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Lermontov Mikhail Yurievich (1814-1841)
The pride of Russian literature, the great Russian poet and prose writer, as well as a talented artist and playwright, whose works had a huge influence on writers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814-1841) recently published (see all)
- Mikhail Lermontov ~ Russian melody (+ Analysis) - 09/10/2021
- Mikhail Lermontov ~ Date - 09/10/2021
- Mikhail Lermontov ~ I’m sitting in an ancient room... - 09.10.2021
"SAIL" Mikhail Lermontov
The lonely sail is white in the fog of the blue sea!.. What is he looking for in a distant land? What did he throw in his native land?..
The waves play - the wind whistles, And the mast bends and creaks... Alas! He is not looking for happiness And he is not running from happiness!
Below him is a stream of lighter azure, Above him is a golden ray of sun... And he, rebellious, asks for the storm, As if there is peace in the storms!
Date of creation: 1832
Lermontov reflected in the poem the mood of the advanced intelligentsia of the 30s of the 19th century. – her revolutionary impulses and spiritual disunity in the atmosphere of the post-December reaction. The image of a lonely sail was captured by Lermontov in a painting of the same period - in a watercolor seascape. Subsequently, Lermontov returned to this image in the novel “Hero of Our Time” (the final lines of the story “Princess Mary”).
History of creation
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov wrote the poem “Sail” as a seventeen-year-old boy. The period of life when this work was born was very difficult for the young poet. The young man was very upset that he was unable to enter a higher educational institution in St. Petersburg. After all, he had to leave the university in Moscow.
The reason for writing the poem was the sail that Mikhail Yuryevich saw on the Neva River. It was this that the creator decided to take as a basis. But for some reason, the author does not include this poem in his collection, which was published a year before the poet’s death. Although the poem was finished and even had a drawing made by the author himself.
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For a long time in the light of the moon a white sail flashed between the dark waves...
M.Yu. Lermontov. Taman
Watercolor M.Yu.
Lermontov's “Sail” The lonely sail is white in the fog of the blue sea!.. What is he looking for in a distant land?
What did he throw in his native land? The waves are playing - the wind is whistling, And the mast bends and creaks... Alas, he is not looking for happiness And he is not running from happiness! Below him is a stream of lighter azure, Above him is a golden ray of sun... And he, rebellious, asks for the storm, As if there is peace in the storms! A random impression, a white sail in the haze of a golden autumn day... and in the creative consciousness of the poet one of the most expressive images appears, symbolizing his rebellious impulses, his desire for freedom.
The pathos with which this poem is imbued, its artistic images, and first of all the image of a rebellious sail seeking a storm, expressed the sentiments characteristic not only of Lermontov the poet, but also of the entire advanced Russian intelligentsia of the thirties of the 19th century. Lermontov also captured the image of a lonely sail in a painting of the same time - in a watercolor seascape painted on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (now kept in the State Public Library named after M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in Leningrad). “The lonely sail turns white...” - this line coincided with the 19th verse of the first chapter of A. A. Bestuzhev (Marlinsky) “Andrey, Prince of Pereyaslavsky” (departmental edition 1828). A lonely sail is white, Like a swan's wing And the clear-eyed traveler is sad. At his feet is a quiver, in his hands is an oar by
A. A. Bestuzhev (Marlinsky) “Andrei, Prince of Pereyaslavsky” (departmental edition, 1828) Someone’s names and lines are erased, disappear in time, and someone’s lines are in the memory of many generations. The name of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov remained in literature for centuries, including thanks to the poem “Sail”. But it was written by a very young man - at the age of 18. However, during the 27 years of his short life, Lermontov made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian prose and poetry.
Mikhail Lermontov in the uniform of a cadet of the hussar regiment At the end of July or at the very beginning of August 1832, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, forced after several clashes with reactionary professors to leave the literature department of Moscow University, came with his grandmother, Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, to St. Petersburg.
Lermontov was eighteen years old at that time. He was a broad-shouldered, short young man. He was not handsome, but the attention of everyone, even those unfamiliar with him, involuntarily focused on his dark, slightly high-cheekboned face and especially his black, penetrating eyes, the gaze of which possessed some extraordinary power. Often this look was heavy and thoughtful, sometimes it expressed an ironically mocking attitude towards the environment, and occasionally, in the circle of loved ones, it was illuminated by a mischievous light.[...] At first in St. Petersburg, Lermontov felt lonely. Captivated by memories of his recent experience, he reacted aloofly to the new city: By the arbitrariness of a wondrous power, I was thrown out of the kingdom of passion, Like a shuttle smashed onto the sand after a storm by a wave.
This is how Lermontov defined his condition in a letter to his friend from childhood, S. A. Bakhmeteva.
While, with the help of relatives and friends, E. A. Arsenyeva was looking for a suitable apartment, Lermontov, by his own admission, “... looked at the city in parts and went to sea by boat.” The flat shores of the Gulf of Finland and the first meetings with the sea did not make the expected impression on him: And, finally, I saw the sea, But who deceived the poet?.. I did not draw great thoughts from its fatal expanse;
No! as it is, I was not free: I was sick with the disease of life, I was sick with boredom (Despite the old and new days), I did not envy, as before, His silver clothes, His rebellious waves. Two or three weeks passed, and one day Lermontov, while walking along the shore of the Gulf of Finland, wrote the poem “Sail”. The original text was included in Lermontov’s letter to Maria Alexandrovna Lopukhina (1802-1877), the elder sister of V. A. Lopukhina, dated September 2, 1832. In the letter addressed to Maria Alexandrovna Lopukhina, sister of Varvara Bakhmeteva, Lermontov writes that he does not see “ahead nothing particularly comforting” and sends in the same letter the text of a poem he composed “on the seashore.” Lermontov_Parus._Autograph_poem.
Lermontov is a cadet.
Artist A. A. Bilderling About the supposed place of writing the poem:
academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, remembering the St. Petersburg of his childhood, reproduced one of the urban legends, telling that “Sail” was composed by Lermontov on the Monplaisir terrace. Anna Andreevna Akhmatova noticed that neither the parks nor other attractions of the capital touched the strings in Lermontov’s soul: “He ignored the famous Peterhof fountains so that, looking at the Marquis’s Puddle, he would thoughtfully say: “A lonely sail is turning white...”.”
View of the Gulf of Finland from the terrace of the Monplaisir Palace
Terrace of Monplaisir in Peterhof in different centuries
And now, here, in this boring fortress, I often, running through the past in my thoughts, ask myself: why didn’t I want to take this path, open to me by fate, where quiet joys and peace of mind awaited me?.. No, I wouldn’t have gotten along. with this share! I am like a sailor, born and raised on the deck of a robber brig: his soul has become accustomed to storms and battles, and, thrown ashore, he is bored and languishing, no matter how the shady grove beckons him, no matter how the peaceful sun shines on him; he walks all day long along the coastal sand, listens to the monotonous murmur of the oncoming waves and peers into the foggy distance: will the desired sail, at first like the wing of a sea gull, but little by little, separate from the pale line separating the blue abyss from the gray clouds? from the foam of boulders and at a steady run approaching the deserted pier...
I. Aivazovsky. Storm on the Arctic Ocean. 1864 Excerpts from the book by V.A. Manuilov and L.N. Nazarova “Lermontov in St. Petersburg”) https://www.pravmir.ru/mayoshka-ili-prodelki-yunkera-lermontova/ https://literatura5.narod.ru /lermontov_nazarova.html https://rushist.com/index.php/rus-literature/3834-l...ov-knyazhna-meri-chitat-onlajn https://www.pravmir.ru/mayoshka-ili-prodelki-yunkera -lermontova/
Series of messages “LERMONTOV”:
Part 1 - Favorite poet... M. Lermontov. Part 2 - Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the poet. Birth and childhood of Lermontov. ... Part 11 - AH, MASQUERADE! (musical and artistic excursion) Part 12 - Secret societies Part 8. Circle of sixteen Part 13 - M.Yu. Lermontov Sail Part 14 - Paintings and poems by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov on the Caucasian theme. Part 15 - -=- International Poetry Day -=- made a film === ... Part 17 - “In the midst of the celestial bodies, the face of the moon is foggy...” Part 18 - Paintings of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov Part 19 - “Terrible” sunsets
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To write the poem “Sail,” Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov chooses iambic tetrameter and cross rhyme.
This poem belongs to a lyrical short story. As for the direction, it is romanticism. This is confirmed by the theme of loneliness, as well as a kind of rebellion against the current situation. The poem has a rather sad mood, which is felt in almost every line.
An important role is given to the description of the landscape, which symbolizes the thoughts and experiences of the lyrical hero.
Composition
Compositionally, the poem “Sail” consists of three stanzas.
The lonely sail turns white
In the blue sea fog!..
What is he looking for in a distant land?
What did he throw in his native land?..
In the first stanza, the author asks rhetorical questions, which, unfortunately, no one except himself can answer.
The waves are playing, the wind is whistling,
And the mast bends and creaks...
Alas! he is not looking for happiness
And he’s not running out of happiness!
In the second stanza, we still get answers to lyrical questions. The lyrical hero himself answers them. But his answer cannot be called accurate or understandable, since it does not provide any specifics.
Below him is a stream of lighter azure,
Above him is a golden ray of sun...
And he, rebellious, asks for a storm,
As if there is peace in the storms!
In the third stanza we never get an answer to the question, what is the sail looking for? He is trying to find peace where it is impossible to find it. He wants to find calm in the storm, hoping to find peace there.
Analysis of Lermontov's poem "Sail" (Option 1)
The poet Mikhail Lermontov, despite his harsh and quarrelsome character, was an incorrigible romantic at heart. That is why in his creative heritage there are quite a lot of works of a lyrical nature. One of them is the famous poem “Sail,” written in 1832, when Lermontov was barely 17 years old. This work fully reflects the mental turmoil of the young poet, who found himself at a crossroads in life. In the spring of 1832, after a verbal altercation during a rhetoric exam, he refused to continue his studies at Moscow University, abandoning his dreams of becoming a philologist. His future fate and career were in question, and, in the end, Lermontov, under pressure from his grandmother, entered the School of Guards Ensigns and Cavalry Junkers. The prospect of becoming a military man, on the one hand, did not greatly inspire the young poet. But at the same time, he dreamed of the exploits that befell his ancestors, although he understood that, at best, fate would take him to the Caucasus, where military operations were taking place at that time.
On the eve of entering the cadet school, Lermontov wrote the poem “Sail”, which fully reflects his mood and not the most joyful thoughts. If we discard the background and do not take into account the facts, then this work can rightfully be classified as one of the most romantic and sublime poems of the poet . However, this is far from the case, because the author did not set himself the task of creating an example of landscape poetry. In this poem, he identifies himself with a sail that whitens alone “in the fog of the blue sea,” thereby emphasizing that, perhaps for the first time in his life, he was faced with the need to make an important decision.
More on the topic: Mikhail Lermontov ~ I look at the future with fear...(+Analysis)
“What is he looking for in a distant country?” the poet asks himself, as if sensing that from now on his life will be full of wanderings. And at the same time, the author mentally looks back, realizing “what he abandoned in his native land.” The poet does not consider leaving the university a serious loss for himself, since he sees no point in continuing his studies and doing science. Lermontov is much more worried about the fact that he will have to leave his beloved Moscow and the only person truly close to him - his grandmother Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, who replaced both his father and mother .
However, the poet understands that this separation is inevitable, since he is destined for his own path in life, which, as Lermontov suggests, will not be simple at all. The author expresses this idea in the poem using an amazingly beautiful metaphor, Fr. At the same time, the poet notes with bitterness that in his upcoming wanderings “he is not looking for happiness, and is not running from happiness.”
However, before the poet’s life changes radically, several more years will pass, which will seem unbearably boring to Lermontov. Having decided in favor of a military career, he rushes into battle and dreams of glory. That is why the idyllic picture of the seascape, so reminiscent of the life of Lermontov the cadet, does not appeal to him at all. And, answering the question of what he wants in life, the poet again personifies himself with a lonely sail.
Thus, this poem is Lermontov’s philosophical reflection on his own future. Subsequently, it was the thirst for achievement that pushed him to risky and rash actions. However, fate decreed otherwise: Lermontov did not become a great commander, but went down in history as a brilliant Russian poet and writer, whose works, almost two centuries later, still evoke sincere admiration.
Images and symbols of the work
One of the main symbols of this work, naturally, is the sail itself. All the events discussed in the poem take place around him. It symbolizes loneliness, which is very reminiscent of the feelings of the author himself. We can also say that the sail is a reflection of the human soul, which always depends on what is happening around.
Storm is a symbol of anxiety and uncertainty. In the image of the sea, the author also shows the uncertainty and changeability that every person is forced to face. By showing how the sail is tossed, we understand that the human soul is tormented in the same way throughout life.
The lyrical hero is closely intertwined with the sail. They are very similar. They are concerned about the same questions, and are also equally tossed from side to side under the influence of fate. They are both unfree and lonely, while constantly depending on external factors. Saying that the sail is looking for peace in the storm, he shows his desires, which, at first glance, may seem absurd and illogical.
Subject
The theme of loneliness and uncertainty, search, mystery of the human soul. The sail in the poem symbolizes the life of the young poet, his inner world. The main idea is that human nature is characterized by passions, desires, loneliness, self-searching, and a craving for what can be dangerous.
The idea is that the author shows the loneliness and rebellion of the inner world of a creative person, himself. The main character is the image of a sail - human nature, looking for its place, rushing into the unknown. In moments of despair, people are prone to rebellion, search, risk, this is a consequence of the unknown. The author emphasizes that a person overwhelmed by life’s adversities is not given the opportunity to know what is for his benefit and what is not.
Topics and issues
One of the problems is the problem of loneliness. Lermontov quite often raises this topic in his work. Here he shows loneliness in the image of a sail that is lonely on the open sea. There is no one next to him, so he simply has nowhere to wait for any support. The sail also faces the problem that it does not know where and why it is sailing. He doesn't know what exactly he wants to find? He simply floats, obeying the elements.
The second topic can be noted is the topic of internal uncertainty. Sail, just like the lyrical hero, continues to search for himself. Here are questions that will never lose their relevance. Where are we heading and what do we want to find at the end? We are not satisfied with the world that surrounds us, so we continue to move against it.
The topic of happiness was also touched upon. The lyrical hero shows that he has never been happy in life, but does not plan to look for it. He is dubious about this feeling, so he doesn’t really believe that happiness awaits him in the future.
Theme of rebellion and rebellion. And here we couldn’t do without her. We encounter this theme in almost every lyrical work, where the soul of the lyrical hero constantly rebels and demands change. Here the author also conveys these feelings through the sail, which is forced to go to the open sea to test his strength and show what he is capable of.
The theme of nature is also presented, thanks to which the author skillfully conveys the mood of the poem. The calm landscape gradually changes, but the author does not write about it directly. He seems to hint that a storm and thunderstorm is approaching, which the sail is so looking for in order to find long-awaited peace.
Analysis of the poem “Sail” by Lermontov (Option 2)
The poem “Sail” by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov is studied in the 6th grade during literature lessons. You will find a complete analysis and brief analysis of “Sail” according to the plan in our article.
History of creation - the poem was written in 1828 on the banks of the Neva in St. Petersburg. The theme is loneliness, uncertainty, spiritual rebellion. The composition is three quatrains, united by seascapes and the emotional experiences of the lyrical hero. “Action” follows the philosophizing of the internal monologue. The genre is a lyrical short story, there are also features of elegy. An example of the romantic style in poetry. The meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter with cross rhyme. Metaphors – “the sail is running”, “the waves are playing”, “the wind is whistling”. Epithets – “rebellious”, “golden ray”, “blue fog”, “lonely sail”. Oxymoron – “as if there is peace in storms.”
More on the topic: Mikhail Lermontov ~ Death of a Poet (The poet died! - a slave of honor...) (+ Analysis)
History of creation
The poem was written by Lermontov at the age of seventeen in 1832. In 1828, Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky’s poem “Andrei, Prince of Pereyaslavsky” was published, from which the poet took the first line of the poem “the lonely sail turns white.” This was a difficult period in the life of the poet, a student of Lermontov: he left Moscow University and did not enter St. Petersburg University.
In his letter to M.A. Lopukhina on September 2, 1828, he sends the text of a poem that conveys the poet’s depressed state. Lermontov was wandering along the Neva embankment, depressed and upset, when he noticed the outline of a white sailboat in the distance - a legendary poem was born to him.
Complete uncertainty of the future, unjustified hopes with admission - all this was reflected in the soul of the lyrical hero of the poem “Sail”. The poet himself did not take the work seriously and did not include it in his collection of essays in 1840. An interesting fact is that Lermontov has a watercolor work that depicts a small sailing ship in a storm, it was also painted in the period from 1828-1832. It is a full-fledged illustration, an artistic commentary on the text.
Subject
The theme of loneliness and uncertainty, search, mystery of the human soul. The sail in the poem symbolizes the life of the young poet, his inner world. The main idea is that human nature is characterized by passions, desires, loneliness, self-searching, and a craving for what can be dangerous.
The idea is that the author shows the loneliness and rebellion of the inner world of a creative person, himself. The main character is the image of a sail - human nature, looking for its place, rushing into the unknown. In moments of despair, people are prone to rebellion, search, risk, this is a consequence of the unknown. The author emphasizes that a person overwhelmed by life’s adversities is not given the opportunity to know what is for his benefit and what is not.
Composition
The work consists of three stanzas, united by landscape motifs and the internal experiences of the lyrical hero. Each quatrain is constructed in such a way that in the first two verses there is a “picture”, in the next two there is an interpretation of the internal state of the lyrical hero. The “story” ends with a rhetorical exclamation with a smack of condemnation and a feeling of “wrongness,” confusion and the unknown.
Genre
Lyrical short story: the poem combines philosophical reflections and landscapes. This poem is an example of the romantic style in Russian literature of the 19th century. Poetic meter: iambic tetrameter with cross rhyme. The assonance in the first stanza plays with the sound “o”, the second quatrain is saturated with the sound “e”, and in the last stanza the assonance with the sound “u” is clearly felt. This gives Lermontov’s “Sail” a resemblance to the sound of the wind, the disturbing elements, the murmur of waves.
Means of expression
Metaphors “the sail is running”, “the waves are playing”, “the wind is whistling”” give the lyrical narrative dynamism, imagery, and special beauty.
The epithets “rebellious”, “golden ray”, “blue fog”, “lonely sail” “make the description bright and colorful.
An oxymoron is a combination of incompatible things: “as if there is peace in storms” “gives the argument tragedy and hopelessness.
Anaphora is characteristic of Lermontov’s lyrics, due to it the effect of “elegance”, songfulness, and a kind of pathos appears: “What is he looking for in a distant country? What did he throw in his native land?..”..."Alas, he is not looking for happiness, and he is not running from happiness..."."
More on the topic: Mikhail Lermontov ~ She was beautiful, like a dream...(+Analysis)
Antithesis : “a distant country is a native land”, “a stream of lighter azure, a ray of sun is a storm.” “Contrast in a descriptive context makes images more expressive, emphasizes their differences, and creates opposition. Lermontov left his “native land” - Moscow, and arrived in St. Petersburg, unknown to him, where the future seems foggy and bleak.
The poetic syntax is represented by the last line of the poem, where the lyrical hero exclaims “As if there is peace in storms!”, which betrays condemnation, bewilderment, and leads to the conclusion that this is not a way out of the situation.
Means of expression
This poem contains a large number of epithets that help the poet create a more vivid picture. It helps to better convey the mood of the poem.
The use of rhetorical questions is also found in this text. This gives him a certain intrigue and makes him think about his own meaning of life.
Metaphors help a poem become more dynamic. And the use of an oxymoron in the last line makes the reader also think about his life.
Meaning
In the summer of 1832, 18-year-old Lermontov left his studies at Moscow University and moved to St. Petersburg, planning to enter the capital’s university, but he failed.
Frustrated and depressed, the poet wanders alone around the city, thinking about the future. In a letter dated September 2, 1832, addressed to Maria Alexandrovna Lopukhina, he admits that he does not see “nothing particularly comforting ahead” and cites the text of a poem he composed “on the seashore.” “Sail” is not only a reflection of the thoughts that worried the eighteen-year-old Lermontov, but also “a figurative and metaphorical designation of the poet’s life, based on its likening to sea voyage.” This theme (“the sea is life”) was started by his predecessors at the end of the 18th century and continued by Pushkin, who in the poem “Premonition” (1828) wrote: “I wait indifferently for the storm.” Eighteen-year-old ardent Lermontov, according to Shansky, “does not wait for a storm, but asks for it”:
“Even if nothing particularly comforting is visible ahead, we must act, search, fight. <…> He who has known the open sea cannot be content with the shore, the pier, or even the coastal calm; his peace lies in storms.
»
Evidence that the theme of the sea element was truly close to Lermontov is his watercolor work (1828-1831), which researchers call “a kind of graphic commentary on the poet’s literary ideas,” in particular, on “Sail.”
“Lonely Sail” (1828-1831), M.Yu.
Lermontov. Watercolor. The drawing is close to the main theme of the poem: Lermontov the artist and Lermontov the poet “merged in a single, anxiously romantic perception of the world”
The main idea of the work
In the role of a sail, we can easily recognize the soul of the author himself. They are very similar. They are equally looking for their place in this world, not knowing which way is best for them to head. Constant wanderings and relocations left their mark on the young poet.
Mikhail Yuryevich himself is at a crossroads and does not fully understand what exactly he wants. He is trying to find peace where it makes no sense to look for it, so he continues his tossing. He doesn't believe in happiness because he hasn't experienced it. Therefore, he doubts that luck will smile on him in the future.
He is very lonely, so he is highly dependent on external factors that push him from side to side. He understands that he is not able to change fate.
Our life is very much like the sea, from which you never know what to expect. The only thing in our power is to continue to sail in an unknown direction, cherishing the hope that a wonderful future awaits us. And maybe we can finally find out what happiness is.
Watercolor M.Yu. Lermontov "Sail". I. Aivazovsky. Storm on the Arctic Ocean. 1864. - presentation
Watercolor M.Yu. Lermontov "Sail"
I. Aivazovsky. Storm on the Arctic Ocean. 1864
M.Yu. Lermontov painted this picture on the shore of the Gulf of Finland.
For a long time, in the light of the moon, a white sail flashed between the dark waves...
And why did fate throw me into the peaceful circle of honest smugglers?
“Maybe I’m wrong, but Lermontov’s “Taman” and Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter” ... directly prove the close kinship of rich Russian verse with elegant prose.” A.P. Chekhov
“...a sample story, in my opinion, is “Taman”, let all the writers gather, and not one will find a word that could be added or subtracted, everything there is like a solid musical chord.” D.V. Grigorovich
“How much intelligence you had to have and how much real strength to let them live, glow, play as deeply as Lermontov, feeling the spell of the moon-blue waves and the black web of gear on the bright strip of the horizon, as they want and can, without obscuring them yourself, without insulting their beauty... Or in the last scene, having left the blind boy on the shore, leave him quietly and inconsolably crying and not say a last word about your relationship..." I. Annensky
PARALLELS Sail - sail - rebellion of smugglers homelessness Blind - wandering - hopelessness officer despair
As for the hero of the novel, he is the same mysterious person here as in the first stories. You see a man with a strong will, courageous, not shy of any danger, inviting himself into storms and anxiety in order to occupy himself with something and fill the bottomless emptiness of his spirit, even with activity without any purpose.” V.G. Belinsky
Grigory Aleksandrovich PECHORIN ATTITUDE TO NATURE The shore descended like a cliff to the sea... and below, dark blue waves splashed with a continuous murmur. The moon quietly looked at the restless, but submissive element...
V.G. Belinsky: “This story is distinguished by some special coloring: despite the prosaic reality of its content, everything in it is mysterious, the faces are some kind of fantastic shadows flickering in the evening twilight, in the light of dawn or the moon. The girl is especially charming: she is some kind of wild, sparkling beauty”...
PECHORIN ATTITUDE TO PEOPLE... a real mermaid... my undine... A strange creature!.. these eyes seemed to be endowed with some kind of magnetic power... she had a lot of character... the extraordinary flexibility of her figure... the correct nose - all this was charming for me.
Svetlana Svetlichnaya as Ondine (1967)
“Let’s get into the boat,” said my companion... She clung to my clothes like a cat... a desperate struggle began between us... I soon noticed that I was inferior to my opponent in dexterity... her fingers crunched, but she did not cry out: her serpentine nature withstood this torture...I instantly threw her into the waves. ...moored to the pier...someone in white was sitting on the shore...not very surprised, but almost delighted when he recognized my mermaid.
Pechorin His keen observation, persistent, consistent interest in the unknown, and most of all his attraction to danger and action, straining his trouble-free, almost deadly will, created acutely exciting adventures from ordinary everyday circumstances... E.N. Mikhailova
Pechorin In "Taman", as in "Bel", Pechorin is again shown not in a circle of people of the same social status and cultural level, but in an environment deeply separated from the privileged ruling elite. E.N. Mikhailova
PECHORIN AND SMUGGERS PECHORIN SMUGGLES Yanko undine blind old woman
PECHORIN AND SMUGGLES ATTITUDE TO PEOPLE ACTIVITIES CULTURE (speech)
...some reticence and ambiguity in the life of smugglers and in their mutual relations, leaving enough room for our imagination to work... S.V. Shuvalov. (1925)
Chapter “Taman” in the assessment of Russian writers
“Taman. This is perfection. I saw a photograph of the manuscript: it is so covered in lines that nothing can be made out. There is not a single extra word in the story, nothing, not a single comma that can be added or subtracted.” L.N. Tolstoy
“I don’t know the language better than Lermontov. I would do this: I would take his story and analyze it, as they do in schools, sentence by sentence, by part of a sentence... That’s how I would learn to write.” A.P. Chekhov
“...how could Lermontov, being almost a boy, do this? I dream of writing such a thing... then I could die!” A.P. Chekhov Monument to M.Yu. Lermontov in Gelendzhik
"Taman" is one of the most beautiful pearls of our literature." I.A. Bunin
...why did I live? For what purpose was I born?..
...my undine jumped into the boat and waved her hand to her comrade; he put something in the blind man’s hand... “Well, here’s more for you,” and the fallen coin rang as it hit the stone. The blind man did not pick it up. ... and then I heard something similar to sobbing... I felt sad. And why did fate throw me into the peaceful circle of honest smugglers?..
