Pushkin did not pursue inspiration. He could write always and everywhere - for a walk, in class, in the garden, during prayer. In the poem âTo My Aristarchusâ the 16-year-old poet tells how his poems are born: âIâll think about it, wave my hands, Iâll suddenly speak in rhymesâ.
Crossed out childhood from memory. Remembered only Lyceum
If we consider a concept such as Pushkinâs biography, the Lyceum period is something to start with. It is this stage of life that describes the formation of the classic in the field of the poet. Until the age of seven, Pushkin grew up a closed, sullen, silent, clumsy boy, with a muddy look and listless reactions to everything. Sometimes he made the impression of being almost mentally retarded.
And Sasha was just an unloved child. He did not receive a single drop of tenderness from his parents. Both Nadezhda Osipovna and Sergey Lvovich were kindly treated by sister Olga and especially the younger brother Levushka. Is this why the poems of Pushkin of the Lyceum period do not contain the image of a loving mother?
Only the nanny and grandmother
And about the nanny Arina Rodionovna and her fairy tales during the Lyceum period of Pushkin, we heard a lot. The muse in the poem "Dream" appears in the image of "mother". This was inspired by memories of Arina Rodionovna. It was she who also became the prototype of the nanny Orina Egorovna in the novel Dubrovsky.
And Arina Rodionovnaâs son-in-law Nikita Timofeevich, who became the âuncleâ of the boy and loved him sincerely, reminds one of Savelichâs faithful servant from âThe Captainâs Daughterâ. Kozlov, who so devotedly loved his barchuk Sasha all his life, will accompany him to the last journey to the cemetery of the Svyatogorsky monastery. These people, one of the few who really appreciated the poet as he was.
Night readings
The change in young Pushkin happened dramatically, thanks to the fact that he had a nanny with her love, care and fairy tales. Communication with my grandmother Maria Alekseevna Hannibal, in whose village the teenager spent the summer, also influenced.
Sasha was not to be recognized. He no longer sat huddled in a corner, but ran about the rooms, hopped over chairs, laughed out loud. He became a fidget, his fidget. Or Cricket, as his peers later called him at the Lyceum.
His interest in literature appeared early. At eight, he read fluently and wrote well. At night, secretly sneaked into the huge library of his father and leafed through books of ancient authors, French, Russian. At the same age he began to compose. The first works were in French. These are epigrams on their tutors and teachers. According to Brother Leva, he had an excellent memory and at 11 years old "knew by heart all French literature."
âI donât know what will come of my eldest grandsonâ
So said Maria Alekseevna, who was very fond of Sasha, and he was very attached to her. She was worried about the future of the boy. Although the grandson was a hunter before the books, he studied poorly. Lecturers complained that he was also windy, frivolous. Maria Alekseevna was worried how his life would go if he did not change.
Thank God, Sasha has changed! But this transformation of Tikhoni into a teenager with an ardent temperament brought the family a lot of trouble. Neither tutors, nor parents could curb him. And the idea arose to send the lad to a closed school strict regime. We chose the prestigious Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, which had just opened.
12-year-old Sasha passed the entrance exams. Moreover, if we talk about Pushkinâs lyceum period briefly, he arrived there with a stock of a wide variety of life impressions and knowledge gleaned from books. His âfirst and priceless friendâ Ivan Pushchin recalled that his classmates were much surprised to learn that Alexander Sergeyevich was ahead of them in his development.
Strict and did not smell
However, there was no particular strictness in the Lyceum. Even corporal punishment in the Lyceum period of Pushkin was abolished, unlike other educational institutions. In general, the atmosphere was liberal, democratic.
Cricket teaching was easy. Teachers of objects unloved by Pushkin did not impose special requirements on him. So, the mathematics teacher, knowing Sashaâs attitude to this science, only chided him.
But Pushkin loved Russian and foreign literature. And as always he read a lot of fiction, historical books.
Friends-lyceum students created their own literary circle. Issued handwritten magazines, played games based on the works of the classics of that time.
Thanks to this, Pushkin, whose other nickname was French (since he shone with knowledge of this language), fell in love with his native language. Yes, so that subsequently created a modern Russian style of writing.
The poems of Pushkin of the Lyceum period are witty, well-aimed epigrams, scenes, lyrics. He even began the poem Ruslan and Lyudmila. But he finished only three years after leaving Lyceum - in 1820.
âFriends, our union is wonderful!â
For the first time in his life, people surrounded him who had respect and admiration for him. âFriends, our union is wonderful!â he wrote to his classmates. It was in the Lyceum period of Pushkin that such an important change took place in his life: the "luxury of human communication" was gained.
His comrades, together with Professor Alexander Kunitsyn, who read 12 subjects at once, and Alexander Galich, a teacher of Latin and Russian literature, heatedly discussed the events of the Patriotic War of 1812. It began a year after their admission to the Lyceum. Together, they sought the meaning of life, each their own destiny, service to lofty goals.
In the history of world literature, it was not yet such that one of the poets or writers in their works devoted so much space to alma mater as Pushkin to his Lyceum. Over the years, he even painted the Lyceum on the manuscript of Eugene Onegin.
This educational institution is reflected in his poems, early and late, letters to friends, on the pages of imperishable novels, in dedications to school anniversaries.
âIn the gardens of the Lyceum, Muse came to meâ
Pushkin's lyceum period lasted six years, from 1811 to 1817. He began to write seriously at the age of 13. And also early hit the print media. In the July issue of Vestnik Evropy, the opus of a 15-year-old poet, entitled To a Poet Friend, first appeared. True, he set the pseudonym "Alexander N.k.sh.p." Modern philologists have deciphered it: these were consonants of his last name, but in reverse order. In this manner his uncle, Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, signed his individual poems. He just threw away all the vowels - P.S.
Pushkinâs poems of the Lyceum period, according to a great connoisseur of his work, Boris Tomashevsky, show that he completely mastered the technique of poetry. And what he wrote at age 13 was a milestone, a twist in fate.
120 poems reached
During the lyceum period, many poems were created in Pushkin's work. It reached us 120. The subjects are different, from the love of the homeland, the high purpose of the poet, to the love of a woman. He drew inspiration from everywhere. And also, among the poets of France XVII-XVIII centuries. He was attracted to the Guys and Voltaire. That is why the works of Pushkin in the Lyceum period combine the interweaving of French classicism with Russian.
The poem "To Natalia", written in 1813, has a specific addressee. This is a serf theater actress, whose owner in Tsarskoye Selo was Count V. Tolstoy. And the lyceum student Pushkin was in love with Natalia.
The lyceum period in Pushkin's work is associated with a huge number of works about true friendship. This is âFor the seventeenth birthday of I. Pushchinâ, and âFeasting studentsâ, and poems in honor of favorite teachers.
Thanks to the imitation of Zhukovsky, who led the course of romanticism in Russia, the Lyceum period in Pushkinâs life was characterized by writing elegy on the theme of unrequited love, separation, and early departure from life. However, all this fashionable imitation did not prevent the poet himself from completely indulging in the joys of a young life.
Friendship with the great
The lyceum period in Pushkinâs life is inextricably linked with the appearance of real teachers in the poetâs life, who determined his further path. Alexander was accepted into the circle of advanced writers Arzamas. They were supporters of a new trend in literature, "Karamzinsky." It involved a fight against obsolete writers' rules and traditions.
Pushkin establishes creative and friendly relations with outstanding poets of that time Vasily Zhukovsky and Peter Vyazemsky. And he himself learns from them.
He was also interested in poems by Konstantin Batyushkov, a popular master of âeasy poetryâ. When he temporarily left his scripture, the young poet did not hesitate to send a message to the master. It was called "To Batyushkov." Yes, itâs so great that he, having read it, came to the Lyceum to meet the author. But after the conversation, to comments on the poems of the youngest poet, Pushkin responded with another message: âI am delirious in my own way. Be all your own. â
"Old Derzhavin noticed us"
His lyrics are not yet completely independent, more and more imitative. It has a lot of cliches, cliches. But, without leaving chamber poetry, Pushkin is already addressing the themes of civilian sound. These are, first of all, the widely known âMemoirs in Tsarskoye Seloâ. The work is dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812.
Young Pushkin read the poem in unusual conditions. In January 1815, an open exam in Russian literature was held at the Lyceum for students who were moving from first year to second year. Mandatory reading of their own works.
We invited guests to the exam. A lot of spectators sat in the hall, of course - the parents of the lyceum students and the very famous Gabriel Derzhavin.
Listening to Pushkin, the patriarch was delighted. âYes, this is true poetry!â He exclaimed, and with tears in his eyes he wanted to embrace the author as his worthy successor. But Sasha was very embarrassed and ran away.
Delirious my way
The characteristic features of the Lyceum period of Pushkin are clearly visible in the poem "Licinia", which critically displays the life of Russia, headed by the despot Arakcheev. The poet writes the story âBovaâ, poetry is represented by the works âUnbeliefâ, âNapoleon on the Elbeâ - under the impression of the emperorâs flight from the island. And also epigrams. For example, "Two Alexandram Pavlovich." Here he compares Tsar Alexander I with his namesake, the tutor from the Lyceum - "a vile and vile fool."
To summarize the lyceum period of Pushkin briefly, there is less and less imitation in his verses, more and more a bold, fresh and strong voice breaks through.
Still ahead are those masterpieces that will make it possible to call Alexander Sergeyevich âthe sun of our poetryâ. Nevertheless, it was precisely the young years of the poet that was the basis thanks to which he received his ideas about genuine literature.