The appearance of such a phenomenon as Tyutchev’s philosophical lyrics was quite natural. Fyodor Ivanovich, however, was one of the first in poetry who, in a new way, began to comprehend the problems of being in his work.
In Russian culture in the 1820s there was an increased interest in philosophy. At this time, it began to spread to wide circles of society, going beyond tight circles. Although in many respects this interest was explained by the circumstances of the history of Russia, our country was completely in line with the cultural processes of Europe that took place at that time.
The birth of philosophical poetry in Russian literature
The end of the 18th - the beginning of the 19th centuries. - the heyday of the great influence on the fate of European civilization of German classical philosophy. In Russia in the 1820s, poetry began to take shape, later called philosophical. She was characterized not only by an interest in universal, everyday problems, which was always important for literature and which was noted, for example, by Pushkin’s later lyrics. There was a desire to translate with the help of the word scientific philosophical ideas, and sometimes specific philosophical systems.
Why is Tyutchev considered a poet-philosopher?
The answer to this question is not so difficult. In Russian culture, Tyutchev gained a reputation as a poet-philosopher, because he, perhaps better than anyone else, was able to express in his work a lyrical experience of certain philosophical ideas. At the end of 1820-1830 he wrote many famous poems dedicated to these experiences, Tyutchev. Philosophical lyrics (poems, a list of which is presented below) was written mainly at this time. These are such works as:
- "Vision".
- "Summer evening".
- "Insomnia".
- "Cicero".
- "Mal'aria".
- "Silentium!" and others.
And later, starting in the 1840s, he wrote most of his most successful love poems. However, a strict thematic classification of his lyrics is hardly possible, since all traditional, “eternal” themes, primarily nature and love, acquire philosophical meaning from this poet.
The attitude of Fedor Ivanovich to Schelling's philosophy
It has been documented and well known that Tyutchev was sympathetic to Schelling's philosophy. He spoke with him personally in Germany (a photo of this German philosopher is presented above). Its essence was that the material world of nature and the inner world of man are similar to each other, we are all closely connected with the universe. Schelling considered nature as a living organism, a creative unconscious-spiritual principle, a system of "potencies" (ascending stages), characterized by polarity, as well as the dynamic unity of opposites. At its core, this teaching was poetic and comforting, claiming that our world is knowable. In this knowledge, moreover, priority was given to art, which acted as a form of comprehension of the world with the help of intuition.
Images of Day and Night
Tyutchev's philosophical lyrics contain cross-cutting images and motifs that are symbolic and return the reader unceasingly to understanding the problems of being. Very important, for example, the images of Day and Night. Like any real characters, they can only be interpreted approximately. Tyutchev's philosophical lyrics are verses in which the opposition of light and dark cannot be understood as a struggle between good and evil. It is, rather, about an understandable, logical, rational, human-controlled reason and will (the beginning of the day in man and in life) - and the incomprehensible, mysterious that connects people with the cosmic principle and is completely beyond our will.
"Ancient Chaos"
The night world is terrible and at the same time attractive to the lyrical hero Tyutchev, as a person is afraid to completely dissolve in it, to disappear. This, in particular, is stated in the poem "What are you fighting, night wind ...". In it, "ancient Chaos" is not only outside of man, but also in himself. In the world of Fyodor Ivanovich, we are “deadly in love”: Chaos in the sphere of feeling becomes “violent blindness of passions,” and a person has no power over them.
Comparing the human soul of the universe
The philosophical themes of Tyutchev’s lyrics are not limited to the above. So, for example, in the work "Silentium!" the poet likens the soul of man to the universe, to the world. Each of us has its own stars and its own sky. When describing the emotional Universe, Fedor Ivanovich uses the images and colors characteristic of his philosophical works on nature, the "external" world. These are such philosophical motifs in Tyutchev’s lyrics as the opposition of night and day, light and darkness, the starry sky and the most beloved moments of the transition - evening, morning, sunrise. However, in the poem "Silentium!" these images are not so visibly present in the text. They only shine somewhere in its depths. A long chain of associations that grow out of the context of Tyutchev’s entire lyrics (both contemporary to this poem and later) stretches for a single word, sparingly selected. Works have already been written such as "Insomnia", "Vision", "Summer Evening", "Still had a fun day ..." and others. And they will respond and respond to these images in the poem "Last Love", in which as in "Silentium!", the human soul will be likened to the universe, the world.
Nature and man, of course, are always compared in poetry, including including folklore (a technique known as "psychological parallelism"). In this case, nature is usually humanized. However, the philosophical lyrics of Tyutchev are an exception, it is often the opposite.
Philosophy and lyrics as ways to comprehend being
Philosophical concepts in lyrics lose their terminological certainty. In the most general form, we have described the meaning of the symbols of Night and Day in Fedor Ivanovich, however, it can be substantially clarified if we consider individual verses of Tyutchev. His philosophical lyrics are so ambiguous that the definition of these symbols can even change. It depends on the context. If in the proper sense of the word philosophy is precisely a system that strives for the terminological certainty of the most important concepts and the consistency of reasoning, then Tyutchev’s poems are philosophical lyrics in which there are works that have a mutually exclusive meaning.
The mutually exclusive meaning of Tyutchev's poems
For example, the poem "Not What You Think, Nature" says that nature has a soul, love, freedom, its own language. And in the work "Nature - the Sphinx" Tyutchev reflects on the fact that, perhaps, she does not have any riddles, and moreover, she destroys man with her art.
Philosophy is the ultimate generalization of life and mental experience, and the lyrics capture only instantaneous emotional experience, including the experience of a philosophical idea. Most likely, Tyutchev was always preoccupied with the problems of being, but his resolution from him could be different at different moments of the poet's life. Due to the fact that the lyrics are an individual experience, it turned out to be possible for him to rework the Schelling system (which, on the whole, was optimistic), to give it tragic tones.
So, we have revealed in general terms the topic that interests us (of course, this is only a general plan). Tyutchev's philosophical lyrics deserve to get to know her better and discover new interesting details and artistic images.