Love of poetry is impossible without its understanding. The school course of literature is designed to form the skills of the ability to understand poetic creativity: comprehend the meaning of the work, hear its musical rhythm, and penetrate the inner world of the lyrical hero. This is facilitated by a comprehensive analysis of the poem, an example of which is given in the article.
Work selection
The reader is invited to "Winter Morning" by A. S. Pushkin. The choice is determined by a number of reasons:
- The poet's genius allows you to revive the picture of the winter landscape, which is comparable to the artist’s canvas or the music of the composer. And you should always learn new things from the best examples of art.
- Thanks to the richness of the literary language of the author, it is possible to carry out a full linguistic analysis of the text, which is included in the philological analysis of the poem. An example will help in the future to easily cope with the study of lyrics of the XIX century.
- The poem is studied at school, which will prepare in advance for the development of complex material.
- The work is insignificant in volume, which makes it possible to make its analysis deeper.
Analysis plan
There is no single scheme that should be followed when analyzing a work of art. It all depends on the tasks facing the researcher, and the source itself, which is a living organism that does not always fit into a predetermined framework. The proposed analysis of the poem is an example of a plan specially drawn up for a specific work. Its points can be easily interchanged, other phrases can be used for headings, but it is important to preserve three components: historical and biographical, linguistic (poetic vocabulary, stylistics, phonetics, grammar of the text) and literary (subject, genre, composition, style). A high level of analysis additionally requires the presentation of a personal attitude to the read poem.
The proposed plan is as follows:
- The history of the creation of "Winter Morning", information about the author.
- The place of the work in the work of the poet.
- Genre and themes of the work.
- The plot and composition.
- Lyrical hero, mood of the work.
- Vocabulary of a poem.
- Fine arts.
- Rhyme, rhyming methods.
- Sound organization.
- Attitude to read.
The story of the creation of "Winter morning"
This subheading highlights the first two points of the plan regarding information about the author and the place of the work in his work. An example of an analysis of Pushkin’s poem should include facts that are directly related to the work under consideration: date and place of writing, dedication, previous events, first publication. What is important to know about the history of the creation of "Winter Morning"?
Thirty-year-old A.S. Pushkin embraced the secular beauty N. Goncharova, whose initial answer was rather vague. In confusion, the poet violates the ban of Nicholas I and goes to the Caucasus, where he personally takes part in military operations. Upon his return, he calls in the village of Pavlovskoye (Tver province) in the estate of P.I. He is in anticipation of a long-awaited meeting with a beautiful bride, whose hands are set to seek again. The following year, the poem was published in the anthology "Tsarskoye Selo", entering the golden fund of landscape lyrics, masterfully conveying the beauty of Russian nature, full of fairy tale magic. The poem does not have a dedication, but it is written in the form of a dialogue with a young friend with whom the author wants to share the admiration for what he saw.
Genre and theme of the poem
To determine the genre, you must have knowledge of its characteristics, as well as understand what place it occupies in the work of the author. The topic will help answer the question of how to do a poem analysis. An example of a specific analysis is the following of the theme of “Winter Morning”, which will be discussed in this subheading.
The work appears as a deeply personal and autobiographical impromptu, a kind of monologue addressed to a sleeping beauty. These are signs of the lyrical genre, which has a number of directions: love, philosophical, historical, landscape and military. In “Winter Morning”, the beauty of nature is described in a romantic style, which makes it possible to attribute the work to the category of landscape lyrics, in which A. S. Pushkin is an unsurpassed master. The ratio of the moods of nature and man, an unexpected change in their contrasting states is the main theme of the poem, affecting the author's choice of artistic means.
The plot and composition
Not all verses have a plot. In "Winter Morning" everything is built on the contemplation of the white decoration of the coming winter, causing joyful emotions. From admiring nature and memories, the author goes on to describe a home environment that carries warmth and comfort. The transition sequence indicates a linear composition written by four-foot iambic. An example of an analysis of a poem should help highlight the semantic parts and the artistic device that allows them to be harmoniously linked.
“Winter Morning” is divided by the author into five stanzas of six lines (sextins), each of which draws a separate picture, full of expressive details:
- Admiration on a sunny frosty morning and a desire to share it with a sleeping girlfriend.
- Remembering yesterday's blizzard.
- Description of the beauty of nature outside the window.
- Representation of the interior decoration of the room.
- Motivation for a wonderful pastime in the wild.
The main artistic tool and compositional technique, linking the pieces together, was the antithesis (contrast). It is present in the very first line: “frost and sun”, and then through the contrast of yesterday (“evening”) and the coming morning (“now”) penetrates the fabric of the poem.
Lyrical hero, mood
In a poetic work, a lyrical hero is necessarily present. In “Winter Morning” - this is the author himself and that girlfriend (addressee) to whom his monologue is directed. The hero addresses the girl with the words: “dear friend”, “beauty”, “adorable friend”, which shows his attitude to her. This is a manifestation of tenderness, love and care. An analysis of the lyric poem, an example of which is considered in the article, provides for the identification of the general mood of the work.
From the first lines in it there is light and joy, although in the second stanza there are memories of the former sadness. But this contrast only enhances the positive attitude, bringing it to delight and the call to share joy with the main character.
Vocabulary poems
Most of the words are simple and understandable, although the author uses outdated terms and expressions, the meaning of which is set out in the picture above. Among the language means to which he resorts, a special place is occupied by epithets. They are found in a small work 18 times, giving it that imagery, thanks to which you can mentally imagine the magnificent winter landscape, and yesterday's blizzard, and the serene peace of the interior of the house. An example of the analysis of a poem is impossible without listing all the language tools used by the author. Among them: comparisons, metaphors and avatars.
The hero compares his girlfriend with the "star of the north", and the moon with the "pale spot". But the most interesting are figurative comparisons - metaphors. So, the room is illuminated with an “amber shine”, which enhances the impression of a sense of sunlight. Impersonation is the imparting of human properties to inanimate things. A. Pushkin’s blizzard is capable of “getting angry”, and the haze “rushes” in the muddy sky, which adds bright colors to the work of art.
Fine arts
The syntax used by the author is interesting. The joy at the very beginning of the work is conveyed by exclamations that turn into a calmer intonation when it comes to the warmth of the hearth. A certain emotion is reflected in questions, including rhetorical ones. The poem is dominated by simple sentences and direct speech, giving it lightness and emphasizing an atmosphere of joy.
The example of the analysis of the poem given in the article cannot cover all the pictorial means, but one should dwell on those that give the poet's genius lines a special imagery. With the help of alliteration (forcing hissing and sonorous sounds) and assonance (repetition of vowels), the reader seems to hear the crack of the stove, the sound of the horse and the creaking of snow. The author uses repetitions of related sounds (anaphora): "and spruce ...", "and the river ...". This enhances the impression of the lyrical work.
Rhyme, rhyme methods
The poet’s use of the four-foot iamba gives the poem energy and optimism, for the iambic is one of the most expressive and major dimensions. However, the text contains words ("magnificent", "impatient") that violate the rhythm of the rhythm (pyrrhichia). The author intentionally uses the technique to delay the reader’s attention and convey a thought revealing the inner state of the hero: light sorrow, inspiration, desire for a “sweet shore”. This example of an analysis of a poem in literature will be incomplete if you do not observe the construction of a rhyme.
The consonance of the endings of the first, second, fourth and fifth lines of each stanza form pairs, and the third and sixth rhymes with each other (encircling rhyme). By the syllable on which the stress in the last word of the line falls, rhymes are divided into female and male. In “Winter Morning” they alternate, however, women, in which the penultimate syllable is stressed, prevail. This allows you to combine pauses with line endings, giving the poem the right rhythm. Only in the fourth stanza can you see a line break and the formation of an additional pause that helps to understand the meaning of the whole poem.
Sound organization
The uniqueness of Pushkin’s lines is such that many musicians catch the interweaving of tonalities and create amazing music that exactly fits into the mood of the poem. One of the best works is the work of G. Sviridov, built on contrasts. The already mentioned alliteration and assonance do not dominate in Winter Morning, giving way to a combination of sounds of different emotional colors. These sounds are sometimes found in one or two adjacent words: [n], [p] and [l]. An example of an analysis of a poem will be incomplete without confirmation of the approval by the text:
- “Amber glitter”;
- “In the morning with him”;
- "Transparent l es";
- “No rte l pivo”;
- "Fun treskom."
The contrast can be traced to the change of phrases from light, gentle sounds [e, n, h, l, m] and minor, dark [x, w, h, w], which A.S. Pushkin hardly did consciously. His genius lies in the fact that for some inspiration he used all the acoustic richness of the Russian language.
Attitude to read
How to write a poem analysis? The example demonstrates the need for knowledge of the theory of versification and the use of educational and cognitive techniques. However, the analysis will always be incomplete if you do not convey the personal perception of the work of art:
- What feelings does a reader have in poetry?
- Does the theme and feelings of the lyrical hero resonate with him?
- What is the significance of these verses?
“Winter morning” is permeated with a love of life, optimism and admiration for the beauty of native nature. It carries the philosophy of the unity of man and the world around him, capable of giving everyone spiritual strength and strengthening the desire to live.