The theme of love in Russian literature is one of the main ones. A poet or prose writer reveals to his reader the longing of the soul, experience, suffering. And this lyrics was always in demand. Indeed, one may not understand the topic of the author’s attitude to his own work, aspects of philosophical prose, but the words of love in literature are spoken so readily that they can be used in various situations of life. In what works is the theme of love particularly vividly reflected? What are the features of perception by the authors of this feeling? This will tell our article.
Place of love in Russian literature
Love has always existed in fiction. If we talk about domestic works, then Peter and Fevronia of Murom immediately come to mind from the eponymous novel by Yermolai-Erasmus, relating to ancient Russian literature. Recall that other topics then, besides Christian ones, were taboo. This form of art was strictly religious.
The theme of love in Russian literature arose in the 18th century. The impetus for its development was the translation by Trediakovsky of works by foreign authors, because in Europe they already wrote with might and main about a wonderful love feeling and the relationship between a man and a woman. Next were Lomonosov, Derzhavin, Zhukovsky, Karamzin.
The theme of love in the works of Russian literature reached its peak in the 19th century. This era gave the world Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Turgenev and many other luminaries. Each writer had his own, strictly personal attitude to the topic of love, which can be read through the lines of his work.
Pushkin's love lyrics: innovation of a genius
The theme of love in Russian literature of the 19th century reached special heights in the work of A. Pushkin. The lyrics praising this bright feeling are rich, multifaceted and encompasses a whole series of features. Let's analyze them.
- Extra genre. In love lyrics, Pushkin completely subordinates form to content, refuses existing canons. We will not find his elegy, romance or message. And there will be one work that combines these genres. As an example, we can cite the famous poem “K ****” dedicated to A.P. Kern. This, on the one hand, is a message (the genre is clearly traced), but there are features of a romance (deeply personal experiences are revealed, the work is incredibly musical and melodious) and even elegy (emotionality).
- New value system. Romanticism is a phenomenon in Russian literature, where in the center stood the personality of the author, lonely, rebellious, opposed to the world. Pushkin goes in a different direction: his poems are filled with worldly wisdom and humanism. Recall the work "I loved you" - something new has been introduced here than just poems about unrequited love. Pushkin leaves the woman a choice, even if it does not happen in his favor. In a romantic work this would be a tragedy, a whirlwind of passions. Pushkin does not curse his beloved (as a romantic poet would have) - he thanks her for the bright feeling that was presented to him. Alexander Sergeevich focuses on his chosen one, and not on self-love.
- Love according to Pushkin is not an anomaly, but a natural state of a person. If it is not mutual, this is not a reason to suffer. The poet rejoices even inseparable love. An example is “Night Haze lies on the hills of Georgia.” These verses about unrequited love are full of "bright sorrow." The author says that “despondency” does not bother him. A life-affirming character is felt.
Love as a reflection of personal qualities in "Eugene Onegin"
“Eugene Onegin” is a work where the theme of love in Russian literature is especially expressive. It shows not just a feeling, but its evolution throughout life. In addition, through love, the main images of the novel are revealed.
In the center of the story is a hero whose name is rendered in the title. The reader is compelled throughout the novel to be tormented by the question: Is Eugene able to love? Brought up in the spirit of the morals of a high-society metropolitan society, in feelings he is deprived of sincerity. Being in a “spiritual impasse”, he meets Tatyana Larina, who, unlike him, knows how to sincerely and disinterestedly love.
Tatyana writes Onegin a love letter, he was touched by this act of the girl, but no more. Disappointed, Larina agrees to a marriage with her unlover and leaves for Petersburg.
The last meeting of Onegin and Tatyana happens after several years. Eugene confesses a young woman in love, but she rejects him. The woman admits that she still loves, but is bound by the obligations of marriage.
Thus, the main character of Pushkin’s novel fails the exam with love, he was frightened by an all-consuming feeling, rejected it. Enlightenment came too late.
Lyubov Lermontova - an unattainable ideal
Another was the love of a woman for M. Lermontov. For him, this is a feeling that absorbs a person completely, it is a force that nothing can conquer. Love according to Lermontov is something that will definitely make a person suffer: "Everyone cried who loved."
This lyrics is inextricably linked with women in the life of the poet himself. Katerina Sushkova is a girl with whom Lermontov fell in love as early as 16 years old. Poems dedicated to her are emotional, telling about an unrequited feeling, a desire to find not only a woman, but also a friend.
Natalia Ivanova, the next woman in Lermontov’s life, reciprocated. On the one hand, there is more happiness in poems of this period, however, notes of deceit also slip here. Natalya in many ways does not understand the deep emotional organization of the poet. The subject of such works has also undergone changes: now they are focused on feelings and passions.
The relations with Varvara Lopukhina are completely differently reflected . Here, the whole being of the poet is imbued with love, nature speaks of her, even Motherland.
Love becomes a prayer in poems dedicated to Maria Shcherbatova. Only 3 works have been written, but each of them is a masterpiece, a hymn of love. According to Lermontov, he found the very woman who fully understands him. Love in these poems is contradictory: it can heal, but also hurt, execute and bring back to life.
The hard way to the happiness of the heroes of "War and Peace" Tolstoy
Considering how love is represented in fiction, attention should be paid to the work of L. Tolstoy. His epic “War and Peace” is a work where love somehow touched each of the heroes. After all, “family thought,” which occupies a central place in the novel, is inextricably linked with love.
Each of the images goes a hard way, but eventually finds family happiness. There are exceptions: Tolstoy puts a kind of equal sign between a person’s ability to love selflessly and his moral purity. But this quality must be reached by a series of suffering, mistakes, which ultimately will purify the soul and make it crystalline, able to love.
Recall the difficult path to the happiness of Andrei Bolkonsky. Fascinated by the beauty of Lisa, he marries her, but, quickly cooled, disappointed in marriage. He understands that he chose a spouse empty and spoiled. Next - war, Austerlitz sky and oak - a symbol of spiritual prosperity, life. Love for Natasha Rostova is what gave Prince Bolkonsky a breath of fresh air.
The test of love in the work of I. S. Turgenev
The images of love in 19th century literature are also the heroes of Turgenev. The author of each of them conducts through the test this feeling.
The only one who passes it is Arkady Bazarov from Fathers and Sons. Maybe that is why he is the ideal hero of Turgenev.
A nihilist who denies everything around him, Bazarov calls love “foolishness,” for him this is just an ailment that can be cured. However, having met with Anna Odintsova and falling in love with her, he changes not only his attitude to this feeling, but his worldview as a whole.
Bazarov confesses love to Anna Sergeyevna, but she rejects him. The girl is not ready for a serious relationship, she cannot renounce herself for the sake of another, even her beloved person. Here she suffers a fiasco in the trial of Turgenev. But Bazarov is the winner, he became the hero whom the writer was looking for for himself in Noble Nest, Rudin, Asa and other works.
"The Master and Margarita" - a mystical love story
The theme of love in Russian literature of the 20th century is growing and developing, becoming stronger. Not a single writer and poet of this era has ignored this topic. Yes, it could be transformed, for example, into a love of people (remember Gorky Danko) or the Motherland (this is, perhaps, most of Mayakovsky’s work or works of the war years). But there is exceptional literature about love: these are soulful poems by S. Yesenin, poets of the Silver Age. If we talk about prose - this is primarily the "Master and Margarita" by M. Bulgakov.
The love that arises between the heroes is sudden, it “pops up” from nowhere. The master draws attention to Margarita's eyes, so sad and lonely.
Lovers do not experience an all-consuming passion, rather, on the contrary - it is quiet, calm, domestic happiness.
However, at the most critical moment, only love helps Margarita save the Masters and their feelings, even if not in the human world.
Esenin's Love Lyrics
The theme of love in Russian literature of the 20th century is also poetry. Consider in this vein the work of S. Yesenin. The poet inextricably linked this bright feeling with nature, his love is extremely chaste and strongly attached to the biography of the poet himself. A striking example is the poem "Green Hairstyle." Here, all the traits of L. Kashina, dear to Yesenin (the work is dedicated to her) are represented through the beauty of the Russian birch: thin camp, pigtails-branches.
“Moscow kabatskaya” reveals a completely different love to us, now it is “infection” and “plague”. Such images are associated, first of all, with the emotional experiences of the poet, who feels his uselessness.
Healing comes in the series “Love of a Hooligan”. The culprit is A. Miklashevskaya, who cured Yesenin of torment. He again believed that there is true love, inspiring and regenerating.
In his last poems, Yesenin condemns the deceitfulness and insincerity of women, he believes that this feeling should be deeply sincere and life-affirming, giving people a footing. Such, for example, the poem "Leaves fall, leaves fall ...".
Silver Age Poets of Love
The theme of love in Russian literature of the Silver Age is the work of not only S. Yesenin, but also A. Akhmatova, M. Tsvetaeva, A. Blok, O. Mandelstam and many others. All of them are united by a very fine mental organization, and suffering and happiness are the main associates of the muses of poets and poetesses.
Examples of love in Russian literature of the 20th century are the great A. Akhmatova and M. Tsvetaeva. The latter is a “trembling doe”, sensual, vulnerable. Love for her is the meaning of life, something that makes not only create, but also exist in this world. “I like that you are not sick with me” is her masterpiece, full of light sadness and contradictions. And this is the whole Tsvetaeva. The poem “I looked into my eyes yesterday” was saturated with the same penetrating lyricism. This is, perhaps, a kind of hymn to all the women in love: “My dear, what have I done to you?”
A completely different topic of love in Russian literature in the image of A. Akhmatova. This is the tension of all the senses and thoughts of man. Akhmatova herself gave this feeling a definition - "the fifth season of the year." But if it were not for him, the other four would not be visible. The love of the poetess is loud, affirmative, returning to natural principles.