“The luminary of the day has gone out”: analysis of the poem by A. S.
The daylight has gone out; The evening fog fell on the blue sea. Make noise, make noise, obedient sail, Worry beneath me, gloomy ocean. I see a distant shore, magical lands of the midday; With excitement and longing I rush there, intoxicated with memories... And I feel: tears were born in my eyes again; The soul boils and freezes; A familiar dream flies around me; I remembered the crazy love of previous years, And everything that I suffered, and everything that is dear to my heart, The languid deception of desires and hopes... Make noise, make noise, obedient sail, Worry beneath me, gloomy ocean. Fly, ship, carry me to the distant limits By the menacing whim of the deceptive seas, But not to the sad shores of my foggy homeland, the Country where the flames of passions first flared up feelings, Where tender muses secretly smiled at me, Where early in the storms My lost youth faded, Where the light-winged one betrayed my joy and betrayed my cold heart into suffering. Seeker of new impressions, I ran from you, fatherly land; I ran away from you, pets of pleasure, momentary friends of a moment's youth; And you, confidantes of vicious delusions, To whom I sacrificed myself without love, Peace, glory, freedom and soul, And you are forgotten by me, young traitors, Secret friends of my golden spring, And you are forgotten by me... But the former heart wounds, Deep wounds love, nothing has healed... Make noise, make noise, obedient sail, Worry beneath me, gloomy ocean...
How often it happens that when we remember the past, feelings from the past try to penetrate the soul again. Memories sometimes bring to us sad thoughts, regret that the past is irrevocable, a desire to return to what was, and it also happens that we accept the irrevocability of the past, changed ourselves, accept a new stage of life, accept because we become different and are capable let go of the past, no matter how acute emotions it causes, as does the lyrical hero of Pushkin’s elegy “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out,” which was written in 1820, during the poet’s stay in southern exile. During a boat trip, the lyrical hero is immersed in memories that evoke mixed feelings in him - he again experiences everything that he felt then, but at the same time he does not want to return or change anything in the past, he is ready to move on and become wiser with the experience of these memories. Thus, the poem sounds the motive of the path, the path of life, fate, the motive of the own-foreign side (shore), and the own side turns out to be to some extent alien, because it was there that the “moment of youth” passed, there is the past, into which I want to return “But not to the sad shores of my foggy homeland.” In the poem, the image of the sea and the wind also appears, the image of a storm, which is compared with the state of the lyrical hero - he is also gloomy and agitated, like the ocean and also obedient to the will of fate, like a sail. “Noise, make noise obedient sail, worry the gloomy ocean beneath me” - these lines are repeated three times throughout the entire poem, marking the conventional end of each of the three parts into which the lyrical work can be divided. The first part presents a landscape, a picture of dusk, evenings at sea, which is again compared with the state of the lyrical hero, but here not only the state of the soul is reflected in the repeated lines, but also his entry into a new stage of life, the disappearance of the past in the first two lines - “the daylight has gone out” (metaphor) symbolizes the departure of youth , “an evening fog fell on the blue sea” - another period begins in the life of the lyrical hero, more meaningful, it is symbolized by the “evening fog”, and his soul (the lyrical hero) as a romance is compared with the blue sea. The technique of color painting is used: blue color, as is known, it symbolizes depth, spirituality, calmness and wisdom - this is what the lyrical hero of the poem becomes at another stage of life. The second part of the lyrical work presents feelings from the past that revive memories in the soul of the lyrical subject. “Tears were born in the eyes again, the soul boils and freezes” - these metaphors convey a nostalgic mood, the emotionality in this part of the poem is very high. In the third part of the poem, after sensations from the past, the lyrical hero comes to an understanding of the irrevocable and reality, the realization that he is already another and is ready for something more than “pets of pleasure” - “momentary joy”, “momentary friends”, “confidantes of vicious delusions”, because now all this seems to him unsteady and unfaithful, not the same. Speaking about what the lyrical hero sacrificed in his youth, the poet uses the technique of climax (ascending gradation): “Peace, glory, freedom and soul.” Freedom and soul are something without which a person cannot exist in principle, but for some reason in his youth the lyrical hero does not I appreciated it as much as I appreciate it now.
The poem is written in high traditional poetic vocabulary. The obsolete forms of the words “sail”; “brega”, “zlaty”, “mladost” - Old Slavonicisms, not complete consonances, traditional poetic words are used: “intoxicated”, “languorous!”, “passions”, “pleasures”, “light-winged” which give the poem a sublime tone. The symbolism and psychologism of the landscape, which is very closely intertwined with the spiritual experiences of the lyrical hero, his expressive reflections in the second part, his deep philosophical reflections in the second part, a measured and slow sound that gives. free iambic in combination with cross, ring, adjacent rhymes, with a predominance of female rhymes indicate that the poem belongs to meditative lyrics. The feeling of some kind of meditation, the depth of reflection is also conveyed by the assonance of sounds U E O. All this also indicates that that before us is the genre of elegy. “The luminary of the day went out” is one of Pushkin’s first elegies. Elegy is one of the traditional genres of romanticism, it was in this direction that “Early Pushkin” worked. This poem is written in a romantic key, as indicated by the genre corresponding to the direction, romantic symbols (the sea-soul of the lyrical hero, the ship-fate, etc.), the loneliness of the romantic hero, contrasting him with society from the past. The search for an ideal in wisdom, peace, freedom is generally characteristic of Pushkin’s lyrics - this feature of poetics is reflected in this poem: the lyrical hero-romantic sees his ideal in the present and the future, where, together with the experience of “a moment of youth,” he becomes highly spiritual and wise. a calm person.
The main motive of the elegy is farewell to adolescence and youth, farewell to St. Petersburg. The lyrical hero yearns for the past, his soul does not want to forget the times dear to his heart:
And I feel: tears were born in my eyes again;
The soul boils and freezes;
A familiar dream flies around me;
I remembered the crazy love of previous years,
And everything that I suffered, and everything that is dear to my heart,
Desires and hopes are a painful deception...
Hence the chosen genre of lyrical work - elegy, in which the poet’s sad reflections found expression in the experiences and feelings of the lyrical hero. The motif of memory plays an important role in the poem: although secular, salon life deceived many of the expectations of the lyrical hero, it could not kill either the “uplifting deception” of first love, or the joy of poetic inspiration, or the warmth and cordiality of friendly ties. The pathos of the poem is romantic: all thoughts come to the mind of the lyrical hero: night, far from home. The nature surrounding the poet is also romantic: it is the night sea, the “obedient sail”, and the fog enveloping the water surface. The break with the past is not without regrets, but the poet would like to take with him all the best into the future: the Earth, a distant shore, which seems to the lyrical hero in the twilight of the night, revives hope for happiness and love. Therefore, he is not afraid of either the “gloomy ocean” or the noise of the “obedient sail.” The elegiac motifs of the work evoke not languor and melancholy, but quiet sadness and peace.
Concrete realistic details transform into a generalized symbolic plane. The dreams of the lyrical hero are unselfish. They acquire their romantic fullness on a nationwide national basis: the connection between Pushkin’s elegy and the songs of Russian folklore is characteristic. Like the song tradition, Pushkin repeats the lines three times:
Make noise, make noise, obedient sail,
Worry beneath me, sullen ocean,
which become a kind of refrain of the entire work.
The poet uses artistic and expressive means characteristic of a romantic work: epithets (“to sad shores”, “to distant borders”), metaphors (“seeker of new impressions”, “old wounds of the heart”), personification (“changed joy”, “ worry under me, gloomy ocean") And the use of pyrrhichs creates a calm, melodic intonation that conveys the scale of the depicted picture, its generalized character, and also resembles the slowness and melodiousness of Russian folk songs.
In his poems, Alexander Sergeevich often criticized the tsarist government. Because of this, the poet was sent into southern exile in 1820. His poem “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out,” an analysis of which is presented below, is permeated with longing for his native land.
Briefly about the history of creation
The analysis of “The Daylight Has Gone Out” should begin with a short description of the history of the writing of this poem. The poet sailed on a ship from Kerch to Gurzuf in the company of the Raevsky family.
At that time, Pushkin had already been sent into southern exile. Raevsky took Alexander Sergeevich with him so that he could improve his health (at the time of their meeting the poet fell ill). And this poem was written on the deck of the ship. During the voyage, the sea was calm, but the poet deliberately thickened the colors to create a picture of an impending storm.
Genre of the poem
In the analysis of “The Daylight Has Gone Out,” you need to determine the genre and literary direction of the work. This poem belongs to the lyrics written in the best traditions of romanticism. At that time, Pushkin was impressed by Byron's work. This work was written in imitation of Byron, which is worth talking about in the analysis of “The Daylight Has Gone Out.”
You can find some similarities with his work, but Alexander Sergeevich’s personal experiences and emotionality are very different from Byron’s cold and impassive hero Childe Harold. Pushkin's creation should be classified as a philosophical elegy. The hero says goodbye to his native land, the places where he spent his carefree youth. He is in the grip of melancholy and sadness. Being a fan of romanticism, the poet somewhat embellished his experiences.
Theme and composition of the elegy
The main theme of the work is the hero's philosophical reflections on exile, his longing for his younger years. The poet wrote in his poem that the hero “ran away” from the lands so dear to his heart. In fact, the poet did not run away at all, but having fallen out of favor with the emperor, he was sent into exile. But the hero's flight is an echo of the movement of romanticism.
The work can be roughly divided into three parts, which should be discussed in the analysis of the verse “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out.” They are separated by a repetition of the noise of the sail and the sea current. The first part is an introduction, a lyrical sketch of the image of the hero. These lines are distinguished by solemnity and melodiousness. The next part reveals the hero’s inner world, his experiences and thoughts about his abandoned native land. In the third part, he thinks about what awaits him ahead.
And these thoughts echo his memories of the past, his fatherland. The hero remembers how he first fell in love, how he suffered, how he spent his youth. Pushkin is sad that he had to part with his loved ones. The main idea of these philosophical reflections is the awareness and acceptance of one’s past and the uncertainty of the future. Love impulses have not disappeared in the hero’s soul; they are his core, the foundation that no exile can shake.
Size and method of rhyming
Next, according to the plan of analysis of “The Daylight Has Gone Out,” the definition of poetic meter and method of rhyming. Philosophical reflections are written in iambic meter. The method of rhyming is alternating male and female rhymes. This gives Pushkin’s elegy liveliness and makes it closer to a confidential conversation.
Artistic means of expression
In the analysis of the poem “The Daylight Has Gone Out,” according to the plan, the next point is literary tropes. The elegy combines simplicity of thought and sublimity of style, which is obtained through the poet’s use of outdated words (wind, youth) and paraphrases.
This poem is full of epithets, especially metaphorical ones, which makes its lines musical and melodious. The combination of epithets familiar to the reader and those taken from Russian folklore brings the poetic speech closer to the folk one. The poet also used metaphors that added vividness to the language.
Despite his admiration for the seascape, Pushkin portrays the sea element as indifferent to his suffering, and in the sail (this is an outdated version of the word sail) he sees himself. The poet believes that he did not show enough persistence in the struggle and therefore was forced to submit to the imperial will and go into exile. And during his exile, he indulges in memories of his native land.
In these exaggerated experiences one can see the youthful maximalism that was characteristic of the poet. Pushkin did not know how long his exile would be, so he looked at everything from a gloomy point of view. Later, Alexander Sergeevich will understand that even during his exile he will be surrounded by friends who will support him. This elegy is about the fact that a person must be able to accept his past and future as part of his life experience. Personal experiences give the lines a touch of trust and sublimity. The combination of philosophy and romanticism and Pushkin's talent created one of the best works of romantic poetry.
The elegy “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out” was written by Pushkin on the night of August 18-19, 1820, while moving from Feodosia to Gurzuf. In a collection of poems from 1862, it is published with the note “imitation of Byron.” The main emotional theme of the poem is the feeling of the spiritual crossroads of the lyrical hero: he stands at the fork in times: past, present and future. The ship carries the hero to the “far limits”:
I see a distant shoreThe lands of midday are magical lands:
I rush there with excitement and longing,
Intoxicated with memories...
The development of the theme divides the poem into three parts. Each part ends with the refrain:
Make noise, make noise, obedient sail,Worry beneath me, sullen ocean.
For the lyrical hero, the world around him is animated. A man makes a friendly request to the elements of the ocean, to a sail, to a ship. They are the only ones surrounding him now. Even though the lyrical hero calls the ocean “gloomy,” his thoughts are not occupied with anxiety about the dangers lurking in the water element; the hero is self-absorbed. The inner world of a person, his reflections on the life he has lived - this is what the poet is trying to convey to the reader. Pushkin's hero's appeal to nature helps to express this most fully.
The poem is written in the form of a monologue of the lyrical hero. The hero's gaze is constantly moving. The inner and outer world of a person is shown by the poet in their unity. From the first lines of the elegy, the lyrical hero’s gaze is scattered. He looks at the sea, fascinated by the beauty of the approaching night:
The daylight has gone out;The evening fog fell on the blue sea.
The two opening lines make up the first part of the elegy. This is an exposition of the topic. It sets the reader in a calm, elegiac mood. The periphrasis “daylight” gives the poem some sublimity and even solemnity. The picturesque picture of an evening at sea contains a contrast between day and night. The time chosen by the poet is twilight, when the boundaries between objects are erased and blurred. The evening fog and the rough sea prompt the lyrical hero to think.
The second part of the elegy is much larger in volume than the first. Here the gaze of the lyrical hero rushes to the distant shore. For the hero, these are “magical lands of the midday.” “With excitement and longing” he strives there. The distant reaches bring back memories. The lyrical hero looks into himself:
And I feel: tears were born in my eyes again;The soul boils and freezes;
A familiar dream flies around me;
I remembered the crazy love of previous years...
Instantly, opposite memories arose in the hero’s soul: suffering and joy, desires and “hopes, a painful deception.”
In the third part of the poem we learn that the poet strives “towards distant limits.” Returning to the homeland, with which the sad memories of the lyrical hero are associated, is impossible and undesirable:
Fly, ship, carry me to the distant limitsBy the terrible whim of the deceptive seas,
But not to the sad shores
My foggy homeland...
The lyrical hero is trying to escape from his past. But at the same time he realizes that his flight is in vain. Suffering will not be forgotten, the wounds of youth and love cannot be healed. The third part of the poem can be called the climax, because it is here that the thematic development reaches its highest point. The lyrical hero comes to a certain conclusion, which becomes the main idea of the elegy:
...but former heart wounds,Nothing has healed the deep wounds of love...
The last part of the poem is a description by the lyrical hero of his past years spent in his homeland and comments. For him, this is a country “where the flames of passion // For the first time feelings flared up.” The complex sentence, which paints a detailed picture of the poet’s life, has four subordinate clauses with the conjunction word “where”. But, despite its volume, the third part does not seem bulky, but, on the contrary, looks slender and expressive. The “lost youth” of the lyrical hero faded early, the “light-winged joy” betrayed him and “betrayed his cold heart into suffering.”
Pushkin’s hero calls himself “a seeker of new adventures.” He says that he left his “fatherland” and forgot the “secret girlfriends” of his youth. “Momentary friends” for him are “pets of pleasure,” the women he once loved are “confidantes of vicious delusions.” The lyrical hero is trying to forget them forever. However, at the end of the elegy, he realizes that he will not be able to abandon his past.
The main theme of the poem “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out” is the theme of the search for an ideal; the themes of the homeland, love, youth, and disappointment in life come into contact with it. The present for the lyrical hero is a journey on a ship on the ocean. He sees a happy and harmonious future in reaching far limits. However, internally the hero is directed back to the past, which is alive in the soul. The image of the native shores is connected with this.
The variety of artistic and visual means gives the poem melody and expressiveness. Pushkin uses many epithets and periphrases in the elegy. They fully reveal the picture of evening nature and the human soul. The poem was written by Tak Tovik. The size allows you to convey the depth and importance of the thoughts of the lyrical hero. Pushkin introduces elements of lofty vocabulary into the elegy: “youth,” “luminary,” “cold suffering.” But the poet does not strive for pathos and excessive solemnity. The words he chose are euphonious and sometimes simple, which is why the poem is so light and transparent.
Analysis of the poem - The daylight has gone out
In Pushkin’s creative heritage, along with the themes of “the poet and poetry,” love and civil lyrics, it is customary to highlight philosophical lyrics. This includes poems in which the poet expresses his view of the nature of the universe, the place of man in it.
One of the works related to philosophical lyrics is the poem “The Daylight Has Gone Out...”
The form of this poem is an elegy. This is a traditional genre of romantic poetry, the poet’s sad reflection on life, fate, and his place in the world. Nevertheless, Pushkin fills the traditional romantic form with completely new content.
The poem was written by the poet at night on a ship on the way from Feodosia to Gurzuf. The picture of night falling on the sea and the fast running of the ship evoke memories of days gone by for the lyrical hero.
Compositionally, the poem is divided into three parts, separated from each other by a refrain. In the first part, we are presented with a picture of the sea, on which “the fog has fallen.” This is a kind of exposition to the main part of the lyrical work.
In the second part, the poet recalls “the crazy love of previous years”; everything “that he suffered”, “desires and hopes, a painful deception.”
In the third part, the image of the abandoned homeland appears. The poet recalls the time when his “feelings flared up for the first time”; the region where “it blossomed early in the storms” to the south, leaving behind “momentary youth, momentary friends.” The poet realizes that memories of past days, excitement and even “confidantes of vicious delusions” are “forgotten.” However, he immediately adds that “nothing has healed the former wounds of the heart,” “the wounds of love.”
These last words preceding the refrain contain a meaning that completely changes the elegiac-romantic tone of the work, giving it philosophical depth and a different ideological content. It becomes clear to the reader that nothing of the past has been forgotten at all, the hero himself has simply changed. Youth is over, the time of maturity has come. However, the poet does not see anything tragic in these changes, makes no claims to the world and nature, and does not blame anyone. And this is his fundamental difference from the romantics. According to Pushkin, both maturity and even old age are natural and beautiful, since wisdom comes to a person with them. Wise by experience, a person is able to objectively evaluate everything that happens around him - as the lyrical hero of the poem does. His memories of the past are bright, his attitude towards the future is calm.
The symbols of the passage of time beyond human control are the images of the “sail” and “ocean” present in the refrain. The author's blessing to the natural course of things is expressed in the imperative mood of the verbs accompanying these symbols.
Pushkin uses such visual means as metaphors (sad shores; flames of passion), epithets (gloomy ocean), personification (tears were born).
So, the main meaning of the poem, its humanistic pathos is that the author accepts the natural laws of existence and blesses nature, which for him is the embodiment of the eternal flow of life, beyond the control of man. Birth, childhood, youth, maturity, old age, death are perceived by the poet as natural things sent down from above, and man is perceived as part of a wise and fair nature. Even for emotional wounds, for the bitterness of past grievances, one should thank fate, since these feelings are an integral part of life.