MV Lomonosov is not only an outstanding scientist of his time, whose area of ​​attention included many sciences and disciplines. He is also a wonderful writer, who managed to create many truly poetic texts. In addition, Lomonosov is known to us as a reformer of the Russian language, bringing it closer to modern sounding. Let us analyze the ode "Evening reflection on the majesty of God."
Time of creation
A poetic text was created by the author in the middle of the 18th century, when science was just beginning its rapid development, and enlightenment gradually won the minds of mankind. The analysis of the “Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God” must be carried out precisely in comparison with the peculiarities of the era. Poets and thinkers of that time believed that through the printed word it is possible to convey the ideas of enlightenment, the value of scientific knowledge to millions of readers. That is why in an ode, a solemn genre designed to glorify a heroic event, a feat or a monarch, Lomonosov refers to an interesting, beautiful, but still quite ordinary phenomenon - the northern lights.
The author's task is to interest his readers in science, to show them the connection of the scientific outlook on life with the dogma of the church that prevailed in those days. That is why both the poetic works of Lomonosov and his scientific work were perceived by church representatives very negatively.
Features of the life of the poet during the writing period
We continue the analysis of “Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God” by defining those life circumstances in which Lomonosov found himself at the time of writing the ode. The poetic text was written in 1743, at a time when the poet and scientist were imprisoned due to a conflict with a foreign professor. Lomonosov spent as much as eight months in prison, which researchers consider to be quite productive in his work. So, the poem “Evening Reflections on the Majesty of God,” the analysis of which we are conducting, was created precisely in captivity.
Interestingly, the mention of God in the title of the text was dictated by the need to leave a favorable feeling among the censors.
The specifics of the genre
When creating the text, it was not in vain that Lomonosov chose an ode, his favorite genre, in which he could be as objective as possible. The main goal of writing a poem is to promote education, the poet tried to draw the attention of his readers to the scientific outlook on life, to arouse interest in research in them.
The spiritual and philosophical ode perfectly suited the purpose of writing a poetic text - to emphasize the importance and significance of scientific knowledge of the world. The use of a large number of metaphors and expressive comparisons helped the author to draw the reader's attention to the described phenomenon.
Language features
The next stage of the analysis of “Evening Reflection on God's Majesty” is the determination of its linguistic features. Despite the fact that Lomonosov was a reformer of the Russian language, in many of his works he used its sublime form, so the ode is replete with Old Slavs that give it a solemn sound. Quite often, the poet uses such forms:
- Truncated adjectives (dark, black, small, bold).
- Special forms of nouns (thoughts, fire, face).
- Outdated vocabulary (mouth, nature (nature), cold, near).
All this gives the poetic text an elevated, solemn sound. Receptions are not used accidentally: it was in such tones that the exploits were glorified, the most important state events were described. Lomonosov, in such a grandiloquent, but understandable to the reader of his era manner, portrayed an interesting natural phenomenon - the northern lights. Thus, he emphasized the importance of science.
Plot
A brief analysis of the “Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God” will continue with the definition of the development of the plot:
- From the first lines, Lomonosov depicts the onset of night in nature: darkness gradually captures fields, mountains, the sun hides from the horizon. The image of the sky is drawn by the author with admiration, he admires the mysterious universe, which has not yet revealed to man all its secrets. No wonder the poet compares the sky with a bottomless abyss full of stars.
- A comparison of a researcher with a grain of sand, which is infinitely small. The lyrical hero of the ode formulates questions that excite his mind.
- A retelling of the hypotheses of past years in which the poet does not see a rational grain, and a dispute with them. Lomonosov urges not to relate with holy faith to everything that the religious works of the past write about, it is necessary to strive for scientific discovery and knowledge of the world.
- Finally, the poet engages in controversy with his invisible opponents, proving in verse the inconsistency of their arguments.
- The poetic text ends with a rhetorical question.
Such is the plot narrative, which must be taken into account when analyzing the verse “Evening reflection on the majesty of God.” In general, we see that the plot is linear, is dedicated to the description of a single phenomenon and thoughts about it.
Subject and problems
We continue the analysis of the poem “Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God”, the definition of its theme and main idea. In this ode, Lomonosov tries to find answers to questions that worried him all his life:
- Man's place in the world.
- Features of the universe.
- The possibilities of the human mind - whether it can comprehend the secrets of the world.
Although the name of the poetic text contains the word "divine", in reality there is no religious context in it. Oda glorifies nature, which in the poet's mind appears as a great creator. Reading the ode, one can notice that the thoughts that the poet expresses in his work are far from official church canons. Lomonosov holds materialistic views on the structure of the world and the role of man in it.
Most researchers agree that the poet and scientist did not struggle with the very idea of ​​the existence of God, but called not to blindly believe in church dogma, but to use reason, strive for scientific knowledge, and study the world. It was this idea that became the main idea of ​​"Evening reflection on the majesty of God."
The theme of the work is directly related to those scientific interests that were inherent in the poet and scientist during this period. So, Lomonosov not only tries to understand the nature and essence of the Northern Lights (as a researcher), but also admires this beautiful phenomenon (as a true poet), admires the greatness of nature.
Argument in verses
Lomonosov used many of his poetic texts in a very original way for his time: he devoted odes to those phenomena and objects that were part of his scientific interests. Why did he do this? Being an ardent propagandist of enlightenment and ideas of the power of reason, the poet scientist tried to convey them to as many people as possible.
The easiest way to do this was to use poems - works that were read by the masses. When analyzing this poetic text, an interesting fact should be mentioned that characterizes Lomonosov as a true innovator - he is in an ode, this solemn poem, introduced an element of polemic.
"How can it be that frozen steam
In the middle of winter a fire started? ” - read in the text.
This question has its addressee, this is Christian von Wolf, a scientist with encyclopedic knowledge. He believed that the nature of the northern lights consists of fumes that originate in the bowels of the earth, and then burn out in the sky. Lomonosov did not agree with this idea.
Then, in an ode, he turns to the authors of another concept, according to which a wonderful phenomenon was associated with the activity of the volcano.
Finally, having disputed versions of opponents, in the final part of the work the scientist expresses his own hypothesis: the northern lights are directly connected with electricity.
Features of construction and means of expression
The next stage of the analysis of “Evening Reflection on God's Majesty” is the determination of the specifics of the construction of the text and the paths used - that is, all that helped the author convey his thoughts in poetic form.
It can be noted that the ode breathes excitement, expression, the poet is by no means indifferent, he passionately tries to convey to the reader the thoughts that excite his mind. It is possible to convey the excitement to Lomonosov using special syntactic constructions:
- A lot of questions.
- The appeal "oh you," "say well."
- Lots of exclamation points.
Such offers help create a tense atmosphere full of emotions and emotions.
As a scientist, Lomonosov remained to them even in his poetic work. When analyzing the “Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God,” it should be noted that the work ends with a question. The author questions the power of the heavenly Creator, urging his contemporaries to know the world through science.
To create an understandable poetic text about a beautiful natural phenomenon, the author uses four-foot iambic, as well as male rhymes.
Analysis completion
The analysis of the work “Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God” helps to make sure that Lomonosov managed to translate his scientific ideas about the nature of the Northern Lights in a poetic form, as well as express the idea of ​​the importance of scientific knowledge.