Symbols in the poem 12 and their meaning. Symbolic images and their meaning in Blok’s poem “The Twelve”

The revolution of 1917 left an indelible mark on the history of our state. After it, a lot has changed, a lot has been rethought. In the poem "" Blok gives his assessment and analysis of the events that occurred.

Analyzing this work, it should be noted that the author created a system of images and symbols that show us the full scale of revolutionary events.

One of the first symbolic images that we encounter on the pages of the poem is the wind. Being spontaneous natural phenomenon, the wind becomes a symbol of the spontaneous and destructive nature of the revolution. The revolution, like the wind, sweeps away everything in its path and no one can hide from it.

The next symbol in the poem “The Twelve” is the “world fire”, which reflects global scale revolutionary events. Blok compared the revolution to a “snowstorm.” The author said that the revolution could spread throughout the whole world, that is, turn into a “world cyclone.”

The driving force behind this “world cyclone” was supposed to be twelve. Twelve are simple Russian soldiers who walked the streets of revolutionary Petrograd. They are the twelve apostles of the revolution who pave the way and bring revolutionary ideas to the masses. Their road is saturated with blood and pain, twelve are ready to kill and deal with everyone. Blok did not condemn the actions of the twelve, because he believed that the path to a bright future lies through blood and destruction.

The old woman, who does not understand revolutionary slogans, becomes the symbol of the old bourgeois society. The priest and the bourgeois must now fear for their lives, because they know that there will be no place for them in the “new world”.

The old “rootless” dog becomes a symbol of the “old world”. He trails behind the twelve in the hope of pardon and leniency.

An important place in the poem “The Twelve” is occupied by the image of Christ. Christ here becomes a symbol of a harmonious and bright future. He walks ahead of the twelve, as if showing them the way to " new world" On the other hand, Blok wanted to show us that Christ, like many centuries ago, again descended to earth to help humanity overcome dirt and destruction.

The revolutionary city becomes a symbol of a huge country that is engulfed in revolutionary struggle. In general, the struggle between the “old” and “new” worlds becomes the main theme of the work. Blok shows this struggle through the struggle of color. Thus, “black sky” is opposed to “white snow”; The red flag, on the one hand, becomes a symbol of victory, and on the other, a symbol of the bloody present.

With the help of the poem “The Twelve,” Blok wanted to show us how people are born in dirt and blood. new person. This is precisely what the author saw as the main purpose of the revolution.

A symbol is an allegorical image that has many interpretations (or, in other words, cannot be unambiguously interpreted) and evokes a whole chain of associations in readers. At the beginning of the 20th century, during the heyday of Russian literature, symbolism was considered one of the most significant trends in literature and art. The poets who were part of this movement used symbols as the most important tool for understanding reality, a means to get closer to understanding the true essence of things. Great importance in their art world acquired individual symbols that expressed the worldview, the result of individual poets’ understanding of the world.
A.A. on initial stage In his work, he also belonged to the Symbolists, and having doubted the truth of the creative and ideological quest of the Symbolists, he dissociated himself from them, but continued to use symbols in an attempt to convey his feelings and experiences associated with the poet’s contact with the outside world.
The poem was among latest works, written by Blok, it can also be considered the most controversial creation of the poet, because of which most of his contemporaries turned away from Blok. The poem was written in 1918, when the poet was at the peak of his inspiration for the idea of ​​a revolutionary struggle, a revolutionary transformation of the world. In the same year, he wrote the article “The Intelligentsia and the Revolution,” in which he examines the revolution from an epoch-making point of view, writing that it could not fail to happen. The article ends with the call: “With all your body, with all your heart, with all your mind - listen to the revolution.”
Thus, the poem can be considered an attempt by the poet himself to listen and understand what the revolution brings with it. Blok himself wrote: “... those who see political poems in “The Twelve” are either very blind to art, or are sitting up to their ears in political mud, or are possessed by great malice - be they enemies or friends of my poem.” The poet did not want his work to be viewed as some kind of political manifesto. It was quite the opposite. In the poem “The Twelve,” Blok posed more questions that primarily concerned him himself than he answered them. Therefore, the use of symbols in the poem is more than justified: in this way the poet tried to reflect the ambiguity and versatility of the revolutionary movement, tried to understand what hopes to associate with the “world fire”.
The central image-symbol of the poem becomes the symbol of the elements. The poem opens to them, and a feeling of discomfort and unsteadiness is immediately created:

Black evening.
White snow.
Wind, wind!
The man is not standing on his feet.
Wind, wind -
All over God's world!

The rampant nature of the elements: a blizzard is playing out, “the snow has become a funnel,” a “blizzard is gathering dust” in the alleys - symbolizes the rampant of the historical, revolutionary elements, confusion and chaos at a turning point in Russian history. The “world fire” is also associated with the elements, which the Red Army soldiers are going to fan “to woe to all the bourgeois.” The consequence of the rampant elements is freedom - freedom of action, freedom of conscience, liberation from old moral and moral standards. So it turns out that the freedom of the revolutionary detachment turns out to be “eh, eh, without a cross!” Freedom to violate Christ’s commandments, that is, freedom to kill (“Where is Katka? - Dead, dead! / Shot in the head!”), to fornicate (“Eh, eh, fornicate! / My heart sank in my chest”), is transformed into the element of permissiveness (“ Let’s fire a bullet into Holy Rus' - / Into the barn, / Into the hut, / Into the fat-assed one!”). The Red Guards from the revolutionary detachment are ready to shed blood, be it Katka who betrayed her lover or the bourgeois: “You fly, bourgeois, like a sparrow! / I’ll drink the blood / For the sweetheart / Black-browed one.” Thus, the element of passion flares up in the devastated city. City life takes on the character of spontaneity: the reckless driver “rushes at a gallop,” he “flies, screams, yells,” and “Vanka and Katka are flying” on the reckless driver. After the murder, new atrocities are expected, and it is not clear whether the revolutionary patrol will rob, or whether its “free” actions “free the hands” of the real criminals - the “naves”:

Eh, eh!
It's not a sin to have fun!
Lock the floors
There will be robberies today!
Unlock the cellars -
The bastard is on the loose these days!

It seems to the Red Army soldiers that they control the revolutionary element, but this is not so. At the end of the poem, the wind begins to fool the fighters: “Who else is there? Come out! / This is the wind with a red flag / Played out ahead...”, and the blizzard “fills with a long laugh / Floods in the snow.”
Color symbolism plays a special role in the poem. In "The Twelve" Blok uses three colors: black, white and red. Old Russia and revolutionary Russia of 1917 were associated in Blok’s mind with black; he wrote in his diary: “In Russia everything is black again and will it be blacker than before?” The color black in the poem is associated with sin, hatred, the revolutionary detachment: black evening, black sky, black human malice, also called holy malice, black rifle belts. White color- the color of snow - is associated with a blizzard, the rampant elements. So the poet expressed hope for a revolutionary, spontaneous transformation of black Russia into white Russia. And this transformation will be led by “Jesus Christ” (“in a white corolla of roses”; walking “like a scattering of snowy pearls”). The color red also occupies an important place in the color symbolism of the poem. It is this that characterizes the revolutionary era - blood, murder, violence, “world fire”, the bloody flag of the detachment of twelve - the “Red Guard”. Blok believed in overcoming bloody sin, in the outcome from the bloody present to a harmonious future, which is personified in the poem by the image of Christ. He wrote: “It’s only at first - blood, violence, atrocity, and then - clover, pink porridge.”
If the wild elements personify the revolutionary beginning, then the symbol of the “old world” in the poem is a hungry, mangy dog, appearing in the poem along with the bourgeoisie:

The bourgeois stands there like a hungry dog,
It stands silent as a question.
AND old world like a rootless dog,
Stands behind him with his tail between his legs.

“A cold dog is a rootless dog,” keeping pace with the revolutionary detachment, lagging behind the bourgeoisie. This, it seems to Blok, will be the choice of the “old world”: he will not remain “at the crossroads” with the bourgeoisie, but will follow the Red Guards, either because they have strength, or because they bring renewal with them.
The revolutionary troop of twelve is itself the central symbol of the poem. Describing them at the beginning, Blok compares them to criminals and convicts: “They have a cigar in their teeth, they wear a cap, / You need an ace of diamonds on your back!” But you can also see Christian symbolism in them. By association with the evangelical apostles, of whom there were also twelve, the patrol can be called “apostles of the revolution,” because at the end of the poem it turns out that “Jesus Christ” is walking in front of the detachment. The image-symbol of Christ has many interpretations, each of which makes its own contribution to its understanding. Jesus brings with him purity, whiteness, redemption, the end of suffering. He is located on a different plane, far from the elements of the street, the blizzard land along which the apostles of the revolution march. He is above history, chaos, blizzard. The author shows the separation of earth and heaven; Jesus remains only a reminder of holiness, unattainable for those who remained on earth. This interpretation is contradicted by the fact that Jesus is holding a red flag in his hands - His involvement in earthly, spontaneous, revolutionary affairs is obvious. The Russian poet M. Voloshin proposed a strikingly different interpretation of the ending of the poem. In the final scene, he saw a picture of an execution. Christ does not walk at the head of the twelve; on the contrary, the apostles of the revolution pursue him, but do not notice him - Jesus is visible only to the author. Thus, the poet believed that the poem was written against the Bolsheviks.
Blok himself repeatedly admitted that the image of Christ in the finale appeared as if against his will: “I myself was surprised: why Christ? But the more I looked, the more clearly I saw Christ.”
The poem “The Twelve” represents the poet’s attempt to listen to the music of the revolution, to “throw himself” into its “multi-foaming shaft.” The ambiguous symbols that fill the poem prevent an unambiguous interpretation of the meaning of the revolution. This is what the author of the poem sought, inviting his readers not to judge the revolutionary transformations unambiguously, but with him to plunge into the “vortex of atoms of the cosmic revolution.” Unfortunately, not all of his contemporaries understood the poet’s call.

The revolutionary unrest of the early twentieth century in Russia evoked responses from many writers. Events of 1917 and Civil War encouraged the creation of works by both contemporaries and writers of later periods, right up to the present day. Among the poets inspired by this period national history, there was also A.A. Block. The poem “The Twelve” reflected the author’s ambiguous perception of the coup, the meaning of which is still being wondered about. The rich symbolism of the work has a large number of interpretations.

Symbols: role and their meaning

What does a symbol mean to a poet? It’s the same as a term for a scientist, that is, with the help of it you can express a thought more succinctly, without unnecessary words. And Blok actively took advantage of this opportunity in his work.

• Colors. The first thing the reader encounters in the poem is the antithesis of colors - black and white. In world culture, these shades have dozens of meanings, but for this particular poem, white is renewal, the desire for the future, black is the darkness of the old world, the suffering of the soul caused by sin. In addition, the text contains red, expressing resistance and desire for change.
• Wind is a sign of storm and revolution. He is trying to stir up the snow to bring in everything that is old and experienced.
• 12 – number endowed special significance. The number of Red Army soldiers in the poem is comparable to the many apostles at the Last Supper. There are many hypotheses about what author’s position is hidden behind the Gospel symbolism. Perhaps for Blok the events of the 17th year are comparable in significance in the history of mankind to Holy Week.

Images

1. It is important to emphasize the role and image of the author in “The Twelve”. Blok realized that he was present at an epoch-making event; he intuitively sensed the coming changes in the country, which is why in this work “The Writer is a Vitia”, and the poem itself is associated more with a chronicle. Here the poet plays the role of Pimen or Nestor, whose goal is to capture what is happening.
2. Let us turn to the image of the twelve Red Guards. Not everyone is named by name, but it is no coincidence that the characters named in the poem coincide with the apostles. Such a mention allows you to assign to the heroes greatest number associations evoked in the reader. Ivan, Andrey, Peter - these names are both sacred and social at the same time.
3. For example, Petrukha repents of killing out of jealousy, but this hero would not be so significant for the poem if his name were not an allusion to Peter, who renounced Christ. In both cases, crime is not a reason to leave the path, but stimulates you to move on with even greater zeal. Both for Blok’s Peter and for the Evangelical Peter there was no time to regret what they had done: they needed to move forward to realize the common idea.
4. The most discussed image in the poem is Christ (an essay on his role in the work is available). It is interesting to see how it appears in the poem. At the beginning of the poem there is wind, in the 12th chapter a red flag appears in this element, the same attribute in the hands of Christ. It can be assumed that the Savior is present in the poem from the first lines, but in the form of a spirit, a breath, and finds its embodiment only at the end of the work. What does this image mean for the poem? It is unfair to consider that this is a sign of the author's approval of the events of 1917. Blok realized the inevitability of revolution, the impossibility of returning to the old order. The world has become different, the old world is a thing of the past, the country is on the threshold of a new era. The previous one began with Christ and the apostles. And they haven’t disappeared anywhere: the scenery has changed, but the main characters remain.

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History and myth. The poems that a real poet creates reflect all his thoughts and even his very soul. When reading a poem, it immediately becomes clear what the person’s state was at the time of writing the poetic creation. Poems are like a diary of the poet's life.

Not everyone will be able to express in words, let alone on paper, their state of mind, their feelings and experiences. Each time you re-read the poet’s books, you begin to understand him more and more as a person. Although on the other hand, it seems that he is the same as us, and in no way differs from us: the same thoughts, the same desires. And yet he is able to express his feelings somehow differently, differently, with some special specificity, probably more hidden and, of course, through poems. A person who has been given such a gift to express his Thoughts and feelings through poetry cannot do otherwise.

A wonderful Russian poet of the early 20th century, A. A. Blok, was born in November 1880 in St. Petersburg. Mine creative path A. A. Blok began in 1904 studying at St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Philology. This is how “Poems about a Beautiful Lady” (1904), the cycles of poems “Crossroads” (1902-1904), “Fed”, “ Unexpected joy", "Snow Mask" (1905-1907). After graduating from university in 1906, the writer continued literary activity: in 1907 the poetic cycle “On the Kulikovo Field”, “Motherland” (1907-1916) appeared, then the poems “The Twelve”, “Scythians” (1918).

For quite a long time, Blok’s poem “The Twelve” was perceived as a work that described only the events of the October Revolution, and no one saw what was hidden under these symbols, no one understood those important questions, which are behind all the images. In order to impart deep and multifaceted meaning into simple and ordinary concepts, many writers, both Russian and foreign, use various symbols. For example, for one writer, a flower represents a Beautiful Lady, a majestic woman, and a bird represents the soul. Knowing all these nuances of literary creativity, the reader begins to perceive the poet’s lyrics in a completely different way.

In the poem “The Twelve” A. A. Blok very often uses various symbols, images - these are colors and nature, numbers and names. In his poem, he uses various contrasts to enhance the effect of the impending revolution. In the very first chapter, the color contrast is obvious at the very beginning: black wind and White snow.

Black evening.

White snow.

Wind, wind!

The black and white colors of the landscape run through Blok’s entire poem “The Twelve”: black sky, black anger, white roses. And gradually, as events unfold, this color scheme is diluted with red and bloody color: the red guard and a red flag suddenly appear.

... They walk into the distance with a mighty step...

Who else is there? Come out!

This is the wind with a red flag

Played out ahead...

Bright red colors are colors that symbolize blood, and this suggests that bloodshed is sure to happen and is very close. Soon, soon the wind of revolution will rise over the world. A special place in the poem is occupied by the image of the wind, which is also associated with an alarming premonition of the inevitable revolution. The wind is a symbol of rapid progress into the future. This image runs through the entire poem; it fills all the poet’s thoughts during the days of the revolution. Wind trembling poster "All power Constituent Assembly", knocks people off their feet, people who make up the old world (from the priest to the girl of easy virtue). What is shown here is not just the wind, but the elemental wind, the wind of global change. It is this wind that will take away everything old and save us from the “old world,” which is too stuffy and inhuman. The revolutionary wind of change will bring with it something new, something new, best system. And people are waiting for him, waiting for changes in their lives.

The man is not standing on his feet.

Wind, wind -

All over God's world!

When Blok was working on the poem “The Twelve,” he repeatedly used the image of the wind in his notebook: “In the evening, a hurricane (the constant companion of translations)” - January 3, “In the evening - a cyclone” - January 6, “The wind is raging (cyclone again? ) - January 14." The wind itself in the poem is perceived in the same way as a direct depiction of reality, since in January 1918 in Petrograd there was just such windy and blizzard weather. The image of the wind was accompanied by images of a storm, cold, and blizzard. These images are among the poet’s favorite ones, and the poet resorted to them when he wanted to convey a feeling of the fullness of life, people’s expectation of great changes and excitement at the impending revolution.

Something like a blizzard has played out,

Oh, blizzard, oh blizzard,

Can't see each other at all

In four steps!

This night, gloomy, cold blizzard, snow storm is contrasted with lights, bright, light, warm lights.

The wind is blowing, the snow is fluttering.

Twelve people are walking.

Rifles have black belts.

All around - lights, lights, lights...

Blok himself spoke about his work on the poem: “During and after the end of “The Twelve,” for several days I felt physically, auditorily, a great noise around - a continuous noise (probably the noise from the collapse of the old world) ... the poem was written in that historical and always a short time when a passing revolutionary cyclone produces a storm in all seas - nature, life and art."

The number “twelve” occupies a special place in the poem. Both the revolution and the title of the poem itself are very symbolic, and this magical combination of numbers can be seen everywhere. The work itself consists of twelve chapters, creating the feeling of a cycle - twelve months a year. Main characters- twelve people marching in a detachment, rampant debauchery, potential murderers and convicts. On the other hand, these are the twelve apostles, among whom the names Peter and Andrew are symbolic. The symbol of twelve is also used in the sacred number of the highest point of light and darkness. This is noon and midnight.

Towards the end of the poem, Blok is trying to find a symbol that would mean the beginning of a new era and thus is Christ. The poet’s Jesus Christ is not a specific image; he is revealed to the reader as some kind of invisible symbol. Christ is not accessible to any earthly influences, he cannot be seen:

And invisible behind the blizzard,

And unharmed by a bullet,

One can only follow this silhouette; he, as the highest moral authority, leads twelve people behind him.

In a white corolla of roses, Jesus Christ is ahead.

A large number of symbols and images in the poem “The Twelve” makes us think about every word and sign, because we want to understand what is hidden behind them, what is the meaning. It is not for nothing that the poet takes his place next to the great symbolists, and the poem “The Twelve” illustrates this well.

Symbol is one of the secret matching methods. They are distinguished from other similar literary devices - metaphors, hyperboles and others - by their polysemy. Any person perceives them as much as he likes, and as he personally understands them. IN literary text symbols arise not only due to the intentional desire of the author for the reader to recognize something abstract in them, but also due to instinctive factors. Often they are combined with the writer’s extremely metaphysical associations in relation to various words, objects and actions. To some extent, symbols serve to identify the author’s point of view, however, due to the ambiguity of their perception, it is usually impossible to develop any true conclusions.

Alexander Blok's poem "The Twelve" is quite rich in symbolism, which is generally typical for lyrics silver age, and then we will try to collect these symbols into some kind of unified system.

The rhythm of the first chapter of “The Twelve” is in the folk style, which usually accompanied the performances of small puppet theaters - nativity scenes or various buffoon performances. This technique immediately gives a feeling of unreality. An element such as a huge canvas was immediately added, very similar to a cinema screen. This approach, combined with the constant contrasts of black and white, creates the impression that we are watching some kind of film or performance of the same nativity scene, and this impression does not disappear until the very end of the poem. The landscape is again graphic: white snow - black sky - wind - lights. These easily imaginable details do not at all add reality to the pictures, but are easily associated with footage from the film “Terminator”, which, in turn, is plot-related with the Apocalypse. Black sky, snow and fire are quite suitable symbols for the land over which the wrath of God hangs.

To continue the theme of the Last Judgment, you can take the main song of the Icelandic “Elder Edda” - “The Divination of the Völvi”. According to Norse mythology, the end of the world is preceded by a three-year winter called Fimbulvetr, which begins with a wolf eating the sun. During this winter, fratricidal wars take place, as they say about it - “... the time of wolves and trolls - great fornication.” Some details of “The Twelve” directly indicate this - the same black and white landscape, a gathering of prostitutes, there is even a wolf - albeit in the form of a mangy dog! According to the Edda, after this winter the Last Battle will take place, when the “good” deities - aces and heroes will go against the bad trolls, giants, the wolf, Fepriz and the Midgard snake - the “world snake”. Let's remember the episode from last chapter, when the “twelve” threaten with a bayonet the dog, that is, the wolf, and the snowdrifts, in which, as is known, witches, trolls and other evil spirits celebrate their weddings. However, the role of the “twelve” in this system is not clearly defined - whether they are “good” aces, or bloody trolls, eaters of corpses, instigators of a world hellish fire, along with whom is the wolf.

Twelve is the key number of the poem, and many associations can be associated with it. First of all, it is twelve hours - midnight, twelve months - the end of the year. It turns out to be some kind of “borderline” number, since the end of an old day (or year), as well as the beginning of a new one, is always overcoming a certain milestone, a step into an unknown future. For A. Blok, this milestone was the fall of the old world. It's unclear what lies ahead. Probably, the “world fire” will soon spread to all things. But this also gives some hope, because the death of the old world promises the birth of something new. So in Christianity, where the elect will find heaven, so among the Scandinavians, where during Last Battle The world ash tree Iidrasil will collapse, and both the heavens and the underworld (by the way, created from the corpse of a certain giant) will collapse. But some aces will be saved, and a man and a woman who

They will eat

Dew in the morning

And they will give birth to people.

Another numerical association is the twelve apostles. This is indirectly indicated by the names of two of them - Andryukha and Petrukha. Let us also remember the story of the Apostle Peter, who denied Christ three times in one night. But with A. Blok it’s the other way around: Petrukha returns to faith three times in one night and retreats three times again. Moreover, he is the killer of his former lover.

I wrapped a scarf around my neck -

No way to recover.

The scarf is like a noose around his neck, and Peter turns into Judas. And the role of the traitor Judas is played by Vanka (John).

And they go without the name of a saint

All twelve - into the distance.

Ready for anything

No regrets...

Their rifles are steel

To an invisible enemy...

And a little earlier: “Eh, eh, without a cross!” The result is some kind of anti-apostles - with rifles instead of a cross, criminals, robbers, murderers, ready to shoot even at a snowdrift, at least at a bourgeois, at least at a dog, at least at all of Holy Rus', at least at Jesus Christ himself. And suddenly A. Blok unexpectedly destroys the concept of the anti-apostles - by the fact that Jesus Christ with a bloody flag leads their procession, albeit invisible to them! Another one important detail is connected with these “twelve”: “I need an ace of diamonds on my back!” Here you can choose different explanations. Firstly, the “twelve” are convicts, and the ace is a sign of distinction from civilians. Secondly, this is a colorfully dressed pagan procession, Christmas carols, for example. Thirdly - a religious procession, then Jesus Christ is in place. Next, “ace” in English is “ace”, and again the Scandinavian aces come to mind, of which, by the way, there were also twelve. Or maybe it’s just a revolutionary patrol and red aces - again for distinction.

The complex order of Alexander Blok’s symbolism makes it impossible to say who these “twelve” are. However, this is not so significant, because it is thanks to the symbolism that the poem was extremely capacious. Here is the story of sin with subsequent retribution, and murder with pangs of conscience and oblivion, and the most important thing is the real idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe collapse and desecration of the former, old world. It no longer makes sense whether he was good or bad. The fall has become a reality, and I just want to hope that in the future everything will be the best.