Mikhail Lomonosov is Leonardo da Vinci of Russian history. A man who managed to contribute to the development of many sciences in his life, contributed to the emergence of higher education in Russia, and wrote scientific works in chemistry and physics, literature and linguistics, history and geography. He left behind drawings of a helicopter and theories about the structure of the Russian language. This article gives: a summary of the ode that Lomonosov wrote in 1743, “Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God,” an analysis of this ode and the history of writing.
Lomonosov as a poet
As a brilliant scientist and statesman, Mikhail Lomonosov is known to many. But after all, he was also a poet, and according to the acknowledgment of many, perhaps the best poet of his era. He did a lot for the development of the Russian language and literature, he wrote great. Many of Lomonosov’s poems are now part of the literature study program of that period.
To do poetry, according to sources, Lomonosov began at an early age. After him there were a lot of works in completely different genres: these are odes, and lyric poems, and fables, and tragedies, and poems filled with patriotic pathos. But still, like many poets of that era, Lomonosov gave his preferences to such a genre as an ode. Let's take a closer look at this genre of versification.
What is an ode
This type of lyric poem originated in ancient Greece. The essence of the ode is to express the delight caused by any object or phenomenon, and convey this delight exclusively by an exalted syllable, with due pathos. Odes can be on the accession of any emperor to the throne, turned to God, inspired by grandiose events that influenced history. Translated from Greek, "ode" is "song." In ancient Greece, the most famous poet who wrote the most famous odes of that era was Pindar. One of the main topics that inspired him for new songs is the winners of the Olympic Games. Actually, then the expression "to sing heroes" was born. In ancient Rome, the most significant poet who wrote odes was Horace Flaccus. Having carried out an analysis in this article for the ode "Evening Reflection on God's Majesty" (Lomonosov), we will find out with you whether Lomonosov has "gone far from the canons."
Odes in the Russian Empire
The heyday of this genre in Russia fell on the eighteenth century. The first to create in this genre was one of the most famous Russian poets of the "pre-Pushkin era" V. K. Trediakovsky. The main idea of ​​an ode in Russia, like Antiquity, is a glorification, often very pompous, and therefore too pathos. Following Trediakovsky, Mikhail Lomonosov began to write in this genre, and at the end of the eighteenth century G. Derzhavin. The influence of these poets and the genre affects the early work of Alexander Pushkin, but during the nineteenth century the ode genre as one of the most important in the work of Russian poets faded. Although at the beginning of the twentieth century, the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote the work "Ode to the Revolution." But this is still an exception, for poetry has found itself in other forms.
Evening Meditation on God's Majesty: A History of Creation
In 1743, in the month of May, Lomonosov was taken into custody due to a conflict with foreign professors working at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Arts. Mikhail Lomonosov spent exactly eight months in the cell. Researchers of his biography note that this period is marked by his vigorous activity both in the sciences and in his work. It was while in custody that Mikhail Lomonosov wrote the poem "Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God" in the genre of ode.
In general, introducing God into the title is an attempt to please royal censorship. We will not blame the famous Russian scientist and poet for this, because in difficult situations many have resorted to this method - both Alexander Pushkin, and Derzhavin, and Dostoevsky, who wrote any praises and dedications to the imperial family or events from Russian history. So did Lomonosov with the goal of achieving speedy liberation.
But in the work itself, Mikhail Lomonosov held several thoughts that aroused great indignation of the church authorities. But the content of the ode "Evening reflection on the majesty of God" (Lomonosov), the analysis of this work, the main idea is in the following sections. Let's start.
Evening Meditation on God's Majesty: Summary
Why is the church authorities so disliked ode? Let's figure it out. In this work, Lomonosov, calling man "a grain of sand in front of a majestic and bottomless universe," does not at all play down the significance of man and his capabilities.
Night falls to the earth, covers everything around with a shadow, and a person sees an abyss that is full of stars. And, seeing this abyss, a person realizes himself as a grain of sand in an infinite universe. And before the bottomless abyss that has opened, a person begins to feel like a grain of sand in this Universe. "Drowning" in this abyss, a man in search of answers turns to someone who knows absolutely everything. And although answers to questions are not given, the person continues the search. And in the ode to “Evening reflection on the majesty of God," the main idea is to show a person just like that: never retreating before a lack of knowledge or answers, constantly searching, constantly doubting.
Perhaps this is what the church authorities did not like. A person, according to their understanding, should be timid, humble and supple, and here - a completely different image.
Analysis of the work
This poem is not just an ode. These are Lomonosov’s poetic thoughts about science. Indeed, the poem speaks of a "multitude of lights", and yet Lomonosov claimed a multitude of inhabited worlds, albeit many thousands and millions of kilometers from Earth. Part of the work is dedicated to the northern lights as a natural phenomenon, which was also studied by Mikhail Lomonosov.
Ode underwent changes at every publication: it is clear that Lomonosov was looking for the ideal form for expressing his thoughts. The work was first published in "Rhetoric" in 1748. Later reprinted twice - in 1751 and 1758. As the researchers of Lomonosov’s creativity note , in the final version the poet managed to achieve the highest quality “mixture” of the Lomonosov-poet and the Lomonosov-scientist.
Criticism and Evaluation
In 1765, the poem was first published in France. In 1766 and 1778, two other translations came out, which were very favorably received by French readers. In 1802, in the city of Revel (now Tallinn), the ode was released in German.
The Russian writer of the nineteenth century, Nikolai Gogol, wrote that "in such works of Lomonosov, a naturalist rather than a poet is visible." Plekhanov echoes him: "Lomonosov becomes a truly sensitive poet not when he writes about something from the point of view of a myth, but when he looks at things as a natural scientist."
The value of the work
Odes of a spiritual direction are distinguished by specialists from the entire poetic heritage of Lomonosov as the most mature and perfect not only in content, but also in the form of the work. Their style and manner of writing is very honed by Lomonosov through very frequent alterations. And the images drawn by metaphors remain very vivid and vibrant to this day.
The theme of Mikhail Lomonosov's “Evening Reflections on God's Majesty” will more than once find a response in the works of poets of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, such as Derzhavin, Pushkin, Tyutchev. The problems of the relationship between man and God will worry our classics, because where else but in Russian literature such concepts as "earthly" and "heavenly" are found everywhere. Of course, when classicism with very strict canons and forms became a thing of the past, giving way to poetry more realistic and less sublime, odes as a style for the most part also outlived themselves. But there remained emotional tension, spiritual quest, confusion of man "in the middle of the world", as Arseny Tarkovsky would write in the twentieth century. Attempts to “establish contact” between man and God will not disappear through prayers, but not poetry. And the series of prophets bearing the eternal, sincere, divine will not disappear anywhere. And, starting with the "Prophet" by Alexander Pushkin, then Mikhail Lermontov, Russian poets and writers will prophesy, try to speak on behalf of God or try to negotiate with him. But the main thing is that they will create.
A brief summary of "Evening Reflection on the Majesty of God" is given in this article, it only confirms the assertion that the theme of the relationship between God and man in Russian poetry was set precisely by Lomonosov.
Conclusion
Mikhail Lomonosov left a huge mark in Russian culture and science. Part of his research, despite the development of science, is relevant, his historical works are striking in the depth of knowledge, and Lomonosov’s poems are read and studied. Perhaps, few can be called such people who managed to do so much for their Fatherland in their life. Historian and geographer, linguist and chemist, poet and physicist - you can list for a long time, but the main thing is that he was a real patriot of his country. This article was devoted to an ode to “An Evening Reflection on God's Majesty” (Lomonosov), an analysis (rather detailed), a brief summary of the work, as well as showing the main themes of creativity, telling about the facts of the biography of a truly “big man for Russian history”.