without experiencing or producing in others the slightest confusion. But as soon as the conversation concerned him personally, he began to speak at length and with visible pleasure.
“Consider my situation, Pyotr Nikolaevich: if I were in the cavalry, I would receive no more than two hundred rubles a third, even with the rank of lieutenant; and now I get two hundred and thirty,” he said with a joyful, pleasant smile, looking at Shinshin and the count, as if it were obvious to him that his success would always be the main goal of the desires of all other people.
“Besides, Pyotr Nikolaevich, having transferred to the guards, I am in the public eye,” Berg continued, “and vacancies in the guards infantry are much more frequent. Then, think for yourself how I could get a job out of two hundred and thirty rubles. And I’m saving and sending more to my father,” he continued, blowing the ring.
- La balance at est ... [The balance is established ...] The German threshes a loaf on the butt, comme dit le roverbe, [as the proverb says,] - shifting amber to the other side of his mouth, said Shinshin and winked at the count.
The Count laughed. Other guests, seeing that Shinshin was talking, came up to listen. Berg, not noticing either ridicule or indifference, continued to talk about how, by being transferred to the guard, he had already won a rank in front of his comrades in the corps, how in wartime a company commander could be killed, and he, remaining a senior in a company, could very easily be company commander, and how everyone in the regiment loves him, and how pleased his papa is with him. Berg apparently enjoyed telling all this, and seemed unaware that other people might also have their own interests. But everything he said was so sweetly sedate, the naivety of his young selfishness was so obvious that he disarmed his listeners.