Themes of spiritual odes of Derzhavin. Civil and political odes of G. R. Derzhavin and their originality. Without imitating your Murzas, you often walk on foot, and the simplest food happens at your table; Without valuing your peace, you read, write before

O you, endless space,
Alive in the movement of matter,
Eternal with the passage of time,
Without faces, in three faces of a deity!
The spirit is everywhere present and united,
For whom there is no place and no reason,
Whom no one could comprehend
Who fills everything with himself,
Encompasses, builds, preserves,
Whom we call: God.

Measure the ocean deep,
Count the sands, the rays of the planets
Although a high mind could, -
You have no number or measure!
Spirits cannot be enlightened,
Born from your light,
Explore your destinies:
Only the thought of ascending to you dares,
Disappears in your greatness,
Like a moment gone by in eternity.

Chaos being before time
From the abyss you called to eternity,
And eternity, born before the age,
In yourself you have founded:
Making up oneself,
Shining from myself,
You are the light where the light came from.
Creating everything with one word,
Stretching out into the new creation,
You were, you are, you will forever be!

You contain a chain of beings within yourself,
You support it and live it;
You match the end with the beginning
And you give life to death.
How sparks fly, strive,
Thus the suns will be born from you;
Like on a foul, clear day in winter
Specks of frost sparkle,
They rotate, they sway, they shine,
So the stars are in the abysses below you.

The light of the kindled millions
They flow in immeasurability,
They make your laws
Life-giving rays pour down.
But these lamps are fiery,
Or the red crystals of the mass,
Or waves of golden boiling host,
Or burning ethers,
Or together all the luminous worlds -
Before you is like night before day.

Like a drop dropped into the sea,
The whole firmament is before you.
But what is the visible universe to me?
And what am I in front of you?
In that ocean of air,
Multiplying the worlds by a million
A hundred times other worlds - and then,
When I dare to compare with you,
It will only be one point;
And I am nothing in front of you.

Nothing! - But you shine in me
Your majesty of kindness;
You portray yourself in me,
Like the sun in a small drop of water.
Nothing! - But I feel life,
I fly unfed
Always a guy in heights;
My soul yearns to be with you,
He delves into, thinks, reasons:
I am - of course, you are too!

You exist! - the rank of nature speaks,
My heart tells me that
My mind assures me
You exist - and I am no longer nothing!
A particle of the whole universe,
Placed, it seems to me, in venerable
In the middle of nature I am the one
Where did you end up with bodily creatures?
Where did you begin the heavenly spirits
And a chain of creatures connected everyone with me.

I am the connection of worlds that exist everywhere,
I am an extreme degree of substance;
I am the center of the living
The trait is the initial of the deity;
My body is crumbling into dust,
I command thunder with my mind,
I am a king - I am a slave - I am a worm - I am a god!
But, being so wonderful, I
Where did it happen? - unknown;
But I couldn’t be myself.

I am your creation, creator!
I am a creature of your wisdom,
Source of life, giver of blessings,
Soul of my soul and king!
Your truth needed it
So that the abyss of death may pass
My existence is immortal;
So that my spirit is clothed in mortality
And so that through death I return,
Father! - to your immortality.

Inexplicable, incomprehensible!
I know that my soul
Imagination is powerless
And draw your shadow;
But if praise must be given,
That is impossible for weak mortals
There is nothing else to honor you with,
How can they just rise to you,
Getting lost in the immeasurable difference
And grateful tears are shed.

The genre of the epic poem in the literature of the 18th century (Kantemir, Lomonosov, Kheraskov)

On the nature of the plot of an epic poem in Russian literature of the 18th century. There were different opinions. Trediakovsky was sure that the content of the poem could only be a mythological plot. Lomonosov, on the contrary, considered it necessary to turn to historically reliable facts in the epic of modern times. The main character of the poem should be a great, but genuine, and not a fictional hero. Your understanding of the epic poem Lomonosov clearly formulated in a dedication addressed to I. I. Shuvalov (we read and bazaar in our own words!!) about the Poem “Peter the Great”:

I intend to sing not fictitious gods,

But the deeds are true, the great work of Petrov.

Lomonosov recalled the activities of Peter I in almost every ode. But this grandiose theme could not be revealed in them with due completeness. She demanded a different, more capacious genre. This is how the idea of ​​creating the poem “Peter the Great” arose. Unfortunately, Lomonosov only managed to finish two songs. The first was published in 1760, the second in 1761. The action dates back to 1702 and is associated with the beginning of the Northern War. The first song talks about Peter's campaign to the White Sea in order to drive the Swedes away from Arkhangelsk, which Swedish troops attacked in order to divert Russian forces from the Noterburg fortress. A large place in the first song is devoted to the story of Peter I about the Streltsy riots, about the anarchy into which all of Moscow was plunged by the will of Princess Sophia. The death of Peter's closest relatives is depicted with great drama. All this background is placed at the beginning of the poem and serves as a contrasting background to the era of enlightened absolutism of Peter I. The content of the second song is the assault and capture of the Noterburg fortress, previously called Orekhovets. The vicissitudes of the battle are described in detail, with truly epic detail, right up to the capitulation of the Swedish garrison. Among the Russian military leaders, Sheremetev, Golitsyn, and Karpov were selected. A large place in the poem is devoted to the feat of ordinary soldiers. Battle scenes are interspersed with lyrical digressions by the author, addressed either to the Swedes or to the Russian army. At the end of the second song there is a reflection by the poet about the sacrifices and suffering that war brings with it. The subsequent events of the poem, apparently, should have led to the Battle of Poltava as the result of the Northern War. It is possible that in the future Lomonosov wanted to depict the peaceful exploits of Peter, since the title of the poem did not limit his plan only to a military theme. Although the two songs of “Peter the Great” are only the beginning of Lomonosov’s plan, they provide an example of a Russian “classical” epic poem, to which many poets will repeatedly turn from now on, not only in the 18th century, but also at the beginning of the 19th century. No less important was the theme of Peter the Great itself, as if bequeathed by Lomonosov to subsequent writers. Kheraskov: Kheraskov’s true fame was created by his poems. His first poem, “The Fruits of Science,” was published in September 1761, that is, during the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna, and was dedicated to the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich. Kheraskov explains to the young Grand Duke the benefits of science and recommends that in the future he encourage enlightenment in the same way as Peter I did. This poem shows perhaps the most noticeable feature of Kheraskov’s personality. He desires to teach and instruct people and will act in this role until the end of his long days. But she also makes it clear that Kheraskov himself loves to learn, adopt, and improve. So, in this case, he successfully took advantage of Lomonosov’s experience, taking as a model his “Letter on the Benefits of Glass” (1752), this is a brilliant poetic work filled with scientific thought. The poet develops the utopian ideal of enlightened absolutism in “Rossiada”. He shows the reader the young Tsar Ivan IV as the leader of the Russian nobles, but only the first among equals. The king listens to the advice of his entourage and acts in accordance with the best of them. The unity of the tsar and the aristocracy seems to Kheraskov a necessary condition for the prosperity of the state, and, not seeing it in modern times, the poet wants to look for it in the historical past of Russia. He idealizes the figure of Prince Kurbsky - an independent nobleman, but a faithful servant of the throne in his portrayal - and makes him a prominent hero of his poem. This is how a true aristocrat should be - not a flatterer, not a slave, a brave warrior and a wise member of the royal council. An atmosphere of patriotic upsurge accompanies all the scenes in the Russian camp, and the nobles lead the movement of the victorious forces. The Russian camp is depicted by Kheraskov as united and harmonious, at its head is the sovereign, surrounded by the council of his virtuous and brave nobles. There is no mention of social contradictions in Russia in the 16th century, or the situation of the peasantry in the poem - Kheraskov simply did not see them, and if he had, he would not have talked about them in the heroic epic, so as not to overshadow its patriotic pathos. Kheraskov’s third epic poem “Vladimir”. The theme of “Vladimir” was quite instructive; the poem was about the time of the adoption of Christianity in Rus', about the choice of faith by the Kiev prince, about his struggle against his own shortcomings in the name of spiritual purification - and, therefore, “ usefulness” was already present to a sufficient extent in the poetic story. Kheraskov's clearly expressed inclination towards monumental epic is also shown by his other works. Thus, the example of Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and Klopstock’s “Messiad” pushes him to create the poem “The Universe” (1790). In three songs of “The Universe,” the poet puts into verse religious legends about the creation of the world and man, about the struggle between Satan and God, clearly borrowing colors from Western European creators of religious epics. But this poem is not without a topical connotation. The revolt of the black angels led by Satan and their falling away from God are compared by Kheraskov with the events of the French bourgeois revolution of 1789, under the fresh impression of the news of which the poem was composed. Cantemir(I found very little about his poems!): in general, Cantemir is best known to us for his satires..BUT! Simultaneously with satires, Kantemir also addressed high genres, but their themes did not correspond to the accusatory talent of the writer, which he himself says with contrition in one of his satires:

And I know that when I accept praise

I write when, muso, I’m trying to break your temper,

No matter how much I bite my nails and rub my sweaty forehead,

It’s hard to weave two verses, and even those are unripe (p. 112).

Such experiments include the unfinished poem “Petrida”. Only the first “book” (“song”) of this work has survived. The content of the poem was supposed to be a description of the last year of the life of Peter I and the glorification of the most important episodes of his previous activities. This laudatory theme begins already in the first song, where the military successes of Peter, the construction of St. Petersburg, and the creation of a powerful fleet are mentioned. The poem also talks about Anna Ioannovna (the poem began in the year of her accession to the throne - 1730), whom Cantemir declares to be the successor of the works of Peter I.

26. Transformation of the ode genre in Derzhavin’s work. The originality of the ode “Felitsa”

In formal terms, Derzhavin in “Felitsa” strictly adheres to the canon of Lomonosov’s solemn ode: iambic tetrameter, ten-line stanza with the rhyme aBaBVVgDDg. But this strict form of the solemn ode in this case is a necessary sphere of contrast, against the background of which the absolute novelty of the content and style plans appears more clearly. Derzhavin addressed Catherine II not directly, but indirectly - through her literary personality, using for an ode the plot of a fairy tale that Catherine wrote for her little grandson Alexander. The characters in the allegorical “Tale of Prince Chlorus” - the daughter of the khan Felitsa (from the Latin felix - happy) and the young prince Chlorus are busy searching for a rose without thorns (an allegory of virtue), which they find, after many obstacles and overcoming temptations, on the top of a high mountain , symbolizing spiritual self-improvement. This indirect appeal to the empress through her literary text gave Derzhavin the opportunity to avoid the sublime tone of addressing the highest person. Taking up the plot of Catherine's fairy tale and slightly aggravating the oriental flavor inherent in this plot, Derzhavin wrote his ode on behalf of, playing on the legend about the origin of his family from the Tatar Murza Bagrim. In the text of the ode itself, two plans are clearly drawn: the author’s plan and the hero’s plan, connected to each other by the plot motif of the search for a “rose without thorns” - virtue. The “weak”, “depraved”, “slave of whims” Murza, on whose behalf the ode was written, turns to the virtuous “god-like princess” with a request for help in finding a “rose without thorns” - and this naturally sets two intonations in the text of the ode: apology against Felitsa and denunciation against Murza. Thus, Derzhavin’s solemn ode combines the ethical principles of older genres - satire and ode, which were once absolutely contrasting and isolated, but in “Felitsa” united into a single picture of the world. This combination in itself literally explodes from within the canons of the established oratorical genre of ode and classicist ideas about the genre hierarchy of poetry and the purity of the genre. But the operations that Derzhavin performs with the aesthetic attitudes of satire and ode are even more daring and radical. It would be natural to expect that the apologetic image of virtue and the denounced image of vice, combined in a single odo-satirical genre, would be consistently maintained in their traditional typology of artistic imagery: the abstract-conceptual embodiment of virtue would have to be opposed by the everyday image of vice. However, this does not happen in Derzhavin’s “Felitsa,” and both images, from an aesthetic point of view, represent the same synthesis of ideologizing and everyday-descriptive motifs. But if the everyday image of vice could, in principle, be subject to some ideologization in its generalized, conceptual presentation, then Russian literature before Derzhavin fundamentally did not allow the everyday image of virtue. In the ode “Felitsa”, contemporaries, accustomed to abstract conceptual constructions of odic images of the ideal monarch, were shocked by the everyday concreteness and authenticity of the appearance of Catherine II in her everyday activities and habits. The individualized and specific personal image of virtue is opposed in the ode “Felitsa” by a generalized collective image of vice, but it is opposed only ethically: as an aesthetic essence, the image of vice is absolutely identical to the image of virtue, since it is the same synthesis of odic and satirical typology of imagery, deployed in the same plot motive of the daily routine.

The only aesthetic difference between the images of Felitsa the virtue and Murza the vice is their correlation with the specific personalities of Derzhavin’s contemporaries. In this sense, Felitsa-Ekaterina is, according to the author's intention, an accurate portrait, and Murza - the mask of the author of the ode, the lyrical subject of the text - is a collective, but concrete to such an extent that to this day its concreteness tempts researchers of Derzhavin's work to see in the features this mask is similar to the face of the poet himself, although Derzhavin himself left unambiguous and precise indications that Potemkin, Orlov, Naryshkin with their characteristic properties and everyday preferences - “whimsical disposition”, “hunting” served as prototypes for this collective image of a nobleman-courier before the horses race”, “exercises in dress. And here it is impossible not to notice two things: firstly, that the technique of self-exposing characterization of vice in his direct speech genetically goes back directly to the genre model of Cantemir’s satire, and secondly, that, creating his own collective image of Murza as a lyrical subject ode “Felitsa” and forcing him to speak “for the whole world, for the entire noble society,” Derzhavin, in essence, took advantage of the Lomonosov odic method of constructing the image of the author. In Lomonosov’s solemn ode, the author’s personal pronoun “I” was nothing more than a form of expressing a general opinion, and the image of the author was functional only insofar as it was capable of embodying the voice of the nation as a whole - that is, it had a collective character. Thus, in Derzhavin’s “Felitsa,” ode and satire, intersecting with their ethical genre-forming guidelines and aesthetic features of the typology of artistic imagery, merge into one genre, which, strictly speaking, can no longer be called either satire or ode. The forms of expression of the personal author's principle through the category of the lyrical hero and the poet as a figurative unity, fusing the entire set of individual poetic texts into a single aesthetic whole, are the factor that determines the fundamental innovation of Derzhavin the poet relative to the national poetic tradition that preceded him.

This group of works by Derzhavin includes the ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky”, “Waterfall”, “God”. The uniqueness of philosophical odes lies in the fact that they consider man not in social, civil activity, but in deep connections with the eternal laws of nature. One of the most powerful among them, according to the poet, is the law of destruction - death. This is how the ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky” is born. The immediate reason for its writing was the death of Derzhavin’s friend, Prince A.I. Meshchersky, which deeply struck the poet with its unexpectedness. The philosophical problematics of the ode grow on a biographical basis, incorporating the educational ideas of the 18th century. The theme of death is revealed by Derzhavin in the order of gradual escalation of phenomena subject to the law of destruction: the poet himself is mortal, all people are mortal. In the face of death, there is a kind of reassessment of social values. The idea is born about the natural equality of people, regardless of their rank and condition, since they are all subject to the same law of destruction. Wealth and titles turn out to be pitiful and insignificant. But while recognizing the omnipotence of death, Derzhavin does not come to the pessimistic conclusion about the meaninglessness of human existence. On the contrary, the transience of life gives it special significance and makes us appreciate the unique joys of life more highly. The problematic of Derzhavin’s “Meshchera” ode was continued in the ode “Waterfall”. It was written in connection with another sudden death of one of the most influential favorites of Catherine II, the “most serene” Prince G. A. Potemkin. Death overtook Potemkin on the way after he concluded peace with Turkey. He died in the remote steppe, on bare ground, as poor wanderers die. The circumstances of this unusual death made a strong impression on Derzhavin and once again reminded him of the vicissitudes of human fate.

In Derzhavin’s ode, the waterfall becomes a symbol of the short-lived glory and precarious greatness of the temporary workers. At the end of the ode, Derzhavin contrasts the passing triumphs of nobles and commanders with “truth,” i.e., genuine merits to society, regardless of their recognition or non-recognition by the supreme power. The bearer of such virtue is the famous commander P. A. Rumyantsev, who was undeservedly removed from command of the Russian army during the war with Turkey. The ode debunked the imaginary glory of conquerors, kings and generals who bought their greatness with blood. Derzhavin’s Ode “For Happiness” was written in 1789. Created during the reign of Catherine II, it was dedicated to those seeking good fortune not on the battlefield, but at court. The practice of favoritism acquired an openly cynical character at this time. In this regard, the word happiness acquired its own semantic connotation from Derzhavin. It is associated with official, court success. Like winning at cards, it depends on luck, luck and at the same time on the dexterity of the seeker. Having suddenly smiled at its chosen one, it can just as unexpectedly turn its back on him. In the spirit of 18th century poetics. Derzhavin creates a mythologized image of happiness - a new deity worshiped by his contemporaries. Very popular in the 18th and even 19th centuries. used the ode "God". It has been translated into a number of European languages, as well as Chinese and Japanese. It speaks of a beginning that opposes death. For Derzhavin, God is the “source of life,” the root cause of everything on earth and in space, including man himself. Derzhavin’s idea of ​​divinity was influenced by the philosophical thought of the 18th century. Without rejecting the church concept of the three essences of deity, Derzhavin simultaneously comprehends it in categories drawn from the arsenal of science - space, movement, time. Derzhavin's god is not an ethereal spirit existing separately from nature, but a creative principle, embodied and dissolved in the material world he created. The inquisitive thought of the Enlightenment did not take anything for granted. And Derzhavin, like the son of his age, strives to prove the existence of God.

The existence of God, according to Derzhavin, is evidenced, first of all, by the order, harmony, and patterns of the surrounding world. Another proof is purely subjective: a person’s desire for a higher, powerful, fair and beneficent creative principle. At the same time, Derzhavin adopted from the Age of Enlightenment the idea of ​​the high dignity of man, of his limitless creative possibilities.

Derzhavin in the 1770s -1780s. created philosophical and solemn odes. The poet's first successful ode was a majestic reflection on life and death - the ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky” (1779). In 1780 Derzhavin wrote the philosophical ode “God”, and in 1782 - the solemn ode “Felitsa”. In it, the poet presented Catherine II not only as a statesman, but also as a person. The style of the ode was also unusual: high calm was combined in the ode with medium and even low calm. At the end of the 1780s. Civil and satirical poems appear in Derzhavin's lyrics. One of them is the ode to Rulers and Judges.

V. Khodasevich: “In the struggle for the law, Derzhavin had no support either in society or in the government itself. The laws were even written intensively, but somehow it was understood that they should be executed only to a certain extent and as needed (mainly by the nobility). It was not denied that it is much better to fulfill the laws than not to fulfill them. But only Derzhavin thought their failure to fulfill them was something monstrous. Nobody directly encouraged lawbreakers, but the authorities had no desire to punish them either. Derzhavin did not want to understand this. Rushing to fight against lawbreakers, he was always sure that “Catherine’s shield” made him invulnerable. This was partly true. But the same shield also covered his enemies. It turned out that Minerva of Russia equally favors the right and the wrong, the good and the evil. Why? This is a riddle that Derzhavin not only has not yet solved, but has not openly confronted himself with.”

Derzhavin ensured that these poems, which they did not dare to publish in their previous form, were published in a new, sharper form. The reference to imitation of the psalm could have served as a reliable cover, but Derzhavin crossed out the old title “Psalm 81” and made a new one, his own: “To Rulers and Judges.” Such was his directness: he knew that the play arose essentially not from reading the Bible, but from contemplating Russia.

Psalm 81. God stood up in the assembly of gods and pronounced judgment. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the poor and the orphan; Give justice to the oppressed and the poor. Deliver the poor and needy, pluck him from the hands of the wicked. They don’t know, they don’t understand, they walk in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaking. I said: you are gods, and you are all sons of the Most High. But you will die like men and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You will inherit all nations.

A ruler who does not rely on popular love is essentially powerless. Secondly, that he is not a king, but a tyrant, a usurper of power who can be driven from the throne without committing any sacrilege. Consequently, what distinguishes a king from a tyrant is not anointing, but the love of the people. Only this love is true anointing. Thus, the people become not only the support, but also the very source of royal power. By the word people, he was inclined to mean the entire nation, and he succeeded in this as long as the discussion was about military or diplomatic affairs, as long as the Russian people were opposed to some other people. But as soon as Derzhavin’s gaze turned to the depths of the country, an immediate feeling immediately prompted him to call only the dispossessed, powerless part of the nation the people. However, the matter was not at all about the peasantry alone: ​​a poor nobleman, in vain seeking justice and justice against a rich neighbor, or a petty official, pressed by a large one, in the eyes of Derzhavin were the same representatives of the people as a peasant suffering from the tyranny of the landowner. In a word, it turned out that whoever suffers belongs to the people; the king of the people is the protection and cover of everything weak and oppressed from everything strong and oppressive.

TO RULES AND JUDGES The Almighty God has risen and judges the Earthly gods in their host; How long, rivers, how long will you have mercy on the unjust and evil? Your duty is: to preserve the laws, not to look at the faces of the strong, not to leave orphans and widows without help, without defense. Your duty: to save the innocent from harm. Give cover to the unlucky; To protect the powerless from the strong, To free the poor from their shackles. They won't listen! they see and don’t know! Covered with bribes of tow: Atrocities shake the earth, Untruth shakes the heavens.

Kings! I imagined that you gods have power, No one is a judge over you, But you, like me, are passionate, And just as mortal as I am. And you will fall like that, just as a withered leaf falls from the tree! And you will die just like your last slave will die! Resurrect, God! God of the right! And heed their prayer: Come, judge, punish the evil ones, And be one king of the earth! 1780(?)

Quintus Horace Flaccus (65 - 8 BC) I erected a monument. It is stronger than copper, It is more indestructible than the eternal pyramids, And neither the evil Aquilon nor the merciless rain will now destroy it even for centuries. Year after year will pass, the count of eras will change, But not all of me will die, part of me will remain alive, They will remember me, not forget me, until the Ancient glorifying rite, the High Priest will ascend into the Capitoline Temple with a pure virgin. Where the foamy current of Aufida boils vigorously, Where Dawn reigned in the rain-scarce land, I will be honored everywhere, the former nobody has become everything! For he was the first to translate the Aeolian Hymn into verse in the Italian style. With a proud gaze, Melpomene, look at my work and crown my forehead with the Delphic laurel.

MONUMENT I erected a wonderful, eternal monument to myself, harder than metal and higher than the pyramids; Neither the whirlwind nor the fleeting thunder will break it, And the flight of time will not crush it. So! - all of me will not die, but a large part of me, having escaped from decay, will begin to live after death, and my glory will increase without fading, as long as the Slavic race is honored by the universe. Rumors will spread about me from the White Waters to the Black Waters, where the Volga, Don, Neva, and the Urals flow from Riphean; Everyone will remember that in countless nations, How from obscurity I became known,

That I was the first to dare to proclaim Felitsa’s virtues in a funny Russian style, to talk about God in heartfelt simplicity, and to speak the truth to kings with a smile. O muse! Be proud of your just merit, And whoever despises you, despise them yourself; With a relaxed, unhurried hand, crown your brow with the dawn of immortality. 1795

Having written the ode in 1782, Derzhavin did not dare to publish it, fearing the revenge of noble nobles depicted satirically. By chance, the ode fell into the hands of one good friend of Derzhavin, an adviser to the director of the Academy of Sciences, a writer, an activist in the field of public education, and later minister Osip Petrovich Kozodavlev (early 1750s - 1819), who began to show it to various people, including including introducing Princess E.R. Dashkova to her, who was appointed director of the Academy of Sciences in 1783. Dashkova liked the ode, and when the publication of the Interlocutor was undertaken in May 1783, it was decided to open the first issue with Felitsa. The publication of “Interlocutor” was due to the intensification of Catherine’s struggle with the noble opposition, and the empress’s desire to “use journalism as a means of influencing minds.”

Derzhavin received a golden snuffbox containing 500 chervonets as a gift from the empress and was personally introduced to her. The high merits of the ode brought it success in the circles of the most advanced contemporaries and widespread popularity at that time. Derzhavin took the very name “Felitsa” from “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” written by Catherine II for her grandson Alexander (1781). This name was formed by Catherine from the Latin words “felix” - “happy”, “felicitas” - “happiness”. “The author called himself Murza because... . . that he came from a Tatar tribe; and the empress - Felitsa and the Kyrgyz princess so that the late empress composed a fairy tale under the name of Prince Chlorus, whom Felitsa, that is, the goddess of bliss, accompanied to the mountain where a rose without thorns blooms.”

FELICA (...) Bring it on, Felitsa! Instruction: How to live magnificently and truthfully, How to tame the excitement of passions and be happy in the world? Your voice excites me, your son accompanies me; But I am weak to follow them. Troubled by the vanity of life, Today I rule over myself, And tomorrow I am a slave to my whims.

Without imitating your Murzas, you often walk on foot, and the simplest food happens at your table; Without valuing your peace, you read, write in front of the collection, and from your pen you shed Bliss to mortals; You don’t play cards like me, from morning to morning. You don’t like masquerades too much, And you won’t even set foot in a club; By preserving customs and rituals, you do not become quixotic with yourself; You cannot saddle the horse of Parnassus, You cannot ride into the assembly of the spirit, You cannot go from the throne to the East; But walking the path of meekness, With a charitable soul, You spend useful days.

Not imitating your Murzas, that is, courtiers, nobles. The word “Murza” is used by Derzhavin in two ways: he means himself and any nobleman. You read, you write in front of the levy - Derzhavin has in mind the legislative activities of the Empress. Lectern (obsolete, colloquial), more precisely “lectern” (church) - a high table with a sloping top, on which icons or books are placed in the church. Here it is used in the sense of “table”, “desk”. You can’t saddle a parnasque horse - Catherine did not know how to write poetry. Arias and poems for her literary works were written by her secretaries of state Elagin, Khrapovitsky and others. You do not enter the assembly of spirits, You do not go from the throne to the East - that is, you do not visit Masonic lodges and meetings. Catherine called the Freemasons a “sect of spirits.” Masonic lodges were sometimes called “Easts”. Freemasons in the 80s. XVIII century - members of organizations (“lodges”) that professed mystical and moralistic teachings and were in opposition to Catherine’s government.

And I, having slept until noon, smoke tobacco and drink coffee; Transforming everyday life into a holiday, I spin my thoughts in chimeras: Now I steal captivity from the Persians, now I turn arrows towards the Turks; Then, having dreamed that I am a sultan, I frighten the Universe with my gaze; Then suddenly, seduced by the outfit, I gallop to the tailor wearing a caftan. Or am I at a rich feast, Where they give me a feast, Where the table glitters with silver and gold, Where there are thousands of different dishes; There is a glorious Westphalian ham, There are links of Astrakhan fish, There are pilaf and pies, I wash down the waffles with champagne; And I forget everything in the world Among the wines, sweets and aroma.

Or in the middle of a beautiful grove, In a gazebo, where a fountain is noisy, With the ringing of a sweet-voiced harp, Where the breeze barely breathes, Where everything presents luxury to me, It catches thoughts to the joys, It languishes and revives the blood; Lying on a velvet sofa, the young girl feels tender, I pour love into her heart. Or in a magnificent train In an English carriage, golden, With a dog, a jester or a friend, Or with such a beauty I walk under a swing; I go to taverns to drink mead; Or, somehow I get bored, Due to my inclination to change, Having my hat on one side, I fly on a frisky runner.

Or music and singers, organ and bagpipes all of a sudden, or fist fighters and dancing making my spirit happy; Or, Leaving worries about all matters, I go hunting and amuse myself with the barking of dogs; Or over the banks of the Neva I amuse myself at night with the horns and the rowing of daring oarsmen. Or, sitting at home, I will play a trick, Playing fools with my wife; Sometimes I go to the dovecote with her, sometimes we frolic in blind man's buff; Now I’m having fun with her, now I’m searching in my head with her; I love to rummage through books, I enlighten my mind and heart, I read Polkan and Bova; Over the Bible, yawning, I sleep.

And I, having slept until noon, etc. “Refers to the whimsical disposition of Prince Potemkin, like all three of the following couplets, who was either getting ready for war, or practicing in outfits, feasts and all kinds of luxuries” (Ob. D., 598). Zug - a team of four or six horses in pairs. The right to ride in a convoy was a privilege of the highest nobility. I'm flying on a fast runner. This also applies to Potemkin, but “more to gr. Al. Gr. Orlov, who was a hunter before horse racing" (Ob. D., 598). At the Orlov stud farms, several new breeds of horses were bred, of which the most famous is the breed of the famous “Orlov trotters”. Or fist fighters - also applies to A.G. Orlov. And amused by the barking of dogs - refers to P.I. Panin, who loved hound hunting (Ob. D., 598). I amuse myself with horns at night, etc. “Refers to Semyon Kirillovich Naryshkin, who was then a huntsman, who was the first to start horn music.” I read Polkan and Bova. “Refers to the book. Vyazemsky, who loved to read novels (which the author, serving on his team, often read in front of him, and it happened that both of them dozed and did not understand anything) - Polkan and Bova and famous old Russian stories" (Ob. D., 599 ).

That's it, Felitsa, I'm depraved! But the whole world looks like me. No matter how much wisdom there is, every person is a lie. We do not follow the paths of light, We run after dreams of debauchery. Between the lazy and the grouch, Between vanity and vice Has anyone accidentally found the straight path of virtue?

You are the only one who does not offend, You do not offend anyone, You see through foolishness, Only you do not tolerate evil; You rule over misdeeds with leniency, Like a wolf over sheep, you don’t crush people, You know their value directly. They are subject to the will of kings, - But to God is more just, Who lives in their laws. (...) There are rumors about your actions, that you are not at all proud; Kind in business and in jokes, pleasant in friendship and firm; That you are indifferent in adversity, and so generous in glory, that you even refused to be considered wise. They also say, not falsely, that it is always possible to tell you the truth.

An unheard of thing, worthy of you! one, that you boldly tell the people about everything, and show it at hand, and allow them to know and think, and do not forbid them to talk about themselves, both true and false; As if to the crocodiles themselves, you are always inclined to forgive all your mercies to the zoils. Pleasant rivers of tears flow from the depths of my soul. ABOUT! since people are happy There should be their destiny, Where a meek angel, a peaceful angel, Hidden in purple lightness, A scepter was sent down from heaven to wear! There you can whisper in conversations And, without fear of execution, at dinners You can’t drink to the health of the kings.

There, with the name of Felitsa, you can scrape off a typo in a line, Or carelessly drop the portrait on the ground, There, clownish weddings do not soar, They are not fried in ice baths, They do not click on the mustaches of nobles; Princes don't cluck as hens, their favorites don't make them laugh, and don't smear their faces with soot.

That she renounced and was considered wise. Catherine II, with feigned modesty, rejected the titles of “Great”, “Wise”, “Mother of the Fatherland”, which were presented to her in 1767 by the Senate and the Commission for developing a draft of a new code; She did the same in 1779, when the St. Petersburg nobility offered to accept the title “Great” for her. And you allow me to know and think. In the “Order” of Catherine II, compiled by her for the Commission for the development of a draft of a new code and which was a compilation from the writings of Montesquieu and other enlightenment philosophers of the 18th century. , there are indeed a number of articles of which this stanza is a summary. However, it was not for nothing that Pushkin called the “Nakaz” “hypocritical”: a huge number of “cases” of people arrested by the Secret Expedition precisely on charges of “speaking” “indecent”, “diarrhea” and other words have come down to us addressed to the empress, heir to the throne, Prince . Potemkin, etc. Almost all of these people were cruelly tortured by the “whip fighter” Sheshkovsky and severely punished by secret courts. .

There you can whisper in conversations, etc. and the next stanza is a depiction of the cruel laws and morals at the court of Empress Anna Ioannovna. As Derzhavin notes (Ob. D., 599-600), there were laws according to which two people whispering to each other were considered attackers against the empress or the state; Those who did not drink a large glass of wine, “offered for the queen’s health,” and who accidentally dropped a coin with her image were suspected of malicious intent and ended up in the Secret Chancellery. A typo, correction, scraping, or mistake in the imperial title entailed punishment with lashes, as well as moving the title from one line to another. Crude clownish “fun” was widespread at court, like the famous wedding of Prince Golitsyn, who was a jester at court, for which an “ice house” was built; titled jesters sat in baskets and clucked chickens, etc.

Glory to Felitsa, glory to God, Who pacified the battle; Who covered, clothed and fed the poor and the poor; Who, with his radiant eye, gives his light to the Jesters, cowards, the ungrateful, and the righteous; Equally enlightens all mortals, comforts the sick, heals, does good only for good. Who granted freedom to ride into foreign regions, Allowed his people to seek silver and gold; Who allows water, And does not forbid cutting down forests; Orders to weave, and spin, and sew; Untying the mind and hands, Commands one to love trading, science, And to find happiness at home;

Who pacified the abuse, etc. “This verse refers to the time of peace, at the end of the first Turkish war (1768-1774 - V.Z.) in Russia, which flourished, when many philanthropic institutions were created by the empress, such as: educational house, hospitals and others” (Ob. D., 600). Which granted freedom, etc. Derzhavin lists some laws issued by Catherine II, which were beneficial to the nobles, landowners and merchants: she confirmed the permission given by Peter III to the nobles to travel abroad; allowed landowners to develop ore deposits on their property for their own benefit; lifted the ban on cutting down forest on their lands without government control; “allowed free navigation on the seas and rivers for trade” (Ob. D., 600), etc.

Whose law and right hand give both mercy and judgment. - Prophecy, wise Felitsa! Where is a rogue different from the honest? Where does old age not wander around the world? Does merit find bread for itself? Where does revenge not drive anyone? Where do conscience and truth live? Where do virtues shine? Isn't it yours at the throne? (...)

Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin is the greatest poet of the 18th century, one of the last representatives of Russian classicism. Derzhavin's work is deeply contradictory. While revealing new possibilities of classicism, he at the same time destroyed it, paving the way for romantic and realistic poetry.

Derzhavin lived a difficult life before achieving high ranks, prosperity and poetic fame. He was born into a poor noble family. He lost his father early, who served in the lower ranks of officers. He studied at the Kazan gymnasium, but did not finish it, as he was called to St. Petersburg for military service. He started it as a soldier in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and only ten years later received an officer rank.

The road to poetic fame turned out to be just as difficult. Derzhavin began writing poetry during his years as a soldier, but became known to the general public much later, after the publication of the ode “Felitsa” in 1783 in the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word.” Its author was forty years old at that time. Adversity tempered the writer's spirit and developed in him the character of a brave, uncompromising fighter for truth and justice. Already in his declining years he wrote about himself:

Who led him to Helikon

And controlled his steps?

Not schools of ornate sodomy -

Nature, need and enemies

The poet's social views were not radical. He considered autocracy and serfdom quite normal, but demanded that every person in power, including the monarch, honestly and disinterestedly fulfill his civic duties.

If we take into account the poet’s hot-tempered character, it is easy to imagine how many hardships he had to experience in his career. In 1784, he was appointed governor of the Olonets province and soon lost this post due to a quarrel with the governor Tutolmin. In 1786, Derzhavin became the governor of Tambov, fought against bribery, tried to restore order in legal proceedings, and protected peasants from the arbitrariness of landowners. As a result, a new quarrel arose with the governor, because of which the poet himself almost ended up on trial. Under Alexander I, Derzhavin was appointed Minister of Justice, but soon had to leave his post because, according to the Tsar, he served too zealously.

The writer's high sense of citizenship was combined with a love of life. He was a hospitable host, a keen connoisseur of nature and art, including painting and music. This side of his character was especially fully revealed in his later lyrics, when, tired of professional failures, he more and more often sought to find peace in the peaceful joys of home life.

Civil odes

These works by Derzhavin are addressed to persons endowed with great political power: monarchs, nobles. Their pathos is not only laudatory, but also accusatory, as a result of which Belinsky calls some of them satirical. Among the best of this series is “Felitsa,” dedicated to Catherine II. The very image of Felitsa, a wise and virtuous Kyrgyz princess, was taken by Derzhavin from “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” written by Catherine II. The ode was published in 1783 in the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word” and was a resounding success. Previously known only to a narrow circle of friends, Derzhavin became the most popular poet in Russia. “Felitsa” continues the tradition of laudable odes to Lomonosov and at the same time differs sharply from them with a new interpretation of the image of an enlightened monarch.

The ode "Felitsa" was written at the end of the 18th century and reflects a new stage of enlightenment in Russia. Enlightenment scholars now see in the monarch a person to whom society has entrusted the care of the welfare of citizens. Therefore, the right to be a monarch imposes on the ruler numerous responsibilities towards the people. In the first place among them is legislation, on which, according to educators, the fate of their subjects primarily depends. And Derzhavin’s Felitsa acts as a gracious monarch-legislator:

Not valuing your peace,

You read and write in front of the lectern

And all from your pen

Shedding bliss to mortals...

The question arises, what facts did Derzhavin have at his disposal, what did he rely on when creating the image of his Felitsa - Catherine, whom he did not personally know in those years. The main source of this image was an extensive document written by Catherine II herself - “The Order of the Commission on the Drafting of a New Code” (1768). The main sources of the “Order” were the book of the French educator C. Montesquieu “On the Spirit of Laws” and the work of the Italian educator C. Beccaria “On Crimes and Punishments.” But the borrowed character of “Nakaz” also had its positive side. He introduced the Russian reader to the circle of ideas formulated by the best representatives of the European Enlightenment.

One of the leading ideas of the “Nakaz” is the need to soften existing laws, since the formation of absolutism in the 16th-18th centuries. accompanied by legislation characterized by excessive cruelty. Torture was used during interrogations, and death sentences were imposed for minor offenses. The main goal was not correction, but intimidation of the defendants. Enlightenment scholars, including Montesquieu and Beccaria, sharply condemned the cruelty of the trial. Catherine picked up this idea in “Nakaz”. Derzhavin perfectly felt the general spirit of the “Nakaz” and endowed his Felitsa with mercy and condescension;

You are ashamed to be considered great,

To be scary and unloved;

The bear is decently wild

Rip animals and drink their blood.

And how nice it is to be a tyrant,

Tamerlane, great in atrocity,

Who is great in goodness, like God?

An absolutist state is characterized by the deification of the personality of the monarch, which led to accusations of citizens of “lese majeste” even in cases where there was no crime. “One of the most severe abuses,” wrote Montesquieu, “is that the definition of “lese majeste” is sometimes applied to actions that do not involve a crime.”

In Russia, accusations of crimes against “Majesty” especially flourished under Anna Ioannovna, as Derzhavin points out in the “Explanations” to the ode “Felitsa.” Derzhavin glorifies Felitsa for refusing these absurd persecutions:

There you can whisper in conversations

And, without fear of execution, at dinners

Don't drink to the health of kings.

There with the name Felitsa you can

Scrape out the typo in the line

Or a portrait carelessly

Drop her to the ground

Speaking about the reign of Anna Ioannovna, Derzhavin mentions the rude amusements, degrading human dignity, with which the empress loved to amuse herself, and comments on his poems as follows: ““There are no clownish weddings there. // They are not fried in ice baths.” This refers to the glorious a clownish wedding... of Prince Golitsyn... who was married to a joker similar to him: an ice house was deliberately created... also an ice bath in which the newlyweds were soared."

In addition to Anna Ioannovna, Derzhavin’s ode contains a hint of another monarch, also opposed to Felitsa. Derzhavin writes:

Keeping customs, rituals,

Don't be quixotic with yourself

The unusual verb “donquixotic” is derived from the name of Cervantes’s hero, Don Quixote. This complex and deep image was understood with varying depth in different eras. The Enlightenment saw in Don Quixote a mockery of the follies of chivalry and feudalism; the romantics glorified his humanistic pathos.

In Derzhavin, the verb “quixotic” is associated with educational content and means a violation of socially accepted customs and decency. There is every reason to believe that in the role of Catherine’s antagonist, Derzhavin meant here her husband, Peter III. The behavior of this ruler was so ridiculous that it caused general indignation, which ended in a palace coup and the assassination of the emperor. Born in Holstein, he hated Russia, feared its people, and despised its customs. He laughed loudly in church and mimicked the priests during services. In palace ceremonies, he replaced the old Russian bow with a French squat. He idolized Russia's recent enemy, Frederick II, and publicly knelt in front of his portrait. Catherine perfectly understood the mistakes of her husband and from the very first days of her stay in Russia she tried to follow in everything the “customs” and “rites” of the country that had sheltered her. She succeeded in this and aroused sympathy both at court and in the guard.

In the first place is Potemkin, a gourmet and a glutton, a lover of feasts and amusements ["Or at a rich feast, // Where they give me a holiday" (p. 99).] Spoiled by power, Potemkin did not adhere to the clear routine necessary for a statesman , and obeyed in his actions momentary whims and fancies ["And I, having slept until noon, // I smoke and drink coffee" (P. 98)].

Next come the Orlovs - Grigory and Alexey. Generously endowed by nature with health and physical strength, they loved all kinds of fun that required agility and daring. One of the biographers of G. G. Orlov wrote: “... in terms of gaiety and frivolity of character, in love for all kinds of risky adventures, Grigory was far superior to his brothers, not lagging behind them in the least in his passionate love for all kinds of sports in all its manifestations , starting from fist fights and all kinds of “strong men”, singers, jesters and dancers, and ending with “runners”, one-on-one bear hunting and even goose and cockfights.” Derzhavin points in his ode to these rude, unworthy of the dignity of a nobleman fun: “Or I amuse my spirit with fist fighters and dancing” (p. 99).

The combination of ode and satire in one work is one of the phenomena of educational literature. Enlightenmentists understood the life of society as a constant struggle between truth and error. The consequence of this fight was either approaching the ideal or moving away from it. In Derzhavin’s ode, the ideal, the norm is Felitsa, the deviation from the norm is her careless “Murzas”.

Derzhavin’s undoubted poetic courage was the appearance in the ode “Felitsa” of the image of the poet himself, shown in an everyday setting: “Sitting at home I will play pranks, // Playing fools with my wife...” (p. 100). Noteworthy is the “oriental” flavor of the ode, suggested not only by Catherine’s fairy tale, but also by educational “oriental” stories such as Montesquieu’s “Persian Letters.” The ode "Felitsa" was written on behalf of the Tatar Murza. It mentions eastern cities - Baghdad, Smyrna, Kashmir. The end of the ode is designed in a complimentary oriental style: “I ask the great prophet, // I will touch the dust of your feet” (p. 104).

From the ode “Felitsa”, which glorified the name of Derzhavin, there is a direct road to the satirical, in the apt expression of V. G. Belinsky, ode “The Nobleman” (1774-1794). It again presents both principles derived in the ode “Felitsa” - laudatory and satirical. But if in “Feditsa” the positive principle triumphed, and ridicule of the nobles was of a playful nature, then in the ode “Noble” the relationship between good and evil is completely different. The laudatory part occupies a very modest place. It is presented only at the very end of the ode, with the mention of one of the disgraced nobles - P. A. Rumyantsev, whose name is hinted at in the last verse - “Ruge of the evening dawn”. The center of gravity was transferred by Derzhavin to the satirical part of the ode, and the evil arising from the indifference of nobles to their duty is presented with such indignation, to which few works of the 18th century rose. The writer is outraged by the situation of the people, subjects suffering from the criminal indifference of the courtiers: a military leader waiting for hours in the hall for a nobleman to come out, a widow with a baby in her arms, a wounded soldier. This motif will be repeated in the 19th century. in “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” by Gogol and in “Reflections at the Main Entrance” by Nekrasov.

Derzhavin's satire is filled with angry feelings. Having been introduced into ode, it took on the odic art form. Satire is clothed here in iambic tetrameter, with which odes were previously written. She also borrows from the ode such a feature as repetitions, intensifying its angry pathos: “And there is a wounded hero, // Like a harrier turned gray in battle... // And there a widow stands in the entryway...” (p. 214).

Derzhavin's ode "The Nobleman" received recognition not only in the 18th, but also in the 19th century. “Derzhavin, the scourge of nobles, at the sound of a loud lyre // Their proud idols exposed them,” wrote Pushkin in his “Message to the Censor.” The Decembrist poet K. F. Ryleev highly appreciated Derzhavin’s work. In the Duma "Derzhavin" he introduced entire stanzas from the ode "Nobleman", forcing it to serve new, liberating goals.

Derzhavin’s civil odes also include the famous poem “To Rulers and Judges” (1787), which F. M. Dostoevsky loved to recite at literary readings. In 1795, Derzhavin presented a handwritten collection of this work to the Empress. However, instead of gratitude, disfavor followed. Catherine stopped noticing Derzhavin, the courtiers avoided meeting him. Finally, one of Derzhavin’s friends, Ya. I. Bulgakov, asked the poet: “What are you, brother, writing for Jacobin poetry?” “King David,” said Derzhavin, “was not a Jacobin, therefore, his songs cannot be disgusting to anyone.” The reference to the Bible is not an empty excuse. The poem “To Rulers and Judges” is indeed an arrangement of the 81st Psalm of King David. But in his own way, Ya. I. Bulgakov was also right. “...During the French Revolution,” writes Derzhavin, “in Paris, this very psalm was paraphrased by the Jacobins and sung through the streets to reinforce popular indignation against Louis XVI.” But the poet himself learned about this much later.

The indifference and selfishness of those in power arouse the poet’s anger, and in the last three stanzas he demands punishment for the guilty. To avoid misunderstanding, let us immediately note that this is not about revolutionary retribution, as it seemed to Catherine II, frightened by the Jacobin terror. The poet only reminds the kings that they are as mortal as their subjects, and, therefore, sooner or later they will appear before God's court. But the afterlife judgment seems too distant to the poet, and in the last quatrain he begs God to punish the guilty without waiting for their death. In the Bible, this motive for severe punishment of kings is absent." The final verses of the biblical psalm call on God, instead of an unjust human court, to approve his own judgment, and only: "... arise, O God, judge the earth, for you will inherit all nations." In Derzhavin, the last stanza contains call yourself to merciless punishment from earthly rulers:

Resurrect, God! God of the right!

And they heeded their prayer:

Come, judge, punish the evil ones

And be one king of the earth! (p. 92).

Civic poetry, clothed in biblical form, will move from the 18th to the 19th centuries. Following the poem "To Rulers and Judges" there will appear Pushkin and Lermontov's "Prophet", Griboyedov's work "David", as well as arrangements of psalms by Decembrist poets.

Derzhavin's poem was first called "Monument". It is divided into stanzas and consists of five quatrains written in iambic hexameter with cross rhyme. The work acquired a Russian national coloring. Apulia - the birthplace of Horace and the river Aufid flowing through it - are replaced by the name: Russian rivers and seas: “Rumor will spread about me from the White Waters to the Black, // Where the Volga, Don, Neva, the Ural flows from Riphean” (P.233). In the fourth stanza, the author asserts his right to immortality. Derzhavin recalls that he was the first who “dared” to abandon the solemn, pompous style of laudatory odes and wrote “Felitsa” in a “funny”, i.e., humorous “Russian style”. In addition to poetic courage, Derzhavin also has civic courage: the poet was not afraid to “speak the truth to the kings with a smile.” Pushkin's "Monument" both in form and content is connected not so much with the Horatian version as with the Derzhavinsky version of this poem.

“Felitsa” represents an ode of a new type - in it Derzhavin managed to combine “high” (odic) and “low” (satirical) principles. In the image of the “wise”, “god-like princess” Felitsa, the poet praises Catherine II, creating her portrait in a new manner ", which is fundamentally different from the traditional ode. This is not an earthly deity, but an active and intelligent "Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess", who is depicted both as a private person in everyday life and as a ruler, which determines the division of the ode into two parts, Felitsa is contrasted with the image of the vicious " Murza"; which determines the genre originality of the ode: it merges with satire. Murza in the image of Derzhavin is also a collective image, including the vicious features of Catherine’s nobles, but this is Derzhavin himself. This contains the novelty of the path chosen by the poet. Lyrical "I "in the Russian ode of the 1740s - 770s, goals merged with "we", the poet considered himself a spokesman for the opinions of the people. In "Felitsa" the lyrical "V" acquires concreteness - the odic poet himself appears among the characters in the ode. He is both a “Murza” - the bearer of all vices, and a poet worthy of singing the praises of the ideal empress. The poet's speech in "Felitsa" is free, relaxed, imbued with genuine lyricism. Derzhavin develops in the ode the images created by Catherine in her “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” which gives the author the opportunity to use jokes and witty hints. "Felitsa" was Derzhavin's most daring and decisive departure from the traditions of the classical ode. “The “Catherine” theme in Derzhavin’s work continues with the poem “Gratitude to Felitsa,” “Image of Felitsa,” and in the famous “Vision of Murza.”

Main themes and ideas. The poem "Felitsa", written as a humorous sketch from the life of the empress and her entourage, at the same time raises very important problems. On the one hand, in the ode “Felitsa” a completely traditional image of a “god-like princess” is created, which embodies the poet’s idea of ​​​​the ideal of an enlightened monarch. Clearly idealizing the real Catherine II, Derzhavin at the same time believes in the image he painted:

Give me some advice, Felitsa:
How to live magnificently and truthfully,
How to tame passions and excitement
And be happy in the world?

On the other hand, the poet’s poems convey the idea not only of the wisdom of power, but also of the negligence of performers concerned with their own profit:

Seduction and flattery live everywhere,
Luxury oppresses everyone.
Where does virtue live?
Where does a rose without thorns grow?

This idea in itself was not new, but behind the images of the nobles depicted in the ode, the features of real people clearly emerged:

My thoughts are spinning in chimeras:
Then I steal captivity from the Persians,
Then I direct arrows towards the Turks;
Then, having dreamed that I was a sultan,
I terrify the universe with my gaze;
Then suddenly, I was seduced by the outfit.
I'm off to the tailor for a caftan.

In these images, the poet’s contemporaries easily recognized the empress’s favorite Potemkin, her close associates Alexei Orlov, Panin, and Naryshkin. Drawing their brightly satirical portraits, Derzhavin showed great courage - after all, any of the nobles he offended could deal with the author for this. Only Catherine’s favorable attitude saved Derzhavin.

But even to the empress he dares to give advice: to follow the law to which both kings and their subjects are subject:

You alone are only decent,
Princess, create light from darkness;
Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously,
The union will strengthen their integrity;
From disagreement to agreement
And from fierce passions happiness
You can only create.

This favorite thought of Derzhavin sounded bold, and it was expressed in simple and understandable language.

The poem ends with the traditional praise of the Empress and wishing her all the best:

I ask for heavenly strength,
Yes, their sapphire wings spread out,
They keep you invisibly
From all illnesses, evils and boredom;
May the sounds of your deeds be heard in posterity,
Like the stars in the sky, they will shine.

Thus, in “Felitsa” Derzhavin acted as a bold innovator, combining the style of a laudatory ode with the individualization of characters and satire, introducing elements of low styles into the high genre of ode. Subsequently, the poet himself defined the genre of “Felitsa” as a mixed ode. Derzhavin argued that, in contrast to the traditional ode for classicism, where government officials and military leaders were praised, and solemn events were glorified, in a “mixed ode” “the poet can talk about everything.” Destroying the genre canons of classicism, with this poem he opens the way for new poetry - “real poetry™”, which received brilliant development in the work of Pushkin.

17. “Suvorov” cycle of odes and poems by Derzhavin.

"Suvorov" odes of Derzhavin. Ode “To the Capture of Izmail” (1790) and the nature of its connection with the “Suvorov cycle”. Derzhavin wrote two more odes: “On the Swedish World” and "To take Ishmael"; the latter was especially successful. They began to “caress” the poet. Potemkin (we read in “Notes”), “so to speak, dragged himself after Derzhavin, wanting poems from him that would be praiseworthy for himself”; Zubov also courted the poet, conveying to the poet on behalf of the empress that if he wanted, he could write “for the prince,” but “he would not accept or ask for anything from him,” that “he would have everything without him.” “In such tricky circumstances,” Derzhavin “didn’t know what to do and which side to sincerely surrender to, because he was caressed by both.”

In December 1791 Derzhavin was appointed Secretary of State of the Empress. This was a sign of extraordinary mercy; but the service here was unsuccessful for Derzhavin. He failed to please the empress and very soon “cooled down” in her thoughts. The reason for the “coolness” lay in mutual misunderstandings. Derzhavin, having gained closeness to the empress, most of all wanted to fight the “office clerical squad” that so outraged him, carried whole piles of papers to the empress, demanded her attention to such complicated cases as the Jacobian case (brought from Siberia “in three wagons, loaded from top to below"), or the even more delicate case of the banker Sutherland, in which many courtiers were involved, and from which everyone avoided, knowing that Catherine herself did not want its strict investigation. Meanwhile, this was not at all what was expected from the poet. In “Notes,” Derzhavin notes that the Empress more than once started talking with the speaker about poetry “and repeatedly, so to speak, asked him to write something like an ode to Felitsa.” The poet frankly admits that he took up this more than once, “locking himself at home for a week,” but “could not write anything”; “Seeing the court’s tricks and constant pushes to himself,” the poet “did not gather his courage and could not write such subtle praises to the Empress as in the ode to Felitsa and similar works that he wrote when he was not yet at court: for from afar those objects that they seemed divine to him and set his spirit on fire; they appeared to him, as he approached the court, very human.” The poet became so “cold in spirit” that “he could write almost nothing with a warm, pure heart in praise of the empress,” who “ruled the state and justice itself more according to politics than according to holy truth.” His excessive ardor and lack of court tact also harmed him a lot.

Less than three months after Derzhavin’s appointment, the Empress complained to Khrapovitsky that her new Secretary of State was “messing up to her with all sorts of nonsense.” This could also be supplemented by the machinations of enemies, of whom Derzhavin had many; He, probably, not without reason, expresses the assumption in “Notes” that “unpleasant affairs” were entrusted to him “with intent”, “so that the empress would get bored and cool down in her thoughts.”

Derzhavin served as Secretary of State for less than 2 years: in September 1793 he was appointed senator. This appointment was an honorable removal from service under the Empress. Derzhavin soon fell out with all the senators. He was distinguished by his zeal and zeal for his service; he sometimes went to the Senate even on Sundays and holidays to look through whole piles of papers and write conclusions on them. Derzhavin’s love of truth even now, as usual, was expressed “in too harsh and sometimes rude forms.”

At the beginning of 1794, Derzhavin, while retaining the title of senator, was appointed president of the Commerce Collegium; This position, once very important, was now significantly curtailed and destined for destruction, but Derzhavin did not want to know the new order and therefore, at first, he made many enemies and troubles here too.

Shortly before her death, the Empress appointed Derzhavin to the commission to investigate the thefts discovered in the borrowed bank; This appointment was new proof of the empress’s trust in Derzhavin’s truthfulness and selflessness.

Derzhavin's heroic odes are a reflection of his victorious era. Derzhavin's predecessor in this type of ode was Lomonosov, and in his victorious odes Derzhavin largely returns to his poetics; heroic-patriotic works are distinguished by solemn elation, grandeur of images and metaphors. The ode “To the Capture of Ishmael” begins with a majestic picture of the eruption of Vesuvius, with which the greatness of the Russian victory at Ishmael is compared. The capture of the considered impregnable fortress is connected not only with the heroic past of the Russian people, but is also the key to its great future. Only greatness and glory the people create the greatness and glory of the kings. In many of Derzhavin’s similar odes, the hero is Suvorov. For the poet, he is the “prince of glory,” the greatest of the commanders. Associated with it is a poem with an intimate lyrical intonation, written in very simple language - “Snigir”. In this poem, Suvorov is depicted in a completely new way, using the techniques of a realistic portrait. Suvorov's military prowess is inseparable from the greatness of his moral character, and the image of the hero is shrouded in a feeling of sincere and deep sorrow caused by his death.