The images of animals in literature are a kind of mirror of humanistic consciousness. Just as the self-determination of a person is impossible outside its relation to another person, so the self-determination of the entire human race cannot be accomplished outside its relation to the animal kingdom.

The cult of animals has existed for a very long time. In a distant era, when the main occupation of the Slavs was hunting, and not agriculture, they believed that wild animals and humans had common ancestors. Each tribe had its own totem, that is, a sacred animal that the tribe worshiped, believing that it was their blood relative.

Images of animals have always been present in the literature of different times. They served as material for the emergence of the Aesopian language in animal tales, and later in fables. In the literature of the "new time", in the epic and in the lyrics, animals acquire equality with humans, becoming the object or subject of the narrative. Often a person is "tested for humanity" by the attitude towards the animal.

The poetry of the 19th century is dominated by images of domestic and household animals, tamed by man, sharing his life and work. After Pushkin, the everyday genre becomes predominant in animalistic poetry. All living things are placed in the framework of household inventory or household yard (Pushkin, Nekrasov, Fet). In the poetry of the 20th century, images of wild animals became widespread (Bunin, Gumilyov, Mayakovsky). Gone is the worship of the beast. But the "new peasant poets" re-introduce the motif of the "brotherhood of man and animal." Their poetic work is dominated by domestic animals - a cow, a horse, a dog, a cat. Relationships reveal the features of a family way of life.

In the poetry of Sergei Yesenin, there is also the motive of "blood relationship" with the animal world, he calls them "smaller brothers".

Happy that I kissed women

Crumpled flowers, rolled on the grass

And the beast, like our smaller brothers

Never hit on the head.

("We are now leaving little by little", 1924)

In him, along with domestic animals, we find images of representatives of the wild. Of the 339 poems examined, 123 mention animals, birds, insects, and fish.

Horse (13), cow (8), raven, dog, nightingale (6), calves, cat, dove, crane (5), sheep, mare, dog (4), foal, swan, rooster, owl (3), sparrow, wolf, capercaillie, cuckoo, horse, frog, fox, mouse, titmouse (2), stork, ram, butterfly, camel, rook, goose, gorilla, toad, snake, oriole, sandpiper, chickens, corncrake, donkey, parrot , magpies, catfish, pig, cockroaches, lapwing, bumblebee, pike, lamb (1).

S. Yesenin most often refers to the image of a horse, a cow. He introduces these animals into the story of peasant life as an integral part of the life of a Russian peasant. Since ancient times, a horse, a cow, a dog and a cat have accompanied a person in his hard work, shared with him both joys and troubles.

The horse was an assistant when working in the field, in transporting goods, in military combat. The dog brought prey, guarded the house. The cow was a drinker and breadwinner in a peasant family, and the cat caught mice and simply personified home comfort.

The image of a horse, as an integral part of everyday life, is found in the poems "Tabun" (1915), "Farewell, dear forest ..." (1916), "Now do not scatter this sadness ..." (1924). Paintings village life change in connection with the events taking place in the country. And if in the first poem we see "in the hills green herds of horses", then in the following already:

Mowed hut,

Weeping sheep, and away in the wind

The little horse waving its scrawny tail,

Looking into the unkind pond.

(“This sadness cannot be scattered now…”, 1924)

The village fell into decay and the proud and majestic horse "turned" into a "horse", which personifies the plight of the peasantry in those years.

The innovation and originality of S. Yesenin, the poet, manifested itself in the fact that when drawing or mentioning animals in everyday space (field, river, village, yard, house, etc.), he is not an animal painter, that is, he does not aim to recreate the image of one or another animal. Animals, being a part of everyday space and environment, appear in his poetry as a source and means of artistic and philosophical understanding of the world around them, and allow revealing the content of a person's spiritual life.

In the poem "Cow" (1915), S. Yesenin uses the principle of anthropomorphism, endowing the animal with human thoughts and feelings. The author describes a specific household and life situation- the old age of the animal

decrepit, teeth fell out,

scroll of years on the horns ...

and his future fate, "soon ... they will tie a noose around her neck // and lead to the slaughter", he identifies the old animal and the old man.

Thinking a sad thought...

If we turn to those works in which the image of a dog occurs, then, for example, in the poem "Song of the Dog" (1915). "Song" (emphasized "high" genre) is a kind of hymnography, which became possible due to the fact that the subject of "chanting" is the sacred feeling of motherhood, inherent in a dog to the same extent as in a woman - a mother. The animal worries about the death of its cubs, which the "gloomy master" drowned in the hole.

Introducing the image of a dog into his poems, the poet writes about the long-standing friendship of this beast with man. The lyrical hero of S. Yesenin is also a peasant by origin, and in childhood and adolescence - a villager. Loving his fellow villagers, he is at the same time, in essence, completely different from them. In relation to animals, this is manifested most clearly. His affection and love for "sisters - bitches" and "brothers - males" are feelings for equals. That is why the dog "was my youth friend".

The poem "Son of a bitch" reflects the tragedy of the consciousness of the lyrical hero, which arises from the fact that in the world of wildlife and animals everything looks unchanged:

That dog died a long time ago

But in the same suit as with a blue tint,

With barking lively - stunned

I was shot by her young son.

It seems that the "son" genetically received love for the lyrical hero from his mother. However, the lyrical hero next to this dog feels especially keenly how he has changed externally and internally. For him, returning to his young self is possible only at the level of feeling and for a moment.

With this pain, I feel younger

And at least write notes again.

At the same time, the irreversibility of what has passed is realized.

Another animal that "accompanies" a person through life for a very long time is a cat. It embodies home comfort, a warm hearth.

An old cat sneaks up to the shawl

For fresh milk.

("In the hut.", 1914)

In this poem, we also meet with other representatives of the animal world, which are also an invariable "attribute" of the peasant hut. These are cockroaches, chickens, roosters.

Having considered the everyday meanings of the images of animals, we turn to their symbolic meanings. The symbols that animals are endowed with are very widespread in folklore and classical poetry. Each poet has his own symbolism, but basically they all rely on the folk basis of one image or another. Yesenin also uses folk beliefs about animals, but at the same time, many images of animals are rethought by him and receive a new significance. Let's go back to the image of the horse.

The horse is one of the sacred animals in Slavic mythology, an attribute of the gods, but at the same time a chthonic creature associated with fertility and death, the afterlife, a guide to the "other world". The horse was endowed with the ability to portend fate, especially death. A. N. Afanasyev explains the meaning of the horse in the mythology of the ancient Slavs in this way: “As the personification of gusty winds, storms and flying clouds, fairy horses are endowed with wings, which makes them related to mythological birds ... fiery, fire-breathing ... the horse serves as a poetic image of either the radiant sun or a cloud of lightning flashing ... ".

In the poem "Dove" (1916), the horse appears in the image of "quiet fate". Nothing foreshadows change and the lyrical hero lives a quiet, measured life, with his household chores from day to day, just like his ancestors lived.

The day will go out, flashing with a shock of gold,

And in the box of years the works will settle down.

But in the history of the country, the revolutionary events of 1917 take place, and the hero’s soul becomes anxious for the fate of Russia, his region. He understands that now a lot will change in his life. The lyrical hero recalls with sadness his strong, well-established life, which is now broken.

... He took my horse away ...

My horse is my power and strengthen.

He knows that now his future depends on the future of his homeland, he is trying to escape from the events that are taking place.

... he beats, rushes about,

Pulling a tight lasso ...

("Open the guard beyond the clouds to me", 1918),

but he does not succeed, it remains only to submit to fate. In this work, we observe a poetic parallelism between the "behavior" of the horse and its fate and the state of mind of the lyrical hero in the "life torn apart by a storm".

In the 1920 poem "Sorokoust", Yesenin introduces the image of a horse as a symbol of the old patriarchal village, which has not yet realized the transition to a new life. The image of this "past", which is trying with all its might to fight change, is a foal, which appears as a component of the whole symbolic situation of "competition" between the "cast-iron horse-train" and the "red-maned colt".

Dear, dear, funny fool

Well, where is he, where is he chasing?

Doesn't he know that living horses

Did the steel cavalry win?

The struggle of the village for survival is lost, more and more preference is given to the city.

In other works, the horse becomes a symbol of past youth, a symbol of what a person cannot return, it remains only in memories.

Now I have become more stingy in desires,

My life? did you dream of me?

Like I'm a spring echoing early

Ride on a pink horse.

(“I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry…”, 1921)

"I rode on a pink horse" - a symbol of a quickly gone, irrevocable youth. Thanks to the additional symbolism of color, it appears as a "pink horse" - a symbol of sunrise, spring, the joy of life. But even a real peasant horse at dawn turns pink in the rays rising sun. The essence of this poem is a thankful song, the blessings of all living things. The horse has the same meaning in the poem "Oh, you sleigh ..." (1924)

Everything is gone. Thinned my hair.

The horse is dead.

Remembering his youth, the lyrical hero also refers to the image of a dog.

I remember a dog today

What was my youth friend

("Son of a bitch". 1924)

In this poem, the poet recalls his youth, his first love, which is gone, but lives in memories. However, to replace old love a new one comes, to replace the older generation - the young one, that is, nothing in this life returns, but also life cycle at the same time uninterrupted.

That dog died a long time ago

But in the same suit, with a tint of blue ...

I was shot by her young son.

If we turn to other representatives of the animal world, for example, ravens, we will see that in Yesenin they have the same symbolism as in folk poetry.

Black crows croaked:

Terrible troubles a wide scope.

("Rus", 1914)

In this poem, the raven is a harbinger of impending trouble, namely the war of 1914. The poet introduces the image of this bird not only as a folk symbol of misfortune, but also in order to show his negative attitude to current events, feelings for the fate of the Motherland.

Many poets use various types of word transfer to create images, including metaphor. In poetry, metaphor is used mainly in its secondary function, introducing attributive and evaluative meanings into nominal positions. For poetic speech, a binary metaphor is characteristic (metaphor - comparison). Thanks to the image, metaphor connects language and myth with the corresponding way of thinking - mythological. Poets create their own epithets, metaphors, comparisons and images. Metaphorization of images is traits artistic style poet. S. Yesenin also turns to the help of metaphors in his poems. He creates them according to the folklore principle: he takes material from the rural world and from the natural world for the image and seeks to characterize one noun by another.

Here is an example of the moon:

"The moon, like a yellow bear, tosses and turns in the wet grass."

Yesenin's motive of nature is supplemented in a peculiar way with images of animals. Most often, the names of animals are given in comparisons in which objects and phenomena are compared with animals, often not related to them in reality, but combined according to some associative feature that serves as the basis for its selection. ( "Like the skeletons of skinny cranes // Plucked willows stand..."; "Blue dusk, like a flock of sheep...").

By color match:

On the pond like a red swan

A quiet sunset floats.

("Here it is stupid happiness ...", 1918) ;

by proximity and similarity of functions:

Like birds whistling versts

From under the hooves of a horse ...

("About arable land, arable land, arable land ...", 1917-1918) ;

according to some associative, sometimes subjectively distinguished feature:

I was like a horse driven in soap,

Spurred by a bold rider.

("Letter to a Woman", 1924)

Sometimes the poet also uses the form of parallelism characteristic of Russian folk poetry - songs, including the negative one:

Not the cuckoos were sad - Tanya's relatives are crying.

(“Tanyusha was good…”, 1911)

In the works of S. Yesenin, an animalistic (image of animals) comparison or zoomorphic metaphor often develops into a detailed image:

Autumn - a red mare - scratches her mane.

("Autumn", 1914 - 1916)

Ginger colour autumn leaves is associated with the "red mare". But autumn is not only a "red mare" (similarity in color), it "scratches its mane": the image is revealed through comparison with an animal visibly, in colors, sounds, movements. The tread of autumn is compared to the tread of a horse.

There are comparisons of natural phenomena with animals: a month - " curly lamb "," foal ", " golden frog", Spring - " squirrel", clouds - " wolves." Objects are equated to animals and birds, for example, a mill - "log bird", bake - "camel brick"On the basis of complex associative comparisons, natural phenomena have organs characteristic of animals and birds (paws, muzzles, snouts, claws, beaks):

Cleans the moon in the thatched roof

Horns covered in blue.

("The red wings of the sunset go out.", 1916)

Waves of white claws

Golden sand.

("Heavenly Drummer.", 1918)

Maple and lindens in the windows of the rooms

Throwing branches with paws,

Looking for those who remember.

("Honey, let's sit next to me.", 1923)

Purely symbolic meaning animal colors also acquire: "red horse" - a symbol of revolution, "pink horse" - an image of youth, "black horse" - a harbinger of death.

Figurative embodiment, a clear metaphor, a sensitive perception of folklore underlie the artistic research of Sergei Yesenin. The metaphorical use of animalistic vocabulary in original comparisons creates the originality of the poet's style.

Having considered the images of animals in the poetry of S. Yesenin, we can conclude that the poet solves the problem of using animalistics in his works in different ways.

In one case, he turns to them in order to show with their help some historical events, personal emotional experiences. In others - in order to more accurately, more deeply convey the beauty of nature, native land.

Sergey Yesenin - the most popular, most read poet in Russia.

Creativity S. Yesenin belongs to the best pages not only Russian, but also. world poetry, into which he entered as a subtle, penetrating lyricist.

Yesenin's poetry is distinguished by the extraordinary power of sincerity and immediacy in the expression of feelings, the intensity of moral quests. His poems are always a frank conversation with the reader, the listener. “It seems to me that I write my poems only for my good friends,” the poet himself said.

At the same time, Yesenin is a deep and original thinker. The world of feelings, thoughts and passions of the lyrical hero of his works is complex and contradictory - a contemporary of an unprecedented era of the tragic breakdown of human relations. The poet himself also saw the contradictions of his work and explained them this way: “I sang when my land was sick.”

A faithful and ardent patriot of his Motherland, S. Yesenin was a poet who was vitally connected with his native land, with the people, with his poetic work.

Nature is a comprehensive, main element of the poet's work, and the lyrical hero is connected with it innately and for life:

I was born with songs in a grass blanket.

Spring dawns twisted me into a rainbow"

(“Mother went to the bathing suit through the forest ...”, 1912);

“Be blessed forever,

that came to flourish and die”

(“I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry…”, 1921).

The poetry of S. Yesenin (after N. Nekrasov and A. Blok) is the most significant stage in the formation of the national landscape, which, along with traditional motifs of sadness, desolation, poverty, includes surprisingly bright, contrasting colors, as if taken from popular popular prints:

“Blue sky, colored arc,

<…>

My end! Beloved Russia and Mordva!”;

"Swamps and swamps,

Blue boards of heaven.

Coniferous gilding

The forest is ringing”;

“O Russia - raspberry field

And the blue that fell into the river…”

"blue sucks eyes"; “smells like apple and honey”; “Oh you, my Russia, dear homeland, Sweet rest in the silk of kupyrs”; "Ring, ring golden Russia ...".

This image of bright and sonorous Russia, with sweet smells, silky herbs, blue coolness, was introduced into the self-consciousness of the people by Yesenin.

More often than any other poet, Yesenin uses the very concepts of “land”, “Rus”, “motherland” (“Rus”, 1914; “Goy you, Russia, my dear ...”, 1914; “Beloved land! Dream of the heart ... ”, 1914; “Hewn drogs sang…”,<1916>; “Oh, I believe, I believe, there is happiness…”, 1917; “O land of rains and bad weather…”,<1917>).

Yesenin depicts celestial and atmospheric phenomena in a new way - more picturesquely, pictorially, using zoomorphic and anthropomorphic comparisons. So, his wind is not cosmic, floating out of the astral heights, like Blok’s, but a living being: “a tender red-haired donkey”, “lad”, “schemnik”, “thin-lipped”, “dancing trepaka”. Month - “foal”, “raven”, “calf”, etc. Of the luminaries, in the first place is the image of the moon-month, which is found in approximately every third work of Yesenin (in 41 out of 127 - a very high coefficient; compare with the “starry” Fet from 206 works, 29 include images of stars). At the same time, in the early verses until about 1920, the “month” prevails (18 out of 20), and in the later ones, the moon (16 out of 21). The month highlights above all external form, figure, silhouette, convenient for all kinds of subject associations - “horse muzzle”, “lamb”, “horn”, “kolob”, “boat”; the moon is, first of all, light and the mood caused by it - “thin lemon moonlight”, “lunar reflection, blue”, “the moon laughed like a clown”, “uncomfortable liquid moonlight”. The month is closer to folklore, it is a fairy-tale character, while the moon brings elegiac, romance motifs.

Yesenin is the creator of a one-of-a-kind “woody novel”, the lyrical hero of which is a maple, and the heroines are birches and willows. The humanized images of trees are overgrown with “portrait” details: a birch has a “stand”, “hips”, “breasts”, “leg”, “hairstyle”, “hem”, a maple has a “leg”, “head” (“Maple my fallen, icy maple…”; “I’m wandering through the first snow…”; “My way”; “Green hairstyle…”, etc.). Birch, thanks in large part to Yesenin, has become a national poetic symbol of Russia. Other favorite plants are linden, mountain ash, bird cherry.

More sympathetically and penetratingly than in previous poetry, the images of animals are revealed, which become independent subjects of tragically colored experiences and with which the lyrical hero has a blood-kinship relationship, as with “smaller brothers” (“Song of the Dog”, “Kachalov’s Dog”, “Fox”, “Cow”, “Son of a bitch”, “I will not deceive myself ...”, etc.).

Yesenin's landscape motifs are closely connected not only with the circulation of time in nature, but also with the age course of human life - a feeling of aging and withering, sadness about the past youth (“This sadness can not be scattered now ...”, 1924; “The golden grove dissuaded ...”, 1924; "What a night! I can't...", 1925). A favorite motif, renewed by Yesenin for almost the first time after E. Baratynsky, is separation from his stepfather's house and returning to his “small homeland”: images of nature are colored with a sense of nostalgia, refracted in the prism of memories (“I left my dear home ...”, 1918; “ Confessions of a hooligan”, 1920; “This street is familiar to me…”,<1923>; “Low house with blue shutters…”,<1924>; “I'm going through the valley. Cap on the back of the head…”, 1925; "Anna Snegina", 1925).

For the first time with such sharpness - and again after Baratynsky - Yesenin posed the problem of the painful relationship of nature with the victorious civilization: “a steel chariot defeated the living horses”; “… they squeezed the village by the neck // Stone hands of the highway”; “as in a straitjacket, we take nature into concrete” (“Sorokoust”, 1920; “I am the last poet of the village ...”, 1920; “Mysterious world, my ancient world ...”, 1921). However, in later poems, the poet, as it were, forces himself to fall in love with “stone and steel”, fall out of love with the “poverty of the fields” (“Uncomfortable liquid moonlight”,<1925>).

A significant place in Yesenin's work is occupied by fantastic and cosmic landscapes, designed in the style of biblical prophecy, but acquiring a human-divine and god-fighting meaning:

“Now at the peaks of the stars

The earth is rearing you!”;

“I will then thunder with wheels

Suns and moons like thunder…”.

Yesenin’s poetry of nature, which expressed “love for all living things in the world and mercy” (M. Gorky), is also remarkable in that for the first time it consistently pursues the principle of likening nature to nature, revealing from the inside the richness of its figurative possibilities: quiet water…”; “rye does not ring with a swan's neck”; “curly lamb - month // Walks in the blue grass”, etc.

Love for the native peasant land, for the Russian village, for nature with its forests and fields pervades all of Yesenin's work. The image of Russia for the poet is inseparable from the element of the people; large cities with their factories, scientific and technological progress, social and cultural life do not evoke a response in Yesenin's soul. This, of course, does not mean that the poet was not at all concerned about the problems of the present or that he looks at life through rose-colored glasses. He sees all the troubles of civilization in isolation from the earth, from the origins folk life. “Rising Rus” is rural Rus; the attributes of life for Yesenin are "a loaf of bread", "shepherd's horn". It is no coincidence that the author so often refers to the form of folk songs, epics, ditties, riddles, spells.

It is significant that in Yesenin's poetry, a person is an organic part of nature, he is dissolved in it, he is joyfully and recklessly ready to surrender to the power of the elements: "I would like to get lost in the greenery of your bells," "Spring dawns twisted me into a rainbow."

Many images borrowed from Russian folklore begin to take on a life of their own in his poems. Natural phenomena appear to him in the images of animals, bear the features of everyday village life. Such animation of nature makes his poetry related to the pagan worldview of the ancient Slavs. The poet compares autumn with a "red mare" that "scratches her mane"; his month is a sickle; Describing such an ordinary phenomenon as the light of the sun, the poet writes - "solar oil is pouring on the green hills." A favorite image of his poetry is a tree, one of the central symbols of pagan mythology.

Yesenin's poetry, even clothed in the traditional images of the Christian religion, does not cease to be pagan in nature.

I'll go in a skullcap, bright monk,

Steppe path to the monasteries.

This is how the poem begins and ends with:

With a smile of joyful happiness

I go to other shores

Having tasted the incorporeal communion

Praying for shocks and haystacks.

Here it is, Yesenin's religion. Peasant labor, nature replace the poet of Christ:

I pray for scarlet dawns,

I take communion by the stream.

If the Lord appears in his poem, then most often as a metaphor for some natural phenomenon (“Schemnik-wind with a cautious step / Kneads the foliage along the ledges of the road, / And kisses on the rowan bush / Red ulcers to the invisible Christ”) or in image of a simple man:

The Lord went to torture people in love.

He went out as a beggar,

Old grandfather on a dry stump, in an oak tree,

Zhamkal gums stale donut.

The Lord approached, hiding sorrow and torment:

It can be seen, they say, you can’t wake their hearts ...

And the old man said, holding out his hand:

"Here, chew ... you will be a little stronger."

If his heroes pray to God, then their requests are quite specific and are emphatically earthly in nature:

We still pray, brothers, for faith,

May God irrigate our fields.

And here are purely pagan images:

Hoteled sky

Licks a red heifer.

This is a metaphor for the harvest, bread, which are deified by the poet. Yesenin's world is a village, a human vocation is peasant labor. The pantheon of the peasant is mother earth, cow, harvest. Yesenin's contemporary, poet and writer V. Khodasevich, said that Yesenin's Christianity is "not content, but form, and the use of Christian terminology is approaching a literary device."

Turning to folklore, Yesenin understands that leaving nature, from one's roots, is tragic. He, as a truly Russian poet, believes in his prophetic mission, in the fact that his poems “fed with re-zeda and mint” will help modern man to return to the Kingdom of the ideal, which for Yesenin is the "muzhik's paradise".

Many of the poems of early S. Yesenin are imbued with a sense of inextricable connection with the life of nature (“ Mother in the bath…”, “I do not regret, do not call, do not cry…”). The poet constantly turns to nature when he expresses his most intimate thoughts about himself, about his past, present and future. In his poems, she lives a rich poetic life. Like a man, she is born, grows and dies, sings and whispers, sad and rejoices.

The image of nature is built on associations from rural peasant life, and the human world is usually revealed through associations with the life of nature.

Spiritualization, humanization of nature is characteristic of folk poetry. “Ancient man almost did not know inanimate objects,” notes A. Afanasiev, “everywhere he found reason, and feeling and will. In the noise of the forests, in the rustle of the leaves, he could hear those mysterious conversations that the trees have among themselves.

From childhood, the poet absorbed this popular worldview, we can say that it formed his poetic individuality.

“Everything is from the tree - this is the religion of the thought of our people ... The tree is life. Wiping their face on the canvas with the image of a tree, our people mutely say that they have not forgotten the secret of the ancient fathers to wipe themselves with foliage, that they remember themselves as the seed of the superworldly tree and, running under the cover of its branches, dipping their face in a towel, they seem to want to imprint on his cheeks at least a small branch of it, so that, like a tree, he could shower cones of words and thoughts from himself and stream a shadow-virtue from the branches of his hands, ”wrote S. Yesenin in his poetic and philosophical treatise“ The Keys of Mary.

For Yesenin, likening a person to a tree is more than a “religion of thought”: he did not just believe in the existence of a nodal connection between a person and the natural world, he himself felt himself a part of this nature.

Yesenin's motif of the "tree novel", singled out by M. Epstein, goes back to the traditional motif of assimilation of man to nature. Based on the traditional "man-plant" trope, Yesenin creates a "tree novel" whose heroes are maple, birch and willow.

Humanized images of trees are overgrown with “portrait” details: birch has “stand, hips, breasts, leg, hairstyle, hem, braids”, maple has “leg, head”.

So I want to close my hands

Over the woody thighs of the willows.

(“I am delirious on the first snow ...”, 1917),

green hair,

girl breast,

O thin birch,

What did you look into the pond?

(“Green hairstyle.”, 1918)

I won't be back soon!

For a long time to sing and ring the blizzard.

Guards blue Russia

Old maple on one leg.

(“I left my dear home…”, 1918)

According to M. Epstein, “largely thanks to Yesenin, the birch has become a national poetic symbol of Russia. Other favorite plants are linden, mountain ash, bird cherry.

The most plot-length, the most significant in Yesenin's poetry are still birch and maple.

Birch in Russian folk and classical poetry is the national symbol of Russia. This is one of the most revered trees among the Slavs. In ancient pagan rites, birch often served as a "Maypole", a symbol of spring.

Yesenin, when describing folk spring holidays, mentions a birch in the meaning of this symbol in the poems “Trinity morning ...” (1914) and “Reeds rustled over the backwater ...” (1914)

Trinity morning, morning canon,

In the grove along the birch trees there is a white chime.

In the poem “Reeds rustled over the backwater” we are talking about an important and fascinating action of the Semitsko-Trinity week - fortune-telling on wreaths.

The red maiden told fortunes in seven.

A wave unraveled a wreath of dodder.

The girls wove wreaths and threw them into the river. According to a wreath that sailed far away, washed ashore, stopped or drowned, they judged the fate that awaited them (far or near marriage, girlhood, death of a betrothed).

Ah, do not marry a girl in the spring,

He frightened her with signs of the forest.

The joyful meeting of spring is overshadowed by the premonition of the approaching death “the bark is eaten on the birch”. A tree without bark dies, but here the association "birch - girl". The motive of unhappiness is enhanced by the use of such images as “mice”, “spruce”, “shroud”.

In the poem "Green hairstyle". (1918) the humanization of the birch in Yesenin's work reaches its full development. Birch becomes like a woman.

green hair,

girl breast,

O thin birch,

What did you look into the pond?

The reader will never know who this poem is about - about a birch tree or about a girl. Because the man here is likened to a tree, and the tree to a man.

In such poems as “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry ...” (1921) and “The golden grove dissuaded ...” (1924), the lyrical hero reflects on his life, about his youth:

I do not regret, do not call, do not cry,

Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees.

Withering gold embraced,

I won't be young anymore.

... And the country of birch chintz

Not tempted to wander around barefoot.

"Apple smoke" - flowering of trees in spring, when everything around is reborn to a new life. “Apple tree”, “apples” - in folk poetry it is a symbol of youth - “rejuvenating apples”, and “smoke” is a symbol of fragility, fleetingness, ghostliness. In combination, they mean the fleetingness of happiness, youth. Birch, a symbol of spring, adjoins the same meaning. “Country of birch chintz” is the “country” of childhood, the time of the most beautiful. No wonder Yesenin writes “to wander around barefoot”, one can draw a parallel with the expression “barefoot childhood”.

All of us, all of us in this world are perishable,

Quietly pouring copper from maple leaves ...

May you be blessed forever

That came to flourish and die.

Before us is a symbol of the transience of human life. The symbol is based on the trope: “life is the time of flowering”, wilting is the approach of death. In nature, everything inevitably returns, repeats and blooms again. Man, unlike nature, is one-time, and his cycle, coinciding with the natural, is already unique.

The theme of the Motherland is closely intertwined with the image of the birch. Each Yesenin line is warmed by a feeling of boundless love for Russia. The strength of the poet's lyrics lies in the fact that in it the feeling of love for the Motherland is expressed not abstractly, but concretely, in visible images, through pictures of the native landscape.

This can be seen in such poems as "White Birch". (1913), "Return to the Motherland" (1924), "Uncomfortable liquid moonlight" (1925).

Maple, unlike other trees, it does not have such a definite, formed figurative core in Russian poetry. In folklore traditions associated with ancient pagan rituals, he did not play a significant role. Poetic views on him in Russian classical literature mainly formed in the 20th century and therefore have not yet acquired a clear outline.

The maple image is most formed in the poetry of S. Yesenin, where he acts as a kind of lyrical hero of the "woody novel". Maple is a daring, slightly rollicking guy, with a wild mop of uncombed hair, since he has a round crown that looks like a mop of hair or a hat. Hence the motif of assimilation, that primary similarity from which the image of the lyrical hero developed.

Because that old maple

Head looks like me.

(“I left my dear home ...”, 1918)

In the poem “Son of a bitch” (1824), the lyrical hero is sad about the bygone youth, which “has died down”,

Like maple rotted under the windows.

In folk poetry, a rotten or withered tree is a symbol of grief, the loss of something dear that cannot be returned.

The hero remembers his youthful love. The symbol of love here is the viburnum, with its “bitter” semantics, it is also combined with the “yellow pond”. Yellow in the superstitions of the people is a symbol of separation, grief. Therefore, we can say that parting with a beloved girl was already destined by fate itself.

Maple or sycamore in the ethnological traditions of the Slavs is a tree into which a person has been turned (“cursed”). S. Yesenin also anthropomorphizes the maple, he appears as a person with all his mental states and periods of life. In the poem “You are my fallen maple ...” (1925), the lyrical hero is like a maple with his daring, he draws a parallel between himself and the maple:

And, like a drunken watchman, going out onto the road,

He drowned in a snowdrift, froze his leg.

Oh, and now I myself have become somewhat unstable,

I won't get home from a friendly drinking party.

It is not even always clear who this poem is about - a person or a tree.

There he met a willow, there he noticed a pine tree,

He sang songs to them under a blizzard about summer.

I myself seemed to be the same maple ...

Reminiscent of maple with its "carefree - curly head", poplar at the same time, aristocratically "slender and straight." This harmony, aspiration upward is a distinctive feature of the poplar, up to the poetry of our days.

In the poem "The Village" (1914), S. Yesenin compares poplar leaves with silk:

In silk poplar leaves.

This comparison was made possible by the fact that poplar leaves have a double structure: on the outside, the leaves are brilliant green, as if polished, with inside- matte silver. Silk fabric also has a double color: the right side is shiny, smooth, and the left side is matte and inexpressive. When silk shimmers, the shades of color can change, just as poplar leaves shimmer with a greenish-silver color in the wind.

Poplars grow along roadsides and are therefore sometimes associated with barefoot wanderers. This theme of wandering is reflected in the poem "Without a hat, with a bast knapsack ..." (1916).

The lyrical hero - the wanderer "wanders" "under the quiet rustle of poplars." Here the wanderer-man and the wanderer-tree echo, complement each other to achieve greater subtlety in the disclosure of the topic.

In the works of Yesenin, poplars are also a sign of the Motherland, like birch.

Saying goodbye to the house, leaving for foreign lands, the hero is sad that

They will no longer be winged leaves

I need to ring poplars.

(“Yes! Now it’s decided…”, 1922)

willow called "weeping". The image of a willow is more unambiguous and has the semantics of melancholy.

In Russian folk poetry, willow is a symbol not only of love, but also of any separation, grief of mothers parting with their sons.

In the poetry of S. Yesenin, the image of a willow is traditionally associated with sadness, loneliness, and separation. This sadness for the past youth, for the loss of a loved one, from parting with the homeland.

For example, in the poem "Night and field, and the cry of roosters ..." (1917)

Here everything is the same as it was then,

The same rivers and the same herds.

Only willows above the red mound

The shabby hem is shaken.

"The dilapidated hem of the willows" - the past, the old time, something that is very expensive, but something that will never return. Destroyed, warped life of the people, the country.

In the same poem, aspen is also mentioned. It emphasizes bitterness, loneliness, as in folk poetry it is always a symbol of sadness.

In other poems, willow, like birch, is a heroine, a girl.

And call the rosary

Willows are meek nuns.

(“Beloved Land…”, 1914)

So I want to close my hands

Over the woody thighs of the willows.

(“I am wandering through the first snow…”, 1917)

The lyrical hero, remembering his youth, sad about it, also refers to the image of a willow.

And knocked on my window

September with a crimson willow branch,

So that I was ready and met

His arrival is unpretentious.

(“Let you be drunk by others…” 1923)

September is autumn, and the autumn of life is the imminent arrival of winter - old age. The hero meets this “autumn age” calmly, although with a little sadness about “mischievous and rebellious courage”, because by this time he has gained life experience and looks at the world around him already from the height of past years.

Everything that distinguishes a tree from other forms of vegetation (strength of the trunk, mighty crown) highlights oak among other trees, making, as it were, the king of the tree kingdom. He personifies the highest degree of firmness, courage, strength, greatness.

Tall, mighty, blooming - the characteristic epithets of the oak, which, among poets, acts as an image of vitality.

In the poetry of S. Yesenin, the oak is not such a constant hero as the birch and maple. Oak is mentioned in only three poems (“Bogatyrsky whistle”, 1914; “Oktoikh”, 1917; “Unspeakable, blue, tender…”, 1925)

In the poem "Octoechos" the Mauritian oak is mentioned. Yesenin subsequently explained the meaning of this image in his treatise "Keys of Mary" (1918)

“... that symbolic tree that means "family", it does not matter at all that in Judea this tree bore the name of the Mauritian oak ... "

Under the Mauritian oak

My red-haired grandfather is sitting ...

The introduction of the image of the Mauritian oak into this poem is not accidental, since it speaks of the homeland:

Oh motherland, happy

And a non-starting hour!

about relatives -

"my red-haired grandfather".

This oak, as it were, summarizes everything that the poet wanted to write about in this work, that the family is the most important thing that a person can have.

The image of the “family” is given here in more broad sense: this is the "father's land", and "native graves", and "father's house", that is, everything that connects a person with this land.

In the poem “The Heroic Whistle”, Yesenin introduces the image of an oak to show the power and strength of Russia, its people. This work can be put on a par with Russian epics about heroes. Ilya Muromets and other heroes, jokingly, effortlessly felled oaks. In this poem, the peasant also “whistles”, and from his whistle

century-old oaks trembled,

On the oaks, the leaves fall from the whistle.

Coniferous trees convey a different mood and carry a different meaning than leafy ones: not joy and sadness, not various emotional outbursts, but rather a mysterious silence, numbness, self-absorption.

Pine and spruce trees are part of a gloomy, harsh landscape, around them there is wilderness, dusk, silence. Irreplaceable greens evoke associations coniferous trees with eternal peace, deep sleep, over which time has no power, the cycle of nature.

These trees are mentioned in such poems of 1914 as “The winds do not shower the forests ...”, “The melted clay dries”, “I smell the joy of God ...”, “Mustache”, “A cloud tied lace in a grove.” (1915).

In Yesenin's poem "Powder" (1914), the main character, the pine tree, acts as an "old woman":

Like a white scarf

The pine has tied up.

Bent over like an old lady

Leaned on a stick...

The forest where the heroine lives is fabulous, magical, also alive, just like her.

Bewitched by the invisible

The forest is slumbering under the fairy tale of sleep...

We meet with another fabulous, magical forest in the poem "The Sorceress" (1915). But this forest is no longer bright, joyful, but, on the contrary, formidable (“The grove threatens with spruce peaks”), gloomy, severe.

Spruces and pines here represent an evil, malevolent space, evil spirit living in this wilderness. The landscape is painted in dark colors:

The dark night is silently frightened,

The moon is covered with shawls of clouds.

The wind is a pevun with a howl of hysterics ...

Having examined the poems where images of trees are found, we see that S. Yesenin's poems are imbued with a sense of inextricable connection with the life of nature. It is inseparable from a person, from his thoughts and feelings. The image of the tree in Yesenin's poetry appears in the same meaning as in folk poetry. The author's motif of the "tree novel" goes back to the traditional motif of likening man to nature, based on the traditional trope "man - plant".

Drawing nature, the poet introduces into the story a description of human life, holidays, which are somehow connected with the animal and plant world. Yesenin, as it were, interweaves these two worlds, creates one harmonious and interpenetrating world. He often resorts to impersonation. Nature is not a frozen landscape background: it reacts ardently to the destinies of people, the events of history. She is the poet's favorite character.

The images of animals in literature are a kind of mirror of humanistic consciousness. Just as the self-determination of a person is impossible outside its relation to another person, so the self-determination of the entire human race cannot be accomplished outside its relation to the animal kingdom.

The cult of animals has existed for a very long time. In a distant era, when the main occupation of the Slavs was hunting, and not agriculture, they believed that wild animals and humans had common ancestors. Each tribe had its own totem, that is, a sacred animal that the tribe worshiped, believing that it was their blood relative.

Images of animals have always been present in the literature of different times. They served as material for the emergence of the Aesopian language in animal tales, and later in fables. In the literature of the "modern time", in the epic and in the lyrics, animals acquire equality with humans, becoming the object or subject of the narrative. Often a person is "tested for humanity" by the attitude towards the animal.

The poetry of the 19th century is dominated by images of domestic and household animals, tamed by man, sharing his life and work. After Pushkin, the everyday genre becomes predominant in animalistic poetry. All living things are placed in the framework of household inventory or household yard (Pushkin, Nekrasov, Fet). In the poetry of the 20th century, images of wild animals became widespread (Bunin, Gumilyov, Mayakovsky). Gone is the worship of the beast. But the "new peasant poets" reintroduce the motif of the "brotherhood of man and animal." Their poetic work is dominated by domestic animals - a cow, a horse, a dog, a cat. Relationships reveal the features of a family way of life.

In the poetry of Sergei Yesenin, there is also the motive of “blood relationship” with the animal world, he calls them “smaller brothers”.

Happy that I kissed women

Crumpled flowers, rolled on the grass

And the beast, like our smaller brothers

Never hit on the head.

(“We are now leaving little by little”, 1924)

In him, along with domestic animals, we find images of representatives of the wild. Of the 339 poems examined, 123 mention animals, birds, insects, and fish.

Horse (13), cow (8), raven, dog, nightingale (6), calves, cat, dove, crane (5), sheep, mare, dog (4), foal, swan, rooster, owl (3), sparrow, wolf, capercaillie, cuckoo, horse, frog, fox, mouse, titmouse (2), stork, ram, butterfly, camel, rook, goose, gorilla, toad, snake, oriole, sandpiper, chickens, corncrake, donkey, parrot , magpies, catfish, pig, cockroaches, lapwing, bumblebee, pike, lamb (1).

S. Yesenin most often refers to the image of a horse, a cow. He introduces these animals into the story of peasant life as an integral part of the life of a Russian peasant. Since ancient times, a horse, a cow, a dog and a cat have accompanied a person in his hard work, shared with him both joys and troubles.

The horse was an assistant when working in the field, in transporting goods, in military combat. The dog brought prey, guarded the house. The cow was a drinker and breadwinner in a peasant family, and the cat caught mice and simply personified home comfort.

The image of a horse, as an integral part of everyday life, is found in the poems “Tabun” (1915), “Farewell, dear forest ...” (1916), “Now this sadness cannot be scattered ...” (1924). Pictures of village life are changing in connection with the events taking place in the country. And if in the first poem we see "in the hills green herds of horses”, then in the following already:

Mowed hut,

Weeping sheep, and away in the wind

The little horse waving its scrawny tail,

Looking into the unkind pond.

(“This sadness cannot be scattered now…”, 1924)

The village fell into decay and the proud and majestic horse “turned” into a “horse”, which personifies the plight of the peasantry in those years.

The innovation and originality of S. Yesenin, the poet, manifested itself in the fact that when drawing or mentioning animals in everyday space (field, river, village, yard, house, etc.), he is not an animal painter, that is, he does not aim to recreate the image of one or another animal. Animals, being a part of everyday space and environment, appear in his poetry as a source and means of artistic and philosophical understanding of the world around them, and allow revealing the content of a person's spiritual life.

In the poem "Cow" (1915), S. Yesenin uses the principle of anthropomorphism, endowing the animal with human thoughts and feelings. The author describes a specific everyday and life situation - the old age of the animal

decrepit, teeth fell out,

scroll of years on the horns ...

and his future fate, “soon… they will tie a noose around her neck // and lead to the slaughter", he identifies the old animal and the old man.

Thinking a sad thought...

If we turn to those works in which the image of a dog occurs, then, for example, in the poem “Song of the Dog” (1915). “Song” (emphasized “high” genre) is a kind of hymnography, which became possible due to the fact that the subject of “chanting” is the sacred feeling of motherhood, which is inherent in a dog to the same extent as in a woman - a mother. The animal worries about the death of its cubs, which the "gloomy master" drowned in the hole.

Introducing the image of a dog into his poems, the poet writes about the long-standing friendship of this beast with man. The lyrical hero of S. Yesenin is also a peasant by origin, and in childhood and adolescence - a villager. Loving his fellow villagers, he is at the same time, in essence, completely different from them. In relation to animals, this is manifested most clearly. His affection and love for “sisters - bitches” and “brothers - males” are feelings for equals. That is why the dog “was my youth friend".

The poem “Son of a bitch” reflects the tragedy of the consciousness of the lyrical hero, which arises from the fact that in the world of wildlife and animals everything looks unchanged:

That dog died a long time ago

But in the same suit as with a blue tint,

With barking lively - stunned

I was shot by her young son.

It seems that the “son” genetically received love for the lyrical hero from his mother. However, the lyrical hero next to this dog feels especially keenly how he has changed externally and internally. For him, returning to his young self is possible only at the level of feeling and for a moment.

With this pain, I feel younger

And at least write notes again.

At the same time, the irreversibility of what has passed is realized.

Another animal that “accompanies” a person through life for a very long time is a cat. It embodies home comfort, a warm hearth.

An old cat sneaks up to the shawl

For fresh milk.

(“In the hut.”, 1914)

In this poem, we also meet with other representatives of the animal world, which are also an invariable “attribute” of the peasant hut. These are cockroaches, chickens, roosters.

Having considered the everyday meanings of the images of animals, we turn to their symbolic meanings. The symbols that animals are endowed with are very widespread in folklore and classical poetry. Each poet has his own symbolism, but basically they all rely on the folk basis of one image or another. Yesenin also uses folk beliefs about animals, but at the same time, many images of animals are rethought by him and receive new significance. Let's go back to the image of the horse.

The horse is one of the sacred animals in Slavic mythology, an attribute of the gods, but at the same time a chthonic creature associated with fertility and death, the afterlife, a guide to the “other world”. The horse was endowed with the ability to portend fate, especially death. A. N. Afanasiev explains the meaning of the horse in the mythology of the ancient Slavs in this way: “As the personification of gusty winds, storms and flying clouds, fairy horses are endowed with wings, which makes them related to mythological birds ... fiery, fire-breathing ... the horse serves as a poetic image of either the luminous sun or a cloud of lightning flashing…”.

In the poem "Dove" (1916), the horse appears in the image of "quiet fate". Nothing foreshadows change and the lyrical hero lives a quiet, measured life, with his household chores from day to day, just like his ancestors lived.

The day will go out, flashing with a shock of gold,

And in the box of years the works will settle down.

But in the history of the country, the revolutionary events of 1917 take place, and the hero’s soul becomes anxious for the fate of Russia, his region. He understands that now a lot will change in his life. The lyrical hero recalls with sadness his strong, well-established life, which is now broken.

... He took my horse away ...

My horse is my power and strengthen.

He knows that now his future depends on the future of his homeland, he is trying to escape from the events that are taking place.

... he beats, rushes about,

Pulling a tight lasso ...

(“Open to me the sentinel beyond the clouds”, 1918),

but he does not succeed, it remains only to submit to fate. In this work, we observe a poetic parallelism between the “behavior” of the horse and its fate and the state of mind of the lyrical hero in “life torn apart by a storm”.

In the 1920 poem “Sorokoust”, Yesenin introduces the image of a horse as a symbol of the old patriarchal village, which has not yet realized the transition to a new life. The image of this “past”, which is trying with all its might to fight change, is a foal, which appears as a component of the whole symbolic situation of “competition” between the “cast-iron horse-train” and the “red-maned colt”.

Dear, dear, funny fool

Well, where is he, where is he chasing?

Doesn't he know that living horses

Did the steel cavalry win?

The struggle of the village for survival is lost, more and more preference is given to the city.

In other works, the horse becomes a symbol of past youth, a symbol of what a person cannot return, it remains only in memories.

Now I have become more stingy in desires,

My life? did you dream of me?

Like I'm a spring echoing early

Ride on a pink horse.

(“I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry…”, 1921)

“I rode on a pink horse” - a symbol of a quickly gone, irrevocable youth. Thanks to the additional symbolism of color, it appears as a “pink horse” - a symbol of sunrise, spring, the joy of life. But even a real peasant horse at dawn turns pink in the rays of the rising sun. The essence of this poem is a thankful song, the blessings of all living things. The horse has the same meaning in the poem “Oh, you, sleigh ...” (1924)

Everything is gone. Thinned my hair.

The horse is dead.

Remembering his youth, the lyrical hero also refers to the image of a dog.

I remember a dog today

What was my youth friend

(“Son of a bitch.” 1924)

In this poem, the poet recalls his youth, his first love, which is gone, but lives in memories. However, the old love is replaced by a new one, the older generation is replaced by the young, that is, nothing in this life returns, but at the same time the life cycle is uninterrupted.

That dog died a long time ago

But in the same suit, with a tint of blue ...

I was shot by her young son.

If we turn to other representatives of the animal world, for example, ravens, we will see that in Yesenin they have the same symbolism as in folk poetry.

Black crows croaked:

Terrible troubles a wide scope.

(“Rus”, 1914)

In this poem, the raven is a harbinger of impending trouble, namely the war of 1914. The poet introduces the image of this bird not only as a folk symbol of misfortune, but also in order to show his negative attitude to current events, feelings for the fate of the Motherland.

Many poets use various types of word transfer to create images, including metaphor. In poetry, metaphor is used mainly in its secondary function, introducing attributive and evaluative meanings into nominal positions. For poetic speech, a binary metaphor is characteristic (metaphor - comparison). Thanks to the image, metaphor connects language and myth with the corresponding way of thinking - mythological. Poets create their own epithets, metaphors, comparisons and images. Metaphorization of images is a feature of the poet's artistic style. S. Yesenin also turns to the help of metaphors in his poems. He creates them according to the folklore principle: he takes material from the rural world and from the natural world for the image and seeks to characterize one noun by another.

Here is an example of the moon:

“The moon, like a yellow bear, tosses and turns in the wet grass.”

Yesenin's motive of nature is supplemented in a peculiar way with images of animals. Most often, the names of animals are given in comparisons in which objects and phenomena are compared with animals, often not related to them in reality, but combined according to some associative feature that serves as the basis for its selection. ( “Like skeletons of skinny cranes, // Plucked willows stand…”; “Blue dusk, like a flock of sheep…”).

By color match:

On the pond like a red swan

A quiet sunset floats.

(“Here it is stupid happiness…”, 1918) ;

by proximity and similarity of functions:

Like birds whistling versts

From under the hooves of a horse ...

(“About arable land, arable land, arable land ...”, 1917-1918) ;

according to some associative, sometimes subjectively distinguished feature:

I was like a horse driven in soap,

Spurred by a bold rider.

(“Letter to a woman”, 1924)

Sometimes the poet also uses the form of parallelism characteristic of Russian folk poetry - songs, including the negative one:

Not the cuckoos were sad - Tanya's relatives are crying.

(“Tanyusha was good ...”, 1911)

In the works of S. Yesenin, an animalistic (image of animals) comparison or zoomorphic metaphor often develops into a detailed image:

Autumn - a red mare - scratches her mane.

(“Autumn”, 1914 - 1916)

The red color of autumn leaves is associated with the “red mare”. But autumn is not only a “red mare” (similarity in color), it “scratches its mane”: the image is revealed through comparison with an animal visibly, in colors, sounds, movements. The tread of autumn is compared to the tread of a horse.

There are comparisons of natural phenomena with animals: a month - “ curly lamb "," foal ", “ golden frog", Spring - " squirrel", clouds - “ wolves." Objects are equated to animals and birds, for example, a mill - "log bird", bake - “camel made of bricks". On the basis of complex associative comparisons, natural phenomena have organs characteristic of animals and birds (paws, muzzles, snouts, claws, beaks):

Cleans the moon in the thatched roof

Horns covered in blue.

(“The red wings of the sunset go out.” , 1916)

Waves of white claws

Golden sand.

(“Heavenly Drummer.”, 1918)

Maple and lindens in the windows of the rooms

Throwing branches with paws,

Looking for those who remember.

(“Honey, let’s sit down next to me.” 1923)

The colors of animals also acquire a purely symbolic meaning: “red horse” is a symbol of revolution, “pink horse” is an image of youth, “black horse” is a harbinger of death.

Figurative embodiment, a clear metaphor, a sensitive perception of folklore underlie the artistic research of Sergei Yesenin. The metaphorical use of animalistic vocabulary in original comparisons creates the originality of the poet's style.

Having considered the images of animals in the poetry of S. Yesenin, we can conclude that the poet solves the problem of using animalistics in his works in different ways.

In one case, he turns to them in order to show with their help some historical events, personal emotional experiences. In others - in order to more accurately, more deeply convey the beauty of nature, native land.

1. Koshechkin S. P. “Spring echoing early ...” - M., 1984.

2. Marchenko A. M. Yesenin's poetic world. - M., 1972.

3. Prokushen Yu. L. Sergey Yesenin 'Image, poems, era. - M., 1979.

Educational: the humanism of Yesenin's poetry.

On the desk:

Humane: directed to the benefit of others, philanthropic, sympathetic.

Humanism: humanity, humanity.

Friendship: close relationship based on mutual trust, affection, common interests.

1. Listen to the song to the verses of S. Yesenin “I will not deceive myself ...” and answer the question: who can claim friendship with Yesenin? Why? Prove it.(Song sounds):

In the alley every dog

Knows my easy gait

Every shabby horse

Head nods towards me

For animals, I'm a good friend,

Every verse heals my soul of the beast.

I wear a top hat not for women

Because the heart is not strong enough to live ...

It is more convenient to give gold of oats to a mare in it ...

Among people I have no friendship,

I submitted to another kingdom...

Everyone here has a dog on his neck.

I'm ready to give my best tie

(From the memoirs of Anna Izryadnova: “He had just arrived from the village, but appearance he didn’t look like a village guy .... He was wearing a brown suit, a high starched collar and a green tie ... "

The tie was one of important detail Yesenin's clothes. In almost all photographs of Yesenin, there is either a tie or a bow tie)

1. Message from two students on the topic: "The animal world in Yesenin's work."
2. Group work

We have to analyze 3 Yesenin's poems about animals, and at the end of the lesson you will write a mini essay.

I. Group.

"Fox" (1916)

Remizov Alexei Mikhailovich (1877-1957) - writer. Yesenin met him in 1915. After the revolution in 1921, Remizov went abroad.

Zhelna-black woodpecker.

Oshchur-grin of teeth.

The fox is shown at the most tragic moment, the moment of his own death.

What do we learn about the fox?

At what point is she pictured?

Figurative transfer of the state of the animal.

And external: “a broken leg”; "yellow tail fell into a snowstorm"; "the head was raised anxiously"; "Blood oozed into the eyes."

And internal: 1) "dense face" - an epithet;

1. “A thin seam (seam) of blood marked off a dense face in the snow” - personification. This seam, as it were, fenced off the fox from the whole world, she, with her sufferings and torments, was left alone;
2. "smoke prickly"; "shaggy wind"; "ringing fraction" - epithets; “The wind quickened and scattered the shot” - personification. Even the forces of nature are against the fox, she is alone in her misfortune.
3. “Darkness rushed about” - personification, indicates anxiety and is compared with a gray woodpecker (zhelna) = death.
4. "The wet evening was sticky and scarlet." Nothing exists

except for blood. "The tongue on the wound froze." About the impotence of the fox. “On the lips, like rotten carrots ...” Default: cross rhyme; male and female.

Conclusion: to a seriously wounded fox, everything seems to be “a shot in prickly smoke.” She dies at the hands of a man, at his whim. The fox suffers just like the man. In this poem, Yesenin accuses a person of heartlessness and cruelty towards a fox.

1. Group.

"Cow" (1915).

She is old, the scrolls of years on the horns and the epithet “decrepit, her teeth fell out” speak about this. She is unable to fight back. But she is opposed by a kicker "a rude kicker beat her."

The personification and the epithet “thinks a sad thought” liken a cow to a person. Humanizes her, endows the cow with human qualities. "The heart is not kind to noise" - personification. The words cow and calf are replaced by the words mother and son.

“The first joy is not for the future” - the personification. The cow can be happy.

The scene of the murder is missing: "The breeze ruffled the skin."

The same fate awaits the mother herself, the mother, and not the cow, because ... "With the same filial fate."

The OP's sentence, indefinitely personal "will bind" and "will lead."

Personification: "Pitifully, sadly and skinny horns dig into the ground ...". Default. A bleak, sad ending awaits her ahead, but now she is dreaming of a “white grove and grassy meadows” - the personification.

Conclusion: the maternal suffering of a cow is conveyed, the opposition of animals to the cruel world of people is shown.

1. Group.

"Song of the Dog" (1915)

The poem begins emphatically prosaically: she didn’t give birth, but “whelped”,

not a dog, but a “bitch”, “in a rye nook, on mats”; everyday, but this everyday life is poeticized: “mats are golden”, “sneaky snow flowed”, “she caressed them”.

The calm tone of the beginning does not portend the tragedy that will unfold further:

Antithesis "And in the evening ....", the epithet "gloomy master", alliteration (K, Sh, X). There is a sense of uneasiness in all of this.

The repetition of the “seven” for the third time, reinforced by the pronoun “all”, the rude colloquial “praise” emphasizes the gloomy intransigence in the actions of the owner.

The poet does not give a description of the murder, abandoning the climactic scene. In stanza 4, the pace accelerates to the beat of the steps of the dog's paws:

She ran through the snowdrifts,

Running after him...

And when the moon is hiding, only beckoning with a transparent hope that the unfortunate mother will be able to see her drowned child at least in the heavenly heights, only the mournful howl of a dog announces the surroundings and the light of fearless luminaries is reflected in watery eyes.

Vocabulary expresses the internal state of the dog "slightly trudged back", "whining loudly".

The pain of the mother also sounds in the following words:

The eyes of a dog rolled

Golden stars in the snow (metaphor)

What is the role of verbs and gerunds, defaults, antitheses (voiced-dumbly) in revealing the psychological state of the dog?

Conclusion: Yesenin shows animals from the inside: the story of a horse or dog, experienced by them and told as if from their face. None of the poets before Yesenin wrote about animals with such tenderness and compassion, with such sincerity and drama.

The animal world is one of the havens of the poet's soul, for people have become worse than animals. Among "our smaller brothers" it is impossible what is happening in the human world. If where there is a feeling of love, pity, kindness, then among dogs, mares, cows, doomed to destruction.

IV. TASK: Write a mini-essay on the topic: "The humanism of Yesenin's poetry." Read a few papers at the end of the lesson as a conclusion to it.

v. HOMEWORK:

1.Create multimedia presentation on the topic:

"Yesenin's love lyrics" (at the request of students).

2. Learn by heart one poem by S. Yesenin from the cycle "Love of a bully"

1. Guide from the world of melancholy and despondency.
2. Sketches from the life of animals.
3. Reflection peace of mind animals.
4. The cruel world of people.
5. Hope for salvation.

Man is essentially a wild, terrible animal.
A. Schopenhauer

In the works of S. A. Yesenin, we are presented with colorful paintings natural world. Is it a yellowing autumn or White birch, which affably shakes its branches outside the window. But no less place in the poet's work is occupied by the animal world. Each of this kingdom has special habits and character and lives in its native element. What qualities of animals does the poet pay attention to in his works?

One of them are poems about dogs: "Song to the Dog" and "Kachalov's Dog". The title of both works suggests that we will meet with the images of dogs, true friends of man. Therefore, the lyrical hero in the poem "Kachalov's Dog" is not ashamed to turn to him, a friend famous person with your deepest thoughts. Jim has seen many on his way, but it is the lyrical hero who should give a paw for happiness.

Give me a paw, Jim, for good luck,
I have never seen such a paw.
Let's sing with the oboe in the moonlight
For quiet, quiet weather.

The monologue of the lyrical hero, which is presented in the poem, shows us that life poses very difficult questions for him. And he, with the help of his grateful listener, is convinced that there is a lot of beauty and beauty in it. Therefore, it is worth living in the world and enjoying every day, especially when such a sincere friend is next to you. But the dog not only greets the lyrical hero, but also other guests of Kachalov affably. She has neither malice nor prejudice against people and strangers. It is possible that it is precisely this sincerity that attracts the lyrical hero. Similar simplicity is found in the simple description of the animal. Jim is devilishly handsome, but at the same time very trusting. He is always ready to kiss the one who liked him.

It is this simplicity and responsiveness that wins the heart of the lyrical hero, and he reveals the secret of what gnaws at his soul. This is the image of a loved one. It is possible that the dog has already seen it before, so it can easily recognize it. And if not, then the already familiar features of sadness and sadness will prompt her. According to the last stanza of the work, we understand that the lyrical hero is somehow to blame for his lady of the heart. Therefore, he hopes that Jim will be able to, if not reconcile them, then at least with the help of his sincerity and goodwill ask for forgiveness. And she must certainly believe in the veracity of the dog's behavior and the remorse of the lyrical hero himself.

She will come, I promise you.
And without me, in her staring gaze,
You gently lick her hand for me
For everything in which he was and was not guilty.

In the poem, it does not matter what breed the dog has, what external signs it has. Another thing is important - her state of mind, which is expressed in gullibility and friendliness. It is these qualities that the lyrical hero needs at the moment. Therefore, he decides to open his soul to Jim and tell about his sadness. After all, only such a sincere comrade is able to dispel his boredom even for a moment and give a ray of hope, convincing that it is worth living in this world. The images of animals in Yesenin's poems are not only a kind of design for reflection inner peace hero. They are valuable for the poet both as a person and in their natural manifestations. This is the Song of the Dog. It is a true sketch of the life of an animal. The dog had seven kittens. She is very happy about their birth, so she does not step aside on them. Mother tries to do everything to make them comfortable and warm.

Until the evening she caressed them,
combing the tongue,
And the snow was falling
Under her warm belly.

But her happiness does not last long. The man drowns the carouse. And the dog is left alone again. She is once again convinced that life is very unfair.

The poet was able to find words to show the melancholy and sadness of the dog at the moment when she lost her cubs. For example, even a month seemed like a puppy to her. At the same time, deep sadness was reflected in the eyes of the dog itself.

And deaf, as from a handout,
When they throw a stone at her in laughter,
The eyes of a dog rolled
Golden stars in the snow.

According to V. Ledenev, many of Yesenin's poems about animals were created during the period of hostilities. And they once again reminded us that we should condemn evil and violence and keep goodness and humanity in our hearts and on earth.

The poet addresses such questions in the poem "The Cow". It also raises the theme of a mother who will not see her son - a white heifer. But this time, the trouble is not only with her cub, but also with the cow herself - she will be led to the slaughter. The poet finds words and colors in this work in order to show the state of mind of his heroine - a cow.

The heart is unkind to the noise,
Mice scratch in the corner.
Thinks a sad thought
About the white-footed heifer.

In this example, Yesenin shows that animals are also characterized by various spiritual impulses and doubts. They are not alien to human feelings and are always artless in their aspirations and actions.

In the poem "Cow" there are no pathetic words and descriptions. The flow of the narrative is subordinated to the general tone of the work itself. In some lines, even hopelessness is heard.

Tie a noose around her neck
And lead to the slaughter.

And when this happens to the cow, the poem breaks off. But it seems that the lyrical hero does not want the same hopelessness to remain in our soul. Therefore, he says that at that moment the healing power of nature was with her. She helped to survive this terrible catastrophe. The cow, being a part of nature, it is in her that she finds peace, because she cannot find it among cruel people who were able to destroy not only her son, but also herself. But the last picture that appears before the animal is filled with light - a white grove, and the green color of hope - grassy meadows.

She dreams of a white grove
And grassy meadows.

The behavior of domestic animals and so can be understood by us. We can guess what happens to them if we know the history of their existence. But Yesenin in his work also refers to wild representatives of nature, such as a fox. In the poem "The Fox", the main character again faces the cruelty of human society. But for an animal it is closed by the framework of its world.

I hobbled on a shattered leg,
At the hole, she curled up into a ring.
Thin stitched blood separated
A dark face in the snow.

In this passage, the poet uses only one definition to describe the appearance of a fox - dense. So in one word he shows all the sadness and pain of the animal, its bitterness against the world that brought so much grief. The poet describes in great detail the state of the fox after she managed to get away from the chase. It seems that before us is a living person, and not a beast driven into the forest. The poem creates a contrasting picture not only at the color level, but also at the level of sensation and image of opposite pictures, fire and cold snow.

The yellow tail fell into the blizzard like a fire,
On the lips - like rotten carrots ...
It smelled of hoarfrost and clay waste,
And blood oozed quietly into his eyes.

In his poetic work, Yesenin refers to various representatives of the animal world. With the help of such images, pictures from the life of our smaller brothers are shown. At the same time, the poet uses very capacious definitions so that with just a few stanzas we can imagine the life and atmosphere of their existence. In small poetic creations, their fate passes before us, as in the case of a cow, or a small but fatal episode from life on the example of a dog and a fox.

However animal world, which we often forget, is able to bring peace to a person. With their sincerity and interest, its representatives can heal a wounded soul and become a guide to someone who was undeservedly offended. Thus, the animal world enters the poetic canvas with its problems, life experiences and hopes that the world may someday change for the better. And at this moment, reliable and faithful friends will be next to us - our smaller brothers.

Everyone has moments in life when they want to forget about problems and plunge into another world - the world of poetry. Then we open the collection of our favorite poet and enter into a dialogue with his soul, which lives in poetry. Today we will discover Yesenin. The poet lived a very short, but bright, fruitful life, left us a huge poetic legacy, which became the property of world culture. Nature is the soul of Yesenin's poems, it is the source of his poetic inspiration. In almost every poem, the poet draws pictures of nature that accompany his feelings. Nature in Yesenin's poetry is in constant motion, in endless development and change. Like a man, she sings and whispers, sad and happy. In the depiction of nature, Yesenin uses images of folk poetry. The bird-cherry is sleeping with him, the willows are crying, the poplars are whispering, “the girls are saddened - firs”.

Yesenin's nature is the embodiment of human feelings. This allows the author to deeply reflect the love of life, to compare natural phenomena with the collisions of human existence:

• Like a tree sheds its leaves,
• So I drop sad words ...

The theme of the motherland and nature in Yesenin's poetry are closely interconnected, therefore, singing the motherland, the poet cannot be indifferent to its fields, meadows and rivers. The poet's nature is alive, it breathes, lives, speaks... He finds bright colors for it. Most of the poems are about nature. The poet deeply feels the beauty, grandeur of nature and sadness that this beauty is fleeting.

Every time you read poems by S. Yesenin, you feel as if you touch nature with your soul, its picturesque views. But most of all he managed to sing the image of a tree. In folk retellings, a tree is a symbol of life, human energy. “Everything is from a tree,” Yesenin said. The tree is the universe, its top is the sun, the roots are the earth, and the trunk is people. Birch is a symbol of girlish beauty: tenderness, fragility and inviolable beauty. Yesenin's favorite tree is bird cherry. This is a wonderful decoration of our parks, squares and suburban forests. With the blossoming of bird cherry, real spring comes with all the colors of flowers and herbs. Yesenin showed this well in his poem. “Green hairstyle”, “in the green grass”, “marsh pool”, “cold autumn blue”, “blue Russia”, “blue sky”, “blue twilight”. “Pigeon” is a typical Yesenin element. It spreads in waves in verses. And the poet is not afraid of either repetition or the monotony of his epithets: he uses them not because his poetic imagination is not enough, but because he does not want and cannot speak otherwise. He has everything blue and azure: windows, valleys and fields, autumn and chimes, eyes and glances.

The color range is wide and rich. Blue, gold, red dominate. No dark colors. Like every poet or writer, Sergei Yesenin uses a variety of artistic means in his works: comparison (“everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees”, metaphors (the oak forest has died down, the cranes do not regret, the spirit is blazing ...), epithets (golden oak forest, evening sky ..), personification.The surrounding world in Yesenin's poetry is in constant circulation, in the transition from one state to another. a large number of verb forms. For example, the moon, which is compared to a curly lamb, walks through the blue grass. Artistic image has a peculiar typical Yesenin structure: a comparison of two objects according to common features(“gray hair of a gloomy day” - color, “curly lamb - month” - shape). The simplest metaphors of action and state (“a cloud is dying”, “a spikelet is ringing”) are rare. More often they are concretized with the help of a metaphorical addition (“twilight licked the gold of the sun”): the subject metaphor is combined with the verb (lick) to form an indivisible whole.

Precisely for better perception of the surrounding world, stars, flowers, trees as something endowed with a soul, is in constant motion, and Yesenin uses these artistic means to transform one into another. The poet's language is special, it is filled with artistic means, which “lead” the verse: “On a palatine blue saucer”, “the fingers of a slope stretch through a crack in glasses.”

Unfortunately we are on space velocity moving further and further away from poetry, we have exchanged sympathy for indifference, naivety for cynicism, and soon we will have a computer brain and a synthetic heart. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to become related to nature, hear and see it, protect it, admire it and read the poems of such poets as Pushkin, Yesenin, Shevchenko ...

Animals in Yesenin's poems are not allegorical, as in fables, but our smaller brothers, who have their own lives, worries, grief, joy. Gorky wrote: “Yesenin was the first in Russian literature to write so skillfully and with such love in animals.” Among the living creatures, the poet has in the first place birds - cranes, crows, swans, nightingales, rooks, owls, as well as domestic animals - horses, cows, dogs. Yesenin treated animals with tenderness and respect. In verse, he often described the cruel attitude of people towards our smaller brothers, condemned it. Yesenin seemed to complain that they do not know animals, “what is the meaning of life and what it is worth living in the white world.”

The poet writes about animals with love, perceives them as an integral part of nature. (When he read “The Song of the Dog”, he had tears in his eyes.) In the poem “Song of the Dog”, the author depicts the feeling of an offended animal and human cruelty. This verse evokes sympathy for the dog and dislike for the owner, who drowned her puppies in front of the mother dog. Yesenin brings the experiences of animals closer to the experiences of man - this is the strength of his poetic talent. The author shows in poetry how heartless people who have lost kindness, mercy. The poet creates brilliant poetic images - for example, the moon resembles a puppy that has curled up into a ball. The young month either hides or appears - it plays like a puppy.

Artist of the Moscow Art Theater V.G. Kachalov, recalling his first meeting with Yesenin, which took place in the spring of 1925, writes: “At times, by twelve at night, I played a performance, I come home ... A small company of my friends and Yesenin are already sitting with me ... I went in and saw Yesenin and Jim - they already met and sat on the couch, huddled close to each other. Yesenin hugged Jim by the neck with one hand, and with the other held his paw and said in a hoarse bass voice: “What kind of paw is this, I have never seen such a paw.” When Yesenin read poetry, Jim carefully looked into his mouth.Before leaving, Yesenin shook his paw for a long time: "Oh, you, damn it, it's hard to part with you. I'll write poetry for him today."

The poet fulfilled his promise - the poet wrote a wonderful poem “Kachalov's Dog”. The color palette of Yesenin's poetry absorbed the traditional Russian inflorescence, the colors of Russian icons - blue, red, gold, green. Golden color indicates the divine principle, spirituality. Green - symbolizes life, the fulfillment of hopes; red - true love for people, the ability to accept suffering in the name of people; blue is a symbol of divine splendor.

For example: “scarlet color of dawn”, “crimson sunset”, “crimson field”, “golden horn”, “golden stars”, “coniferous gilding”, “honey smoke”, “red autumn”, “red-haired braid”, “golden hazel whirlpool."

If this school essay on the topic: The embodiment of human feelings in Yesenin's lyrics, it came in handy for you, then I will be very grateful if you post a link on a blog or social network.