Romanticism in literature definition. Romanticism: representatives, distinctive features, literary forms

Romanticism- a trend in the art and literature of Western Europe and Russia of the 18th-19th centuries, consisting in the desire of authors to contrast the unsatisfactory reality with unusual images and plots suggested to them life events. The romantic artist strives to express in his images what he wants to see in life, which, in his opinion, should be the main, determining one. Arose as a reaction to rationalism.

Literary forms

Romanticism- a direction that developed at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. Romanticism is characterized by a special interest in the individual and his inner world, which is usually shown as an ideal world and contrasted with the real world - surrounding reality In Russia, there are two main movements in romanticism: passive romanticism(elegiac), the representative of such romanticism was V.A. Zhukovsky; progressive romanticism, its representatives were in England J. G. Byron, in France V. Hugo, in Germany F. Schiller, G. Heine. In Russia, the ideological content of progressive romanticism was most fully expressed by the Decembrist poets K. Ryleev, A. Bestuzhev, A. Odoevsky and others, in early poems A.S. Pushkin “Prisoner of the Caucasus”, “Gypsies” and M.Yu. Lermontov’s poem “Demon”.

Romanticism- a literary movement that formed at the beginning of the century. Fundamental to romanticism was the principle of romantic dual worlds, which presupposes a sharp contrast between the hero and his ideal and the surrounding world. The incompatibility of ideal and reality was expressed in the departure of romantics from modern themes into the world of history, traditions and legends, sleep, dreams, fantasies, exotic countries. Romanticism has a special interest in the individual. The romantic hero is characterized by proud loneliness, disappointment, a tragic attitude and, at the same time, rebellion and rebellion of spirit (A.S. Pushkin.“Prisoner of the Caucasus”, “Gypsies”; M.Yu. Lermontov."Mtsyri"; M. Gorky.“Song of the Falcon”, “Old Woman Izergil”).

Romanticism(end of the 18th - first half of the 19th century)- received the greatest development in England, Germany, France (J. Byron, W. Scott, V. Hugo, P. Merimee). In Russia, it arose against the backdrop of national upsurge after the War of 1812, it is characterized by a pronounced social orientation, imbued with the idea of ​​​​civic service and love of freedom (K.F. Ryleev, V.A. Zhukovsky). Heroes are bright, exceptional individuals in unusual circumstances. Romanticism is characterized by impulse, extraordinary complexity, and inner depth. human individuality. Denial of artistic authorities. There are no genre barriers or stylistic distinctions; the desire for complete freedom of creative imagination.

Realism: representatives, distinctive features, literary forms

Realism(from Latin. realis)- a movement in art and literature, the main principle of which is the most complete and accurate reflection of reality through typification. Appeared in Russia in the 19th century.

Literary forms

Realism- artistic method and direction in literature. Its basis is the principle of life truth, which guides the artist in his work in order to give the most complete and true reflection of life and preserve the greatest life verisimilitude in the depiction of events, people, objects of the external world and nature as they are in reality itself. Realism reached its greatest development in the 19th century. in the works of such great Russian realist writers as A.S. Griboedov, A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, L.N. Tolstoy and others.

Realism- a literary movement that established itself in Russian literature at the beginning of the 19th century and passed through the entire 20th century. Realism asserts the priority of the cognitive capabilities of literature, its ability to explore reality. The most important subject of artistic research is the relationship between character and circumstances, the formation of characters under the influence of the environment. Human behavior, according to realist writers, is determined by external circumstances, which, however, does not negate his ability to oppose his will to them. This determined the central conflict realistic literature- conflict between personality and circumstances. Realist writers depict reality in development, in dynamics, presenting stable, typical phenomena in their unique individual embodiment (A.S. Pushkin."Boris Godunov", "Eugene Onegin"; N.V.Gogol. « Dead Souls"; novels I.S. Turgenev, JI.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, A.M. Gorky, stories I.A.Bunina, A.I.Kuprina; P.A. Nekrasov.“Who Lives Well in Rus'”, etc.).

Realism- established itself in Russian literature at the beginning of the 19th century and continues to remain an influential literary movement. Explores life, delving into its contradictions. Basic principles: objective reflection of the essential aspects of life in combination with the author's ideal; reproduction of typical characters, conflicts in typical circumstances; their social and historical conditioning; predominant interest in the problem of “personality and society” (especially in the eternal confrontation between social laws and moral ideals, personal and mass); formation of characters' characters under the influence of the environment (Stendhal, Balzac, C. Dickens, G. Flaubert, M. Twain, T. Mann, J. I. H. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. P. Chekhov).

Critical realism- an artistic method and literary movement that developed in the 19th century. Its main feature is the depiction of human character in organic connection with social circumstances, along with a deep analysis of the inner world of man. Representatives of Russian critical realism are A.S. Pushkin, I.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, A.P. Chekhov.

Modernism- common name trends in art and literature of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, expressing the crisis of bourgeois culture and characterized by a break with the traditions of realism. Modernists are representatives of various new trends, for example A. Blok, V. Bryusov (symbolism). V. Mayakovsky (futurism).

Modernism- a literary movement of the first half of the 20th century, which opposed itself to realism and united many movements and schools with a very diverse aesthetic orientation. Instead of a rigid connection between characters and circumstances, modernism affirms the self-worth and self-sufficiency of the human personality, its irreducibility to a tedious series of causes and consequences.

Postmodernism- a complex set of ideological attitudes and cultural reactions in the era of ideological and aesthetic pluralism (late 20th century). Postmodern thinking is fundamentally anti-hierarchical, opposes the idea of ​​ideological integrity, and rejects the possibility of mastering reality using a single method or language of description. Postmodernist writers consider literature, first of all, a fact of language, therefore they do not hide, but emphasize the “literary” nature of their works, combine in one text the stylistics of different genres and different literary eras(A. Bitov, Caiuci Sokolov, D. A. Prigov, V. Pelevin, Ven. Erofeev and etc.).

Decadence (decadence)- a certain state of mind, a crisis type of consciousness, expressed in a feeling of despair, powerlessness, mental fatigue with the obligatory elements of narcissism and aestheticization of the self-destruction of the individual. Decadent in mood, the works aestheticize extinction, the break with traditional morality, and the will to death. The decadent worldview was reflected in the works of writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. F. Sologuba, 3. Gippius, L. Andreeva, M. Artsybasheva and etc.

Symbolism- direction in European and Russian art of the 1870-1910s. Symbolism is characterized by conventions and allegories, highlighting the irrational side of a word - sound, rhythm. The very name “symbolism” is associated with the search for a “symbol” that can reflect the author’s attitude to the world. Symbolism expressed rejection of the bourgeois way of life, longing for spiritual freedom, anticipation and fear of world socio-historical cataclysms. Representatives of symbolism in Russia were A.A. Blok (his poetry became a prophecy, a harbinger of “unheard-of changes”), V. Bryusov, V. Ivanov, A. Bely.

Symbolism(late XIX - early XX century) - artistic expression intuitively comprehended entities and ideas through a symbol (from the Greek “symbolon” ​​- sign, identifying mark). Vague hints at a meaning unclear to the authors themselves or a desire to define in words the essence of the universe, the cosmos. Often poems seem meaningless. Characteristic is the desire to demonstrate heightened sensitivity, experiences incomprehensible to the average person; many levels of meaning; pessimistic perception of the world. The foundations of aesthetics were formed in creativity French poets P. Verlaine and A. Rimbaud. Russian Symbolists (V.Ya.Bryusova, K.D.Balmont, A.Bely) called decadents (“decadents”).

Symbolism- a pan-European, and in Russian literature - the first and most significant modernist movement. Symbolism is rooted in romanticism, with the idea of ​​two worlds. The symbolists contrasted the traditional idea of ​​understanding the world in art with the idea of ​​constructing the world in the process of creativity. The meaning of creativity is the subconscious-intuitive contemplation of secret meanings, accessible only to the artist-creator. The main means of transmitting rationally unknowable Secret meanings becomes a symbol (“senior symbolists”: V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, 3. Gippius, F. Sologub;"Young Symbolists": A. Blok, A. Bely, V. Ivanov).

Expressionism- a direction in literature and art of the first quarter of the 20th century, which proclaimed the subjective spiritual world of man as the only reality, and its expression as the main goal of art. Expressionism is characterized by flashiness and grotesqueness of the artistic image. The main genres in the literature of this direction are lyrical poetry and drama, and often the work turns into a passionate monologue by the author. Various ideological trends were embodied in the forms of expressionism - from mysticism and pessimism to sharp social criticism and revolutionary appeals.

Expressionism- a modernist movement that formed in the 1910s - 1920s in Germany. The expressionists sought not so much to depict the world as to express their thoughts about the troubles of the world and the suppression of the human personality. The style of expressionism is determined by the rationalism of constructions, the attraction to abstraction, the acute emotionality of the statements of the author and characters, and the abundant use of fantasy and the grotesque. In Russian literature, the influence of expressionism manifested itself in the works of L. Andreeva, E. Zamyatina, A. Platonova and etc.

Acmeism- a movement in Russian poetry of the 1910s, which proclaimed the liberation of poetry from symbolist impulses towards the “ideal”, from the polysemy and fluidity of images, a return to the material world, the subject, the element of “nature”, the exact meaning of the word. Representatives are S. Gorodetsky, M. Kuzmin, N. Gumilev, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam.

Acmeism - a movement of Russian modernism that arose as a reaction to the extremes of symbolism with its persistent tendency to perceive reality as a distorted likeness of higher entities. The main significance in the poetry of the Acmeists is the artistic exploration of the diverse and vibrant earthly world, the transfer of the inner world of man, the affirmation of culture as the highest value. Acmeistic poetry is characterized by stylistic balance, pictorial clarity of images, precisely calibrated composition, and precision of detail. (N. Gumilev. S. Gorodetsky, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich, V. Narvut).

Futurism- avant-garde direction in European art 10-20 years of the XX century. Striving to create “the art of the future”, denying traditional culture(especially her moral and artistic values), futurism cultivated urbanism (the aesthetics of machine industry and big city), the interweaving of documentary material and fiction, in poetry even destroyed natural language. In Russia, representatives of futurism are V. Mayakovsky, V. Khlebnikov.

Futurism- an avant-garde movement that emerged almost simultaneously in Italy and Russia. The main feature is the preaching of the overthrow of past traditions, the destruction of old aesthetics, the desire to create new art, the art of the future, capable of transforming the world. The main technical principle is the principle of “shift”, which manifested itself in the lexical updating of the poetic language due to the introduction of vulgarisms, technical terms, neologisms, in violation of the laws of lexical compatibility of words, in bold experiments in the field of syntax and word formation (V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky, V. Kamensky, I. Severyanin and etc.).

Avant-garde- movement in artistic culture 20th century, striving for a radical renewal of art both in content and form; sharply criticizing traditional trends, forms and styles, avant-gardeism often comes to belittle the importance of the cultural and historical heritage of mankind, giving rise to a nihilistic attitude towards “eternal” values.

Avant-garde- a direction in literature and art of the 20th century, uniting various movements, united in their aesthetic radicalism (Dadaism, surrealism, absurdist drama, “ new novel", in Russian literature - futurism). It is genetically related to modernism, but absolutizes and takes to the extreme its desire for artistic renewal.

Naturalism(last third of the 19th century)- the desire for an outwardly accurate copy of reality, an “objective” dispassionate depiction of human character, likening artistic knowledge to scientific knowledge. Based on the idea of ​​the absolute dependence of fate, will, spiritual world person from the social environment, everyday life, heredity, physiology. There are no unsuitable plots or unworthy topics for a writer. When explaining human behavior, social and biological reasons are placed on the same level. Particularly developed in France (G. Flaubert, the Goncourt brothers, E. Zola, who developed the theory of naturalism), French authors were also popular in Russia.

©2015-2019 site
All rights belong to their authors. This site does not claim authorship, but provides free use.
Page creation date: 2017-04-01

Romanticism- special kind worldview, at the same time an artistic direction in art late XVIII- the first quarter of the 19th century, formed in Germany. Received worldwide significance and distribution. The direction of romanticism suggested a contrast with the classicist demand for rules. Romanticism also opposed the Age of Enlightenment in verbal terms: the language of romantic works, striving to be natural, “simple”, accessible to all readers, was something opposite to the classics with its noble, “sublime” themes, characteristic, for example, of classical tragedy.

An essential feature of romanticism as a literary movement is the so-called romantic dual world, understood most often as a striving for the sublime and the earthly at the same time, in addition, as a discord between the ideal and reality or, in other words, the opposition of reality and dreams, of what is and what is possible. Romanticism always contrasts the real reality it rejects with another, poetic reality. For some romantics, the world is dominated by incomprehensible and mysterious forces that must be obeyed and not try to change fate (Chateaubriand, V.A. Zhukovsky). For others, the world's evil caused protest, demanded revenge and struggle (early A.S. Pushkin, Byron, Lermontov).

The Romantics discovered the extraordinary complexity and depth of the human spiritual world; it is a whole universe full of contradictions. Romantics were interested in all passions, both high and low, which were opposed to each other. High passion is love in all its manifestations, low passion is greed, ambition, envy. Romanticism is characterized by the assertion of freedom and increased attention to human individuality.

Interest in strong and vivid feelings, all-consuming passions, and secret movements of the soul are characteristic features of romanticism.

Romantics turned to various historical eras, they were attracted by originality, attracted by exotic and mysterious countries and circumstances. Landscape occupies a significant place - first of all, the sea, mountains, sky, stormy elements with which the hero has complex relationships. Nature can be on the same page with the hero, but it can also oppose him, turn out to be a hostile force with which he is forced to fight. Romanticism is a cultural phenomenon in Europe and America. IN different countries his fate had its own characteristics.

2. By the beginning of the second decade of the 19th century, romanticism occupied key place in Russian art, revealing more or less fully its national identity. Russian romanticism arose in different conditions than Western European. In the West, he was a post-revolutionary phenomenon and expressed disappointment in the results of the changes that had already taken place in the new, capitalist society. In Russia, it was formed in an era when the country had yet to enter a period of bourgeois transformations. The military events of 1812 had a huge impact on the development of Russian romanticism

Patriotic War caused not only the growth of civil and national identity, but also recognition of the special role of the people in life nation state. And the Decembrist uprising of 1825, which had a huge impact on the entire course of artistic development in Russia, defining the range of issues and topics that worried Russian romantics. The theme of the people became very significant for Russian romantic writers. The desire for nationality marked the work of all Russian romantics, although their understanding of the “soul of the people” was different. For Zhukovsky, nationality is, first of all, a humane attitude towards the peasantry and poor people in general. He saw its essence in poetry folk rituals, lyrical songs, folk signs and superstitions. In the works of the romantic Decembrists, the idea of ​​the people's soul was associated with other features. For them folk character- this is a heroic, nationally distinctive character. In their work main theme it was no longer fate individual, but the people’s fate, not personal happiness, but the public good. The poetry of the Decembrists sounded like an alarm bell, calling for battle and heroism, it glorified the joy of the struggle for freedom.

Romanticism, like sentimentalism, paid great attention to depicting the inner world of man. But unlike sentimentalist writers who praised “quiet sensitivity,” the romantics preferred depiction extraordinary adventures and violent passions. This was the nature, for example, of creativity English poet J. Byron, whose influence was experienced by many Russian writers early XIX century.

One of the important achievements of romanticism is the creation of a lyrical landscape. For romantics, it serves as a kind of decoration that emphasizes the emotional intensity of the action. The originality of the themes of romantic works contributed to the use of metaphors, poetic epithets, and symbols. Thus, the sea and the wind appeared as a romantic symbol of freedom; happiness - sun, love - fire or roses; at all pink color symbolized love feelings, black - sadness. The night personified evil, crime, enmity. The symbol of eternal variability is a sea wave, insensibility is a stone; images of a doll or a masquerade meant falsehood, hypocrisy, duplicity. Russian romantics were characterized to a high degree by the desire for moral ideal. This ideal for them was love of humanity and independence of the individual. The names of its greatest representatives in Russian literature are associated with romanticism - Pushkin. His first, albeit still timid, ghosts are found in the stories of N. M. Karamzin: “Bornholm Island”, “Sierra Morena”, “Marfa” Posadnitsa." In them, the writer sympathetically depicts the dissatisfaction of the human personality with the environmental conditions that constrain it. These tendencies are developed more consistently and deeply in the poetry of V. A. Zhukovsky and Batyushkov. Zhukovsky is famous for his ballads, magnificent descriptions of nature and, of course, the unusual plot. Great place lyrical images occupied his work native nature. In one of his early poems, the elegy “Evening,” the poet reproduced a modest picture like this native land:

Everything is quiet: the groves are sleeping; there is peace in the surroundings,

Prostrate on the grass under a bent willow,

I listen to how it murmurs, merges with the river,

A stream overshadowed by bushes.

You can barely hear the reeds swaying over the stream,

The voice of the loop in the distance, having fallen asleep, wakes up the villages.

Russian romanticism literary

In the grass of a crutch I hear a wild cry...[Bestuzhev-Marlinsky A.Soch. T. 1. M., 1952. P. 119 This love for the depiction of Russian life, national traditions and rituals, legends and tales will be expressed in a number of subsequent works by Zhukovsky. Batyushkov, at the beginning of his creative path sang of rural solitude, dreaminess, melancholy. Later character his poetry changes and he now glorifies wine and love, joy, pleasure and passion.

3. The problem of periodization literary process XIX century is one of the most difficult problems facing literary scholars both in the past and at the present time. Historical and literary science has put forward a number of principles of periodization. They do not replace each other in exact calendar terms. But this or that year takes on the character of a border era. And yet, Russian romanticism is usually divided into several periods: initial (1801-1815), Literary life of this period is characterized by an increasingly intensified struggle between the “new” and the “old”. In the first years of the new century, sentimentalism occupied a dominant position in literature. And classicists are trying to defend old literary positions.

Since the 1840s, rum has been losing its former position and giving way to realism. But it does not cease to exist.

Almost all the major realist writers of the second half of the century: Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, Nekrasov, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy turned to the heritage of Roma and, in one way or another, reworked his artistic experience. They often created works that were to some extent close to the Romans in their ideological and artistic principles. Later, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the successors romantic traditions Russian symbolists spoke. rejection of modernity, the bourgeois system that had established itself in Russia by this time, dreaming of a complete re-creation of life and transformation of humanity - all this brings the symbolists closer to the romantics. The rum traditions also manifested themselves with great force in the works of the young Gorky, such as Makar Chundra, the old woman Izergil, the song about the falcon. Rum traditions live on in Soviet literature. Writers who strive for directness gravitate towards them. direct expression of one's ideals. This influence is noticeable in the works of Paustovsky and other writers.

The problem of romanticism is one of the most complex in the science of literature. The difficulties in solving this problem are predetermined to some extent by the lack of clarity of terminology. Romanticism refers to an artistic method, a literary movement, and a special type of consciousness and behavior. However, despite the debatability of a number of theoretical, historical and literary positions, most scientists agree that romanticism was a necessary link in the artistic development of mankind, and that without it the achievements of realism would have been impossible.

Russian romanticism at its inception, it was, of course, associated with the pan-European literary movement. At the same time, it was internally determined by the objective process of development of Russian culture; in it, those trends that were laid down in Russian literature of the previous period found development. Russian romanticism was generated by the impending socio-historical turning point in the development of Russia; it reflected the transition and instability of the existing socio-political structure. The gap between ideal and reality caused a negative attitude of progressive people in Russia (and above all the Decembrists) towards the cruel, unjust and immoral life of the ruling classes. Until recently, the most daring hopes for the possibility of creating public relations based on the principles of reason and justice.

It soon became clear that these hopes were not justified. Deep disappointment in Enlightenment ideals, a decisive rejection of bourgeois reality, and at the same time a lack of understanding of the essence of the antagonistic contradictions that exist in life, led to feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, and disbelief in reason.

Romantics claimed that the highest value is the human personality, in whose soul there is a beautiful and mysterious world; can only be found here inexhaustible sources true beauty and high feelings. Behind all this one can see (even if not always clearly) a new concept of personality, which cannot and should no longer subordinate itself to the power of class-feudal morality. In your artistic work Romantics in most cases did not strive to reflect real reality (which seemed to them low, anti-aesthetic), or to understand the objective logic of the development of life (they were not at all sure that such logic existed). At the heart of them artistic system It turned out to be not an object, but a subject: the personal, subjective principle acquires decisive importance among the romantics.

Romanticism is built on the affirmation of an inevitable conflict, the complete incompatibility of everything truly spiritual and human with the existing way of life (be it a feudal or bourgeois way). If life is based only on material calculation, then, naturally, everything lofty, moral, and humane is alien to it. Consequently, the ideal is somewhere beyond this life, beyond feudal or bourgeois relations. Reality seemed to fall apart into two worlds: the vulgar, ordinary here and the wonderful, romantic there. Hence the appeal to unusual, exceptional, conventional, sometimes even fantastic images and pictures, the desire for everything exotic - everything that opposes everyday, everyday reality, everyday prose.

The romantic concept of human character is built on the same principle. The hero is opposed to the environment, rises above it. Russian romanticism was not homogeneous. It is usually noted that there are two main currents in it. The terms psychological and civil romanticism, adopted in modern science, highlight the ideological and artistic specificity of each movement. In one case, romantics, feeling the growing instability of social life, which did not satisfy their ideal ideas, went into the world of dreams, into the world of feelings, experiences, and psychology. Recognition of the intrinsic value of the human personality, close interest in the inner life of a person, the desire to reveal the richness of his emotional experiences - these were the strengths of psychological romanticism, the most prominent representative of which was V.

A. Zhukovsky. He and his supporters put forward the idea of ​​internal freedom of the individual, its independence from the social environment, from the world in general, where a person cannot be happy. Having failed to achieve freedom in the socio-political sense, the romantics insisted all the more stubbornly on establishing the spiritual freedom of man.

With this current genetically related appearance in the 30s years XIX V. a special stage in the history of Russian romanticism, which is most often called philosophical.

Instead of the high genres cultivated in classicism (ode), other genre forms arise. In area lyric poetry Among the romantics, the leading genre is the elegy, conveying the mood of sadness, grief, disappointment, and melancholy. Pushkin, having made Lensky (“Eugene Onegin”) a romantic poet, in a subtle parody listed the main motives of elegiac lyrics:

• He sang separation and sadness,
• And something, and a foggy distance,
• And romantic roses;
• He sang those distant countries

Representatives of another movement in Russian romanticism called for a direct fight against modern society, glorifying the civil valor of the fighters.

Creating poems with a high social and patriotic sound, they (and these were primarily Decembrist poets) also used certain traditions of classicism, especially those genre and stylistic forms that gave their poems the character of elevated oratorical speech. They saw literature primarily as a means of propaganda and struggle. Whatever the forms in which the polemics between the two main movements of Russian romanticism took place, there were still common features of romantic art that united them: the opposition of high ideal hero a world of evil and lack of spirituality, a protest against the foundations of autocratic-serfdom that fetter people.

It is especially necessary to note the persistent desire of the romantics to create an original national culture. Directly related to this is their interest in national history, oral folk poetry, the use of many folk genres, etc.

d. Russian romantics They were also united by the idea of ​​the need for a direct connection between the author’s life and his poetry. In life itself, the poet must behave poetically, in accordance with those high ideals which are proclaimed in his poems. K. N. Batyushkov expressed this requirement this way: “Live as you write, and write as you live” (“Something about the poet and poetry”, 1815). This affirmed the direct connection of literary creativity with the life of the poet, his very personality, which gave the poems a special power of emotional and aesthetic impact.

Subsequently, Pushkin managed to achieve more high level to combine the best traditions and artistic achievements of both psychological and civil romanticism. That is why Pushkin’s work is the pinnacle of Russian romanticism of the 20s of the 19th century. Pushkin, and then Lermontov and Gogol could not ignore the achievements of romanticism, its experience and discoveries.

2.1 Romanticism in Russian literature

Russian romanticism, in contrast to European romanticism with its pronounced anti-bourgeois character, maintained a greater connection with the ideas of the Enlightenment and adopted some of them - the condemnation of serfdom, the propaganda and defense of enlightenment, the defense of popular interests. The military events of 1812 had a huge impact on the development of Russian romanticism. The Patriotic War caused not only the growth of civil and national self-awareness of the advanced strata of Russian society, but also the recognition of the special role of the people in the life of the national state. The theme of the people became very significant for Russian romantic writers. It seemed to them that by comprehending the spirit of the people, they were joining the ideal beginnings of life. The desire for nationality marked the work of all Russian romantics, although their understanding of the “soul of the people” was different.

So, for Zhukovsky, nationality is, first of all, a humane attitude towards the peasantry and poor people in general. He saw its essence in the poetry of folk rituals, lyrical songs, folk signs and superstitions.

In the works of the romantic Decembrists, the idea of ​​the people's soul was associated with other features. For them, the national character is a heroic, nationally distinctive character. It is rooted in the national traditions of the people. They considered such figures as Prince Oleg, Ivan Susanin, Ermak, Nalivaiko, Minin and Pozharsky to be the most striking exponents of the people's soul. Thus, Ryleev’s poems “Voinarovsky”, “Nalivaiko”, his “Dumas”, the stories of A. Bestuzhev, the southern poems of Pushkin, and later “The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov” and the poems of Lermontov’s Caucasian cycle are dedicated to the understandable folk ideal. In the historical past of the Russian people, romantic poets of the 20s were especially attracted to crisis moments - periods of struggle with Tatar-Mongol yoke, free Novgorod and Pskov - with autocratic Moscow, the fight against the Polish-Swedish intervention, etc.

Interest in Russian history among romantic poets was generated by a sense of high patriotism. Russian romanticism, which flourished during the Patriotic War of 1812, took it as one of its ideological foundations. IN artistically Romanticism, like sentimentalism, paid great attention to depicting the inner world of man. But unlike sentimentalist writers, who praised “quiet sensitivity” as an expression of a “languidly sorrowful heart,” the romantics preferred the depiction of extraordinary adventures and violent passions. At the same time, the unconditional merit of romanticism, especially its progressive direction, was the identification of an effective, volitional principle in man, the desire for high goals and ideals that raised people above everyday life. For example, the work of the English poet J. Byron, whose influence was experienced by many Russian writers of the early 19th century, was of this nature.

The deep interest in the inner world of man caused the romantics to be indifferent to the external beauty of their heroes. In this, romanticism was also radically different from classicism with its obligatory harmony between the appearance and internal content of the characters. The Romantics, on the contrary, sought to discover contrast appearance and the spiritual world of the hero. As an example, we can recall Quasimodo ("Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris"V. Hugo), a freak with a noble, sublime soul.

One of the important achievements of romanticism is the creation of a lyrical landscape. For romantics, it serves as a kind of decoration that emphasizes the emotional intensity of the action. Descriptions of nature noted its “spirituality,” its relationship with the fate and fate of man. A bright master lyrical landscape was Alexander Bestuzhev, already in early stories whose landscape expresses the emotional subtext of the work. In the story “The Revel Tournament,” he depicted the picturesque view of Revel, which corresponded to the mood of the characters: “It was in the month of May; bright sun rolled toward midday in the transparent ether, and only in the distance did the canopy of the sky touch the water with a silvery cloudy fringe. The light spokes of the Revel bell towers burned across the bay, and the gray loopholes of Vyshgorod, leaning on the cliff, seemed to grow into the sky and, as if overturned, pierced into the depths of the mirror waters.

The originality of the themes of romantic works contributed to the use of specific vocabulary expressions - an abundance of metaphors, poetic epithets and symbols. Thus, the sea and the wind appeared as a romantic symbol of freedom; happiness - sun, love - fire or roses; In general, pink color symbolized love feelings, black - sadness. The night personified evil, crime, enmity. The symbol of eternal variability is a sea wave, insensibility is a stone; images of a doll or masquerade meant falsehood, hypocrisy, and duplicity.

V. A. Zhukovsky (1783-1852) is considered to be the founder of Russian romanticism. Already in the first years of the 19th century, he gained fame as a poet who glorified bright feelings - love, friendship, dreamy spiritual impulses. Lyrical images of his native nature occupied a large place in his work. Zhukovsky became the creator of a national lyrical landscape in Russian poetry. In one of his early poems, the elegy “Evening,” the poet reproduced a modest picture of his native land like this:

Everything is quiet: the groves are sleeping; there is peace in the surroundings,

Prostrate on the grass under a bent willow,

I listen to how it murmurs, merges with the river,

A stream overshadowed by bushes.

You can barely hear the reeds swaying over the stream,

The voice of the loop in the distance, having fallen asleep, wakes up the villages.

In the grass of the crake I hear a wild cry...

This love for depicting Russian life, national traditions and rituals, legends and tales will be expressed in a number of subsequent works by Zhukovsky.

IN late period In his creative work, Zhukovsky did a lot of translations and created a number of poems and ballads of fairy-tale and fantastic content ("Ondine", "The Tale of Tsar Berendey", "The Sleeping Princess"). Zhukovsky's ballads are filled with deep philosophical meaning, they reflected his personal experiences, thoughts and traits inherent in romanticism in general.

Zhukovsky, like other Russian romantics, had a high degree of striving for a moral ideal. This ideal for him was philanthropy and personal independence. He affirmed them both with his work and with his life.

In the literary work of the late 20s and 30s, romanticism retained its previous position. However, developing in a different social environment, it acquired new, unique features. The thoughtful elegies of Zhukovsky and the revolutionary pathos of Ryleev's poetry are being replaced by the romanticism of Gogol and Lermontov. Their work bears the imprint of that peculiar ideological crisis after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising, which was experienced by public consciousness these years, when the betrayal of previous progressive convictions, the tendencies of self-interest, philistine “moderation” and caution were revealed especially clearly.

Therefore, in the romanticism of the 30s, the motives of disappointment in modern reality, the critical principle inherent in this direction due to its social nature, and the desire to escape into some ideal world prevailed. Along with this, there is an appeal to history, an attempt to comprehend modernity from the perspective of historicism.

The romantic hero often acted as a person who had lost interest in earthly goods and denounced the powerful and rich of this world. The hero's confrontation with society gave rise to a tragic worldview characteristic of the romanticism of this period. The death of moral and aesthetic ideals - beauty, love, high art - predetermined the personal tragedy of a person gifted with great feelings and thoughts, as Gogol put it, “full of rage.”

The most vivid and emotional mentality of the era was reflected in poetry, and especially in the work of the greatest poet of the 19th century - M. Yu. Lermontov. Already in early years freedom-loving motives occupy important place in his poetry. The poet warmly sympathizes with those who actively fight injustice, who rebel against slavery. In this regard, the poems “To Novgorod” and “The Last Son of Liberty” are significant, in which Lermontov addressed the favorite subject of the Decembrists - Novgorod history, in which they saw examples of the republican love of freedom of their distant ancestors.

The appeal to national origins and folklore, characteristic of romanticism, is also manifested in Lermontov’s subsequent works, for example, in “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov.” The theme of the struggle for the independence of the Motherland is one of the favorite themes of Lermontov’s work; it is highlighted especially clearly in the “Caucasian cycle”. The Caucasus was perceived by the poet in the spirit of Pushkin’s freedom-loving poems of the 20s - wild majestic nature it was contrasted with the “captivity of stuffy cities”, “the home of holy liberty” - “the country of slaves, the country of masters” of Nicholas Russia. Lermontov warmly sympathized with the freedom-loving peoples of the Caucasus. Thus, the hero of the story “Ishmael Bey” renounced personal happiness in the name of liberating his native country.

These same feelings possess the hero of the poem "Mtsyri". His image is full of mystery. Selected by a Russian general, the boy languishes as a prisoner in a monastery and passionately yearns for freedom and his homeland: “I knew only the power of thought,” he admits before his death, “One, but fiery passion: It lived like a worm in me, Gnawed my soul and burned it. my dreams called from stuffy cells and prayers to that wonderful world of worries and battles, where rocks hide in the clouds, where people are free like eagles...” Longing for freedom merges in the young man’s mind with longing for his homeland, for the free and “rebellious life” to which he so desperately strove. Thus, Lermontov’s favorite heroes, like romantic heroes Decembrists are distinguished by an active strong-willed principle, an aura of chosen ones and fighters. At the same time, Lermontov’s heroes, unlike the romantic characters of the 20s, foresee tragic outcome their actions; the desire for civic activity does not exclude their personal, often lyrical, plan. Possessing the features of the romantic heroes of the previous decade - increased emotionality, "ardor of passions", high lyrical pathos, love as the "strongest passion" - they carry with them the signs of the times - skepticism, disappointment.

Historical theme became especially popular among romantic writers, who saw in history not only a way of understanding the national spirit, but also the effectiveness of using the experience of past years. The most popular authors who wrote in the genre of historical novel were M. Zagoskin and I. Lazhechnikov.

People fighting the elements naval battles; A.O. Orlovsky. The theoretical foundations of Romanticism were formed by F. and A. Schlegel and F. Schelling. Painting from the era of the Wanderers. The influence of the social environment on the work and trends in the creativity of Russian artists in the second half of the 19th century. The conscious turn of new Russian painting towards democratic realism, nationality, and modernity was outlined in...

His paintings are very sad (“Anchor, more anchor!”, “Widow”). Contemporaries rightly compared P.A. Fedotov in painting with N.V. Gogol in literature. Exposing the ills of feudal Russia is the main theme of the work of Pavel Andreevich Fedotov. Russian painting second half of the 19th century century. Second half of the 19th century. was marked by the rise of Russian visual arts. It has become truly great...

Literature and the reflection of tragedy in portrait painting this artistic movement. The critical mindset of the Russian intelligentsia could not remain within the framework of romanticism, and the rapid development of Russian art in the 19th century led it to realism. The mastery of the geniuses with whom this period of culture was saturated required a striving for reality, a more faithful and thorough reproduction of it, to...

Russian time musical culture rose to unprecedented heights. Literature. It was the dawn of literature that made it possible to define the first half of the 19th century as the “golden age” of Russian culture. Writers who reflected Russian reality occupied different socio-political positions. There were various art styles(methods), the proponents of which held opposing beliefs...

An artistic method that developed at the beginning of the 19th century. and became widespread as a direction (current) in the art and literature of most European countries, including Russia, as well as in the literature of the USA. To later eras, the term “romanticism” is applied largely on the basis of the artistic experience of the first half of the 19th century.

The creativity of romantics in each country has its own specifics, explained by the peculiarities of the national historical development, and at the same time has some stable common features.

In this general characteristic of romanticism we can highlight: the historical soil on which it arises, the features of the method and the character of the hero.

The common historical ground on which it arose European romanticism, there was a turning point associated with the Great French revolution. The Romantics adopted from their time the idea of ​​individual freedom put forward by the revolution, but at the same time in Western countries they realized the defenselessness of man in a society where monetary interests prevailed. Therefore, the worldview of many romantics is characterized by confusion and confusion in front of the world around them, and the tragedy of the individual’s fate.

The main event of Russian history at the beginning of the 19th century. came the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Decembrist uprising of 1825, which had a huge impact on the entire course of artistic development in Russia and determined the range of themes and issues that worried Russian romantics (see Russian literature XIX V.).

But for all the originality and originality of Russian romanticism, its development is inseparable from the general movement of European romantic literature, just as the milestones national history from the course of European events: political and social ideas Decembrists are continuously associated with the basic principles put forward by the French Revolution.

At general trend denial of the surrounding world, romanticism did not constitute a unity of socio-political views. On the contrary, the views of the romantics on society, their positions in society, the struggle of their time were sharply different - from revolutionary (more precisely, rebellious) to conservative and reactionary. This often gives grounds to divide romanticism into reactionary, contemplative, liberal, progressive, etc. It is more correct, however, to talk about the progressiveness or reactionaryness not of the method of romanticism itself, but of the social, philosophical or political views of the writer, taking into account that artistic creativity is such, for example , a romantic poet, like V. A. Zhukovsky, is much broader and richer than his political and religious convictions.

A special interest in personality, the nature of its relationship to the surrounding reality, on the one hand, and opposition to the ideal world (extra-bourgeois, anti-bourgeois) to the real world, on the other. The romantic artist does not set himself the task of accurately reproducing reality. It is more important for him to express his attitude towards it, moreover, to create his own, fictitious image of the world, often on the principle of contrast with the surrounding life, so that through this fiction, through contrast, he can convey to the reader both his ideal and his rejection of the world he denies. This active personal principle in romanticism leaves an imprint on the entire structure of a work of art and determines its subjective character. Events occurring in romantic poems, dramas and other works are important only for revealing the characteristics of the personality that interests the author.

So, for example, the story of Tamara in the poem “Demon” by M. Yu. Lermontov is subordinated main task- to recreate the “restless spirit” - the spirit of the Demon, to convey tragedy in cosmic images modern man and, finally, the attitude of the poet himself to reality,

Where they can’t do it without fear
Neither hate nor love.

The literature of romanticism put forward its hero, most often expressing author's attitude to reality. This is a person with especially strong feelings, with a uniquely acute reaction to a world that rejects the laws to which others obey. Therefore, he is always placed above those around him (“... I was not created for people: I am too proud for them, they are too vile for me,” says Arbenin in M. Lermontov’s drama “The Strange Man”).

This hero is lonely, and the theme of loneliness varies in works of various genres, especially often in lyric poetry (“In the wild north it stands alone...” G. Heine, “An oak leaf has torn away from its native branch...” M. Yu. Lermontov). Lonely heroes of Lermontov, heroes oriental poems J. Byron. Even rebel heroes are lonely: Cain in Byron, Conrad Wallenrod in A. Mickiewicz. These are exceptional characters in exceptional circumstances.

The heroes of romanticism are restless, passionate, indomitable. “I was born / With a seething soul like lava,” exclaims Arbenin in Lermontov’s “Masquerade.” “The languor of peace is hateful” to Byron’s hero; “... this is a human personality, indignant against the common and, in its proud rebellion, relying on itself,” wrote V. G. Belinsky about Byron’s hero.

The romantic personality, carrying rebellion and negation, was vividly recreated by the Decembrist poets - representatives of the first stage of Russian romanticism (K. F. Ryleev, A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, V. K. Kuchelbecker).

Increased interest in personality and peace of mind man contributed to the flourishing of lyrical and lyric-epic genres - in a number of countries it was the era of romanticism that brought forward great national poets (in France - Hugo, in Poland - Mickiewicz, in England - Byron, in Germany - Heine). At the same time, the deepening of the romantics into the human “I” largely prepared the psychological realism XIX V. A major discovery of romanticism was historicism. If all life appeared to the romantics in motion, in the struggle of opposites, then this was reflected in the depiction of the past. Was born

historical novel (W. Scott, V. Hugo, A. Dumas), historical drama. The Romantics sought to colorfully convey the flavor of the era, both national and geographical. They did a lot to popularize oral folk art, as well as works medieval literature. Promoting the original art of their people, the romantics drew attention to the artistic treasures of other peoples, emphasizing the unique features of each culture. Turning to folklore, the romantics often embodied legends in the ballad genre - a plot song with dramatic content (German romantics, poets of the “lake school” in England, V. A. Zhukovsky in Russia). The era of romanticism was marked by its flourishing literary translation(in Russia, V. A. Zhukovsky was a brilliant propagandist of not only Western European, but also Eastern poetry). Rejecting the strict norms prescribed by the aesthetics of classicism, the romantics proclaimed the right of every poet to the diversity of artistic forms created by all peoples.

Romanticism does not disappear from the scene immediately with the establishment of critical realism. For example, in France such famous romantic novels Hugo, like “Les Miserables” and “The Year 93,” was created many years after the completion of the creative career of the realists Stendhal and O. de Balzac. In Russia romantic poems M. Yu. Lermontov, the lyrics of F. I. Tyutchev were created when literature had already declared itself with significant successes of realism.

But the fate of romanticism did not end there. Many decades later, in other historical conditions, writers often again turned to romantic means artistic image. Thus, the young M. Gorky, creating both realistic and romantic stories at the same time, it was in romantic works that he most fully expressed the pathos of struggle, the spontaneous impulse for the revolutionary reorganization of society (the image of Danko in “Old Woman Izergil”, “Song of the Falcon”, “Song of the Petrel” ").

However, in the 20th century. Romanticism no longer constitutes an integral artistic movement. It's about only about the features of romanticism in the works of individual writers.

IN Soviet literature features of the romantic method were clearly manifested in the works of many prose writers (A. S. Green, A. P. Gaidar, I. E. Babel) and poets (E. G. Bagritsky, M. A. Svetlov, K. M. Simonov , B. A. Ruchev).