The 19th century, which became a period of an extraordinary rise in Russian culture and grandiose achievements in all fields of art, was replaced by a complex one full of dramatic events and turning points in the 20th century. The golden age of social and artistic life was replaced by the so-called silver one, which gave rise to the rapid development of Russian literature, poetry and prose in new bright currents, and subsequently became the starting point of its fall.
In this article we will focus on the poetry of the Silver Age, consider its
distinguishing features, and talk about the main directions, such as symbolism, acmeism and futurism, each of which was distinguished by a special music of the verse and a vivid expression of the emotions and feelings of the lyrical hero.
Silver Age Poetry. The turning point in Russian culture and art
It is believed that the beginning of the silver age of Russian literature falls on the 80-90 years. XIX century At this time, the works of many remarkable poets appeared: V. Bryusov, K. Ryleev, K. Balmont, I. Annensky - and writers: L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The country is going through difficult times. During the reign of Alexander I, at first there was a strong patriotic upsurge during the war of 1812, and then, due to a sharp change in the previously liberal policy of the tsar, society experiences a painful loss of illusions and heavy moral losses.
The poetry of the Silver Age reached its peak by 1915. Public life and the political situation are characterized by a deep crisis, a turbulent, boiling atmosphere. Mass demonstrations are growing, the politicization of life is taking place, and at the same time, personal identity is being strengthened. Society is making strenuous attempts to find a new ideal of power and social order. And poets and writers keep up with the times, mastering new art forms and offering bold ideas. The human person begins to be recognized as the unity of many principles: natural and social, biological and moral. During the February, October revolutions and the Civil War, silver age poetry was in crisis.
Blok's speech “On the Poet's Appointment” (February 11, 1921), delivered by him at the
House of Writers at the meeting on the occasion of the 84th anniversary of the death of A. Pushkin, becomes the final chord of the Silver Age.
Characteristics of the literature of the 19th - early 20th centuries
Let's look at the features of silver age poetry. Firstly, one of the main features of the literature of that time was a huge interest in eternal topics: the search for the washing away of the life of an individual person and of all mankind as a whole, the mysteries of a national character, the history of the country, the interaction of worldly and spiritual, the interaction of man and nature. Literature at the end of the 19th century becomes more and more philosophical: the authors reveal the themes of war, revolution, the personal tragedy of a person who, due to circumstances, has lost peace and inner harmony. In the works of writers and poets, a new, bold, extraordinary, decisive and often unpredictable hero is born who stubbornly overcomes all hardships and hardships. In most works, close attention is paid to exactly how the subject through the prism of his consciousness perceives tragic social events. Secondly, the feature of poetry and prose was an intensive search for original art forms, as well as means of expressing feelings and emotions. Poetic form and rhyme played a particularly important role. Many authors refused the classical presentation of the text and invented new techniques, for example, V. Mayakovsky created his famous "ladder". To achieve a special effect, authors often used speech and language anomalies, fragmentation, alogisms, and even made spelling errors.
Thirdly, the poets of the silver age of Russian poetry freely experimented with the artistic possibilities of the word. In an effort to express complex, often contradictory, “volatile” emotional impulses, the writers began to relate to the word in a new way, trying to convey the finest shades of meanings in their poems. Standard, cliched definitions of clear objective objects: love, evil, family values, morality - began to be replaced by abstract psychological descriptions. Exact concepts have given way to hints and innuendos. Such fragility, fluidity of verbal meaning was achieved through the brightest metaphors, which often began to be built not on the obvious similarities of objects or phenomena, but on non-obvious signs.
Fourthly, silver age poetry is characterized by new ways of conveying the thoughts and feelings of the lyrical hero. Poems by many authors began to be created using images, motifs of various cultures, as well as hidden and explicit quotes. For example, many artists of the word included scenes from Greek, Roman, and a bit later Slavic myths and traditions in their creations. In the works of I. Annensky, M. Tsvetaeva and V. Bryusov, mythology is used to build universal psychological models that allow one to comprehend the human personality, in particular its spiritual component. Each silver age poet is vividly individual. You can easily understand which of these verses belongs to. But they all tried to make their works more tangible, vibrant, full of colors, so that any reader could feel every word and line.
The main directions of silver age poetry. Symbolism
Writers and poets who opposed themselves to realism, announced the creation of a new, contemporary art - modernism. There are three main literary directions of silver age poetry: symbolism, acmeism, futurism. Each of them had its brightest features. Symbolism originally arose in France as a protest against the everyday display of reality and discontent with bourgeois life. The founders of this trend, including J. Morsas, believed that only with the help of a special hint - a symbol, one can comprehend the secrets of the universe. In Russia, symbolism appeared in the early 1890s. The founder of this trend was D. S. Merezhkovsky, who proclaimed in his book three main postulates of the new art: symbolization, mystical content and "the expansion of artistic sensibility."
Senior and younger symbolists
The first symbolists, later called elders, were V. Ya. Bryusov, K. D. Balmont, F. K. Sologub, Z. N. Gippius, N. M. Minsky and other poets. Their work was often characterized by a sharp denial of reality. They depicted real life as boring, ugly and meaningless, trying to convey the subtlest shades of their sensations.
The period from 1901 to 1904. marks the onset of a new milestone in Russian poetry. The verses of the Symbolists are imbued with a revolutionary spirit and a premonition of future changes. The younger symbolists: A. Blok, V. Ivanov, A. Bely - do not deny the world, but utopically await its transformation, singing divine beauty, love and femininity, which will necessarily change reality. It is with the appearance on the literary arena of younger symbolists that the concept of a symbol enters into literature. Poets understand it as a multidimensional word, reflecting the world of "heaven", spiritual essence and at the same time "earthly kingdom".
Symbolism during the revolution
Poetry of the Russian Silver Age in 1905-1907 undergoing changes. Most symbolists, focusing on the ongoing socio-political events in the country, are revising their views on the world and beauty. The latter is now understood as chaos of struggle. Poets create images of a new world that replaces the perishing. V. Ya. Bryusov creates the poem "The Coming Huns", A. Blok - "The Barca of Life", "Rising from the darkness of cellars ...", etc.
Symbolism is also changing. Now she turns not to the ancient heritage, but to Russian folklore, as well as Slavic mythology. After the revolution, there is a demarcation of the symbolists who want to protect art from the revolutionary elements and, conversely, are actively interested in social struggle. After 1907, the disputes of the Symbolists exhausted themselves, followed by the imitation of the art of the past. And since 1910, Russian symbolism has been experiencing a crisis, clearly displaying its internal inconsistency.
Acmeism in Russian poetry
In 1911, N. S. Gumilev organized a literary group - "Workshop of poets." It included poets S. Gorodetsky, O. Mandelstam, G. Ivanov and G. Adamovich. This new direction did not reject surrounding reality, but accepted reality as it is, affirming its value. The "Poets' Workshop" began to publish its own magazine, "Hyperborean," as well as to print works in Apollo. Acmeism, having emerged as a literary school for finding a way out of the crisis of symbolism, combined very different poets in terms of ideological and artistic settings.
One of the most famous acmeist authors was Anna Akhmatova. Her works were full of love experiences and became like a confession tormented by the passions of the female soul.
Features of Russian Futurism
The Silver Age in Russian poetry gave rise to another interesting trend called "futurism" (from the Latin. Futurum, that is, the "future"). The search for new art forms in the works of brothers N. and D. Burliukov, N. S. Goncharova, N. Kulbin, M. V. Matyushin became the prerequisite for the emergence of this trend in Russia.
In 1910, the futuristic collection “The Judges' Pool” was published, in which the works of such outstanding poets as V.V. Kamensky, V.V. Khlebnikov, the Burliuki brothers, E. Guro were collected. These authors formed the core of the so-called cubo-futurists. Later V. Mayakovsky joined them. In December 1912, an almanac - "Slap in the face of public taste." The poems of the cubo-futurists "Forest Bukh", "Dead Moon", "Roaring Parnassus", "Zatychka" became the subject of numerous disputes. At first, they were perceived as a way to annoy the reader’s habits, but upon closer reading, they showed an acute desire to show a new vision of the world and a special social involvement. Anti-aesthetics turned into rejection of soulless, fake beauty, rudeness of expression was transformed into the voice of the crowd.
Ego Futurists
In addition to cubofuturism, several other movements arose, including egofuturism, headed by I. Severyanin. He was joined by such poets as V. I. Gnezdov, I. V. Ignatyev, K. Olympov and others. They created the publishing house “Petersburg Herald”, published magazines and almanacs with original names: “Nebokopy”, “Eagles over the Abyss” , "Zasahara Kry", etc. Their poems were extravagant and were often composed of the words they themselves created. In addition to the ego-futurists, two more groups acted: the Centrifuge (B. L. Pasternak, N. N. Aseev, S. P. Bobrov) and the “Mezzanine of Poetry” (R. Ivnev, S. M. Tretyakov, V. G. Sherenevich).
Instead of a conclusion
The silver age of Russian poetry was short-lived, but united a galaxy of the brightest, most talented poets. Many of their biographies turned out tragically, because by the will of fate they had to live and create in such a fateful time for the country, a turning point in the revolutions and chaos of the post-revolutionary years, the civil war, the collapse of hopes and rebirth. Many poets died after the tragic events (V. Khlebnikov, A. Blok), many emigrated (K. Balmont, Z. Gippius, I. Severyanin, M. Tsvetaeva), some took their own lives, were shot or perished in Stalin's camps. Nevertheless , all of them managed to make a huge contribution to Russian culture and enrich it with their expressive, colorful, original works.