Fyodor Tyutchev's poetic work "Madness" is considered one of the most unusual and most mysterious. In the poet's work there are few rhymed quatrains that would not have been deciphered by literary critics to this day.
"Madness" caused quite a stir. Someone regarded the poem as self-critical and believed that Tyutchev decided to refute his prophetic gift. Another part of literary connoisseurs imagined that the poet simply decided to oppose the current of natural philosophy. In any case, each of the versions that have appeared has its own truth.
Already in the title of the poem, you can catch its main theme - madness. And again, this concept was interpreted in completely different ways. In one version, wise people were considered insane who could see the truth in the most ordinary things. In another interpretation, madness was considered a serious illness that overshadowed the purity of thoughts. Fyodor Tyutchev connects the concept of insanity with the gift of foresight.
The events in the poem take place in the desert. And there is an explanation for this. Firstly, the poet associated the desert with that cozy and secluded place where you can indulge in thought and be alone with yourself. On the other hand, Tyutchev calls the desert a place for the final judgment that takes place in the life of every person.
In his subsequent works, the poet again and again turned to the topic of prophecy. And a vivid confirmation of this is the poem dedicated to A. Fet "To others inherited from nature ...".
What is madness? Illness or happiness? Why do people become insane? Why do they lose their minds? Anyone who reads the title of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev's poem "Madness" may have these questions. In general, this topic was not just popular in the 19th century: almost every novice poet necessarily touched on it in his work. How not to recall the famous poem "God forbid me to go crazy ...", written by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Someone was frightened by madness, someone believed that only by losing your mind, you can become truly happy.
In any case, when a young man, who has not yet crossed the threshold of thirty (and Tyutchev at the time of writing this poem in 1830, was only 27 years old) writes about madness, a natural question arises: what prompted him to turn to this topic? It should be noted that the theme of insanity as a kind of high poetic state of mind was widespread in the first third of the 19th century. At the same time, madness manifested itself as a form of poetic and somewhere even mystical intuition. It's only strange why Tyutchev endows madness with an epithet "Pathetic".
In general, the feeling is created that we are faced with a person who survived the Apocalypse, at least the beginning of the poem evokes just such an association:
Where the earth is burnt
Merged like smoke, the firmament ...
One can imagine what a person could experience when he saw with his own eyes how the earthly firmament was crumbling, and now he has no choice but to stay in "Cheerful carefree"... Yes, it would seem that the madman is happy and carefree. But no! Tyutchev's madman, as if suffering some kind of punishment ( "Under hot rays, buried in the fiery sands"), "Looking for something in the clouds", and "Glass eyes"... Why does this metaphor arise? The expression "glazed eyes" is widespread, that is, frozen, focused on something. Usually such a reaction occurs due to a huge shock or because a person has renounced reality for a while. It can be assumed that here, too, the hero is so immersed in himself,
That hears the flow of underground waters
And a noisy exodus from the earth!
True, with the word "thinks" the author expresses rather an ironic attitude towards a madman, who thinks himself capable of supposedly foreseeing something. This is also indicated by "Secret contentment on the brow", which speaks both of dedication to certain mysteries of being, and of the insanity of a madman.
Tyutchev's poem was and remains one of the most mysterious works of the 19th century. For the second century, many critics have been struggling to solve it. Of course, we will not be able to say for sure which idea the author wanted to express. After all, according to Tyutchev himself, "The thought spoken is a lie" ... Still, you can try to find the clues.
In 1836 (6 years after "The Madman") Tyutchev wrote the poem "Cicero", the lines from which became quite famous and popular:
Blessed is he who has visited this world
In his fatal moments!
In Russia, holy fools were often called blessed, in fact, the same madmen. After all, it is they who can be truly happy, since they do not realize the frailty of earthly existence. But in the poem "Cicero" the "blessed" was "called upon by the all-good", that is, the arbiters of destinies. Becoming a witness to "high spectacles" and drinking "from the cup of their immortality", the hero gets the opportunity to become, if not a prophet, then a participant and chronicler of great historical events. It is also a heavy burden to make history in an era of changes, and this can hardly be compared with the “cheerful carelessness” in which the hero of “Madman” dwells and pays with this very madness, moreover, “pathetic”. It can be assumed that Tyutchev did not see the point in high poetic madness. After all, there have been many madmen in our history, moreover, madmen, as they say, of the highest rank - those who led crowds of followers, who ruled the people and decided destinies. Such madness is no longer pathetic, it is terrible.
In addition to the analysis of Madness, there are other works:
- Analysis of the poem by F.I. Tyutchev "Silentium!"
- "Autumn evening", analysis of the poem by Tyutchev
Where with burnt earth
The firmament merged like smoke, -
There in the merry carelessness
Miserable madness lives on.
Under the hot rays
Buried in the fiery sands
It has glass eyes
Looking for something in the clouds.
It will suddenly pop up and, with a sensitive ear
Falling to the cracked ground
He hears something with an eager ear
With a secret contentment on his brow.
And thinks that he hears jets of boiling,
That hears the flow of underground waters
And their lullaby singing
And a noisy exodus from the earth!
Analysis of the poem "Madness" Tyutchev
"Madness" is an example of the baroque-romantic poetry of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev.
The poem was written in 1830. Its author turned 27 at this time, he is married and serves Russia in the diplomatic field in Germany. By genre - philosophical lyrics, by size - iambic with cross rhyme, 4 stanzas. Closed and open rhymes are equally divided. The lyrical hero is quite exotic. This is an animated madness, but by the way, just a mad person who imagines that he is able to discover all the secrets of life. In stanza 1, either the horizon line or a universal catastrophe is described: the sky merges with the burnt Earth. It is there, between heaven and earth, that Madness resides. It does not grieve there, on the contrary, it has fun, not knowing worries, avoiding all seriousness and earthly shadows. Actually, that's why it is "pathetic". What does a person hope for if he behaves like an ostrich, according to the well-known expression, burying his head in the sand? fatigue) into the clouds. “He is looking for something”: more precisely, he invents, composes. In stanza 3, not paying attention to anything, obeying only his inner voice, he already eagerly listens to the sounds of the earth, leaning to it with his “sensitive ear”. It seems to him that he is a discoverer, a winner, a leader who gives others living water. In the final quatrain, "imagines" can be interpreted in two ways. And how he “imagines” - which means that the poet cruelly asserts that the hero is deceiving himself and others, and how he “almost hears” really existing, but hidden sources of Water. The thirst is not only physical, but mental, and, who knows, and spiritual torments the hero. He is waiting for renewal, transformation, revival of hope. Researchers tend to bring this poem closer to the system of later existentialism, the horror of life, and the polemic with Pushkin's "Prophet" (F. Tyutchev, it turns out, is not inclined to exaggerate the possibilities of art in comprehending the world, all the more, to compare them with prophetic ministry), and skepticism about the views of natural philosophers who deduced from dowsing (the search for water by people with special abilities) the idea of \u200b\u200bthe power of man and his "cooperation" with nature. Refrain-anaphora "there". Comparison: like smoke. Dots at the end of each stanza. Epithets: lullaby, noisy.
In F. Tyutchev's philosophical lyrics, there are often notes of despair and doubt, the elevation of man and his humiliation.
Some critics believe that Madness is about certain water seekers. Other literary scholars believe that this work is a kind of self-critical statement, created against the natural philosophy of Schelling and his patrons. There is also a version that the lines of the poem indicate doubts present in the poet's soul, he is unsure of his personal prophetic gift.
As with so many common data, the true thought lies somewhere in between. Grains of the main idea are drawn from all directions, they are scattered over various topics and interpretation options. That is why it would be wrong to deny this or that option proposed by critics.
The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe verse "Madness"
The main theme of the work is hidden in the title itself - it is madness that will answer this question. The first third of the nineteenth century is distinguished by the presence of this trend among many poets of that time. This topic was revealed in completely different ways and had two main cardinal points of view.
This topic was perceived by some readers as a true manifestation of wisdom, which allows you to explore the hidden secrets of real life. Usually behind them were various ailments, terrible tragedies that befell a constantly thinking person. This direction was used in his works and Baratynsky, who wrote poems entitled "The Last Death", "In madness there is thought." Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin did not exclude such topics from his works. His world-famous masterpiece, entitled "God forbid me to go crazy ...", reflects precisely the psychological instability at the time of writing, as well as hopelessness.
FI Tyutchev reveals the above-described topic in his own way, from a completely new side. In the work, the concept of madness is associated with a certain carelessness, overflowing with constant fun. Joyful moments are combined with a certain foresight. Particularly interesting is the epithet indicating pity, as well as various contradictory characteristics that form a kind of unity of thought.
Where with burnt earth
Merged like smoke from the firmament, -
There in the merry carelessness
Miserable madness lives on.
Under the hot rays
Buried in the fiery sands
It has glass eyes
Looking for something in the clouds.
Falling to the cracked ground
He hears something with an eager ear
With a secret contentment on his brow.
That hears the flow of underground waters
And their lullaby singing
And a noisy exodus from the earth! ..
Analysis of the work "Madness"
Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev created the plot of the poem in a very unique way. He gives the reader answers to many questions. For example: "What really is, is this madness?", "What is better - illness or happiness?", "What leads people to madness?" and much more. Such questions will certainly be discernible to the reader after reading the first lines of the masterpiece.
The popular theme of the 19th century did not allow any poet of that time to pass by. Fedor Tyutchev created truly unique lines that differed significantly from the thoughts of his contemporaries. The author notes that some people are afraid of the presence of insanity, but for other people, loss of reason due to certain reasons. This is the beginning of something new that will surely lead to complete happiness and satisfaction.
If you take a closer look at the poem, the reader immediately has an inexplicable feeling of understatement. It is completely incomprehensible to the reader why a person who has just stepped over the thirty-year milestone or only approached it, writes works on such a destructive topic. It should be noted that at the time of writing, namely in 1830, Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev was only 27 years old. The theme of insanity belonged to a certain direction, indicating the state of mind of the poet, therefore it was widespread.
The direction in the form of madness was presented to the reader in the form of a kind of poetic thought based on certain mystical qualities and intuition, not similar to the natural one. It is considered very strange that Tyutchev, for some reason, attributed the epithet "pitiful" here. After reading the lines, the reader has the feeling that the described lyrical hero recently experienced a kind of Apocalypse. This is especially indicated by the very beginning of the work, which describes the burnt earth and sky in smoke.
It is this approach used by Fyodor Ivanovich that allows the reader to clearly imagine what is happening to the person who sees it with his own eyes. How the earth is crumbling under his feet. A person simply has no choice but to perceive the universe exactly as it really is. At first glance, it seems to the reader that the lyric hero is happy and does not feel any worries, but in reality everything is completely different. The madman, represented by Tyutchev, seems to endure a certain punishment, which he received consciously. This fact is confirmed by the lines indicating that the hero is located under hot rays, closing himself in the fiery sands.
A very interesting phrase used by the author of the work, "glass eyes". Here the question immediately arises: "What does the use of this metaphor lead to?" An expression indicating a glazed gaze shows that the lyrical hero is focused, standing still on a certain object or situation. Such a reaction in a person arises after realizing some kind of shock and detachment from existing reality. The lyrical hero is immersed in himself and is in thought over the existing life problem.
Attracts attention and the word "thinks". Thus, the author tries to express his attitude towards the madman, saturated with irony. According to the poet, the lyrical hero has an imaginary feeling that he is capable of foreseeing something in the future. Many lines speak about this direction, for example, "secret contentment on the forehead," indicating initiation into certain secrets of life, as well as the insanity of the human person.
Features of F.I.Tyutchev's creativity
A poem called "Madness" both in the 19th century and today is considered the most mysterious work of the nineteenth century. Many critics are struggling to solve it at the present time. Until now, it is not really known what exactly the real thought used by the author is. The clue is further aggravated by the words of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, describing that the uttered thought is in fact a lie. There are many clues and everyone wants to find them.
It should be noted that six years after writing the poem "Madman", Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev wrote a work called "Cicero". The lines of this masterpiece evoke memories associated with the sensational work about a crazy lyrical hero.
You need to understand the history and meaning of the word holy fool. It was in Russia that those people who had inclinations to madness were called holy fools. Only such a person is able to truly feel happiness from everyday things, not realizing the frailty of simple earthly existence.
In the work "Madder", a person who is the arbiter of destinies is described as a blissful and crazy person. A person who has turned out to be a witness to certain high spectacles and, having tested immortality, will receive a certain opportunity to possess a specific prophetic gift, as well as a chronicler of great world events.
It should be noted that this specific burden is also a heavy burden. Not everyone is given in a certain era of constant change to create a true story, which can hardly be compared with serene fun and carelessness. It is in this state that the main lyrical hero of the poem is located, who pays for his actions with madness, described in the masterpiece in the role of a certain pity.
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev did not see much sense in the described poetic madness. The author points out the fact that at present there are a huge number of madmen - they can be among both ordinary people and a person who creates and regulates the fate of others. And such madness is not simply pitiful or dangerous, it is scary.
"Madness" Fyodor Tyutchev
Where with burnt earth
The firmament merged like smoke, -
There in the merry carelessness
Miserable madness lives on.Under the hot rays
Buried in the fiery sands
It has glass eyes
Looking for something in the clouds.It will suddenly pop up and, with a sensitive ear
Falling to the cracked ground
He hears something with an eager ear
With a secret contentment on his brow.And thinks that he hears jets of boiling,
That hears the flow of underground waters
And their lullaby singing
And a noisy exodus from the earth!
The key theme of the poem is stated in its title - madness. In the first third of the nineteenth century, poets often turned to her. It was revealed from two radically different points of view. Madness was perceived either as a real manifestation of wisdom, allowing one to comprehend the innermost secrets of life, or as a serious illness, a terrible tragedy for a thinking person. The first interpretation is found in Baratynsky's poem "The Last Death": "... Reason borders on madness." Pushkin adhered to the second point of view, which was reflected in the famous work "God forbid me to go crazy ...". Tyutchev's theme is revealed in a new way. He associates insanity with cheerful carelessness and foresight. In addition, the poet gives him the epithet "pitiful." On the one hand, contradictory characteristics are listed, on the other, they still form a unity.
Tyutchev returned to one of the key motives of the poem - the motive of the prophetic gift inherent in the poet - in a late lyrical expression - "He got it to others from nature ..." (1862). A small work of only eight lines is dedicated to Fet.
What is madness? Illness or happiness? Why do people become insane? Why do they lose their minds? Anyone who reads the title of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev's poem "Madness" may have these questions. In general, this topic was not just popular in the 19th century: almost every novice poet necessarily touched on it in his work. How not to recall the famous poem "God forbid me to go crazy ...", written by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Someone was frightened by madness, someone believed that only by losing your mind, you can become truly happy.
Where the earth is burnt
..
And a noisy exodus from the earth!
Blessed is he who has visited this world
In his fatal moments!
In Russia, holy fools were often called blessed, in fact, the same madmen. After all, it is they who can be truly happy, since they do not realize the frailty of earthly existence. But in the poem "Cicero" the "blessed" was "summoned by the all-good", that is, the arbiters of destinies. Becoming a witness to "high spectacles" and drinking "from the cup of their immortality", the hero gets the opportunity to become, if not a prophet, then a participant and chronicler of great historical events. It is also a heavy burden to make history in an era of changes, and this can hardly be compared with the “cheerful carelessness” in which the hero of “Madman” dwells and pays with this very madness, moreover, “pathetic”. It can be assumed that Tyutchev did not see the point in high poetic madness. After all, there have been many madmen in our history, moreover, madmen, as they say, of the highest rank - those who led crowds of followers, who ruled the people and decided destinies. Such madness is no longer pathetic, it is terrible.
Poem "Madness"
Where with burnt earth
The firmament merged like smoke, -
There in the merry carelessness
Miserable madness lives on.
Under the hot rays
Buried in the fiery sands
It has glass eyes
Looking for something in the clouds.
It will suddenly pop up and, with a sensitive ear
Falling to the cracked ground
He hears something with an eager ear
With a secret contentment on his brow.
And thinks that he hears jets of boiling,
That hears the flow of underground waters
And their lullaby singing
And a noisy exodus from the earth !.
Tolstoguzov P.N.
Tyutchev's poem "Madness": an experience of extended analysis
Tolstoguzov P.N. Tyutchev's poem "Madness": the experience of extended analysis // Russian speech. - 1998. - No. 5. - S. 3-15.
F.I.Tyutchev's poem "Madness", dated presumably in 1830 (published in 1834), is, according to V.V. Kozhinov, "mysterious" and has not yet found a "convincing interpretation" (see Tyutchev F.I. . Poems. M. 1976. S. 302). K.V. Pigarev assumed that this poem is about water seekers, N.Ya. Berkovsky wrote that Tyutchev had an attack on Schelling's natural philosophy. “Water seekers and miners are people of special importance in the eyes of Schelling and his followers. Water seekers are dedicated, confidants of nature itself. Tyutchev could hear in Munich about the famous Kampetti water seeker, called to this city in 1807. Campetti was the favorite of the Munich Schellengists - Ritter, Baader and, finally, Schelling himself. Schelling wrote about water finders in his "Investigations of Human Freedom" (1809), well known to Tyutche-
woo. Thus, the last stanza of "Madness" - according to its plot "stanza of Kampetti" - precisely indicates with what worldview Tyutchev is arguing "(Berkovsky N. Ya. About Russian Literature. L. 1985, p. 175). K.V.Pigarev pointed out the connection of "Madness" with the later message to A.A. Fet ("It got to others from nature.", 1862). This observation allowed V.V. Kozhinov to conclude that the first stanza of the message, directly related to "Madness", contains Tyutchev's auto-characterization and that "Madness" is "a sharp self-critical poem in which the poet expressed agonizing doubts about his visionary gift." (Kozhinov V.V. in the same place). B. Ya. Bukhshtab attributed "Madness" to those Tyutchev texts that contain "images with a touch of romantic mysticism" and at the same time "are painted with skepticism" (Bukhshtab B. Ya. Russian poets. L. 1970, p. 35).
Without disputing any of the above considerations on this indeed mysterious poem, let us try to clarify the boundaries of its interpretation, bearing in mind that for Russian poetry of the first third of the 19th century, “the recognition of thematic complexes is a secondary moment in relation to the recognition of the dictionary” (Ginzburg L Ya. About old and new. L. 1982, p. 203). The poets of the Tyutchev era used stable formulas, "words-signals" (the expression of V.A. Goffman) within the artistic sphere they had mastered. Observations on the use of such formulas, epigonic or experimental, can significantly expand the scope of commenting. When working with Tyutchev's texts, this is all the more important, because even Yu.N. Tynyanov drew attention to such a feature of Tyutchev's poetry as literary... "Tyutchev's poems are associated with a number of literary associations, and to a large extent his poetry is poetry about poetry" (Tynyanov Yu. N. Pushkin and his contemporaries. M. 1969, p. 190).
Where with burnt earth
(The poem "Madness, quoted in: Tyutchev F.I. Complete collection of poems. L. 1987.)
The distinction between "earth" and "heaven", so characteristic of the romantic worldview and romantic poetry, is here replaced by the apocalyptic image of "merged" origins. Something similar can be found in Shevyrev's translation of Schiller's poem "Die Grösse der Welt" ("Infinity", 1825), where the "silence of spontaneous battle" of the first principles is a sign of the "limits of the universe", or in FN Glinka's "Search for God" (c. . 1826 - 1830): “I see
affairs: the skies were dark. And the heavens smoked menacingly. Everything has become ardor, everything is fire. " Characterized by figurative cosmism, the apocalypticism of the smoky and hazy landscape at Tyutchev and space in the text of FN Glinka and in the translation of SP Shevyrev: “And the sky is behind me / Clothed with darkness. ". Here "God has set a borderline by creation" (Shevyrev, "Infinity"). However, Tyutchev is extremely laconic: he omits cosmological and theological details and explanations, as well as a visionary ("I saw") introduction.
There in the merry carelessness
Miserable madness lives on.
The theme of madness is one of the most fundamental for the literature of the first third of the 19th century. It contains a semantic counterpoint: madness as a high poetic state of mind, a form of manifestation of poetic, mystical intuition (here “reason borders on madness” - E.A. Baratynsky, “The Last Death”, 1827) and madness is a serious injury to the spirit, its numbness, when a person turns into a "cold idol", in which "the heavenly fire of the mind burns out noticeably" (VN Shchastny. "Mad", 1827). Wed a question expressing the internal inconsistency of this theme in the story of N.A. Polevoy "The Bliss of Madness" (1833): "Really. only madness is the true manifestation of wisdom and the revelation of the mysteries of being? "
“Carelessness” and “fun” in the poetic tradition of the beginning of the 19th century are synonyms of anacreontic “carelessness”, which is a hallmark of the poet and poetical and philosophical pastime (“the carefree Poet” in the message “To friends” by K. N. Batyushkov, 1815; Pushkin : "Blessed is he who has fun / At ease, without worries." - "Town", 1815).
In Tyutchev's work, “cheerful carelessness” is almost oxymoronally associated with “pathetic Madness”, and this turn of the topic reminds of a widespread lyrical plot: the poet refuses “carelessness” to speak “in the language of free Truth,” but is disappointed, because “for the crowd, insignificant and deaf / Ridiculous voice of the noble heart "(Pushkin," V.F. Raevsky ", 1822; the same theme in" Conversation of a bookseller with a poet ", 1824: the previously" careless "and sociable poet retires into the" wilderness ", and his confession should seem to the uninitiated "madman wild babbling"). Tyutchev's attention to the theme of high poetic madness is evidenced by an excerpt from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" translated by him at the end of the 1820s: "Lovers, madmen and poets / From one imagination merged."
In Madness, the theme takes on a new meaning: carefree fun, visionary gift and the pitiful position of a madman.
call internally contradictory and at the same time united characteristic.
Under the hot rays
Buried in the fiery sands
The image of the desert landscape in the poetry of the Tyutchev era is just as polysemantic. The desert is a place of poetic and philosophical seclusion, a refuge for hermits and prophets. In Faust we find a number of meanings associated with the desert landscape: hermitage, emptiness, philosophical “nothing” (Öde und Einsamkeit, Wildernis, Leere, Nichts; see the first act of the second part, scene “Dark Gallery”). This metaphysical setting is characterized by the absence of space and time in their earthly sense (“kein Ort, noch weniger eine Zeit,” according to Mephistopheles). Finally, the desert is the place of the last judgment, the place where the cosmic destinies of man take place (the setting of "Anchar" and "The Prophet" in Pushkin, he also has the "Arabian hurricane" in "Feast during the Plague" as an image of one of the disastrous, but together with the elements that meet the deep demand of human nature; compare also with FN Glinka's poem “Suddenly something black flashed.”, between 1826 - 1834, where the arena of apocalyptic action becomes “desert ends”). In addition, the desert is a metaphor for life as a vale, a painfully colorless existence in frozen life forms (compare, for example, in Brentano's “Ich bin durch die Wüste gezogen”, 1816, or in E.A. Baratynsky's “desert of being” in “ Longing for happiness from infancy. ”, 1823).
A certain shade of orientality that often accompanies this motif in poetry of the 1920s and 1930s is hardly preserved here in Tyutchev, and cannot have an independent meaning in Madness. Just like the "hot soil" in Pushkin's "Anchara", both the metaphysical desert in "Faust" and the "fiery sands" in "Madness" have an extremely generalized flavor of the place where the fifth act of human history, the "day of wrath", is played out. (In Tyutchev's "Urania" - no later than 1820 - the desert appears as a symbol of the frailty of the historical "Babylon": "Where is Babylon here, where is Thebes? - where is my city. They are not! - Its rays are lost in the steppes, / Where the catcher will mournfully meet them, or orat, / Fruitlessly burrowing in the fiery sands.)
If we return to thinking about the semantic duality of Tyutchev's text, then it reveals the necessary arguments here too: the “charred earth” with its “fiery sands” turns out to be both a place of judgment and a haven, a refuge for “pathetic Madness” (it is difficult to imagine that “ on the hot soil ", in Pushkin's" Anchara ", someone could live: the point is that
only a poisonous tree can exist in these places. Like Pushkin's slave, Faustus overcomes the hostile spaces of the desert with the greatest difficulty). They bring together the meanings that were not previously combined in tradition (those that were not combined by Tyutchev himself. So in the "Message of Horace.", 1819, the idyll of the "sacred grove" as a place of solitude, the emblematic image of the "thorny desert" of life and the cosmic image of the formidable element - "Already the heavenly lion with a heavy foot within the heat has become - and flows a fiery path. "- are completely independent and do not overlap each other).
A separate note is about the epithets "incandescent" and "fiery". They - first of all "fiery" (and his substitutes - "ardent", "fiery") - are very characteristic of the early Tyutchev (according to our observations, the epithet "fiery" in various meanings is found in about every fourth poem of the poet of the 1920s - early 30s) and for the poetic tradition: "fiery love", "fiery heart", "fiery chest", "flame of passions", "holy flame of inspiration", etc. Moreover, the metaphorical meaning of this word was more common, although Tyutchev himself has examples of the use of a meaning close to the subject (the "fiery path" of the sun in the "Epistle of Horace.", "Fiery sands" in "Urania", 1820, "fiery sky" in the poem "From the Other Side" - a free translation from Heine, "a hot ball of the sun" in "Summer Evening", etc.) Of course, "fiery sands" - this is almost obvious objectivity (sands are hot like a flame), but hardly Only she. The allusibility of Tyutchev's texts does not allow us to relax even for a minute - the epithet here continues to retain a kind of semantic "suspension", extraneous to the objective meaning.
The fact is that the "flame" in poetry of the early 19th century is not used as an image without having - directly or in subtext - a semantic opposition, some, relatively speaking, "coldness". In the "flame of passions" they not only burn, but also burn out (EA Baratynsky: "How terribly you burned out!" - "How many you are in a few days.", 1825), life "cools" a person (he, " Look at this cold face. ", 1825), people are compared as exponents of" flame "and" ice "(Onegin and Lensky in Eugene Onegin). This opposition can form a plot, as in the poem "From the Other Side" (Tyutchev's free translation from Heine), it can express natural philosophical and theological content: in FN Glinka's "Search for God", for example, "fervor" and "fire", in which the lyrical hero “does not see” God, the “silence” is contrastingly replaced by revelations about the otherworldly, “unearthly”. In Tyutchev's "Summer Evening" it is a metaphor for the "hot feet" of nature, touching the underground springs (a theme that will then be developed in the famous poems "Day and Night" and "Holy Night has risen into the sky.").
In "Madness" such a contrast is obvious - "fiery sands" form opposition to "underground waters" (in the last stanza), but if "flame" and "coldness" in tradition metaphorically formulated the idea of \u200b\u200bthe struggle between human or universal principles, then here they are, rather, complement each other: "fiery sands" - a natural (and the only possible, as indicated by the initial "where,") sphere of existence for "Madness of the Pathetic" and an equally natural sphere of his searches. The semantic opposition is losing stability: there is nothing to "burn out" and nothing to "cool down". The "underground water current" cannot change the face of the burnt earth, because its medium is Madness. Fire here loses its purifying and judicial meaning, and water ceases to be the giver of life.
It has glass eyes
Looking for something in the clouds.
The "glass eyes" of Madness resemble a "motionless" look, which often figured as an obligatory detail of a romantic portrait (where "stillness" could mean the highest degree of contemplative concentration; see S. Shevyrev: "I contemplated with a motionless eye" - "Wisdom", 1828 ; in general, such "immobility" could be a mystical, fatal sign: the "immobile" eyes of the usurer in Gogol's "Portrait", edition of "Arabesques", 1835), which Tyutchev himself often resorted to during this period (for example, in the poem "Swan" " the motionless eyes "of the eagle, with which, by the way, he" sucks in the sun's light ", that is, the direction of the gaze remains the same as in" Madness "). But before us is not just a figurative correspondence, but decline motive: "glass eyes" express the meaning of idiotic prostration, contemplation takes on the character of a simple reflection. Oxymoronism here is born from a combination of search (“looking for something”) and its deliberate sterility (the sight of the blind). Another plan of reminiscences that the poet may have counted on is again associated with the biblical topic. There is a well-known, very expressive image in the Apocalypse in which glass and fire are the main characteristics: “And I saw, as it were, a sea of \u200b\u200bglass mixed with fire; and those who conquered the beast, and his image, and his mark and the number of his name, stand on this glass sea, holding the gusli of God ”(Rev. 15: 2). Another famous example from Scripture is even more eloquent, for in it sight and glass are connected: “Now we see, as it were through dull glass, fortune-telling ”(1 Cor. 13, 12). Both examples are directly related to eschatological issues. In fact, both in the Apostolic Epistle and in the already mentioned poems of the wisdom of the people we are talking about blindness a person ("the sun blinded his eyes", "the gaze is vaguely contemplating" in SP Shevyrev), blindness before the manifestation of superintelligent principles.
The author treats him negatively, calling him "pitiful madness", which already strikingly distinguishes him from those poets who worshiped madness. The reader should note that insanity in this case does not personify mental illness, but the state of the poetic spirit.
All of Tyutchev's poems are a real mystery, and for several centuries now writers of the whole world have been struggling to solve it. Likewise, with the poem "Madness", we cannot say for sure how the poet relates to his literary hero. He gives us his detachment from this world.
By his "glass" eyes, one can understand that he saw something terrible, exciting and from this he was greatly amazed. At the very beginning of the poem Tyutchev writes: "Where there is burnt earth". Perhaps it was this Armageddon that the literary hero of the poem survived. This forced him to renounce the world and dig deeply into himself.
The madman, as it were, foresees the sad future of the earth, the author endows him with this quality, guided by irony. He is amused by the fact that a person could think of himself as a seer, but in reality he was an ordinary madman.
"Madness" F. Tyutchev
"Madness" Fyodor Tyutchev
Where with burnt earth
The firmament merged like smoke, -
There in the merry carelessness
Miserable madness lives on.
Under the hot rays
Buried in the fiery sands
It has glass eyes
Looking for something in the clouds.
It will suddenly pop up and, with a sensitive ear
Falling to the cracked ground
He hears something with an eager ear
With a secret contentment on his brow.
And thinks that he hears jets of boiling,
That hears the flow of underground waters
And their lullaby singing
And a noisy exodus from the earth!
Analysis of Tyutchev's poem "Madness"
"Madness" is considered one of Tyutchev's most mysterious poems. To this day, there is no generally accepted interpretation of it among literary scholars. According to some researchers of the poet's work, the work is about water seekers. Others argue that Fyodor Ivanovich in the text opposed Schelling's natural philosophy and its adherents. There is also a version that the poem is a self-critical statement, through which Tyutchev put in words doubts about his own prophetic gift. Probably, as is often the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle and its grains are scattered across all the most famous interpretations, so you should not completely deny any of them.
The key theme of the poem is stated in its title - madness. In the first third of the nineteenth century, poets often turned to her. It was revealed from two radically different points of view. Madness was perceived either as a real manifestation of wisdom, allowing one to comprehend the innermost secrets of life, or as a serious illness, a terrible tragedy for a thinking person. The first interpretation is found in Baratynsky's poem "The Last Death": "... Reason borders on madness." Pushkin adhered to the second point of view, which was reflected in the famous work "God forbid me to go crazy ...". Tyutchev's theme is revealed in a new way. He associates insanity with cheerful carelessness and foresight. In addition, the poet gives him the epithet "pitiful." On the one hand, contradictory characteristics are listed, on the other, they still form a unity.
The poem "Madness" is set in the desert. This image in the lyrics of the Tyutchev era had several main interpretations. The desert was seen as a place of philosophical seclusion, a refuge for hermits and prophets. She also acted as a space where the last judgment was held. She was often perceived as a metaphor for life as a vale. In the analyzed text, the desert is at the same time the place of the final judgment (it is not for nothing that the first lines contain hints of the apocalypse that happened), and the shelter acquired by madness.
Tyutchev returned to one of the key motives of the poem - the motive of the prophetic gift inherent in the poet - in a late lyrical expression - “He got it to others from nature ...” (1862). A small work of only eight lines is dedicated to Fet.
In any case, when a young man, who has not yet crossed the threshold of thirty (and Tyutchev at the time of writing this poem in 1830, was only 27 years old) writes about madness, a natural question arises: what prompted him to turn to this topic? It should be noted that the theme of insanity as a kind of high poetic state of mind was widespread in the first third of the 19th century. At the same time, madness manifested itself as a form of poetic and somewhere even mystical intuition. It's only strange why Tyutchev endows madness with an epithet "Pathetic" .
Where the earth is burnt
Merged like smoke, the firmament.
One can imagine what a person could experience when he saw with his own eyes how the earthly firmament was crumbling, and now he has no choice but to stay in "Cheerful carefree"... Yes, it would seem that the madman is happy and carefree. But no! Tyutchev's madman, as if suffering some kind of punishment ( "Under hot rays, buried in the fiery sands"), "Looking for something in the clouds"... moreover "Glass eyes"... Why does this metaphor arise? The expression "glazed eyes" is widespread, that is, frozen, focused on something. Usually such a reaction occurs due to a huge shock or because a person has renounced reality for a while. It can be assumed that here, too, the hero is so immersed in himself,
That hears the flow of underground waters
And a noisy exodus from the earth!
True, with the word "imagines" the author expresses rather an ironic attitude towards a madman who imagines himself capable of supposedly foreseeing something. This is also indicated by "Secret contentment on the brow"... which speaks both of dedication to certain mysteries of being, and of the insanity of a madman.
Tyutchev's poem was and remains one of the most mysterious works of the 19th century. For the second century, many critics have been struggling to solve it. Of course, we will not be able to say for sure which idea the author wanted to express. After all, according to Tyutchev himself, "The thought spoken is a lie" ... Still, you can try to find the clues.
In 1836 (6 years after The Madman) Tyutchev wrote the poem Cicero. the lines from which they became quite famous and popular:
Blessed is he who has visited this world
In his fatal moments!
In addition to the analysis of Madness, there are other works:
"Madness", analysis of the poem by Tyutchev
What is madness? Illness or happiness? Why do people become insane? Why do they lose their minds? Anyone who reads the title of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev's poem "Madness" may have these questions. In general, this topic was not just popular in the 19th century: almost every novice poet necessarily touched on it in his work. How not to remember the famous poem “God forbid me to go crazy. "Written by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Someone was frightened by madness, someone believed that only by losing your mind, you can become truly happy.
In any case, when a young man, who has not yet crossed the threshold of thirty (and Tyutchev at the time of writing this poem in 1830, was only 27 years old) writes about madness, a natural question arises: what prompted him to turn to this topic? It should be noted that the theme of insanity as a kind of high poetic state of mind was widespread in the first third of the 19th century. At the same time, madness manifested itself as a form of poetic and somewhere even mystical intuition. It is only strange why Tyutchev endows madness with the epithet "pathetic."
In general, the feeling is created that we are faced with a person who survived the Apocalypse, at least the beginning of the poem evokes just such an association:
Where the earth is burnt
Merged like smoke, the firmament.
One can imagine what a person could experience, having seen with his own eyes how the earthly firmament is crumbling, and now he has no choice but to remain in "cheerful carelessness." Yes, it would seem that the madman is happy and carefree. But no! Tyutchev's madman, as if enduring some kind of punishment (“under hot rays, buried in the fiery sands”), “is looking for something in the clouds,” and with “glass eyes”. Why does this metaphor arise? The expression "glazed eyes" is widespread, that is, frozen, focused on something. Usually such a reaction occurs due to a huge shock or because a person has renounced reality for a while. It can be assumed that here, too, the hero is immersed in himself to such an extent,
That hears the flow of underground waters
And a noisy exodus from the earth!
True, with the word "imagines" the author expresses rather an ironic attitude towards a madman who imagines himself capable of supposedly foreseeing something. This is also evidenced by "secret contentment on the brow", which speaks both of dedication to certain mysteries of life, and of the insanity of a madman.
Tyutchev's poem was and remains one of the most mysterious works of the 19th century. For the second century, many critics have been struggling to solve it. Of course, we will not be able to say for sure which idea the author wanted to express. Indeed, according to Tyutchev himself, "a spoken thought is a lie." Still, you can try to find the clues.
In 1836 (6 years after The Madman) Tyutchev wrote the poem Cicero, the lines from which became quite famous and popular:
Blessed is he who has visited this world
In his fatal moments!
In Russia, holy fools were often called blessed, in fact, the same madmen. After all, it is they who can be truly happy, since they do not realize the frailty of earthly existence. But in the poem "Cicero" the "blessed" was "called upon by the all-good", that is, the arbiters of destinies. Becoming a witness to "high spectacles" and drinking "from the cup of their immortality", the hero gets the opportunity to become, if not a prophet, then a participant and chronicler of great historical events. It is also a heavy burden to make history in an era of changes, and this can hardly be compared with the “cheerful carelessness” in which the hero of “Madman” dwells and pays with this very madness, moreover, “pathetic”. It can be assumed that Tyutchev did not see the point in high poetic madness. After all, there have been many madmen in our history, moreover, madmen, as they say, of the highest rank - those who led crowds of followers, who ruled the people and decided destinies. Such madness is no longer pathetic, it is terrible.
