F. I. Tyutchev lived in a difficult time for Russia. The consciousness of society, moving to a new stage, generates a lot of excitement, because relations between people also change. Tyutchev, being a diplomat, could not help but see this. He was interested in history, and it is known that in his library were works of Cicero. He writes the poem of the same name in 1829-1830.
Lyric and genre affiliation of the poem
Researchers believe that Tyutchev’s poem “Cicero” is the poet’s response to the July Revolution in France. He thought a lot about the fate of Europe, its revolutionary-minded citizens and the possible destruction of culture.
The poem refers to philosophical lyrics. It contains the features of many genres: there is an elegy, an ode, and a moralizing apologist. An apologist is a conversation with a sage, and in this poem, the author, as a lyrical hero, acted as a sage. The features of the ode are the speaker's pathos, the elegy - the motive for the decline of the existence of a person as an individual.
Tyutchev’s poem “Cicero” takes the reader to a complex topic - human life at a turning point in history.
Building and composition
The first stanza introduces the reader into the world of real Cicero, with the voice of the author the great Roman pronounces his famous words: “I got up late, and was caught on the road at night in Rome!” He regrets that he was born too late, and the glorious era of the Roman Empire has already ended. This quote, taken from the work of Cicero, humanizes the speaker, debunking his halo of the Stoic. Tyutchev laid bare this personal experience (which is also seen as a feature of elegiac lyrics).
“Her bloody star in the sunset” - it is with such metaphorical words that the lyrical hero himself enters the work. Cicero was the ideologist of the Roman Empire, and now it is crumbling.
In this part of Tyutchev’s poem “Cicero”, the features of an ode are manifested, it becomes magnificent and solemn. Here also appears the motive of being chosen.
In the second stanza of the work, you can see the roll call with Pushkin's play "Feast during the Plague." With this technique, the poet admits the features of romanticism in the poem "Cicero".
From the point of view of composition, the verse is divided into three parts: the speaker’s speech, the speech of the lyrical hero and the author’s appeal to readers.
Analysis of the poem "Cicero" Tyutchev: language means
The author writes the work with four-foot iamba using ring and cross rhyming. The means of artistic expression used by the poet are: metaphor ("sunset of her bloody star"), inversion ("Roman speaker", "fateful minutes"). Actively used by the poet epithets and alliteration. He often uses high-style words, such as "greatness", "cup of immortality", "omnipotence."
The parallel between the revolution in France and the fall of the Roman Empire
It is clear that in Tyutchev’s poem “Cicero” a parallel is drawn between two important historical events. The poet sees in them a common thread - the destruction of the foundation of the state and the subsequent decomposition of society.
The struggle for power and intrigue is seen by the author as the main reasons for these sad events, although he does not directly call them. At the same time, in Tyutchev’s poem "Cicero" you can see a certain pride of the author for personally experiencing one of these moments in world history. He even equates a hero who has seen such significant events with a celestial. He can convey to his descendants an unforgettable experience.
As a true diplomat, the author holds many of his thoughts in his soul, not evaluating the event from a political point of view.
The work turned out to be very important in the heritage of the philosopher poet. He uses the theme of the ancient Roman orator in his later lyrics. The idea of knowing the truth, penetrating the truth through destruction permeates many works of the great poet.