Brief analysis of the poem 12. Essay Analysis of the poem Block Twelve (12)


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

The wind curls
White snow.
There is ice under the snow.
Slippery, hard
Every walker
Slips - oh, poor thing!

From building to building
They will stretch the rope.
On the rope - poster:

The old woman is killing herself - crying,
He won't understand what it means
What is this poster for?
Such a huge flap?
How many foot wraps would there be for the guys,
And everyone is undressed, barefoot...

Old lady like a chicken
Somehow I rewound over a snowdrift.
- Oh, Mother Intercessor!
- Oh, the Bolsheviks will drive you into a coffin!

The wind is biting!
The frost isn't far behind!
And the bourgeois at the crossroads
He hid his nose in his collar.

Who is this? - Long hair
And he says in a low voice:
- Traitors!
- Russia is dead!
Must be a writer -
Vitia...

And there’s the long-haired one -
To the side and behind the snowdrift...
That today is not cheerful,
Comrade pop?

Do you remember how it used to be
He walked forward with his belly,
And the cross shone
Belly on the people?

There's a lady in karakul
Turned up to another:
- We cried and cried...
Slipped
And - bam - she stretched out!

Ay, ay!
Pull, lift!

The wind is cheerful.
Both angry and happy.

Twists hems,
Passers-by are mowed down.
Tears, crumples and wears
Large poster:
“All power to the Constituent Assembly!”
And he delivers the words:

...And we had a meeting...
...In this building...
...Discussed -
Resolved:
For a while - ten, at night - twenty-five...
...And don’t take less from anyone...
…Let's go to sleep…

Late evening.
The street is empty.
One tramp
Slouching,
Let the wind whistle...

Hey, poor guy!
Come -
Let's kiss...

Of bread!
What's ahead?
Come on in!

Black, black sky.

Anger, sad anger
It boils in my chest...
Black anger, holy anger...

Comrade! Look
Both!

The wind is blowing, the snow is fluttering.
Twelve people are walking.

Rifles black belts
All around - lights, lights, lights...

There is a cigarette in his teeth, he has taken a cap,
You need the Ace of Diamonds on your back!

Freedom, freedom,
Eh, eh, without a cross!

Tra-ta-ta!

It's cold, comrades, it's cold!

And Vanka and Katka are in the tavern...
- She has kerenki in her stocking!

Vanyushka himself is rich now...
- Vanka was ours, but he became a soldier!

Well, Vanka, son of a bitch, bourgeois,
My, try, kiss!

Freedom, freedom,
Eh, eh, without a cross!
Katka and Vanka are busy -
What, what are you doing?..

Tra-ta-ta!

All around - lights, lights, lights...
Shoulder - gun belts...

Revolutionary step up!
The restless enemy never sleeps!
Comrade, hold the rifle, don’t be afraid!
Let's fire a bullet into Holy Rus' -

To the condo,
In the hut,
In the fat ass!
Eh, eh, without a cross!

How did our guys go?
To serve in the Red Army -
To serve in the Red Army -
I'm going to lay down my head!

Oh, you, bitter grief,
Sweet life!
Torn coat
Austrian gun!

We are at the mercy of all bourgeoisie
Let's fan the world fire,
World fire in blood -
God bless!

The snow is spinning, the reckless driver is screaming,
Vanka and Katka are flying -
Electric flashlight
On the shafts...
Ah, ah, fall!

n in a soldier's overcoat
With a stupid face
Twists, twirls the black mustache,
Yes it twists
He's joking...

That's how Vanka is - he's broad-shouldered!
That's how Vanka is - he is talkative!
hugs Katya the Fool,
Speaks...

She threw her face back
Teeth sparkle like pearls...
Oh you, Katya, my Katya,
Thick-faced...

On your neck, Katya,
The scar did not heal from the knife.
Under your breasts, Katya,
That scratch is fresh!

Eh, eh, dance!
It hurts the legs are good!

She walked around in lace underwear -
Walk around, walk around!
Fornicated with the officers -
Get lost, get lost!

Eh, eh, get lost!
My heart skipped a beat!

Do you remember, Katya, the officer -
He did not escape the knife...
Al didn't remember, cholera?
Is your memory not fresh?

Eh, eh, refresh
Let me sleep with you!

She wore gray leggings,
Minion ate chocolate.
I went for a walk with the cadets -
Did you go with the soldier now?

Eh, eh, sin!
It will be easier for the soul!

...Again galloping towards us,
The reckless driver is flying, screaming, yelling...

Stop, stop! Andryukha, help!
Petrukha, run behind!..

Fuck-bang-tah-tah-tah-tah!
Snowy dust swirled towards the sky!..

The reckless driver - and with Vanka - ran away...
One more time! Cock the trigger!..

Fuck-gobble! You will know
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It's like walking with a stranger's girl!..

Run away, scoundrel! Alright, wait,
I'll deal with you tomorrow!

Where is Katka? - Dead, dead!
Shot in the head!

What, Katka, are you happy? - No goo-goo...
Lie, you carrion, in the snow!

Revolutionary step up!
The restless enemy never sleeps!

And again there are twelve,
Behind his shoulders is a gun.
Only the poor killer
You can't see your face at all...

Faster and faster
He quickens his pace.
I wrapped a scarf around my neck -
It won't recover...

What, comrade, are you not happy?
- What, my friend, are you dumbfounded?
- What, Petrukha, he hung his nose,
Or did you feel sorry for Katka?

Oh, comrades, relatives,
I loved this girl...
The nights are black and intoxicating
Spent with this girl...

Because of the poor prowess
In her fiery eyes,
Because of a crimson mole
Near the right shoulder,
I lost it, stupid
I ruined it in the heat of the moment... ah!

Look, you bastard, he started a barrel organ,
What are you, Petka, a woman, or what?
- Truly the soul inside out
Did you think of turning it out? Please!
- Maintain your posture!
- Keep control over yourself!

Now is not the time
To babysit you!
The burden will be heavier
To us, dear comrade!

And Petrukha slows down
Hasty steps...

He throws his head up
He became cheerful again...

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!

Oh, woe is bitter!
Boredom is boring
Mortal!

It's time for me
I’ll carry it out, I’ll carry it out...

I'm already crowned
I'll scratch it, I'll scratch it...

I'm already seeds
I'll get it, I'll get it...

I'm already using a knife
I'll strip, I'll strip!..

You fly, bourgeois, little crow!
I'll drink some blood
For the sweetheart,
Black-browed...

Rest, Lord, the soul of your servant...

You can’t hear the city noise,
There is silence above the Neva Tower,
And there is no more policeman -
Go for a walk, guys, without wine!

A bourgeois stands at a crossroads
And he hid his nose in his collar.
And next to him he cuddles with coarse fur
A mangy dog ​​with its tail between its legs.

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

Some kind of blizzard broke out,
Oh, blizzard, oh, blizzard!
Can't see each other at all
In four steps!

The snow curled like a funnel,
The snow rose in columns...

Oh, what a blizzard, save me!
- Petka! Hey, don't lie!
What did I save you from?
Golden iconostasis?
You're unconscious, really.
Think, think sensibly -
Ali's hands are not covered in blood
Because of Katka's love?
- Take a revolutionary step!
The restless enemy is close!

Forward, forward, forward,
Working people!

...And they go without the name of the saint
All twelve - into the distance.
Ready for anything
No regrets...

Their rifles are steel
To an invisible enemy...
In the back streets,
Where one snowstorm gathers dust...
Yes, downy snowdrifts -
You can't drag your boot...

It hits my eyes
Red flag.

Is heard
Measured step.

Here he will wake up
Fierce enemy...

And the blizzard throws dust in their eyes
Days and nights
All the way!…

Go-go,
Working people!

...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...

Ahead is a cold snowdrift.
- Whoever is in the snowdrift, come out!
Only a poor dog is hungry
Waddles behind...

Get off, you scoundrel.
I'll tickle you with a bayonet!
The old world is like a mangy dog,
If you fail, I'll beat you up!

... Bares his teeth - the wolf is hungry -
Tail tucked - not far behind -
A cold dog is a rootless dog...
- Hey, answer me, who's coming?

Who's waving the red flag there?
- Take a closer look, it’s so dark!
-Who is walking there at a quick pace?
Burying for everything at home?

Anyway, I'll get you
Better surrender to me alive!
- Hey, comrade, it will be bad,
Come out, let's start shooting!

Fuck-tah-tah! - And only echo
Responsible in homes...
Only a blizzard of long laughter
Covered in snow...

Fuck-fuck-fuck!
Fuck-fuck-fuck!
...So they go with a sovereign step -
Behind is a hungry dog.
Ahead - with a bloody flag,
And we are unknown behind the blizzard,
And unharmed by a bullet,
With a gentle tread above the storm,
Snow scattering of pearls,
In a white corolla of roses -
Ahead is Jesus Christ.

Analysis of the poem “The Twelve” by Blok

Many consider the poem “The Twelve” to be the main work in Blok’s work. It was written by the poet in early 1918 and reflects his view of the Russian revolution.

Poem 12 is an original poem. It is written in an innovative style. The language of the poem is as close as possible to the illiterate “soldier of the revolution.” A highly educated person is perplexed by some fragments of the poem. Extreme cynicism and frankness of the “twelve apostles of the revolution” - characteristic feature verse.

The plot is based on a tour of a Red Army patrol consisting of twelve people. People who represent the birth of a new world are cold-blooded criminals and murderers for whom nothing is sacred. They are driven by extreme hatred of everything that the old society symbolizes. Blok’s true attitude towards the created characters is still not completely clear. In the memoirs and works of Soviet writers, the main characters were subjected to excessive idealization. The struggle to build communism was associated only with bright and fair ideas. For Blok’s characters, one of the main goals is to “shoot a bullet into Holy Rus'.”

The poem is oversaturated with bloodthirsty sadistic slogans and phrases: “world fire in blood”, “shot in the head”, “I’ll drink the blood” and many others. etc. The speech of the main characters is replete with rudeness and curses.

The patrol itself looks like a completely meaningless action. The Red Army soldiers do not have any specific goal. They, like vultures, want to find any excuse for robbery or murder.

With some unhealthy persistence, Blok constantly introduces Christian images into the text of his work. The number of “heroes” is equal to the number of apostles. “Black malice” is equated with “holy malice.” All the monstrous acts of the revolutionaries are accompanied by the wish “God bless!” Finally, the leader of a gang of murderers and thugs intoxicated with blood becomes main symbol Christianity - Jesus Christ. Blok himself claimed that he simply could not find a more significant figure for this role.

The poem “The Twelve” leaves behind mixed feelings. Only an incorrigible fighter for a general revolution or a mentally unstable person can consider it a work glorifying the birth of a new world. It also does not fall under the category of “the harsh truth of life,” if only because “I slash, slash with a knife” somehow does not fit with “rest, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant.” There are opinions that Blok was simply mocking the new system, but he himself did not confirm this. It is known that the poet had a desire to burn his poem.

“The Twelve” (1918) is Blok’s direct response to the October Revolution. Having completed the poem, the author wrote in his diary: “Today I am a genius.”

This work differs sharply in style and language from his previous works. "The Twelve" is a metaphysical poem. In accordance with his perception of the revolution as an unstoppable element, the poet makes a blizzard with a neutral symbolic image of “The Twelve”: “Wind, wind | All over God's world." There is a "blizzard of dust" on the streets of St. Petersburg. The blizzard also permeates the existence of people (the reckless driver “rushes at a gallop”, on the reckless driver “Vanka and Katka are flying”, etc.). The spontaneous uncontrollability of the plans is visible in the promises of the twelve bearers of the new idea: “We are woe to all the bourgeoisie | We will fan the world fire.”

The element of passion rages in man, flaring up uncontrollably. The theme of revolution appears in the poem with the appearance of a detachment of guards. In their steps one can hear the music of the emerging world. The collective image of the twelve is quite contradictory. On the one hand, these are former tramps in crumpled caps and fancy coats, “bastards,” masters of the streets who “don’t feel sorry for anything.” On the other hand, this is a patrol that establishes order, moving at a “sovereign step.” Behind, in the past, remains the hungry dog ​​of the old world: in the future - heaven on earth, the image of which is now understood in a new way.

The highest expression of the blizzard element in human consciousness is the “freedom without a cross” of the twelve sentinels. It is understood as unlimited freedom, permission to violate the Gospel commandments, to kill, to commit fornication, leading to a feeling of complete impunity. Revolutionaries are ready to shed blood, be it the blood of an unfaithful lover or a bourgeois.

The peculiarity of the composition of the poem “The Twelve” is the presence of two image plans: a symbolic plan (“Wind, wind - in the whole wide world!”), a concrete object plan (a patrol of 12 guardsmen walks through the city at night). In the poem there is an interruption of these plans.

The theme of wasted blood during the period of revolutionary storms is revealed through a love affair. Katka is a traitor, but she didn’t just cheat on Petrukha, she walked with both the officer and the “cadet,” and now she walks with Vanka, who has become a “bourgeois.” A love conflict develops into a social conflict. The murder of Katka by the twelve is perceived as retribution to the traitor Vanka, as an act of revolutionary will.

Blok believed in the closeness of Christian and revolutionary ideals. The transformation of the world by Jesus (A. Blok's spelling) Christ and revolutionary cataclysms seemed related to him. However, the apostles of the new revolutionary faith - the twelve sentinels - are atheists, sinners: “...And they go without the name of the saint”...

At the end of the poem, Jesus Christ appears at the head of the Red Guards, far from God. Jesus, walking before the atheists, is not only the personification of Blok’s faith in the holiness of the revolution, the justification of the anger of the people, but also the embodiment of the idea of ​​Christ’s atonement for human sin, including the sin of murder. And the poet’s hope is that those who have crossed the blood will come to the ideals of love.

The poet believed in freedom, equality, fraternity, which, in his opinion, the revolution would bring. Jesus is not with the fighters, but ahead of them - he embodies supreme essence revolution, which is not yet available to members of the revolutionary detachment. Their number - twelve - coincides with the number of apostles, disciples of Christ, who brought a new faith to people.

The old world in the poem is represented in the form of a hungry dog ​​wandering after the watchmen. In depicting the old world, Blok uses elements of satire, due to which the images acquire a general meaning; lady in karakul; a long-haired writer who sang to the tune of the authorities. A new world is approaching, the twelve stubbornly move forward, overcoming the blizzard. Those who belong to the old world are unstable: one slides, the other cannot stand on his feet. The wind carries away the poster “All power to the Constituent Assembly.” The element of revolution sweeps away everything that has become obsolete.

Revolutionary Russia in the poem is a world split in two, depicted using two colors - black and white. The poet hoped for the transformation of black Russia into white Russia through revolutionary cleansing. The symbolism of color expresses the confrontation between the evil of the old world and the white, Christ-like state of it. There is also another color in the poem - blood red - the color of blood, the color of crime. This is the color of the flag that “beats” Katya’s bullet-ridden head. Blok did not see in 1918 the triumph of the holy ideals that the revolution brings, but he understood that the transition from the black past to the bright future personified by Christ cannot be painless, therefore the present in his poem is presented in a mixture of all three colors.

The rhythm of the poem “The Twelve” is unconventional and not typical for Blok’s poetry. Within one foot they are connected different sizes(for example, trochee with anapest). The text includes the rhythms of ditties, romances, dances, marches, prayers, and raeshnik. The style is also heterogeneous; lexical polyphony is achieved through mixing political concepts, slang, jokes in a farcical spirit. There are also vagabond and even criminal intonations, unusual for the works of the sophisticated Blok, which are explained by the dominance of anarchy and the reason of the passions of the proletariat. The gigantic “displacement of the whole” led to a displacement of all aspects of life, which is expressed through the stylistic and rhythmic heterogeneity of the poem.

But here the political thinker (or non-thinker) Blok interfered with the lyric poet Blok, and his poem “The Twelve” (see its full text) is deeply unsatisfying.

Poem by A. Blok “The Twelve”: “Without the Name of a Saint”

Reproducing style and rhythm well " comrades"and their actions, not at all alien, of course, to artistic merits, it still does not shine with them entirely, repels in places with its, however, deliberate rudeness, is not poor in verbal roughness, and most importantly, without any internal connection, without organicity and necessity, only outwardly connects its actual plot with our revolution. This latter is brought into the plot artificially. In fact, doesn’t the fact that Petka, jealous of Vanka, kill Katka, stand completely apart from the social or at least political revolution? And is revolution really a frame into which any picture can be mechanically inserted, not to mention the fact that in general a frame with a picture is not also an organism? The event depicted by Blok could have happened in any other era, and the clash between Petka and Vanka over Katka is, in its psychological essence, neither revolutionary nor counter-revolutionary and does not weave its bloody thread into the fabric of modern history. True, Petka, like the rest of his eleven comrades, is a Red Guard: this tribute to recent fashion, this, in the era of the creation of the poem, the last cry of modernity, allowed the author to write his robbery incident against the backdrop of the revolution; This is how politics turned out.

Mysteries of Alexander Blok's poem "The Twelve"

In itself, it is dual for our poet. On the one hand, he seems to lament that we have “freedom without a cross”; he finds to the face, or, better said, to the back of his twelve “ace of diamonds”; he hears on the city street, amidst a snowy blizzard that does not leave the Blok even here, the words of women: “and we had a meeting... in this building... discussed... decided... for a time of ten, for the night - twenty five"; and many other touches make one think that the writer gave not so much a poem as a satire - a caustic satire on the Russian revolution, on its vulgar slogans, on its attitude towards the “bourgeoisie”, “priests”, towards the “conscious” and “unconscious”. On the other hand, Blok seriously, it seems, sacrificing artistry, personifies the “old world” and speaks about it as if it “stands” behind the “bourgeoisie” “silently like a question” (by the way: the question is not at all silent - it is, rather, persistent , noisy, shouting until he is satisfied, until he is answered) - yes, so the “old world” stands “like a rootless dog, with its tail between its legs” (by the way: the “old world” can least of all be compared with the “rootless” being; he gives birth, he is old, and his strength lies precisely in the fact that behind him is a long series of generations, an impressive gallery of ancestors).

And the very name “Twelve”, and not at least “Thirteen” (this dozen would be more appropriate here than the ordinary one) and not some other number symbolically hints that the poet has in mind some sacred precedent: although all twelve go into the distance “ without the name of a saint,” we involuntarily, or rather, by the will of the author, have a memory of the twelve apostles. And that such a rapprochement is not an arbitrary trick on the part of the blasphemous reader, but was assumed by the writer himself, this is clear from the unexpected ending of the poem:

So they walk with a sovereign step -
Behind is a hungry dog
Ahead - with a bloody flag,
And invisible behind the blizzard,
And unharmed by a bullet,
With a gentle tread above the storm,
Snow scattering of pearls,
In a white corolla of roses -
Ahead is Jesus Christ.

This cannot be taken as irony. In addition to the tone, the final chord of the poem, Christ with a red flag, with a bloody flag, should also be taken by us not as a mockery, but seriously, because here we can hear the long-familiar and cherished lyrical notes of Alexander Blok - delicate pearls of snow, snowy white blizzard, breath heavenly divinity amid an earthly blizzard. The twelve heroes of the poem, gathered into one robber gang, are drawn as dark and drunken savages - what do they have in common with the twelve from the Gospel? And is it fitting for them to be crusaders (however, they are without a cross...) in the fight for new world? So Blok failed to convince his readers that at the head of the twelve, the leader of the Red Guards, was Christ with a red flag. The name of Christ was taken in vain.

The poem “Twelve” was written by A.A. Blok in 1918 and inspired by revolutionary events. Already in the winter landscape of the poem, the contrast of black and white is emphasized, the rebellious element of the wind conveys the atmosphere of social change. The line in the first chapter of the work sounds ambiguous: “A man cannot stand on his feet.” In the context of the poem, it can be interpreted both literally (the wind knocks the traveler off his feet, the ice under the snow is slippery and treacherous) and symbolically: in the new era, everything has become unsteady, the supports of life have been lost.

The perception of revolutionary contrasts by ordinary people is shown by the example of the image of an old woman who is worried that such a huge scrap was found for the poster, but there is no fabric for foot wraps for the children. The bourgeoisie is freezing at the crossroads, the priest is sad, the lady in karakul falls on the ice, the writer is long hair talks about the death of Russia, and the tramp wants to know what lies ahead.

The central image of the second chapter is the image of freedom without a cross. The poet shows the anarchic mood of the soldiers of the revolution, ready to “shoot... at Holy Rus'.” The chopped syntax of the poem, the abundance of dialogues and remarks successfully convey fragmentary sketches from the life of that time.

In the third chapter, folklore motifs characteristic of soldiers' songs are heard. They also convey the popular perception of the era: for the “sweet life” one must also “lay down one’s head.”

In the fourth and fifth chapters, the image of the slutty, fat-faced Katka, who used to walk with the officer, and now with the soldiers, becomes central. In the sixth chapter, the Red Army soldiers kill Katka: human life in the revolutionary era becomes a bargaining chip. In the seventh chapter, twelve soldiers again march in revolutionary steps with guns in search of enemies. “Only the poor murderer can’t see his face at all,” writes A.A. Block. This image of an impersonal person echoes the image of the main character in the story by E.I. Zamyatin "Dragon". There, the soldier of the revolution, ready to shoot the bourgeois face without hesitation, also loses his human face. It’s as if he disappears into the fog, and instead of him, only the form remains (boots, overcoat, cap), an empty form, free of content. It soon turns out that Petrukha, who killed Katka, once loved her, and he killed the girl in the heat of the moment, out of jealousy. Thus, purely personal problems and actions are sometimes disguised as revolutionary impulses. But no one condemns Petrukha: “Now is not such a time.” The revolutionary era of permissiveness, as convincingly shows

A.A. The block leaves an imprint on people's souls. In the whirlwind of revolutionary events without a cross, the lines between good and evil, justified cruelty and criminal acts are sometimes blurred. The unsightly image of the insurgent nakedness at the end of the seventh chapter of the poem is depicted as a kind of warning: “Lock the floors, Today there will be robberies! Unlock the cellars - the bastard is on the loose today!”

In the ninth chapter, the bourgeoisie at the crossroads is compared to a hungry dog. Deprived of wealth and privilege, an entire class Russian society found himself at a crossroads.

The blizzard is gradually intensifying. The rhythm of the poem is constantly changing, reflecting the changeable nature of the era described in it. Through the propaganda slogans of the first years of Soviet power, the author’s sad thoughts are clearly audible: “...And they walk without the name of the saint, All twelve - into the distance.” We are ready for anything, we don’t regret anything...” Religious motives are clearly heard in the poem. The twelve soldiers of the revolution are likened to the twelve apostles. The red flag in the last chapter is called bloody. It is he who is carried by Jesus Christ, who is “And invisible behind the blizzard, And unharmed by a bullet.” Christ in Blok’s poem appears not in a crown of thorns, but in a white crown of roses. He did not abandon the sinful fighters of the revolution; he cannot be killed or destroyed by tearing down the crosses. Twelve soldiers pave a new historical path for Russia. And Christ still leads it. Thus, depicting revolutionary events in their rebellious, contradictory and largely tragic atmosphere, A.A. Blok still blesses Russia on its new path and hopes that the new wreath of roses will bring her happiness and prosperity.

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Blok wrote his mysterious poem in 1918, immediately after a series of revolutionary events in Russia. She was awarded this epithet because she demonstrates the author’s attitude to the change of power, but it is not known which one. Some argue that “The Twelve” is an ode dedicated to change, while others believe that the work is condemnatory and is a kind of requiem for the country. Who is right is up to you to decide, and we will only tell you everything about the book that will help you understand the poet and his plan.

Blok once walked around revolutionary Petrograd, and, as he himself put it, “listened to the music of the revolution.” He wanted to translate this feeling into words, inspired by the atmosphere of rebellion and triumph of the new government. The history of the creation of the poem “12” went at the same pace as the history of Russia, but until the very moment of writing, the author did not have an unambiguous attitude towards change. It did not work out during the process of working on the book, which he composed quickly, being under a fresh impression. When asked: “Is this a satire on the revolution or a glory to it?” - he couldn’t answer, because he didn’t know. The creator has not yet decided what he thinks about this. He described an impression, not a reasoning, an intuitive impulse, and not a sober analysis of the situation. It may also be that the poet did not want to destroy the intrigue created by the work and did not explain what was hidden behind the symbolic images.

The creation process is known to have taken only a few days, and the final revision lasted about a month. The poet felt a phenomenal creative upsurge, feeling that something brilliant, unexpected, and fundamentally new had flown out from under his pen. The poem “The Twelve” was published in the newspaper of the left Socialist Revolutionaries “Znamya Truda”, and two months later it was published in book format. According to Blok, for several months after writing the final poems he physically picked up the noise “from the collapse of the old world.” It was this, coupled with the sound of broken glass, the roar of gun shots and the crackling of street fires, that made up the music of the revolution, which absorbed and shocked the author. Later, he would become disillusioned with the new government, go into exile, but write that he did not repent of his creation and did not renounce it, because then the joy of change was an element, and not a political game (he wrote about this in the collection “Later Articles”).

Meaning of the name

The poem is named “12” in honor of the detachment that carried out revolutionary trials in the alleys of Petrograd. Judging by the memoirs of John Reed and other journalists who witnessed the coup, the detachments of Red Army soldiers patrolling the streets really consisted of a dozen people. In Blok’s drafts it is clear that he connected the name not only with the realities of the capital engulfed in flames, but also with Nekrasov’s poem about Ataman Kudeyar and his twelve robbers. The poet was inspired by the continuity of generations of freedom fighters: the heroes of Nekrasov’s work also administered justice as best they could, but their impulse was just. For too long these workers were in a slave position to those on whom they were now taking revenge.

Of course there is also symbolic meaning titles. The poem is called that because Blok put religious allusions into it. It was the twelve apostles who surrounded Christ. Time passed, and then in Russia, the third Rome, Jesus reappeared “in a white crown of roses” surrounded by a dozen disciples. Thus, the author draws a parallel between two events in history, connecting them with a single holy meaning for humanity. He, like many then, thought that a world revolution would begin in our country, which would destroy the old world of slaves and masters and establish the kingdom of God on earth.

The block depersonalized its heroes and made them into a monolith consisting of 12 people. Each of them individually means nothing, but together they are the force of a revolutionary element, a symbolic unification of the masses of people who have risen in one formation in the name of freedom. Thus, the poet shows the unity of the impulse that gripped the country and guesses the future of Soviet ideology, where the collectivization of the spirit became the basis.

Composition

The poem “12” consists of twelve chapters, each of which draws a separate fragment of the mosaic, where we guess the features of a disfigured winter Petrograd, burning with blood, banners and conflagrations.

  • Exposition embodied in the first chapter, where the author immerses the reader in the atmosphere of that time, so that the subsequent murder would not surprise anyone. Curses and reproaches are heard all around the new regime, all the inhabitants of the old, destroyed world are perplexed and predict death for Russia at the hands of the Bolsheviks. A patrol of Red Army soldiers immediately appears, intimidating everything in its path.
  • The beginning occurs in the second chapter, where the heroes remember Vanka (former friend, traitor) and Katka (the girl of one of the twelve, who also betrayed him). They condemn the couple's actions, mentioning their unworthy relationship. Now their power gives them every right to take revenge on their offenders.
  • What happens next action development. The reader learns the history of these people, their difficult and bitter lot. Now their thirst for revenge is justified.
  • Climax occurs in the sixth chapter, where the squad stumbles upon Vanka and Katka and opens fire to kill. Katka dies, Vanka escapes.
  • Denouement lasts for all subsequent chapters. The reader sees internal conflict Katka's former boyfriend and his choice to serve the revolution.
  • Epilogue can be considered the twelfth chapter, where it turns out that Jesus Christ is leading the murderers.

What is the poem about?

  1. First chapter. It's freezing outside, passers-by barely trudge along the frozen roads, slipping and falling. On a rope that stretches from one building to another, there is a poster with the revolutionary slogan: “All power Constituent Assembly! The old woman wonders why so much material was wasted - it would be useful for making children's clothes. He grumbles and complains that “the Bolsheviks will drive him into a coffin.” A long-haired man scolds someone as “traitors”, says that “Russia perished”, it is quite possible that the author meant the writer. For such speeches, the narrator immediately calls him a bourgeois - a representative of the privileged class, an oppressor of honest people. A lady in karakul, in a conversation with another, complains that they “cryed, cried”, slipped and falls. The wind carries the words of the prostitutes: at their meeting they decided “ten for the time, twenty-five for the night... And don’t take less from anyone!..” A tramp walks along a deserted street. The chapter ends with the poet revealing the essence of what is happening in the poem “12”: “Anger, sad anger Seething in the chest... Black anger, holy anger... Comrade! Keep your eyes peeled!"
  2. Second chapter. Twelve people are having a noisy conversation about how Vanka and Katka are sitting in a tavern, calling Vanka “bourgeois.” They remember that before “he was ours, but he became a soldier.” All these people - with a cigar in their teeth, a crushed cap, an ace of diamonds on their back (prison tattoo) - are dysfunctional, depressed by the burden of living in poverty, and therefore they are angry. They challenge the old “fat-assed” Rus' - the village, where the peasants still cling to their rickety huts and do not risk going against the authorities. They hate such flabby and submissive Rus'.
  3. Third chapter. Here we talk about the bitter soldier's fate of twelve fighters. All of them served on the bleak front of the First World War. They blame the bourgeoisie who sent them to fight for their troubles. Now, to spite them, they are fueling the world fire of revolution.
  4. Chapter four. Twelve heroes continue to patrol the streets. And then a carriage rushes by, where Vanka and Katka are sitting. Vanka in a soldier’s overcoat, “twirling his black mustache.”
  5. Fifth chapter. This is Vanka’s monologue, which reminds her friend of her status as a kept woman. Under Katka’s chest, the scar from a stab wound has not yet healed; she used to “walk around in lace underwear,” “fornicate with officers,” and was even involved in the murder of one of them. The soldiers see her as a traitor. She always turned her nose up at the poor, sold her love to the nobility, and now it was her turn to pay for her easy life.
  6. Chapter six. Twelve Red Guards attack the couple and shoot because Vanka was walking with a “stranger girl.” Vanka runs for his life, Katka falls dead in the snow.
  7. Seventh chapter. Twelve move on, not attaching any importance to what happened. Only Petrukha, who killed Katka (his ex-girlfriend), became gloomy and sad. His comrades console him, but he remembers: “I loved this girl.” The others admonish him, demand that he “keep control over himself,” and remind him that “now is not the time to babysit you.” Petrukha makes a strong-willed effort and “he throws up his head, he’s cheerful again.”
  8. The eighth chapter is a song full of sadness and melancholy about how Petrukha and others like him will take revenge “for the sweetheart” of the bourgeoisie. They blame them for destroying the girls with their lust, killing their dignity, leaving only a corrupt body.
  9. Ninth chapter. There are no more policemen, no noise can be heard, and the bourgeoisie at the crossroads “has his nose hidden in his collar,” and nearby “a lousy dog ​​is huddling with its coarse fur, its tail between its legs.” The author compares these images, because now the former master of life has become homeless and useless to anyone. His time has passed, he, like the dog, is living out his last days.
  10. Chapter ten. A snowstorm begins, and you can't see anything. Petrukha remembers God on this occasion, but his comrades laughed at him: “What did the Golden Iconostasis save you from?” They remind him that Petrukha is now a murderer, and he should not remember God.
  11. The eleventh chapter is devoted to the characteristics of the detachment, which embodies the features of the entire proletariat: “And they walk without the name of the saint, All twelve - into the distance. We’re ready for anything, we don’t regret anything.”
  12. Twelve walk through the blizzard, noticing someone, threaten with violence, start shooting: “And only the echo responds in the houses.” Their detachment is led by Christ: “So they walk with a sovereign step - Behind is a hungry dog, Ahead - with a bloody flag, And unknown behind the blizzard, And unharmed by a bullet, With a gentle tread above the blizzard, A scattering of snow pearls, In a white corolla of roses - Ahead - Jesus Christ " This is how the poet divides reality into past, present and future. The past is a hungry dog, that same insatiable bourgeois who was led into a dead end by greed. The present is turmoil and lynching of aggressive insurgent works. The future is a just and merciful world, which is marked by revolution.
  13. The main characters and their characteristics

    There are not many heroes in the work that can be talked about, but all of them, of course, are symbolic images. Blok embodied much more in them than characters. IN characters eras, classes, elements are displayed, and not real characters.

    1. Twelve- a detachment of Red Army soldiers who patrol the streets. This main character poems. All its components are former soldiers, representatives of the poorest families, where parents, like children, disappeared from morning to evening in factories as cheap work force. Blok demonstratively depersonalizes them in order to give their totality a symbolic subtext. They are not people, but a revolutionary force, an element that has engulfed all of Russia. This is rage bursting from the chests of the people at those who for centuries have trampled them into poverty and ignorance. They are so poor and blind that they are completely devoid of individuality and are accustomed to keeping in line. First, collective life in the corners (parts of the room fenced off with rags), then the same uniform for everyone mechanical work at the factory, then a soldier’s uniform and endless, routine barracks life, and now “a torn coat”, “a cigarette in the teeth”, “a wrinkled cap”, “black belts”. Nobody considered them to be individuals, so they did not become one. Their marginal behavior is a mark like the ace of diamonds on their back. It was given to them from birth by those who used their slave position for their own enrichment. But now this mark has played against those who put it. “Golotba” rose up and rebelled against the oppressors, and their anger was similar to that heavenly judgment seat that descended on the sinful earth, which the apostles predicted.
    2. Jesus Christ. The key to understanding this image is the phrase: “World fire in the blood, God bless!” For Blok, the destruction of a decrepit, rotten world is a beneficial act. At one time, Jesus was also a revolutionary, he also went against the old world, therefore he is the leader of the martyrs for the fate of humanity, fighters for the transition to better life, fighters against the “Caesars” and their greedy retinue. People rose up to make things better, just as Christ came into the world to change it.
    3. Petrukha- one of the Twelve, the one who lost Katka’s love and took revenge on her for it. Using his example, the author shows the transitional stage between a man of the past and a man of the future. The hero has not yet fully decided; there are still remnants of yesterday in him. He has not forgotten how to believe in God, is not used to killing, has not completely joined the team, so the detachment reproaches him for being soft. He also cannot drown out his tender feeling and is grieving the death of his beloved. However, Blok describes how easy it is to force someone from the common people to become a faceless mechanism of someone else’s system. As soon as his comrades ridicule or scold him, he immediately adapts to them, because in this unity he gains the strength that made the revolution.
    4. Vanka- a former friend of the Red Army soldiers, who went over to the side of the tsar’s minions. This is the image of a modern Judas Bloc, who sold his friends, becoming a gendarme and a servant of the hated government. He, like the greedy traitor from the Gospel, escaped punishment for sin by cowardly running away and leaving Katya to be torn to pieces by the crowd. The author again reproduces this historical injustice, drawing parallels between his text and biblical traditions. Judas again escapes his retribution, but not for long, because Christ himself condescended to administer his judgment.
    5. Katka- former girlfriend of one of the twelve - Petrukha. While the groom risked himself at the front, she became a kept woman of wealthy gentlemen, and in hard times she did not disdain even a simple gendarme. The poem speaks disparagingly about her: “she walked around in lace underwear,” “fornicated with officers,” “Mignon ate chocolate.” This description is very similar to thieves’ songs like “Gopstop” (“you wore squirrel fur coats, crocodile skin, laid everything for the colonels...”). The image of Katka is the archetypal embodiment of the harlot, at whom Jesus suggested throwing stones only to those who are not sinners. He saved the girl with his intervention, but in the poem “The Twelve” no one rescued the victim. This is due to a peculiar logic: there is no place for it in the new realities. Women corrupted and destroyed by lustful rich people remain in the old time, in the new, when everyone is equal, this will no longer happen. The death of a girl means not only a new stage in the development of society, but also the purification of her soul and body. With her blood she washed away the shame, and since Christ is here, she certainly has a chance to be reborn to a renewed and blameless life.
    6. Bourgeois- a man wrapped in the collar of his own coat and predicting the death of Russia. This is an image of the old time, which collapsed under the onslaught of the new. We see that the rich man is weak because he is lonely and abandoned, because his ill-gotten wealth was lost in the “robbery of the loot.” Now he can only complain about fate, the people have turned against him and yesterday’s way of life, when he was at the forefront.
    7. The image of a bourgeois is associated with way stray dog , they are now soul mates. The owner of life found himself next to an old, shabby dog, both of them are relics of the past. They have nowhere to go, their refuge has been destroyed. They can only drag out their few days in desolation and joyless barking. The dog whines and howls as vainly as the long-haired man reviles the new government. Here Blok ironically plays on the proverb “the dog barks, the caravan moves on.” The revolution can no longer be stopped by verbal research.
    8. Old woman- the heroine from the first chapter, who laments the waste of fabric on banners. She is a symbol of the commercialism and limitations of the old era. New people do not mind rags for an idea; spirit is more important to them, not matter. The ladies are also ridiculed, who also only chirp, feel sorry for themselves, but do nothing.

    Subject

    The subject matter of the work is very diverse and atypical for the author. Blok is an idealist. After the events of 1917, a turning point came in his work. Real life turns out to be more cruel and rude than his ideal ideas about her. Due to a painful collision with reality, he began to work in a new way, the works already expressed the anguish in his receptive consciousness, and not the abstract ideals of his youth.

  • Theme of revolution. The revolution in the poet's understanding is a destructive element (images of wind, blizzard). Representatives of the old world rush about and do not know peace, finding themselves superfluous in the new world. A typical comparison is between a “bourgeois” and a bald stray dog. The storm deprived these people of shelter, name, position, they were scattered like snow flakes. The anarchic nature of the actions of the twelve and their ideology emphasizes spontaneity, unbridled and uncontrollable energy social movement October revolution.
  • Anti-clerical orientation(refrain “Eh, eh, without a cross!”). Christianity in the poem is part of a degenerate culture that is subject to destruction. The heroes ridicule the traditions and dogmas of the old faith, outraged by the commandments. But in the finale, twelve people walk “without the name of a saint,” and Jesus Christ leads them. The contradiction has been explained in different ways. Firstly, Blok, according to many researchers, meant the Antichrist in order to show how people were mistaken, how they are moving away from the truth, mistaking infernal power for a mission (this is just one interpretation of the image of Christ). By denying faith, the people denied themselves. However, the author, no matter how he felt about it, could not turn a blind eye to the widespread and demonstrative atheism. Secondly, a version has already been voiced that Christ is perceived by the people separately from the hypocritical church, which supported the tsarist regime. His teachings were distorted and used against people. And now he has come into the world again to make it finally fair.
  • Change of moral guidelines. The poem seriously discusses a meeting of prostitutes who decide to set uniform prices for customer service. Discussed, but not condemned. For Russian literature, this topic is generally taboo, and even more so its justification. However, the new era dictates its own rules, and the first of them is honesty. The shackles of censorship have been lifted, we can and should talk about what worries people.
  • Theme of revenge. It is revealed in the actions of the detachment, which recalls old scores with Vanka and Katka. The reprisal was dictated by personal motives of jealousy and resentment. While the heroes treacherously adapted to the regime, the Red Army soldiers endured poverty and injustice. The time has come for the old world to pay off these bills; the people rebelled and could not build a just state without righteous retribution.
  • The theme of ignorance. It can be traced at the level of stylistics of the poem, which incorporates criminal songs, street slang and even particles of folklore.

Problems

The tragedy of Blok’s worldview in that period is a consequence of his insight. The poet becomes hateful and disgusted with the vulgar, soulless life of the crowd of ordinary people, who are always and everywhere in the majority. He sees salvation from it in the destructive elements that destroyed the peaceful sleep of “fat-assed” Rus' and set it in motion. That is why the issues in the poem “The Twelve” so dramatically reflected the social cataclysms of that time.

  • Amoralism(murder of Katka, indifferent attitude twelve to murder, ubiquitous weapons and threats to use them). The heroes are hostile to generally accepted traditional morality; they deliberately go against it. What does Blok mean by the murder of Katya? There are two interpretations: 1. Katka symbolizes the vice that the twelve, led by Christ, are eradicating in her person. 2. Katka’s death is a symbol of the first blood of an innocent victim, a gloomy prophecy of a bloody civil war where thousands of civilians will suffer.
  • Death of the old world(lady in karakul, bourgeois, Vanka). All of these characters are being viciously persecuted and have now switched places with the formerly oppressed class. Grandma is a symbol of the old world, which has outlived its usefulness. At the same time, many critics believe that this image symbolizes common sense, which revolutionaries do not recognize in their desire to throw slogans.
  • The Problem of Nihilism and destruction of moral foundations. Gradually, Blok’s internal catastrophe finds theoretical justification in the philosophy of Nietzsche, which was carried away by many symbolists. The German thinker argued that civilization develops cyclically, just like culture. The dilapidated, degenerate system will be replaced by destruction and the complete negation of all previous values ​​and all old foundations. The barbarian hordes will destroy all moral and moral principles of the past era, created and imposed on people by it, but thereby “clearing the place” for the emergence new culture and a new civilization.
  • Poverty and desolation of the country. Depleted by cataclysms, Rus' is empty, like a snow-covered street. There is destruction, cold and terrifying restlessness of the people all around. Change is symbolized by a blizzard, the descriptions of which already give you chills. But the blizzard is also a symbol of purity, a global process and the painful cleansing of the country from filth.

The meaning and idea of ​​the poem

The poem “12” is the deepest interpretation of reality. The work reflects real events which Blok witnessed (the harsh winter of 1918, fires in the streets, Red Guards who patrolled the streets, Speaking those times with characteristic jargon and abbreviations). the main idea The poem “The Twelve” is that the author expressed his views on history, the essence of civilization and culture in the language of symbols. The revolutionary message is that the poet embodied the impressions of an eyewitness to the revolution, which determined the history of Russia. But what these impressions are is more difficult to say. Their emotional coloring is determined by the ending, which can be interpreted in different ways. The analysis of the text depends on this interpretation. Read Blok’s own opinion under the heading “criticism.”

The meaning of the ending of the poem “12” is ambiguous; there are two main interpretations:

  1. At the head of the procession is Jesus Christ, as the first revolutionary who went against tradition. Like Christianity, the new era requires sacrifice, so the Twelve took on the mission of the inquisitors or Prince Vladimir, who baptized Rus' with blood and sword. The world cannot be changed without violence, as the history of the introduction of religion shows, for example. Therefore, the new apostles (of which there were also 12, this is another proof: a reference to the Bible) take on the cross to change the world for the better.
  2. At the head of the procession is the Antichrist, as the last harbinger of the apocalypse, who leads people to spiritual and physical destruction. Revolution is the collapse of the world, it leads to a fratricidal war and complete decline in a prosperous country. Twelve is a symbol of the destructive power of revolution, which destroys everything in its path. A man in a crowd loses face, becomes a blind weapon like a rifle, which is used the mighty of the world this in order to place his elite on a pedestal.

The final

The Red Army soldiers quenched their sadness in an act of vengeance, Petrukha cast aside doubts and stopped grieving. The twelve move on, and their procession knows no time: “And the blizzard casts dust in their eyes all day and night long...”. An attached mangy dog ​​can barely keep up with them - a symbol of the old world already familiar to us. The Red Army soldiers try to scare him with bayonets so that he will get rid of their procession. This is also symbolic: new people are driving away the old world.

Suddenly the heroes notice a mysterious silhouette in the darkness. They open fire on the unknown vision, trying to figure out what it is. They do not know that He is not afraid of shots and blows. “So they walk with a sovereign step - behind is a hungry dog, in front with a bloody flag<…>Jesus Christ".

Criticism

The poem caused a huge resonance in society, forever depriving the poet of the understanding and support of many friends. The old regime intellectuals did not understand it, nor did the supporters of the new government. She convinced some that Blok was a traitor and a hypocrite, others that he did not understand the true spirit of the revolution and mixed it with dirt. In a word, he remained misunderstood even in emigration, when he clearly upset his relations with the Bolsheviks.

The illustrator of the poem “12,” Yuri Annenkov, was one of the first to speak about the work in some detail:

In 1917-18, Blok was undoubtedly captured by the spontaneous side of the revolution. “World fire” seemed to him a goal, not a stage. The world fire was not even a symbol of destruction for Blok: it was “the world orchestra of the people’s soul.” Street lynchings seemed to him more justifiable than legal proceedings. “Hurricane, constant companion of revolutions.” And again, and always - Music. "Music" with a capital letter. “Those who are filled with music will hear the sigh of the universal soul, if not today, then tomorrow,” said Blok back in 1909

The poet himself confirmed this guess. He denies accusations of conformism and sycophancy, speaking of an inspired impulse that found completion in the scandalous work. He was offended that even his colleagues and friends did not understand him. He writes about this in his memoirs already in exile.

In January 1918, I surrendered to the elements for the last time, no less blindly than in January nine hundred seventh or March nine hundred fourteen. That is why I do not renounce what was written then, because it was written in accordance with the elements, for example, during and after the end of “The Twelve”, for several days I felt physically, with my ears, a great noise around me - a continuous noise (probably the noise from the collapse of the old world) . Therefore, 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

Of course, the poet was not sure that he did not repent of what he had written. From abroad, he followed what was happening in Russia and was depressed by its condition, which worsened day by day. Red terror Civil War, the reaction that began after the revolution could not please him. In despair, he recalled his inspired impulse, but the music in his soul died down. That is why, before his death, he begs his wife to burn all copies of the poem “The Twelve.” So he renounced his famous and tragic hymn to the October Revolution.

He had reasons to be upset even during his lifetime. At one of the rallies against the Red Terror and political repression, people chanted the insult at him: “Traitor!” There were also his old friends, Anna Akhmatova, Olga Sudeikina, Arthur Lurie, who did not stand up for his honor. Further - more: the same Akhmatova, and with her the poet Sologub, demonstratively refuse to participate in the event where his poem is mentioned in the program. Gumilyov reacted even more radically, claiming that Blok, having written “12,” “crucified Christ a second time and shot the sovereign once again.” He especially criticized (a detailed essay was written) that the image of Christ was defamed by such proximity. The author responded calmly and mysteriously:

I don't like the ending of The Twelve either. I wish this ending had been different. When I finished, I myself was surprised: why Christ? But the more I looked, the more clearly I saw Christ. And then I wrote down to myself: unfortunately, Christ.

Warnings rained down on him from all sides. The friendlier Andrei Bely also addressed his friend with a message:

I read You with trepidation. “Scythians” (poems) are huge and epoch-making, like the Kulikovo Field”... In my opinion, you are too carelessly playing other notes. Remember - they will “never” “forgive” you... I don’t sympathize with some of your feuilletons in the “Banner of Labor”: but I am amazed at your courage and courage... Be wise: combine courage with caution.

These words turned out to be prophetic: the poetess Zinaida Gippius, in her address to Blok, exclaims that she will never forgive his betrayal. Bunin did not forgive either, giving a devastating review, outlining a detailed interpretation of not only the book, but also the actions of its author:

Blok went over to the Bolsheviks, became Lunacharsky’s personal secretary, after which he wrote the brochure “The Intelligentsia and the Revolution” and began to demand: “Listen, listen to the music of the revolution!” and composed “The Twelve,” writing in his diary for posterity a very pathetic fiction: as if he composed “The Twelve” as if in a trance, “all the time hearing some noises - the noises of the fall of the old world.”

Unflattering characterizations of the poem and even direct threats against Blok were also heard from politicians. The head of the White Army, Admiral Kolchak, promised to hang the author of “The Twelve” after the victory. But the Bolsheviks were in no hurry to praise the book. The Commissioner for Theater Affairs forbade the poet's wife to read the work aloud, arguing: “They praise what we, old socialists, fear most.” The government's reaction did not end there. In 1919, the creator was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and released only at the personal request of the influential official Lunacharsky. Then the muse turned away from him, he no longer heard the music and stopped writing poetry.

Only a few understood and accepted the position of the creator, for example, Meyerhold, Academician S. F. Oldenburg, Remizov and Yesenin. In their opinion, new job Blok was not understood, since all readers were accustomed to the poet’s extremely serious work. This is how reviewer Viktor Shklovsky explained this idea:

Twelve” is an ironic thing. It is not even written in a ditty style, it is done in a “thieves’” style. The style of a street couplet like Savoyar’s (the work of a famous chansonnier of that time)

The opinion of critics is confirmed by the fact that the author personally brought his wife to the concerts of the joker Savoyarov, who performed everything, be it a song or a poem, in the ragged style of a tramp. Using his example, he showed her how to read his work out loud.

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