Death of poet

Lines 1–56

On January 27 ( February 8 ), 1837, a duel took place between the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin and Georges Dantes , during which Pushkin was wounded in the stomach and died on January 29 ( February 10 ), 1837 ^[3] .

At that time in the Russian Empire, bloody fights of honor were prohibited by law, therefore, the reason for Pushkin’s death was not mentioned in the press (the first printed instruction appeared in 1847 in the Dictionary of Memorable People by D. N. Bantysh-Kamensky . Information about the duel, its reasons, the reaction of society - all this was verbal and in private correspondence (which was subjected to censorship and self-censorship .) The mystical motive behind the tragedy was that the death of the poet in a duel was predicted by A. Pushkin himself in “ Eugene Onegin ” in a duel between Lensky and Onegin.

This canvas is laid down in the first edition of the poem (ends with the words "And the seal is on his lips"). The date of creation is called January 28 ( February 9 ), 1837 , but the poet died on January 29 ( February 10 ) (it is believed that rumors of Pushkin's death reached Lermontov). On the same day, the poem on the lists spread throughout St. Petersburg . “Lermontov’s poems on the death of the poet were copied in tens of thousands of copies, re-read and learned by heart by all” ( I. I. Panaev ).

Poems reached the Pushkin circle: V. A. Zhukovsky , P. A. Vyazemsky , V. F. Odoevsky , P. A. Pletnev , A. I. Turgenev , to the family of the late historiographer N. M. Karamzin . On February 2, A. I. Turgenev wrote in his diary: "To Zhukovsky ... Lermontov’s poems are beautiful." Turgenev a few days later ended up in Trigorsky and, having led the poet’s coffin to the Svyatogorsky monastery , saying goodbye to P. A. Osipova on February 6, promised to send Lermontov’s poems to her ^[4] . It is known that A.I. Turgenev on February 10 in St. Petersburg rewrote the poem in a letter to P. A. Osipova. Both correspondents were friends with Alexander Sergeyevich, and in 1837, A. I. Turgenev visited him almost every morning in his apartment on the Moika , and met him in friendly evenings in the evenings. The answer from Trigorsky, P. A. Osipova, dated February 16: “You guessed that I would like poetry ... and only such a person who knew the poet well could write them.”

“Here are the verses of some Lermontov, a hussar officer,” from a letter dated February 9 from Prince P. A. Vyazemsky to the famous Piet Denis Davydov ^[5]

Sofya Nikolaevna Karamzina , February 10 (22), sending her brother Andrei abroad the poem “The Poet's Death” (without the last sixteen verses) and admiring him, she could only report that the author of these “beautiful poems” in which “there is so much truth and feeling” , “A certain Mr. Lermontov, a hussar officer” ^[4] .

In the diary of I. I. Kozlov on February 11 ( 23 ), 1837 , we read: “You can’t be kinder and more sympathetic to Alexander Turgenev: he did so many favors to me, then he read me Lermontov’s wonderful poems on Pushkin’s death” ^[6] .

The acquaintance of Pushkin and Lermontov is not documented, there is only evidence of a meeting - in the Notes of A. O. Smirnova , composed by her daughter (1897), but this memoir does not enjoy the fame of a reliable source. Not being personally acquainted with Pushkin, Lermontov more than once saw him in Moscow and St. Petersburg on the street, in theaters, in bookstores, in public places. But Lermontov did not have time to get to know Pushkin’s circle of close friends before leaving March 19 from Petersburg for the first Caucasian exile ^[4] . However, this is not excluded. The poem Borodino, a 21-year-old graduate of the cunk school, was published in the Pushkin journal Sovremennik for 1837 (vol. 6, pp. 207–211, censorship permission on May 2 ( 14 ), 1837 ) and was written most likely in late 1836 years or in January 1837 than in February ( S. A. Raevsky in his testimony of February 21 ( March 5 ), 1837 , regarding the poem Death of a Poet, claimed that Borodino was written simultaneously with poems on Pushkin’s death ) ^[7] .

Lines 57–72

At the end of January, doctor N.F. Arendt , having visited the sick Lermontov , who at that time lived in the apartment of E. A. Arsenyeva on Sadovaya Street in St. Petersburg, told him the details of the duel and the death of Pushkin, whom he was trying to save. Perhaps this story influenced the continuation of work on the poem. ^[eight]

About the surgeon's attitude to the events :

Arendt, who saw many deaths on his age and on the battlefields, and on painful beds, walked away from his bed with tears in his eyes and said that he had never seen anything like this, such patience with such suffering.

- P. A. Vyazemsky ^[9]

On February 7 (19) Lermontov added sixteen closing lines ( “And you, arrogant descendants ...” ).

Epigraph

The epigraph appears in a copy of the poem attached to the “Case of Inappropriate Poems Written by the Lermontov Hussars Regiment Life Guards Cornet” (IRLI, Pushkin House). It is taken from the tragedy of Rotrou ( fr. Jean de Rotrou , 1609-1650) "Wenceslas" ( "Venceslas" ).

Vengeance, Sovereign, revenge!
I will fall at your feet:
Be fair and punish the killer
To execute him in later centuries
Your right court has proclaimed to posterity
To see the villains in her example.

The most important documentary evidence of the circumstances of the writing of the poem is contained in the investigative papers “Cases of inappropriate poems written by the corps of the Life Guards of the Hussar Regiment Lermontov, and of the distribution of these by the provincial secretary Raevsky.” It began on February 23, it was preceded by many events. Case filed at IRLI , op. 3, No. 9, p. 17-18 ^[7] . The papers were first published in the Bulletin of Europe 1887, No. 1. P.E. Shchegolev, The Book of Lermontov, L., 1929., issue. I, p. 262-267.

The investigation began with a note dated February 19 or 20 from the head of the gendarmes A. Kh. Benkendorf Nicholas I about the poem Death of the Poet and that General Weimarn was instructed to interrogate the poet and search his apartments in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo ^[10] :

I already had the honor to inform your Imperial Majesty that I sent a poem by the hussar officer Lermontov to General Weimarn so that he could interrogate this young man and keep him at the General Staff without the right to communicate with anyone from outside, until the authorities decide on his future fate, and the taking of his papers both here and at his apartment in Tsarskoye Selo. The introduction to this work is bold, and the end is shameless freethinking, more than criminal. According to Lermontov, these verses are distributed in the city by one of his comrades, whom he did not want to name.

Resolution of Nicholas I: “Pleasant verses, nothing to say; I sent Weimarn to Tsarskoye Selo to examine Lermontov’s papers and, if there were still other suspicious ones, to arrest them. So far I have ordered the senior physician of the Guards Corps to visit this gentleman and make sure he is not crazy; and then we will deal with him according to the law. ” ^[ten]

Burnashev (V.P. Burnashev, “M. Yu. Lermontov in the stories of his guard classmates”, “Russian Archive”, 1872, No. 9, pp. 1770-1781), then Viskovatov (P. A. Viskovatov - “Bulletin of Europe ", 1887, No. 1, pp. 329-347) tells that Benckendorf learned about additional verses at one rally (probably from Countess Fikelmon ) from Countess A. M. Khitrovo, who certified them as verses that were offensive to the entire aristocracy. The next day, Benckendorff reported these verses to Nicholas I, who had already managed to get their anonymous copy with the inscription "Appeal to the Revolution."

The reaction of the authorities was caused by the second edition, supplemented by 16 lines. The first edition of the poem did not, as the testimony shows, displeased the king.

S. A. Raevsky says in his testimony: "There was even a rumor that V. A. Zhukovsky read them to his imperial highness the heir to the heir and that he expressed his high approval." There is evidence that Nicholas I, after reading a poem by Lermontov, said: “This, what good, will replace Pushkin’s Russia,” and Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich said: “Ce poète en herbe va donner de beaux fruits” (“From this ripening poet we must wait good fruits ”) (V. P. Burnashev,“ M. Yu. Lermontov in the stories of his guard classmates ”,“ Russian Archive ”, 1872, No. 9, pp. 1770-1781).

According to A.N. Muravyov, the manager of the third branch, A. N. Mordvinov , told him: “I have read these verses to Count Benckendorff for a long time, and we did not find anything reprehensible in them” (A. N. Muravyov, “Acquaintance with Russian poets ", Kiev, 1871, p. 23).

There were rumors that the supplement was not written by Lermontov. A. I. Turgenev wrote on February 13, 1837 to A. N. Peshchurov : “I am sending poems that are worthy of their subject. Other stanzas walk around, but they are not of this author and have already brought, they say, trouble to the true author ”(“ Pushkin and his contemporaries ”, issue II, p. 113).

Lermontov was allegedly arrested on February 18 (researchers disagree about the exact date) and was detained in one of the rooms on the top floor of the General Staff Building , and then from February 27 he was under house arrest in the apartment of E. A. Arsenyeva until his departure on March 19 to the Caucasus via Moscow. A. N. Muravyov writes: “His reference to the Caucasus made a lot of noise; they looked at him as a sacrifice, and this quickly exalted his poetic glory. Read his poems from the Caucasus with greed, which served as a source of inspiration for him ”(A. N. Muravyov,“ Acquaintance with Russian Poets ”, Kiev, 1871, p. 23 et seq.).

On February 20, a search was conducted at M. Yu. Lermontov and S. A. Raevsky.

On February 21, 1837, S. A. Raevsky was arrested ^[11] .

Explanation of the cornet of the Life Guards of the Hussar Regiment Lermontov:

I was still sick when the news of Pushkin’s unfortunate duel spread throughout the city. Some of my friends brought her to me, disfigured by various additions. Some - adherents of our best poet - spoke with lively sadness, what petty torment, ridicule he had long pursued and, finally, forced to take a step contrary to earthly and heavenly laws, protecting the honor of his wife in the eyes of strict light. Others, especially the ladies, justified the opponent of Pushkin, called him a noble man, said that Pushkin had no right to demand love from his wife, because he was jealous, stupid of himself - they also said that Pushkin was an unfit person, and so on. Lacking, perhaps, the ability to defend the moral side of his character, no one answered these last accusations. Involuntary, but strong indignation flared up in me against these people, who attacked a man who had already been struck by the hand of God, had not done him any evil and was once praised by them; and the innate feeling in the inexperienced soul - to protect any innocently condemned - stirred in me even more because of the disease of irritated nerves. When I began to ask: on what grounds did they rebel so loudly against the murdered one? - they answered me, probably in order to give themselves more weight that the entire upper circle of society is of the same opinion. - I was surprised; they laughed at me. Finally, after two days of anxious expectation, the sad news came that Pushkin had died, and with this news came something else - comforting to the heart of a Russian: the Emperor, in spite of his previous misconceptions, generously extended a helping hand to his unhappy wife and his orphans. The miraculous opposite of his act with the opinion (as I was assured) of the higher circle of society increased the former in my imagination and blackened the injustice of the latter even more. I was firmly convinced that the dignitaries of the state shared the noble and gracious feelings of the emperor, the god of this protector to all oppressed; but nevertheless, I heard that some people, solely through family ties or as a result of seeking, belonging to the highest circle and using the merits of their worthy relatives, - some did not cease to overshadow the memory of the murdered man and dispel various rumors unfavorable to him. Then, as a result of a rash impulse, I poured the bitterness of the heart onto the paper, exaggerating, incorrect words, expressed an inconsistent clash of thoughts, not believing that I had written something reprehensible, that many could mistakenly accept expressions that were not assigned to them at all. This experience was the first and last of its kind, harmful (as I previously thought and now think) to others even more than to myself. But if there is no excuse for me, then youth and ardor will serve as an explanation, for at that moment passion was stronger than cold reason. Before, I wrote various little things, perhaps still kept by some of my friends. One oriental story, entitled “Hadji Abrek,” was placed by me in the “Library for Reading”; and the drama "Masquerade", in poetry, which I gave to the theater, could not be presented because of (as I was told) too sharp passions and characters and also because virtue was not awarded enough in it. When I wrote my poems to the death of Pushkin (which, unfortunately, I did too soon), then one of my good friends, Raevsky, who heard, like me, many incorrect accusations and, by thoughtlessness, not seeing in my verses contrary to the laws, asked me to write them off; he probably showed them, as news, to another - and so they parted. I had not left yet, and therefore I could not soon find out the impression made by them, I could not return them and burn them in time. I myself did not give them to anyone else, but I could not deny them, although I comprehended my thoughtlessness: the truth has always been my shrine and now, bringing my guilty head to court, I firmly resort to it, as the only defender of a noble person before face of the king and face of God.

- Cornet of the Life Guard
Hussar regiment
Mikhail Lermontov

February 25, 1837 was followed by the highest command:

L-Guards the hussar’s regiment of Cornet Lermontov, for writing the verses known to your Grace [Benckendorff], with the same rank in the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment; and the provincial secretary Raevsky, for distributing these verses and especially for his intention to secretly inform Cornet Lermontov of the testimony he made, to be kept under arrest for one month, and then sent to the Olonets province for use at the discretion of the local civil governor.

The poem was created in three steps, which was reflected in the textual stratification of the poem, which was not completely resolved.

A whitewashed autograph of the first 56 verses - GPB , Collection of manuscripts, No. 8 (from the archive of V. F. Odoevsky , with his inscription: “Lermontov’s poem that could not be printed”), draft autograph - TsGALI , f. 427, op. I, No. 986 (notebook of S. A. Rachinsky ), l. 67–68 (facsimile - “Pushkin and his contemporaries”, 1908, issue VIII, with commentary by Yu. Verkhovsky). An autograph of verses 57–72 is unknown. They are printed according to the copy attached to the “Case of Inappropriate Poems Written by the Life Guards of the Hussars Regiment Lermontov and on the Distribution of These by the Provincial Secretary Rayevsky” - IRL, op. 3, No. 9, l. 17-18. Autograph Art. 21–33 in a letter to M. Yu. Lermontov A.I. Turgenev ( TsGLA ) dated November 18, 1839:

... his killer in cold blood
He struck - there is no escape!
An empty heart beats evenly
The gun did not flinch in his hand.
And what a wonder? - from far away
Like a hundred runaways
To catch money and ranks
Abandoned to us by the will of fate,
Laughing he defiantly despised
Foreign land language and mores:
He couldn’t spare our glory,
Could not understand this bloody moment
What did he raise his hand to!

Of the 23 copies available, 7 date back to 1837, of which two are dated February and March. It is known that in 1837, while living in Stavropol, M. Yu. Lermontov presented P.I. Petrov with the painting "View of Tiflis", a list of his poem "The Death of the Poet" and the manuscript of "The Last Housewarming" (Ivan Vlasov, Lermontov in P.'s family I. Petrova. - “Literary Collection (Proceedings of the Kostroma Scientific Society for the Study of the Local Territory)”, issue XLII, Kostroma, 1928, 3-10) ^[12] .

Friedrich Bodenstedt first published a poem. This happened in 1852, in Berlin, in German ^[13] .

For the first time, the poem "Death of the Poet" (under the heading "To the death of Pushkin") was published (in Russian) in London in the almanac "The Polar Star for 1856 ", book by Alexander Herzen . 2, p. 31–32 (under the title “To the death of Pushkin”) ( another version was in Leipzig in 1858 ^[4] .

In Russia, without the last 16 verses, it was placed in “Bibliographic Notes” (1858, vol. 1, No. 20, stb. 635-636), completely in the Works edited by Dudyshkin (vol. 1, 1860, pp. 61–63) .

The poem Death of the Poet had a great influence on the poetic assessment of the events connected with the duel of A. S. Pushkin.

The first poetic response - “Response to Lermontov to his poems“ To Pushkin's Death “” - dates back to February 22, 1837, but it was not intended for publication (for the first time: “ Russian Old Man ” 1896, pr. X, 131-132). He wrote a work by the cadet of the School of Guards Ensigns , where Lermontov, Pavel Aleksandrovich Gvozdyov (1815-1851) had studied before ^[14] .

Why rush your noble
Have you poured them, young poet?
...
Hearts covered in winter blizzard
Their feelings are ice cold
Their souls are dead in chain mail
Your flight is not available to them!
...
Your song is like a bloody judgment to them
For them, she is like a formidable sword,
You could not despicable in their soul
Ignite with free truth
The fire is high and sacred ...
Your free pen verse
Offended proud vanity
And a flock of lies at the king’s feet,
Like mercy, they are waiting for your disgrace ...
But you proud, young singer,
Before the machinations of their infernal malice,
Do not weave your crown
Let the coffins open.
...
You didn’t say: “there is a formidable court!”
And this court is the court of posterity,
This court will read their sentence
And on the sheet, like treachery,
He will write their name in disgrace.

The poem by A. I. Polezhaev “A wreath on the coffin of Pushkin” (written on March 2, 1837, published with notes in the collection “The Hours of Recovery”, 1842) ^[15] ends with a stanza, where M. Yu. Lermontov is mentioned as the poetic successor of the deceased Poet ( "Poetry is sad over your urn, - // An unknown poet, - but young, greedy for fame, - // Oh, Pushkin - kneeled before her!"), With the hope of the author that he will not be forgotten:

And meanwhile, when in Russia amazed
Both the elder and the young mourned you
And they did the last and the sacred duty,
Having betrayed you to a cold and dumb land;
And pale in tears, in sadness sad
Poetry is sad over your urn, -
The unknown poet, - but young, greedy of glory, -
Oh, Pushkin - knelt before her!
Scented wreaths of great poets
Prepare for her - the second Anacreon;
But I believe - and mine in the waves of the harsh Summer
With his birth he will not be swallowed up:
On the ashes of a golden extinct comet
With a small hand, he is laid with feeling!

In 1841, the poem “Humor” persecuted by N. P. Ogaryov begins with words about the poetic atmosphere of his time:

The singers fell silent. Pushkin verse:
Lame heavily languid verse,
No, to blame! there is a poet
Although he is an army officer.
There is a little talent, from an early age -
Or under the supervision of a policeman
Hit, or he was exiled altogether.
Vissarion also wrote about him.

Fine Art

The poem was illustrated by A. A. Guryev, L. Dzemaryn, L.O. Pasternak .

Musical Arrangement

Yu. Ya. Vladimirov, E.K. Golubev, A.S. Jacques, Yu.F. Lvov, S.V. Protopopov and others wrote poems to music.

• Chistova I. S. “The Death of the Poet” // Lermontov Encyclopedia / USSR Academy of Sciences. Inst. Rus. lit. (Pushkin. House); Scientific Ed. Council of the publishing house “Sov. Encycl. ”- M.: Sov. Encycl., 1981. - S. 511-513.
• Гинзбург Л. С. К анализу стихотворения Лермонтова «Смерть поэта». Кого подразумевает Лермонтов под словами: «певец, неведомый, но милый»? (Опыт построения новой гипотезы) // «Slavia», 1930, roč. 9, seš. l, č. 85—102
• Тынянов Ю. Литературный источник «Смерти поэта» // «ВЛ», 1964, № 10, с. 98—106
• Девицкий И. И., В. А. Жуковский и стихотворение М. Ю. Лермонтова «Смерть поэта» // Тезисы докладов и сообщений 1-й научно-методич. конференции Кокчетав. ped ин-та, Кокчетав, 1967, с. 45—47
• Шанский Н. М. Художественный текст под лингвистическим микроскопом // «Рус. язык в школе», 1971, № 3, с. 97—99; Воспоминания (см. по указателю); Недзвецкий, с. 239—47; Андреев-Кривич (5), с. 156—58