Block - life and creative path; poem "12" - composition and main images of the poem. Symbolic images and their meaning in Blok's poem "The Twelve"

Plant encyclopedia 01.10.2019

An essay based on a work on the topic: Images and symbols in A. Blok's poem ""

The poem "The Twelve" was written by A Blok in January 1918, when the October events were already over, but not enough time had passed to comprehend them and give an objective historical assessment. The revolution of 1917 swept through like a storm, like a hurricane, and it was difficult to say unequivocally what was good and what was bad it brought with it. It was under such a spontaneous impression that the poem "The Twelve" was written.

Bright, ambiguous images and symbols play an important role in A. Blok's poem, their semantic load is great; this allows one to more vividly imagine revolutionary Petersburg, revolutionary Russia, to understand the author's perception of the revolution, his thoughts and hopes. One of the main symbols of the revolution in the poem "The Twelve" is the wind, like it, it blows everything in its path.

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!

In this part of the poem A. Blok strove to convey to the reader the atmosphere of the time when everyone can “slip” on the “ice” of the revolution, taken by surprise by the hurricane of change.

The poem contains another striking symbol - "world fire". In his article “The Intelligentsia and the Revolution,” Blok wrote that the revolution is like a spontaneous phenomenon, “thunderstorm whirlwind”, “snowstorm”; for him, “the scope of the Russian revolution, which wants to embrace the whole world, is this: it cherishes the hope of raising a world cyclone ...”. This idea was reflected in the poem "The Twelve", where the author speaks of the "world fire" - a symbol of the universal revolution. And twelve Red Army men promise to fan this “fire”:

We are on the woe to all bourgeois

Let's fan the world fire

World blood fire

Lord bless!

These twelve Red Army men personify the twelve apostles of the revolutionary idea. They are entrusted with a great task - to defend the revolution, although their path lies through blood, violence, cruelty. With the help of the image of twelve Red Army men, Blok reveals the theme of shed blood, violence during the period of great historical changes, the theme of permissiveness. The “apostles of the revolution” turn out to be capable of killing, robbing, violating Christ's commandments, but without this, according to the author, it is impossible to accomplish the tasks of the revolution. Blok believed that the path to a harmonious future lies through chaos and blood.

In this sense, the image of Petrukha, one of the twelve Red Army soldiers who, out of jealousy, killed Katka, is important. On the one hand, A. Blok shows that his villainy is quickly forgotten and is justified by the even greater impending villainy. On the other hand, through the images of Petrukha and Katka, Blok wants to convey that, despite the important historical events, love, jealousy, passion - eternal feelings that guide a person's actions.

Also important in the poem "The Twelve" are the images of an old woman, a priest, a bourgeois - they are representatives of the old, obsolete world. For example, the old woman is far from revolution, from political affairs, she does not understand the meaning of the poster "All power to the Constituent Assembly!" ”. Are important to her pressing problems, not a revolution:

On the rope - a poster:

"All power to the Constituent Assembly!"

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 ...

The priest and the bourgeois are afraid of the consequences of the revolution, they are afraid for their fate, for the failure of their future life:

The wind is whipping!

The frost is not far behind!

And the bourgeois at the crossroads

He hid his nose in the collar.

And there is a long-sexed one -

Aside - behind a snowdrift ...

What is sad today

Comrade pop?

The old, obsolete, unnecessary world in the poem is also presented as a “rootless”, “cold” dog that can hardly trail behind twelve Red Army men:

Gritting his teeth - the wolf is hungry -

The tail is between his legs - does not lag behind -

A cold dog is a rootless dog ...

Ahead is Jesus Christ.

The image of Christ in the poem personifies Blok's faith in overcoming bloody sin, in the exodus from a bloody present to a harmonious future. His image symbolizes not only the author's faith in the sacredness of the tasks of the revolution, not only the justification of the “holy malice” of the revolutionary people, but also the idea of ​​Christ's acceptance of the next sin of man, the idea of ​​forgiveness and the hope that people will come to His covenants, to the ideals of love, to eternal values ... Jesus walks in front of the twelve Red Army soldiers who walk the path from freedom “without the cross” to freedom with Christ.

Revolutionary Petersburg, in which the "universal elements" are played out, personifies the whole of revolutionary Russia. A. Blok portrayed it as a world split in two, as a confrontation between black and white. The symbolism of color plays an important role in the poem "The Twelve": on the one hand, black wind, black sky, black anger, black rifle belts, and on the other - White snow, Christ in a white crown of roses. The black, evil present is opposed to the white, bright, harmonious future. Red symbolism expresses the motive of a bloody crime. The red flag, on the one hand, is a symbol of a victorious end, on the other hand, a symbol of the bloody present. Colors are associated with the image of time: black past, bloody present and white future.

Thanks to the system of images and symbolism in the poem "The Twelve", Blok was able to show that in the bloody present there is a formation of a new person and the transition from chaos to harmony. This is, according to the poet, the true meaning of the revolution.

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      An essay on a work on the topic: "New" world in the poem of the "Twelve" Bloc In my opinion, in the poem of "Twelve" of the "new" world, as new world in A. Blok's poem "The Twelve". "Cursed days" - this is how the events of 1918 were characterized. Composition based on a work on the theme: "A measured step is heard ..." (Based on A. Blok's poem "Twelve".) Blok's poem "Twelve" was written in the first months after. Composition of AA Blok's poem "Twelve" And again there are twelve. A. Blok Alexander Alexandrovich Blok - An essay based on a work on the topic: The role of symbols in A. Blok's poem "Twelve" The attitude of Alexander Blok to October revolution was ambiguous. He

    Niobium in its compact state is a shiny silver-white (or gray in powder form) paramagnetic metal with a body-centered cubic crystal lattice.

    Noun. Saturation of the text with nouns can become a means of linguistic depiction. The text of the poem by A. A. Fet “Whisper, timid breathing... ", in its

Composition. In the poem "The Twelve", Blok tried to capture such an unusual, turbulent and interesting time. The poem consists of twelve chapters, this number will be repeated once again in the twelve revolutionary soldiers guarding the order in Petrograd, and in a half hint at the disciples of Jesus walking in front, "buried behind the houses." The poem is surprisingly musical: each chapter has its own rhythm and melody. A poet of high culture and refined taste, Blok is "not afraid" to include in his work the colloquial vocabulary of a common soldier, an old woman, or a passer-by. The author shows the life of revolutionary Petersburg with real heroes.

Blok enthusiastically welcomed the revolution bringing renewal, and in his poem he paints a merciless portrait of participants and winners.

The poem is built on the antithesis - the opposition of two colors - white and black, two worlds - old and new. “Black evening, White snow. Wind, wind! There is no man standing on his feet. Wind, wind - All over the world! " Blok tries to artistically comprehend and convey in images those grandiose accomplishments that were happening in those days before his eyes. He portrays the dramatic and tense confrontation between the two worlds with utmost truthfulness, not trying to assess what is happening. Many eyewitnesses are afraid of the revolution, curse, wait for even worse times. The wind is whipping! The frost is not far behind! And the bourgeois at the crossroads In the collar hid his nose. And who is this? -Long hair "And he says in an undertone:" Traitors! "Russia is dead! rather a symbol changes, sweeping away all unnecessary, artificial and superficial. It is difficult to hide and stay on your feet from the north wind. It overtakes and takes down. Only twelve can resist the onslaught of the elements, because they themselves are also uncontrollable, unstoppable in their hatred and irreconcilability towards the old world. Malice, sad malice Boils in my chest ... Black malice, holy malice ... Comrade! Look at both. Blok does not try to embellish his heroes, they are real people, their souls are close to a robber freeman. In the teeth - a cigarette, crushed cap. On your back you need an ace of diamonds! And the revolution, according to the poet, "... is not an idyll." In a spontaneous movement forward, she sweeps away the right and the guilty on her way, Katka becomes an accidental and unnecessary victim, killed by her lover Petrukha. Yes, sacrifices are inevitable and usually preposterous. The unfortunate killer can't even grieve. His revolutionary comrades are angry at the irrelevance of a soldier's grief: - Look, you bitch, started a barrel organ. What are you, Petka, woman, eh? - Right, you thought of turning your soul inside out? Please! - Maintain your posture! - Keep control over yourself! - It's not such a time now To babysit you! The poem is largely symbolic. Blok describes real events and faces, but he cannot refuse hints, speculations, trying to express as accurately as possible the image that exists in his imagination, the perception of this new world spontaneously born out of chaos. Is this why, in the conclusion on-ML1, in front of the twelve, Jesus Christ appears - a symbol of the sanctity of the revolution? True, the soldiers themselves are far from such an understanding of their business, they shoot "a bullet at Holy Russia." And again the symbol of the old world appears - the mangy dog. He relentlessly follows the patrol. They are connected by an invisible thread, this connection is difficult to destroy in a single moment. The ending of the poem is the most inexplicable and mysterious. These twelve walk, led by Jesus, into invisible darkness. What does she promise them? Blok probably foresaw even greater sacrifices and losses and turned out to be a visionary. The twentieth century brought Russia enormous trials, which required the country to exert all its mental and physical strength.


Basic images. Bright, ambiguous images and symbols play an important role in A. Blok's poem, their semantic load is great; this allows one to more vividly imagine revolutionary Petersburg, revolutionary Russia, to understand the author's perception of the revolution, his thoughts and hopes. One of the main symbols of the revolution in the poem "The Twelve" is the wind, like it, it blows everything in its path. The poem contains another striking symbol - "world fire". In his article “The Intelligentsia and the Revolution,” Blok wrote that the revolution is like a spontaneous phenomenon, “thunderstorm whirlwind”, “snowstorm”; for him, “the scope of the Russian revolution, which wants to embrace the whole world, is this: it cherishes the hope of raising a world cyclone ...”. This idea was reflected in the poem "The Twelve", where the author speaks of the "world fire" - a symbol of the universal revolution. And twelve Red Army men promise to fan this “fire”. These twelve Red Army men personify the twelve apostles of the revolutionary idea. With the help of the image of twelve Red Army men, Blok reveals the theme of shed blood, violence during the period of great historical changes, the theme of permissiveness. Also important in the poem "The Twelve" are the images of an old woman, a priest, a bourgeois - they are representatives of the old, obsolete world. For example, the old woman is far from revolution, from political affairs, she does not understand the meaning of the poster "All power to the Constituent Assembly!" ”. For her, pressing problems are important, not revolution. The priest and the bourgeois are afraid of the consequences of the revolution, they are afraid for their fate, for the failure of their future life. The old, obsolete, unnecessary world in the poem is also presented as a “rootless”, “cold” dog that can hardly trail behind twelve Red Army men. The image of Christ in the poem personifies Blok's faith in overcoming bloody sin, in the exodus from a bloody present to a harmonious future. His image symbolizes not only the author's faith in the sacredness of the tasks of the revolution. Thanks to the system of images and symbolism in the poem "The Twelve", Blok was able to show that in the bloody present there is a formation of a new person and the transition from chaos to harmony. This is, according to the poet, the true meaning of the revolution.

The revolutionary unrest of the early twentieth century in Russia evoked responses from many writers. Events of 1917 and Civil war encouraged the creation of works by both contemporaries and writers of later periods, up to the present day. Among the poets inspired by this period national history, there was A.A. Block. The poem "The Twelve" reflected the author's ambiguous perception of the coup, the meaning of which is still being wondered about. The rich symbolism of the work has a large number of interpretations.

Symbols: role and their meaning

What does a symbol mean for a poet? It's like a term for a scientist, that is, with the help of it you can more succinctly, without extra words, Express the idea. And Blok actively used this opportunity in his work.

  • Colors. The first thing that the reader encounters in the poem is the antithesis of colors - black and white. In world culture, these shades have dozens of meanings, but it is for this poem that white is renewal, striving for the future, black is the darkness of the old world, the suffering of the soul caused by sin. In addition, the text contains red, which expresses resistance, a desire for change.
  • Wind is a sign of storm and revolution. He tries to swirl the snow to bring in all the old, experienced.
  • 12 is a number endowed with a special meaning. The number of Red Army soldiers in the poem is comparable to the number of apostles at the Last Supper. There are many hypotheses about what the author's position is hidden behind evangelical symbolism... Perhaps, for Blok, the events of the 17th year are comparable in significance in the history of mankind to Holy Week.

Images

  1. It is important to emphasize the role and image of the author in The Twelve. Blok realized that he was present at an epochal event, he intuitively felt the coming changes in the country, therefore in this work "The Writer - Vitia", and the poem itself is associated more with the chronicle. Here the poet plays the role of Pimen or Nestor, whose goal is to capture what is happening.
  2. Let's turn to the image of the twelve Red Guards. Not all are named by name, but the heroes named in the poem do not coincide with the apostles by chance. Such a mention allows you to assign to the heroes greatest number associations evoked in the reader. Ivan, Andrey, Peter - these names are both sacred and social at the same time.
  3. For example, Petruha repents of the murder out of jealousy, but this hero would not be so significant for the poem if his name was not an allusion to Peter that he denied Christ. The crime in both cases is not a reason to go astray, but stimulates with even greater zeal to move on. For both Peter Blok and the Evangelical, there was no time to regret what they had done: you need to move forward to implement the common idea.
  4. The most discussed image in the poem is Christ (an essay on his role in the work is available). It is interesting to trace how it appears in the poem. At the beginning of the poem, the wind is present, in the 12th chapter a red flag appears at this element, the same attribute is in the hands of Christ. It can be assumed that the Savior is present in the poem from the first lines, but in the form of a spirit, a breath, and finds its embodiment only at the end of the work. What does this image mean for the poem? It is unfair to believe that this is a sign of author's approval of the events of 1917. Blok realized the inevitability of revolution, the impossibility of returning to the old order. The world has changed, the old world is in the past, the country is on the doorstep new era... The previous one began with Christ and the apostles. And they did not disappear anywhere: the scenery changed, but the main characters remained.

Interesting? Keep it on your wall!

Blok's poem "The Twelve" has long been considered a work dedicated exclusively to the October Revolution, not perceiving what is hidden behind the symbols, not attaching importance to the issues that were raised in it by the author.

Many writers, both Russian and foreign, used symbols, using them to put deep meaning into the most ordinary, seemingly meaningless scenes. So, for Fet, a flower is a woman, a bird is a soul, and a circle is another world, knowing these subtleties, you begin to understand the poet's lyrics in a completely different way. Just like Bryusov, Soloviev, Bely and other representatives of the literary movement called "symbolism", Alexander Aleksandrovich Blok uses many symbols in his work: these are names, numbers, colors, and weather.

In the first part of the poem "The Twelve" the following contrast immediately catches the eye: black evening and white snow. Most likely, these are not just the most expressive definitions that the author decided to use, which means that such an opposition has a certain meaning. Two opposite colors can only mean a split, separation.

Further, these adjectives are mentioned again: black sky, black malice, white roses; and suddenly a red guard and a red flag appear. They are the color of blood. It turns out that for collision will occur bloodshed, and it is already very close - the wind of revolution is rising over the world.

The motive of the storm is important not only in understanding the mood of people, it allows us to view Christian themes as a deliberate distortion of the Bible. Twelve people - twelve apostles, among them Andryukha and Petrukha, and around there are lights, like in the underworld, people symbolizing the followers of Christ are more like convicts, moreover, they are free from faith in God. And ahead through the blizzard is "Jesus Christ", holding a bloody flag. A blizzard, according to Pushkin, is the wedding of a witch or the funeral of a brownie, and Christ, the son of God, who was martyred for human sins, cannot call for violence. Apparently the devil himself leads the apostles. People know that somewhere near there is a fierce enemy, but they do not see the demon, which, bullets fired blindly, cannot do any harm. And behind the people a dog hobbles - the earthly appearance of a devil, in this form Mephistopheles appeared to Faust in Goethe. The hungry dog ​​makes sure that the apostles move in the right direction and do not leave the kingdom of the dead. Thus, the revolution and its perpetrators are blessed not by God, but by Satan.

The symbolism of the names is also important in the poem. The heroine of "The Twelve", Katka, appears on the stage in the second chapter to perish in the sixth along with holy Russia at the hands of unbelievers. Oddly enough, Blok gives the one that has fallen so low that even convicts despise her such a bright name: Katerina means pure. But this is as it should be, because she symbolizes Russia, she is the most positive character in the poem "The Twelve". Just like Katerina from Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" or Katyusha Maslova from Tolstoy's "Resurrection", Katka falls into sin, but she nevertheless remains a saint, like our Rus, plunged into a bloody battle between the past and the future. Katka can also be viewed as Columbine, then Petrukha turns into Pierrot, and everything that happens in Petrograd begins to resemble a puppet comedy in a small show. Then the clumsy movements of toys, which are pulled by the thread by invisible hands, become understandable. The ditties in the third chapter and the balagan verse in the fourth only reinforce this impression.

And the patrol continues to detour, and everywhere he hears thunderclaps, warning of the approach of the Thunderstorm. And only one Petka feels that something was wrong, he is saddened by Katka's death, frightened by the unfolding element. But his comrades go and go forward, striving to get rid of the old world. The time of the twelfth chapter is approaching, it is the most difficult. The poem ends with it, but the questions posed by the author remain unanswered. Who are the twelve? Where are they going? And why is this strange "Jesus Christ" in a white crown of roses and with a red flag in front of everyone? The block allows readers to figure it out for themselves, and in the final part, he brings together all the most important and helps us to penetrate with a glance through the blizzard and darkness, so that we understand the Mystery.

Thus, it becomes clear that literary symbolism is capable of subtly expressing sympathy for the hero or the author's personal view of something important. Block uses it in its entirety, making references to the works of other writers or operating in understandable, without any explanation, images, such as color, the element of wind. The poem "The Twelve" is full of mysteries and revelations, it makes you think about every word, every sign in order to decipher it correctly. This work illustrates well the work of Alexander Blok, who rightfully takes his place among the famous Symbolists.

Problems and tests on the topic "The role of symbols in A. A. Blok's poem The Twelve"

  • Role of soft and hard signs - Spelling of vowels and consonants in significant parts of the word grade 4

    Lessons: 1 Assignments: 9 Tests: 1

  • Nominative case of nouns. Role in the sentence of nouns in the nominative case - Noun Grade 3

The symbol is one of the secret matching methods. From other similar literary devices - metaphors, hyperbole and others, they are distinguished by polysemy. Any person perceives them as much as he likes it, and as he personally understands them. In a literary text, symbols arise not only due to the intentional desire of the author for the reader to recognize something abstract in them, but also by instinctive factors. They are often combined with extremely metaphysical associations of the writer in relation to different words, objects and actions. To some extent, symbols serve to identify the author's point of view, however, due to the ambiguity of their perception, it is usually impossible to work out any true conclusions.

Alexander Blok's poem "The Twelve" is quite rich in symbolism, which is generally characteristic of the lyrics silver age, and then we will try to collect these symbols into a kind of unified system.

The rhythm of the first chapter of "The Twelve" is sustained in the folk style, which was usually accompanied by performances of small puppet theaters - nativity scenes or various buffoonery performances. Such a technique immediately gives a feeling of unreality. Immediately added is such an element as a huge canvas, very similar to a movie theater screen. This approach, combined with the constant black-and-white contrasts, creates the impression that we are watching a movie or performance of the same den, and this impression does not disappear until the very end of the poem. The landscape is again graphic: white snow - black sky - wind - lights. These easily conceivable details do not at all give reality to the paintings, but they are easily associated with shots from the film "The Terminator", which, in turn, is plotted with the Apocalypse. Black sky, snow and fire are quite suitable symbols for the earth, over which the wrath of God hangs.

To continue the topic The last judgment you can take the main song of the Icelandic "Elder Edda" - "Völvi's Divination." According to Scandinavian mythology, the end of the world is preceded by a three-year winter called "Fimbulvetr", which begins with a wolf eating the sun. During this winter fratricidal wars take place, so it is said about it - "... the time of wolves and trolls is a great fornication." This is directly indicated by some details of "The Twelve" - ​​the same black-and-white landscape, a gathering of prostitutes, even a wolf, - however, in the form shabby dog! According to "Edda", after this winter the Last Battle will take place, when "good" deities - ases and heroes will come out against bad trolls, giants, a wolf, Thepriz and the snake Midgard - the "world snake". Let us recall the episode from the last chapter, when "twelve" threaten with a bayonet a dog, that is, a wolf, and snowdrifts, in which, as you know, witches, trolls and other evil spirits celebrate weddings. However, the role of the "twelve" in this system is not clearly defined - whether they are "good" aces, or bloody trolls, corpse eaters, instigators of the world hellish fire, together with a wolf.

Twelve is the key number of the poem, and many associations can be associated with it. First of all, it is twelve hours - midnight, twelve months - the end of the year. It turns out to be some kind of "borderline" number, since the end of an old day (or year), as well as the beginning of a new one, is always overcoming a certain milestone, a step into an unknown future. For A. Blok, such a frontier was the fall of the old world. It is unclear what lies ahead. Probably, the "world conflagration" will soon spread to all things. But this also inspires some hope, because the death of the old world promises the birth of something new. So in Christianity, where the elect will find paradise, so in the Scandinavians, where during Last Battle the world ash Iidrasil will collapse, both the heavens and the underworld (by the way, created from the corpse of a certain giant) will collapse. But some aces will be saved, and a man with a woman who

Will eat

Dew in the morning

And people will be born.

Another number association is the twelve apostles. This is indirectly indicated by the names of two of them - Andryukha and Petrukha. Let us also recall the story of the Apostle Peter, who denied Christ three times in one night. But with A. Blok, the opposite is true: Petrukha returns to faith three times in one night and retreats three times. In addition, he is the killer of his former lover.

I wrapped my scarf around my neck -

There is no way to recover.

The handkerchief is like a noose around the neck, and Peter turns into Judas. And the role of the traitor to Judas is played by Vanka (John).

And go without a saint's name

All twelve are into the distance.

Ready for anything

It's not a pity ...

Their rifles are steel

To the invisible enemy ...

And a little earlier: "Eh, eh, without a cross!" It turns out some kind of anti-apostles - with rifles instead of a cross, criminals, robbers, murderers, ready to shoot even into a snowdrift, even a bourgeois, even a dog, even all of Holy Russia, even Jesus Christ himself. And suddenly A. Blok unexpectedly destroys the concept of anti-apostles - by the fact that Jesus Christ with a bloody flag is leading their procession, though invisible to them! One more important detail connected with these "twelve": "On the back would need an ace of diamonds!" Here you can find different explanations. Firstly, "twelve" are convicts, and the ace is a mark of distinction from civilians. Secondly, this is a colorfully dressed up pagan procession, Christmas carols, for example. Thirdly - procession, then Jesus Christ is in place. Further, "ace" in English is "ace", and again I remember the Scandinavian aces, of whom, by the way, there were also twelve. Or maybe it's just a revolutionary patrol and red aces - again for the sake of distinction.

The complicated order of the symbolism of Alexander Blok does not bring the likelihood of uttering who these "twelve" are. However, this is not so important, because it is thanks to the symbolism that the poem succeeded in an extremely capacious one. Here is the history of sin with subsequent retribution, and murder with pangs of conscience and oblivion, and the most important thing is the real idea of ​​the collapse and desecration of the old, old world. It no longer makes sense whether he was good or bad. The fall has become a reality, and I just want to hope that in the future everything will be the best.

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