Have you ever tried to read poetry? Not only in order to pass the test in literature, but for your own pleasure? Many clever people have long noticed that in short poetic lines often contain peculiar encrypted messages about the meaning of being and about our place in this world. Even for those who frankly do not like poetry, it will not be out of place to think about why it suddenly appears for the second hundred years in a reading in literature: "F. I. Tyutchev. The Fountain? And what is so special about these sixteen lines?
Mysteries of Fedor Tyutchev
In classical Russian literature of the 19th century, the poetry of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev stands somewhat apart from its main directions. The images and expressive means of it are complex, multidimensional and ambiguous. In order to understand the whole philosophical depth and power of Tyutchev’s poetry, it’s not enough to just read it. Over the comprehension of the meanings and images of the poet's works have to work all his life. An analysis of Tyutchev’s poem "Fountain" is impossible outside the context of all this person’s work. And creativity is inseparable from his life and biography. And if we continue the semantic series a little, it becomes obvious that the biography and fate of the poet are inseparable from the fate of Russia.
Analysis of Tyutchev's poem "Fountain"
Let's think about what the great Russian poet wanted to convey to us with his rather small work. At least in the first approximation. It is necessary to have a very high degree of naivety so that in the description of how the jet of the fountain soars up, and then, under the weight of gravity, having reached the limit, it refracts and collapses down, not to see or feel anything more. And just silently admire how skillfully described the glare of sunlight on a stream of water. But a thoughtful reader, paying tribute to the poet’s skill, will not begin to complete this analysis of Tyutchev’s poem "Fountain". Behind the image of this phenomenon in the aforementioned work, the global struggle of the elements and energies is easily visible. The impulse to rebellion and his doom to defeat. The inevitability of "returning everything to normal," according to Old Testament principles. And an attempt to overcome the initial determinism.
F.I. Tyutchev: The Fountain. History of the creation of a masterpiece
For a deeper understanding of the poem in question, it should be correlated with the time and place where it was created. This work was published in 1836 in Germany, where the author was in the diplomatic service. And in his work, among other things, he leads a direct dialogue with the German romantic poets of that era and the idealistic philosopher Schelling. And a simple analysis of Tyutchev’s poem “The Fountain” suggests to many that in this way the poet responded to the doctrine of Friedrich Schelling, which struck many contemporaries, about the “one world soul”. According to the ideas of the Russian poet, it is equally embodied both in the inner life of man and in Nature surrounding him.
Russia and Europe
It is often customary to ironize those Russian patriots who prefer to love their homeland from afar and live in Western Europe. But the simple fact that the great Russian poet Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev lived a significant part of his life away from his homeland does not mean at all his remoteness from Russian life. In the European capitals, Tyutchev lived for a long time, mainly because of the nature of his diplomatic service. The theme of Russia and reflections on its fate are dominant in the work of the poet. What a comprehensive work - the verse "Fountain" Tyutchev! It is not only about a single world soul that tells. These sixteen lines relate to Russia in the most direct way. In the poem there are two opposing forces - the desire to rise and gravity.
At the forefront of the argument
For several centuries now, the philosophical conflict of two principles has been the driving force behind the development of Russian thought. The desire to crush everything and build something new on the formed ruins and the desire, at all costs, to stand in the way of social progress and leave everything as it was before. This is a debate between Western liberals and soil conservatives. Thoughtful analysis of Tyutchev’s Fountain poem reveals the presence of this confrontation between two historical intellectual concepts. Fedor Ivanovich Tyutchev, without a doubt, was a representative of a conservative way of thinking. He was very skeptical about the possibility of changing something in Russian fate. He was often remembered several decades after he passed away, when wars and revolutions were approaching Russia.
On the fate of the poet in public service
For a long time - and completely justified - the fate of the poet in Russia is considered tragic and doomed to death. But the biography of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, apparently, is an exception, confirming this rule. He lived a long and completely prosperous life. He made a brilliant career in the diplomatic and public service. His conservative beliefs were wholly and completely aimed at preserving the existing state foundations. The poet was heard and claimed during his lifetime. His merits to Russian statehood in monarchist circles were widely recognized. The poet rose to the rank of Actual Privy Councilor and was awarded many orders and regalia. For the last fifteen years of his life, he headed the Censorship Committee, that is, he had the power to determine and decide what should be read to the Russian public and what should be protected from it.