#derzhavin

http://civilization-history.ru/post/146207100526

ПАМЯТНИК

Я памятник себе воздвиг чудесный, вечный, Металлов тверже он и выше пирамид; Ни вихрь его, ни гром не сломит быстротечный, И времени полёт его не сокрушит.

Так! - весь я не умру, но часть меня большая, От тлена убежав, по смерти станет жить, И слава возрастет моя, не увядая, Доколь славянов род вселенна будет чтить.

Слух пройдет обо мне от Белых вод до Черных, Где Волга, Дон, Нева, с Рифея льет Урал; Всяк будет помнить то в народах неисчетных, Как из безвестности я тем известен стал,

Что первый я дерзнул в забавном русском слоге О добродетелях Фелицы возгласить, В сердечной простоте беседовать о боге И истину царям с улыбкой говорить.

О муза! возгордись заслугой справедливой, И презрит кто тебя, сама тех презирай; Непринужденною рукой неторопливой Чело твое зарей бессмертия венчай.

http://civilization-history.ru

ПАМЯТНИК

Я памятник себе воздвиг чудесный, вечный, Металлов тверже он и выше пирамид; Ни вихрь его, ни гром не сломит быстротечный, И времени полёт его не сокрушит.

Так! - весь я не умру, но часть меня большая, От тлена убежав, по смерти станет жить, И слава возрастет моя, не увядая, Доколь славянов род вселенна будет чтить.

Слух пройдет обо мне от Белых вод до Черных, Где Волга, Дон, Нева, с Рифея льет Урал; Всяк будет помнить то в народах неисчетных, Как из безвестности я тем известен стал,

Что первый я дерзнул в забавном русском слоге О добродетелях Фелицы возгласить, В сердечной простоте беседовать о боге И истину царям с улыбкой говорить.

О муза! возгордись заслугой справедливой, И презрит кто тебя, сама тех презирай; Непринужденною рукой неторопливой Чело твое зарей бессмертия венчай.

To judge the gods on earth in council arisen is the Most High God: How long, quoth He, how long your counsel will spare the wicked and corrupt?

You must uphold the law’s just ordinance, display no favours to the strong, leave not the widows nor the orphans without defence or help for long.

Your charge: help innocence recover, give shelter to all those in pain; defend the powerless from power, the poor deliver from their chains.

They hear not; though they know, they see not! Their gaze is veiled by bribery; the wicked shake the earth, the sea-bed, and falsehood makes the heavens reel.

Ye kings! I deemed you gods almighty, with none to give your word the lie, yet you are passionate and flighty, you are but mortal — as am I.

As autumn leaf drops earthwards, crumbled, so shall you plummet from on high; and you shall perish, as the humbled poor slave you rule shall surely die!

Arise, ye ruler of the righteous! Give ear unto men of worth. Come judge the wicked and the spiteful, and thou alone be king of earth!

He deserves more attention!

Became very involved in enhancing the university

1773: first book, a book of fables: you usually don’t start out with such a light genre

1775: his next book of odes: they seem Lomonosovian at first, but then you realize something is up there.

He says he couldn’t write like Lomonosov, even though he wanted to: it’s better for him to use his lyre to praise nature

He is not writing for prosperity

It’s the start of just writing for your own pleasure!

He learned to write from Lomonosov, but to feel from Rousseau.

Derzhavin is trying to reform the system, but Murav’ev is not. 

Murav’ev’s tendency is the one that prevails over Derzhavin’s

You expect it to be a paraphrase of a psalm with a title like that, but it is clearly not, and it is formed just like a secular ode.

It’s an attempt to integrate theology and science.

Already in the first five lines! Time and space and life = holy trinity of God

Archaic diction: it shows us that he still does have a sense of hierarchy, he is not so advanced as he claims

Next four lines calm down a little bit after being outraged

A human is a drop of water; he reflects the sun -> look how important each human being is!

By late 1770s he was well engrained into literary life

Фелица (Felitsa) (1782) – he presents Catherine in an everyday light: he presents her as someone who loves the truth, her sole purpose is to serve her people: she’s an enlightened monarch, but also a human being (and an Eastern princess)

He uses descriptive details, which were never present in the ode before.

A tone of levity, which is new for odic discourse

Look at the fifth stanza: all about himself and it’s supposed to be an ode to a princess! – adoption of a persona so much stronger than we’ve ever seen before (these ‘I’s are all real: each stanza satirizes a REAL courtier of Catherine’s who are a little too taken with their own privilege): and then he finally gets back to himself at stanza 10

it’s a slow process and many people claim it lasts right up to Romanticism

The Big Three have become / are becoming models rather than part of the living tradition

New writers are emerging, experimenting with different styles, points of view, lexicon

Гуковский wrote a great book about these changes, he wrote about this world of the nobility which has a particular outlook and supports the status quo, but is also the place where liberalism will grow

Claims that the decline of classicism and rise of sentimentalism is a result of Pugachev rebellion: how?

Idea that these is a firm foundation to the Empire doesn’t seem so firm or unshakeable anymore – these seeds of doubt incline people to look elsewhere (there are probably other causes as well, such as the one at play in Europe)

Let’s not forget 1762 and Peter III -> nobility freed from obligation of service, and it takes a while for these effects to be seen

Instead of serving, noblemen could retire to their estates, admire the beauty of nature --- look at Derzhavin’s ode to some nature