Images and symbols in the poem The Bronze Horseman. The meaning of the name is based on the poem The Bronze Horseman (Pushkin A.S.). The system of symbols in the poem “The Bronze Horseman”

13.04.2020

Poem by A.S. Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” is the artistic result of the poet’s reflections on the personality of Peter I, on the “St. Petersburg” period of Russian history. According to Pushkin, maximum opportunities autocratic power were embodied in the historical figure of the first Russian emperor. Along with other important philosophical issues, in his work the poet considers the issue of the consequences of the unlimited power of one person over many, the need to observe the eternal laws of morality and morality by the “lords of the world”, therefore Peter is one of the main characters of the poem.

In order to make the image of Peter “the pure embodiment of autocratic power,” in other words, a symbolic image, the poet replaces the personality of the emperor himself with his statue, which is one of the most interesting artistic solutions of the poem. The real-life monument to the emperor by Etienne Maurice Falconet was erected on Senate Square in St. Petersburg by decree of Catherine II. The sculptor’s work is based on an allegory: the rider symbolizes autocracy, and the rearing horse symbolizes Russia, the Russian people, who were “bridled” by Peter. It is noteworthy that with its hind legs the horse crushes a snake (a symbol of Russia’s ill-wishers) and thus Falcone compares the emperor with St. George the Victorious. Pushkin turns the sculptor’s allegory into a symbol: the image of an “idol on a bronze horse” cannot only be understood as the personality of Peter I. This image is much broader and carries “the contours of great philosophical meaning” (V.G. Belinsky).

Despite the fact that the monument by Falconet is made of bronze, Pushkin calls the statue “The Bronze Horseman”. The epithet “copper” is extremely important for revealing the image of Peter and understanding ideological meaning poems as a whole. Copper has a reddish tint - the color of blood, indicating the cruelty and despotism of the emperor, his indifference to human sacrifice in solving problems of national importance. Literary scholar Yu.B. Borev rightly noted: “Plausible bronze would be out of place here. It is too sonorous, light and noble metal in comparison with heavy, dull and base copper.”

By the time he wrote the poem, Pushkin fully realized the destructiveness of absolutism for Russia. Despite the fact that Eugene does nothing to interfere with either the undivided power of Peter or the course of history, he is destroyed by the state machine and the course of historical progress. The reader sees that absolute power overtakes and destroys the “little man.” From this point of view, the episode of Eugene’s pursuit by a “proud idol” is indicative: the hero “runs and hears behind him - as if thunder roars.” This is exactly how it must feel" small man"under the pressure of the tyrant who controls his fate. Therefore, unlike the monument by Falcone, where Peter is majestic (heroic pathos), in the poem “The Bronze Horseman” he is also terrible and mysterious: “He is terrible in the surrounding darkness! What a thought on my brow! In addition, Pushkin hints at the uncertainty of the future fate of the horse spurred by Peter and rushing swiftly (the symbol of Russia): “Where are you galloping, proud horse, and where will you put your hooves down?” This question, the answer to which the poem does not give, is its main problem.

The Bronze Horseman is a symbol of state will, the energy of power freed from the human principle. Peter is a great reformer, a “wonder-working builder”; at the wave of his hand, Petersburg “ascended”. But the emperor’s brainchild is a miracle created at the cost of human sacrifice. The city, which grew “from the darkness of the forests, from the swamps of blat”, is ill-suited for life. The catastrophic flood is the result of a collision between civilization and nature, of which poor Evgeniy turns out to be a victim. And the tamer of the elements Peter becomes the culprit of this conflict. “Strict, slender” Petersburg, fraught with destructive power, personifies the personality of its creator.

So, the innovation of Pushkin’s poem lies in the objective depiction historical figure Peter the Great. The main idea that guides the poet in understanding the activities of the autocrat is the following statement: “The difference between the state statements of Peter the Great and his temporary decrees is surprising. The first are the fruits of an extensive mind, full of benevolence and wisdom, the second are often cruel, capricious and, it seems, written with a whip.” (“History of Peter the Great”, 1833). This understanding of the image of the reformer king is reflected in his material embodiment - the majestic and “bloody” Bronze Horseman. Peter, like his “material face,” really “raised Russia on its hind legs,” but he did it with an “iron bridle,” and even “over the very abyss.” Thus, the heroic pathos of Falconet’s allegory in Pushkin’s poem materializes into a tragic one.

When getting acquainted with the extensive scientific literature about Pushkin - articles and books written long ago and in recent years - a strange fact attracts attention - the lack of interest of various researchers in the extremely important area poetics of Pushkin. What is not studied - moreover, is systematically left in the shadows - is what, as they say, lies on the surface, what is visible to anyone who reads Pushkin - those poetic images of a special nature in which the deep, truly suffered and aspiring Pushkin's thought into the future. I mean Pushkin's images and symbols.

The use of symbols is characteristic of all of Pushkin's works. During the Lyceum period, they were included in poetry as a tribute to the poetic tradition of the beginning of the century; in the years after the lyceum, romantic aesthetics suggested its symbols (the sea and the thunderstorm as symbols of rebellious freedom - “Where are you, the thunderstorm is a symbol of freedom ...”) and determined the symbolization of biblical and mythological images to justify the high mission of the poet in the dark years of the Nicholas action, which began...immediately after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising (“Prophet”, “Arion”, etc.). Symbols in realistic works - “The Bronze Horseman”, “The Queen of Spades”, “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel” - have special poetic power and deep content.

It is impossible not to notice Pushkin’s symbols. But it turns out; they can not be explained, ignored when analyzing works, completely bypassed their symbolic beginning, or limited to a simple statement of the fact of the presence of symbols in a particular work.^ Pushkin’s idea is known that true criticism “is based on perfect knowledge of the rules that guide the artist or writer in his works". Without this knowledge, the artist's creations cannot be understood. The use of symbols was Pushkin’s “rule”, which guided him in many of his works. It is unacceptable to ignore this Pushkin “rule”.

Meanwhile, ignoring it is an objective fact that requires its own explanation. And the first thing that becomes clear is that not only Pushkinists do not explain the symbols; a similar situation is observed in the scientific literature devoted to the realistic literature of the 19th century in general. The symbols of Gogol and Turgenev, Nekrasov and Tolstoy, Lermontov and Dostoevsky are not the subject of in-depth study. Why is this so?; Apparently, the point is in the very problem of the symbol, in the nature of its scientific understanding, in the history of its existence in various aesthetic systems over many centuries

The truth is obvious and indisputable to everyone that already at the dawn of the formation human thinking symbols spontaneously formed - and this was a natural phenomenon, since it reflected a person’s desire to understand reality. The same patterns determined the use of symbols in the field of art. In each new era, the very understanding of the symbol, its nature and function was determined by the nature of the knowledge achieved by humanity. That is why, for example, in the Middle Ages it was religious symbols that were the main means and weapons of the artist. There is a huge amount of information about symbols in medieval art. scientific literature. Academician D. S. Likhachev recently wrote in detail and interestingly about the nature of artistic symbols in Russian medieval literature in his book “The Poetics of Old Russian Literature.” Generally obvious high scientific level methodological approach to symbols in pre-realistic literature. And the main works on symbols relate specifically to literature and art before the establishment of realism.

The use of symbols in Romantic literature is recognized. True, the closer scientists come to realism, the more clearly their restraint and wary attitude towards the symbol begins to appear. So, romanticism, although limited, uses the symbol for both reactionary and progressive purposes. Author historical information avoided answering the question - how did the new artistic method relate to the symbol? Is it characteristic of realism, a direction based on scientific knowledge, use symbols, or is the appearance of symbolic images in this or that realist writer explained solely by the peculiarity of his artistic individuality?

Modernists gave the symbol a mystical function, adapted it for intuitive insight into the essence of truth, which, according to their ideas, is rationalistically incomprehensible, for the knowledge of “super-being.” That is why they began to treat the symbol with caution, considering that it was the modernists who revealed its secret essence. The symbol turned out to be disconnected from the image, deprived of its main content - to be a powerful means of understanding reality.

Of course, a symbol can also act as a trope and be closely related to its, so to speak, “neighbors” - metaphor and allegory (in this case, it is very important to establish both the connection and, above all, significant differences). But reducing it to a trope practically deprives it of its function as a cognitive tool. True, the same dictionary says, as if by the way, that “a symbol is also called an artistic image that embodies with the greatest expressiveness the features of a phenomenon, its defining role.” But not a word is said about the uniqueness of the cognitive function of the symbol-image; everything is reduced to a definition - they call it an artistic image.

The system of symbols in the poem “The Bronze Horseman”

History of the monument

The model of the equestrian statue of Peter was made by sculptor Etienne Falconet in -. Peter's head was sculpted by his student, Marie-Anne Collot. According to Falconet's design, the snake was sculpted by Fyodor Gordeev. The casting of the statue was carried out under the direction of master Emelyan Khailov and was completed in 1778. Architectural and planning decisions and general management were carried out by Yu. M. Felten.

In August 1766, the Russian envoy in Paris D. A. Golitsyn concluded a contract with the French sculptor Falconet, recommended to Catherine II by her correspondent, the philosopher-educator D. Diderot. Soon after Falcone's arrival in St. Petersburg, on October 15, 1766, work on the creation of the monument began in full swing. The workshop was set up in the former Throne Hall of the wooden Winter Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. The stone building of the former stables at the palace was adapted for Falconet's housing. At the beginning of 1773, Felten was appointed to help Falcone: he was supposed to replace Captain de Lascari, who was dismissed from work, and, in addition, by this time the supervision of a professional architect over the installation of the monument was needed.

"Thunder Stone"

It was not immediately possible to find suitable stones for the monument, and then the newspaper “St. Petersburg Vedomosti” published an appeal to private individuals who would like “to erect... a monument up the mountain and bring it here to St. Petersburg.”

A suitable stone was indicated by the state-owned peasant Semyon Grigorievich Vishnyakov, a supplier of building stone to St. Petersburg, who had known about this block for a long time and had the intention of finding a use for it for his own needs, splitting it into pieces, but did not find the necessary tool for this. He reported this to Captain Lascari, the head search work in this project.

The place where the Thunder Stone was found has not yet been precisely established. It is only known that it was a wooded and very damp place in the area of the village of Lakhta, and that the path of the stone to the loading site was approximately 8 versts, that is, approximately 8.5 kilometers. Considering that the path of the stone was changed several times, and it was not moved in a straight line, it should be expected that the stone was found in the following modern borders: in the west - the village of Lisiy Nos, directly to the north - to the present Ring Road, along the road and south of it to the east to the Chernaya River and then to the south through the Yuntolovskaya forest dacha, including its entirety, to the northern shore of the Lakhtinsky Razliv.

Transportation of "Thunder Stone"

The beginning of stone transportation required serious preparation. The recommendations developed by I. I. Betskoy were taken into account, and a study was carried out on the model of the “machine” proposed for transporting stone. It was found that the most appropriate solution was to place the stone on a wooden platform, rolled along two parallel channels, into which 30 five-inch balls were placed. Through experimentation, a sufficiently strong material for these balls was selected, consisting of a copper-based alloy, and the technology for its production was developed. A technological process has been developed for lifting stone using levers and jacks to place a platform under it. At the same time, special measures were taken to insure the stone from falling in an accident. Removing it required the work of thousands of people, for whom the village was built. The stone weighed 1600 tons. Its transportation to the shore of the Gulf of Finland was carried out by several gates. The winter months were chosen for transporting the stone, when the soil was frozen and could withstand the weight. By order of Catherine, the stone was to be delivered to the site intact. The 46 stonemasons who worked on the stone constantly during the entire movement only gave it the proper shape.

This unique operation lasted from November 15, 1769 to March 27, 1770. The stone was delivered to the shore of the Gulf of Finland, where a special pier was built for its loading. When the water is low, the remains of this pier can be seen near the shore not far from a broken boulder lying at the very edge of the water.

Transportation of the stone by water was carried out on a vessel specially built for this purpose according to the drawing of the famous shipwright Grigory Korchebnikov and began only in the fall. The giant “Thunder Stone”, with a huge crowd of people, arrived in St. Petersburg on Senate Square on September 26, 1770. To unload the stone from the bank of the Neva, a technique that had already been used during loading was used: the ship was sunk and sat on piles prudently driven into the river bottom, which made it possible to move the stone to the shore.

Despite all the measures taken, during the entire journey, emergency situations were repeatedly created that threatened the collapse of the entire enterprise, which was followed with interest by the public throughout Europe. Nevertheless, work managers always found a way out of the situation. In honor of the transportation of the stone, a commemorative medal was stamped with the inscription “Like daring.”

This transportation was truly unique and has been unique until now: this was the movement of the largest monolith (the largest not only in its original form, but even in its final, hewn form) ever moved by man, and monoliths of at least comparable mass were moved only in ancient times .

Monument

Opening of the monument to Peter the Great. Engraving by A.K. Melnikov from a drawing by A.P. Davydov, 1782

There is an assumption that the legend of Major Baturin formed the basis of the plot of A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Bronze Horseman”. There is also an assumption that the legend of Major Baturin was the reason that during the Great Patriotic War the monument remained in place and was not hidden, like other sculptures.

Literature

Bakmeister, I. G. Librarian Imp. Academy of Sciences translation of an article from Neues St. Petersburgisches Journal" (1782. Vol. 4. pp. 1-71), published as a separate edition in 1783 ("Nachricht von der metallenen Bildsäule Peters des Grossen"). Russian edition 1786.
Architectural monuments of Leningrad. - L.: Stroyizdat, 1975..
Knabe G.S. Imagination of the sign: The Bronze Horseman of Falcone and Pushkin. - M., 1993..
Ivanov G. I. Stone-Thunder. Historical story. - St. Petersburg: Stroyizdat-SPB, 1994. - 112 p. - ISBN 5-87897-001-5.
Toporov V.N. On the dynamic context of three-dimensional works of fine art (a semiotic view). Falconet monument to Peter I // Lotmanov collection. 1. M., 1995.
Proskurina V. Petersburg myth and the politics of monuments: Peter the Great to Catherine the Second // New Literary Review. - 2005. - № 72.
Report to Empress Catherine II from the Senate on the location for erecting a monument to Emperor Peter the Great / Communication. Jean-Janque // Russian antiquity, 1872. - T. 5. - No. 6. - P. 957-958.

Notes

Links

The Bronze Horseman in the Wedding Encyclopedia

Images on Wikimedia Commons

Bronze Horseman (fragment)

In August 1766, the Russian envoy in Paris, Dmitry Golitsyn, entered into a contract with the French sculptor Falconet, recommended to Catherine II by her correspondent, the enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot. Soon after Falcone's arrival in St. Petersburg, on October 15 (26), work on the creation of the monument began in full swing. The workshop was set up in the former Throne Room. The stone building of the former stables at the palace was adapted for Falconet's housing. At the beginning of 1773, Felten was appointed to help Falconet: he was supposed to replace someone who had been dismissed from work, and, in addition, by this time the supervision of a professional architect was needed for the installation of the monument.

"Thunder Stone" [ | ]

The thunder stone was found in the vicinity of the village of Konnaya Lakhta. After it was removed from the ground, the pit was filled with water, and a reservoir was formed that has survived to this day - Petrovsky Pond (since 2011 - a protected area). The path of the stone to the loading site was 7855 meters.

Transportation of "Thunder Stone"

The winter months were chosen for transporting the stone, when the soil was frozen and could withstand the weight. This unique operation lasted from November 15 (26) to March 27 (April 7). The stone was delivered to the shore of the Gulf of Finland, where a special pier was built for its loading.

Transportation of the stone by water was carried out on a ship specially built according to the drawings of the famous shipwright Grigory Korchebnikov, and began only in the fall. The giant “Thunder Stone”, with a huge crowd of people, arrived in St. Petersburg on Senate Square on September 26 (October 7). To unload the stone from the bank of the Neva, a technique that had already been used during loading was used: the ship was sunk and sat on piles previously driven into the river bottom, which made it possible to move the stone to the shore.

The work on cutting the pedestal was carried out while the stone was moving, until Ekaterina, who visited Lakhta and wanted to see the movement of the stone, prohibited its further processing, wanting the stone to arrive in St. Petersburg in its “wild” form without loss of volume. The stone acquired its final form already on Senate Square, having significantly lost its original dimensions after processing.

Monument [ | ]

Opening of the monument to Peter the Great. Engraving by A.K. Melnikov from a drawing by A.P. Davydov, 1782

The monument to Peter I already at the end of the 18th century became the object of urban legends and jokes, and in early XIX century - one of the most popular themes in Russian poetry.

The Legend of Major Baturin[ | ]

There is an assumption that the legend of Major Baturin formed the basis of the plot of A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Bronze Horseman”.

“Poor Pavel!” [ | ]

In St. Petersburg folklore, there is a widespread legend about the vision of the ghost of Peter the Great to the future Emperor Paul I at the place where the Bronze Horseman is now located.

One evening, Pavel, accompanied by his friend Prince Kurakin, was walking through the streets of St. Petersburg. Suddenly a man appeared ahead, wrapped in a wide cloak. It seemed that he was waiting for the travelers and, when they approached, he walked next to them. Pavel shuddered and turned to Kurakin: “Someone is walking next to us.” However, he did not see anyone and tried to convince the Grand Duke of this. Suddenly the ghost spoke: “Paul! Poor Pavel! I am the one who takes part in you.” Then the ghost walked ahead of the travelers, as if leading them along. Approaching the middle of the square, he indicated the place for the future monument. “Goodbye, Pavel,” said the ghost, “you will see me here again.” And when, leaving, he raised his hat, Pavel saw Peter’s face with horror.

As a textual analysis of the legend shows, it dates back to the memoirs of Baroness von Oberkirch. The Baroness describes in detail the circumstances under which Paul himself publicly, albeit against his will, told this story. Bearing in mind the high reliability of the memoirs, based on many years of diary entries and the friendship between the baroness and Maria Feodorovna, Paul’s wife, most likely the source of the legend is indeed the future sovereign himself.

Did Paul view this story as an entertaining anecdote made up for the occasion? From the memoirist's point of view, this is not so. G. von Oberkirch reports that a month and a half after the memorable dinner, Pavel received a letter from St. Petersburg. The letter reported on the grand opening of the monument to Peter the Great, later known as the Bronze Horseman. According to G. von Oberkirch, although the sovereign tried to smile while reading the letter, deathly pallor covered his face.

In culture [ | ]

The Bronze Horseman and the “mystical Petersburg text”[ | ]

The motif of the Bronze Horseman is placed by Russian literature at the very center of the “mystical St. Petersburg text”, imbued with duality and surrealism.

“The Bronze Horseman” owes its name to the work of the same name by A. S. Pushkin. The official Evgeniy, who lost his beloved Parasha in the flood of 1824, wanders around St. Petersburg unconscious. Having stumbled upon a monument to Peter the Great, the hero understands that it was the sovereign who was to blame for his disasters - he founded the city in a place prone to floods and alien to humans. Eugene threatens the monument, and the Bronze Horseman jumps off his pedestal and rushes after the madman. Whether the bronze idol is carried in the sick mind of the official or in reality is unclear.

The same motive is conveyed in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Teenager”: “And what if this fog scatters and goes up, won’t this whole rotten, slimy city go away with it, rise with the fog and disappear like smoke, and will the old Finnish swamp remain, and in the middle of it, perhaps for beauty’s sake, a bronze rider on a hot-breathing, driven horse?” .

Finally, the famous mystic and spirit seer of the 20th century Daniil Andreev, describing one of the hellish worlds in “Rose of the World”, reports that in infernal Petersburg the torch in the hand of the Bronze Horseman is the only source of light, while Peter is sitting not on a horse, but on creepy dragon.

Commemorative coins [ | ]

In 1988, the State Bank of the USSR issued a commemorative coin of 5 rubles with the image of the monument to Peter I (Bronze Horseman) in St. Petersburg. The coin is made of copper-nickel alloy with a circulation of 2 million copies and weighs 19.8 grams

The Bronze Horseman, a monument sculpted by Falconet, was an allegorical image of Peter and his deeds. Long before the opening of the monument, back in 1768, by order of Catherine II, its plaster model was put on public display, and the newspapers published the official interpretation of the allegory and listed the “properties” of the monument. “To know the properties of the statue now being made by Mr. Falconet, one must know that Emperor Peter the Great is depicted running quickly up the steep mountain that makes up the base, and stretching out right hand to his people. This stone mountain, which has no other decoration other than its natural appearance, symbolizes the difficulties suffered by Peter I; with the galloping of a runner - the rapid course of his affairs. The Right Hand of the Fatherland requires no explanation.”

The Bronze Horseman - an image-symbol - is the ideological center of the poem. All the events of the St. Petersburg story are connected with it, Eugene’s life irresistibly leads him to the monument, the theme of the city naturally closes on the monument to the one by whose “fatal will” the city was founded. Finally, the flood that broke out in the capital also threatened the monument; “the flood played” in the square where the Bronze Horseman stood, and “predatory waves crowded, rioting angrily around him.” The “vicious rebellion” of the “predatory waves” against the bronze horseman highlighted the main metamorphosis of the image of Peter. The living personality of Peter in the Introduction turned into a monument, an idol in the Petersburg Tale. The living is contrasted with the dead, standing out in its bronzed imperial grandeur.

This is just a statement of duality. The question is: why has St. Petersburg become a city of bondage? – is not put, yes, and was not yet realized by Pushkin. In “The Bronze Horseman” the question is posed and the answer is given: the spirit of bondage is characteristic of the city as a citadel of autocracy. This answer, as a result of artistic research, is most fully given in the symbolic image of the monument.

Radishchev was the first to introduce the huge theme of the Bronze Horseman into literature: he was present at the opening of the monument on August 7, 1782 and in “A Letter to a Friend Living in Tobolsk, but to the Duty of His Title” he gave a description of the “powerful horseman”, and most importantly, not limiting himself to guessing “the thoughts of the sculptor ” and the meaning of his allegory (which means “the steepness of the mountain”, the snake “lying on the way”, the head “crowned with laurels”), wisely interpreted the activities of Peter I.

The thought of the dual nature of St. Petersburg had long tormented and worried Pushkin. She also broke through in a small lyric poem in 1828:

After the Introduction, the Petersburg Tale begins, the plot of which is the life and death of a resident of the capital, the little official Eugene. And immediately the appearance of the city changes - the image-symbol acquires even greater scale, its content is enriched and intensified - it appears in its new face.

A new image-symbol appears - a monument, a statue, an idol on a bronze horse. He, too, turns out to be merged with the new face of the city - the stronghold of autocracy, highlighting the different face of Peter - the emperor. In the two faces of the city, appearing in the image-symbol, the contradictory figure of Peter is manifested - a wise man-doer and an autocratic emperor. What the people created turned out to be turned against them - the capital of the empire personifies the power of the autocrats, their inhumane policies. The symbolic image of the city acquired an acutely political character when the symbol of the capital city intersected and interacted with the symbolic image of the monument, the Bronze Horseman.

The city is lush, the city is poor,
Boredom, cold and granite.
Spirit of bondage, slender appearance,

What is this new face of the city? Petersburg appears as a stronghold of Russian autocracy, as a stronghold of autocracy; it is fundamentally and consistently hostile to man. The capital of Russia, created by the people, turned into a hostile force both for himself and for the individual V person. That is why gloomy, dark colors appear, rivers that disturb the imagination (“Over the darkened Petrograd November breathed the autumn chill”), the Neva became formidable, foreshadowing misfortune (“Splashing with a noisy wave At the edges of its slender fence, the Neva rushed about like a sick person in its bed restless"), the streets were homeless and anxious (“It was already late and dark; The rain beat angrily on the window, And the wind blew, howling sadly”).

The vault of heaven is green and pale,

Radishchev gave an answer to the question why any monarch, including an enlightened one, cannot express the interests of the people: “And I will say that Peter could have been more glorious, exalting himself and exalting his fatherland, asserting private freedom; but if we have examples of kings leaving their dignity in order to live in peace, which happened not from generosity, but from the satiety of their dignity, then there is no example until the end of the world, perhaps there will be no example of a king voluntarily letting go of anything from his power, sitting on the throne"