A very interesting time from the point of view of biography and creativity was the southern link of Pushkin. Briefly telling about it is not an easy task. The period of southern exile is the time from May 1820 to July 1824. It is believed that this is a turning point both in the work and in the life of Alexander Sergeyevich.
Pushkin’s status has changed. He was still an official, but turned into an exiled poet, a disgraced nobleman. At the same time, the terms of service of Alexander Sergeevich far from Petersburg were not established. Thus, the link could turn into indefinite. His further fate depended only on the political situation in the country at the time when Pushkin lived. 1820-1824 - southern link. A summary of the main works of this period, as well as biographical information about this time are presented in our article.
Traveling with the Raevsky family
Initially, gusts of "wind" of autocracy were favorable for Pushkin. The period from May to September 1820 he spent on a journey. The poet went south with the family of General Raevsky, the general, the hero of the war of 1812. Echoes of Crimean and Caucasian impressions, emotions gleaned from communication with members of this large family, as well as hobbies by the daughters of the general for about ten years, were reflected in the poetry of Alexander Sergeyevich.
Service in Chisinau
What is the further biography of Pushkin? The southern exile continued not so joyfully. The poet had to spend time from 1820 to 1823 in Chisinau. He served in the office of the governor of the Bessarabian region (pictured above is the Pushkin House-Museum in Chisinau). It is known that General Inzov favored his ward. He tried not to burden him heavily with service, and allowed him to go away from Chisinau for a long time. Therefore, Pushkin’s southern exile was not so severe.
Briefly telling about it, it is worth mentioning that the poet spent a long time in Kamenka (Kiev province), on the Davydovs estate, from November 1820 to January 1821. This place was one of the centers where the opposition gathered for the regime of Alexander I. The poet also visited Odessa , Kiev, and at the end of 1821 made a trip to Moldova with I.P. Liprandi. Pushkin’s creativity in the southern exile is based on all these and many other impressions.
Rapprochement with the revolutionaries
In Kamenka and Chisinau, Alexander Sergeyevich communicated with members of the secret Southern Society and the "Union of Welfare" (V. L. Davydov, P. I. Pestel, P. S. Pushchin, V. F. Raevsky, M. F. Orlov). The period of Pushkin’s southern exile was a vivid page in the poet’s biography, full of internal drama. She did not sober him at all, he did not humble himself and did not repent. The southern exile in Pushkin’s life is marked by the fact that he appears in the halo of the victim of a tyrant, a martyr of freedom. Political temperament and free-thinking led Alexander Sergeyevich to close rapprochement with radical critics of the regime. Pushkin wanted to make them his friends. He believed that the dreams of "holy liberty" were about to come true. And Pushkin wanted to plunge into the political struggle together with the conspirators.
The poet was no longer attracted to the old symbols of faith - the dawn of "enlightened freedom" and "star of captivating happiness." He no longer relied on the wisdom of the despot. During the period of southern exile, Pushkin became impatient; he saw in the "punishing dagger" the "guardian of freedom." However, the hopes that his word would help in the common cause, after a while, dissipated. Friends began to assure the poet that there was no secret society.
Romantic lyrics
During the years of southern exile, Alexander Sergeevich acts as a bright romantic poet. In his lyrics, the main place began to belong to romantic genres. This is a friendly poetic message and elegy. Alexander Sergeevich was carried away by a romantic ballad. Pushkin wrote in the southern link "Song of the Prophetic Oleg". Alexander Sergeyevich’s inner world was especially fully revealed at that time in elegy (“I have outlived my desires ...”, “The evening ridge is thinning clouds…”, “The daylight has gone out”, etc.). This is a kind of romantic epigraphs of Pushkin to the new chapter of his creative biography. They notice a sharp line between the years of life in St. Petersburg, filled with feasts, companionship, joys of love, and life "in the boring exile." Pushkin's lyrics, as always, are autopsychological. The equivalent of the poet's attitude was the romantic imagery of the style.
The messages
To Alexander Sergeyevich, the present seemed vague, dull and homeless. Psychological parallels often appeared with other disgraced poets - Ovid, Baratynsky and Byron. In 1821, Pushkin created the message "To Ovid", as well as a historical elegy called "Napoleon". Vivid images of wanderers and exiles are also presented in the epistles to Baratynsky written in 1822.
Note that the messages are characterized by such genre features of elegy as fragmentation, a quick change of feelings, confession. For Alexander Sergeyevich, they were a form of appeal to both new friends and friends from St. Petersburg. The circle of addressees is very wide: N. I. Gnedich, A. A. Delvig, P. A. Vyazemsky, P. A. Katenin, P. Ya. Chaadaev, E. A. Baratynsky, F. F. Yuryev, etc. These messages sometimes became letters of confession. Alexander Sergeyevich reflected in them about life in exile, sometimes he recalled the joy of communicating with his friends. In such works as “Message to the Censor”, “To My Inkwell”, “To Ovid”, the poet’s thoughts about the situation in literature, about creativity, about the vicissitudes of fate are presented.
Southern poems of Pushkin
The psychological appearance of Alexander Sergeyevich was captured in the lyrics he created. The poems present a model of reality, refracted in a romantic way. For many domestic romantic poets, it subsequently became relevant. In 1821, Pushkin created his famous poem called "The Prisoner of the Caucasus." In the period from 1821 to 1822 he worked on the "Brothers-robbers", in 1821-1823. - over the Bakhchisarai Fountain. In 1824, already in Mikhailovsky, he completed his poem "Gypsies". It is believed that these works are the main achievement of Alexander Sergeyevich during the years of southern exile. The poems aroused conflicting assessments by critics and readers, but strengthened the fame of their author as the main poet of Russia.
Cycle features
In the cycle of southern poems there are only 4 works that are not related to each other either by heroes or by content. However, they have a common semantic core. The main characters of these works are confident, strong people. In addition, the poems are united by the theme of freedom, which pops up one way or another in the course of action.
Initially, the cycle was conceived as consisting of three works by Alexander Pushkin. The southern exile gave him material for these poems, which were created between 1820 and 1823. “Gypsies” was written the following year and included in the cycle much later.
Passionate and freedom-loving, unbridled, sometimes cold and cruel heroes attract us not only with their realism and originality, but also with the fact that they were created in a difficult period for Russian literature. Their occurrence was logical. The author created these works according to the canons of romanticism, but the heroes of his poems are still somewhat different. Their images are holistic, more powerful. The difference between Pushkin's poems and the traditional understanding of romanticism was that the background in the works of Alexander Sergeyevich was completely absent. The hero is represented in isolation from his past. We can judge his past life only by fragmentary phrases and memories. The hero lives and acts in the present.
The poem "Prisoner of the Caucasus" (Pushkin)
1820-1824 - the southern link, a summary of the main events of which was described above. To understand this period in Pushkin’s work, we propose to turn to his poem “The Prisoner of the Caucasus”. Here the main character is unconquered, freedom-loving. We can only guess about his past. There is a hint in the text that he comes from high society. The hero was bored with light. He fled from him to the Caucasus, seeking inner freedom. However, here he is captured. Thus, the freedom the hero aspires for is just an illusion. True freedom is within man himself. No external circumstances can tame her. But external freedom is deceiving. The main character believed that he could not live in captivity. However, he quietly got used to captivity. The love of a young Circassian woman gives him the opportunity to escape. And he runs away, thereby condemning his beloved to suicide. This girl’s heart was hot, unlike the hero’s cold soul. It is the Circassian woman who actually turns out to be free and freedom-loving.
Gypsies
With the work described above, the Gypsies have something in common, mainly in terms of heroes. It also refers to the period of interest to us, since it was created in 1824 by Pushkin (1820-1824 - the southern link). A summary and features of this work we also suggest to consider.
The image of Aleko at first glance is very similar to the character from the "Prisoner of the Caucasus." However, it turns out to be more elaborate, more complex. The hero, “persecuted by law,” leaves the world. Most likely, before us is a fugitive criminal or a convict. He believes that he will be able to find happiness and peace in a gypsy camp, where people live who are not connected by anything except feelings. However, the camp does not accept Aleko. He turns out to be just a fellow traveler, alien to this people and unable to understand his freedom-loving soul.
Aleko is in love with the gypsy Zemfira. Telling her about high society, he says that people drive thoughts there, are ashamed of love, sell their will, bow their heads to idols and look for money and chains. Having fallen in love with a gypsy, the hero of the poem wants to be with her forever, but his soul is captivated by dark passion. Aleko still cannot understand the inner spirit of this people and accept it.
What ends the poem "Gypsies"? Pushkin wants to say that for the protagonist the gypsy’s story about his unrequited love and how his wife left him becomes prophetic. However, he is incapable of comprehending the wisdom of this story, believing that he is not one of those who are not able to hold on to love. Aleko is ready to fight for his feelings, but he does it wrong. His gaze is obscured by a veil of jealousy, in a fit of which he kills his unfaithful lover. And the gypsies reject the man whose heart turned out to be so cruel.
Wise and kindhearted people, however, can understand the passion of this hero, so they do not take his life. They tell him that he wants will only for himself, therefore he is not worthy of real freedom of feelings. Classic romantic pieces have a happy ending. The hero usually wins, and all the troubles end well. However, the poems of Alexander Sergeevich do not end in a happy ending. Thanks to this, they become more realistic and vital, as well as dramatic. It is drama that allows us to better understand the character of this or that hero. This is well illustrated by the poem "Gypsies" (Pushkin).
Start of work on "Eugene Onegin"
The images of rebellious in spirit, strong people described by the poet will continue to exist, acquiring versatility and gradually becoming more complicated. Eugene Onegin is a hero in whose person this type will receive a new life. Alexander Sergeyevich began working on the eponymous novel in verses in Chisinau in May 1823. As you remember, the time spent in the south of Pushkin was 1820-1824 (southern link). A summary of the novel "Eugene Onegin", completed in 1831, is the topic of a separate article.
So, in July 1824, Pushkin’s southern exile ended. The works written in 1820-24 still inspire many.