Russian poetry has experienced three poetic ups and downs, three waves.
The first wave of Russian poetry was the poetry of the "Golden Age", the poetry of Pushkin and Lermontov, the poetry of the Decembrists. The first poetic upsurge ended sadly - first the Decembrist uprising was defeated in 1825, then Pushkin - whom many considered a traitor - was killed, then Lermontov, who became famous immediately after Pushkin's death, was also killed. Also in 1829, Griboyedov was killed.
In fact, by 1841 all Russian poetry had been destroyed. On the stage there were only completely plush Tyutchev and Fet, who wrote exclusively on permitted topics, and the parody Kozma Prutkov, and the bastard Apollon Grigoriev.
With their death, Russian poetry died altogether. Literary magazines were flooded with the prose of the Gogol school - Goncharov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky.
The second wave of Russian poetry was Jewish poetry in Russian. Moreover, at first, Russian-Jewish poetry went along the same lines, and then it was divided into purely Jewish and purely Russian. The source of Jewish poetry in Russian was primarily European poetry - French, German, Italian, and English. But also Jewish religious literature should not be discounted.
The first Jewish poet in Russian was Semyon Nadson, who lived for only 24 years. Nadson was a singer of revolution and socialism, as befits a Jew, but his poetry was bad. After the death of Nadson, Alexander Blok appeared, who lived for 41 years. Blok was an outstanding poet, perhaps his work is the pinnacle of Jewish poetry in Russian.
Russian and Tatar poets in Russian, who worked simultaneously with Nadson and Blok, did not match them in depth of thought and creative scope in any comparison.
Valery Bryusov, Gippius with Merezhkovsky, Nikolai Gumilev and Akhmatova are an order of magnitude more primitive poets in comparison with Blok.
This period of Jewish domination in the Russian language is called the "Silver Age of Russian Poetry". Although actually, " silver Age Russian poetry "ended after the 1917 revolution, some literary scholars extend it to the Soviet period.
During the Soviet period, most of the poets - both Jewish in Russian and Russian, including Tatar - were destroyed. Blok and Bryusov themselves died after the revolution. Nikolai Gumilyov was shot. Then the "imagist" Yesenin and the "futurist" Mayakovsky "committed suicide". In 1937, another Jewish poet in Russian, Osip Mandelstam, died, and Vvedensky and Kharms (Yuvachev) were also shot. In 1945, Dmitry Kedrin, who apparently was also a Jew, died. This death ended the "Silver Age".
After the Second World War and the Holocaust, Russian and Jewish poetry in Russian was divided. Boris Pasternak and Samuil Marshak worked in a space separated from Russian reality. However, the Nobel Prize in Literature, received by Pasternak in 1958, again activated Jewish creativity in Russian, and another Jewish epigone of European creativity in Russian appeared - Joseph Brodsky. In addition to Russian, Brodsky also wrote in English. He also received Nobel prize on literature in 1987. Brodsky and Yevtushenko - this is apparently the lowest point of the fall of Russian poetry and the Russian language in general.
The third wave of the rise of Russian poetry began in 1987 with the appearance of the first major poet-East Asian in Russian, who emerged from the world of song rock music - Viktor Tsoi. After the appearance of Tsoi, Russian rock took the place of Russian poetry. Another East Asian songwriter in Russian - Yuliy Kim - did not take this place, and the so-called bard song actually died.
At the same time, both Russian rock and Russian bard song were not just Russian, but Russian-Jewish. In the bard song, Vladimir Vysotsky played the leading role, and in Russian rock - Makarevich and Mike Naumenko. Vysotsky was apparently the last real Jewish poet in Russian; he died in 1980. Vysotsky's successor was the Chechen bard and terrorist Timur Mutsurayev.
Despite the death of Tsoi in 1990 at the age of 28, as well as the deaths of other Russian rock figures - Bashlachev, the same Mike Naumenko, and others - the rise of Russian poetry continued on the Internet. In fact, this is the third wave of the heyday of Russian poetry, its "Bronze Age".
Just as in the period of the second rise of Russian poetry, poets of Jewish origin played the leading and decisive role in it, during the period of the third rise of Russian poetry, poets of East Asian origin played a leading role in it. Along with Russian and Jewish poets in Russian.
The process of democratization of literature meets with a response from the ruling classes. In court government circles, an artificial normative ceremonial style, elements of the Ukrainian baroque, is being implanted.
The Problem of the Baroque in Russian Literature. The term "baroque" was introduced by supporters of classicism in the 18th century. to denote art of the crude, tasteless, "barbaric" and was initially associated only with architecture and the visual arts. This term was introduced into literary criticism in 1888 by G. Wölflin in his work “Renaissance and Baroque”. He made the first attempt to define the signs of the Baroque, reducing them to picturesqueness, depth, openness of form, that is, purely formal signs. The modern French researcher Jean Rousset in his work "Literature of the Baroque Age in France" (1954) reduces the Baroque to the expression of two characteristic motives: inconstancy and decorativeness. In relation to Russian literature, the term "baroque" was introduced by L. V. Pumpyansky.
The Hungarian scholar A. Andjal gave an expansive interpretation of the baroque in his book "Slavic Baroque". His point of view was developed by A.A. Morozov, who is inclined to attribute all the literature of the second half of the 17th and first half of the 18th century to the Baroque, seeing in this direction an expression of the national originality of Russian literature. A. A. Morozov's point of view aroused sharp objections from P. N. Berkov, D. S. Likhachev, Czech researcher S. Mathauzerova.
PN Berkov came out with a resolute denial of the existence of the Russian Baroque and raised the question of the need to consider Russian verse poetry and drama of the late 17th century. as the birth of a new classic trend. S. Mathauzerova came to the conclusion about the existence in Russian literature of the end of the 17th century. two directions of the baroque: national Russian and borrowed Polish-Ukrainian.
DS Likhachev believes that one should speak about the existence of only the Russian baroque, which was originally borrowed from Polish-Ukrainian literature, but then acquired its specific features.
In the early 60s, I.P. Eremin analyzed in detail and in detail the features of the Russian Baroque in the poetry of Simeon Polotsky. The findings and observations of this scientist are important for understanding this problem.
Despite significant differences in views on the baroque in Russian literature, researchers have established the most essential formal features of this style. It is characterized by an aesthetic expression of exaggerated pathos, deliberate splendor, ceremoniality, external emotionality, an excessive heap of seemingly incompatible stylistic components of mobile forms in one work, allegorical, ornamental plot and language.
It is necessary to distinguish between two different aspects in the content of the term baroque: a) baroque as an artistic method and style that arose and developed in a certain historical era; b) baroque as a type of artistic creation that manifested itself in different historical periods.
Baroque as a style took shape in Russia in the second half of the 17th century, and served the emerging enlightened absolutism. In its social essence, the Baroque style was an aristocratic phenomenon opposed to democratic literature. Since the transition to the Baroque in Russian literature is carried out not from the Renaissance, as in the West, but directly from the Middle Ages, this style was devoid of mystical-pessimistic sentiments and was of an educational nature; its formation proceeded through the secularization of culture, that is, its liberation from the tutelage of the church.
The writers of the Russian baroque, however, did not completely reject religious views, but presented the world in a complicated way, considered it mysteriously unknowable, although they established cause-and-effect relationships of external phenomena. Departing from the old medieval religious symbolism, they gazed intently at the affairs of the world, living life earthly man and put forward the requirements of a "reasonable" approach to reality, despite the recognition of the idea of fate and the will of God in combination with didacticism. Fiction, a system of allegories and symbols, as well as a complex, sometimes sophisticated structure of works were built on this system of views.
The Baroque style in Russian literature of the late 17th - early 18th centuries paved the way for the emergence of Russian classicism. He received the most vivid embodiment in the style of verse poetry, court and school drama.
Formation and development of Russian book poetry. One of important factors history of Russian literature of the 17th century. was the emergence and development of book poetry. The question of its origins, the causes of its occurrence, has occupied and continues to occupy many researchers. Back in the last century, there were two opposite points of view. A. Sobolevsky believed that syllabic verses - verses (from Latin versus - verse) arose under the influence of Ukrainian and Polish poetry. LN Maikop argued that "the first experiments of rhymed verses appeared, so to speak, by themselves and, in any case, not as an imitation of Western European syllabic verses with rhymes."
A significant contribution to the study of the initial stage in the development of Russian poetry was made by Soviet researchers A.V. Pozdneev, L.I. Timofeev, and A.M. Panchenko.
The emergence of book poetry dates back to the first third of the 17th century. and is associated with the strengthening of the role of cities in the cultural life of the country and the desire of the advanced strata of Russian society to master the achievements of European culture, as well as, according to A. M. Panchenko, the weakening of the role of folklore. Russian speech verse is based, on the one hand, on the recitation verse of buffoons, and on the other, it uses the experience of Ukrainian-Polish syllabic poetry.
During the period of the struggle of the Russian people with the Polish intervention, in connection with the strengthening of the emotional and journalistic element in literature, the first attempts to give samples of poetic speech appeared. In "The Tale" by Avraamy Palitsyn we often find the rhymed organization of the narrative speech. The Chronicle Book, attributed to Katyrev-Rostovsky, ends with rhymed verses. As L. I. Timofeev notes, the verse in these works is entirely based on the means of speech expressiveness and does not refer to any elements of musicality. However, the verbal structure of the verse gave some opportunity to convey the inner state of a person, his individual experiences. The verse was not yet rhythmically ordered: the number of syllables in a line changed freely, no attention was paid to the alternation of stress, the rhyme was used mainly verb, masculine, feminine, dactylic and hyperdactylic. These so-called presyllabic verses are starting to gain in popularity.
However, along with pre-syllabic verses, already in the first third of the 17th century. syllabic verses appear. They are approved mainly in the genre of the message. So, in 1622, Prince S. I. Shakhovskoy "The message to a certain friend is extremely useful about the divine writings" ends with 36 rhymed uneven lines.
Pop Ivan Nasedka ends the polemical treatise "Presentation on the Luthor" with syllabic verses. "Many are reproachful," the accusations are written in verses by Prince I. A. Khvorostinin. At the end of his life, he creates a polemic poetic treatise directed against heretics - "The foreword is set forth in a two-line agreement, the verse by letter" in 1000 lines of poetry.
In the first half of the 17th century. collections of epistles written in syllabic verse appear. One of these collections includes poems by the "directors" of the Printing House with a fairly diverse theme. Syllabic book songs were created in the early 50s of the 17th century. by the poets of the Nikon school. Among these poets, Herman stands out, who showed particular virtuosity in developing an acrostic, which can be read from right to left and vice versa, from bottom to top and from top to bottom. Syllabic verses are beginning to be used in descriptions of coats of arms, in the Tsar's Titular Book of 1672, in inscriptions on icons, and in popular prints.
An important role in the development of syllabic poetry was played by the work of Simeon Polotsky and his students Sylvester Medvedev and Karion Istomin.
Simeon Polotsky(1629-1680). A Belarusian by nationality, Simeon Polotsky received a broad education at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Having accepted monasticism in 1656, he became a teacher of the "brotherly school" in his native Polotsk. In 1661 the city was temporarily occupied by Polish troops. Polotsky in 1664 moved to Moscow. Here he taught the clerks of the secret affairs order in Latin, for which a special school was created at the Spassky Monastery. In 1667, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich entrusted Simeon of Polotsk with the upbringing of his children - first Alexei, and then Fedor.
Polotsky takes an active part in the fight against the Old Believers. At a church council in 1666, he presented the theological treatise "The Rod of Government", where he polemicized with the "petition" of Priest Nikita and Priest Lazarus. At the personal request of the king, he travels three times to exhort Avvakum.
Simeon Polotsky devoted his activities to the struggle for the spread of education. He actively participates in the debates between the supporters of Greek and Latin education, taking the side of the latter, since the defenders of the Greek education system sought to subordinate the development of education to the control of the church. Polotsky believed that the main role in the development of education belongs to the school, and, turning to the tsar, urged him to build schools and "Acquire" teachers. He is developing a project to create the first higher education institution in Russia educational institution- academies. Shortly before his death, he wrote a draft charter of the future academy. In it, Simeon of Polotsk provided for a very broad study of sciences - both civil and spiritual.
Polotsk attached great importance to the development of printing: "Nothing broadens fame like a seal," - he wrote. On his initiative and personal petition to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich in 1678, the "Upper" printing house was opened in the Kremlin.
One of the favorite activities of Simeon Polotsky was "Rhyming" that is, poetic literary activity, which attracted the attention of many literary historians.
The beginning of the literary activity of Simeon of Polotsk dates back to the time of his stay at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. In Polotsk, he writes poetry in Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, revealing an outstanding poetic talent: he creates elegies, a satirical poem directed against the Swedish king Gustav-Adolphus, epigrams (in their ancient meaning). Arriving in Moscow, Polotsky writes poetry only in Russian. Here his poetic creativity reaches its peak. As his student Sylvester Medvedev notes, Polotsky "For every day, having a pledge of writing at half a ten and half a notebook, and his writing is very small and ugly."
Polotsky's syllabic verse was formed under the direct influence of Ukrainian and Polish verse. However, the possibility of using eleven and thirteen-syllabic syllabic verses with obligatory paired female rhyme in Russian versification was prepared by the long historical development of expressive means organically inherent in the Russian book language. The syllabic verse of Simeon Polotsky was closely related to that refined book "Slovenian", which they deliberately opposed to the spoken language.
Polotskiy attached great educational and educational value to his poetic works. Polotsky saw the high vocation of the poet in the ability to attract "Rumors and hearts" people. The powerful weapon of poetry, he believed, should be used to spread education, secular culture, and correct moral concepts. In addition, verses should serve as a model for all writing in "Slovenia is the language of the book."
Simeon of Polotsk acts as the first court poet, the creator of panegyric solemn verses, which were the prototype of a laudatory ode.
In the center of the panegyric verses is the image of the ideal enlightened autocrat. He is the personification and symbol of the Russian state, the living embodiment of its political power and glory. He must devote his life to the good of the state, the good of his subjects, to take care of them "Civilian demand" and their enlightenment, he is strict and gracious and at the same time an exact executor of existing laws.
S. Polotsky's panegyric verses are "in the nature of a complex verbal and architectural structure - a verbal show." Such are, for example, the panegyric verses "Russian Eagle". Against the background of the starry sky, the sun, moving along the zodiac, shines brightly with its forty-eight rays; the virtues of Tsar Alexei are inscribed in each of its rays. Against the background of the sun - a crowned two-headed eagle with a scepter and a power in its claws. The text of the eulogy itself is written in the form of a pillar - a column resting on the basis of a prosaic text.
As noted by I.P. Eremin, the poet collected things for his verses mostly rare, "curiosities", but saw in them only a "sign" "Hieroglyphics" truth. He constantly translates concrete images into the language of abstract concepts, logical abstractions. This rethinking is the basis of S. Polotsky's metaphors, fanciful allegories, chimeric assimilation.
In his panegyric verses, S. Polotsky introduces the names of ancient gods and heroes: "Foyer(Phoebus) golden "," golden-haired Kinfey "," bosom of Dievo "(Zeus), "Dieva Bird"(Eagle). They are directly adjacent to the images of Christian mythology and play the role of pure poetic convention, being a means of creating hyperbole. S. Polotsky cultivates figured poetry in the form of a heart, a star, a labyrinth.
Features of S. Polotskiy's style are a typical manifestation of literary baroque 2. All panegyric verses (800 poems), poems on various occasions of court life were combined by S. Polotsky into a collection, which he called "Rithmologion" (1679-1680).
Along with panegyric verses, S. Polotsky wrote verses on a wide variety of topics. 2957 verses of various genres ("likeness", "images", "sayings", "interpretation", "epitaph", "images of signing", "stories", "exhortations", "denunciations") he combined in the collection "Vertograd (garden ) multicolor "(1677-1678). The poet gave this collection the character of an encyclopedic poetic reference book: verses are arranged by topic in alphabetical order titles. All works of both secular and religious themes are moral in nature. The poet considers himself the bearer and custodian of the highest religious and moral values and seeks to instill them in the reader.
In verses, S. Polotsky raises moral questions, trying to give generalized images "Virgins"("Virgo"), "Widows"("Widowhood"), deals with marriage issues, dignity, honor etc. So, in the poem "Citizenship" S. Polotsky speaks of the need for every person, including the ruler, to strictly observe the established laws. The poet considers labor to be the basis of society, and the first duty of a person is to work for the good of society. For the first time, the poet outlined a theme that will occupy a prominent place in Russian classicist literature - the theme of opposing an ideal ruler, an enlightened monarch to a tyrant, cruel, headstrong, unmerciful and unjust.
The philosophical question of the meaning of life is raised by S. Polotsky in his poem "Dignity". The poet sees true bliss not in the pursuit of honors, ranks, nobility, but in the ability of a person to do what he loves.
An important section of the poetry of S. Polotskiy is satire - "exposure". Most of his satirical works are of a generalized moralistic, abstract nature. Such, for example, are the denunciations of the "Ignorant" directed against the ignorant in general; "Sorcery" exposing "Women", "whisperers".
The best satirical works of S. Polotsky are his poems "Merchants" and "Monk".
In the satire "Merchant" the poet lists eight mortals "Sins of the rank of a merchant." These "sins" - deception, lies, false oaths, theft, extortion - reflect the real social practice of the merchants. However, the poem lacks a specific satirical image. The poet confines himself to a simple statement of sins in order to conclude with a moral admonition "The sons of tma fierce to put aside the affairs of tma", to avoid future hellish torments.
The satire "Monk" is based on the opposition of ideal and reality: at the beginning, the poet talks about what a real monk should be, and then proceeds to denunciation.
But alas, atrocities! The good rank will perish.
Monasticism is transformed into disgrace in many.
Satirical sketches of drunkenness, gluttony, moral licentiousness of monks are given quite vividly:
Not only laymen work in the womb,
Eliko the monks give drink, nourish.
Having chosen a Lenten life of the Leader.
You strive for that, in order to eat, drink ...
The buoys swear badly from the wine,
Bark, slander, shame and honest boldly ...
There are predators in the clothes of sheep,
The womb is working, the spirit perishes.
S. Polotsky is in a hurry to emphasize that his satire is not about all monks, but only about "Outrageous" whom he denounces "Crying". The purpose of his satire is moralizing and didactic - to contribute to the correction of morals, and in conclusion the poet turns to "Outrageous" monks with a call to stop "Do this evil."
This moralistic didactics, the desire to correct the vices of society and thereby strengthen its foundations, distinguishes S. Polotsky's noble-educational satire from the democratic satirical story, where the exposure is socially acute, more specific.
Of the poetic works of S. Polotsky, it should be noted the rhymed transposition of the Psalter in 1678, published in 1680. The rhymed Psalter, set to music by the vocal clerk Vasily Titov (he laid the foundations of chamber vocal music), was very popular. From this book, MV Lomonosov got acquainted with Russian syllabic poetry.
Thus, the work of S. Polotsky developed in line with the panegyric and didactic poetry of the Baroque with its generalization and polysemy of symbolism, allegories, contrast and hyperbolism, didactic moralizing. The language of S. Polotsky's poetry is purely bookish, emphasizing the difference between poetry and prose.
S. Polotsky uses rhetorical questions, exclamations, inverse phrases. Closely connected with the traditions of the archaic book language, Semeon Polotsky paves the way for the development of future classicist poetry.
Sylvester Medvedev(1641-1691). The poets Sylvester Medvedev and Karion Istomin were the students and followers of Simeon of Polotsk. “A man of great intelligence and scientific acuity,” as his contemporaries characterized him, the “editor” (editor) of the Printing House, Sylvester Medvedev appeared as a poet only after the death of his teacher. He penned "Epitaphion" to Simeon of Polotsk and panegyric poems dedicated to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich ("Wedding Greetings" and "Crying and Consolation" on the occasion of Fyodor's death) and Princess Sophia ("Signature to the portrait of Princess Sophia"), which the poet actively supported, for which he was executed by order of Peter.
In Epitaphion, Sylvester Medvedev glorifies merit " the teacher is nice» , one who cares about the good of his neighbor. Medvedev lists the works of Simeon Polotsky.
In defense of the church, the Rod created the book,
For her benefit, the Crown and Dinner have been published.
Supper, Psalter, verses with rhyming words,
Multicolor vertograd with Conversation.
All these books are wise, he created a husband,
In teaching the genus of the Russian manifest.
As a poet, Medvedev has little originality. He borrowed a lot from the panegyric poems of his teacher, but, unlike Simeon of Polotsk, he avoided using allegorical and mythological images in his verses.
Karion Istomin (? - 1717). A more talented and prolific student of Simeon of Polotsk was Karion Istomin. He began his poetry in 1681 with welcoming panegyric verses to Princess Sophia. Glorifying in " I will honor the good virgin ", the poet talks about the meaning of Wisdom (Sophia in translation from Greek means "wisdom") in government and in the life of people.
Like S. Polotsky, K. Istomin uses poetry as a means of struggle for enlightenment. In 1682 he turned to Princess Sophia with a collection of poems (16 poems), in which he asked her to found an educational institution in Moscow for teaching free sciences: pedagogical, historical and didactic.
The poet gives a number of instructions to 11-year-old Peter in the book "Enlightenment" (1683). True, these instructions come from the name of God:
Study now, study diligently,
In your youth, the king is wise enlightened,
Sing before me, your God, boldly
Showed judgment and truth, a civil case.
The book "Polis" was written in verses, which gave a description of the twelve sciences. K. Istomin often creates acrostics (poems in which whole words or phrases are formed from the initial letters of lines), and also uses verses for pedagogical purposes: for teaching Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, in 1694 he compiled "Small Primer", and in 1696 . "Big primer", where each letter is supplied with a small didactic poem.
Thanks to the activities of S. Polotskiy and his closest students, the syllabic verse begins to be widely used in literature. A new poetic genus is emerging - lyrics, the appearance of which is a vivid evidence of the beginning of personality differentiation. The principles of syllabic versification, developed in the second half of the 17th century, were further developed in the works of the syllabic poets of the first third of the 18th century: Peter Buslaev, Feofan Prokopovich.
However, the syllabic verse did not completely supplant the pre-syllabic verse, which even survived it and was fixed in the later verse of heaven, while the syllabic was replaced by the syllabic-tonic system of Russian versification, developed by V.K. Trediakovsky and M.V. Lomonosov.
(informal literary association for the study of poetic language - approx. I.L. Vikentiev) believes that there are no poets and writers - there is poetry and literature.Everything that the poet writes is significant as a part of his work in a common cause - and absolutely invaluable as a revelation of his "I".
If a poetic work can be understood as a "human document", as an entry from a diary, it is interesting to the author, his wife, relatives, acquaintances and maniacs like those who are passionately looking for an answer to "Did Pushkin smoke?" - to nobody else.
The poet is a master of his craft. Only. But to be a good master, you need to know the needs of those for whom you work, you have to live one life with them. Otherwise, the work will not work, it will not come in handy.
The social role of the poet cannot be understood from an analysis of his individual qualities and skills. It is necessary to massively study the techniques of the poetic craft, their differences from related areas of human labor, the laws of their historical development. Pushkin is not the creator of the school, but only its head. Do not be Pushkin, "Eugene Onegin" would have been written anyway. America would be open without Columbus.
We have no history of literature. There is a history of "generals" from literature. "OPOYAZ" will give the opportunity to write this story.
A poet is a master of words, a speechmaker, serving his class, his social group. What to write about - the consumer prompts him. Poets do not invent themes, they take them from the environment.
The work of the poet begins with processing the topic, with finding the appropriate verbal form for it. To study poetry is to study the laws of this verbal processing. The history of poetry is the history of the development of methods of verbal design.
Why poets took these, and not other topics, is explained by their belonging to one or another social group, and has nothing to do with their poetic work. This is important for the poet's biography, but the history of poetry is not a book of "lives", it should not be.
Why did the poets use these, and not other methods, in processing the themes, what caused the emergence of a new method, how the old one dies off - this is subject to the most thorough study of scientific poetics.
"OPOYAZ" he separates his work from the work of related scientific disciplines not in order to get away "from this world", but in order to raise and expand a number of the most pressing problems of human literary activity in all its purity.
"OPOYAZ" studies the laws of poetic production. Who dares to interfere with this?
What does OPOYAZ give to proletarian culture-building?
1. A scientific system instead of a chaotic accumulation of facts and personal opinions.
2. Social rate creative personalities instead of an idolatrous interpretation of the "language of the gods."
3. Knowledge of the laws of production instead of "mystical" penetration into the "secrets" of creativity. "OPOYAZ" the best educator of literary proletarian youth.
The Flyby poets are still sick with the thirst for "self-expression". They break away from their class every minute. They don't want to be just fly-by poets. They are looking for "cosmic", "planetary" or "deeper" topics. It seems to them that thematically the poet must jump out of his midst - that only then will he reveal himself and create - the "eternal".
Brick O.M., T.N. "Formal method", magazine "Lef", 1923, N 1.
Stepan Petrovich SHEVYREV (1806 - 1864)
HISTORY OF POETRY
READING SIXTH
The inner character of the Indian epic. - Outward character: lack of unity. - Shape: Sloka. - The way of reading poems among the Indians. - The third period of Indian poetry. - Lyre and drama. - Gita-Govinda, Dyayadevs. - Cloud messenger, Kalidasa. - Nataki - Indian dramas. - Correspondence of periods of Indian poetry to periods of Indian life. - The fourth period. - Puranas. - Gitopades. - Content. - Remarks. - About the beginning of the fable in the East. - Shakuntala - Contents.
We stopped at the second period of Indian poetry and the actual characterization of the Indian epic.
The Ramayana and Magabarata, two great poems, belonging to the second period of Indian poetry, define the character of the Indian epic and, in some respects, all Indian poetry.
The first feature of the inner character of this epic is that it is not satisfied with the representation of a simple natural and human world. In this respect, he is the exact opposite of the Greek epic. All the heroes of the Indian epic are gods, embodied in humans or even in animals, such as, for example, the leader of the monkeys, Hanuman, Rama's ally, Jamventus, the chief of bears, Garud, the king of eagles. Ordinary people participating in the Indian epic are always elevated to the level of the highest sages, the so-called Rishis and Munis, who, through hermitic life, the study of the Vedas, continuous contemplation, become even higher than the Virgins, higher than the gods. - In the Greek epic, on the contrary, the main characters are people, and the gods are side persons, machines driving the action. But the gods themselves descend to people and are revived by their passions. Thus, the Greek epic can be called human in comparison with the panfeistic epic of India, where everything is a deity. But as the human is elevated in him to the level of the divine, so everything natural passes into the super-natural. Take, for example, at the beginning of the Ramayana poem the description of the capital of the King of Soul-Ruta and the golden age that was during his reign. The king lives for 9000 years. None of the inhabitants of a happy city live less than 1000 years. Everyone sees their numerous offspring. The heads of palaces and temples are equal to the tops of the mountains. Rama's bow cracked in the hero's hands, and the crackle was like the crash of a fallen cliff. How colossal and exaggerated it all is!
Thus, the inorganic, dead nature, passing into the world of Indian poetry, increases all its dimensions to a gigantic one; plants and animals are filled with a human and divine soul; man is deified through the incarnation of the gods and the exaltation of people. So, the Indian fantasy is magnifying glass, directed equally to the material and spiritual worlds. I have already shown how this poetic view of the Indians flowed from their religion.
And so, the ideal of the Indian epic lies in the super-natural, in the super-human, in the exaggerated. The ideal of the Greek epic, on the contrary, everything obeys the laws of a harmonious nature. That is why Indian deities cannot be for us the ideals of bodily beauty, like Greek deities. The blue color of Vishnu, the red color of Krishna, these gods are many-armed, many-legged, completely contradict our concepts of human beauty. Therefore, the Indian epic surprises, amazes us, but cannot arouse human sympathy in us, like the Greek epic. The Indian poets felt it themselves and sometimes wished, according to an involuntary poetic feeling, to bring their gods closer to people. For example, it was difficult for them to reconcile the wisdom of the gods, penetrating the secrets of the future, with the limited knowledge of mortals: they invented the cloud of Maya for that, which forever hangs in front of the eyes of people and incarnate gods and obscures the future from them. But both mortal and incarnate gods can, however, sometimes remove this cloud from themselves.
The elimination of naturalness gives the Indian epic the character of an oriental fairy tale. It does not have any historical element in itself, like the Greek epic. That is why he could never create stories. Indian Literature is completely alienated from it.
The second distinguishing feature in the internal character of the Indian epic is that it is an epic of the priestly caste. Its main subject is religious, and the whole circle of poetry is performed in religious ideas and images. All incidents are designed to glorify the Brahmin caste. Everywhere it is shown how the kings respect them; how carefully they are treated; how they value their prayers and fear their curses, from which the earth trembles. The people, as one passage from Magabarata says, was then full of power of attorney to their venerable Brahmins. Nobody gave them less than a thousand rupees. In all likelihood, both of these poems must refer to the time when the caste of priests was at the highest degree of glory and even when it prevailed over the caste of warriors. - In the Greek epic we again see the opposite. Here, on the contrary, it is clear from everything that the priests were inferior to the warrior caste, because they are oppressed by the warriors, as we see at the very beginning of the Iliad.
Thurs; concerns the external character of the Indian epic, then, judging by the many episodes included in it and not at all related to the main content, one cannot but recognize the same rhapsodic character of these poems, which, according to the best critics and philologists, distinguishes the Iliad and the Odyssey. The composition of the Ramayana is attributed to the poet Valmiki; composition of Magabarata - Vyase. But the rhapsodic character of the poems leads involuntarily to the assumption that they, like the Iliad and the Odyssey, were not composed by one person. Guerin allows episodic insertions into these poems, especially because all their songs were written on palm leaves, sometimes not intertwined, but nevertheless finds poetic unity in both poems and considers one person to be the main author of each, as in the Homer's poems. However, one cannot but agree that Guerin's judgments in this case are too bold, because, knowing both poems only from some translated passages and summary, nothing can be concluded about their poetic unity. Moreover, the content is hardly true, because Guerin tells the end of the Ramayana in a completely different way from Langle. Bopp, the most learned scholar of Sanskrit Literature in Germany, says that Magabarata is a mythological, philosophical, poetic and historical encyclopedia. What poetic unity can there be? Even from the content of the Ramayana that Geren attached himself, one can see that there is no single thread in the incident. The hero Rama, summoned by Vishva-Mitroy to take revenge on the Prince of evil spirits, is distracted from his enterprise by a wedding, then a return to his father, exile, etc., so that it is hardly possible to conclude with fidelity that the main subject of the poem is the only victory of Rama over Ravuno.
The Indian versification form, the most ancient and simple, is Sloka - a couplet consisting of two sixteen-syllable verses with a caesura after the eighth syllable. The invention of size is credited to the poet Valmiki. And the epic, and the laws of Manu, and a part of the Veda, but the later ones, were written by the Indians in this form. The Indian sizes, like the Greek ones, are based, according to the testimony of August Schlegel, on combining long with short. Therefore, he finds a great relationship between the Indian Sloka and the Greek hexameter. It should be noted, however, that Sloka is a couplet that contains full meaning, rounded both internally and externally. - Hexameter has a free, fluid expression. Sloka is a more closed form, like a proverb or a saying, or better a Hebrew parable. Here the expression takes on some special significance. It is constrained by both internal meaning and external form. In a word, it shows the same symbolic-religious character in form, which we find in the spirit of Indian poetry. The Indian way of reading these enormous epic poems is quite remarkable. In certain months of the year, in the number of 4 or 5 thousand, they gather under the tent of some rich man every day to listen to these poems. Before reading, worshiping the book, everyone says: "Book, be the goddess of learning for me, grant me knowledge!" - Then they offer flowers and rice as a sacrifice to the author and hero of the poem. They sit down on castes and listen. Such meetings continue for several months in a row. Magabarata is recited for four months.
This religious ceremony shows what a sacred respect Indians have for their poetry, and that they seek in it not only pleasure, but also religious teachings.
The third period of Indian poetry is the most flourishing period, the period of King Vikramaditya, the patron saint of poets and scientists, who died 56 years BC. At his court, nine poets or nine pearls, as they were called then, shone, of which Dyayadeva, the author of the Gita-Govinda, and especially Kalidasa, the creator of Sakuntala, Brahmin and great sage... He, at the behest of the tsarev, collected, put in order and cleansed both great folk epics.
But poetry itself in this period took on a lyrical and dramatic character. I put these two gentes together because in Indian poetry there is no strict distinction between them, since there is no such distinction between epic and didactic poetry - and in general, the genders of poetry in the East are not separated by such sharp lines as they are divided in Greece.
The lyrics of this period must be distinguished from that religious, strict, deeply significant lyricism of the Vedas, with which Indian poetry began. In the period of poetry, not exclusively priestly, but royal, court, the Lyric did not exalt their songs to one heavenly world, but, on the contrary, brought them down to earth; began to glorify war, victories, but even more love, this peaceful feeling, to which the subjects of the powerful king Vikramaditya could indulge in fullness. The lyrics in this luxurious century have gone from a solemn hymn to a voluptuous erotic song and to a sensitive love elegy. We see an example of both in the Gita-Govinda of the Dyayadeva and in the elegiac chant of Kalidasa "The Herald of the Cloud." It should be noted, however, that in all these feelings, whatever their earthly origin, one can see the ebb and flow of religious feelings, because in India religion entered into all relationships, into all feelings of human life.
The first of the Indian lyricists is Dyayadeva. His homeland celebrated his birthday with sacrifices, merriments, and represented his pastoral dramas. His exemplary work of this kind is Gita-Govinda. The subject is taken from Magabarata, namely the time when Krishna was still a shepherd and a young man wandered among the cowherd boys and indulged in earthly pleasures. One of the most beautiful of the shepherdesses considers herself forgotten by her lover and pours out in complaints. Her friend becomes a mediator between her and God and returns to her windy pleasure on the bed. This is a series of either elegiac or erotic songs, in which love breathes one sensual pleasure, and bliss sometimes reaches obscenity, judging by our concepts.
Another glorious lyric chant belongs to Kalidasa: this is the Cloud Herald. Only Virgo, who was in the service of the god Kuvera, was expelled by him to some mountain as punishment and separated from his wife. Eight months passed into exile. It's rainy time. Seeing how the clouds rushed from the south to the north, to the Himalayas, to his beloved homeland, where his wife grieves about him, he turns to one cloud, gives him instructions, describes his path, the face of his wife and entrusts him with words of hope for her and consolation.
Indian drama also flourished in the opulent court of King Vikramaditiya. Nataki (as the dramas are called among the Indians) are lower than epic poems, in their opinion. Ones are written not only in Sanskrit, but also in Prakrit, i.e. a dead vernacular, and besides, a living dialect of the rabble, depending on the faces that speak in them. They are also divided into actions, like our dramas, and contain 3, 5, 7 and 10 actions. The Natak items are taken from the epic poems of the Ramayana and Magabarata, so that the Indian drama is the same child of the epic as the Greek. Their subject, like lyric chants, for the most part, is love. We see this from the best works, namely: Vasantasene, whose main person is Bayadera; on the three dramas of Kalidasa, which all represent love and of which the best is Sakuntala; based on the drama of the poet Bawabuti, depicting the love of Malati and Madava.
Judging by this content of lyric chants and dramas belonging to the third period of Indian Literature, we see that the love, sensual element then began to prevail in poetry over religious contemplation. How many Vedas are instructive, important, monotonous, - so many Nataks and lyric poems of Indians are full of love, voluptuous, luxurious and carry us into the bliss of this rich plant world of India. Poets, however, borrow their ideals from the sublime epic, as from a common source of Indian poetry, but mainly from its earthly element, from the love affairs of the gods on earth.
Probably, the development of Indian life corresponded to this direction of poetry. India has no history, but poetry replaces it for us: it is always a clear evidence of life in the absence of chronicles, and if it does not mean years, numbers and names, then even more correctly than a chronicle it means the spirit of the times. The Vedic period is the period of the exclusive dominion of the Brahmins over all castes. Then, it seems, all of India was a huge desert, a dwelling of hermits who took control of all mankind, kept and educated him in the forests, and all these forests of India were announced with solemn hymns of the Vedas or the silences of religious contemplation were filled, from which then Upanishads - deep sayings of wisdom.
In the second period of the life of the Indian Brahmins came out of the forests, yielded somewhat to their own, human impulses and the will of the people. The Raiev caste - Princes fought with them, but they defeated it. Then natural religion passed into folk mythology. Abstract contemplation took on the character of poetic living incarnations. The abstract gods of nature were embodied in the faces of people and animals. The invisible religion became visible, tangible and went out of the forests to the people. But all the same, the Brahmins still ruled over the castes.
Finally, in the third period, by all indications, it is noticeable that the Brahmin caste gave way to the Kshatriya warrior caste. The magnificent and magnificent king Vikramaditiya, Augustus of India, almost modern to Roman, gives the name to this period. The focal point of Indian life is his splendid courtyard. Brahmins serve with him in the rank of poets. In Shakuntala, here and the King's attendant there is a Brahmin together. It is wonderful that such a person; not in the episode of Magabarata, where the plot is drawn from. As in the epic one can see everywhere the glorification of the Brahmin caste, so in the Indian Drama, on the contrary, the glorification of the warrior caste and especially the kings. This is already a court drama, a flattering drama of Louis XIV, and the author of this drama is Brahmin. Of course, he does not forget the rights and benefits of his caste and, where possible, reminds of the importance of the Brahmins; but all poetic praise goes to the king. By all this, it is obvious that the Kshatriya caste, or warriors, took a decisive preponderance over the Brahmin caste in the third period of Indian life or poetry. At the same time, of course, all the elements of secular life had to prevail over the spiritual elements; love and sensuality have replaced religious contemplation; the lush life of the Court distracted the hunt from the forest retreats; a religious hymn, or an instructive epic, was replaced at court by a sensual, obvious drama.
So periods of Indian poetry mean periods of life. At first, this poetry appeared to us in the form of a strict, desolate, wise Brahmin, who wanders through the thick thicket of impenetrable forests, lifts his eyes to the starry sky, whispers a profound hymn or the mystical word Om, (according to others, Mind), which contains the talisman of supreme bliss, and all immersed in the endless contemplation of Brahma. Then, at the end of his career, this same poetry appears to us in the form of a brilliant, fragrant Bayadera; adorned with lotus flowers, she gently and luxuriously rests on the magnificently decorated bed of the East in the magnificent royal palaces and excites all our senses with her charms. The same Brahmins of the forests serve her and fill the air that surrounds the sensual virgin with the most fragrant incense of India.
Thus, both elements of the Indian life, about which I spoke to you last time, religious contemplation and sensual pleasure, put their stamp on both extreme periods of Indian poetry - and life was expressed here, as it is expressed everywhere in it.
Between these two extremes, in the happy middle, rises a colossal Indian epic, representing the balance of both elements: - on the one hand, thoughtful, significant, instructive, full of religious contemplation and teachings, like the Vedas; on the other hand, luxurious, rich in wonderful carnal images, scattered in tales of love and pleasures, full of feasts and miracles, fragrant comparisons, all the bliss of the East. These are Brahmin and Bayadera, who, by some miraculous combination, merged into one soul, into one body.
There was also the fourth period of Indian poetry, a period, unfortunately, inevitable in any flowering, this is the autumn of poetic life, a period of decline, decline, collection, learning, pedantry, sophistication of expression. Guerin dates this period to the times of our Middle Ages. And there were poets in him; there were, it is said, also their nine pearls; but these are the Pleiades of Alexandria. Indeed, this period of Indian poetry bears great resemblance to the period of the Alexandrian school. Poetry took in him a predominantly didactic direction, which was seen in it before, but in the Vedas and in the epic it had a more religious character. Poetry from an enthusiastic and contemplative Brahmin became a learned explorer, Pandita. All these mythological collections, or Puranas, of which there are 18, belong to this period. They occupy the middle between the epic and the instructive poem and, in their meaning, are very similar to the mythological poems of the Alexandrian school. They serve as the primary source for information about Indian mythology. Of these, only one Purana was translated by August Schlegel, namely: Bagavat Purana.
The same later period includes a work that also has a didactic character and is very important in relation to European poetry, because it explains the origin of the fable, or apologue in our Europe. This is the Gitopadesa, which means healer or physician-friend, a moralizing book offered in fables for the benefit of one prince. This collection was translated into Persian, Arabic, Turkish, French and then into all European languages, but translated in a distorted form.
From Gitopades, an allegorical name, they made the name Bidpai or Pilpai, which we have in almost all piitiks together with Aesop, Phaedrus, Lafontaine, Chemnitser, Krylov, and so on. Jones rendered the Sanskrit script correctly translated. Guided by his translation, I will focus your attention on this wonderful work.
It begins with a prayer to the god Ganesa, the patron saint of science, and praise for knowledge. All of it is divided into four books, of which the first contains the doctrine of making friends; the second is about breaking up friendship; the third is about the war; the fourth is about the world. This is a course in moralizing, community life, politics and diplomas, set out in the form of fables for this particular occasion. In some very tricky city, the king of Sudersan lived and he lamented that his sons were ignorant. There are three troubles in life, he thought. - Children are not born, children die, children are ignorant; of these three troubles, the last one is more terrible, because it goes on continuously. One valiant son is a blessing, not a hundred fools: one month dispels darkness, not a thousand stars. " So the king thought and, having summoned all the sages of his state, entrusted one of them, Vshinusarman, with raising his children, and this sage expounds to them the system of moral teaching that I have mentioned in the form of fables mixed with moral rules written out, probably from the sacred books of Indian ...
The morality of making friends is presented in the form of a long fable, which has one connection in the continuation of an entire book and is confused with other false fables. It tells how a rat, a rat, a turtle and an antelope entered into a friendly alliance with each other, lived together and saved each other from troubles, and saved the turtle from certain death.
The second book on the breaking of friendship is especially remarkable for its fable, which has a dramatic interest and differs in character. In a certain forest, a lion of the wise name reigned: one day he wanted to drink - and he went to the lake. Suddenly there was a terrible roar; the lion stopped, felt intimidated and, in spite of his thirst, returned to the royal chambers. Two court jackals, the sons of his minister, saw this and began to talk about why the king of the forest would return without getting drunk? One of them, bolder and more cunning, decided to ask the lion about it. Leo replied that, judging by the noise he heard, he assumes a great danger in the vicinity of his state and promises the jackal and his brother great treasures if they turn her away. The sly jackal knew that the noise came from the bull; but out of his species he decided to support the king in the opinion that the danger was great, and promised him his services. Together with his brother, the cunning man went to the bull and, frightening him that the lion wanted to drive him out of his kingdom, made the bull go to the lion with a bow. The danger was averted; the bull was first received by the lion affectionately; then he entered into such mercy that he became the first minister. The jackal is forgotten, the jackal is indignant and decides to make a quarrel between the bull and the lion. He instills suspicion against the bull in Leo in that this one is supposedly proud and wants to steal his throne. The sly man invites the lion to test the bull with a strict method. He also annoys the bull, having told him about the lion's anger, and advises him to act himself and stick the lion with his horns. A vicious meeting and battle takes place between them. Leo wins, but afterwards he regrets very much about his good late minister.
There is a lot of drama in this fable. The character of the jackal, a cunning and cunning courtier, is portrayed beautifully. His scenes with a lion and a bull, when he arms them against each other, if only animals are translated into the names of people, can be taken into any drama.
The third book on war presents the war between the kingdom of the geese and the kingdom of the peacocks. The king of peacocks declares war on the king of geese through a very eloquent messenger-parrot. Geese are building a fortress on the island. They are cheated on by a kite, their ally. They are defeated. It contains all the rules of the Indian war, the distribution of troops, military movements, the structure of fortresses, rituals of declaring war. The fourth book about peace is a continuation of the same fable, where it is told how both kings and kingdoms made peace with each other, and all the ways of making peace are calculated.
From this summary, we can see the nature of the Indian fable. Guerin says that the character of Indian poetry is generally super-human and that even animals in it are deified, are higher beings. We see the opposite in the fable. Here the animals all take on human characters, and it should be noted that they remain true, for the most part, to these characters, not only in the continuation of one fable, but also in others. It should also be noted that in the distribution of these characters, the natural property of animals is taken into account. So ex. the rat is careful; the antelope is light, cunning and skillfully pretending; crows are trusting, capable of friendship, a parrot is an eloquent talker; jackals are always greedy, cunning and cunning; the lion is generous, noble, trusting; the bull is kind and simple. - Everywhere, animal power is distinguished by generosity and simplicity; weakness, on the contrary, is cunning and deceit. In the fable about the lion, the bull and the jackal, we see the whole life of the court, painted with deep features. It is clear that this is a story under the names of beasts, a satire written by an intelligent, observant courtier. In a word, in all these fables the human world is personified for us, the world of our passions and weaknesses under the guise of an animal. It is true that all these animals, telling each other fables, are incessantly philosophizing, recalling parables and legends from the Vedas and others. scriptures India. But they themselves do not become more divine from this, but act like people.
It is highly probable that the Indian fable had its origins in the Indian teaching on the transmigration of souls. The Indians ascribed to animals the human soul, the same characters and passions, the same world of actions. This can be seen even in the Indian epic, where animals are brought out, in which human souls are imprisoned, correcting the time of temptation for some sins in their past life. Such are the eagle Garuda and the crow of Bushanda: the latter was once a Brahmin and, due to the curse of a saint, fell into the body of a raven.
Thus, this fable, which came to us from the East and became a lie, fiction, allegory in our cradle in the East, had a basis for the concept of a true, non-fictional, a sincere concept, associated with the fundamental way of thinking of the Indians, with their view of animal nature. ... - Therefore, the origin of the fable must be very ancient and almost modern to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. Based on this, one can rightly put it among the original genera of human poetry - and it is not for nothing that they put it at the very beginning, in some European poetics, as a ruin from the East, as an echo of the Indian world, which has received a different meaning in our country. Subsequently, in the East, she took on a courtly, allegorical character, Thu; noticeable in the Gitopades; but nevertheless, a poetic feeling was combined in her with one of the strong beliefs of life - with the idea of the transmigration of souls. If in the sages of India it also weakened later, then, surely, it was fresh among the people and was necessary part of the first upbringing of children. It is wonderful that the Gitopades is written for children. So the fable, this false fable, came out of life; so any kind of poetry, if we search for the first sources, will always find its beginning in faith, in feeling, in an event, in a word, in the life of the people. And the fable, the source of which we have searched for, justifies the view on poetry that I presented to you in the guide to our historical studies.
We conclude our brief survey of Indian poetry with a look at the pearl of the Indian drama, on Sakuntala, which, like a rare color of India, was transplanted to us in Europe by skillful hands and smells in our greenhouse with all the aromas of the spicy East.
An English theater was opened in Calcutta. One Brahmin was with Jones at the show and told him: "Our Nataks are the same." This is how the dramatic Literature of the Indians was discovered, which in the number of volumes can argue with the richest drama of Europe. Thirty exemplary dramas are lauded by the Indians; but all above, according to the remark of the same Brahmin, Shakuntala. Jones handed it over first; and now it captivates us in a more perfect translation of the French Orientalist Chezy.
The subject of the drama is taken from the poem: Magabarat; but it is very curious to see how the dramatic poet changed an epic event, too simple, too uncomplicated for dramatic presentation; introduced extraneous circumstances and struck up an interest. Time will not allow me to compare an epic episode with a drama. I proceed straight to the presentation.
It begins with the prayer of a Brahmin entering the stage. This prayer is addressed to Brahma, who appears on earth in eight forms. So a religious hymn, an echo of the divine Vedas, is heard at the beginning of the Indian drama and gives it a religious flavor. The prayer is followed by a short scene between the theater director and the actress, instead of a prologue.
Tsar Kauzik lived in the forest desert and achieved holiness through long temptations. Virgins, spirits, fearing his power, sent Nymph Menaka to him in the desert so that she inclined the hermit to sensual pleasure and aroused from religious contemplation. The nymph had time - and Sakuntala was the fruit of their love. The nymph left her daughter in the cradle of flowers to the mercy of the gods. Birds flew over her and fed her. From their name - Sakunta - she received the name of Sakuntala. The holy hermit and prophet Kanua, passing by, was touched by the sight of a beautiful baby, saw her lot, read the great in it, took her to his solitude and raised her as a daughter.
To his peaceful, desolate refuge, proclaimed by the hymns of the Vedas, to this garden, where among the luxurious flowers of India, like their own sister, but more beautiful than all of them, Sakuntala blooms with her friends, also pets of Kanua, - to this refuge, carried away by wild sulfur King Dushmanta, a famous descendant of the Purus family, drove in from a hunt. Kanua, a hermit, was at that time absent: he went to pray to the gods for the elimination of the calamities that threaten Sakuntala, which, without a father, is obliged to accept wanderers. King Dushmanta got off the chariot; with a trembling foreboding of the heart, he enters the refuge and hides behind the branches of trees. Shakuntala was watering the flowers of her garden with her friends. She loves these flowers like their own sister. A beautiful amra in spring decoration stretches out its branches to her, like tender fingers, and asks for watering. Flowers and trees embrace each other, breathe and live in love. “How wonderful this time of year,” says Sakuntala, “when the trees seem to be intertwined in a loving embrace.” Spring and flowers bring love to her heart. Girlfriends notice this feeling in the speeches of Sakuntala. The Madgawi plant, prophetic for maidens, was covered at the wrong time, before the time, with brilliant flowers: “ Good sign! - say the girlfriends, - a prophetic sign! and our dear liana will soon embrace the color of amroy; and Shakuntala will find a friend. "
How gracefully beautiful is this world of flowers, in which Sakuntala's love blossoms with them! And the answer to her feeling, the answer to the question of her heart, is close; he is right there, in the same gardens. King Dushmanta saw through the branches the chosen one; he is already burning with a flame of passion; he is only waiting for an opportunity to appear.
An evil bee, deceived by Sakuntala's color, stuck to her. The Virgo asks her friends to rid her of the evil insect, - they jokingly say: "Call for help King Dushmantu, the patron saint of the shelter," and King Dushmanta suddenly appears, and the eyes of Sakuntala met his eyes, and she forgot the duty of hospitality, and a gentle liana found my amra. But the king did not open himself to the embarrassed virgins. To their questions, he replied that he was one of the royal dignitaries. He impatiently wants to know whose daughter is Sakuntala: he is tormented by doubt: if she is the daughter of a hermit, then marriage with her is impossible for him according to the law of Brahma. With what joy he learns from his friends the secret of her birth and the fact that she comes from the Kshatriya caste; with what delight he sees that their marriage is possible; that he even agrees with the will of the holy hermit! - But the king's hunt, which overtook him in the footsteps, breaks the silence of solitude; the elephant, running away from the hunters, caught up with fear on the hermits and on the beauties. They are leaving; Sakuntala doesn't want to go; she complains that an insect has bitten her ... Her friends carry her away, and the tsar watches her for a long time; he must go the other way, but his soul strives back, like a banner carried against the wind.
The king stopped with his hunt around the refuge; in vain, those close to him call him to catch new animals; he listens more to his jester, who, like a coward, does not like hunting, but listens even more to his heart; he seeks means to enter the shelter; but it appears to be by itself. Hermits, having learned about the close presence of the king, come themselves to invite him under their roof to drive out evil spirits. The king gives the floor and at the same time receives a messenger from his mother, who calls him to the capital to fast and commemorate his ancestors.
The king, faithful to the given word, sends a jester and his friend to his place in the capital, and he himself goes wherever his heart calls, to the one on which Brahma stopped when, in his thoughts, he planned to create the ideal of female beauty; on which he stopped for the last time, having rubbed the face of the beauty a thousand times over in his head. Someone is assigned this beauty, with its freshness similar to a flower, which has never been smelled; a kidney untouched by a daring nail on the stem; a pure pearl still resting in a shell; fresh honey that no mouth has ever touched?
The evil spirits are driven out by the presence of the king, and poor Shakuntala is sick. She is tormented by the fever of the sultry south - a consequence of a new feeling that has visited her heart. Her friends collect medicinal herbs for her; a young servant of the priest brings her the water consecrated by the sacrifices. And the sovereign lover also suffers with her. He looks for her everywhere, looks for her where flowers are scattered in the garden, where young branches open fresh wounds with milky juice. He notices the freshly printed footprint of her foot on the fine sand of the path. He quietly opened the branches - and she is here with her friends. She is sick, she has lost weight; the cheeks have lost their plumpness and blush; the camp shrank; she is a victim of love: she looks like a weak liana, whose branches were scorched by the sultry sun. Girlfriends take care of the patient; One is asked about the cause of the illness; - Shakuntala pronounced the name of Dushmanta and, without finishing her speech, blushed, fell silent, - and the Tsar saw and heard all this. Girlfriends think for her, by what means to let the king know about this love. One of them invites Sakuntala to write a love letter and takes it herself, putting it in a flower bowl, and presenting it to the king. Shakuntala agreed, thought about it, composes poetry. The Tsar looks at her intently and says: "By the sweet movement of her eyebrow, which quietly clenched, I could count the number of feet of her verse, and this quiet flutter of her cheek reveals her passion to me!" The poems are ready; how to write them? Priamvada undertakes to carve them with his fingernail on a lotus leaf, smooth as the glossy feather of a parrot; he undertakes to preserve even the cut of the verse. But this is no longer necessary; Shakuntala recited the poems out loud - and at the word: "I am all yours!" the lover could not bear it; he appeared; he says: “No, wonderful maiden, your love is one slight heat; but in my heart is all the power of her lights. So the ball of the moon is completely immersed in the scorching rays of the sun, while the delicate color of the lotus slightly feels their touch. " Dushmanta himself assures Sakuntala and her friends of his boundless love for her, and she revived like a young pava, after the heat, in the cool wind. But the clever friends guessed that best friend lovers - solitude. Anusuia immediately noticed in the distance that the little antelope had fallen off and was running there at will. We must catch her. Priamvada also subtly and perceptively noticed that the antelope was too playful, that her friend alone would not catch it, and both fled. And the lovers are alone. Shakuntala calls her friends in vain. She is afraid, she trembles, she wants to leave, she goes; the lover catches her by the clothes; but the gentle voice of her virgin modesty overcomes his first audacity. He retreated; it pours out in complaints; she seemed to be gone, but not gone; she hid in the bushes and hears his magic speeches from there. A lucky chance: her fragrant wrist is left on the beauty's bed, and a lonely lover is happy for him; but she is also a wonderful excuse to return to the same place. She seems to be looking for a bracelet, asks to return it; but the king agrees only on the condition that he himself put it on her hand. They sat down. He touched her hand; slowly puts on the bracelet, as if the buckle is loose. “Look, dear friend,” he says, “looking at your bracelet, won't everyone say that the new moon, captivated by the charm of your hand, descended from heaven and in the form of a bracelet twisted both edges of its silver horn and voluptuously embarrassed this wonderful hand? "
“I don’t see anything like the moon here,” Sakuntala replies. “Surely the wind has brought dust from the lotus flowers that adorn my ears to my eyes, and I can hardly see.”
Dushmanta asks permission to blow this dust from her eyes; after a meek resistance, he quietly lifts her head; but her eyes, raised on him, modestly sank down again; he hesitates over her eyes - compares them to a lotus hanging over them, and finally he quietly breathed into her eyes, and her vision seemed to brighten. - Suddenly the voice of the venerable nanny Gotami rang out in annoyance to the lovers. The king hastily disappeared. A caring nanny comes for the maiden and takes Sakuntala away.
This whole scene of love with all its details breathes with all of it, all the life of a loving midday in Asia!
Dushmanta's wishes were crowned. He married Sakuntala in the image of Gandarwa, allowed by the laws of their caste, and she already bears the guarantee of this marriage. Dushmanta left the shelter and promised to soon send ambassadors for his wife. Shakuntala in grief forgot all her duties: at that time a guest came to the shelter, the most terrible, most vengeful of all Rishis, the formidable Durvasas himself - and Shakuntala in oblivion did not accept him, violated the duty of hospitality, and he uttered a terrible curse on her; he said that the king would forget his wife and would not recognize her, and would drive her out of him. The girlfriends heard this angry curse; They rushed to the irritated Rishis, prayed for their friend, but begged only for one thing, that the king, glancing at the ring that he gave her, would again remember Sakuntala. Girlfriends are afraid to tell her about the fatal curse.
The hermit Kanois returned to his refuge. With delight he learned about the marriage of the pet with Dushmanty: his visions came true. - He equips his daughter on the road to the court. It was a sad time for Sakuntala, a time of separation from her father, from her girlfriends, from the shelter, from the flowers. She emerges sadly from the consecrated bath; wives congratulate her; young Rishis to bring royal fabrics, which suddenly appeared on a tree by a miracle; bring gems, magic hands invisible Maidens scattered from the bushes. Girlfriends in tears remove the queen. The hermit Kanua performs sacrificial rites, rites of farewell, and prays that her path be happy. Shakuntala bids farewell to the deities of refuge. Not only her friends are sad: everyone feels her departure. The antelope, her pet, does not chew grain, and the grain falls out of her immobile lips; pava, having lowered its wings, gallops no more; all the bushes have bent the languid branches to the ground and shake off the flower as a sign of sorrow. Shakuntala, in tears, runs up to the blossoming liana and says: “Dear liana, wrap your branches around me like arms. Alas! how days will pass that I won't see you! My father, look after her, as you looked after me. Girlfriends, water it for me! Good father! when my chamois is a mother, do not forget to inform me about it! But who does this behind me keep up with me and hold on to my dress? " “This is your child, Shakuntala, your pet is a cute antelope. How often did you treat her wounds with Ingudi oil and anoint her lips, which were bloody with the sting of an insect! She still remembers how you fed her juicy siamak grain! " - “Poor! - says Shakuntala, - why did you stick to the ungrateful one? You will no longer have a mother, but my father will take care of you. " So everyone around is crying with Shakuntala; this whole dumb world of animals and plants was animated by sorrow. One hermit humbles his sorrow with wisdom. The time of parting has come. According to the custom of the East, similar to ours, the sage puts everyone in prison. After thinking, he gives prudent instructions to Sakuntala on how to behave with her husband - finally, he tells her to say goodbye to her friends. They, caring ones, remembered the formidable prophecy and say goodbye to her: “If the king, beyond expectation, did not recognize you, then do not forget to show him the ring, Thu; he gave it to you. " These words cast a bitter doubt on Sakuntala, and it sank into her soul with a sad foreboding. "O! When will I see the sacred forest again? You will be calm and cheerful, I alone will be bitter! " The hermit also moved with these last words daughter ... Her friends watched her with their eyes for a long time ... Sakuntalna is no longer in the peaceful shelter of Kanua ...
The formidable prophecy of the angry Rishis came true. Dary, entertained by his harem, forgot about his wife. Shakuntala, accompanied by the wise Rishis and nanny Gotami, came to the court. As she stepped in, she felt an involuntary flutter in her right eye. Ominous sign! The king did not remember her when the Rishises, on behalf of Kanua, reminded him of his marriage to her; did not recognize her even when the nanny Gotami took off the veil from her and exposed her charms; he was captivated by them, but did not remember the moment when he enjoyed them; Shakuntala wants to resort to the advice of her friends, is looking for the last hope, the fatal ring, but alas! and the ring is not on her finger; surely, while taking a bath in a consecrated lake on the way, she dropped it into the water. The last branch of her hope was cut off ...
Shakuntala is forced to violate the boundaries of female modesty, forced to remind the king of all the circumstances that accompanied the marriage. Nothing can awaken his memory. In Sakuntala he insults the modesty of her sex with offensive words, calls women cunning, false, insidious. And this meek, gentle Sakuntala for the first time felt anger and indignation in herself: her gaze was kindled; her words, inspired by rage, are crowded and torn beyond measure; the lips turn pale, as if from cold, and the brow, which was described in a gentle arc near the eye, suddenly wrinkled violently.
The king was already ready to love her, although he did not remember; but the sight of an angry woman shattered the charm of love and irritated him. He threatens to accuse her of lying. Shakuntala reproaches him and cries, and asks the departing hermits to take her with them; but this is unreal. The spouse has unconditional authority over the spouse. Where can she find refuge? One of the Rishis agrees to give it to Sakuntala until she is a mother: her baby will reveal the secret of his birth with the features of his palm. The king agreed; but a miracle happened! As soon as Shakuntala left the palace, some ghost of a woman flew to her and carried her into the sky.
Fatal ring found. The royal guards caught the unfortunate fisherman who found the king's ring in one fish. It returned the memory to the king, but too late: Sakuntala is no longer with him. Here his torment begins. The holiday of spring has come; virgins go out to pick flowers; but the king is in sorrow; he does not order to celebrate it. All trees in their spring decoration, all birds sympathize with the king's staples. The goddess Misrakesi, the patroness of Sakuntala, flies from heaven and, invisible, is present with all the suffering of a lover who has regained his memory. The king does not take part in the council of the kingdom, does not listen to the consolations of a friend. He remembers in detail all the circumstances of his love; he looks for the image of the amiable in the colors; stealthily from jealous wives, he orders to bring a portrait of Sakuntala, which he himself painted. Thinking in front of him, he transfers his painting to poetry and in words draws what he sees in the picture. But he still wants to paint a tear on Shakuntala's cheek, a siriki branch on her head; looking at the picture, he forgot himself. It depicts a bee flying up to Sakuntala's cheek and taking cover. The king, forgetting himself, begs the bee not to touch her beautiful lips: otherwise he will imprison the daring one in a lotus bowl. And a friend reminded him that there was a picture in front of him, and he woke up from a dream and began to cry. The jealous queen is near; the king's jester takes away the portrait - and suddenly his cry is heard. The jester is in danger. An evil spirit wants to kidnap him. The king is distracted from sorrow by a feeling of anger, goes to strike an evil spirit; but it is not a malevolent spirit. This is Matali, the driver and messenger of Indra. He wanted to irritate the tsar and amuse his gloomy thought with a feeling of anger. Matali calls the king on behalf of the god Indra against the evil spirits that overwhelm his palaces, and Dushmanta, together with the heavenly charioteer, sets off in an air chariot.
The victory is complete; the king is treated to the god Indra - and on his own chariot the king and the driver descend from the heavenly spaces to the earth; from the pure heavens they fly into the sphere of clouds and see that the earth, as if itself, moved by force, ascends to them. They flew to one of the mountains, to the abode of Kasiapa and Aditi, Indra's parents. This monastery is full of holiness and contemplation. The Anchorites fill it with prayer. Dushmanta, having entered it, feels an involuntary shock in his hand: this is a sign of happiness. A playful child runs onto the stage, playing with a lion cub. The women run after him, fearing the lioness's wrath, but the child is not afraid of her. A sweet feeling ran through Dushmanta's heart at the sight of the child. He recognized the prophetic features of a royal birth on his hand. With one word he subdued his agility. He hears that his mother is called Sakuntala. A child, playing with a lion, dropped an expensive amulet, keeping it; the maid is looking for her; but the king lifted her up. Everyone was amazed: the amulet did not turn into a snake, and its property is to always turn into a snake, if only the child and not his parents take it in their hands. The mystery has been solved. The king embraced his son. Shakuntala as a sad widow, braiding her hair in one widow's braid, comes out to this embrace, and the king threw himself at her feet, and asks for forgiveness, and says: “Let me wipe away this tear, the remainder of those that I made you shed: this tear your beautiful face will disgrace: oh, if I, wiping it off your wet eyelash, could lay down all the burden of reproaches from my heart! " The gods, the owners of the monastery, celebrate the happiness of the newly united spouses, utter a blessing over their young son, prophesy about his exploits and promise King Dushmanta to fulfill his prayer, which he will send to them. - The drama ended with the prayer of the magnanimous king. Here it is: “Let the kings of the earth reign only for the benefit of their subjects; Goddess Sarasuati (ie, the goddess of arts and poetry) may accept continuous sacrifices from the holy Brahmins, and may the almighty, almighty Siwa deliver me for my zeal for his service, from the shackles of the second rebirth. "
You may have noticed that the drama both began and ended with prayer: it began with the prayer of the Brahmin, a hymn from the Vedas addressed to Brahma, and ended with the king's prayer to the goddess of arts and poetry, like Indian life during the period of King Vikramadity. This drama was opened on earth, it was concluded in the abode of the gods. Its religious origins are visible everywhere. You were not carried away by stormy impulses of dramatic action, like a European drama; no, she incessantly directed a quiet, sweet contemplation to your soul; she stopped your impetuous gazes and rested them now on luxurious images, now on the most detailed feelings; - and out of all her feelings, she predominantly spoke of love, but not spiritual, not heavenly. Curiosity did not irritate you; superstitious forebodings actors, the prophecies told you in advance what would happen. But you willingly forgot the crafty temptation and speed of the European drama and were captivated by this slowness, voluptuous laziness, this carelessness and simplicity of the Indian drama; in a word, you forgot the drama for a living idyll.
Without going into further analysis, I leave it to you to judge by your own impressions. If 25 degrees of frost does not allow us to imagine all the charms of nature, with which this brightest and most luxurious color of Indian poetry shines, to feel at least a little the fragrance that he pours out in his homeland, then at least we can understand with our souls that feeling human, dear to us everywhere, which, as you can see, despite the opinions of German critics, all leading to the general, revives the Indian drama - this is a feeling that is equally understandable to us both in the drama written in front of the crackling fireplace, and in the drama inspired by the sultry sky of India.
(SP Shevyrev. History of Poetry. Readings of the associate of Moscow University Stepan Shevyrev. Volume one, containing the history of poetry of Indians and Jews, with the addition of two introductory readings on the nature of education and poetry of the main peoples of the new Western Europe. M. 1835).
The text for the new publication was prepared by M.A. Biryukova.