Byronic exile heroes: Prometheus, Manfred, the Prisoner of Chillon and the Corsair. Byronic Hero Common and Different in Byronian Heroes

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228 years ago January 22, 1788 born lord Byron. For his time, he was a real superstar. The famous poet is more successful Napoleon conquered Europe, invaded Russia and left his mark on our literary life. At the same time, Byron influenced not only world literature, but also human psychology, drawing a new type of personality - the Byronic hero. Let's think about whether there are such characters in real life.

Byron's characters are romantic heroes in an imperfect world. This discrepancy makes them suffer, and at the same time make others unhappy. They are mysterious (often connected to some secret of the past), intelligent (which makes them feel superior to others), and hopelessly selfish. The actions of such characters make them closer to antiheroes, but antiheroes are immensely attractive. Both in literature and in life, their gloomy charm works flawlessly on young enthusiastic persons who secretly dream of re-educating such a hero and giving peace to his rushing soul. No wonder women writers have created incredibly attractive images of Byronic heroes: Mr. Rochester ("Jane Eyre"), Heathcliff ("Wuthering Heights"), Rhett Butler ("Gone with the Wind"). But among male writers, Byronic characters are not able to bring happiness to anyone. Let us recall at least Onegin (although, in my opinion, the cheerful Pushkin described his "Child Harold" with a fair amount of irony) and Pechorin. A popular Byronic character in modern popular culture is Dr. House.

The characteristic features of the Byronic hero, both in literature and in life, often determine his fate.

• contempt for society. Such a person considers himself smarter than the people around him, puts himself above society, its moral and ethical laws. This prevents him from becoming a part of public life. Probably young Salvador Dali considered himself a bit of Byron when, at one of the exams at the Madrid Academy of Art, he refused to answer the teachers, explaining that he considers himself much smarter than them.
• Loneliness. The second point logically follows from the first point: despising people in general, the Byronic man treats women accordingly. He seduces them, but more out of boredom or seeking power over other people's feelings. And then he always leaves, dooming his random companions to misfortune, and himself to eternal loneliness.
• Lack of goals. Often the Byronic personality is doomed to an aimless existence. The petty-bourgeois interests of those around him are too shallow for him, and idealism is not enough for lofty goals.
• indifference to life. The result of all this is indifference to life. Byronic heroes are desperately bored, not afraid of risk (hoping that danger will somehow entertain them), and have bad habits. Their behavior is consistent self-destruction. Such people are clearly not aimed at living "happily ever after".

Personally, I met a similar type of men only in my youth. Maybe there is some logic to this. After all, Pushkin and Lermontov were only 24 years old when they began to describe their Onegin and Pechorin. Often in real life, Byronism is just a mask that some men like to wear in their youth. And if this is the real essence of a person, then it is worth running away from him without looking back. After all, he makes both himself and those around him unhappy.

Beginning in 1813, romantic poems came out one after another from Byron's pen, later called "oriental". The following poems belong to this cycle: "Gyaur" (1813), "The Bride of Abydos" (1813), "Corsair" (1814), "Lara" (1814), "The Siege of Corinth" (1816) and "Parisina" (1816) . This definition in full, if we mean color, applies only to the first three; in Lara, as the poet himself pointed out, the name is Spanish, and the country and time of the event are not specifically indicated; in The Siege of Corinth, Byron takes us to Greece, and in Parisina, to Italy. There is a well-known logic in the desire to combine these poems into one cycle, prompted by common features characteristic of all the named poems. In them, Byron creates that romantic personality, which subsequently, mainly in the 19th century, began to be called "Byronic". The hero of Byron's "Eastern poems" is usually a rebellious renegade who rejects all the legal orders of a proprietary society. This is a typical romantic hero; it is characterized by the exclusivity of personal destiny, extraordinary passions, unbending will, tragic love, fatal hatred. Individualist and anarchist freedom is his ideal. These heroes are best characterized by the words of Belinsky, which he said about Byron himself: "This is a human personality, indignant against the general and, in its proud rebellion, leaning on itself." The glorification of individualistic rebellion was an expression of Byron's spiritual drama, the cause of which must be sought in the death of the emancipatory ideals of the revolution and the establishment of a gloomy Torian reaction. This Byronian individualism was subsequently very negatively assessed by the progressive contemporaries of the English poet. However, by the time the "oriental poems" appeared, this contradiction between them was not so sharply evident. Much more important then (1813 - 1816) was something else: a passionate call to action, to struggle, which Byron, through the mouths of his frantic heroes, proclaimed the main meaning of being. The most remarkable feature of the "Eastern poems" is the spirit of action, struggle, daring, contempt for any apathy, the thirst for battle, which woke the disbelieving people from their cowardly hibernation, raised the tired, ignited hearts for a feat, embodied in them. Contemporaries were deeply disturbed by the thoughts scattered throughout the "Eastern poems" about the destruction of the treasures of human strength and talents in the conditions of bourgeois civilization; Thus, one of the heroes of the "Eastern poems" is sad about his "gigantic powers unspent", and another hero, Konrad, was born with a heart capable of "great good", but he was not given this good to do. Selim is tormented by inaction; Lara in his youth dreamed of "good" and so on. The triumph of reaction gave rise to moods of cowardice and renegade. The reactionary romantics sang of "submission to Providence", shamelessly glorified the bloody war, threatened "punishment from heaven" to those who grumble at their fate; motifs of lack of will, apathy, and mysticism sounded more and more strongly in their work. The mood of depression infected many of the best people of the era. Byron contrasted the weak-willed, faceless heroes of the reactionary romantics with powerful passions, the gigantic characters of his heroes, who strive to subjugate circumstances, and if they fail, they proudly die in an unequal struggle, but do not compromise with conscience, do not do anything. the slightest concession to the hated world of executioners and tyrants. Their lonely protest is futile, and from the very beginning this imposes a tragic shade on their entire appearance. But, on the other hand, their incessant desire for action, for struggle, gives them an irresistible charm, captivates and excites. "The whole world," Belinsky wrote, "listened with hidden excitement to the thunderous peals of Byron's gloomy lyre. In Paris, it was translated and printed even faster than in England itself."

The composition and style of the "oriental poems" are very characteristic of the art of romanticism. Where these poems take place is unknown. It unfolds against the backdrop of lush, exotic nature: descriptions of the endless blue sea, wild coastal cliffs, fabulously beautiful mountain valleys are given. However, it would be in vain to look for images of the landscapes of any particular country in them. Each of the "Eastern poems" is a short verse story, in the center of the plot of which is the fate of one of the romantic heroes. All attention is directed to reveal the inner world of this hero, to show the depth of his stormy and powerful passions. The poems of 1813 - 1816 are distinguished by their plot completeness; the protagonist is not only a link between the individual parts of the poem, but is the main interest and subject of it. But there are no big folk scenes, political assessments of current events, collective images of ordinary people from the people. The protest sounding in these poems is romantically abstract. The construction of the plot is characterized by fragmentation, a heap of random details; there are many omissions, significant allusions everywhere. One can guess about the motives that drive the actions of the hero, but often it is impossible to understand who he is, where he came from, what awaits him in the future. The action usually begins at some point snatched from the middle or even the end of the narrative, and only gradually does it become clear what happened before. Before all the "oriental poems" saw the light "Gyaur". The story was written in May - November 1813. The Muslims called the Gentiles Gyaur. The plot of this poem boils down to the following: A giaur confesses to a monk on his deathbed. His incoherent story is the delirium of a dying man, some fragments of phrases, the last painful flash of consciousness. Only with great difficulty can one catch the thread of his thoughts. Gyaur passionately loved Leila, she answered him in return. Joy and light filled the whole being of the giaur. But the jealous and treacherous husband of Leila Hessan tracked her down and villainously killed her. The giaour terribly took revenge on the tyrant and executioner Leila. Hessan died a painful death at his hands. The poem "The Corsair" is a masterpiece of English poetry. The passionate power of a romantic dream is combined in it with the comparative simplicity of the artistic development of the theme; the formidable heroic energy of the verse in Le Corsaire is combined with its finest musicality; the poetry of landscapes - with depth in the depiction of the psychology of the hero.

· "Byronic Hero" as a mobile, evolving entity. A yearning wanderer ("Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"), a Napoleonic robber ("The Corsair", "Lara"), a metaphysical rebel-theomachist ("Manfred", "Cain"). the pathos of citizenship, struggle, protest against vulgarity and evil, the desire to free the individual from the chains of superstition, the power of authority. the image of a free individual endowed with exclusivity. in the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" and oriental stories.

· A person for whom independence is more precious than peace and happiness. Proud, smart, uncompromising, unfeigned and lonely. Egocentrism, self-isolation, satiety with life, loss of ties with the outside world.

· Such Byronic heroes met not only in literature, but also in the life of the 19th century. Since the harmony of the individual and society was lost and freedom was possible only within the limits of the individual spiritual life, the area of ​​inner experiences of the individual became the main subject of art.

The hero is an active rebel (by Byron and de Vigny), for example, in the song cycles of Franz Schubert, the motive of loneliness sounds, the theme of the tragic wandering of homeless travelers (“The Organ Grinder”, “The Wanderer”).

Hugo brought romantic heroes to the stage: noble robbers, people from the bottom, outcasts, who reveal extraordinary abilities (“Les Misérables”, “Ernani”, “The Man Who Laughs”).

· The flourishing of lyrics and psychologism => The main impulse is directed inward, man is a microcosm, the creator of his own universe. He rises above reality, unworthy of artistic embodiment. He cannot build reality, but he is quite capable of transforming himself. Such an act is equated with the process of creation. Inside a person is the whole universe.

UDC 882 (09)

N.M. ILCHENKO, Doctor of Philology, Professor, N.M. K. Minin, [email protected]

BYRONIC HERO AND PECULIARITIES OF THE FORMATION OF THE IMAGES OF THE “EXTRA MAN” AND THE “RUSSIAN WALKER” IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE

BYRONIC CHARACTER AND THE SINGULARITY OF FORMING OF THE IMAGES OF "A SUPERFLUOUS PERSON" AND "A RUSSIAN WANDERER" IN NATIVE LITERATURE

The actual topic related to the problem of national identity is considered. The diversity of "Russian Byronism" and the role of the Byronic hero in the ideological struggle of the 19th century are shown. This approach allows us to highlight the features of the formation and distribution of two types of heroes in Russian literature - the "extra person" and the "Russian wanderer".

Key words: image, character type, poetics, literary dialogue, transition period.

The article deals with the topical subject related to the problem of national identity. The richness of "Russian Byronism" and the role of Byronic character in the ideological struggle of the 19th century are described. This method helps to identify the singularity of formation and development of two types of characters - "a superfluous person" and "a Russian wanderer" in native Russian literature. Keywords: image, type of character, poetics, literature dialogue, transitional era.

From the beginning of the 20s of the 19th century, the work of D.G. Byron in Russia became a constant topic of literary critical articles, and his life became an example of a feat embodied in deeds. The English Romantic has become an iconic figure in the domestic historical and literary process and in the ideological struggle.

Many studies have been devoted to Byron's dialogue with Russian poets and prose writers. Recently, however, the fact of "astonishing neglect" of Byron's poetry has been stated. Meanwhile, the influence of Byron's artistic world in 19th-century Russia was enormous. The need for the emergence of generalizing studies on the perception of Byron was noted at a session dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great romanticist.

A characteristic feature of the period of Russian life, when the most active perception of the romanticism of Byron and the hero he created, was the realization that Russia was at a crossroads. V.N.Maikov, characterizing the transitional epochs, identifies the following features: “the thought that animates the period begins to languish, dwindle in content ... society is tired of the point of view from which it looked at things during this period. parties formed under the influence of the spirit of the times begin to disintegrate ... this ... is a moment of universal reflection, universal independence, a universal impulse to discover one's personality. Under these conditions, the Byronic hero is the most in demand.

A new type of hero was recorded by A.S. Pushkin in "Prisoner of the Caucasus", "Gypsies", "Eugene Onegin", "Shot". There is a huge critical literature about the features of building a dialogue between Pushkin and Byron. Here it is important to take into account, first of all, the reaction of contemporaries. So, in 1828, S.P. Shevyrev and I.V. Kireevsky write articles in which they compare the heroes of Byron and Pushkin, emphasizing the originality, originality of the Russian poet: in "Gypsies" stands out "the struggle between ideality

Byron and the picturesque nationality of the Russian poet "," the contradiction of two discordant aspirations: one original, the other Byronic ". At the same time, it is important to emphasize that calling the character of Onegin “homogeneous with the character of the Byronic hero”, I.V. Kireevsky believes that “the time of the Child Harolds, thank God, has not yet come for our fatherland: young Russia did not participate in the life of Western states, and the people, like a person, do not grow old by other people's experiences ... we still have hope - what should a disappointed Child Harold do with us. According to Kireevsky, young Russia has not yet matured to the Byronic type: Onegin is indifferent to the environment, “but not bitterness, but the inability to love made him cold. he was not lured by the seething of a passionate, insatiable soul. He also threw light and people; but not in order to find scope for agitated thoughts in solitude. By the way, A.S. Pushkin aphoristically expressed a similar position: “What London needs is too early for Moscow.”

However, V. G. Belinsky soon expressed a different position about the collective type of heroes represented by the Russian poet: “It was not Pushkin who gave birth or invented them: he was only the first to point to them, because they began to appear even before him, and under him there were already many of them ".

The debatable problem is already formed during the life of Pushkin: the poet reproduces the type that has developed in the context of the domestic historical process, or it arises on the basis of the book appearance of the Byronic hero. On the one hand, Onegin, as a Byronic type, is associated with the poet's contemporaries; P.Ya. Chaadaev and Al.N. Raevsky are called the main prototypes of the Pushkin hero. On the other hand, the youth of St. Petersburg are accused of imitating the Byronic hero, expressing concern that they are beginning to play the book roles of the English romantic. Who takes an example from whom? Undoubtedly, it is Petersburg that is associated with the passion for Byronism. The youth of Moscow, taking into account the position of Pushkin, was guided by German philosophy, which turned out to be extremely useful, since it saved them "from cold skepticism." The formation of the Moscow and St. Petersburg texts occurs, among other things, through the attitude towards the Byronic hero.

The material for the analysis was two secular stories created between Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" and Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" - "Masquerade" (1835) by N.F. Pavlov and "Big Light" (1840) by V.A. Sollogub. Works created, relatively speaking, by “writers of the second rank”, usually more clearly represent the processes taking place in society. The genre of a secular story is a kind of romantic story (fantastic and historical stories are usually distinguished), in the center of which "is the psychological disclosure of the characters of the main characters, various types of secular society and the aggregate collective "face" of light or a peculiar secular atmosphere" .

In the story "Masquerade" Pavlov captured the type of a proud, as they called it from the words of Belinsky, an "extra" person. The Byronic component of the image of the protagonist is associated with melancholy and despair. The author directly calls his hero an "Englishman". The secret of disappointment, contempt for the world, spiritual callousness of the hero is revealed by the doctor, who was a witness to his family drama. In the middle of the 20s of the XIX century. (Pavlov strives for an accurate dating of events: the immediate action takes place one evening in early January 1834, when the hero is thirty years old, and the acquaintance with the doctor took place eight years earlier) Levin, suffering from loneliness in a secular society, finds the meaning of life in love for sweet girl who became his wife. However, a happy family life did not last long: his wife caught a cold and became seriously ill. Before dying, she tries to burn her lover's letters.

The Byronic type of the hero in the Russian romantic story included certain emotional characteristics and his own intonational expression. At the beginning of the story, he is surrounded by mystery, he is perceived as "an incomprehensible person." “Didn’t he fake with intention the heroes of Byron. No, this fashion has passed: you have to be equal to everyone, it's funny

be entertaining, because our daring thoughtful Napoleons, our gloomy absent-minded Byrons - all lost their faith, no one had any heavy thoughts or mute despair in their souls. Following Pushkin, Pavlov leads the hero through similar life “steps”: Levin refused “the first role on the floor and realized that light is “mechanical adhesion, phosphorus that shines, but does not warm - there is nothing to fill life with”, the hero does not feel calling "to lock oneself in the office and become a martyr to some fruitful idea," he does not find a useful thing to do: "On the street every day, the same carriage, the same face." If Onegin at first rejects the idea of ​​the possibility of happiness in family life, then Levin finds “independent pleasures” only in the family. Lermontov also uses a similar situation: Pechorin, in love, seeks to use his remarkable abilities, but achieving the goal leads to the fading of feelings. Otherwise, this situation is resolved in the story "Masquerade". Levin is happy in his family life, he has thought of everything, calculated everything in advance. At the same time, Pavlov emphasizes that the hero does everything for himself. Pushkin called this property of Byronic heroes "hopeless egoism" (such are Giaur, Konrad, Lara, and others). The author of the story "Masquerade" comments on the behavior of his hero as follows: "He was not tormented by these desires, demands, plans, disproportionate to the abilities received from nature - a hallmark of our century - traces left, perhaps, by Napoleon and Byron; he did not experience this desire for some nameless and unimaginable feat; did not suffer from this anguish, from this rabble of thoughts picked up from everywhere, plants not according to our climate and not from our soil, thoughts without root and without fruit. A situation similar to this one is presented in Lermontov's drama Masquerade, the first edition of which dates back to 1835. It is no coincidence that Pavlov is called the closest predecessor of Lermontov. The writers worked on works of the same name at the same time (Lermontov presented the drama to the censorship committee in October 1835, Pavlov's story was published in the Moscow Observer magazine, part 3, 1835). There is much in common between Arbenin and Levin: having become disillusioned with the world, they find the purpose and meaning of life in love for a woman. However, the characters discover deception: in the drama - false, in the story - real. As a result, the hopes of the heroes for revival are crumbling. They are punished in approximately the same way: in one version of the drama, Lermontov replaced Arbenin's madness with departure. The last phrase of Pavlov's story sounds like this: "Levin went somewhere to die." The connection between the works can also be traced at the level of poetics. Hints and predictions, warnings of a mysterious mask, a letter that falls into the hands of the main characters - all this enhances the emotional impact of the drama and the story.

The story of the “rich egoist of the nineteenth century” of the story “Masquerade” is another attempt to analyze the character of a certain group of people in secular society who have not found their place in life. Russian, more precisely Moscow (N.F. Pavlov - a famous poet, prose writer, critic of Moscow in the 30-50s of the 19th century), the Byronic hero variant contains stable characteristics: lonely, gloomy, suffering, mysterious, but still "a plant not according to our climate and not from our soil." It was important for Pavlov to show the paradigm of behavior associated with the infringement of feelings: the painful suffering of a person who realized the impossibility of finding happiness in love. Suffering is all the more intensified because with the loss of faith in love, hopes for rebirth to life collapse.

In the Russian romantic story, an important function is played by female images, they are associated not only with the search for an ideal, the meaning of life, but a more specific desire - to create a family, retire, and thus find happiness.

The hero of V.A. Sollogub’s story, guards officer Leonin, whose prototype is called Lermontov, becomes a victim of intrigue: he is insidiously carried away by a brilliant secular beauty in order to prevent his marriage with her younger sister. Countess Vorotynskaya wants to appear disappointed. She even makes speeches exposing secular society: “The world is disgusting to me, incredibly disgusting; I'm stuffy and heavy." Meanwhile, under the guise of a suffering woman, a prudent and cruel intriguer is hiding.

Once she abandoned her beloved - Safiev. He is just a hero, with whom the complex of motives of Byronism is mainly associated. First of all, he is the embodiment of the spirit of dandyism. Leaning against a column, a tall young man, dressed up with all the sophistication of a dandy, looked rather contemptuously at the surrounding crowd; a sardonic smile clenched his lips. Household dandyism became widespread in Russia in connection with the passion for Byron. His characteristic feature is an elegant posture of disappointment. In the portrait characteristics of Safiev, this is emphasized more than once: “high growth. with a finger in his waistcoat, in a London black frock coat. Dandyism becomes Safiev's way of life: “It's time for me to go home for dinner. I have wonderful wine, and the roast beef is such that in London it would be amazing. I can't dine alone. This is the only moment in which I have a need for people. Safiev's behavior is a kind of challenge to secular society and his beloved who cheated on him. For her, he is “an obsessive companion”, “an eternal reproach, an eternal judge, an eternal obsessive shadow”. They fear Safiev, he has power over those around him, he has a sharp, embittered mind, he is truly disappointed, his grief is genuine.

Another hero of Sollogub’s story, Shchetinin, belongs to the Byronic type: “often an indescribable blues came upon him. Then he guessed that envy flashed through the friendship of his friends; that in the greetings of young girls there was a secret thought of a profitable groom; that secular ladies lured him into their networks, because he was in fashion .. Then his head bowed from emptiness and fatigue; then he clutched at his chest and felt that a heart was beating in it, created not for noise and brilliance, but for another life, for a higher sacrament - and it was hard for him then, and the spleen laid its sharp claws on him. Shchetinin’s blues are saved by love for Nadenka, a “semi-earthly creature” who “as if flew off Raphael’s canvas, from a crowd of angels, and mingled with the flowers of spring”. In this case, the hero's romantic conflict with the outside world is happily resolved: under the influence of Nadenka, human qualities appear in Shchetinin. However, the "light" does not change, and Vorotynskaya's younger sister easily fits into his life.

For Russian Byronic heroes, belonging to the type of "superfluous" person, earthly love for a woman turns out to be very important: they associate the purpose of a person with her. This option was thought out by Pavlov's hero, but turned out to be destroyed due to the infidelity of his wife, in whom he also saw an angel; Countess Vorotynskaya once preferred a man of high society to army major Safiev, and the marriage of Shchetinin and Nadenka is presented with undisguised irony.

The Byronic hero of secular stories fits into the typology of heroes described by N.A. Dobrolyubov in the article “What is Oblomovism?”: Onegin, Pechorin, Beltov, Rudin and Oblomov - as the final image. “It has long been noticed that all the heroes of the most wonderful Russian stories and novels suffer from the fact that they do not see a goal in life and do not find a decent activity for themselves. As a result, they feel bored and disgusted with everything they do. Dobrolyubov notes that "types created by strong talent are durable", "in the public consciousness they all more and more turn into Oblomov", but otherwise "could develop under other circumstances".

"Other circumstances" existed: in the Byronic hero of the Russian version there were not only characteristics associated with the disappointment of an individualist, with the situation of "a strong nature, crushed by an unfavorable situation." There is another typological line of the Byronic hero, which has recently been updated: Onegin is not only the predecessor of Oblomov, but also the predecessor of Stavrogin. The hero of the Pushkin novel, like the heroes of the poems, Aleko and the Prisoner, like Silvio from The Shot, symbolize not only a certain era, an outstanding personality who cannot find application for his powers, but also a demonological hero, defined among others (Gothic, French) and the Byron tradition. One of the main motives associated with the image of Onegin is the motive of the mask. Kind of a rhetorical question

put in Tatyana's letter: "Who are you, my guardian angel, / Or an insidious tempter .. ." In a lyrical digression after the explanation in the garden, the words are heard: "Satan is joking with love." After reading in Onegin's office, Tatyana reflects on her chosen one: "A eccentric, sad and dangerous, / A creature of hell or heaven, / This angel, this arrogant demon, / What is he?" . Tatyana tends to see Onegin as a "treacherous tempter": "Have you really solved the riddle? / Has the word been found? . In the eighth chapter, in a lyrical digression before the appearance of Onegin, he is given, among others, the definition of a "satanic freak".

The motif of the "alien" motif is connected with the motif of the mask of "arrogant demon", "Satan", "treacherous tempter", "satanic freak", etc. For Tatyana Onegin - "an interpretation of someone else's whims", and "for everyone he seems alien." And in a letter to Tatiana, Onegin himself concludes: "Alien for everyone."

Onegin's infernality is emphasized through a look that brings him closer, first of all, to the heroes of Byron and Gothic works, and not to folklore ideas about the "cursed". The hero of the novel appears in front of Tatyana, “shining with her eyes”: “It stands like a formidable shadow, / And, as if burned by fire, / She stopped.”

In Tatyana's prophetic dream, "Onegin, sparkling with his eyes," inspires fear in the heroine. The lines that talk about the upcoming duel also include a description of Onegin's gaze: "And he wanders wildly with his eyes."

When Tatyana perceives Onegin in a dream, the words sound: "Who is sweet and terrible to her." At the last meeting with Onegin, she recalls the past and uses this word again: "In that terrible hour."

These characteristics are easily applicable to Lermontov's characters, to Safiev from V.A. “Ring” by E.A. Boratynsky, “Who is he?” N.Melgunova. In "The Tempters" by M.N. Zagoskin, Lord Byron even appears, he turns out to be the main agent of the devilish Baron Broken. The characterization of this type is given in Dostoevsky's Pushkin speech: “This type is true and captured unmistakably, the type is constant and for a long time with us, settled in our Russian land. These Russian homeless wanderers continue their wandering to this day and, it seems, will not disappear for a long time. The logical conclusion of the image of the demonic wanderer is the hero of Dostoevsky's novel "Demons" - Stavrogin. The Byronic hero here is associated with a complex of motives of alienation, unlimited individualism, self-will and the assertion of the idea of ​​demonism, demonism as a non-Russian phenomenon.

Thus, Byronism has many faces. In different environments, he showed himself in his own way, but in any case, the Byronic hero was filled with a certain ideological content and was directly associated with the task of shaping the personality.

Having singled out a substantive feature as the basis of the typology of the Byronic hero of Russian literature - the degree of ideological involvement of the heroes of Russian works in Byronism - two types were singled out: the “extra” person as a product of the political situation of national history (the Byronic hero here coincided with an internal phenomenon); and a wandering hero who lost ground, not only as a product of Russian history, but as a hero who came into fashion from the book world, primarily from the work of D. G. Byron (this is an external phenomenon).

LITERATURE

1. See, for example: Ivanov, V.I. Byronism as an event in the life of the Russian spirit [Text] / V.I. Ivanov // Ivanov V.I. Collected Works - Brussels, 1971-1987. - T.4. Zhirmunsky V.M. Byron and Pushkin [Text] / V.M. Zhirmunsky. - L., 1978. Brodsky N. Byron in Russian literature [Text] / N. Brodsky // Literary criticism. - 1938. - No. 4. Bagsby L. Alexander

Bestuzhev-Marlinsky and Russian Byronism [Text] / L. Bagsby. - St. Petersburg, 2001. Dyakonova N.Ya. Byron during the years of exile [Text] / N.Ya.Dyakonova. - M., 2007. Lyusova Yu.V. Reception of D. G. Byron in Russia in the 1810-1830s. Abstract... cand. philol. Sciences [Text] / Yu.V. Lyusova. - N. Novgorod, 2006.

2. Gardner, H. Don Juan // English Romantic Poets / M.H. Abrams, ed. - New York, 1975. -P.303.

3. See: The great romantic Byron and world literature. - M., 1991.

4. Maykov, V.N. Something about Russian literature in 1846 [Text] / V.N. Maikov // Otechestvennye zapiski. - 1847. - No. 1. - S.1-2.

5. Shevyrev, S.P. Review of Russian literature for 1827 [Text] / S.P. Shevyrev // Moscow Bulletin. - 1828. - No. 1. - Ch..7. - P.67.

6. Kireevsky, I.V. Something about the nature of Pushkin's poetry [Text] / I.V. Kireevsky // Kireevsky I.V. Criticism and aesthetics. - M., 1979. - S.51.

7. Belinsky, V.G. Collected Works: In 9 volumes - M., 1982. - V.7. - P.375.

8. Quoted from: Blagoy, D.D. D.V.Venevitinov [Text] / D.D.Blagoy // Venevitinov, D.V. Complete Works / Ed. B.V. Smirensky. - M-L, 1934. - S.11.

9. Korovin, V.I. “Among the merciless light” [Text] / V.I. Korovin // Russian secular story of the first half of the 19th century. - M., 1990. - P.5.

10. Pavlov, N.F. Masquerade [Text] / N.F. Pavlov // Russian secular story of the first half of the XIX century. - M., 1990. - S.172.

11. See: Vilchinsky, V.P. Nikolai Filippovich Pavlov. Life and work [Text] / V.P. Vilchinsky. - L., 1970. Trifonov N.A. When and where was Pavlov born [Text] / N.A. Trifonov // Russian literature. - 1973. - No. 3.

12. Sollogub, V.A. Great light [Text] / V.A. Sollogub// Russian secular story of the first half of the XIX century. - M., 1990. - S.360.

13. Dobrolyubov, N.A. What is oblomovism? [Text] / N.A. Dobrolyubov // Dobrolyubov N.A. Selected works. - M.-L., 1947. - S. 82-83.

14. Pushkin, A.S. Eugene Onegin [Text] / A.S. Pushkin // Pushkin A.S. Collected works: In 10 volumes - M., 1981. - T.4. - P.60.

15. See: Weiskopf, M. Black cloak with red lining: Bulgakov and Zagoskin [Text] / M. Weiskopf // Weiskopf M. Bird-troika and the chariot of the soul. - M., 2003.

16. Dostoevsky, F.M. Complete Works: In 30 volumes / F.M. Dostoevsky. - L., 1984. - T.26. - P.129.

© Ilchenko N.M., 2014

J. G. Byron

English romantic poet. The younger generation is a romantic. His contribution to literature is determined, firstly, by the significance of the works and images he created, and secondly, by the development of new literary genres (lyrical epic poem, philosophical mystery drama, verse novel ...), innovation in various areas of poetics, in ways of creating images, and finally, participation in the political and literary struggle of his time. Byron's inner world was complex and contradictory. He was born in a turning point. The castle was inherited by Byron at the age of 10 with the title of lord

Byron is the embodiment of real human virtues; indestructible fighter for justice; a rebel against the then politics; ideal for a whole generation; wrestler, poet, cynic, socialite, aristocrat, romantic, idealist, satirist; passionate and impulsive, easily fell in love, disappointed, captured by new ideas, strong in spirit, sensitive and impressionable, acutely felt not only his own defeats, the troubles of life, all the sorrows of the world, the Byronic hero, universal sorrow.

Born in poverty in London, lame, his father lowered the family fortune. Raised by mother. Never got along with her. At school they made fun of him. Byron University never graduated, had fun, played cards. Debts were growing.

Byron fought with representatives of the "lake school" (a satire on them)

The first collection "Leisure Hours". The collection received negative reviews.

The disclosure of the idea of ​​freedom as a proper life in unity with nature reaches its greatest strength in the poem “I want to be a free child ...”

Made a big trip. Traveling impressions formed the basis of the lyrical poem "Childe-Harold's Pilgrimage". The poem became famous throughout Europe, gave rise to a new type of literary hero. Byron was introduced into high society, and he plunged into secular life, although he could not get rid of the feeling of awkwardness due to a physical defect, hiding it behind arrogance.

Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" sounded the idea of ​​freedom for all peoples, affirmed not only the right, but also the duty of every people to fight for independence and freedom from tyranny. In another sense, freedom for Byron is the freedom of the individual.

But the synthesis of the epic and lyrical layers peculiar to the poem gives a special complexity to the composition: it is not always possible to determine exactly who owns the lyrical thoughts: the hero or the author. The lyrical beginning is brought into the poem by the images of nature, and above all by the image of the sea, which becomes a symbol of the uncontrollable and independent free element.

In the third song, the poet refers to the turning point in European history - the fall of Napoleon. Childe Harold visits the site of the Battle of Waterloo. And the author reflects on the fact that in this battle both Napoleon and his victorious opponents defended not freedom, but tyranny.

The problem is the role of the poet, art in the struggle for the freedom of peoples. The poet compares himself to a drop that has poured into the sea, to a swimmer who is related to the sea element. This metaphor becomes understandable if we consider that the image of the sea embodies the people who have been striving for freedom for centuries. The author in the poem is thus a citizen poet.

"Oriental stories"

The appeal to the East was characteristic of the romantics: it revealed to them a different type of beauty compared to the ancient Greco-Roman ideal, which the classicists were guided by; The East for romantics is also a place where passions rage, where despots stifle freedom, resorting to oriental cunning and cruelty, and the romantic hero placed in this world reveals his love of freedom more vividly in a collision with tyranny. "Corsair", "Gyaur", "Abydos Bride"

Unlike Childe Harold, the hero-observer who has withdrawn from the struggle with society, the heroes of these poems are people of action, active protest.

Swiss period

Byron's political freethinking and the freedom of his religious and moral views provoked real persecution against him by the whole of English society. His break with his wife was used to campaign against the poet. Byron leaves for Switzerland. His disappointment is in fact becoming universal.

"Manfred". The symbolic-philosophical dramatic poem "Manfred" was written in Switzerland. Manfred, who comprehended "all earthly wisdom", is deeply disappointed. Manfred's suffering, his "world sorrow" is inextricably linked with the loneliness that he himself chose. Manfred's egocentrism reaches the ultimate level, he considers himself above everything in the world, he wants complete, absolute freedom. But his self-centeredness brings doom to all those who love him.

Italian period. The Italian period is the pinnacle of Byron's work. Taking part in the struggle of the Italians for the freedom of the country, the poet creates works full of revolutionary ideas. " Cain"

"Don Juan" Byron's greatest work. It remained unfinished (16 songs were written and the beginning of the 17th). "Don Juan" is called a poem, but in genre it is so different from Byron's other poems that it is more correct to see in "Don Juan" the first example of a "novel in verse" (like Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin"). "Don Juan" is not the story of just one hero, it is also an "encyclopedia of life." Don Juan is a hero taken from a Spanish legend about the punishment of an atheist and seducer of many women. witty description of the exploits of the legendary and tireless hero-lover

Byron in Greece. The desire to take part in the national liberation struggle, about which Byron wrote so much, leads him to Greece. Sick Dying. The Greeks still regard Byron as their national hero.

Byron, who never knew the measure of desires, striving to get as much as possible from life, fed up with the available benefits, was looking for new adventures and impressions, trying to get rid of deep spiritual anguish and anxiety.

Byron's poems are more autobiographical than those of other English Romantics.

Unlike most romantics, Byron respected the heritage of English classicism,

Byronism is a romantic trend. Byronists are characterized by disappointment in society and the world, moods of "world sorrow", a sharp discord between the poet and others, the cult of the superman

Byronic hero

The protest of the human personality against the social system that constrains it.

With the advent of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" and other works by Byron, the concept of "Byronic hero" became widely used, which became the literary embodiment of the spirit of the era, those moods that society lived in the early 19th century. This was the artistic discovery of the poet, which he made in observations of himself and his generation.

Extraordinary personality, freethinker,

His hero is disillusioned with the world, he is not happy with wealth, entertainment, or fame. His main spiritual state is boredom. The Byronic hero is lonely and aloof. The heroes of the works listed by Pushkin are superior to those around them in intelligence and education, they are mysterious and charismatic, irresistibly attracting the weaker sex. They place themselves outside of society and the law, look at social institutions with arrogance, sometimes reaching cynicism. Digging in yourself. Conclusion. The English poet J. Byron in his work created a type of hero who became the literary embodiment of the spirit of the era of romanticism. It is characterized by disappointment in the surrounding reality, protest against it, boredom, wandering in the slum of one's own soul, disappointment, melancholy, longing for unrealizable ideals. Rebel strong character, dreamer

This is a lone traveler, an exile. Usually the Byronic hero is an exceptional character, acting under exceptional circumstances. He is characterized by deep and intense feelings, longing, melancholy, spiritual impulses, ardent passions, he rejects the laws that others obey, so such a hero always rises above the environment.

The hero is disappointed in the values ​​of the world, he is not happy with wealth, entertainment, or fame. The main state of mind is boredom. He is dissatisfied with the environment, cannot find a place in it. The hero does not correlate his life with his homeland, country, land, he stands above the borders, he belongs to everyone. His suffering and feelings are the main subject of the author's research.

Poem

THE SUN OF THE SLEEPLESS

Sleepless sun, mournful star,

Your wet beam reaches us here.

With him, the night seems darker to us,

You are the memory of happiness that rushed away.

The vague light of the past still trembles,

Still flickers, but there is no heat in it.

Midnight ray, you're alone in the sky

Clean, but lifeless, clear, but far away!..

The verse "Remembrance" can be considered an example of poetic reticence, behind which the reasons for the author's sadness are hidden. Byron's poetic world is rich and spacious. At the same time, the "lost paradise", lost hopes and expectations, the lost absolute of human happiness - this is the inner theme of the poet's lyrics.

End! Everything was just a dream.

There is no light in my future.

Where is happiness, where is charm?

Trembling under the wind of an evil winter,

My dawn is hidden behind a cloud of darkness,

Gone is the love, the radiance of hope...

Oh, if only a memory!

George (Lord) Byron

Sleepless sun, sad star,

How tearfully your beam always flickers,

Like the darkness is even darker with him,

How it resembles the joy of former days!

So the past shines on us in the night of life,

But powerless rays do not warm us,

The star of the past is so visible to me in grief,

Visible, but far away - bright, but cold!

The inner world of this remarkable humanist poet is open to meet the fresh and exciting trends of the times. Byron becomes part of European culture, European politics. A recent frequenter of secular salons and living rooms, Byron is involved in the struggle for a just cause - in Italy he helps the Carbonari, in Greece he equips ships and arms people at his own expense, works hard on developing a company plan and dies of a fever in Missolungi, burning with a passionate desire to help Greece break free from the Turkish yoke. The hero of Byron's poetry does not belong to one nation, he, like his creator, is inseparable from the national liberation struggle of peoples, he sympathizes with the disadvantaged, admires the courage of patriots, and he is always active. At the same time, this is a hero of his time, eager to find himself, his place in life, still unclear and uncertain, in the process of formation and formation.

Byronism, according to F.M. Dostoevsky is a whole philosophy, a system of views that arose during a period of terrible longing for people, their disappointment and almost despair, when old idols lay broken. And it was at this time that a great genius appeared, a passionate poet, in whose sounds all the longing of mankind and gloomy disappointment in the ideals that deceived him sounded.

Byron's poetry, like the poet's personality, was built on the contrasts of often mutually exclusive aspirations, indignation at Castlereagh's politics, impassioned defense of the Luddites and the heavy gloomy coloring of "Darkness", witty brilliant cascades of situations in "Beppo" and satirical uncompromising condemnation of sanctimonious puritan morality. Romantic idealization of passion, a sublime idea of ​​love that conquers all conventions and prejudices, and Byron himself condemns women who have changed virtues.

A whole epoch in the development of not only English, but also world literature of the 19th century is associated with the name of Byron. Byron's age is a time of deep division of forces in the literature of romanticism. In the fight against the Leukists, Byron defended not only the possibilities of a new artistic method, he asserted the position of an active perception of life.

Like other romantics, Byron understood that in the world there are inexplicable forces that are beyond the control of man, his consciousness and activity, affecting the fate of individuals and societies. But he did not regard man as a passive object of these forces. The activity of Byron's hero is conditioned by the very outlook of the poet, his perception of the essence of the antagonistic relationship between the individual and society.

The highest purpose of man (and this is the leitmotif of all Byron's poetry) is not only to challenge his fate, these forces hostile to man, but also to survive in this unequal struggle with evil, without losing the desire to fight, suffer, hate, love life and surrender to her completely without a trace.

Byron's work also captivates the modern reader with the nobility of his aspirations, the uncompromising rebellion against everything inert, sanctimonious, cowardly and petty.

The depth and tragedy of the conflict of a lonely person with society at different stages of Byron's work are different. The poet is trying to find the objective prerequisites for this rebellion, his characters overcome individualism and return to it again.

Many of the contradictions of Byron and his poetry reflect the contradictions of the era, about which the poet himself said: “We live in a time of gigantic exaggerated proportions, when everything smaller than Gog and Magog seems to us to be pygmies” (Byron, 1963)

The style of the poet's best poems is characterized by laconicism, dynamics, internal philosophical tension, softening the rigidity of the classic vocabulary and form. Most of the reviewers of Byron's first poetic experience were sympathetic in their assessments. Only the influential Scottish journal The Edinburgh Review, having subjected to a thorough analysis of the shortcomings and failures of individual poems, attacked the author with sharp criticism, questioning, in a rather rude form, the existence of Byron's poetic talent.

March 13, 1809 Byron became a member of the House of Lords. Political activity had long attracted Byron, although he was skeptical about the parliamentary system and the struggle of the parties ("English bards and Scottish observers"). The poet was partly prepared for this activity at the university, improving his oratory skills. How seriously Byron took politics, striving even then, in 1809, to determine his position, can be judged by the following lines from his letter of January 15, 1809: “I will take my place in the House as soon as circumstances permit. I have not yet decided whom to join in politics, and do not intend to rashly bind myself with statements or promises of support to this or that person or cause; I do not want to rush headlong into the opposition, but I will do my best to avoid contact with the ministry. I cannot say that I fully sympathize with this or that party. I will stand aside, I will say what I think, but not often and not immediately. If I succeed, I hope to maintain independence, but if I join any party, then I will try to be there not among the last ”(Byron, 1963)

The rather secluded life that Byron led in Newstead after graduation did not contribute to the expansion of his knowledge of life, which, in his opinion, was necessary for an aspiring politician. At the same time, events on the continent developed rapidly. On May 21-22, 1809, Napoleon was defeated at Lobau, it was restless in Paris, and a guerrilla war against the French began in Tyrol. Byron believed that he needed to know the life and way of life of other peoples, and he went on a journey with his friend Hobhouse. From Portugal (Lisbon, Sintra) Byron went to Spain (Seville, Cadiz), then spent a month in Malta, then went to Greece and Albania, visited Constantinople and stayed in Athens for a long time. Byron returned to England two years later in 1811. During the trip, Byron kept a diary, which reflected numerous external events of the most interesting wandering, vivid ethnographic details of the life of individual peoples, depicted the internal appearance and national character of a Spaniard, Portuguese, Albanian, Greek. In the diaries and letters of Byron 1809-1811. the ideological maturation of a great poet and deep thinker is quite clearly traced. Travels truly form the original talent of Byron - a lyrical poet. The whole life of Byron the young man, rich in thoughts and feelings, was reflected in his early poems. In 1806, as a student at Cambridge, he anonymously published a collection of his poems, Flying Sketches, but almost the entire small print run was destroyed. In 1807, a new collection of Poems on Various Occasions appeared anonymously. In the same year, the third collection of the poet's poems was published, already indicating the author's name - "Leisure Hours", original poems and translations by George Gordon, Lord Byron. Minor. "Hours of Leisure" included poems from previously published collections and new ones, published for the first time. Many of the collection's poems were still imperfect, they reflected the imitation of English poetry of the 18th century, but a wide range of poetic possibilities of young Byron, mastering various poetic dimensions, looking for expressive means for the figurative and accurate transmission of his thoughts.At the end of June 1809, Byron went on a two-year journey.During the journey, he finishes the poem "In the Footsteps of Horace", conceived by him as a continuation of "English Bards and Scottish Reviewers", and writes travel impressions in verse, which formed the basis of the first two songs of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Byron's connection with the 18th century, that is, the century of the Enlightenment, has long attracted attention both in foreign and in our domestic science. Byron the critic, who proclaimed the principles of enlightenment classicism, contradicted Byron the poet, who affirmed with his poetry the artistic method of romanticism, which destroyed the normative aesthetics of the Enlightenment. Byron had much in common with the enlighteners. Persistent intransigence to religious and political hypocrisy gave Byron confidence in the battles with many-sided hypocrisy and political cunning. Byron's personality was answered by the spirit of active intervention in life, which denounced the thinkers and writers of the 18th century. Byron was a supporter of the usual propaganda of knowledge for an educator, their dissemination among his contemporaries. What, if not the true need to share the acquired knowledge with people, explains the large amount of notes and applications written by him to many of his works. And, finally, Byron picked up and continued the educational attitude not only to literature, but also to other types of art. He believed, for example, that by means of the theater it was possible to develop the mind and feelings of people, and, criticizing the contemporary stage from the moral positions of the enlighteners of the 18th century, he looked ahead, anticipating the possibility of a different development of the theater. And it is by no means accidental that Byron in 1820 returns to the idea of ​​publishing the poem "In the footsteps of Horace", a significant part of which is devoted to the theater. Romantic poems were Byron's new achievement in poetry. They are distinguished by a variety of poetic vision of the spiritual world of a person in the most stressful moments of life. The hero, his thoughts, experiences are consonant with nature and its elements. Their movement and continuous change in time give the landscapes in the poems a special beauty. Wherever the poet sees his heroes - against the background of the endless sea, wild rocks or the ruins of castles - he uses the landscape not only to emphasize their loneliness, but also to show the transience of time. Simultaneously with romantic poems, Byron created love and heroic lyrics, to which the cycle "Jewish Melodies" belongs. The poem was written in the style of satirical poems of the 18th century. And everything that it says about the poet's responsibility for the fate of artistic creativity, Byron attributed to himself. But it so happened that before the poem "Following the Footsteps of Horace", the first two songs of "Childe Harold" appeared in print, which made him "famous in one morning." And now many lines of the poem "In the Footsteps of Horace", in particular, are: Poetry knows no middle, Here is the one at the bottom who has not reached the top, Everyone has a gray poet in contempt, God, people and newspapers. .. (Byron, 1939) - would be perceived by the literary environment as arrogant instructions to all poets less significant than him, that is, ethical considerations came into force, so Byron suspended the printing of the fifth edition of The English Bards prepared by him ..., postponed the publication of In the Footsteps of Horace, for, as he observed, any continuation of The English Bards ... "would have brought down an avalanche of burning coals on his head" (Byron, 1939) . The poem was never published during the life of the poet. The journey that Byron made in 1809-1811 was of great importance for the development of his personality and poetic gift. It began with Portugal, followed by the cities of Spain. From Spain, Byron went to about. Malta, after Malta he visited Greece, Albania, from here he went to Constantinople, again returned to Greece. No matter how amazing the nature and majestic ancient culture of these southern countries were in their beauty, Byron did not perceive them outside the life of the peoples who inhabited them. People, their way of life, language, customs, clothes - everything arouses the keen interest of the poet. He is struck by the social contrasts in these countries: on the one hand, poverty, the slavery of peoples, on the other, the unlimited power and arbitrariness of a handful of tyrants. During the trip, Byron became deeply aware of his social vocation as a poet, he sought to convey what he saw in stanzas that denounced the policies of the governments of those countries that supported tyranny and violence against peoples. the yoke of tyranny, then delights before the beauty of women, before the exoticism of nature. These entries were mostly written in Spencer's stanza, nine-line, with a complex alternation of rhymes; Byron was then working on mastering this stanza, which has its origins in English Renaissance poetry. During the trip, he also created many lyrical poems about memorable meetings and events. At the same time, poems appeared that gave rise to the political lyrics of the poet - "The Song of the Greek Rebels", "Farewell to Malta", which adjoined the satire "The Curse of Minerva", also written during the travel years.

It is no coincidence that the Baron's name was popular in many European countries. His work attracted with its relevance, connection with contemporary phenomena of life. It expressed the trends of the era. Byron was appreciated by Pushkin and Lermontov, Mickiewicz and Goethe, Petofi and Heine, Hugo and Stendhal.

The name of Byron, a poet, in the words of Pushkin, "mourned by freedom", is always close and dear to those for whom the high and beautiful feelings of people, their noble struggle against arbitrariness and tyranny, are sacred. Byron's work was innovative, it contained ideas that excited both contemporaries and subsequent generations. What was unsaid, what was not understood by Byron was said or gave rise to new disputes, but his work always disturbed the minds, awakened the imagination. And the poet, as if foreseeing this, said: ... I did not live in vain! flight, Neither the slander of the enemies will destroy, What will come to life in the repeated echo ... (Byron, 1939) Section 2. Hero - a rebel in the poetic heritage of Byron 2.1 Reflection of Byron's worldview in the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is Byron's first romantic poem. It was distinguished, first of all, by a new genre form - a lyric-epic poem, which combines the story of the life and travels of the hero with the free improvisations of the poet, who made not just a fascinating journey to the East, but discovered the life and customs of countries that entered a period of rapid and rapid development. The first two songs of "Childe Harold" in form resemble both the lyrical diary of the poet-traveler, and the inner dramatic monologue of the hero entering an independent life, and a poetic essay about the fate of the peoples of Europe during the Napoleonic wars and national liberation movements. Without binding himself to rigid genre rules, Byron not only gives freedom to his imagination, he experiments in the field of content and language. The poem is written in a Spencer stanza, which allows the poet to recreate the complex, multidimensional inner world of Harold and his own; to talk with the reader about ancient cultures and lost civilizations, to enjoy the pictures of nature, and sometimes the hero and the poet himself are inseparable in conveying the strongest feelings and excitement at the sight of mountain gorges and waterfalls, the calm surface of the sea, a stormy stormy night. The true nature of Spain, Portugal, Albania, Greece arouses in Harold the same keen and lively interest as the cityscapes of Lisbon, the palace of the Turkish Pasha, the war-ravaged roads of Spain, the ruins of ancient Greek temples. The new genre form determined the compositional structure of the poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. The poet freely handles not only the narrative line of the poem, breaking it up with inserts - ballads, stanzas, lyrical digressions - he freely treats his hero, presenting him to the reader, giving him plenty to admire the general close-up, then Harold's personality is blurred in a stream of impressions from personally seen and experienced by the poet. Childe Harold is a new hero in literature, a romantic type who embodies the main features of his time. He differs sharply from the enlightening hero, for whom travel was a means of acquiring life experience that helps him find his place in society, no matter how critically he treats him. Childe Harold also differs from the heroes of sentimental novels, where the motive of the journey gives the author the opportunity to show the hero’s complex and painful search for his own “I”, the discovery of those aspects of the personality that, in the process of “educating feelings”, become the cause of the tragic discord of the individual with society.

Childe Harold is the offspring of an old noble family who spent a rather idle life, fed up with feasts and pleasures, but was not happy. He discovered in himself a terrible disease caused by the emptiness of an arranged and outwardly prosperous existence. He was bored with the sight of the family estate, and the beauties, as well as all the surrounding people, the country in which he was so alone.

Harold is a romantic person, rushing into the unknown, which seems to him the best, he wants dangerous and scary adventures, he is attracted not by a calm, solitary life, conducive to reflection, but by an unusual reality full of worries and battles, which attracts with its energy, unusual passions and a variety of experiences :

All that luxury pleases revelers,

He traded for the winds and fogs,

On the roar of the southern waves and barbarian countries. (Byron, 1994)

Like a romantic hero, Harold is not satisfied with success in society and the ideal that was prepared for such people in his circle. Ordinary prosaic reality disgusted him with its boredom and monotony. Byron dresses up his hero in knightly clothes of the 16th century, gives him a retinue of a page, a squire, servants, but Harold travels through Europe in the 19th century. Such an anachronism is not accidental and is associated with Byron's new understanding of historicism, introduced into use precisely by the romantics. “Our age,” Belinsky wrote, “is the age of consciousness, the philosophizing spirit, reflection, reflection ... reflection (reflection) is a legitimate element of the poetry of our time, and almost all the great poets of our time have paid him full tribute.” The lyrical-epic poem confronts the poet with a new experience - a gigantic epic of people's struggle, suffering, persecution, pain, death unfolding before his eyes. Byron's hero was the first in romantic literature, and therefore, naturally, unprepared to understand and perceive this new historical experience of peoples. Centuries-old history, belonging not to the present, but to the past, as it were, pushed the boundaries of his consciousness, making it possible to embrace the immensity. Unfamiliar, largely incomprehensible (in accordance with educational ideas and criteria) feelings of the hero are made more mysterious, more mysterious and captivating. Medieval, chivalrous passions, evoking in him a spirit of implacability and at the same time restlessness, disturbing his mind and nerves, boil and rush out, sometimes seem natural precisely in the conditions of the 19th century.

Against the storm and the mist

On the road, helmsman!

Lead the ship to any land

But not to my own!

Hello, hello, sea expanse,

And you - at the end of the road -

Hello, forests, desert mountains! My country, sorry! (Byron, 1994)

In the magnificent old ballad known as “Forgive me”, put into the mouth of Byron’s hero, everything that is akin to a romantic image is contained: longing for an unknown ideal, restlessness, striving for the beautiful world of free elements, isolation from any soil, native environment, restlessness and at the same time enviable inner freedom, grief and disappointment, activity and contemplation. However, all these qualities inherent in Harold are universal and universal. A gloomy and restless hero, carrying a mystery - "not a whim, not an imitation." This is a thinking hero and therefore suffering.

Running from myself

Looking for oblivion, but with me

My evil demon is my thought,

And there is no peace in the heart. (Byron, 1994)

As part of the lyric-epic poem, Byron gives his hero the opportunity each time in a new way, either in the form of a ballad (“Forgive me”), now in stanzas (“Iness”), to pour out his soul, tormented by painful longing.

It was the thirst for knowledge, the desire to see the human race himself that entrusted Harold to such a dangerous journey. Contemplation, the desire to look into the depths of his own soul does not make Harold a passive observer of exciting and tragic events.

Perhaps this is the greatest similarity between Harold and his creator. Having known yourself, discover the world for yourself, and having discovered the world, understand your place in it. But Byron in the first two songs is still very persistently and consistently separating himself and his hero. The third-person narrative complements the characterization of Harold and at the same time hints at the existing gap between Byron and his hero.

He rushes along the mysterious road,

Not knowing where the pier will find,

He will wander around the world a lot,

It won't be long before his anxiety subsides.

It won't be long before he gets to know each other. (Byron, 1994)

Byron's personal attitude to what he saw during his wanderings is reflected in the poem, and often it is the lyrical hero who determines its sound. Anticipating, however, that he - the author - would be identified with Childe Harold, Byron wrote to Dallas: “I do not intend to identify myself with Harold in any way; I deny any relationship with him. , believe me that this is only in places, and I don’t even want to admit this ... I would never want to be like my hero for anything in the world "(Byron, 1963, p. 38) Preparing" Childe Harold "for publication, the poet met with obstacles. His publisher Murray demanded that a number of stanzas of a political nature be excluded from the poem, to which Byron firmly replied: “I’m afraid that in terms of politics and philosophy I can’t change anything; but I can refer in my delusions to high authorities, for even the Aeneid was a political poem, written for a political purpose - and as for my ill-fated opinions on more important matters, I am too sincere to retract them. Of Spanish affairs I speak as an eyewitness and every day I am convinced that I have formed a correct judgment on the spot. .. As you can see, I cannot change my opinions, but if you would like changes in the structure of the verse, I am ready to string rhymes and compose stanzas as much as you like ... "(Byron, 1963, p. 37). In the same letter, Byron points out that his poem is "of a completely different kind than the previous ones", emphasizing the fundamental novelty of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 2.2 The collision of the lyrical hero Byron with the gigantic epic of the struggle of the peoples of Europe "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" is Byron's first romantic work, a new type of romance, different from all his predecessors. Defending the freedom of peoples, their right to the national liberation struggle, Byron did not run away from reality, but called for intervention in it. Standing up for the spiritual emancipation of man, speaking out in defense of him from violence and humiliation, he demanded active action from the man himself, he branded him with shame for having submitted to slavery, bowed his head before the tyrant. Like all romantics, Byron sang of Nature, but not in general, but in connection with man, arguing the idea that only a spiritually developed and free person can understand its beauty, realize harmony between man and nature. The whole poem is permeated by the connection of times, the past is illuminated by the light of modernity, and the past and present allow the poet to look into the future. In the first song of the poem, which tells about the invasion of Napoleon's troops on the Iberian Peninsula, the poet writes: the ardent god of war welcomes strife." War is terrible, and this is conveyed through allegory: the god of war is a monstrous, repulsive giant with his appearance. The poet associates the war with the rulers of states, unleashing wars for the sake of seizing foreign lands, - after all, the troops under their control are only "tools of bloody greed - Their thousands of tyrants throw into dust, erecting their throne on turtles ...". Using the example of Spain, the poet clearly distinguishes such a war from the war waged by the people for their independence; people die in it, too, but in the name of life. The struggle of the Spanish people is important not only for Spain itself, the poet believes that it can become an inspiring example for other enslaved peoples: "But the enslaved peoples are waiting to see if Spain will achieve freedom so that more countries will rise behind it." Byron manages to create an image of a people in motion , In action. Embracing it as a whole, showing in mass scenes how the people fight, work, have fun, he also dwells on a single one: on the manifestation of the character of the Spanish people in individual heroic personalities; he speaks with admiration of a maiden from Zaragoza, a member of the people's militia. In the unity of the heroic personality with the people, Byron sees the key to the success of the Spaniards in the struggle for a just cause. The poet has a different view of those who have achieved honors and glory as a result of wars of conquest. In the first song of the poem, one can see how the reassessment of the deeds of Byron-Napoleon, the idol of youth, began: for a moment, - Only a brief moment he hesitated, amazed. But soon he will move the legions again, He is the Scourge of the Earth!.. (Byron, 1994) In the second song, Childe Harold finds himself first in Albania, then in Greece. The peoples of these countries are under the yoke of Turkey. Insidious and sophisticated is Eastern tyranny, and its imprint on the faces of local despots, governors of the Sultan. The portrait of Ali Pasha, the ruler of Albania, with whom Byron was personally acquainted, is short and expressive in the poem. The facial features of old Ali Pasha are handsome, it is difficult to suspect him of cruelty, but through these features a face stained with crimes shines through, and he is disgusted, because "he who began with blood ends his way in bloody deeds" (Byron, 1939, p. 140) concludes Byron. The traitor of the people, Ali Pasha, is opposed by simple freedom-loving Albanians who sacredly keep the memory of their national hero Iskander, who frightened the Turkish army, and this gives the poet hope that the people will not reconcile with the despotism of their feudal lords and the Turkish yoke. He devoted his life only to idle entertainment, In a mad thirst for joy and negligence, Debauchery not shunning the ugly, In his soul devoted to base temptations, But equally alien to honor and shame, He loved the diverse in the world, Alas! only short ties in a series Yes drinking companions a cheerful horde. All that luxury pleases the reveler, He exchanged for winds and fogs, For the roar of the southern waves and barbaric countries. (Byron, 1994) The poet's love for Greece is invariable, it is close and dear to him, and the stanzas about Greece in this poem help to better understand why Byron will become a fighter for the freedom of the Greek people. And in the first and second songs of the poem, Byron more than once touches on foreign policy England. He warns the Spaniards not to trust the allied role of England: "... that dangerous ally, in whose help it is right to believe, labor is in vain." The British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from Greece a huge collection of monuments of ancient culture, and Byron writes about this as a shame for all of England. In condemning the foreign policy of his country, Byron took a definitely democratic position, reflecting the views of the advanced part of English society. The alignment of political forces in Europe was quite clear to the author of Childe Harold, but the general patterns of the historical process seemed somewhat one-sided. Based on external facts, Byron calls the Portuguese "despicable slaves", accusing the whole people of humility and unwillingness to fight for freedom, which was, of course, unfair. True, the poet felt the need to understand more deeply the causes of many phenomena and events in the life of peoples, to see the relationship between their external manifestation and social causes. The lack of knowledge in this area was sometimes filled with emotional rhetoric. But already in the last songs of the poem - the third and fourth - Byron reveals one of the remarkable aspects of his genius - to find the exact poetic expression of deep philosophical thought. The innovative content of the poem also dictated the rejection of generally accepted ideas of what a poet's language should be. Byron reviews the entire arsenal of artistic means of English poetry, selecting what is necessary for himself; in particular, when making generalizations, he uses the principle of allegory, known since the time of English poetry of the Middle Ages; He also willingly turns to popular English. The absence of constraint in the use of all the richness of his native language gave him ample opportunities for the poetic presentation of the constantly changing content of the poem. The first two songs of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage opened new horizons for the poetry of romanticism. Pushkin put Byron with his "Childe Harold" among the luminaries of world poetry. There is a well-known logic in the desire to combine these poems into one cycle, prompted by common features characteristic of all these poems. In them, Byron creates that romantic personality, which subsequently, mainly in the 19th century, became known as "Byronic" and was fully embodied in the images of Manfred and Cain. The heroes of the poems in question reject a society where tyranny and despotism reign, proclaim the freedom of the individual, not subject to the conditions that oppress him. And for all the difference in plots, the personality of the romantic hero from poem to poem is developed by Byron, enriched with new character traits, and at the same time, in Pushkin's words, "hopeless egoism" deepens in it. The romantic hero of Byron also has a great attraction due to his nobility, proud and indomitable character, the ability to love passionately and selflessly, to avenge evil, to take the side of the weak and defenseless. Base feelings are alien to this hero: venality, cowardice, deceit and deceit. In Switzerland, Byron continues to work on Childe Harold. Having finished the third canto of the poem, he gave it to Shelley, who in July 1816 was leaving for England. In November of the same year, Byron's publisher published it. The song begins and ends with the poet's appeal to his daughter Ada. Here is the suffering of the father, who is not destined to take part in the upbringing of his daughter; and the hope that the people around Ada will not be able to inspire her with hatred for her father, and she will love him; and a premonition that he would never see his daughter again. Ada Byron, later Lady Lovelace, an outstanding mathematician, really loved her father and bequeathed to bury herself next to him. In the third song, Byron describes in detail the battle of Waterloo and reveals in this regard his attitude towards Napoleon. By the time of Waterloo, Napoleon began to resemble the tyrants he fought. He could not stand the test of glory and "began to seem to himself a new god", remaining a "slave of passions." The lyrical hero of the poem, recalling Waterloo, compares it with a battle in the 15th century, when the Swiss of the city of Morata defended their independence: "It was not the tyrants who won the battle there, And Liberty, and Citizenship, and Law." Only such goals can justify wars in the eyes of the poet. From the Battle of Waterloo, the poet looks at the calm picture of majestic nature, but does not stop thinking about how wars have destroyed its beauty at all times. The nature of Switzerland leads the poet to the idea that man is part of nature and in this unity the joy of life. Developing this idea, Byron glorifies the theme of Rousseau, an educator who stood up for the connection of man with nature, proclaiming the ideas of equality and freedom of people. The poet believes that "the people awakened by Rousseau with his friends" raised the banner of the French Revolution. But recalling that the people "failed to establish themselves in freedom", I am nevertheless convinced that: "... he who knew what he was fighting for, let the battle be lost, does not give up in spirit." Byron also recalls another thinker who prepared the minds for the revolution - Voltaire, whose "reason, on the foundation of doubts, dared to create a temple of rebellious thought." In the final stanzas, the hero sees Italy in his thoughts, where he will go. And he believes that the future will bring Kindness and Happiness. The fourth song of "Childe Harold" was written in Italy. Italy became for Byron a country in which many of his creative and life ideas came true. Byron came to Italy when the Carbonari movement had already begun there, and took part in it. In Italy, Byron found personal happiness when he met Teresa Guiccioli. The Italian, that is, the fourth, song of "Childe Harold" is the largest of all the songs of the poem in terms of volume. Byron strives to give in it an integral and at the same time versatile image of Italy, which has become his second homeland, which he looks at through the eyes of a man who does not forget his homeland. He believes that he will remain in the memory of his people, "as long as the language of Britain is spoken." must reconcile. The poet calls on the people of Italy to turn to the heroic history of their land, reminds Venice of her "thousand-year-old freedom", cannot see her reconciled with a foreign yoke, refusing to fight. A large place is given to Rome in the song. From adolescence, Byron was fond of the history of Rome. Rome became for him the "Land of his dreams". The stanzas about Rome say that the poet reads its history in a new way. He strives to "clothe into sounds, into images" everything that has been preserved from past centuries, but he refers to the past of Rome as a person already enriched by experience after blowing generations, worried about the future of Italy. The history of Rome is both an edification, a lesson, and an example for the modern generation of people. Just like in previous songs, the poet sings of nature with inspiration: the description of the sea at the end of the poem is unforgettable, the picture conveying the beauty of the Velino waterfall. According to Byron, it is nature that gives a person the opportunity to come into contact with eternity: here is a waterfall "like Eternity, terrible for the living," and the sea - "The Face of Eternity, the Invisible Throne." Eternity and time. Eternity in the mind of the poet is an unchanging and constant category, time is fleeting, it is in motion, it takes lives, instead of them new ones appear, which are also destined to go into the past. The flow and work of time often plunge the poet into despondency and sadness, but often he pins hopes on time, which is "false judgments, the faithful corrector." So, the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" was completed. She absorbed Byron's life experience from his youth to the beginning of the most fruitful period of his work. The poem reveals a rich world of feelings, the evolution of the author's worldview in close connection with the events and problems of the century. Byron embodied this worldview in the protagonist of his poem, giving him all the features that are inherent in a revolutionary rebel, a person who rebels against the lack of freedom of a person, both spiritual and physical, a person who cannot come to terms with the existing political regime, who sees suffering destitute people and cannot remain indifferent, becoming the defense of the national liberation movement. Being a free lyrical narrative, "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" stands out in Byron's work in its genre, and above all, in the peculiar relationship between the author and the protagonist, but remains consonant with all his works. byron childe harold rebel

FINDINGS

If an attempt is made to fit into one word the prevailing mood of the time, to give a capacious embodiment of the ideological position and, at the same time, the everyday, behavioral "pose" of a fairly wide circle of noble youth, whose consciousness of their own alienation from the environment has shaped into the forms of romantic protest, then the most vivid exponent of this critical worldview Byron appeared, and the literary hero who most fully and completely embodied this ethical-emotional complex was the titular character of his vast lyrical poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, created over almost a decade - a work to which Byron owed sensational international fame.

Combining a lot of various events of a turbulent author's biography, this poem of travel impressions, written in a "Spencer stanza", was born from the experience of young Byron's trips to the countries of South and South-Eastern Europe in 1809-1811. and the subsequent life of the poet in Switzerland and Italy, fully expressed the lyrical power and unprecedented ideological and thematic breadth of Byron's poetic genius. Its creator had every reason, in a letter to his friend John Hobhouse, the addressee of its dedication, to characterize Childe Harold's Pilgrimage as "the largest, most thoughtful, and most extensive of my writings." For decades to come, having become the standard of romantic poetics on a pan-European scale, it entered the history of literature as an exciting, penetrating testimony “about time and about itself”, which outlived its author.

Innovative against the background of Byron's contemporary English poetry was not only the view of reality captured in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; fundamentally new was the typically romantic relationship between the protagonist and the narrator, similar in many respects, but, as Byron emphasized in the preface to the first two songs and in addition to the preface, by no means identical to one another.

Anticipating many creators of a romantic and post-romantic orientation, Byron stated in the hero of his work the disease of the century: “early depravity of the heart and neglect of morality lead to satiety with past pleasures and disappointment in new ones, and the beauty of nature, and the joy of travel, and in general all motives, with the exception of only ambition, the most powerful of all, are lost to a soul thus created, or rather misguided." And yet, it is this largely imperfect character that turns out to be a receptacle for the secret aspirations and thoughts of a poet who is unusually perceptive to the vices of his contemporaries and judges the present and the past from the maximalist humanistic positions of the poet, before whose name the bigots, hypocrites, zealots of official morality and the inhabitants of not only prim Albion trembled. , but also of all Europe, which groaned under the burden of the "Holy Alliance" of monarchs and reactionaries. In the final song of the poem, this fusion of the narrator and his hero reaches its apogee, embodied in a new artistic whole for the great poetic forms of the 19th century. This whole can be defined as an unusually sensitive to the conflicts of the surrounding thinking consciousness, which is rightfully the main character of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.