Lyrical heroine in the ballad “Svetlana” V. A

V. A. Zhukovsky introduced the Russian reader to one of the most beloved genres of Western European romantics - the ballad. And although the ballad genre appeared in Russian literature long before Zhukovsky, it was he who gave it poetic charm and made it popular. Moreover, he merged the poetics of the ballad genre with the aesthetics of romanticism, and as a result, the ballad genre turned into the most characteristic sign of romanticism.

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Topic: V.A. Zhukovsky “Svetlana” The moral world of the heroine of the ballad

Goals: educational: to introduce students to the work of Zhukovsky, to consider the nationality and poetry of the ballad “Svetlana”, to contribute to the comprehension of originality art world Zhukovsky: subtle psychologism, dissatisfaction with reality, elegiac sadness, daydreaming, striving for the ideal;

Developmental : develop students’ ability to penetrate the world of feelings of the lyrical hero, observe the development of the lyrical plot;

Educational:cultivate a love for the works of Russian classics.

Lesson progress:

1. Organizational moment.

2. The teacher’s story about the life and work of the poet.

Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky was born on January 29, 1783 in the village of Mishenskoye Tula province. He was the illegitimate son of the landowner A.I. Bunin and the captured Turkish woman Salkha. He received his surname and patronymic from his godfather, the poor nobleman A.G. Zhukovsky. He studied at the Noble boarding school at Moscow University. In 1802 he published the elegy “Rural Cemetery”, which brought him wide fame. Contemporary of Zhukovsky F.F. Wigel responded to the elegy with the words: “How can you be so touchingly sad with all your soul and then laugh with all your heart?” As a militia member he participated in Patriotic War 1812, which influenced the poet’s worldview. In the same year, Zhukovsky became famous thanks to the poem “The Singer in the Camp of Russian Warriors.” Zhukovsky is one of the founders and an active participant in the Arzamas literary society. In 1841 he left for Germany. He died on April 12, 1852 in Baden-Baden.

Personality V.A. Zhukovsky served as a kind of moral standard for his contemporaries; The poet's humanity and selflessness were manifested in the redemption of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko from serfdom, in the liberation of his own peasants, in the establishment of scholarships and benefits for aspiring artists. Zhukovsky stood up for the Decembrists exiled to hard labor, asked for pardon for A.S. Pushkin and M.Yu. Lermontov.

Zhukovsky condemned arbitrariness and violence, believed that serfdom incompatible with elementary moral principles. He sought to alleviate the fate of the convicted Decembrists and repeatedly spoke out in defense of A.S. Pushkin, contributed to the liberation of T.G. Shevchenko from serfdom, took an active part in the destinies of E.A. Baratynsky, A.V. Koltsov, A.I. Herzen.

Zhukovsky gave preference to two literarygenres: ballad and elegy. Zhukovsky's elegiac lyrics center around two main themes - lost friendship and destroyed love. The basis of the poet’s intimate lyrics is his feeling for his beloved niece Masha Protasova, to whom the elegies “Song”, “Memory”, “To Her” are dedicated. The main genre feature of the ballad is the plot narration. But the plot of a ballad is significantly different from the plot in works of other genres: the tension of the narrative, its understatement, fragmentation, dramatic intensity, conventionalitytemporal and spatial coordinates of what is happening, the decisive importance of the subtext: lyrical, philosophical or socio-psychological.

The literary ballad goes back to folk origins, but is distinguished by the author’s peculiarities: a bright unusual plot, the main part contains dialogue, the narrative principle and emotionality are combined.

Disappointed with the ballad "Lyudmila", based on the plot of the burgher's "Lenora", Zhukovsky conceived it in 1808 (finished in 1812), published in 1813 the most joyful ballad, which he called "Svetlana".

3.Reading and analysis of the ballad

Tell me, please, what did the author connect his ballad with?

(the ballad is connected with Russian customs, with folklore tradition. The poet depicts for us the fortune-telling of girls on Epiphany evening. Winter Rus' with its customs and traditions opens before us.)

- What do you think of the main character, Svetlana?

This is the image of a sweet Russian girl who is sad because her fiance is somewhere far away. She's a little skittish when she tells fortunes. But it’s somehow bright and clean.)

- Contemporaries called Zhukovsky “Svetlana’s singer.” It is believed that this is the first artistically convincing image of a Russian girl in Russian poetry. What are the characteristics of a Russian woman in the image of Svetlana? (loyalty, humility, poetry, meekness)

What means of creating the image of the main character does Zhukovsky use? (name, dream, household details).

- But what happens next in the ballad?(Svetlana falls asleep and has a dream. Her dear one is taking her to church to get married.)

Writers often resort to describing the hero's dream as a method of artistic foreshadowing. What are the signs of Svetlana's sleep? (not prophetic, occupies most of space of the work, the dream is the culmination of the work, the misfortune of a terrible dream is contrasted with the happiness of awakening).

What images represent evil in Svetlana’s dream? (black coffin, “black corvid”, blizzard and blizzard, dead man in a hut).

What color predominates in the ballad? (white).

What is used to create the white effect? (the name of the heroine, the snow sparkling under the moon, the light of a candle lit by Svetlana, the light from the open doors of the church).

- What landscape did the author choose to show us the unusualness of what is happening! (The landscape aggravates the fantastic nature of the action. “The moon glows dimly,” “darkness of fog,” “everything around is empty,” “black corvid,” “coffin.”)

Landscape sketches of the ballad are closely related to psychological state heroines. What emotional experiences of the bride girl are revealed by the pictures of nature depicted in the work? (dumb anxiety, tense anticipation of danger, heightened feelings of Svetlana).

Why does the author show us such a terrible dream? After all, we said that this is the most joyful ballad. (Zhukovsky formulates main idea ballads with the words: “ best friend in this life we ​​have faith in providence...” What can you say to this? Maybe the author wanted to tell us that life on earth is short-lived, and the real and eternal is in the afterlife.)

Dialogue plays an important role in a ballad. To whom does Svetlana complain about her bitter fate? (to girlfriends).

What techniques of folk fairy tale storytelling does the poet use in the ballad? (folklore beginning, depiction of the features of Russian national life, description of customs and rituals, inclusion

full text of the processed fortune-telling song, constant epithets).

Why does Zhukovsky introduce a fragment of the song “A blacksmith is coming from the forge...”? (a hint of a happy ending).

What realities of the natural world are represented in the ballad? (field, road, sky, moon).

What meter is the ballad written in? (alternating tetrameter and trimeter trochee).

4. Summing up.

Today we plunged into Russia of the nineteenth century. Thanks to the works of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, we feel spiritual nobility, patriotism, the triumph of justice and love. His name lives and will live long thanks to works of verbal painting, nature and culture, the beauty and music of his words. No wonder A.S. Pushkin said the prophetic words: “The captivating sweetness of his poems will pass through the envious distance of centuries.”

5.Homework:learn the beginning of the ballad by heart.

Composition

The name of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, friend and teacher of AS. Pushkin, entered Russian literature as the author of a number of ballads. He resurrected in ballads images of the feudal Middle Ages and folk legends full of naive faith. For the first time, the definition of ballad as a genre was given by V.G. Belinsky He defined its originality as follows: “In a ballad, the poet takes some fantastic and folk legend or himself invents an event of this kind, but the main thing in it is not the event, but the feeling that it excites, the thought to which it leads the reader. » Most of Zhukovsky’s ballads are translated. The poet himself wrote about the specifics of the poet-translator’s talent: “The translator: in prose there is a slave, in poetry there is a rival.”

Zhukovsky's first ballad was “Lyudmila” (1808), which is a free translation of the ballad of the German poet Burger “Lenora”. Using the plot of the German poet, Zhukovsky gave a different national flavor, transferring the action to Moscow Rus' of the 16th-17th centuries, and gave the heroine Russian name Lyudmila, introduced song turns and folklore features inherent in the Russian people.

The next ballad, “Svetlana,” written in 1812, is also based on the plot of Burgerova’s “Lenora.” But in “Svetlana” the national flavor has already been strengthened, which is created by the details of everyday life and pictures of Russian nature. Therefore, “Svetlana” was perceived by readers as a truly folk, Russian work. It was built on a broad and stable folk basis: there are fortune telling, omens, ritual songs, folk legends about the evil dead, and motifs from Russian folk tales.

The plot of the ballad “Svetlana” is in many ways reminiscent of the plot of “Lyudmila”. Sad Svetlana wonders about her sweetheart on Epiphany evening in front of the mirror. She is sad about her fiancé, of whom there has been no news for a long time:

A year has flown by - no news:

He doesn't write to me

Oh! and for them only the light is red,

Only the heart breathes for them...

Svetlana looks in the mirror and hears the voice of her beloved, who calls her to follow him to get married in church. On the way to the church, she sees a black coffin in the open gates in the dark. Finally the sleigh arrives at the hut. The horses and the groom disappear. The heroine, having crossed herself, enters the house and sees the coffin. A dead man rises from it and reaches out to her. But Svetlana is saved by a wonderful dove, protecting her from a terrible ghost:

Startled, turned around

Lungs he is a krill;

He fluttered onto the dead man's chest...

All devoid of strength,

He groaned and grated

He's scary with his teeth

And he sparkled at the maiden

With menacing eyes...

In this terrible ghost, Svetlana recognizes her beloved and awakens. It turned out to be a terrible, menacing dream. At the end of the ballad, a living groom appears. The heroes unite and get married. Everything ends well. The optimistic sound of the ballad is at odds with the ending of “Lyudmila”, in which the deceased groom carries the bride into the kingdom of shadows. Fantastic events - the appearance of a dead groom on his way to his “abode”, the revival of a dead man - reflect the struggle between good and evil. In this case, good wins:

Our best friend in this life

Faith in Providence.

The good of the creator is the law:

Here misfortune is a false dream;

Happiness is awakening.

The image of Svetlana is contrasted by Zhukovsky to both Lenore Burger and Lyudmila. Sad Svetlana, unlike the desperate Lyudmila, does not complain about fate, does not call the Creator to judgment, does not pray to the “comforting angel” to satisfy her sadness. Therefore, dark forces do not have the power to destroy her pure soul. Inexorable fate gives way to good Providence. Ballad logic is destroyed, the happy, fairy-tale ending refutes the traditional scheme. The bright soul of the heroine turns out to be stronger than the darkness of the night, faith and love are rewarded. The author’s attitude to what happened to Svetlana is expressed in the words:

ABOUT! don't know these people scary dreams

You are my Svetlana...

Be the creator, protect her!

Svetlana in Zhukovsky’s ballad amazes us with the purity of her inner world Purity, meekness, submission to providence, fidelity, piety - these are distinctive features of this character. The very name of the heroine sets the theme of light in the poem, opposing the ballad darkness and defeating it. To depict his heroine, the poet used folklore paints,

Svetlana is one of the most important poetic images for Zhukovsky, linking together his fate and creativity. The name Svetlana became for Zhukovsky and his friends a symbolic designation of a special worldview and attitude, a “bright” faith, designed to illuminate with its presence the dark essence of life. It turned out to be a kind of talisman that protects against evil forces. The image of Svetlana inspired the famous Russian artist K. Bryullov to create the painting “Svetlana’s Fortune Telling”. Pushkin more than once recalled “Svetlana”, took epigraphs from her poems, and compared his Tatyana with the heroine of the ballad.

The high poetic skill and romantic national flavor of the ballad attracted the interest of readers to it, and it was recognized by its contemporaries best work Zhukovsky, who began to be called Svetlana’s singer. An analysis of Zhukovsky’s literary heritage shows the high artistic value of his poetry and makes it possible to understand how great the importance of this poet is for Russian poetry and literature. The words of A.S. came true. Pushkin, who said about Zhukovsky almost two hundred years ago:

His poems are captivatingly sweet

Centuries will pass in envious distance...

“Svetlana” is Zhukovsky’s most famous work; it is a translation and arrangement of the ballad of the German poet Burger “Leonora”. The plot of “Svetlana” is based on the traditional ancient motif of folk historical and lyrical songs: a girl is waiting for her groom back from the war. Events unfold in such a way that happiness depends on the heroine herself. Zhukovsky uses typical situation"terrible" ballad: Svetlana rushes along a fantastic road to the world dark forces. The plot of the work “breaks out” from reality (the fortune-telling of girls on the “Epiphany evening”) into the sphere of the miraculous, to where evil spirits does his dirty deeds. The road to the forest, into the power of the night, is the road from life to death. However, Svetlana does not die, and her fiancé does not die, but returns after long separation. The ballad has a happy ending: a wedding feast awaits the heroes. This ending is reminiscent of Russian folk tale.

The main character in the ballad is endowed with the best traits of national character - loyalty, sensitivity, meekness, simplicity. Svetlana combines external beauty with internal beauty. The girl is “sweet”, “beautiful”. She is young, open to love, but not easy-going. Whole year, without receiving news from the groom, the heroine is faithfully waiting for him. She is capable of deep feeling:

The year has flown by - no news;

He doesn't write to me;

Oh! and for them only the light is red,

Only the heart breathes for them...

The girl is sad and yearns in separation from her beloved. She is emotional, pure, spontaneous and sincere:

How can my girlfriends sing?

Dear friend is far away...

The world of folk culture influenced Svetlana’s spiritual development. It is no coincidence that the author began the ballad with a description of Russian rituals and customs associated with church holiday Baptism, with wedding in God's temple. This is how the poet explains the folk origins of Svetlana’s feelings: hope and duty in the heroine’s heart are stronger than doubt.

The girl combines folk ideas with religious ones, with deep faith in God and fate. The name of the main character is formed from the word “bright” and is associated with the expression “God’s light”, which penetrated her pure soul. Svetlana hopes for God's help and constantly turns to God for spiritual support:

Quench my sorrow

Comforter angel.

At the most intense moment, having seen a coffin in a hut in a dream, Svetlana finds the strength to do the most important thing:

She fell to dust before the icon.

I prayed to the Savior;

And, with his cross in his hand,

Under the saints in the corner

She timidly hid.

As a reward for true faith, for meekness and patience, God saves the girl. Svetlana does not die in separation from her beloved, but finds happiness on earth. Zhukovsky believed that even the death of the groom could not destroy love. The poet was convinced that loving souls unite beyond the boundaries of earthly existence. His heroine has the same faith. She does not complain about Providence, but timidly asks:

The secret darkness of the days to come,

What do you promise my soul?

Joy or sadness?

A kind of fairy-tale “double” of the heroine is the “snow-white dove.” This is the same “comforting angel” to whom Svetlana turned before fortune-telling and begged: “Quench my sorrow.” This is the good messenger of heaven, "with bright eyes" The epithet gives an idea of ​​the purity and holiness of the angel. He protects Svetlana. Saves her from a dead man:

Breathing quietly, he arrived,

He quietly sat down on her chest,

He hugged them with his wings.

“Dove” is an affectionate, gentle name. This is a symbol of love. Love saves Svetlana, and the author speaks about the dove with increasing tenderness: “but the white dove does not sleep.” Good confronts evil and defeats it:

Startled, turned around

Light are his wings;

He fluttered onto the dead man’s chest...

The image of Svetlana's groom also corresponds to romantic ideas. He is handsome, smart, kind. The girl's lover is capable of an all-consuming feeling:

...he's still the same

In the experience of separation;

The same love in his eyes,

The same looks are pleasant;

Those on sweet lips

Nice conversations.

The repetition in these lines emphasizes the main qualities that the author values ​​​​in his heroes - faith and fidelity.

In the ballad “Svetlana,” goodness triumphs and folk-religious principles triumph. Zhukovsky revealed in his work the character of a Russian girl, open and heartfelt, pure, enjoying life. Svetlana deserves happiness because “her soul is like a clear day...”

The heroine became one of the most beloved characters in Russian literature. Like Lisa from the story by N.M. Karamzin, like Tatyana Larina from the novel by A.S. Pushkin.

V. A. Zhukovsky is a famous poet, a master of the poetic word, a subtle connoisseur of Russian culture and folklore. In the ballad “Svetlana,” the author realistically described Russian life, folk rituals, and revealed the Russian soul, so large, generous, reverent and ardent. The life of a Russian person used to be closely connected with traditions and rituals. According to the signs of fate or nature, the life and activities of one person or an entire family were adjusted.

Once on Epiphany evening

The girls were guessing

Fear of the unknown, curiosity, and the desire to find out the fate of loved ones pushed people to tell fortunes. Wealth or poverty, marriage or marriage, life or death, eternal wanderings or settled life with family - fortune telling on holidays will tell you everything.

V. A. Zhukovsky, the son of the landowner Bunin and the captive Turkish woman Salha, knew the Russian soul, loved the Russian hinterland, and felt nature. In the ballad “Svetlana” all this merged together, and as a result, the sadness of the soul and the fear of loss were revealed. The poet's verse is filled with music, rich in half-currents and nuances.

It was not for nothing that A.S. Pushkin considered Zhukovsky a great poet who paved many paths for Russian poetry. Zhukovsky had the rare gift of capturing the anxieties of a Russian person in a short poem or ballad, coloring them with music and sound, revealing their secret without violating their integrity.

The ballad "Svetlana" is dedicated to Sashenka Protasova, with whom Zhukovsky was in love. Fortune telling on the mirror of a girl worried about the fate of her groom is traditional for Russian Christmas rituals. she peers into the mirror, and a phantasmagoria of images passes before her: a den of robbers, and a “replacement” groom who turns out to be a murderer. But a bright and clear smile resolves romantic horrors: this is just a bad dream.

Oh, don't know these terrible dreams

You, my Svetlana.

The future of the real Svetlana turned out to be tragic, her marriage was unsuccessful. But bright, poetic ballads remain in the history of literature.

The author sought to create a national Russian girl, but in “Lyudmila” this creative task was not solved. In “Svetlana” the same plot about a dead man is told by Zhukovsky in a different way. The author balances the eerie flavor of the narrative, traditional for a romantic “scary ballad”, with poetry love experiences, happy ending. The author’s poetic discoveries also include the image of the heroine. Svetlana embodies the character of a Russian girl - cheerful and active, capable of sacrificial and faithful love. Subsequently, this type of heroine was repeatedly reproduced in Russian literature.

The plot about the dead man is preceded in the ballad by an everyday scene Christmas fortune telling, and “Svetlana” ends with the heroine awakening from sleep, returning to real life and a happy meeting with the groom. The everyday framing of a mystical plot changes the character of the work as a whole. The story of the dead man appears as a kind of fun - nothing more than a scary tale told before bed. At the same time, the fortune telling scene allows the poet to reproduce the features of Russian national life and folk customs:

Once on Epiphany evening

The girls wondered:

A shoe behind the gate,

They took it off their feet and threw it;

The snow was cleared; under the windows

Listened; fed

Counted chicken grain...

The girls are having fun, only Svetlana is sad (after all, there is “no news” from her betrothed). In the name of love, the heroine decides to try her luck and begins to tell fortunes. This becomes a difficult test for her: she is left alone with unknown forces and gripped by fear:

The timidity in her stirs her chest,

She's afraid to look back

Fear clouds the eyes...

But then the sound of the lock is heard, and then “a quiet, light whisper.” The betrothed has returned, he calls the heroine to church, and Svetlana, without hesitation, sets off on the road with her imaginary groom.

In folklore tradition, the image of a road is associated with ideas about the path of life. So in “Svetlana” the road symbolizes life path heroines - from the crown to the grave. But Svetlana makes this path with an inauthentic betrothed, which explains her vague, anxious premonitions, the trembling of her “prophetic” heart.

Horses rush through the blizzard across the snow-covered and deserted steppe. Everything prophesies trouble, speaks of the presence of evil forces: white snow(associated with the veil of death - the shroud), black raven, flickering of the moon. The coffin is also mentioned twice - a clear sign of death. Svetlana and her “groom” jump first in God's temple, and then to a “peaceful corner”, “a hut under the snow” (a metaphor for a grave). The “groom” disappears, and Svetlana is left alone with the unknown dead man and has a presentiment of imminent death: “What about the girl?.. She’s trembling... Death is near...”

The culminating event is the scene of the sudden “revival” of the dead man (“Moaning, he gnashed his teeth terribly...”), in which the heroine recognizes her fiancé. However, the very next moment she, waking up from sleep, is sitting in her little room by the mirror (in front of which the fortune telling began). The horror of what she experienced is behind her, and the heroine is rewarded both for her fears and for her willingness to follow her beloved into an unknown distance: the bell rings, and Svetlana’s real, living groom - stately and “amiable” - approaches the porch...

By incorporating the traditional plot into a new form, the poet connected the ballad with a fairy tale, thanks to which the plot clichés traditional for the ballad were rethought. In particular, the image of the road is typical for both ballads and fairy tales. In a fairy tale, a well-deserved reward awaits the hero at the end of the journey, and this is what happens in “Svetlana.” What did the heroine do to deserve the “reward”? Firstly, with his devotion, fidelity, mental fortitude. Secondly, her faith in God, to whom she constantly turns for spiritual support (“She fell to the dust before the icon, prayed to the Savior...”).

God's Providence, the poet shows, protects the living soul and does not allow it to perish. If she does not deviate from the true faith, day replaces night - daylight hours, filled with colors and sounds: “...a noisy rooster flaps its wings...”, “...snow glistens in the sun, thin steam glows red...”. In “Svetlana,” in contrast to traditional ballads, a joyful and bright perception of life triumphs; folk principles, the bearer of which is Svetlana, triumph.

The ballad “Svetlana” can rightfully be considered a symbol of early Russian romanticism. The work has become so familiar to the reader, it reflects the national mentality so clearly that it is difficult to perceive it as a translation of a German ballad. Among Zhukovsky’s works, this creation is one of the best; it is no coincidence that Vasily Andreevich had the nickname “Svetlana” in the Arzamas literary society.

In 1773, Gottfried Burger wrote his ballad “Lenore” and became the founder of this genre in Germany. Zhukovsky is interested in his work, he makes three translations of the book. In the first two experiments, the writer strives for a more national adaptation of the ballad. This is manifested even in the change in the name of the main character: in 1808 Zhukovsky gives her the name Lyudmila, and in 1812 - Svetlana. In the second adaptation, the author reworks the plot on Russian soil. Later, in 1831, Zhukovsky created a third version of the ballad “Lenora”, as close as possible to the original.

Zhukovsky dedicated the ballad “Svetlana” to his niece and goddaughter A.A. Protasova, it was a wedding gift: the girl was marrying his friend A. Voeikov.

Genre and direction

It is difficult to imagine the era of romanticism without the ballad genre, where the narrative is told in a melodious style, and supernatural events often happen to the hero.

Romanticism in the ballad “Svetlana” is represented quite widely. A characteristic feature of this era is interest in folklore. In an effort to make history the most Russian, Zhukovsky does not deprive it of one of the main motives of the German folk art- abduction of the bride by a dead man. Thus, the fantastic in the ballad “Svetlana” belongs to two cultures: from the Russian the work received the theme of Epiphany fortune-telling, and from the German – the groom rising from the grave.

The ballad is rich in symbolism of Russian folklore. For example, the raven is the messenger of death, a hut that gives a reference to Baba Yaga, whose home is located on the border of the world of the living and the dead. The dove in the ballad symbolizes the Holy Spirit, who, like an Angel, saves Svetlana from the darkness of hell. The crowing of a rooster dispels the spell of the darkness of the night, announcing the dawn - everything returns to normal.

Another technique typical of romanticism is motivation by dreams. The vision confronts the heroine with a choice: to sincerely believe that God will help her fiance return, or to succumb to doubts and lose faith in the power of the Creator.

About what?

The essence of the ballad “Svetlana” is as follows: on Epiphany evening, girls traditionally gather to tell fortunes for their betrothed. But the heroine is not amused by this idea: she is worried about her lover, who is at war. She wants to know whether the groom will return, and the girl sits down to tell fortunes. She sees her lover, the church, but then it all turns into a terrible picture: a hut where the coffin with her beloved stands.

The plot of “Svetlana” ends prosaically: in the morning the girl awakens from sleep in confusion, she is frightened by an evil omen, but everything ends well: the groom returns unharmed. That's what this piece is about.

The main characters and their characteristics

The narrative brings to the fore only the main character. The remaining images in the ballad “Svetlana” are in the haze of an undissipated dream, their characteristic features It’s difficult to discern, because the main characters in this case are comparable to the scenery in a play, that is, they do not play an independent role.

At the very beginning of the work, Svetlana appears to the reader as sad and alarmed: she does not know the fate of her beloved. A girl cannot be as carefree as her friends; there is no place in her heart for girlish fun. For a year now she has found the strength to righteously hope and pray that everything will be fine, but on Epiphany evening curiosity takes precedence over righteousness - the heroine tells fortunes.

The characterization of Svetlana Zhukovsky is presented as positive, not ideal, but exemplary. There is a detail in her behavior that fundamentally distinguishes her from the girls in other translations by the author himself and from the original Lenora. Having learned about the death of her beloved, the bride does not grumble against God, but prays to the Savior. Svetlana’s state of mind at the moment of the terrible vision can rather be described as fear, but not despair. The main character is ready to come to terms with her “bitter fate”, but just not blame God for not hearing her.

For her perseverance, Svetlana receives a reward - the groom returns to her: “The same love is in his eyes.” A small number of lines about the groom give reason to assume that he is a man of his word, faithful and honest. He deserves such a sincerely loving and kind bride.

Themes of the work

• Love. This theme permeates the ballad, in a way, it drives the plot, because it is love that provokes the Orthodox girl to tell fortunes. She also gives strength to the bride to wait and hope for the return of the groom; perhaps Svetlana’s feeling protects him from injury. The girl and her lover overcame a difficult test - separation, and their relationship only became stronger. Now they have a wedding and long happiness ahead of them.
• Faith. Svetlana sincerely believes in God, she has no doubt that prayer will save her lover. She also saves the girl from the hellish embrace of the dead man, which Lenore, the heroine of the original ballad, could not avoid.
• Divination. This topic is presented in a very original way. Firstly, Svetlana does not observe some kind of vision in the mirrors; she only dreams of everything that happens. Secondly, the fortuneteller must remove the cross, otherwise the dark other world will not be fully revealed to her, and our heroine “with her cross in her hand.” Thus, the girl cannot fully guess: even during this mystical sacrament she prays.

Main idea

As you know, Zhukovsky has three versions of the translation of Burger’s ballad “Lenora,” but why did “Svetlana” gain such popularity during the writer’s lifetime and remain a relevant work to this day?

Perhaps the secret to the book's success is its idea and the way it is expressed. In a world where there is good and evil, light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, a person has a hard time: he succumbs to anxiety and doubt. But there is a path to gaining confidence and inner harmony - this is faith.

Obviously, the option that had a happy ending was more attractive to the public. But it was precisely this ending that allowed Zhukovsky to more convincingly convey his author’s position, because the meaning of the ballad “Svetlana” is for a person to always strive for enlightenment. The fate of the main character clearly illustrates the benefits that the saving power of sincere faith brings.

Problems

V.A. Zhukovsky, as an educated person, a teacher of Emperor Alexander II, was worried about the fact that Russians were almost never fully Orthodox. A man goes to church, but shuns a black cat, and when he returns home, having forgotten something, he looks in the mirror. Along with Christian Easter, it is also celebrated pagan carnival, which is still happening today. Thus, religious issues come to the fore in the ballad “Svetlana”.

Zhukovsky raises in his work the problem of superstitious ignorance, which has been relevant for Russians since the very moment of the adoption of Christianity. In his ballad, he drew attention to the fact that, while celebrating the feast of the Epiphany, believing girls indulge in sinful fortune-telling. The author condemns this, but at the same time does not cruelly punish his beloved heroine. Zhukovsky only chides her in a fatherly way: “What is your dream, Svetlana...?”

Historicisms in “Svetlana” by Zhukovsky

The ballad “Svetlana” was written by Zhukovsky in 1812. Despite this, it is, in general, easy to read and understand even today, but still contains outdated words. It is also important to take into account the fact that Zhukovsky wrote his work during the period when the Russian literary language was still being formed, so the book contains short forms adjectives (wenchalnu, tesovy) and partial variants of some words (plat, zlatoe), which gives the lyrical work solemnity and a certain archaism.

The vocabulary of the ballad is rich in outdated words: historicisms and archaisms.

Historicisms are words that have left the lexicon along with the named object. Here they are represented mainly by vocabulary related to the church:

many years - meaning “Many years” - a chant performed by a choir, usually a cappella, on the occasion of a solemn holiday.

Podblyudny songs are ritual songs performed during fortune telling, when a girl throws a personal object (ring, earring) into a saucer, accompanied by a special song.

Naloye is a type of reading table, also used as a stand for icons.

Zapona is a white cloth, part of the priest's clothing.

Archaisms are outdated words replaced by more modern ones:

1. Ardent - fiery
2. Ryans are diligent
3. Mouth - lips
4. Creator - founder
5. Incense - incense
6. To utter - to say
7. Tesov - made from teso - specially processed thin boards
8. Good is good

What does it teach?

The ballad teaches steadfastness and devotion, and most importantly, reverence for God's law. Sleep and awakening here cannot be understood only unambiguously: this is not only the physical state of a person: sleep is a delusion that worries the soul in vain. Awakening is an insight, an understanding of the truth of faith. According to the author, inner peace and harmony can be found by keeping the commandments of the Lord and firmly believing in the power of the Creator. Abstracting from the Christian context, let's say that a person, according to Zhukovsky's morality, must be firm in his convictions, and doubts, constant tossing and despair can lead him to trouble and even death. Hope, perseverance and love lead to happiness, which is clearly illustrated by the example of the heroes of the ballad “Svetlana”.

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