Lesson topic: “A.A. Block. Poem "Twelve" ". This poem was the most controversial work of the author.
For Blok, revolution is a method of upheaval that will "melt the old world." The poem "The Twelve" is what Blok heard in the revolution. To V. Mochulsky (researcher of Blok's creativity) said: “The dark night of the revolution, twelve robbers, bloody massacre, robberies and murders,“ the rumble of the collapse of the old world ”, and yet this is“ a hymn to joy ”; the sounds, rhythms of the poem are drunk with the intoxication of freedom, unbridled and unrestrained, like a rebellious element. "
V. Mayakovsky asked Blok's opinion about the revolution, he replied that he liked it, only the library was burned. Blok is shocked by the deaths of Shingarev and F. Kokoshkin.
The poet writes: "Everything inside is trembling." It was on this day that he began to write the poem "The Twelve".
I'm already with a knife
Strip, strip! ..
Rice. 2. Illustration for the poem "Twelve" ()
This is how the poem begins.
Alexander Blok in his poem "The Twelve" outlined three main forces, three worlds. Three, not two, as one might expect. Along with the heroes of the "terrible" and "old" world and the Red Guards, there is one more power, light and pure, embodied in the image of Jesus Christ. We see that Blok's attitude to the revolution and the birth of a new world is far from unambiguous.
Blok reveals in the poem the terrible truth of the "cleansing power of the revolution": inhumanity, general bitterness, the manifestation of baseness and vices in man. As a result - the loss of pure human feelings and the "holy name", hatred and blood.
The author does not seek to put on the heads of the Red Guards "corollas of roses", but, on the contrary, attaches on their backs "an ace of diamonds" - a sign of convicts. But at the same time, Blok is in no hurry to accuse them of all human sins, emphasizing the negative influence of the “old” world with its inhuman morality: the one who has the power is right.
In the poem "The Twelve", as a reflection of the three forces, we observe the trinity of heaven, wind and earth. Each of these components has its own symbol and color. The sky is white from the snow reflected in it, and Jesus Christ is a symbol of this heavenly purity. The earth is "painted" in black, the color of the "terrible" world, and the embodiment of black is bourgeois, "lady in karakul", "writer-whiteness", pop. But the red color is the wind of the revolution, it "twists the skirts, mows the passers-by."
Comparison of old, pre-revolutionary Russia with the old "mangy" dog is not accidental. Shortly before writing the poem, Blok turned to Goethe's Faust. Before the appearance of the devil, Faust picked up a black poodle on the street. (This personification of Satan is repeatedly found in the works of both foreign and Russian writers.) Apparently, this Goethe poodle became the prototype of the "mangy dog", and with it the whole "old" and "terrible" world.
As for the image of the "twelve", here the opinions of researchers of Blok's work differ: some compare the picket of the Red Guards with the twelve apostles of Christ, others - with the twelve robbers of Ataman Kudeyar from the poem by N.A. Nekrasov. Blok himself said that he just liked this number, besides, the picket of the Red Guards initially consisted of twelve people. Twelve Red Guards are walking confidently and unstoppable across the city. They have completely merged with the bloody whirlwind of the revolution. They will not tolerate confusion and vacillation in their ranks. After the murder of Katka, Petrukh awkwardly, but honestly, humanly regrets what he had done and turns to his comrades for help. However, his repentance causes pity in his comrades first, and then anger and bitterness altogether:
And the circle closes: the freedom given by the revolution gave birth to an even more terrible world. Now people who have merged in a blood-red vortex are difficult to stop (if at all possible), because they are taking revenge for their past to everyone. This is where their strong connection with the "scary" world is clearly traced, the "mangy" dog does not lag behind in any way.
But in this circle someone appears who is initially mistaken for the enemy. Until it is visible, it is ghostly. And only at the very end of the poem, this someone will appear before everyone in the image of Christ. But until this moment, it is not clear who will take the flag of the revolution and lead people further: God or the devil. And, picking up the bloody flag, Christ the Savior lays upon Himself the sins of the revolution and leads the lost from darkness and bloodshed.
All three forces, as in a panorama, pass before us in the finale of the poem: in front "in a white crown of roses" Jesus Christ, behind Him "are walking with a sovereign step" twelve Red Guards, "behind is a hungry dog." But Christ does not walk on the earth, but "with a gentle tread on the wind."
It was in the image of Christ, "with a bloody flag" in his hands, "with a gentle gait overhead" who carries sinful people along with Him, and Blok embodied both his expectation of the revolution, and his faith in its cleansing power, and his disappointment in it, and the acquisition of new faith - belief in the moral regeneration of people: through love and forgiveness a person will be reborn to a new life.
The poem opens with a picture of winter, alarmingly wary Petrograd, through which the wind is blowing - angry, cheerful, merciless. Finally, he broke free and can take a long walk in the open! .. He is now the true owner of these squares, streets, back streets, he swirls whirlwinds of white snow, and it is so difficult or even impossible for passers-by to resist his gusts and blows, under his frantic onslaught. This is the wind in the most direct and literal sense of the word, but it is also a symbol of a roaming and merciless element, in which the spirit of the revolution, its formidable and beautiful music, is embodied for the poet. Woe to those who want to resist her and drive her underground again: he will perish in her indomitable stream - and we see the creator of The Twelve in the poem as an enthusiastic singer of an indomitable element. In vain are the adherents of the past trying to glue the fragments of the shattered to smithereens, to fight the raging blizzard - their attempts are absurd and ridiculous, because there is no such force in the world that could turn the wheel of history back to the old, already completely traversed track!
The images of people who turned out to be complete bankruptcies, deaf to the majestic and formidable rumble of the flow of the revolution, are displayed in the poem with tremendous satirical force. Here the artist exposes all their squalor, impotence, their confusion in the face of unprecedented historical events, everything that makes their claims to remain “masters of life”, those “masters of thought” as they imagined themselves to be incredibly ridiculous and ridiculous.
Even if they are dark and ignorant, even if their hands are covered in blood and filth and they themselves do not yet fully realize the entire height and holiness of their feat, their great deed, but they unswervingly and selflessly serve him; no matter what they think, no matter what they talk about, no matter what they are now busy or entertained, they still invariably and inevitably return to the thought of him, worry about him and, like the roar of a stormy and indomitable stream, it bursts into their conversations , covering all other sounds, does not allow one to be distracted for a minute, for the "twelve" themselves are completely captured by the fervor and pathos of the struggle against the "restless enemy."
Rice. 3. Katka from the poem "The Twelve" ()
That is why their conversation about Katka, about the soldier Vanka who betrayed him, not distinguished by excessive decency, is replaced by rifle fire ("Tra-ta-ta!"), Again reminding of the very main thing for which "our guys", the heroes of the poem, went "To serve in the red guard":
Comrade, hold the rifle, don't be afraid!
Let's fire a bullet into Holy Russia -
Into the condo,
To the hut,
Into the fat ass!
Now the time has come to deal with all the old order, with humility, with obedience, "holiness", with the spirit of non-resistance to evil - it is at him that Blok's heroes are ready to "shoot a bullet". They clearly realize that many of them will not survive the events that are shaking the whole world - that is why their conversation, which began with the most common and even base objects, takes on a completely different character; motives of the broadest social scale inevitably burst into it, appeals are heard in it addressed to the entire working people, who for the first time in the world have taken power into their own hands:
Revolutionary keep pace!
Restless enemy does not sleep!
These appeals, orders, slogans, picked up and recalled, like the lines of an inviolable and holy covenant, by millions of working people, are replaced by the poet's heartfelt, lyrically agitated reflections on the fate of the "twelve" - and not only about them, but about all those who with his blood and his life he is ready to defend the great achievements of the revolution:
How did our guys go?
To serve in the red guard -
To serve in the red guard -
Lay down the riot!
The heroes of the poem go into battle for the revolution “without the name of a saint”, and their saying is “eh, eh, without a cross!”; they are atheists, for whom even the mere mention of Christ, of "salvation" evokes a mockery:
Oh, what a blizzard, save me!
Petka! Hey, don't lie!
What saved you from
Golden iconostasis?
And yet the work that they do, not sparing their blood and life itself, for the sake of the future of all mankind, is right and sacred. That is why the god invisible by the Red Guards - in accordance with the views of Blok - is nevertheless with them, and at the head of them the poet sees one of the hypostases of the deity - the god-son:
In a white corolla of roses -
Ahead is Jesus Christ.
with a gait over the road ".
Rice. 4. Image of Christ ()
It is in the image of Christ,
If the "terrible world" was in the eyes of the poet the embodiment of evil, was drowning in "demonic darkness", then it means that the forces opposing it and destroying it cannot but be in the end good, bright, holy, no matter how unattractive one or their other visibility; that is why the poet speaks not just of the anger boiling in the chest of the heroes of his poem, but of “holy malice” - and the embodiment of holiness in the eyes of Blok was the image of Christ, which the poet sought to “sanctify” the revolution.
Christ in Blok's poem is the intercessor of all the oppressed and disadvantaged, all who were once “driven out and beaten”, carrying with him “not peace, but a sword” and who came to punish their oppressors and oppressors. This Christ is the embodiment of justice itself, which finds its highest expression in the revolutionary aspirations and deeds of the people - no matter how severe and even cruel they may look in the eyes of another sentimentally inclined person. This is the Christ with whom, without knowing it, the Red Guards, the heroes of Blok's poem, are walking. Of course, such an interpretation of moral issues is caused by the poet's idealistic prejudices, but they should also be taken into account if we want to understand the image that completes his poem.
Rice. 5. Illustration for the poem "Twelve" ()
The whole action of the poem is rapidly developing, as if driven by the gusts of an indomitable storm, and the image of a blizzard, a blizzard, a blizzard, an uncontrollably roaming element seems to frame all events here - from the beginning to their solemn completion; her hum, her whistle, her howl constitute a formidable chorus that accompanies all the vicissitudes of the tragedy taking place before our eyes "in the whole world of God." An indomitable wind rushes into the poem, inspires or knocks down its heroes, becomes one of the most active characters - and as if it is precisely this “discordant whirlwind” that determines the structure of the poem, its character - passionate, impetuous, unrestrained, sweeping away any predetermined limit and changing the flow of the story in the most unexpected way. This echoes in its own way in the sounding of the verse - relaxed, free, unusually bold, conversationally unconstrained, alien to any predetermined canons and sizes; the poet is ready to use or discard any of them, as long as it corresponds to the truth of a living, immediate and constantly changing feeling; so the element of the wind becomes the element of the poem itself.
The poem is striking with such an inner breadth, as if the whole raging raging, just breaking the centuries-old fetters, washed in blood, Russia was contained on its pages - with its aspirations, meditations, heroic impulses into the boundless distance, this Russia is a storm, Russia is a revolution, Russia is a new hope of all mankind - this is the heroine of Blok, whose power attaches great importance to his poem.
So high was the creative upsurge experienced by the poet that the drafts of the poem "The Twelve" had not yet dried out, but he was already writing an unusually significant - in its acuteness and topicality - poem "Scythians", in which the acute sense of modernity was combined in the most whimsical and contradictory way , forcing the poet to challenge the European bourgeoisie, which saw the October Revolution as a mortal threat to itself, and clearly idealistic prejudices that have long been inherent in the poet; Blok's poem bears the stamp of V. Solovyov's views on Russia as a "shield" between East and West, and the poet says, addressing his European contemporaries:
Millions for you. Us - darkness and darkness and darkness.
Try it, fight with us!
Yes, we are the Scythians! Yes, Asians - we -
With slanting and greedy eyes!
The poet assures: if Europe does not respond to the call of his "barbarian lyre" inviting her "to a fraternal feast of labor and peace," then she will have to deal with the "Mongolian wild horde", which will leave nothing of her Paestums, of her centuries-old culture , from its very existence. At the same time, the poet persistently and relentlessly appealed to the peoples of Western European countries, whose ruling classes were already plotting campaigns against the revolution, with an inspired and generous appeal:
Come visit us! From the horrors of war
Come into peaceful embrace!
Before it's too late - an old sword in a sheath,
Comrades! We will become - brothers!
But to the invitation to a "feast of labor and peace", the governments of Western European countries responded with active support of the White Guard hordes, counter-revolutionary uprisings, intensified preparations for the intervention, which they soon carried out on a huge scale, unfolded from the Black Sea to the White Sea, from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean. on the fronts stretching for many, many thousands of miles.
It is important to emphasize here that the poet, in his own way, from his own positions, supporting the peaceful policy and the peaceful initiative of the Bolsheviks, came to the correct conclusion: it is true - with the Bolsheviks, the war must be ended, and those who want to wage the war "to a victorious end" - these are truly people who "disgraced themselves", "lied to", unworthy of the title of man (in the words of the poet himself).
On January 29, 1918, Blok writes "Today I am a genius." But after that he stopped listening to the "music of the revolution."
The poem "The Twelve" is not formally included in Blok's "trilogy", but connected with it by many threads, it became a new and highest stage of his creative path. "... The poem was written at that exceptional and always short time when a sweeping revolutionary cyclone produces a storm in all seas - nature, life and art." It was this "storm in all seas" that found its condensed expression in the poem. All of its action unfolds against the backdrop of unleashed natural elements. But the basis of the content of this work is a "storm" in the sea of life.
Blok's poem "Twelve" as perceived by Blok's contemporaries. Building the plot of the poem, Blok makes extensive use of the technique of contrast.
"The poem created a whole storm: two currents, one enthusiastic and sympathetic, the other - hostile and malignant - fought around this work ..." - says the biographer of the poet M. A Beketov ("Alexander Blok", 1922, p. 256), and the storm caused by this poem lasted for years.
Rice. 6. K.M. Sadovskaya. Photo of the 1900s. ()
Even from the memoirs of the poet's most embittered enemies and slanderers (not to mention other sources!) It is clear that the poem "The Twelve" turned into an event of a huge scale and its lines during the civil war became posters, banners, slogans that rose above the demonstrations seen on trains rushing to the fronts - and with them the soldiers of the Red Army went to fight the White Guards and interventionists.
“Yesenin called, told about yesterday's“ morning of Russia ”in the Tenishevsky hall, Gisetti and the crowd shouted at him, A. Bely and mine -“ traitors ”. Do not shake hands. The cadets and the Merezhkovskys are terribly angry with me ... "
After the appearance of "The Twelve" and the article "The Intelligentsia and the Revolution", which caused incredible fury in the camp of the counter-revolution, which was also joined by many of the writers of the revolution, "he could decisively and calmly say to them:
“Gentlemen, you have never known Russia and you have never loved it!
The truth hurts my eyes. "
Here, by the truth, Blok meant everything bitter, harsh, merciless that was thrown in their faces by those people who until so recently dressed up in the toga of heralds and "prophets" of the revolution, and now furiously reviled it at all corners and crossroads.
Make a quotation plan.
Bibliography
1. Chalmaev V.A., Zinin S.A. Russian literature of the twentieth century .: Textbook for grade 11: 2 hours - 5th ed. - M .: OOO 2TID "Russian Word - RS", 2008.
2. Agenosov V.V . Russian literature of the 20th century. Methodical manual M. "Bustard", 2002
3. Russian literature of the 20th century. Textbook for those entering universities M. uch.-nauch. Center "Moscow Lyceum", 1995.
A. Block (collection of material) ().
Black evening.
White snow.
Wind, wind!
There is no man standing on his feet.
Wind, wind -
All over the world!
The wind curls
White snow.
There is ice under the snow.
Slippery, hard
Every walker
Slides - oh, poor thing!
From building to building
The rope is stretched.
On the rope - a poster:
The old woman is killing herself - crying
Doesn't understand in any way what it means
What is such a poster for
Such a huge flap?
How many footcloths would come out for the guys,
And everyone - undressed, shoes ...
The old lady is like a chicken
Somehow I rewound over the snowdrift.
- Oh, Mother Intercessor!
- Oh, the Bolsheviks will drive you into the coffin!
The wind is whipping!
The frost is not far behind!
And the bourgeois at the crossroads
He hid his nose in the collar.
Who is this? - Long hair
And he says in a low voice:
- Traitors!
- Russia is lost!
Must be a writer -
Vitia ...
And there is the long-skirted one -
Sideways and behind a snowdrift ...
What is not funny today,
Comrade pop?
Do you remember how it used to be
I walked forward with my belly,
And shone with a cross
Belly on the people?
There is a lady in karakul
I turned up to another:
- We were crying, crying ...
Slipped
And - bam - stretched out!
Ay, ay!
Pull, lift!
The wind is cheerful.
And angry and happy.
Twists the hem
Passers-by mows.
Tears, crumples and wears
Big poster:
"All power to the Constituent Assembly!"
And the words convey:
... And we had a meeting ...
... Here in this building ...
... Discussed -
Resolved:
At the time - ten, at night - twenty-five ...
... And don't take less from anyone ...
…Let's go to sleep…
Late evening.
The street is emptying.
One vagrant
Slouches,
Let the wind whistle ...
Hey poor fellow!
Come -
Let's kiss ...
Of bread!
What's ahead?
Come on in!
Black, black sky.
Malice, sad malice
Boils in my chest ...
Black malice, holy malice ...
Comrade! Look
Both!
The wind is blowing, the snow is fluttering.
Twelve people are walking.
Rifle black belts
All around - lights, lights, lights ...
In the teeth of a cigarette, they will crush the cap,
You need an 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 in the tavern ...
- She has Kerensky in a stocking!
Vanyushka himself is now rich ...
- 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 ...
Shrug off - rifle belts ...
Revolutionary keep pace!
Restless enemy does not sleep!
Comrade, hold the rifle, don't be afraid!
Let's fire a bullet into Holy Russia -
Into the condo,
To the hut,
Into 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 -
Lay down the riot!
Eh you, grief-bitter,
Sweet life!
Torn coat,
Austrian gun!
We are on the woe to all bourgeois
Let's fan the world fire
World blood fire
God bless!
The snow is twisting, the reckless driver is screaming,
Roly with Katka is flying -
Electric flashlight
On shafts ...
Oh, oh, go down!
n in a soldier's overcoat
With a stupid face
Twists, twists a black mustache,
Yes twists
Yes, joking ...
That's how Vanka is - he is broad-shouldered!
That's how Vanka - he is eloquent!
Katka-fool hugs
Speaks ...
I threw back my face
Teeth sparkle with pearls ...
Oh you, Katya, my Katya,
Fat-faced ...
On your neck, Katya,
The scar did not heal from the knife.
Under your chest, Katya,
That scratch is fresh!
Eh, eh, dance!
It hurts the legs are good!
I walked in lace underwear -
Walk, walk!
Fornicated with officers -
Get lost, get lost!
Eh, eh, wander!
My heart skipped a beat in my chest!
Do you remember, Katya, the officer -
He did not get away from the knife ...
Al didn't remember, cholera?
Ali's memory is not fresh?
Eh, eh, refresh
Put to sleep with you!
I wore gray leggings,
The Minion ate chocolate.
I went for a walk with the cadets -
Have you gone with the soldier now?
Eh, eh, sin!
It will be easier for the soul!
... Again the gallop rushes towards,
The reckless driver is flying, screaming, screaming ...
Wait, wait! Andryukha, help!
Petruha, run from the back! ..
Fuck-tararah-tah-tah-tah-tah!
Snowy dust swirled up to the sky! ..
The daredevil - and with Vanka - on his run ...
One more time! Cock the hammer! ..
Fuck-bangers! You will know
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How to walk with a stranger girl! ..
Leaked, scoundrel! Oh wait, wait
I'll deal with you tomorrow!
And where is Katka? - Dead, dead!
Shot through head!
What, Katka, are you glad? - No gu-gu ...
You lie, carrion, in the snow!
Revolutionary keep pace!
Restless enemy does not sleep!
And again there are twelve,
Behind him is a rifle.
Only the poor killer
Not to see a face at all ...
Faster and faster
Drops a step.
I wrapped my scarf around my neck -
Will not recover in any way ...
What, comrade, are you not cheerful?
- What, my friend, was dumbfounded?
- What, Petruha, hung up his nose,
Or did you feel sorry for Katka?
Oh, comrades, relatives,
I loved this girl ...
The nights are black, intoxicating
I spent with this girl ...
Because of the prowess of the trouble
In her fiery eyes
Because of the crimson mole
Near the right shoulder,
I ruined, stupid,
I ruined it in the heat of the moment ... ah!
Look, you bastard, started a hurdy-gurdy,
What are you, Petka, woman, eh?
- True soul inside out
Have you thought of turning it out? Please!
- Maintain your posture!
- Keep control over yourself!
It's not such a time
To babysit you!
The burden will be heavier
To us, dear comrade!
And Petruha slows down
Hasty steps ...
He throws his head up,
He cheered up again ...
Eh, eh!
Having fun is not a sin!
Lock the floors
There will be robberies today!
Open the cellars -
Nowadays there is a lot of people walking around!
Oh, you grief-bitter!
Boredom is boring
Mortal!
I’m just about time
I will, I will ...
I’m a little bit
Scratch, scratch ...
I’m seeds
Half-half, half-half ...
I’m with a knife
Strip, strip! ..
You fly, bourgeois, like a funnel!
I'll drink some blood
For the sweetheart
Chernobrovushka ...
Rest in peace, Lord, the soul of your servant ...
I can't hear the noise of the city
There is silence over the Neva tower,
And there is no more the policeman -
Walk, guys, no wine!
There is a bourgeois at the crossroads
And hid his nose in the collar.
And next to it, it clings to hard wool
Lousy dog with its tail between its legs.
The bourgeois stands like a hungry dog,
It stands as silent as a question.
And the old world, like a rootless dog,
Stands behind him, tail between his legs.
Something blizzard broke out,
Oh, blizzard, oh, blizzard!
Not to see each other at all
In four steps!
Snow curled like a funnel,
The snow rose like a column ...
Oh, what a blizzard, save me!
- Petka! Hey, don't lie!
What saved you from
Golden iconostasis?
You are unconscious, right,
Think, think sensibly -
Ali's hands are not bloody
Because of Katka's love?
- Keep the revolutionary step!
The restless enemy is near!
Forward, forward, forward,
Working people!
... And they walk without a saint's name
All twelve are into the distance.
Ready for anything
It's not a pity ...
Their rifles are steel
On the invisible enemy ...
Into the back alleys,
Where one blizzard is dusting ...
Yes, in downy snowdrifts -
You won't drag your boot ...
Beats in the eyes
Red flag.
Is distributed
Measured step.
Here - will wake up
Fierce enemy ...
And the blizzard is dusting in their eyes
Days and nights
All the way! ...
Go-go,
Working people!
... They walk in the distance with a sovereign step ...
- Who else is there? Come out!
This is the wind with a red flag
Played out ahead ...
Ahead - a cold snowdrift.
- Who's in the snow - come out!
Only a hungry beggar dog
Waddles behind ...
Get off you, you mangy,
I'll tickle with a bayonet!
The old world is like a lousy dog
Fail - I will beat!
... grins his teeth - the wolf is hungry -
The tail is tucked in - does not lag behind -
A cold dog is a rootless dog ...
- Hey, answer, who's coming?
Who is there waving the red flag?
- Look closely, what a darkness!
- Who walks there with a cursory step,
Burying behind all the houses?
Anyway, I'll get you
You better surrender to me alive!
- Hey, comrade, it will be bad,
Come out, let's start shooting!
Fuck-tah-tah! - And only an echo
Responsive in homes ...
Only a blizzard with a long laugh
It floods in the snow ...
Fuck-tah-tah!
Fuck-tah-tah!
... So they walk with a sovereign step -
Behind is a hungry dog.
Ahead - with a bloody flag,
And we are ignorant behind the blizzard,
And unharmed by the bullet,
With a gentle gait,
Snowy pearl,
In a white corolla of roses -
Ahead is Jesus Christ.
Many consider the poem "Twelve" to be the main work in the work of Blok. 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" is a characteristic feature of the verse.
The plot is based on the detour of the Red Army patrol, consisting of twelve people. The people who represent the birth of a new world are cold-blooded criminals and murderers for whom nothing is sacred. They are driven by an extreme hatred of everything that the old society symbolizes. Until now, the true attitude of Blok to the created characters is not completely clear. In the memoirs and works of Soviet writers, the main characters were excessively idealized. 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 Russia."
The poem is oversaturated with bloodthirsty sadistic slogans and phrases: "world fire in blood", "shot through the head", "I will drink blood" and many others. etc. The speech of the main characters is replete with rudeness and swearing.
The patrol itself looks like a completely pointless action. The Red Army does not have any specific goal. They, like vultures, want to find any excuse for robbery or murder.
With some unhealthy stubbornness, Blok constantly introduces Christian images into the text of his work. The number of "heroes" is equal to the number of the apostles. "Black malice" is equated with "holy malice". All the monstrous deeds of the revolutionaries are accompanied by the wish "Lord, bless!" Finally, the leader of a gang of murderers and thugs drunk with blood becomes the main symbol of 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 ambiguous feelings. Only an incorrigible fighter for a general revolution or a mentally abnormal 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 strip it with a knife, strip it with a knife" somehow does not combine with "rest, Lord, the soul of Your servant." There are opinions that Blok simply mocked the new system, but he himself did not confirm this. It is known that the poet had a desire to burn his poem.
Year: 1918 Genre: poem
Alexander Blok is a famous contemporary poet, creative personality of the Silver Age. It was he who wrote the work under the genre: a poem, and called it very unusual and briefly "Twelve".
Petrograd, the events take place in the winter of 1917-1918. It was at this time that everything was confirmed by the revolution.
People, the poorest and the most impoverished, suffer from hunger and cold, as winter, as usual in Russia, turned out to be unusually cold with frosts. On the streets there are many military men, soldiers, and people, already accustomed to such turns of events, are almost not surprised at anything. Only just - and they continue to curse the Bolsheviks, who brought them so much grief. And at the rallies, someone brave all says that Russia is a devoted country. And people all continue to live just like that, because as you know, there is no other way out.
You can meet anyone among the passers-by - on the streets of St. Petersburg, since it is precisely the need that forces people to climb out of small houses when they do not want to do anything. So, walking down the street, no matter which one, you can even meet a priest, a minister of the church, who frowns with displeasure, and sadness covers his portly face, many old women tramping on the streets among the crowd. Or, somewhere, an expensive shawl will flicker, and some lady will pass by, flicker. The weather gets worse, the wind starts to blow harder, clouds are approaching, and people begin to hide in their homes.
Once a detachment of twelve people walked through the city exactly. They are sadly discussing their former friend, Vanka, who, for the sake of money, got along and began to live with a girl alone, named Katka. Friends of the military are unhappy, because he was supposed to together with them - to protect the people, the country. But instead, he lives happily ever after, not caring about anyone but himself. Friends call him a bourgeois.
And at this time - Vanka and his Katka are walking, drinking in taverns. When they rode in their carriage, they laughed and rejoiced. Everyone saw them, as they rode along the main roads in a carriage, shouting to the right and left. Arriving home, Vanka began to remind Katya of her duty to him, since she had once killed an officer. Then Vanka demands, blackmailing her, that she go to bed with him.
Once, when the next time they rode together again, they ran into a detachment of twelve people who did not let them in or kept silent. They attacked them, trying to kill Vanka, an unfaithful comrade, bourgeois. But they did not succeed in doing this, since a cabman rescued Vanka, taking him out from under a hail of bullets. But they did not manage to save Katka, as they killed her by shooting her in the head. She remained lying on the white snow.
Orphaned in infancy, Tristan, having reached adulthood, goes to Tintagel to the court of King Mark, his relative. There he performs the first feat, kills the terrible giant Morgolt, but is wounded
An old hunter, a forest watchman, saw how a lynx killed a roe deer. He wanted to kill the predator, but by shooting, he only wounded him. In a fight with the beast, the old man killed him. It was the mother of a small lynx, Murzuka, who was later tamed by the old man
In the center of the plot is 50-year-old Stepan. His son died during the civil war, leaving eight of his children in the care of Stepan. Events unfold on the Dubrovinsky farm, where crop failure and famine have come. To somehow feed people
Action 1. Olympiada Bolshova, or Lipochka as she is affectionately called, has reached the age when it’s time to get married. This girl sits all day with a book, looking out the window, but her thoughts are not at all about what she has read, but about dancing.
"Peddlers" is a poem by Nikolai Nekrasov, written in 1861. It tells about the fate of itinerant merchants - peddlers. They carried their goods in a box, which they put on over their shoulders like a backpack, hence their name.
The action takes place in revolutionary Petrograd in the winter of 1917/18. Petrograd, however, acts both as a concrete city and as the center of the Universe, a place of cosmic cataclysms.
The first of the twelve chapters of the poem describes the cold, snowy streets of Petrograd, tormented by wars and revolutions. People make their way along slippery slopes, considering slogans, cursing the Bolsheviks. At spontaneous rallies, someone - “must be a writer - Vitya” - speaks of a devoted Russia. Among the passers-by - "a cheerless comrade pop", a bourgeois, a lady in astrakhan fur, frightened old women. Scattered screams are heard from some neighboring gatherings. It gets dark, the wind is getting stronger. The state of the poet himself or one of the passers-by is described as "malice", "sad malice", "black malice, holy malice."
The second chapter: a detachment of twelve people is walking through the city at night. The cold is accompanied by a feeling of complete freedom; people are ready to do anything to protect the new world from the old - "let's fire a bullet into Holy Russia - into a condo, into a hut, into a fat ass." On the way, the soldiers are discussing their friend - Vanka, who has converged with the "rich" girl Katka, they scold him "bourgeois": instead of defending the revolution, Vanka spends time in taverns.
Chapter Three is a dashing song, sung, obviously, by a party of twelve. The song is about how, after the war, in torn coats and with Austrian guns, the "guys" serve in the Red Guard. The last verse of the song is the promise of a world fire in which all the "bourgeois" will perish. The blessing for the fire is asked, however, from God.
The fourth chapter describes that same Vanka: with Katka, on a dashing pace, they rush through Petrograd. A handsome soldier hugs his girlfriend, says something to her; she, contented, laughs merrily.
The next chapter is Vanka's words addressed to Katka. He reminds her of her past - a prostitute who passed from officers and cadets to soldiers. Katka's wild life was reflected on her beautiful body - scars and scratches from the stabbing of her abandoned lovers. In rather rude terms ("Al, did you remember cholera?"), The soldier reminds a walking young lady about the murder of some officer, to whom she clearly had a relationship. Now the soldier demands his own - "dance!", "Wander!", "Put to sleep with you!"
Sixth chapter: a reckless driver carrying lovers encounters a detachment of twelve. Armed people attack the sledges, shoot at those sitting there, threatening Vanka with reprisals for misappropriating the "strange girl". The dashing cab, however, takes Vanka out from under the shots; Katka with a bullet through her head remains in the snow.
A detachment of twelve people goes on, just as cheerfully as before a skirmish with a cabman, a "revolutionary step." Only the killer - Petruha - is sad for Katka, who was once his mistress. Comrades condemn him - "now is not the time to babysit you." Petruha, having really cheered up, is ready to move on. The mood in the detachment is the most militant: “Lock the floors, now there will be robberies. Open the cellars - nowadays there is a lot of people walking! "
The eighth chapter is the confused thoughts of Petrukha, who is deeply grieving about his shot friend; he prays for the repose of her soul; He is going to disperse his melancholy with new murders - “you fly, bourgeois, like a sparrow! I will drink blood for the sweetheart, for the blackbrow ... ".
Chapter nine is a romance dedicated to the death of the old world. Instead of a policeman, there is a freezing bourgeois at the crossroads, behind him - very well combined with this hunched figure - a lousy dog.
The twelve go on - through the blizzard night. Petka commemorates the Lord, marveling at the power of the blizzard. Comrades blame him for his unconsciousness, remind him that Petka has already been stained with Katka's blood, which means that there will be no help from God.
Thus, “without the name of a saint”, twelve people under the red flag are firmly moving on, ready at any moment to respond to the enemy's blow. Their procession becomes eternal - "and the blizzard dusts in their eyes all day and night ...".
Chapter twelve, the last one. A mangy dog is tied behind the detachment - the old world. The soldiers threaten him with bayonets, trying to drive him away. Ahead, in the darkness, they see someone; trying to figure it out, people start shooting. The figure, however, does not disappear, it stubbornly walks in front. "So they walk with a sovereign step - behind - a hungry dog, in front - with a bloody flag [...] Jesus Christ."
Retold
A poem in which Blok sought to convey the "music of the revolution." Contrary to the revolutionary pathos and unexpectedly for the author, the text found a religious finale, about which they immediately began to argue - and they still argue.
What is this book about?
A short poem in twelve chapters tells about a detachment of twelve Red Guards who patrol the streets of Petrograd, plunged into chaos. The Twelve strive to keep a clear revolutionary step, but the harmony of the procession is constantly disturbed - by a meeting with frightened townspeople, a sudden and bloody denouement of a love drama and, finally, by the very element of a blizzard, in which the Twelve meet a completely unexpected and startling Thirteenth.
Alexander Blok. Around 1900
When was it written?
In January 1918. The poem was a response to two revolutions: Blok experienced a surge of inspiration and finished the rough work in just a few days, but then made minor changes for a few more weeks.
How is it written?
At first glance, "Twelve" sharply differs from other works of Blok: the plot of the poem is fragmentary, folklore motives are involved, poetic dimensions traditionally not associated with high poetry, vernacular and vulgarisms: "Well, Vanka, son of a bitch, bourgeois, / My, try, kiss!" Careful reading reveals not only the connection between "The Twelve" with all of Blok's poetry, but also the amazing thoughtfulness of the compositional and prosodic Prosody - everything that has to do with the sound and rhythm of the verse: sound writing, metrics, intonation, pauses. devices of the poem, written, according to the author's myth, spontaneously.
What influenced her?
First of all, the October Revolution itself, which awakened Blok's desire to write after a long period of silence and forced him to rethink all his poetry (but, as Blok emphasized, did not betray it). The verse "The Twelve", which is close to the verse, is really dictated by contemporary Blok folklore - both traditional and urban. In The Twelve, many cultural contexts of revolutionary Russia are heaped up, quoted, parodied - from political slogans to the new jargon that has spilled onto the street. The poem's most complex image — Christ appearing in the finale — was influenced by many factors. Here is the personal story of Blok's God-seeking, which was formed in communication with Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Andrey Bely, Ivanov-Razumnik, and the texts well known to Blok (for example, "The Life of Jesus" by Ernest Renan, where Christ was brought out by an anarchist revolutionary), and the mystical, prophetic Possessing the power of prophecy, from the Greek prophētēs - prophet, soothsayer. the idea of a revolution that renews the world like the newest Testament.
Symbolist poets (from left to right): Georgy Chulkov, Konstantin Erberg, Alexander Blok and Fyodor Sologub. Around 1920
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The poem was published on March 3, 1918 in the Left Socialist-Revolutionary newspaper Znamya Truda - if Blok had lived until the 1930s, he would certainly have been remembered, but after the poet's death, The Twelve entered the center of the Soviet poetic canon, and the inconvenient place of the first publication was forgotten ... The first separate edition, illustrated by Yuri Annenkov, was published two months later by the Alkonost publishing house with a circulation of 300 copies. During the life of Blok, the poem was published a total of 22 times in the original and 15 times in translations (into French, English, German, Polish, Italian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian). It is known that Blok's French translations disappointed, but he liked Italian.
Cover of the first edition of The Twelve. Publishing house "Alkonost". Petersburg, 1918
How was she received?
The poem aroused sharp rejection among Blok's colleagues, who refused to recognize Soviet power: Ivan Bunin left derogatory comments about it, Zinaida Gippius broke off "public" relations with the Bloc; Anna Akhmatova, Fyodor Sologub and Vladimir Piast refused to participate in the evening at which Lyubov Blok read Twelve. Later Nikolai Gumilyov stated that with his poem Blok “crucified Christ for the second time and once again shot the Emperor” (although the poem appeared in print before the execution of Nicholas II). Anti-Soviet critics gave similar assessments.
However, the ambivalence of the poem, especially its finale, confused such unconditional apologists of the October Revolution as Vladimir Mayakovsky, and communist leaders - right up to Lenin, and critics and simply readers; teacher Adrian Toporov, who had read The Twelve to the Communards-peasants several times, stated that the poem remained for them “an insurmountable difficulty”.
The spontaneity, "folklore eternity" of the poem was enthusiastically perceived by Osip Mandelstam; the highest assessment of the poem was given by Sergei Yesenin; One way or another, "The Twelve" is reflected in the texts of Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva, Velimir Khlebnikov. The poem immediately entered the research of innovative philologists: Tynyanov, Eikhenbaum, Zhirmunsky. In general, "The Twelve" became the most discussed work of the poet during his lifetime: in 1918 alone, dozens of reviews were published.
Yuri Annenkov. Illustration for "The Twelve". 1918 year
After Twelve, Blok, as if stunned by his own poem, wrote only a few poems; the most notable of them - "Scythians" and "Pushkin House", in different ways echoes Pushkin's poetry. A supplement to The Twelve can be considered the 1918 essay Catiline, which “explores the psychology of the transformation of a troublemaker and criminal into a rebel and rebel " 1 Resin O. Prikhodko I. Comments. "Twelve" // Blok A.A. Complete works and letters: in 20 volumes. V. 5. Moscow: IMLI RAN; Science, 1999, p. 340. .
Disillusioned with the Bolshevik government, loaded with work that fatally undermined his health, did not receive permission to travel abroad for treatment, Blok died on August 7, 1921 from endocarditis - an inflammation of the inner lining of the heart. Before his death, he asked to destroy copies of the "Twelve"; in the spring of 1921, he wrote to Korney Chukovsky that Russia ate him "like a pig of its own pig." The death of Blok, which almost coincided in time with the death of Gumilyov, became a fatal stage in the minds of contemporaries, the end of an era - the one that would later be called the Silver Age.
After the death of Blok, "Twelve" remained the main Russian revolutionary poem, whose power was not killed by officialdom and school studies. Its rhythmic and lexical diversity makes it a favorite piece for actor's recitation - not always successful.
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What's going on in Twelve? Does the poem have a plot?
“Twelve” may - at first, the most superficial glance - seem like a collection of separate poems, sustained in different rhythms. This is exactly how, for example, one of the ill-wishers, Ivan Bunin, spoke about the poem: "Twelve" is a set of rhymes, ditties, sometimes tragic, sometimes dancing. " However, the plot is easily traced in the poem. Twelve Red Guards patrol the night blizzard streets of Petrograd, singing soldiers and revolutionary songs. At the center of their conversations is the beloved of one of the Twelve, the Red Guard Petrukha, a girl named Katka, who is cheating on him with her former comrade Vanka. The Red Guards meet lovers, who are being driven by a cabman in a sleigh, open fire. Vanka manages to escape, Katka is accidentally shot by Petrukha. He is tormented by melancholy and repentance, but, ashamed of the reproaches of his comrades, he looks cheerful and, in order to calm the melancholy, calls for robberies and pogroms. The Twelve continue their march, but they feel someone's presence nearby. Invisible to them, "unharmed by the bullet," Jesus Christ is walking ahead with a red flag.
Bolshevik military patrol on Nevsky Prospect. October 1917
Is "Twelve" a response to the October Revolution?
Yes. In the revolution, Blok saw the potential of an event capable of changing the entire "European air", the whole world, "fanning the world fire." "When such the ideas that are from time immemorial lurking in the human soul, in the soul of the people, break the fetters that bound them and throw themselves in a stormy stream, smashing dams, sprinkling extra pieces of banks, this is called a revolution, "he wrote in the article" Intellectuals and Revolution "- a manifesto important for understanding "Twelve". It is known that many poets of his circle accepted the position of Blok with hostility: few of the Symbolists, like Blok, were ready to cooperate with the new government. “I think that not only the right, but also their duty is to be tactless,“ tactless ”: to listen to that great music of the future, the sounds of which the air is filled with, and not to look for individual shrill and false notes in the majestic roar and ringing of the world orchestra, "Blok writes in the same article. In this vision of the revolution, there is more mysticism than politics. Blok shared it with a few - in particular, with the writer and critic Razumnik Ivanov-Razumnik Razumnik Vasilyevich Ivanov-Razumnik (real name - Ivanov; 1878-1946) - the author of the voluminous "History of Russian social thought". The whole history of Russian culture, according to Ivanov-Razumnik, is the struggle of the intelligentsia against the bourgeoisie; the mission of the revolution is to overturn the decrepit bourgeois world. In 1917, together with Andrei Bely, he edited the almanac "Scythians", the ideas of which are close to the poem of the same name by Blok. In the 1920s, he was constantly arrested and eventually sent into Siberian exile as an "anti-Soviet element." , conversations with whom influenced the "Twelve". Chaos, spontaneity, immenseness of the plan - what allows you to close your eyes to "false notes"; in "Intelligentsia and Revolution" Blok, in particular, justifies the very robberies from which the Twelve advise "to lock the floors":
“Why are they making holes in the ancient cathedral? - Because for a hundred years here an overweight priest, hiccupping, took bribes and sold vodka.
Why are they shitting in the dear to heart noble estates? - Because the girls were raped and flogged there: not at the master's, as at the neighbor's.
Why are centenary parks being felled? “Because for a hundred years, under their spreading lime trees and maples, the gentlemen showed their power: they poked a beggar in the nose with money, and a fool with education.”
Vladimir Mayakovsky recalled:
Yuri Annenkov. Illustration for "The Twelve". 1918 H“I remember that in the first days of the revolution I passed by a thin, bent soldier figure, warming himself by the fire laid out in front of the Winter Palace. They called me. It was Blok. We reached the Children's Entrance. I ask: "Do you like it?" "Good," said Blok, and then added: "They burned the library in my village."
This "good" and this "library burned" were two sensations of the revolution, fantastically connected in his poem "The Twelve". Some read a satire on the revolution in this poem, others - its glory. "
Indeed, Twelve is easy to read as a political apologetics, an excuse for violence. But the ambivalence of the attitude to what is happening, despite the call: "With all your body, with all your heart, with all your consciousness - listen to the Revolution," - does not disappear from the "Twelve". In the book “The End of the Tragedy,” poet, translator and critic Anatoly Yakobson wrote that Blok “remained flesh of the flesh of the old civilization, which he himself called humane, investing in this a special, derogatory meaning. He remained, even taking up arms against the very concepts of "civilization", "humanism". "The poet's imagination was kindled with embers of burning ideas, but humanity was rooted in his nature," Jacobson continues. An attempt to resolve the conflict, according to Yakobson, is the poem "The Twelve": the personal in it collides with the mass, Petrukha's love for Katka - with the class feeling of Petrukha's comrades, who rudely reason with him.
Author of a parody of "Twelve", People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (1875-1933) - Bolshevik, revolutionary, close associate of Lenin. In the 1900s he tried to combine Marxism with Christianity, after the revolution he was appointed People's Commissar of Education. The most educated of the Bolshevik leaders, the author of many plays and translations, Lunacharsky was responsible for contacts with the creative intelligentsia and the creation of a new proletarian culture. He was a supporter of the translation of the Russian language into Latin. , wrote that Blok was "an ingenious fellow traveler." From the point of view of a Bolshevik, this is a correct assessment: as soon as it became clear to Blok that the mystical renewal of the world had turned into the construction of a new bureaucracy, that the spirit was replaced by a letter, with the Bolsheviks it was out of his way as a poet. He, however, continued to cooperate with them as an editor, lecturer - and, against his will, as a bureaucrat.
Why is "Twelve" so different from all of Blok's poetry?
Blok is one of the most musical Russian poets, and it seems that "Twelve" is sharply different from his other works: instead of exquisite dolnikov Blok's first collections and chased iambs "Retribution" - polyrhythmia, A combination of various poetic sizes within one pro-of-ve-de-nia. torn composition, chastushny, raeshny verse, rude jargon. Blok, striving to listen attentively to the music, the hum of time, realized that the current music changing the world is like that; he was required to grab it, write it down. In an article - a programmatic statement about the new poetics that replaced the old one along with political transformations - Vladimir Mayakovsky writes about the need to "give all the rights of citizenship to the new language: a cry instead of a melody, a drumbeat instead of a lullaby" - and gives examples from "Twelve".
When such plans, from time immemorial lurking in the human soul, in the soul of the people, break the fetters that bound them and throw themselves in a stormy stream, breaking down dams, sprinkling unnecessary pieces of coastline, this is called a revolution.
Alexander Blok
Despite all this, already early researchers noted that the "Twelve" is inextricably linked with the rest of Blok's work. The images of Christ and Katka cannot be fully understood without referring to the early texts of Blok, right up to the "Poems about the Beautiful Lady". In "Twelve" there is at least one chapter, with rhythm and sound, clearly reminiscent of the previous Blok: "You cannot hear the noise of the city ...". The closeness of this chapter to romance looks like a parody against the background of the "usual" Blok. It can be assumed that Blok parodies his own former poetics - and if you look more broadly, then romantic poetics in general: after all, the entire chapter is an allusion to Fyodor Glinka's poem "The Song of a Prisoner". The first two lines are an almost literal quote from Glinka: “You can't hear the noise of the city, / There is silence in the Zanev towers! / And on the bayonet at the sentry / The midnight moon is burning! " (Glinka); "You can't hear the noise of the city, / There is silence over the Neva tower, / And there is no more policeman: / Walk, guys, without wine!" (Block). In Glinka's poem, the prisoner asks the Tsar for mercy; the American translator and commentator of The Twelve, Maria Carlson, suggests that the poem of 1826 is directly related to the Decembrist uprising. In Blok's version, the uprising succeeded, and, of course, no appeal to the tsar for mercy is possible.
"Twelve" became an unexpected consequence of all of Blok's poetry: its symbolism, its search for Eternal Femininity and worship of Music as such, its gradually emerging historicism. This consequence demanded to abandon the previous Blok musicality, to cut off all the accumulated technique of referring to the experience of world culture, except for the most basic contexts. But if the musicality is gone, then the music remains, the ear that perceives it remains. Along with the great poem "Scythians", the poem "Twelve" is a huge and last effort of Blok: several poems written after it, such as "Zinaida Gippius", "On the Kulikovo Field" and, finally, "Pushkin House", with all their merits were a return to the old prosody and old temperament. In his obituary to Blok, Mayakovsky expressed the general opinion of many of his contemporaries: in "The Twelve," "The block has overstrained."
Nikolay Kochergin. 1919 year
Dmitry Moor. We will not give up Petrograd. 1919 year
The number 12 is associated with the apostles, right?
This is an obvious parallel, reinforced by the appearance of Christ at the end of the poem. Blok's Twelve are clearly not saints and not wise men, but the apostles of Christ were simple people. Two of the Twelve, whose names we know, have apostolic names: Andrew and Peter (according to the reduced style of time - Andryukha and Petrukh).
However, if Blok's Christ cannot be the Antichrist, then the Twelve can be "anti-apostles." Boris Gasparov, who analyzed the poem, noted its rhythmic and motivational (blizzard) similarity with Pushkin's poem "Demons" 2 Gasparov BM Poem by A. Blok "Twelve" and some problems of carnivalization in the art of the early XX century // Slavica Hierosolymitana. 1977. V. I. S. 109-131. ... If the Twelve are the product of a blizzard, some kind of chaos that cannot be interpreted "positively," then Christ does not come to lead them, but to drive out the devilry from them - or even drive them out as demons. This interpretation contradicts many of the explanations that Blok himself made to his poem, but this does not remove the possibility of such a reading, especially since other details are also brought to it. For example, the procession of the Twelve takes place "without a cross." As Maria Carlson points out, three close meanings merge here: a parody of the procession of the cross (in front of the procession Christ carries a red flag instead of a cross - even M. Voloshin believed that this means only the replacement of one object of Christ's desecration with another), the absence of pectoral crosses on each from the Twelve and simply a rejection of Christian morality ("without the cross" here, thus, the same as later "without the name of the holy"). The motive of devilry in "The Twelve" is analyzed in detail in the work of Dina Magomedova "Two Interpretations of Pushkin's Myth of Demon."
Listen to that great music of the future, the sounds of which the air is filled with, and not seek out
Alexander Blok
separate screeching and fake notes
in the majestic roar and ringing of the world orchestra
Another relevant biblical connotation of 12 is twelfth the chapter of the Revelation of John the Theologian: “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun; under her feet is the moon, and on her head is a crown of twelve stars. She had in her womb, and cried out from the pains and pangs of birth.<…>And she gave birth to a male child, who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and His throne. " The Way of the Cross and Apocalyptic Prophecy: These references are arguments in favor of a "dark" interpretation of the poem.
In Blok's notes during the period of his work on The Twelve, there is a quote: “There were twelve robbers”. This is a line from a poem by Nikolai Nekrasov "About two great sinners", included in the poem "Who lives well in Russia." In a truncated form, with a primitively simplified plot, Nekrasov's text was sung like a romance by Fyodor Chaliapin: the great sinner ataman Kudeyar here abandons a gang of robbers and goes to a monastery to serve God. The story of the twelve robbers, whose leader becomes a saint, could have influenced Blok in addition to the gospel story of the apostles.
The Red Guards are guarding Smolny. Petrograd, October 1917
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Why does Christ appear at the end of the poem?
The appearance of Christ in the finale of The Twelve is the main mystery of the poem. This statement is so strong that it disposes to deafening, superficial, too straightforward interpretations: for example, that the Red Guards are really new Christian apostles, that Christ by his presence confirms the righteousness of their deed. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, who quite rightly noted that Christ in Blok's poetry is not the same as Christ for Christians, that it is a special “poetic symbol that exists by itself, with its own associations that are very different from the Gospels and from church traditions ", Believes that Christ shows the way to the red soldiers" against their will "; Blok himself called the Red Guard "water to the mill of the Christian church."
Of course, the statements of Soviet critics that the image of Christ is “a great and indisputable failure of Blok, a sharp dissonance in his poem " 3 Shtut S. "Twelve" by A. Blok // New World. 1959. No. 1. P. 240. (as if dissonance was not part of the “music of the revolution” that Blok urged to listen to!). There are also attempts to prove that Christ in the "Twelve" is the Antichrist (if only because the real Christ does not have a "white crown of roses", but a stinging crown of thorns without flowers). For all the seductiveness of such an interpretation, which conveys a fatal ambivalence to the entire poem, it should be noted that it is hardly plausible - just as the interpretation of Maximilian Voloshin, according to which the Red Guards are persecuting Christ, are hunting him, or Maria Carlson's thought that the Red Guards are burying Christ (since he has not a wreath on his head, but a rim - this is the name of the ribbon that is placed on the forehead of the deceased during burial). In oral explanations to the "Twelve", Blok said that the appearance of Christ was unexpected for him, even unpleasant - but inevitable. “Unfortunately, Christ,” Blok remarked; in his diary, he emphasized that it is Christ who walks with the Twelve, although “it is necessary that the Other should walk” (that is, the Antichrist, or the devil). It is the Son of God who is a figure befitting the scale of the events taking place in Russia. He finds himself where suffering occurs and the order of the world changes. It seemed to be woven from a blizzard (a blizzard, a blizzard is an image that is most important for all of Blok's poetry, a symbol meaning chaos and, oddly enough, life). “I just stated a fact: if you look at the pillars of a blizzard along the way, you will see“ Jesus Christ ”- as if Blok explains to himself in his diary the ending of the poem - as we have already said, unexpected, but the only true one. It is such a find that allows Blok, after completing The Twelve, to write in the same diary: "Today I am a genius." The drafts of The Twelve, however, are at odds with Blok's later explanations and show that Christ appears early enough in the concept of the poem.
Holy Face of Lana. XIII century. Lansky Cathedral, France Irina Prikhodko's article on the image of Christ in The Twelve tells about what Christ meant in Blok's life: he combined God-seeking with God-fighting, and the perception of Christianity was influenced not by dogmatic Orthodoxy, but by conversations with the Merezhkovskys, Andrei Bely and the writer Yevgeny Ivanov - to the latter, Blok confided his thoughts about the "torment of Christ" and ignorance, rejection of Christ. Especially important for Blok was the self-belittling of Christ (washing the feet of the disciples, forgiving sinners - including the robber crucified with him); it can be assumed that Christ of the "Twelve" is just like that. Note that the spelling "Jesus" is Old Believer, thus, Christ of the "Twelve" is not associated with canonical Orthodoxy.
Of course, the Gospel is at work in The Twelve. pretext: The original text that influenced the creation of the work or served as the background for its creation. so, the most prominent of the Twelve - the Red Guard Petrukha, tormented by his conscience because of the murder of Katka, is the only one who remembers the Savior in the poem, for which he gets from his comrades; you can identify him with the apostle Peter. But more importantly, in The Twelve, a poem that seemingly breaks with all of Blok's poetic experience, the motives of this experience are constantly reflected: if Katka is a spontaneous, lowered, but still painful "reflection and echo of the ideal of a beautiful ladies " 4 Drunken M. F. Russia and the revolution in the poetry of A. Blok and A. Bely // Alexander Blok, Andrey Bely: Dialogue of poets about Russia and the revolution / Comp. Art., comment. M.F.Pyanykh. M .: Higher school, 1990.S. 7. , Eternal Femininity, Russia, then Christ is the echo of that "Son of Man" (identified not only with Christ, but also with the lyric subject of Blok), which appears in the poem "You have departed, and I am in the desert ...": "You are dear Galilee / To me - to the un-risen Christ. " Let's pay attention: the twelfth chapter of the poem returns to the regular meter and harmonious sound: the final lines are the most musical in the whole poem. According to Yuri Tynyanov, “the last stanza closes with a high lyrical system the chastushka, deliberately square forms. It contains not only the highest point of the poem - it contains the whole emotional plan of it, and, thus, the work itself is, as it were, variations, fluctuations, deviations from the theme of the end ”.
The poet's imagination was inflamed with embers of burning ideas, but humanity was rooted in his nature
Anatoly Yakobson
The combination of revolution and messianism, Christological motives can be found not only in Blok. It can be clearly traced in the early poems and dramas of Mayakovsky (primarily in the one that was originally called The Thirteenth Apostle, and in The Man). The answer to "The Twelve" was the poem "Christ is Risen" by Andrei Bely, Blok's longtime friend, rival and interlocutor, who also investigates the question: can Christ rise up among machine-gun bursts, railway whistles, and shouts about the International? Bely had met Christ in a revolutionary context before, for example, in the ecstatic, eschatological poem "Motherland", written earlier in The Twelve: "Dry desert of shame, / Seas of pouring tears - / With a ray of wordless gaze / Descended Christ will warm him"; the phantom Christ appearing in the city (in the immediate vicinity of the dog and Vanka in a flight!) - an image from the novel "Petersburg". So, before us, if not a common place, then a natural motive determined by the quest of modernists. Why is it so amazing for Blok? The answer is precisely the rejection of the old music, the assignment of Christ to the robber apostles, depicted without any embellishment. This is one of the contrasts of the poem - so striking that he convinced some mystically and at the same time pro-revolutionary contemporaries of the highest Blok rightness or (as in the case of Blok's close friend, the critic Razumnik Ivanov-Razumnik) Razumnik Vasilyevich Ivanov-Razumnik (real name - Ivanov; 1878-1946) - the author of the voluminous "History of Russian social thought". The whole history of Russian culture, according to Ivanov-Razumnik, is the struggle of the intelligentsia against the bourgeoisie; the mission of the revolution is to overturn the decrepit bourgeois world. In 1917, together with Andrei Bely, he edited the almanac "Scythians", the ideas of which are close to the poem of the same name by Blok. In the 1920s, he was constantly arrested and eventually exiled to Siberia. confirmed their own thoughts.
Soviet criticism has always experienced difficulties in interpreting the ending of the poem. Evidence of rejection by his contemporaries, quite revolutionary, but far from symbolist problems, has survived: the book of the teacher Adrian Toporov "Peasants about Writers" contains reviews of peasants of the 1920s on "Twelve": "In vain did he end with Christ", " God, he has nothing to meddle with, ”and even“ I understand that this verse is a mockery of the revolution. He did not elevate her, but humiliated her. "
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Why is a love story at the center of the plot of a revolutionary poem?
The motive of the love triangle is nothing new for Blok: if we leave aside the fact that it was realized in the biography of the poet (Blok - Lyubov Blok - Andrei Bely), one can recall the characters of the comedy dell'arte - Columbine, Pierrot and Harlequin, acting in Blok's "Balaganchik" and several poems by Blok. Thus, we have before us one more thread connecting the "Twelve" with other works of Blok. But the love tragedy in The Twelve also has a more important role: it brings into the poem the main conflict - the private, individual with the collective, mass. Pity for the murdered Katka is a feeling that distinguishes Petrukha from the Twelve, discordant with their revolutionary step (yearning for Katka, Petrukha strides too fast). Returning to service is not at all as smooth as it might seem at first glance. Anatoly Yakobson notes that the corresponding stanza: "And Petrukha slows down / Hurried steps ... / He throws up his head, / He cheered up again ..." that is, the very note that Blok in his "Intelligentsia and Revolution" urged not to seek out the sound of the world orchestra!). “Just at the moment when it is reported that the murderer has 'cheered up' under the careful guidance of his comrades, the poet is allegedly attacked by tongue-tied language,” writes Jacobson. Note that in the scene of Katka's murder - the symbolic murder of the Eternal Feminine - Blok also resorts to “tongue-tied” expressive means: poor vocabulary, imperative verbal rhyme: “Stop, stop! Andryukha, help! / Petruha, run from the back! .. "
Yuri Annenkov. Illustration for "The Twelve". 1918 year
"Vanka was ours, but he became a soldier." What does it mean?
The main sign of the "bourgeois" Vanka, with whom Katka walks: he is a soldier. Why do the Red Guards hate him? How could a soldier become a bourgeois? The main Soviet bloc expert Vladimir Orlov suggested that Vanka "went ... to Kerensky's soldiers - maybe ... to the shock battalions that Kerensky formed." Anatoly Yakobson objects: “It is well known that on the eve of October the people poured from the Provisional Government to the Bolsheviks, and why on earth is Vanka declared a unique individual who did exactly the opposite? Why would Vanka move from the Red Guards to the doomed camp? "
Perhaps Orlov's point of view (shared by commentators on Blok's newest academic collected works) was influenced by the very Kerensky in Katka's stocking - money probably received from Vanka - although to have Kerensky it was not at all necessary to be a Kerensky supporter. Jacobson believes that "soldier" is not a literal, but rather a common noun given to a person who deserted from the front and leads a dashing, dissolute life; The "soldier" and "junkeryo" with which Katka walks are social phenomena of the same series. Be that as it may, it is the outward signs of "soldier" - carousing, ostentatious love affairs, black mustache and broad shoulders, a walk in a reckless car with an "electric flashlight" - that arouse anger in the Twelve.
Why is there a hungry dog in Twelve?
The block transparently explains that the dog is a symbol of the old world, now rejected: "The old world is like a lousy dog, / Failed - I will beat you!" The dog, who arrived at the Twelve at the end of the poem, not long before that - the companion of the bourgeois, "hid his nose in the collar"; both the bourgeois and the old world are identified with this dog. It is pertinent to recall that the famous St. Petersburg cafe of poets, where Blok often performed, who had not yet parted with many of his Symbolist friends, was called "Stray Dog".
Finally, the dog is one of the "demonic" images in folklore and literature: an unclean animal in the minds of Christians (especially the Old Believers, who just adhere to the spelling "Jesus Christ" chosen by Blok), the disguise of Mephistopheles in "Faust". For a poem in which contrast plays an important role, the opposition of dog and Christ (all the more striking because they form a rhyme pair) is an appropriate finishing touch.
Kerenki - this is how the people called the banknotes issued by the Provisional Government (in honor of its head Alexander Kerensky). They were produced without a serial number and degrees of protection, so they did not enjoy much confidence.
Red Guards at the fire during the October Revolution. Petrograd, October 1917
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What are the features of the composition and metrics of the Twelve?
The title "Twelve" describes not only the heroes of the poem, but also its structure - twelve chapters. The poem opens and ends with an exposition. The first chapter is a prologue of different voices, into which the Twelve gradually enter; their movement is the leitmotif of the poem. This prologue resembles theatrical, but the extraneous voices of episodic characters soon fall silent, and all the conversations that are conducted throughout the poem belong to the Red Guards themselves. At the same time, the border between the speech of one person and the speech of the other is sometimes drawn (as in the second chapter of the poem, where direct speech is framed as a dialogue), and sometimes not, and only by indirect signs can one understand what different people are saying; this creates a sense of the monolithic speech of the Twelve. However, neither Katka nor her lover Vanka utters a word in the poem. Christ, who is hiding from the Twelve, is also silent: only the author of The Twelve sees him - thus, in the last lines we go beyond the scope of the heroes' view, the subject of the poem is displaced. Subject shift is a characteristic technique of The Twelve, which often baffles readers: who, for example, speaks of the Twelve, “You need an ace of diamonds on your back,” - the author or an unnamed outside observer?
They called me. It was Blok. We reached the Children's Entrance. I ask: "Do you like it?" "Okay," said Blok, and then added: "They burned the library in my village."
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Contrasts play an important role in the inner composition of The Twelve: the poem opens with a color contrast (Black Evening / White Snow); a little later, a third color will be added to the range, "psychologically" contrasting with the first two - red. It is worth noting that Blok operates with basic colors for the Russian linguistic picture of the world: it is these three colors that are most common in the Russian language. Among other contrasts - the words addressed to the murdered Katka: “What, Katka, is she glad? - No gu-gu ... / You lie, carrion, in the snow! " - and the confession of her killer Petrukha in love for her. In this latent contrast there are two poles of the relationship to a woman; here they do not contradict each other, and this confirms the idea of the same Katka as one of the avatars of the Eternal Femininity.
The change of rhythms and song genres in "The Twelve" is no longer contrasting, but kaleidoscopic. The accent, somewhat chaotic verse of the first chapter, reminiscent of the rhythm of Andrei Bely in the second half of the 1910s, is replaced by an energetic dolnik Poetic size. The number of unstressed syllables between the stressed ones is not constant here, but fluctuates, creating a more refined and at the same time natural rhythmic pattern. “So he stood alone - without anxiety. / I looked at the mountains in the distance. / And there - on a steep road - / It was swirling in red dust "(Alexander Blok, from" Poems about the Beautiful Lady "). the second, followed by the four-foot trochee of the third, fourth and fifth chapters - the size common to the ditty and, for example, Pushkin's "Demons"; in the sixth chapter, a slightly loosened iambic tetrameter with a paired male rhyme appears (his most famous example in Russian poetry is Lermontov's "Mtsyri"; the size is thus associated with the rapid unfolding of an epic plot); then the trochaic trochee returns, within the framework of one chapter passing from the elegiac key to the dance key. The eighth chapter is an imitation of folk verse, a complex fusion of anapest with a chorea. Then follows the ninth chapter - a semi-ironic return to romance, salon poetics, the "hackneyed" iambic tetrameter with crossed feminine / masculine rhymes. From the tenth to the twelfth chapters, trochee again dominates - from vernacular-song to solemn; perhaps, "Twelve" is the work in which the potential of the four-legged chorea (a size often belittled as a ditty or childish) is revealed most visibly in all Russian poetry.
Illustration by Yuri Annenkov for the first edition of The Twelve From the point of view of compositional tasks, such a complex alternation, on the one hand, emphasizes the leitmotif of the poem - the procession and conversations of the Twelve, on the other - it reminds of chaos, the main element of the poem. Creates a kind
