The poem "Giraffe": analysis. Gumileva "Giraffe": analysis according to plan

There are poets among the poets of the Silver Age, whose influence on descendants and contemporaries was especially significant. To them belongs, of course, Gumilyov Nikolai Stepanovich. In this article we will analyze his poem "Giraffe".

Analysis plan

Analyzing the poem, the following points should be highlighted.

- Title, author, history of creation, events that caused the appearance of this work.

- To which direction in literature did its author belong.

- The genre of this poem.

- Idea, topic.

- Composition.

- Artistic images used in the work .

- Lyrical hero.

- Literary techniques that the author uses (metaphor, epithet, comparison, personification, repetition, symbol, etc.), as well as poetic vocabulary (neologisms, archaisms, antonyms, synonyms) and poetic phonetics (dissonance, alliteration).

Based on this plan, we will analyze the poem "Giraffe" by Gumilyov. However, it can be applied to other poetic works.

The author of the work

We begin the analysis of Gumilyov’s verse “Giraffe” with the author’s presentation. This poet was known as one of the leaders and creators of the school of acmeism. He himself was very critical of his own poems, he worked scrupulously on their content and form. Gumilev is one of the most demanding and rigorous teachers who instilled in young poets a taste for the refinement of the utterance.

Which direction did Gumilyov belong to?

Gumilev, as we have already mentioned, belonged to such a trend as acmeism. This is a style invented by Nikolai Stepanovich, which implied a reflection of reality in capacious and light words.

Lyrical hero

The deliberately lyrical hero closes his eyes to the routine of life surrounding him. He contrasts her with an adventurous, vibrant world of a free wanderer. Its beautiful names, exotic places attract. Purposefulness and will are the spiritual core of the entire poetry of Nikolai Stepanovich.

Contemporaries were captured by the appearance of the lyrical hero Gumilyov, combining courage, courage, the ability to predict the future, as well as a passion for travel and children's curiosity for the world around him.

The history of the creation of the work "Giraffe" (Gumilev)

We continue the analysis according to the plan, telling a little about the story of the creation of the poem and the collection in which it is included. "Romantic Flowers" is a collection of poems published in 1908. The lyrical hero in this cycle tries on various masks. He is the loser of all the player who put his cross on the line in a terrible impulse; that is a hermit thinker who has the highest knowledge; then a wanderer. Behind these guises we see one man, courageous and stubborn, dreamy and courageous, who is not afraid of trials and anxieties, even if they threaten the hero with death. It was no coincidence that the collection entitled “Romantic Flowers” ​​included the poem “Giraffe” written in 1907. This is one of the most striking creations of Gumilyov, which has long become his hallmark in literature.

The author himself traveled a lot in Turkey, Africa, and the East. These impressions were reflected in his poems, which are characterized by wild exotic rhythms. Sounds in his works and music of overseas countries, and Russian songs, and trumpets of war, and tears, and the laugh of love. One of the most beautiful poems dedicated to Africa, is such a poet as Gumilyov, "Giraffe". A brief analysis of the work does not allow us to speak in detail about the rest of his work, which is also very curious.

Poem genre

Like many other poems of this author, this verse is written in the genre of philosophical lyrics. The analysis of Gumilyov’s Giraffe poem, briefly summarized in this article, suggests that the poet appears to us as a “fairy tale master,” combining the description of rapidly changing, dazzlingly vivid pictures of a beautiful distant country with musicality and melody of the narrative.

Theme and idea

The lyrical hero of the poem “Giraffe”, in order to dispel the sadness of his companion, decides to tell her a sad and mysterious tale about the young leader’s passion for a black maiden, about “slender palms”, “tropical garden”, about everything exotic, beautiful. It begins especially: "Far, far on Lake Chad ..." an exquisite giraffe wanders.

The expression "far, far" is usually written with a hyphen. With the help of it, something completely unattainable is determined. However, Gumilev, not without some degree of irony, focuses our attention on the fact that this continent is not so far away. He compares two spaces that are far away on the scale of human consciousness. However, they are very close on a global scale. About what is "here", the author does not say anything. This is not necessary, since there is only a “heavy fog”, which we are used to breathing in every minute. Life in the world where we live flows in gray tones. This is exactly what Nikolai Gumilyov ("Giraffe") portrays her. Analyzing the work, we can say that only tears and sadness remained "here". It seems as if paradise is impossible on earth. However, this routine does not suit the lyrical hero. He is attracted by unusual, colorful, exotic rhythms.

The lyrical hero, referring to a mysterious woman, whom we can only judge from the perspective of the author, also has a dialogue with us, that is, those who listen to this tale. He offers to look differently at the world, to understand that the earth sees "a lot of miracles." Each of us is capable of seeing this if we wish, we only need to clear ourselves of the “heavy fog” we breathe in and understand that the world is beautiful and vast. The author seeks to prove this. Life on Lake Chad is completely different. Here, as if a precious diamond, the world shimmers and shines, the air is clean and fresh.

Artistic images

Already we are transporting along with the heroine of the poem to mysterious Africa in order to get into the "tropical garden", touch the trunks of beautiful "slender palms", breathe in the air of distant land, filled with the fragrance of plants and flowers and see an amazing animal that is given a "graceful harmony and bliss. "

The appearance of this African animal is romantically conditional. A lot of the poem "invented" grace. You can note here a line that he "hides in a marble grotto" at sunset. However, the poetic form justifies this, since it already implies the presence of the mysterious and miraculous.

In this poem, Nikolai Gumilev did not accidentally choose his giraffe. The inherent exoticism fits very organically into the text of the story about a mysterious distant land. With a long neck, standing firmly on its feet, with a "magic pattern" adorning the skin, this animal has become the hero of many poems and songs. You can perhaps draw a parallel between him and a man who is just as gracefully built, stately and calm. However, the giraffe "bliss" and peace are given by nature. And the "king of beasts" of his own free will exalts himself over other living beings.

Gumilev uses literary techniques

After analyzing Gumilyov’s verse “Giraffe”, we noticed that the author uses an unusual comparison, which is one of the most remarkable means of creating an image of a giraffe. The magic pattern of his skin is compared to the glitter of the moon, and he himself is "like the colored sails of a ship." The run of the animal is likened to a joyful bird flight: it is just as smooth.

Other means that Gumilev resorts to in this poem are epithets: “graceful harmony”, “exquisite giraffe”, “colored sails”, “magic pattern”, “heavy fog”, “joyful flight”, “inconceivable herbs”, “ mysterious countries ", as well as metonymy (" the giraffe wanders "), repetition (" far, far "), personification (" only the moon will dare, "" the earth sees a lot of miracles ").

Akin to the grace and serenity of a giraffe, the melody of the work, as shown by the analysis of Gumilyov’s poem “Giraffe”. Unnaturally lingering sounds. They are melodic, add a touch of magic to the narrative, and also complement the fabulous description. Gumilev rhythmically uses the five-foot iambic in the poem. With the help of male rhyme, the lines are combined (that is, the emphasis falls on the last syllable). The final verse of the last and first stanzas sounds spectacularly reduced to three feet. Perhaps that is why they are remembered and remain in memory for a long time. We also noticed another important point in our analysis. Gumilyov's “Giraffe” is a poem in which the five-foot amphibrach, its cradling rhythm, combined with the use of voiced consonants, allows the author to describe the fairy-tale world in a colorful and organic way. This poem is so melodious that today it has become a song: music is written on it.

The author uses alliteration, assonance (look - Chad), anaphora ("especially sad", "especially thin") to create the image of a mysterious and sad stranger. We meet with the assonance and further (the leader - rain, dana - moon, countries - fog, etc.).

One cannot fail to include Gumilyov’s next moment in the analysis of the poem Giraffe. The author, drawing pictures of a magical land in front of the reader, never uses a specific description of the color of images and objects in the narrative. Gumilyov, resorting to poetic means, does not impose his color vision. It enables the imagination to vividly imagine the world, which is mentioned in the poem, its shades and colors. You can be convinced of it, having carried out the analysis independently.

Gumilyov's “Giraffe” - a reading, which we really imagine an elegant girl sitting sad at the window, and a skin of a giraffe with a magical pattern, and the color of the surface of the water, on which the moon glare spreads with a golden fan, and the sails of a ship sailing at sunset, scarlet like Green.

Composition

Completes our analysis of the poem "Giraffe" Gumilyov composition of the work. This is a beautiful fairy tale. For her, like for many others, a ring composition is characteristic. The action ends where it started. This technique in this case demonstrates Gumilyov’s desire to tell readers about "paradise on Earth" in order to make them look at the world in a new way. It seems as you read that the tale of mysterious and beautiful Africa is not yet over. It seems that the lyrical hero is so passionate about the rich palette of colors, exotic sounds and smells that he tirelessly is ready to talk about them, to draw bright, magnificent paintings. And this unquenchable enthusiasm is involuntarily transmitted to us. We look forward, as in the tales of Scheherazade, to look forward to continuing and find it with gratitude, referring to the work of Gumilyov, in his other works.

So, we talked about the work that was created by Nikolai Gumilev ("Giraffe"). The analysis of the poem was carried out based on the plan given at the beginning of the article. This is only a brief description, noting the main features of this work.