"Fantasy"
Like living sculptures, in sparks of moonlight,
The outlines of pines, firs and birches tremble a little;
The prophetic forest calmly slumbers, the bright shine of the moon accepts
And listens to the murmuring of the wind, all full of secret dreams.
Hearing the quiet moan of a blizzard, the pines whisper, the firs whisper,
It is comforting to rest in a soft velvet bed,
Remembering nothing, cursing nothing,
The branches are slender, bowing, listening to the sounds of midnight.
Someone's sighs, someone's singing, someone's mournful prayer,
And melancholy, and ecstasy, - the star sparkles as if,
It's like a light rain is streaming, - and something seems to the trees
The fact that people do not dream, no one ever.
It is the spirits of the night that rush, it is their eyes that sparkle,
At the hour of deep midnight spirits rush through the forest.
What torments them, what worries them? What, like a worm, secretly gnaws at them?
Why can't their swarm sing the sweet hymn of heaven?
Their singing sounds stronger and stronger, the languor in it is heard more and more,
Relentless striving unchanging sadness -
As if they are tormented by anxiety, a thirst for faith, a thirst for God,
It is as if they have so much torment, as if they are sorry for something.
And the moon still pours radiance, and without flour, without suffering
The outlines of prophetic fairy-tale trunks tremble a little;
All of them are so sweetly slumbering, indifferent to moans heed
And with calmness they accept the spell of clear, bright dreams.
"Fantasy" Konstantin Balmont
Like living sculptures, in sparks of moonlight,
The outlines of pines, firs and birches tremble a little;
The prophetic forest calmly slumbers, the bright shine of the moon accepts
And listens to the murmuring of the wind, all full of secret dreams.
Hearing the quiet moan of a blizzard, the pines whisper, the firs whisper,
It is comforting to rest in a soft velvet bed,
Remembering nothing, cursing nothing,
The branches are slender, bowing, listening to the sounds of midnight.Someone's sighs, someone's singing, someone's mournful prayer,
And melancholy, and ecstasy, - the star sparkles as if,
It's like a light rain is streaming, - and something seems to the trees
The fact that people do not dream, no one ever.
It is the spirits of the night that rush, it is their eyes that sparkle,
At the hour of deep midnight spirits rush through the forest.
What torments them, what worries them? What, like a worm, secretly gnaws at them?
Why can't their swarm sing the sweet hymn of heaven?Their singing sounds stronger and stronger, the languor in it is heard more and more,
Relentless striving unchanging sadness, -
As if they are tormented by anxiety, a thirst for faith, a thirst for God,
It is as if they have so much torment, as if they are sorry for something.
And the moon still pours radiance, and without flour, without suffering
The outlines of prophetic fairy-tale trunks tremble a little;
All of them are so sweetly slumbering, indifferent to moans heed
And with calmness they accept the spell of clear, bright dreams.
Analysis of Balmont's poem "Fantasy"
The path to literature for Konstantin Balmont was by no means strewn with roses. Despite the fact that the future poet composed his first poem at the age of 10, almost a quarter of a century passed before its author became truly famous. Blame the restless character of Balmont, who at heart was a true romantic, so he constantly fell into ridiculous stories. Some of them ended very badly, such as expulsion from the university for promoting revolutionary ideas, as well as a ban on living in large Russian cities after the poet took part in an anti-government rally.
By 1894, when the poem “Fantasy” was born, Konstantin Balmont had already managed to gain fame as a rebel and supporter of revolutionary ideas. However, in the literary field, he remained a novice poet, who was just preparing his first collection of poems for publication. It was he who included the lyrical and very sublime "Fantasy", which stands out sharply against the background of other works of this period with its lightness and elegance of style.
In his fascination with the teachings of the ideologists of socialism, Balmont nevertheless did not lose the opportunity to admire the surrounding world, which, according to Marx and Engels, was supposed to be gloomy and devoid of attractiveness. Of course, in any country at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries one could find many shortcomings, and semi-wild Russia, just embarking on the path of capitalism, was a rather depressing sight. However, the poet also saw the reverse side of the medal, admiring the beauty of Russian fields and forests, their pristine purity and harmony. True, in those literary circles where Balmont revolved, it was not customary to write about such things at that time, since pessimistic moods reigned in both prose and poetry. Ladies wrote about unrequited love and suicide, and men called on the people to the barricades. Balmont, with all his rebellious nature, after imprisonment and exile, wanted to fill his soul with simple human joys. Probably for this reason, the romantic “Fantasy” was born, in which the author reveals the beauty of the winter forest. “The pines whisper, the firs whisper, it is comforting to rest in a soft velvet bed,” the poet notes, very gracefully and figuratively conveying the fragility of this perfect world. The dream of trees powdered with snow causes the poet not only tenderness, but also a feeling of slight envy. He understands that it is not given to a person to forget like this and get rid of all his troubles, sorrows and failures.. Balmont understands that he personally will never become as serene and peaceful as the trees that they can afford, "bending slender branches, listening to the sounds of midnight."
The poet associates himself, rather, with the spirits of the night that race through the forest. “What torments them, what worries them?” the author asks. And quite easily finds the answer to it, looking into his own soul. Complete confusion reigns there, since Balmont does not know what lies ahead for him, what he should strive for and what to hope for. He, like the forest dwellers, "is tormented by anxiety, a thirst for faith, a thirst for God." However, no one is able to help either the poet or the spirits of the night to find peace and regain their life purpose. Therefore, Balmont can only fantasize about the theme of a snowy forest, which seems to the poet a refuge from worldly storms, although the author understands that only trees “sweetly slumber” in this amazing kingdom. And he will never find in this fairy-tale world what is usually called the meaning of life, which the poet is deprived of because of the desire to be a rebel and the desire to change this world for the better.
The objectives of the lesson: analyzing a specific poem, to see the features of K. Balmont's poetic manner, to understand his creative "laboratory", to understand the significance of the poet's work for the development of Russian poetry as a whole.
During the classes
Teacher: Literary era at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Almost half a century of the reign of realism, glorified by the names of Pushkin, Lermontov, was replaced by an era of unbridled creative experiment. The swiftness with which new directions, currents, and schools are emerging is striking. One of the first researchers of this era, Vengerov, notes: “None of the previous periods of our literature knew such a number of literary names, did not know such a rapid achievement of fame, such dizzying book sales successes ...” If we consider the space from 1890 to 1910, then one gets the impression of what something of a kaleidoscope. Although Russian symbolism arose as an integral trend, it very soon refracted into bright, independent individuals. Which of the poets, in your opinion, is the most prominent representative of Russian symbolism?
Student: V. Bryusov, D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, K. Balmont, F. Sologub…
Teacher: In one sentence, name a striking feature of the poetics of each.
Student: V. Bryusov - a materialistic view of the world is inherent in all creativity; in his poetry there is no mystical symbolism characteristic of the symbolists; his lyrical hero is an individualist who does not accept modernity, worshiping only art; D. Merezhkovsky - awareness of fatal loneliness, split personality, preaching of beauty are characteristic; Z. Gippius - mysticism, spiritual anguish, loneliness, discord between reality and dreams; K. Balmont - rejection of the outside world, sorrow, exaltation of love, nature; powerful musicality of the verse; his poetry is impressionistic; F. Sologub - deeply pessimistic poetry; mythological and folklore images are characteristic.
Teacher: But their work has a lot in common.
Student: Yes, the common thing is their desire, with the help of artistic images-symbols, often mysterious in meaning, to reflect the secret aspects of life in fiction; they believed in the saving mission of beauty and protested against reality, confident in the trouble and death of the modern social order.
Teacher: Today we will again turn to the work of a unique, original poet. A poet who was admired, who was called a genius. So, K. Balmont, the poem "Fantasy". Year of writing - 1893. What events in the life and work of Balmont occurred during this period?
Student: In 1892, Balmont visited Scandinavia for the first time, which he not only fell in love with, but also became related to it. Reflections of Scandinavian impressions sparkled in the book of poems "Under the Northern Sky", where the second poem was "Fantasy". This collection of poems was not only a significant event in the creative biography of Balmont, but also marked a new artistic direction - symbolism. In a number of poems, the imitation of Fet, Tyutchev is still noticeable, but in everything a fresh, original poetic gift was felt.
Reading a poem by heart.
Teacher: If you look at the poem, then visually you can distinguish 3 stanzas, 3 semantic parts.
Conversation with the class on the first semantic part.
What picture is drawn by Balmont in part 1? - A picture of a sleeping winter forest. Nature is immersed not just in a dream, but in a state of peaceful rest, everything is covered with drowsiness, laziness (“quietly slumber”, “it is comforting to rest”). The author seems to be describing the real material world, but when reading a poem, we seem to break away from earthly realities and go to some fabulous, mysterious, fantastic world (for some reason, A. Row’s fairy tale “Morozko” comes to mind).
How does a poet achieve this? What do we see? - We do not see pines, spruces and birches, but their outlines. It seems that if you close your eyes for a moment and open them again, they will already disappear. We do not see the moon itself, but only “sparks of moonlight”, “bright shine”. There is a feeling of a moment, a moment, lightness, unsteadiness, changeability of what is happening. What do we hear? - We hear the “murmur of the wind”, “the quiet moan of a snowstorm”, the whisper of firs and pines (the alliteration “u”, “w”, “h”, “t”, “s” helps). It seems that someone put a finger to his lips and quietly says: "T-s-s-s." What visual medium does Balmont prefer? - Personification. Before us is a living image of nature. She lives, although she "sleeps"; Behind her slumber lies a turbulent inner life: the forest is “prophetic” (foreseeing the future, prophetic), “full of secret dreams” (dreams unknown to anyone, hidden, deeply personal), etc. And only the penultimate line “Remembering nothing, cursing no one” indicates the presence of a lyrical hero, deeply agitated.
What images - symbols are found in the first semantic part? - Image of the moon. The moon is an extraterrestrial world, a world of dreams, fantasy, where philosophical thought is born, where creative fantasy, imagination comes; a world far removed from reality. The moon is associated with the cosmos, and the cosmos with eternity, eternity with immortality. Let us recall how, in 1942, in Paris, the sick and impoverished Balmont, saying goodbye to life, to the sun, to poetry, said that he would go along the Milky Way to eternity: in the Milky Way to be, Where new stars are conceived…”. There are also images - symbols of the free elements of blizzard and wind (we understand that the poet's imagination is not constrained by anything, nothing interferes with him now, the poet is free, free ...).
Student's presentation on the topic: "Images - symbols in the work of Balmont."
Balmont often uses various images - symbols. After analyzing 3 collections of poems by the poet (“Under the northern sky”, “Silence”, “In the vastness”), I came to the conclusion that one of the most frequent is the image of the moon. Here are a few lines from the poems: “Why is the moon always intoxicating us? Because she is cold and pale. The Sun gives us too much radiance, And no one will sing such a song to him, That the Nightingale sings to the Moon, under the Moon, between the dark branches, Fragrant night ”; “When the Moon sparkles in the darkness of the night With its sickle, brilliant and tender, My soul strives for another world, Captivated by everything distant, everything boundless” (“Moonlight”); “On the diamond cover of snows, Under the cold glow of the moon, It’s good for you and me… How gratifying it is to dream and love… In the realm of pure snows, In the realm of the pale moon” (Without a smile, without words).
“The sigh of the evening wind is fading. The full moon is a changeable face. Joy is insane. Sadness is incomprehensible. The moment of the impossible. Happiness moment. ("Song without Words"). In the following collections of poems (for example, “Burning Buildings”), the Moon occurs somewhat less frequently, it is called “extinguishing”, “pale”, “dying”, but already in the later collection “Let's be like the sun”, the Moon again becomes a frequent image - a symbol, although poet and says that he "came into this world to see the sun." The very names of the poems in the collection speak of this: “Praise of the Moon”, “Influence of the Moon”, “New Moon”, “Moon Silence”. It can be concluded that the Moon for Balmont is “the dominion of the great silence”; this mysterious queen of dreams and dreams marks the other side of being, the unmanifested, hidden world. The moon is a symbol of another, beautiful world, the world of dreams and visions, it is a departure from the present to the sublime world. No wonder he wrote: “I can’t live in the present, I love restless dreams…”
Conversation with the class on the second semantic part.
In part 2, the reader seems to open the gates to the boundless and wonderful world of imagination, fantasy, far from reality, but which excites the poet so much, calls the lyrical hero on a long journey. As in a kaleidoscope, the faces of the winter night, its moments, are changing here, and Balmont's fantasy is also rapidly changing. What are we hearing now? - Already “sighs”, “prayer”, nature is definitely tormented by anxiety, “longing”, but here - “rapture”, i.e. a state of delight, pleasure. Lexical repetitions are often used in part 2, words are repeated, as if lulling (how can one not remember V. Mayakovsky, who said that “Balmont’s poems are smooth and measured, like rocking chairs and Turkish sofas ...”!). But this state is characteristic not only of nature. Who else? - A person, a lyrical hero. Together with the lyrical hero, we already feel this state of delight. “Spirits of the night” appear (cherished desires, memories), sometimes memories of the past torment, the soul becomes sick. There is some kind of anxiety (“as if they are sorry for something”). And why is it a pity for the lyrical hero? - It is a pity that all this is not in reality, that this is a fabulous deception (“what people will not dream of”). The lyrical hero takes a philosophical approach to this.
Conversation with the class on the third semantic part.
In the third, smallest part, everything returns to normal. There is no more tension, no fatal secrets, no rhetorical questions. Where does part 3 start? - From the union “a”, the second and third parts are opposed, and the first and third parts, as it were, frame the second. In part 3, everything calmed down (“sweetly dozing”, “indifferently ... heeding”, “accepted with calmness”). Why? - Probably, both nature and the lyrical hero are preparing to meet new impressions. There will be many more wonderful moments, discoveries. And it was only a brief moment in an endless stream of time. - Yes, Balmont was able to “stop the moment”, capture it in a poem, he showed us a personal, at the same time momentary perception of the night. He is an impressionist artist (Goethe's words come to mind: "Stop, a moment, you are beautiful").
What is the meaning of the title of the poem?- Fantasy - the ability to creative imagination, which reaches its climax when the world of nature and the inner world of man are in harmony. The harmony of the majestic world of nature, the vast space and the boundless bowels of the human soul, visions, dreams and dreams of each of us.
Balmont was very fond of color (remember at least “Red sail in the blue sea, in the blue sea ...”). But in this poem “Fantasy” there is practically no color scheme. Why? – Balmont consciously focuses on the auditory, tactile, visual perception of the surrounding reality. Only the life-affirming epithet “bright” is found in the poem. It should be noted that there is no pronounced division into separate stanzas in the poem. Why? - This is due to the fact that the author initially conceived a poem of a very musical, melodious plan. After all, Balmont was musically gifted. Music in his work fills everything. On his poems, as on notes, you can put musical signs. About 500 romances were created based on his poems. The work “Fantasy” is not read, but sung, and this is facilitated by internal rhymes, to which the poet so often resorts. Indeed, when you read Balmont, you find yourself in a fairy tale, listening to spring.
Final word. Every spring in the city of Shuya, Ivanovo region, a bright and interesting holiday opens - the children's Balmontov Poetry Festival "Sunny Elf", in which children from all schools of the city take part. The festival is visited by many guests, including K.Balmont's daughter S.K.Shal. The festival lasts a whole week, during which children attend exhibitions, vernissages of drawings based on the works of K. Balmont, a competition for the best reading of the poet's poems is also held within the framework of the festival. The poet is remembered, since each line of his works cannot but touch the most tender and subtle strings of any human soul, and Balmont's refined perception of nature will not leave any reader indifferent.
Russian symbolist poet Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont wrote the poem "Fantasy" in 1893. In this immortal lyrical work, he described his own impressions of the wonderful nature and the sleeping forest.
The poet does not just admire the outline of the trees in the fabulous moonlight. He endows them with vitality, comparing them with living statues filled with secret dreams. His forest trembles and calmly slumbers, listens to the murmuring of the wind and whispers, hearing the moan of a blizzard.
Inaccessible to the human mind, Balmont sees the unearthly in nature. The fantasy, played out in the admiring imagination of the poet, draws the image of a person living his own life, not subject to anyone.
The natural element, the wind, the blizzard in the poem are endowed with mysterious powers that can draw extraordinary pictures in the imagination. It is gratifying for pines and firs to rest, "not remembering anything, not cursing anything." Balmont is very happy about this. The fantasy of his soul is permeated with a sense of satisfaction and harmony.
Slender branches, listening to the sounds of midnight, indifferently and calmly abide in the spell of their bright dreams. Invisible to the human eye, the forces of the night - spirits, throwing sparks of eyes, rush through the forest. They fill the space with their sighs, their singing.
Balmont uses these magical images in his work. The poet's fantasy, torn beyond human understanding, inhabits nature with creatures. They pray, they experience longing and ecstasy.
The images of spirits, filled with life, seem to the trees, they seem to the author. Using such expressive means of language in his verses, Balmont made them artistic, lyrical and romantic.
It shows all the shades of the soul and the intoxicated look of a person observing the greatness of nature. The reader immediately tunes in to the desired perception. Together with the author, he plunges into the atmosphere of a fairy tale and uses the musicality of rhymes in his brilliant "Fantasy" - a work in which the great master of the word shares his perception of the world around him, skillfully depicting its beauty and spirituality.
"Fantasy" shows the eternal question of being: "What's beyond?". More than once or twice many writers and poets of our time will address this issue.
"At the hour of deep midnight, the spirits rush through the forest." The poet asks the question of what torments and worries them? And he answers it himself. The thirst for faith, the thirst for God. Asking rhetorical questions, he wanted to emphasize the mystery of our world, anxiety in the face of the unknown existence.
They left a deep mark on art. A whole armada of talented people left behind permanent works, among them - Balmont's "Fantasy". An analysis of the chronological events of that era shows that the fate and work of those who wrote poetry in those distant days are often very close in spirit to our contemporaries.
After all, true poetry is eternal. She calls for spiritual development. A galaxy of talented authors, prominent representatives of this period, beloved and revered today, is proof of this.
