Song about the merchant Kalashnikov

In his work, Lermontov often turned to history. From an early age, the poet became interested in Russian folklore. The close friendship with the poet's relative and Slavophile S. A. Raevsky , who was an expert and collector of folklore, contributed to the further development of this interest. It is likely that the storyline of "Songs ..." could be inspired by N. M. Karamzin Lermontov. In the IX volume of his “ History of the Russian State ” there is a mention of the official Myasoed Vistula, who “had a lovely wife: she was taken, dishonored ... and his head was chopped off” ^[1] . To some extent, other folklore plots found their reflection in the poem, in particular from the collection of Kirsha Danilov (Mastryuk Temryukovich, Ivan Godinovich and others), published in 1804 and 1818, which were undoubtedly known to the poet.

Also the impetus for the creation of the poem could serve as the story of the tragic duel of Pushkin ^[4] . Also, like the hero of Lermontov Kalashnikov, Pushkin defended not only and not so much his honor as the honor of his wife, the honor of his family. This version of the creation of “Songs about the Merchant Kalashnikov” was followed, in particular, by the famous Russian literary critic B. M. Eichenbaum .

The plot of the poem is quite common for a romantic work and at first glance quite simple. During the royal feast, the young oprichnik Kiribeevich talks about his love for the beautiful Alyona Dmitrievna. To this, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered him to woo his beloved and even offer him jewelry so that he would present them as a gift to his beloved woman. Ivan intends to arrange the wedding of Kiribeevich and Alena Dmitrievna. But Kiribeevich hides that she was married in the church according to Christian law with the merchant Kalashnikov. He goes to Alena Dmitrievna’s church, where she was at Vespers .

Next, the action is transferred to the shop to Kalashnikov. This day the trade did not go with him and he is going to leave. However, having come to his home, the merchant does not find the young spouse at home, but finds the children in tears. Only late in the evening, the insulted and straight-haired Alena Dmitrievna returns to her worried husband and tells him that the young oprichnik Kiribeevich dishonored her in front of an honest man right on the street. She falls at the feet of her husband and asks him to protect her good name.

And he caressed me, kissed me;
On my cheeks and now they burn
Live flame spread
Kiss him cursed ...
And they looked at the neighbor’s gate,
Laughing, they pointed a finger at us ...
As I rushed out of his hands
And she rushed to run home;
And remained in the hands of the robber
My patterned scarf, your present
And my veil is Bukhara.
He disgraced, disgraced me
I'm honest, immaculate, -
And what will the evil neighbors say
And who am I going to see now?

Kalashnikov, knowing about the gravest insult of his wife, makes an immediate decision: he decides to avenge the offender for his abused wife in an honest fist fight . The next day, on the occasion of the holiday, fist fights were organized on the Moscow River, to see which the tsar himself came with his retinue. Kalashnikov boldly left the crowd to meet the offender - the favorite of Grozny. And in a fist fight, the daring merchant Kalashnikov and the young oprichnik Kiribeevich clashed. The first blow to the chest of Kalashnikov was inflicted by the tsarist warrior.

The heroic battle begins.
Swung then Kiribeevich
And hit the first merchant Kalashnikov,
And hit him in the middle of his chest -
Breaking young chest,
Stepan Paramonovich stumbled;
A copper cross hung on his broad chest.
With holy relics from Kiev, -
And the cross bent and pressed into the chest;
As the dew beneath him dripped blood

Having received a blow in the chest, the merchant Kalashnikov recovered a little and grabbed Kiribeevich with his fist in the left temple, killing him on the spot.

He contrived, made himself,
Gathered with all the power
And hit his hater
Directly to the left temple from all over the shoulder.
And the young oprichnik moaned lightly
Swung, fell dead;
He fell on the cold snow
In the cold snow like a pine
Like a pine tree in a raw forest
Under the resinous under the root, chopped

The tsar, seeing how his beloved warrior fell dead at the hands of a remote merchant, in anger asks Stepan Paramonovich whether he intentionally or accidentally killed the enemy, and if intentionally, for what. Of course, he cannot say what served as the murder of the oprichnik, but admits: "I killed him by free will." The tsar ordered the execution of Kalashnikov a fierce shameful execution: the head of a severed merchant was cut off.

And executed Stepan Kalashnikov
Death fierce, shameful;
And the head is untalented
Blood rolled to the block.
They buried him beyond the Moscow River,
On a clean field between three roads:
Between Tula, Ryazan, Vladimir,
And a mound of raw earth was poured here,
And they put a maple cross here.
And the walks, the loud winds rustle
Over his nameless grave.

Before his death, the merchant asks the king to have mercy on his wife, children and brothers. The king fulfills his request: he appoints official maintenance to the widow and children, and allows the brothers to trade duty free.

The poem focuses on the relationship between royal power, law and mercy. This is one of the main questions of all Russian literature at the beginning of the 19th century. Lermontov's focus is on the moral and political problems of his era, fate and human rights in it. The writer discusses the problems of his era: do people of honor need his time, is a strong personality of power needed?

All the heroes of “Songs ...” are, first of all, bright, original, powerful personalities. Kiribeevich, who goes against the order, as he fell in love with a married woman. Moreover, as a warrior of the privileged part of society - the oprichnina - he feels his absolute impunity. And Tsar Ivan IV, who directly or indirectly indulges his favorite in his “attack” on the mother of the family and respectable wife. The central figure in the poem - the daring merchant Kalashnikov - is the personification of a heroic national principle, and at the same time discovers the ability to rebel (which went against the concept of the Slavophiles), was an expression of popular ideas about truth, honor, dignity ^[2] . But his rebellion is special. He rebels, remaining submissive to fate. For the first time, his rebellion manifests itself in the fact that he raised his hand to the oprichnik, thereby condemning himself to certain death. And here his humility to circumstances is visible: he cannot act otherwise. At the end of the poem, the merchant is absolutely humble before the will of the king who sentenced him to death, however, in this humility there is a certain higher protest against the unjust sentence. The merchant Kalashnikov’s act makes such a powerful impression precisely because his personal rebellion against injustice is convicted in the form of humility and humility.

Often, the poem is abbreviated as “Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov”, emphasizing that the main character of the poem is the merchant.

The poem was published during the poet’s life in 1838 in the Literary Additions to the Russian Disabled (April 30, No. 18, pp. 344–347) and in 1840 in the collection of M. Lermontov’s Poems (p. 1-31). The autograph was not preserved.

In the publication of "Poems" the poem is dated 1837, but it is possible that its design arose earlier. In content, it is connected both with the poem Borodino (1837), whose pathos is the dream of heroes of the spirit, and with the Duma (1838), full of indignation at the sick, inactive generation ^[5] . The work received high marks from contemporaries.

V. G. Belinsky wrote: “Here, a poet from the present world of a Russian life that did not satisfy him was transferred to its historical past, listened to the beat of his pulse, penetrated into the innermost and deepest caches of his spirit, related and merged with him with his whole being, seduced by his sounds , assimilated to himself the warehouse of his ancient speech, the ingenuous severity of his morals, heroic strength and the wide range of his feelings and, as if the predecessor of this era, accepted the conditions.

The publication of the poem met serious difficulties. Censorship did not immediately permit the publication of the poet’s work, shortly before falling into disgrace for poetry at the death of Pushkin and had just been exiled to the Caucasus. Thanks to the efforts of V. A. Zhukovsky, the poem was still published, however, the censors did not allow the author to be named, and “Song ...” came out with the caption “... in” ^[1] .

In 1838, Belinsky’s first printed review of Lermontov appeared, related specifically to “Song ...”, in which he wrote: “... we’re not afraid to fall into false foretellers, saying that our literature acquires a strong and distinctive talent,” also rightly noting that “The poet entered the kingdom of a nation as its complete sovereign, and, imbued with its spirit, merged with it, he showed only his kinship with it, and not identity” ^[6] .

And here is how the Decembrist N. A. Bestuzhev spoke of the poem in a letter to his brother P. A. Bestuzhev on July 4, 1838 from the Petrovsky Plant: “Recently we read in the appendix to the Invalid“ The Tale of the Merchant Son Kalashnikov “. This is an excellent little poem ... like this should convey the nationality and its history! If you know this one, too, declare this literary secret to us. We also ask you to say: who and what Lermontov wrote “The Battle of Borodino”? ” ^[1]

Maxim Gorky also praised the poem: ““ A song ... ”, he wrote,“ ... gives us the right to think that Lermontov ... a worthy successor of Pushkin ... could, in time, develop into a first-class national poet ” ^[2] .

Illustrations

• The poem was illustrated by V.P. Belkin , I. Ya. Bilibin , A.M. and V.M. Vasnetsov , M.A. Vrubel , A.A. Guryev, V.M. Konashevich , N. Koshelev , E. M. Krimmer , B. M. Kustodiev , M. E. Malyshev, M. V. Nesterov , E. I. Plekhan, A. A. Radakov , I. E. Repin , V. Semenov, V. A. Surenyants , V.I. Surikov , M.E. Ushakov-Poskochin, V.A. Favorsky , A.I. Charlemagne , V.G. Schwartz , etc.

Music

• The merchant Kalashnikov (1870s) is the opera of the composer Anton Rubinstein from three acts based on the Lermontov poem.
• The song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young oprichnik and the daring merchant Kalashnikov, was performed by P. Sadovsky.

Cinema

• A song about the merchant Kalashnikov (1909) is a silent short film by Vasily Goncharov, one of the first feature films in the history of Russian cinema.
• The battle scene of Kalashnikov and Kiribeevich was filmed in the film " Sport, Sports, Sports " by Elem Klimov ( 1970 ).

• Lermontov Encyclopedia / Manuilov V. A. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1981. - 746 p.

• “A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young oprichnik and the daring merchant Kalashnikov” in the Lermontov Encyclopedia
• Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich - Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young oprichnik and the daring merchant Kalashnikov
• A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young oprichnik and the daring merchant Kalashnikov
• Belinsky Vissarion Grigorievich. Poems by M. Lermontov