"Lost Tram" - a poem by Gumilyov, included in the "Pillar of Fire", his last collection. This verse is considered one of the best and most famous in the work of the poet. Our article presents his brief analysis.
Gumilyov’s poem "Lost Tram" is very much liked to analyze various critics and literary critics. It attracts their attention, firstly, like any masterpiece, and secondly, the author showed great literary innovation. Nevertheless, despite the colossal innovation, the author also follows tradition in the work. Another reason why the “Lost Tram" attracts the attention of researchers is that it shows the references of Nikolai Stepanovich to the milestones of his life.
Features of the analysis of the poem
It is necessary to briefly note some general points before conducting the analysis. Gumilyov’s poem "Lost Tram", despite innovation, has all the main features of its genre. The plot-forming unit in the lyrics, in contrast to the dramatic and epic genres, is experience, emotion, feeling, and not an event. In addition, in essence, any poem is metaphorical, and the metaphor gravitates to the symbol. It should be noted that this work was written in one breath, on inspiration. It does not belong to the number of verses that are meticulously and painstakingly “constructed”, and therefore require the same meticulous and painstaking analysis. That’s not the way to analyze it.
Gumilyov’s poem "Lost Tram" can not be understood, following the usual method of interpretation. The logic of creations created in one breath is somewhat irrational. Not a single critic will be able to “make out” them. No one can decompose their genius into its component parts. This is how such works are beautiful.
The size
So, let's start our analysis. Gumilyov’s poem "Lost Tram" written by Dolnik. Why did the author choose this size, why did they need to separate stressed syllables at uneven intervals? If we read the poem out loud, emphasizing the stresses, we notice that their rhythm resembles the sound of wheels. Dolnik in this work “voices” the movement of the tram, which enhances the artistic effect.
Chronotope
When considering the content, it is striking that the "Lost Tram" is a Gumilyov poem with an unusual chronotope (the relationship of spatial and temporal relations). The source of the image of the tram is a real prototype, which the author saw in the morning on the street of Petrograd. However, between it and the tram, presented in the poem, which has a clearly otherworldly nature, there is a large abyss. They seem to be from different worlds.
Sounds
The sounds that accompany his appearance are real, if we consider them literally. This is the cry of birds, thunder, knock, ringing. It was these sounds that accompanied the movement of the tram in the days of Gumilyov. However, the wording of the poem tells us that the nature of these sounds is symbolic. Thanks to this, the whole work is translated into a symbolic plane, in which the "Lost Tram" should be considered. Gumilyov’s poem can be correctly understood only by following this setting.
So, there are only 3 sounds: distant thunder, lute ringing, raven gray. Gumilyov’s lute, like a magical violin, is a symbol of the poet’s mission, like a lyre in Pushkin’s work. In addition, it is a sign of the conditionally medieval, legendary time in which the word artist of any era exists. The next sound, the raven gray, is a bad omen, rock, death, death. Thunder is a battle, heavenly or earthly, as well as a sign of the presence of supernatural power, as analysis shows.
The poem "Lost Tram" is impossible to understand if you do not know where the tram is heading. Let's figure it out together.
Where does the tram go
The lyrical hero of the poem becomes a passenger against his own will. A tram is a kind of force that is much more powerful than a person. After all, it is not for nothing that a fiery trace remains behind him in the air. Where is this tram going, what kind of power is it?
It should be noted that there is a car driver, but he is indifferent and does not respond to the request of the lyrical hero to stop. In the corresponding stanza, the chronotope suddenly and terribly changes. More recently, the tram was on the street, although unfamiliar. Now he suddenly rushes “winged” and “dark” storm. The most important thing here is that the tram "got lost in the abyss of time."
"The abyss of time"
Various scholars have interpreted this passage of the poem differently. For example, Elena Kulikova believed that the tram is like a ghost ship, the “Flying Dutchman”, lost in time. There is also a version according to which the author describes a journey through the afterlife. This point of view is held by Yuri Zobnin. He believes that Gumilyov’s poem refers us to Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. The car driver takes the role of Virgil, who is then replaced by Mashenka - Beatrice.
How do we understand where the intent and logic of the author are, and where are our own associations? How to make our analysis objective? The poem "Lost Tram" is not the only one of its kind in Gumilyov. In the context of his work, the "abyss of time" appears several times. Nikolai Stepanovich has repeatedly used this image, for example, in his poem "Stockholm". Here we also encounter transitions of “times” and “spaces” in which the lyrical hero “lost forever”. It is no coincidence that the poem was called by the author "Lost Tram."
In addition, the sounds in Stockholm are similar to what we hear in the piece we are interested in. This is a powerful rumble and buzz, the ringing of a bell, the sounds of prayer. Gumilev in his "Letter on Russian Poetry" noted that religion and poetry are two sides of the same coin. Therefore, in the work of Nikolai Stepanovich, the singing of the violin, lute, lyre and prayer are almost the same.
The motive of sleep in the work
We continue the analysis of the poem "Lost Tram" according to plan. This is a work in which the hero seems to dream of his life. He watches her rushing through the window of the tram. As you know, a person before death, as it were, sees his life, which sweeps before him. We can say that the “Lost Tram" is a prophetic poem. This can be judged not only because the episode of the hero’s execution is present in it, but also because the movement of the tram looks like a description of the memory of his life, which flashed before his death. That is why the lyrical hero anxiously and persistently asks the car driver to stop, but this is impossible.
The development of the image of the tram in Russian literature
In Russian literature, this image of Gumilyov will remind himself more than once. This will happen, for example, in Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita”, where there will be a tram, a severed head, and a car driver. Very deeply and interestingly this image will also be revealed in the finale of "Doctor Zhivago" Pasternak, in the episode of the death of the protagonist. Yuri dies in a tram, at this time a thunderstorm rattles, the hero looks out the window.
Gumilyov's innovation
The technique used by the author was new to Russian poetry. The analysis of N. Gumilyov’s poem "Lost Tram" was conducted by Valery Shubinsky. He noted that this work became the forerunner of "Russian semantic poetics." Many contemporaries did not understand this verse because they interpreted it “the old fashioned way”, looking for real prototypes of the images created by Gumilyov. For example, Anna Akhmatova believed that the old man who flashed outside the window of the tram is a real person. Perhaps this was so, but maybe not. This is not so important, because this detail of the poem only enhances the feeling of anxious sleep, in which the dead and the living are so easily mixed. The hero reacts very interestingly to the appearance of an old man, whom he takes for granted. Yes, this is the man who died a year ago in Beirut. That in reality is unbelievable becomes self-evident in a dream. All this must be taken into account when examining Gumilyov’s "Lost Tram" verse.
A brief analysis of this work is not an easy task. Unfortunately, even today, some researchers continue to try to explain the inexplicable things literally. In their conclusions, they sometimes go very far, but this approach is initially incorrect. In Gumilyov’s poem, several motifs that really have a connection with reality are bizarrely connected into a kind of artistic whole, as bizarrely as the events of daytime life are sometimes connected in a dream. Sleep has logic, but it is different. It cannot be explained by logic. She can only destroy it.
With this we will finish the analysis of the poem by N. S. Gumilyov "Lost Tram". We talked about the main features of this work. The analysis of Gumilev’s poem "Lost Tram" is short, you can supplement it with your own thoughts.