What is symbolism? Russian literature - symbolism The originality of symbolism

Symbolism is one of the most complex and controversial trends in Russian literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The origins of symbolism were quite diverse, various writers came to it in deeply individual ways, giving this movement extreme diversity, when even its recognized “leaders” sometimes decisively disagreed with each other in defining the “method of pure symbolism.”

On the one hand, the symbolists relied on the idealistic ideas of Plato and liked to express them in Goethe’s words: “Everything that is transitory is only a symbol.” For them everything became mystical, excitingly unclear. Each object bears “a reflection, an oblique refracted ray of the divine.” Each event of earthly life only designates, symbolizes something happening in another, ideal, otherworldly world. Life itself, according to the apt definition of the modern researcher L.K. Dolgopolov, was presented to the symbolists “in the form of a kind of external cover, concealing in its depths something more important, formidable and chaotic, but invisible to the “simple eye”” Dolgopolov L.K. History of Russian poetry in 2 volumes. T. 2. - L.: Nauka, 1969. - p. 257.

All this, it seemed, was supposed to take them far away - and some of them actually did take them away - from the “low-lying” reality with its topical anxieties, needs and concerns. But, on the other hand, for all their repulsion from the surrounding life, the Symbolists were in fact the product of a certain era, its “children.” An era of gigantic social upheavals, wars and revolutions was at the door, and the Symbolists already felt certain “underground tremors,” although they interpreted them in a religious-mystical spirit. In a surprising way, symbolism and realism will be combined in the work of A. Blok.

Russian symbolism adopted a number of aesthetic and philosophical attitudes from the West, but revised them through the teachings of Vl. Solovyov “about the soul of the world.” Russian symbolist poets experienced with painful intensity the problem of personality and history, their “mysterious connection” with eternity, with the essence of the universal “world process”. For them, the inner world of a person is an indicator of the general tragic state of the “terrible world” of Russian reality, doomed to death. Symbolism included two generations of poets. The first included D. S. Merezhkovsky, V. Ya. Bryusov. K. D. Balmont. In the second - A. A. Blok, A. Bely, V. I. Ivanov.

As a dominant feature of Russian symbolism, one can single out its “panaestheticism”, which is quite clearly manifested in both the implicit (artistic creativity) and explicit (critical-theoretical program) aesthetics of the movement, and in its themes, and in its relation to tradition and modern reality and culture.

The term “panaestheticism” (as a dominant sign of the “picture of the world” and the poetics of symbolism) is in no way synonymous with “aestheticism” and the apology of Beauty. We are talking about the perception and artistic recreation of the world as, fundamentally, an “aesthetic phenomenon” and in the light of certain aesthetic ideas, for example in artistic or critical-theoretical oppositions: beauty - ugliness; harmony - disharmony; space --chaos; art (“dream”) - “prose of life”; creativity - the extra-creative world of “philistinism”, etc.

Symbolist “panaestheticism” in Russian literature manifested itself in three main variants:

· the “panaesthetic” principle is sharply opposed to any extra-aesthetic reality and is its “antipode”, a “rebellion” against it. Its only embodiment is the inner world of “I”;
· the world of the “panaesthetic” is thought of utopically - as a force that transforms extra-aesthetic reality (in the latter, as a rule, in this case its potential involvement in the high principles of being is emphasized). Beauty forms a new world, where Goodness will also enter; objective truth is unconditionally accepted as the “truth about Beauty” - the basis of the universe;
· “panaesthetic” in the forms of beauty and harmony appears as the highest value, but its opposition to “reality” is noticeably weakened, since “beautiful” is either fenced off from extra-aesthetic reality, avoids it, living according to its own laws, or is found in “sweet life” itself features of the aesthetic; questions of the relationship between Beauty and Good and with “ontological” truth, as a rule, are not raised.

It is easy to notice that the first of these subsystems (“rebellious panaestheticism”) is realized by “decadence”, the second (“utopian panaestheticism”) by the creativity of the “younger symbolists”, the third (“intrinsic aestheticism”) by that “modernist” periphery of symbolism, which is associated with ideas about “pure” Beauty.

D. S. Merezhkovsky (1866-1941) was one of the first to justify the need to choose between the art of “artistic materialism” and the art of “passionate ideal impulses of the spirit”; he made his choice certainly in favor of the latter. He considered the cause of the decline of literature to be the dominance of the realistic method, proclaimed “pure” art, its content being a mystical plot and the messianic role of culture, a grotesque perception of reality. Merezhkovsky believes that true art should include complex symbols, mystical content, and new means of artistic influence. Poetry begins where there is an impulse towards the ideal meaning of eternal images

K. D. Balmont views art in the same spirit. He defines symbolism in poetry as poetry in which two contents organically and non-violently merge: hidden abstraction and obvious beauty. Poetry is where there is an impulse for a new combination of colors and sounds in their irresistible persuasiveness. Balmont's poetry is characterized by self-affirmation of a strong personality, an enthusiastic reflection of nature, vagueness of thought, and an egoistic code of chosenness.

V. Ya. Bryusov is one of the central figures of Russian symbolism. In his poetry and theoretical works, this movement appears in its most complete, developed and substantiated form. He is convinced that genuine art is elitist. It cannot be accessible and understandable to everyone. Only a sage can truly understand an artist. V. Bryusov placed emphasis on the autonomy of art, on its independence both from science and rational knowledge, and from religion and mysticism; he considers symbolism only as art, seeing in it a special method. The content of his poetry becomes the theme of leaving this world, immersion in the inner world, impulses towards the transcendental, unearthly world, epiphanies and premonitions

Second generation of symbolists , based on the teachings of Vl. Solovyov about “positive All-Unity”, made noticeable changes to the concept of symbolism, which ceases to be a purely aesthetic phenomenon and only art. It acquires a religious and philosophical dimension and draws closer to mysticism and the occult.

The revolution was reflected not only in a sharp change in the theme of symbolism, in the emergence of social, everyday, socio-historical and national themes. Here is how Z. G. Mints writes about the influence of the revolution on symbolism: “What is significant is that in these years not only some layers of the symbolist “picture of the world” are noticeably transformed, but also a new type of “panaesthetic” worldview is created, which radically changes as an explicit , and implicit poetics, including the nature of symbolization, specific forms of “life creativity” arise, etc.” Mints Z. G. Blok and Russian symbolism. // Mints Z.G. Selected works: In 3 books. - Book 3: Poetics of Russian Symbolism. - St. Petersburg: Art, 2004. - P. 182 However, the mechanism of evolution during the transition from the symbolism of the beginning of the century to the symbolism of the era of the revolution is somewhat different than in the cases described above. There is no change in the dominant subsystem of symbolism here: evolution takes the form of a deep restructuring of the “aesthetic utopia.”

The transition from premonitions of “unheard-of changes” and “unprecedented rebellions” to immersion in these “changes” and “rebellions” as in today’s reality poses a choice - it is necessary:

· or identify what is happening with the embodiment of “harmony in the world”, with the “synthesis” already taking place today,
· either move away from revolutionary reality without recognizing the emerging Beauty in it,
· or, finally, somehow change the content of your “panaesthetic” ideal, bringing it closer to what is really happening in Russia.

The first is characteristic, for example, of some of Blok’s attempts in 1904 - early 1905 to comprehend the revolution, in the spirit of his lyrics of 1901-1902, as the descent to earth of a Beautiful Lady (the poem “Her Arrival”); however, these attempts, due to their obvious naivety and inconsistency with what was happening, did not gain much popularity.

Symbolism (from the French word “symbolisme”) is one of the largest movements in the arts (literature, painting, music), it arose in France in the 70-80s of the 19th century, and reached its peak in France, Belgium and Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. Under the influence of this movement, many types of art radically changed their form and content, changing the very attitude towards them. Followers of the Symbolist movement primarily extolled the primacy of the use of symbols in art; their work was characterized by the release of a mystical fog, a trail of mystery and mystery, the works are full of hints and understatement. The goal of art in the concept of adherents of symbolism is the comprehension of the surrounding world on an intuitive, spiritual level of perception through symbols, which is the only correct reflection of its true essence.

The term “symbolism” first appeared in world literature and art in the manifesto of the same name by the French poet Jean Moreas “Le Symbolisme” (Le Figaro newspaper, 1886), which proclaimed its basic principles and ideas. The principles of the ideas of symbolism are clearly and fully reflected in the works of such famous French poets as Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Stéphane Mallarmé and Lautréamont.

The poetic art of the early twentieth century, which was in a state of decline and had lost its energy, former strength and bright creativity due to the defeat of the ideas of revolutionary populism, was in urgent need of revival. Symbolism as a literary movement was formed as a protest against the impoverishment of the poetic power of the word, created in order to return strength and energy to poetry, to pour new, fresh words and sound into it.

The beginning of Russian symbolism, which is also considered the beginning of the Silver Age of Russian poetry, is associated with the appearance of an article by the poet, writer and literary critic Dmitry Merezhkovsky “On the causes of decline and new trends in modern Russian literature” (1892). And although symbolism originated in Europe, it was in Russia that it reached its highest peak and Russian symbolist poets brought to it their original sound and something completely new that was absent from its founders.

Russian symbolists were not distinguished by unity of views, they did not have a common concept of artistic understanding of the reality around them, they were disunited and disunited. The only thing they had in common was their reluctance to use simple, ordinary words in their works, their admiration for symbols, the use of metaphors and allegories.

Literary researchers distinguish two stages in the formation of Russian symbolism, which have differences in time and in the ideological concepts of symbolist poets.

The older symbolists who began their literary activity in the 90s of the 19th century include the work of Konstantin Balmont, Valery Bryusov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Fyodor Sologub, Zinaida Gippius; for them, the poet was the creator of exclusively artistic and spiritual personal values.

The founder of the St. Petersburg symbolist movement is Dmitry Merezhkovsky, his works written in the spirit of symbolism: the collection “New Poems” (1896), “Collected Poems” (1909). His work differs from other symbolist poets in that he expresses not his personal experiences and feelings, as Andrei Bely or Alexander Blok did, but general moods, feelings of hope, sadness or joy of the whole society.

The most radical and prominent representative of the early symbolists is the St. Petersburg poet Alexander Dobrolyubov, who was distinguished not only by his poetic creativity (a collection of innovative poetry “Natura naturans. Natura naturata” - “generative nature. Generated nature”), but by his decadent way of life, the creation of a folk religious sect of "good lovers".

The creator of his own isolated poetic world, standing apart from the entire modernist movement in literature, is the poet Fyodor Sologub. His work is distinguished by such striking originality and ambiguity that there is still no single correct interpretation and explanation of the symbols and images he created. Sologub’s works are imbued with the spirit of mysticism, mystery and loneliness; they simultaneously shock and attract close attention, not letting go until the last line: the poem “Loneliness”, the prose epic “Night Dew”, the novel “Little Demon”, the poems “Devil’s Swing”, “ One-eyed dashing."

The most impressive and vibrant, full of musical sound and amazing melody, were the poems of the poet Konstantin Balmont, a symbolist of the early school. In search of a correspondence between the semantic sound, color and sound transmission of the image, he created unique semantic and sound texts and music. In them, he used such a phonetic means of enhancing artistic expressiveness as sound writing, used bright adjectives instead of verbs, creating his original poetic masterpieces, which, according to his ill-wishers, were practically meaningless: the poetry collections “This is Me,” “Masterpieces,” “Romances.” without words”, books “The Third Watch”, “To the City and the World”, “Wreath”, “All the Tunes”.

Younger symbolists, whose activity dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, are Vyacheslav Ivanov, Alexander Blok, Andrei Bely, Sergei Solovyov, Innokenty Annensky, Jurgis Baltrushaitis. This second wave of this literary movement was also called Young Symbolism. A new stage in the development of the history of symbolism coincides with the rise of the revolutionary movement in Russia; decadent pessimism and disbelief in the future are replaced by a premonition of impending inevitable changes.

Young followers of the poet Vladimir Solovyov, who saw the world on the brink of destruction and said that it would be saved by divine beauty, which would unite the heavenly life principle with the earthly, thought about the purpose of poetry in the world around them, the place of the poet in developing historical events, the connection between the intelligentsia and the people . In the works of Alexander Blok (the poem “The Twelve”) and Andrei Bely, one can feel a premonition of impending, violent changes, an imminent catastrophe that will shake the foundations of the existing society and lead to a crisis of humanistic ideas.

It is with symbolism that the creativity, main themes and images of poetic lyrics (World Soul, Beautiful Lady, Eternal Femininity) of the outstanding Russian poet of the Silver Age Alexander Blok are associated. The influence of this literary movement and the poet’s personal experiences (feelings for his wife Lyuba Mendeleeva) make his work mystical and mysterious, isolated and detached from the world. His poems, imbued with the spirit of mystery and riddles, are distinguished by their polysemy, which is achieved through the use of blurry and unclear images, vagueness and uncertainty, the use of bright colors and colors is rejected, only shades and half-hints.

The end of the first decade of the twentieth century was marked by the decline of the Symbolist movement; new names no longer appeared, although individual works were still created by Symbolists. Symbolism as a literary movement had a huge influence on the formation and development of poetic art at the beginning of the twentieth century; with its masterpieces of poetic literature, it not only significantly enriched world art, but also contributed to expanding the scope of consciousness of all humanity.

Winds, from a symbolic point of view, are not just the movement of air, but supernatural manifestations that reflect the intentions of the gods. On the one hand, the unreliability of the wind is taken into account, on the other hand, their tangible impact despite invisibility. In areas where winds with a certain direction arise (bora, sirocco), their personification is easily imaginable, as, for example, in ancient Greece: the harsh northern wind Boreas kidnaps the daughter of the Athenian king Orithia and takes her to her homeland in Thrace; Zephyr, the soft western wind, brings young Psyche to the god of love Eros. Less attention was paid to the south wind (Noth) and the east wind (Eur). Most often, the personified winds were depicted as winged, Boreas with legs made from the bodies of snakes.
In ancient China, the wind (feng) was revered as a bird god in ancient times, perhaps as the primary form of the phoenix. Here the winds also differed and were named according to celestial directions. “Feng Shui” is the science of “wind and water”, of choosing a place according to natural data when laying buildings. “Feng” also has a figurative meaning in the sense of caresses, as well as rumors. The soothsayer is called the "mirror of the wind."
In Ancient Iran, as well as in Islam, wind was necessary to create the cosmic principle of order in the universe. In Ancient Egypt, the cool north wind comes from the throat of the god Amun, and the name of the Sumerian god Enlil means “Lord Blow of the Wind.” In the texts of Philophon Byblos (c. 60-140 AD), going back to ancient Syrian ideas, in primordial times a “dark wind that fertilizes itself” hovers over chaos. Ancient Mexico associates the wind (Ehecatl) with the god Quetzalcoatl, who in this manifestation wears a mask with a beak-like nose on his face.
The most impressive is the symbolism of wind in the Bible, where the word Ruach (grammatically feminine!) also means spirit, breath and breath. The "Ruach" of God floats at the beginning of the world above the water. The description of divine revelation in the Third Book of Kings, experienced by the prophet Elijah, has poetic greatness: “And behold, the Lord will pass by, and a great and strong wind will rend the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord is not in the wind. After the wind there is an earthquake; but the Lord is not in an earthquake. After the earthquake fire; but the Lord is not in the fire. After the fire there is a breath of quiet wind. Hearing this, Elijah covered his face with his mantle, and went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. And a voice came to him and said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?” (19,11,13). Strong, fear-inducing manifestations of elemental forces are only harbingers of the appearance of God at the sacred Mount Horeb; its essence is expressed in a soft breath. The Bible contains numerous passages of this kind in the text, with a “storm” or strong wind most often clearly distinguished from a divine breath, the Spirit of God. The New Testament says that “the Spirit breathes where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes: this is what happens to everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The legends of the Jews say (E. Ben Gorion, 1980): “Two things here that were not created are wind and water. They were here from the very beginning, as they say: “The Spirit of God hovered over the waters. God is one, there is no one else next to him, and the same wind... You cannot grab him, you cannot hit him, nor burn him, nor throw him away... the whole world is filled with wind, one wind carries the earth; He is the Most High, he was at the beginning of all things.” The Greek word "pneuma" means not only the breath of wind, but also the divine spirit; when they blow on the godson during the baptismal ceremony, this symbolizes the transfer of the breath of life to Adam. The “four winds” of antiquity, named after the heavenly directions, are held in the Apocalypse (Revelation of John) (7, 1-3) by four angels. In Dürer's woodcuts for the Apocalypse they are symbolized by four winged blowing heads of angels.
In general, the wind in its effects represents a recognizable but “invisible” influence, the divine breath. “Isn’t the wind the breath of the spirit?” (Helicopter).
In popular expressions and sayings, in the foreground are the inconstancy and rapid changes in the direction of the wind (“the wind has changed,” “a different wind is blowing here,” “turn with the wind”); in addition, there are figures of speech from the symbolism of sailors: “to deprive someone of the opportunity to act” (German letters, “to take the wind out of the sails”), “to rush ahead of the wind.”

The turn of the 19th – 20th centuries is a special time in the history of Russia, a time when life was restructured and the system of moral values changed. The key word of this time is crisis. This period had a beneficial effect on rapid development of literature and was called the “Silver Age”, by analogy with the “Golden Age” of Russian literature. This article will examine the features of Russian symbolism that arose in Russian culture at the turn of the century.

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Definition of the term

Symbolism is direction in literature, which formed in Russia at the end of the 19th century. Together with decadence, it was the product of a deep spiritual crisis, but was a response to the natural search for artistic truth in the direction opposite to realistic literature.

This movement became a kind of attempt to escape from contradictions and reality into the realm of eternal themes and ideas.

The birthplace of symbolism became France. Jean Moreas in his manifesto “Le symbolisme” first gives the name to the new movement from the Greek word symbolon (sign). The new direction in art was based on the works of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, and “The Soul of the World” by Vladimir Solovyov.

Symbolism became a violent reaction to the ideologicalization of art. Its representatives were guided by the experience left to them by their predecessors.

Important! This trend appeared in difficult times and became a kind of attempt to escape from harsh reality into an ideal world. The emergence of Russian symbolism in literature is associated with the publication of a collection of Russian symbolists. It included poems by Bryusov, Balmont and Dobrolyubov.

Main features

The new literary movement relied on the works of famous philosophers and tried to find in the human soul a place where one could hide from the frightening reality. Among the main features of symbolism in Russian literature the following are distinguished:

The transmission of all secret meanings must be done through symbols.
It is based on mysticism and philosophical works.
Multiple meanings of words, associative perception.
The works of great classics are taken as a model.
It is proposed to comprehend the diversity of the world through art.
Creating your own mythology.
Particular attention to rhythmic structure.
The idea of transforming the world through art.

Features of the new literary school

The predecessors of the new symbolism it is generally accepted A.A. Fet and F.I. Tyutcheva. They became those who laid down something new in the perception of poetic speech, the first features of the future movement. Lines from Tyutchev’s poem “Silentium” became the motto of all symbolists in Russia.

The greatest contribution to understanding the new direction was made by V.Ya. Bryusov. He considered symbolism a new literary school. He called it “poetry of hints,” the purpose of which was stated as follows: “To hypnotize the reader.”

Writers and poets come to the fore the personality of the artist and his inner world. They destroy the concept of New Criticism. Their teaching is based on domestic positions. Particular attention was paid to the predecessors of Western European realism, such as Baudelaire. At first, both Bryusov and Sologub imitated him in their work, but later they found their own literary perspective.

Objects of the external world became symbols of some internal experiences. Russian symbolists took into account the experience of Russian and foreign literature, but it was refracted by new aesthetic requirements. This platform has absorbed all the signs of decadence.

Heterogeneity of Russian symbolism

Symbolism in the literature of the emerging Silver Age was not an internally homogeneous phenomenon. In the early 90s, two movements stood out in it: older and younger Symbolist poets. A sign of older symbolism was its special view of the social role of poetry and its content.

They argued that this literary phenomenon became a new stage in the development of the art of words. The authors were less concerned with the very content of poetry and believed that it needed artistic renewal.

Younger representatives of the movement were adherents of a philosophical and religious understanding of the world around them. They opposed their elders, but agreed only on the fact that they recognized the new design of Russian poetry and were inseparable from each other. General themes, images united critical attitude to realism. All this made their collaboration possible within the framework of the Libra magazine in 1900.

Russian poets had different understandings of goals and objectives Russian literature. The older Symbolists believe that the poet is a creator of purely artistic value and personality. The younger ones interpreted literature as life-building; they believed that the world, which had outlived its usefulness, would fall, and would be replaced by a new one, built on high spirituality and culture. Bryusov said that all previous poetry was “the poetry of flowers,” and the new one reflects shades of color.

An excellent example of the differences and similarities of Russian symbolism in the literature of the turn of the century was the poem “The Younger” by V. Bryusov. In it, he addresses his opponents, the Young Symbolists, and laments the fact that he cannot see the mysticism, harmony and possibilities of purifying the soul in which they so sacredly believe.

Important! Despite the confrontation between two branches of one literary movement, all Symbolists were united by the themes and images of poetry, their desire to get away from.

Representatives of Russian symbolism

Among the senior adherents, several representatives especially stood out: Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov, Dmitry Ivanovich Merezhkovsky, Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont, Zinaida Nikolaevna Gippius, Fyodor Kuzmich Sologub. Concept developers and ideological inspirers of this group of poets Bryusov and Merezhkovsky were considered.

“Young Symbolists” were represented by such poets as A. Bely, A.A. Blok, V. Ivanov.

Examples of new Symbolist themes

For representatives of the new literary school there was characteristic theme of loneliness. Only in remoteness and complete solitude is a poet capable of creativity. Freedom in their understanding is freedom from society in general.

The theme of love is rethought and viewed from the other side - “love is a sizzling passion,” but it is an obstacle to creativity, it weakens the love for art. Love is a feeling that leads to tragic consequences and makes you suffer. On the other hand, it is portrayed as a purely physiological attraction.

Poems of the Symbolists open new topics:

The theme of urbanism (celebration of the city as a center of science and progress). The world appears as two Moscows. The old one, with dark paths, the new one is the city of the future.
The theme of anti-urbanism. The glorification of the city as a certain rejection of the old life.
Theme of death. It was very common in symbolism. The motives for death are considered not only on a personal level, but also on a cosmic level (the death of the world).

Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov

Symbol theory

In the field of the artistic form of poetry, the Symbolists showed an innovative approach. It had obvious connections not only with previous literature, but also with ancient Russian and oral folk art. Their creative theory was based on the concept of symbol. Symbols are a common technique both in folk poetry and in romantic and realistic art.

In oral folk art, a symbol is an expression of man’s naive ideas about nature. In professional literature, it is a means of expressing a social position, attitude towards the surrounding world or a specific phenomenon.

Adherents of the new literary movement rethought the meaning and content of the symbol. They understood it as a kind of hieroglyph in another reality, which is created by the imagination of an artist or philosopher. This conventional sign is recognized not by reason, but by intuition. Based on this theory, symbolists believe that the visible world is not worthy of the artist’s pen, it is only an inconspicuous copy of the mystical world, through penetration into which a symbol becomes.

The poet acted as a cryptographer, hiding the meaning of the poem behind allegories and images.

The painting “Vision to the Youth Bartholomew” (1890) by M. V. Nesterov often illustrates the beginning of the Symbolist movement.

Features of rhythm and tropes used by symbolists

Symbolist poets considered music the highest form of art. They strove for the musicality of their poems. For this traditional and non-traditional techniques were used. They improved the traditional ones and turned to the technique of euphony (the phonetic capabilities of the language). The Symbolists used it to give the poem a special decorativeness, picturesqueness and euphony. In their poetry, the sound side dominates over the semantic side, the poem comes closer to music. The lyrical work is deliberately saturated with assonance and alliteration. Melodiousness is the main goal of creating a poem. In their creations, symbolists, as representatives of the Silver Age, turn not only to, but also to the elimination of line breaks, syntactic and lexical division.

Active work is also being done in the area of poem rhythm. Symbolists focus on folk system of versification, in which the verse was more mobile and free. An appeal to free verse, a poem that has no rhythm (A. Blok “I came ruddy from the frost”). Thanks to experiments in the field of rhythm, the conditions and prerequisites were created for the reform of poetic speech.

Important! Symbolists considered the musicality and melodiousness of a lyrical work to be the basis of life and art. The poems of all the poets of that time, with their melodiousness, are very reminiscent of a piece of music.

Silver Age. Part 1. Symbolists.

Literature of the Silver Age. Symbolism. K. Balmont.

Conclusion

Symbolism as a literary movement did not last long; it finally collapsed by 1910. The reason was that Symbolists deliberately cut themselves off from the life around them. They were supporters of free poetry and did not recognize pressure, so their work was inaccessible and incomprehensible to the people. Symbolism took root in literature and the work of some poets who grew up on classical art and the traditions of symbolism. Therefore, the features of disappeared symbolism are still present in literature.

Plan.

I. Introduction.

II. Main content.

1. History of Russian symbolism.

2. Symbolism and decadence.

3. Specificity of views (features of symbolism).

4. Currents.

5. Famous symbolists:

a) Bryusov;

b) Balmont;

d) Merezhkovsky;

e) Gippius;

III. Conclusion (The meaning of symbolism).

Introduction.

The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century. in Russia, this is a time of change, uncertainty and gloomy omens, this is a time of disappointment and a feeling of the approaching death of the existing socio-political system. All this could not but affect Russian poetry. The emergence of symbolism is connected with this.

“SYMBOLISM” is a movement in European and Russian art that emerged at the turn of the 20th century, focused primarily on artistic expression through the SYMBOL of “things in themselves” and ideas that are beyond sensory perception. Striving to break through visible reality to “hidden realities”, the super-temporal ideal essence of the world, its “imperishable” Beauty, the symbolists expressed a longing for spiritual freedom.

Symbolism in Russia developed along two lines, which often intersected and intertwined with each other among many of the largest symbolists: 1. symbolism as an artistic movement and 2. symbolism as a worldview, a worldview, a unique philosophy of life. The interweaving of these lines was especially complex for Vyacheslav Ivanov and Andrei Bely, with a clear predominance of the second line.

Symbolism had a wide peripheral zone: many major poets joined the Symbolist school, without being considered its orthodox adherents and without professing its program. Let's name at least Maximilian Voloshin and Mikhail Kuzmin. The influence of the Symbolists was also noticeable on young poets who were members of other circles and schools.

First of all, the concept of the “Silver Age” of Russian poetry is associated with symbolism. With this name, it is as if one recalls the golden age of literature, the time of Pushkin, that has passed into the past. They call the time at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the Russian Renaissance. “In Russia at the beginning of the century there was a real cultural renaissance,” wrote the philosopher Berdyaev. “Only those who lived at that time know what a creative upsurge we experienced, what a breath of spirit swept through Russian souls. Russia experienced a flowering of poetry and philosophy, experienced intense religious quests, mystical and occult moods.” In fact: in Russia at that time Leo Tolstoy and Chekhov, Gorky and Bunin, Kuprin and Leonid Andreev worked; Surikov and Vrubel, Repin and Serov, Nesterov and Kustodiev, Vasnetsov and Benois, Konenkov and Roerich worked in the visual arts; in music and theater - Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky, Stanislavsky and Kommisarzhevskaya, Chaliapin and Nezhdanova, Sobinov and Kachalov, Moskvin and Mikhail Chekhov, Anna Pavlova and Karsavina.

In my essay, I would like to consider the main views of the symbolists, and become more familiar with the currents of symbolism. I would like to know why the school of symbolism fell, despite the popularity of this literary movement.

History of Russian symbolism.

The first signs of the symbolist movement in Russia were Dmitry Merezhkovsky’s treatise “On the Causes of Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature” (1892), his collection of poems “Symbols”, as well as Minsky’s books “In the Light of Conscience” and A. Volynsky “Russian Critics” . During the same period of time - in 1894–1895 - three collections “Russian Symbolists” were published, in which poems of their publisher, the young poet Valery Bryusov, were published. This also included the initial books of poems by Konstantin Balmont - “Under the Northern Sky”, “In the Boundless”. In them, too, the symbolist view of the poetic word gradually crystallized.

Symbolism did not arise in Russia in isolation from the West. Russian symbolists were to a certain extent influenced by French poetry (Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé), and English and German, where symbolism manifested itself in poetry a decade earlier. Russian symbolists caught echoes of the philosophy of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. However, they resolutely denied their fundamental dependence on Western European literature. They looked for their roots in Russian poetry - in the books of Tyutchev, Fet, Fofanov, extending their related claims even to Pushkin and Lermontov. Balmont, for example, believed that symbolism has existed in world literature for a long time. In his opinion, the symbolists were Calderon and Blake, Edgar Allan Poe and Baudelaire, Heinrich Ibsen and Emil Verhaeren. One thing is certain: in Russian poetry, especially in Tyutchev and Fet, there were seeds that sprouted in the work of the Symbolists. And the fact that the symbolist movement, having arisen, did not die, did not disappear before its time, but developed, drawing new forces into its channel, testifies to the national soil, to certain of its roots in the spiritual culture of Russia. Russian symbolism differed sharply from Western symbolism in its entire appearance - spirituality, diversity of creative units, the height and richness of its achievements.

At first, in the nineties, the poems of the Symbolists, with their unusual phrases and images for the public, were often subject to ridicule and even mockery. Symbolist poets were given the title of decadents, meaning by this term decadent moods of hopelessness, a sense of rejection of life, and pronounced individualism. Traits of both can be easily detected in the young Balmont - motifs of melancholy and depression are characteristic of his early books, just as demonstrative individualism is characteristic of Bryusov’s initial poems; The Symbolists grew up in a certain atmosphere and largely bore its stamp. But already by the first years of the twentieth century, symbolism as a literary movement, as a school, stood out with all certainty, in all its facets. It was already difficult to confuse him with other phenomena in art; he already had his own poetic structure, his own aesthetics and poetics, his own teaching. The year 1900 can be considered the milestone when symbolism established its special face in poetry - this year saw the publication of mature symbolist books, brightly colored by the author’s individuality: “Tertia Vigilia” (“The Third Watch”) by Bryusov and “Burning Buildings” by Balmont.

The arrival of the “second wave” of symbolism foreshadowed the emergence of contradictions in their camp. It was the poets of the “second wave,” the Young Symbolists, who developed theurgic ideas. The crack passed, first of all, between the generations of Symbolists - the older ones, “which included, in addition to Bryusov, Balmont, Minsky, Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Sologub, and the younger ones (Bely, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Blok, S. Solovyov). The revolution of 1905, during which the symbolists took completely different ideological positions, aggravated their contradictions. By 1910, a clear split had emerged between the Symbolists. In March of this year, first in Moscow, his son-in-law in St. Petersburg, at the Society of Admirers of the Artistic Word, Vyacheslav Ivanov read his report “Testaments of Symbolism.” Blok, and later Bely, came out in support of Ivanov. Vyacheslav Ivanov brought to the fore as the main task of the symbolist movement its theurgic effect, “life-building”, “transformation of life”. Bryusov called theurgists to be creators of poetry and nothing more, he declared that symbolism “wanted to be and has always been only art.” Theurgical poets, he noted, tend to deprive poetry of its freedom, its “autonomy.” Bryusov increasingly distanced himself from Ivanov’s mysticism, for which Andrei Bely accused him of betraying symbolism. The Symbolist debate of 1910 was perceived by many not only as a crisis, but also as the collapse of the Symbolist school. There is a regrouping of forces and splitting in it. In the 1910s, young people left the ranks of the Symbolists, forming an association of Acmeists who opposed themselves to the Symbolist school. The futurists made a noisy appearance in the literary arena, unleashing a hail of ridicule and mockery on the symbolists. Bryusov later wrote that symbolism in those years lost its dynamics and became ossified; the school “frozen in its traditions, lagged behind the pace of life.” Symbolism, as a school, fell into decay and did not give new names.

Literary historians date the final fall of the Symbolist school in different ways: some date it to 1910, others to the early twenties. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that symbolism as a movement in Russian literature disappeared with the advent of the revolutionary year 1917.

Symbolism has outlived itself, and this obsolescence has gone in two directions. On the one hand, the requirement of mandatory “mysticism”, “revelation of secrets”, “comprehension” of the infinite in the finite led to the loss of the authenticity of poetry; The “religious and mystical pathos” of the luminaries of symbolism turned out to be replaced by a kind of mystical stencil, template. On the other hand, the fascination with the “musical basis” of verse led to the creation of poetry devoid of any logical meaning, in which the word was reduced to the role of no longer a musical sound, but a tin, ringing trinket.

Accordingly, the reaction against symbolism, and subsequently the fight against it, followed the same two main lines.

On the one hand, the “Acmeists” opposed the ideology of symbolism. On the other hand, “futurists” who were also ideologically hostile to symbolism came out in defense of the word as such. However, the protest against symbolism did not stop there. It found its expression in the work of poets who were not affiliated with either Acmeism or Futurism, but who through their work defended the clarity, simplicity and strength of the poetic style.

Despite the conflicting views of many critics, the movement produced many excellent poems that will forever remain in the treasury of Russian poetry and will find their admirers among subsequent generations.

Symbolism and decadence.

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the “newest” decadent, modernist movements, sharply opposed to revolutionary and democratic literature, became widespread. The most significant of them were symbolism, acmeism and futurism. The term “decadence” (from the French word decadence - decline) in the 90s was more widespread than “modernism”, but modern literary criticism increasingly speaks of modernism as a general concept that covers all decadent movements - symbolism, acmeism and futurism. This is also justified by the fact that the term “decadence” at the beginning of the century was used in two senses - as the name of one of the movements within symbolism and as a generalized characteristic of all decadent, mystical and aesthetic movements. The convenience of the term “modernism”, as a more clear and generalizing one, is also obvious because groups such as Acmeism and Futurism subjectively disavowed decadence as a literary school in every possible way and even fought against it, although, of course, this detracted from their decadent essence didn't disappear at all.