Composition of the Felitsa ode. Allegorical meaning of the ode "Felitsa"

In a desire to please the Empress, he took as the basis for his work her own work, which had recently been published in a small edition. Naturally, for a brightly talented poet, this story began to sparkle with richer colors, in addition to this, introducing it into the history of Russian versification new style and made the poet a celebrity.

Ode Analysis

“Felitsa” has a subtitle that clarifies the purpose of writing this work. It talks about an appeal to the wise princess of the Tatar Murza, who settled in Moscow, but is on business in St. Petersburg. The reader is also mystified by the fact that the ode was supposedly translated from Arabic. The analysis of the ode “Felitsa” must begin with a name that does not sound familiar to either Russians or Arabs.

The fact is that this is what Catherine II called her heroine in her fairy tale about Prince Chlorus. Serving as the basis for the Italian language (here you can remember someone like Cutugno with the exclamation “Felicita”), Latin translates the word “Felitsa” (Felitsa - felicitas) as happiness. Thus, Derzhavin from the first line began to praise the empress, and then could not resist satire in the descriptions of her environment.

Artistic synthesis

Analysis of the ode “Felitsa” shows the orientation towards the usual, solemn ode of praise for the date accepted in those days. The ode is written in traditional stanzas - ten lines, and, as expected, But before Derzhavin, no one had yet dared to merge two genres that were opposite in purpose - the majestic laudatory ode and the caustic

The first was the ode "Felitsa". Derzhavin seemed to have “stepped back” in his innovation, judging by the precisely fulfilled conditions of the genre, at least in comparison with “Birthday Poems,” which are not even separated by stanzas. However, this impression disappears as soon as the reader overcomes the first few stanzas. Still, even the composition of the ode “Felitsa” represents a much broader artistic synthesis.

Fairy tale "Felitsa"

It is interesting to consider what motives prompted Derzhavin to write this “fan fiction”, what served as the primary basis and whether this topic was worthy of continuation. Apparently, she is worthy, and very much so. Catherine II wrote her fairy tale for her grandson, still small, but in the future great Alexander I. The Empress's fairy tale is about the Kiev prince Chlorus, who was visited by the Kyrgyz khan to check whether the prince was really as smart and dexterous as they say about him.

The boy agreed to take the test and find the rarest flower - a rose without thorns - and set off on his journey. On the road, having responded to the invitation of Murza Lazy Guy (a telling name), the prince tries to resist the temptations of that luxury and idleness with which Lazy Guy seduces him. Fortunately, this Kyrgyz khan had a very good daughter, whose name was Felitsa, and an even better grandson, whose name was Reason. Felitsa sent her son with the prince, who, with the help of Reason, went to the goal of his journey.

Bridge between fairy tale and ode

In front of them was a steep mountain, without paths or stairs. Apparently, the prince himself was quite persistent, because, despite enormous work and trials, he still climbed to the top, where he decorated his life with a rose without thorns, that is, with virtue. An analysis of the ode “Felitsa” shows that, as in any fairy tale, the images here are conventionally allegorical, but in Derzhavin at the beginning of the ode they stand up very strongly, and all the odic beginnings of classical examples, where the ascent to Parnassus and communication with the muses are inevitable, fade next to with seemingly simple images of a children's fairy tale.

Even the portrait of Catherine (Felitsa) is given in a completely new manner, which is completely different from the traditional laudatory description. Usually in odes the honored character appears in the inexpressive image of a goddess, walking through the solemn, echoing rhymes of the verse with heavy rhythmic shortness of breath. Here the poet is inspired, and - most importantly - equipped with poetic skill. The poems are not lame and are not inflated with excessive pathos. The plan of the ode “Felitsa” is such that Catherine appears before the reader as an intelligent, but simple and active Kyrgyz-Kaisat princess. It plays well into the harmony of the construction of this image and the contrast - the image of Murza, vicious and lazy, which Derzhavin uses throughout the ode. Hence the unprecedented genre diversity that distinguishes the ode “Felitsa”.

Derzhavin and the Empress

The singer’s pose here also changes in relation to the subject of the chanting, if we consider not only all previous Russian literature, but even the poems of Derzhavin himself. Sometimes a certain godlike quality of the queen still slips through the ode, but with all this and with the general respect that the ode “Felitsa” demonstrates, the content also shows a certain shortness of relationship, not familiarity, but the warmth of almost family closeness.

But in satirical lines, Derzhavin can sometimes be understood in two ways. The collective features of the image of Murza ridicule all of Catherine’s nobles in turn, and it is here that the poet does not forget himself. Self-irony is an even more rare fact in the poetry of those years. The author’s “I” is not devoid of lyrics, but it is made clear that “This is how I am, Felitsa!”, “Today I rule over myself, and tomorrow I am a slave to my whims.” The appearance of such an author’s “I” in an ode is a fact of enormous artistic significance. Lomonosov also began his odes with “I,” but as a loyal slave, while Derzhavin’s author is concrete and living.

Narration from the author

Naturally, the composition of the ode “Felitsa” would not have withstood the author’s full-fledged individuality. Derzhavin most often presents under the author's "I" a conventional image of a singer, which is usually always present in odes as well as in satires. But there is a difference: in an ode the poet plays only sacred delight, but in satire only indignation. Derzhavin combined “one-string” genres with the creation of a living human poet, with an absolutely concrete life, with a variety of feelings and experiences, with “multi-stringed” music of verse.

An analysis of the ode “Felitsa” certainly notes not only delight, but also anger, blasphemy and praise in one bottle. Along the way he manages to be disingenuous and ironic. That is, he behaves throughout the entire work as a completely normal and living person. And it should be noted that this individual personality has undoubted features of a nationality. In ode! And now such a case would be unprecedented if someone in our time wrote odic poetry.

About genres

The ode “Felitsa”, the content of which is so rich in contradictions, is warmed as if by the warm rays of the sun with light colloquial speech from the reality of everyday life, light, simple, sometimes humorous, which directly contradicts the laws of this genre. Moreover, a genre revolution, almost a revolution, took place here.

It must be clarified that Russian classicism did not know poetry as “just poetry.” All poetry was strictly divided into genres and types, sharply demarcated, and these boundaries stood unshakable. Ode, satire, elegy and other types of poetic creativity could not be mixed with each other.

Here the traditional categories of classicism are completely broken after the organic fusion of ode and satire. This applies not only to Felitsa; Derzhavin did this both before and later. For example, the ode “To death is half elegy.” Genres become polyphonic with the light hand of Derzhavin.

Success

This ode became a colossal success immediately after its publication: “Everyone who could read Russian found it in the hands of everyone,” according to a contemporary. At first, Derzhavin was wary of widely publishing the ode and tried to hide the authorship (probably the depicted and very recognizable nobles were vindictive), but then Princess Dashkova appeared and published “Felitsa” in the magazine “Interlocutor,” where Catherine II herself did not hesitate to collaborate.

The Empress liked the ode very much, she even cried with delight, ordered the authorship to be immediately exposed and, when this happened, she sent Derzhavin a golden snuffbox with a dedicatory inscription and five hundred chervonets in it. It was after this that real fame came to the poet.

Derzhavin Gavrila Romanovich (1743-1816). Russian poet. Representative of Russian classicism. G.R. Derzhavin was born near Kazan into a family of small landed nobles. The Derzhavin family originated from the descendants of Murza Bagrim, who voluntarily went over to the side of Grand Duke Vasily II (1425-1462), which is attested in a document from the personal archive of G.R. Derzhavin.

Derzhavin's work is deeply contradictory. While revealing the possibilities of classicism, he at the same time destroyed it, paving the way for romantic and realistic poetry.

Derzhavin's poetic creativity is extensive and is mainly represented by odes, among which civil, victorious-patriotic, philosophical and anacreontic odes can be distinguished.

A special place is occupied by civil odes addressed to persons endowed with great political power: monarchs, nobles. Among the best of this cycle is the ode “Felitsa” dedicated to Catherine II.

In 1762, Derzhavin received a call to military service in St. Petersburg, in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment. From this time on, Derzhavin’s public service began, to which the poet devoted over 40 years of his life. The time of service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment is also the beginning of Derzhavin’s poetic activity, which undoubtedly played an exceptionally important role in his career biography. Fate threw Derzhavin into various military and civilian positions: he was a member of a special secret commission, the main task of which was to capture E. Pugachev; For several years he was in the service of the all-powerful Prosecutor General Prince. A.A. Vyazemsky (1777-1783). It was at this time that he wrote his famous ode "Felitsa", published on May 20, 1873 in the "Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word".

"Felitsa" brought Derzhavin noisy literary fame. The poet was generously rewarded by the empress with a golden snuffbox sprinkled with diamonds. A modest official of the Senate department became the most famous poet throughout Russia.

The fight against the abuses of nobles, nobility and officials for the good of Russia was a defining feature of Derzhavin’s activities both as a statesman and as a poet. And Derzhavin saw the power capable of leading the state with dignity, leading Russia to glory, to prosperity, to “bliss” only in an enlightened monarchy. Hence the appearance in his work of the theme of Catherine II - Felitsa.

In the early 80s. Derzhavin was not yet closely acquainted with the empress. In creating her image, the poet used stories about her, the dissemination of which Catherine herself took care of, a self-portrait drawn in her literary works, ideas preached in her “Instructions” and decrees. At the same time, Derzhavin knew very well many prominent nobles of Catherine’s court, under whose command he had to serve. Therefore, Derzhavin’s idealization of the image of Catherine II is combined with a critical attitude towards her nobles,

The very image of Felitsa, a wise and virtuous Kyrgyz princess, was taken by Derzhavin from “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” written by Catherine II for her grandchildren. "Felitsa" continues the tradition of laudable odes of Lomonosov and at the same time differs from them in its new interpretation of the image of the enlightened monarch. Enlightenment scholars now see in the monarch a person to whom society has entrusted the care of the welfare of citizens; he is entrusted with numerous responsibilities towards the people. And Derzhavin’s Felitsa acts as a gracious monarch-legislator:

Not valuing your peace,

You read and write in front of the lectern

And all from your pen

Shedding bliss to mortals...

It is known that the source of the creation of the image of Felitsa was the document “Order of the Commission on the Drafting of a New Code” (1768), written by Catherine II herself. One of the main ideas of the “Nakaz” is the need to soften existing laws that allowed torture during interrogations, the death penalty for minor offenses, etc., so Derzhavin endowed his Felitsa with mercy and leniency:

Are you ashamed to be considered great?

To be scary and unloved;

The bear is decently wild

Rip animals and drink their blood.

And how nice it is to be a tyrant,

Tamerlane, great in atrocity,

There you can whisper in conversations

And, without fear of execution, at dinners

Don't drink to the health of kings.

There with the name Felitsa you can

Scrape out the typo in the line

Or a portrait carelessly

Drop it on the ground.

What was fundamentally new was that from the very first lines of the ode the poet depicts the Russian Empress (and in Felitsa, readers easily guessed it was Catherine) primarily from the point of view of her human qualities:

Without imitating your Murzas,

You often walk

And the food is the simplest

It happens at your table...

Derzhavin also praises Catherine for the fact that from the first days of her stay in Russia she strove to follow in everything the “customs” and “rites” of the country that sheltered her. The Empress succeeded in this and aroused sympathy both at court and in the guard.

Derzhavin's innovation was manifested in "Felitsa" not only in the interpretation of the image of an enlightened monarch, but also in the bold combination of laudatory and accusatory principles, ode and satire. Ideal image Felitsa is contrasted with careless nobles (in the ode they are called “Murzas”). “Felitsa” depicts the most influential persons at court: Prince G. A. Potemkin, Counts Orlov, Count P. I. Panin, Prince Vyazemsky. Their portraits were so expressively executed that the originals were easily recognizable.

Criticizing the nobles spoiled by power, Derzhavin emphasizes their weaknesses, whims, petty interests, unworthy of a high dignitary. So, for example, Potemkin is presented as a gourmet and glutton, a lover of feasts and amusements; The Orlovs amuse “their spirit with fist fighters and dancing”; Panin, “giving up worry about all matters,” goes hunting, and Vyazemsky enlightens his “mind and heart” - he reads “Polkan and Bova”, “he sleeps over the Bible, yawning.”

Enlightenmentists understood the life of society as a constant struggle between truth and error. In Derzhavin’s ode, the ideal, the norm is Felitsa, the deviation from the norm is her careless “Murzas”. Derzhavin was the first to begin to depict the world as it appears to an artist.

The undoubted poetic courage was the appearance in the ode “Felitsa” of the image of the poet himself, shown in an everyday setting, not distorted by a conventional pose, not constrained by classical canons. Derzhavin was the first Russian poet who was able and, most importantly, wanted to paint a living and truthful portrait of himself in his work:

Sitting at home, I'll do a prank,

Playing fools with my wife...

The “eastern” flavor of the ode is noteworthy: it was written on behalf of the Tatar Murza, and eastern cities are mentioned in it - Baghdad, Smyrna, Kashmir. The end of the ode is in a laudatory, high style:

I ask the great prophet

I will touch the dust of your feet.

The image of Felitsa is repeated in Derzhavin’s subsequent poems, caused by various events in the poet’s life: “Gratitude to Felitsa”, “Image of Felitsa”, “Vision of Murza”.

The high poetic merits of the ode “Felitsa” brought it wide fame at that time in the circles of the most advanced Russian people. A. N. Radishchev, for example, wrote: “If you add many stanzas from the ode to Felitsa, and especially where Murza describes himself, almost poetry will remain without poetry.” “Everyone who can read Russian found it in their hands,” testified O. P. Kozodavlev, editor of the magazine where the ode was published.

Derzhavin compares Catherine's reign with cruel morals, reigned in Russia during the Bironovschina under Empress Anna Ioannovna, and praises Felitsa for a number of laws useful for the country.

The ode "Felitsa", in which Derzhavin combined opposite principles: positive and negative, pathetic and satire, ideal and real, finally consolidated in Derzhavin's poetry what began in 1779 - mixing, breaking, eliminating the strict genre system

Ode “Felitsa” (1782) is the first poem that made the name of Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin famous, becoming an example of a new style in Russian poetry.

The ode received its name from the heroine of “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” the author of which was Catherine II herself. She is also named by this name, which in Latin means happiness, in Derzhavin’s ode, glorifying the empress and satirically characterizing her environment.

The history of this poem is very interesting and revealing. It was written a year before publication, but Derzhavin himself did not want to publish it and even hid the authorship. And suddenly, in 1783, news spread around St. Petersburg: the anonymous ode “Felitsa” appeared, where the vices of famous nobles close to Catherine II, to whom the ode was dedicated, were depicted in a comic form. The residents of St. Petersburg were quite surprised by the courage of the unknown author. They tried to get the ode, read it, and rewrite it. Princess Dashkova, a close associate of the Empress, decided to publish the ode, and precisely in the magazine where Catherine II herself collaborated.

The next day, Dashkova found the Empress in tears, and in her hands was a magazine with Derzhavin’s ode. The Empress asked who wrote the poem, in which, as she herself said, he portrayed her so accurately that he moved her to tears. This is how Derzhavin tells the story.

Indeed, breaking the traditions of the laudatory ode genre, Derzhavin widely introduces colloquial vocabulary and even vernacular into it, but most importantly, he does not draw ceremonial portrait the empress, but depicts her human appearance. That’s why the ode contains everyday scenes and still life:

Without imitating your Murzas,

You often walk

And the food is the simplest

Happens at your table.

Classicism forbade combining high ode and satire belonging to low genres in one work. But Derzhavin doesn’t even just combine them in the characterization of different persons depicted in the ode, he does something completely unprecedented for that time. “God-like” Felitsa, like other characters in his ode, is also shown in an ordinary way (“You often walk on foot...”). At the same time, such details do not reduce her image, but make her more real, humane, as if exactly copied from life.

But not everyone liked this poem as much as the empress. It puzzled and alarmed many of Derzhavin’s contemporaries. What was so unusual and even dangerous about him?

On the one hand, in the ode “Felitsa” a completely traditional image of a “god-like princess” is created, which embodies the poet’s idea of ​​​​the ideal of the eminent monarch. Clearly idealizing the real Catherine II, Derzhavin at the same time believes in the image he painted:

Give me some advice, Felitsa:

How to live magnificently and truthfully,

How to tame passions and excitement

And be happy in the world?

On the other hand, the poet’s poems convey the idea not only of the wisdom of power, but also of the carelessness of performers concerned with their own profit:

Seduction and flattery live everywhere,

Luxury oppresses everyone.

Where does virtue live?

Where does a rose without thorns grow?

This idea in itself was not new, but behind the images of the nobles depicted in the ode, the features of real people clearly emerged:

My thoughts are spinning in chimeras:

Then I steal captivity from the Persians,

Then I direct arrows towards the Turks;

Then, having dreamed that I was a sultan,

I terrify the universe with my gaze;

Then suddenly, seduced by the outfit,

I'm off to the tailor for a caftan.

In these images, the poet’s contemporaries easily recognized the empress’s favorite Potemkin, her close associates Alexei Orlov, Panin, and Naryshkin. Drawing their brightly satirical portraits, Derzhavin showed great courage - after all, any of the nobles he offended could deal with the author for this. Only Catherine’s favorable attitude saved Derzhavin.

But even to the empress he dares to give advice: to follow the law to which both kings and their subjects are subject:

You alone are only decent,

Princess, create light from darkness;

Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously,

The union will strengthen their integrity;

From disagreement to agreement

And from fierce passions happiness

You can only create.

This favorite thought of Derzhavin sounded bold and it was expressed in simple and understandable language.

The poem ends with the traditional praise of the Empress and wishing her all the best:

I ask for heavenly strength,

Yes, their sapphire wings spread out,

They keep you invisibly

From all illnesses, evils and boredom;

May the sounds of your deeds be heard in posterity,

Like the stars in the sky, they will shine.

Thus, in “Felitsa” Derzhavin acted as a bold innovator, combining the style of a laudatory ode with the individualization of characters and satire, introducing elements of low styles into the high genre of ode. Subsequently, the poet himself defined the genre of “Felitsa” as a “mixed ode.” Derzhavin argued that, in contrast to the traditional ode for classicism, where government officials and military leaders were praised, and a solemn event was glorified, in a “mixed ode,” “the poet can talk about everything.”

Reading the poem “Felitsa”, you are convinced that Derzhavin, indeed, managed to introduce into poetry the individual characters of real people, boldly taken from life or created by the imagination, shown against the backdrop of a colorfully depicted everyday environment. This makes his poems bright, memorable and understandable not only for the people of his time. And now we can read with interest the poems of this wonderful poet, separated from us by a huge distance of two and a half centuries.

Date of creation: 1782. Source: G.R. Derzhavin. Poems. Petrozavodsk, “Karelia”, 1984. For the first time - “Interlocutor”, 1783, part 1, page 5, without signature, under the title: “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz princess Felitsa, written by the Tatar Murza, who has long settled in Moscow, and living in business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic 1782."

FELICA

‎ God-like princess
Kirghiz-Kaisak horde!
Whose wisdom is incomparable
Discovered the right tracks
5 To Tsarevich young Chlorus
Climb that high mountain
Where does a thornless rose grow?
Where virtue lives, -
She captivates my spirit and mind,
10 Let me find her advice.

Give it to me, Felitsa! instruction:
How to live magnificently and truthfully,
How to tame passions and excitement
And be happy in the world?
15 Your voice excites me,
Your son is accompanying me;
But I am weak to follow them.
Disturbed by the vanity of life,
Today I control myself
20 And tomorrow I am a slave to my whims.

‎ Without imitating your Murzas,
You often walk
And the food is the simplest
Happens at your table;
25 Not valuing your peace,
You read and write in front of the lectern
And all from your pen
You shed bliss on mortals;
Like you don't play cards,
30 Like me, from morning to morning.

‎ You don’t like masquerades too much,
And you can’t even set foot in the club;
Keeping customs, rituals,
Don't be quixotic with yourself;
35 You cannot saddle the horse of Parnassus,
You don’t enter a gathering of spirits,
You don’t go from the throne to the East;
But walking the path of meekness,
With a charitable soul,
40 useful days of conducting current.

‎ And I, having slept until noon,
I smoke tobacco and drink coffee;
Transforming everyday life into a holiday,
My thoughts are spinning in chimeras:
45 Then I steal captivity from the Persians,
Then I direct arrows towards the Turks;
Then, having dreamed that I was a sultan,
I terrify the universe with my gaze;
Then suddenly, seduced by the outfit,
50 I’m off to the tailor for a caftan.

‎ Or am I at a rich feast,
Where do they give me a holiday?
Where the table glitters with silver and gold,
Where are thousands of different dishes:
55 There is a glorious Westphalian ham,
There are links of Astrakhan fish,
There are pilaf and pies there,
I wash down the waffles with champagne;
And I forget everything in the world
60 Among wines, sweets and aroma.

‎ Or among a beautiful grove
In the gazebo where the fountain is noisy,
When the sweet-voiced harp rings,
Where the breeze barely breathes
65 Where everything presents me with luxury,
To the pleasures of thought he catches,
It languishes and revitalizes the blood;
Lying on a velvet sofa,
The young girl feels tender,
70 I pour love into her heart.

‎ Or a magnificent train
In an English carriage, golden,
With a dog, a jester or a friend,
Or with some beauty
75 I'm walking under the swing;
I go to taverns to drink mead;
Or, somehow I’ll get bored,
According to my inclination to change,
With my hat on one side,
80 I'm flying on a fast runner.

‎ Or music and singers,
Suddenly with an organ and bagpipes,
Or fist fighters
And I make my spirit happy by dancing;
85 Or, taking care of all matters
I leave and go hunting
And I am amused by the barking of dogs;
Or over the Neva banks
I amuse myself with horns at night
90 And the rowing of daring rowers.

‎ Or, sitting at home, I’ll play a prank,
Playing fools with my wife;
Then I get along with her at the dovecote,
Sometimes we frolic in blind man's buff;
95 Then I have fun with her,
Then I look for it in my head;
I like to rummage through books,
I enlighten my mind and heart,
I read Polkan and Bova;
100 Over the Bible, yawning, I sleep.

‎ That’s it, Felitsa, I’m depraved!
But the whole world looks like me.
Who knows how much wisdom,
But every person is a lie.
105 We do not walk in the paths of light,
We run debauchery after dreams.
Between a lazy person and a grouch,
Between vanity and vice
Did anyone accidentally find it?
110 The path of virtue is straight.

‎ I found it, - but why not be mistaken?
To us, weak mortals, on this path,
Where does reason itself stumble
And one must follow passions;
115 Where are the learned ignoramuses for us,
Like the darkness of travelers, their eyelids are dark?
Seduction and flattery live everywhere,
Pasha oppresses everyone with luxury.-
Where does virtue live?
120 Where does a rose without thorns grow?

‎ You alone are only decent,
Princess! create light from darkness;
Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously,
The union will strengthen their integrity;
125 From disagreement to agreement
And from fierce passions happiness
You can only create.
So the helmsman, sailing through the show-off,
Catching the roaring wind under sail,
130 Knows how to steer a ship.

‎ You just won’t offend the only one,
Don't insult anyone
You see through your fingers the tomfoolery
The only thing you cannot tolerate is evil;
135 You rule over misdeeds with leniency,
Like a wolf, you don’t crush people,
You know right away their price.
They are subject to the will of kings, -
But God is more just,
140 To him who lives in their laws.

‎You think sensibly about merit,
You give honor to the worthy,
You don't consider him a prophet,
Who can only weave rhymes,
145 What crazy fun is this
Honor and glory to the good caliphs.
You condescend to the lyrical mode:
Poetry is dear to you,
Pleasant, sweet, useful,
150 Like delicious lemonade in summer.

‎ There are rumors about your actions,
That you are not at all proud;
Kind in business and in jokes,
Pleasant in friendship and firm;
155 Why are you indifferent in adversity,
And in glory she is so generous,
That she renounced and was considered wise.
They also say it’s not false,
It's like it's always possible
160 You should tell the truth.

‎ It’s also unheard of,
Worthy of you alone
It’s like you’re bold to the people
About everything, and show it and at hand,
165 And you allow me to know and think,
And you don’t forbid about yourself
To speak both true and false;
As if to the crocodiles themselves,
All your mercies to Zoilas,
170 You are always inclined to forgive.

‎ Pleasant rivers of tears flow
From the depths of my soul.
ABOUT! when people are happy
There must be their destiny,
175 Where is the meek angel, the peaceful angel,
Hidden in the porphyry lightness,
A scepter was sent down from heaven to wear!
There you can whisper in conversations
And, without fear of execution, at dinners
180 Don’t drink to the health of kings.

‎ There with the name Felitsa you can
Scrape out the typo in the line,
Or a portrait carelessly
Drop it on the ground.
185 There are no clownish weddings,
They are not fried in ice baths,
They don’t click on the nobles’ mustaches;
Princes don't cluck like hens,
Favorites don't want to laugh at them
190 And they don’t stain their faces with soot.

‎ You know, Felitsa! are right
And men and kings;
When you enlighten morals,
You don't fool people like that;
195 Take a break from your work
You write lessons in fairy tales
And you repeat to Chlorus in the alphabet:
"Don't do anything bad,
And the evil satyr himself
200 You will make a despicable liar.”

‎ You are ashamed to be considered great,
To be scary and unloved;
The bear is decently wild
Tearing animals and shedding their blood.
205 Without extreme distress in the heat of the moment
Does that person need lancets?
Who could do without them?
And how nice it is to be a tyrant,
Tamerlane, great in atrocity,
210 Who is great in goodness, like God?

‎ Felitsa glory, glory to God,
Who pacified the battles;
Which is poor and wretched
Covered, clothed and fed;
215 Which with a radiant eye
Clowns, cowards, ungrateful
And he gives his light to the righteous;
Equally enlightens all mortals,
He comforts the sick, heals,
220 He does good only for good.

‎ Who gave freedom
Jump into foreign regions,
Allowed his people
Seek silver and gold;
225 Who allows water
And it does not prohibit cutting down the forest;
Orders to weave, and spin, and sew;
Untying the mind and hands,
Tells you to love trading, science
230 And find happiness at home;

‎Whose law, right hand
They give both mercy and judgment.-
Prophecy, wise Felitsa!
Where is a rogue different from the honest?
235 Where does old age not wander around the world?
Does merit find bread for itself?
Where revenge does not drive anyone?
Where do conscience and truth live?
Where do virtues shine? -
240 Isn’t it yours at the throne!

‎ But where does your throne shine in the world?
Where, branch of heaven, do you bloom?
In Baghdad? Smyrna? Cashmere? -
Listen, wherever you live, -
245 I have noted my praises to you,
Don’t think about hats or beshmetya
For them I wanted from you.
Feel the good pleasure
This is the wealth of the soul,
250 Which Croesus did not collect.

‎ I ask the great prophet,
May I touch the dust of your feet,
Yes, your words are the sweetest current
And I will enjoy the sight!
255 I ask for heavenly strength,
Yes, their sapphire wings spread out,
They keep you invisibly
From all illnesses, evils and boredom;
May the sounds of your deeds be heard in posterity,
260 Like the stars in the sky, they will shine.

Appendix to the ode: “Felitsa”.

SKETCH OF THE ORIGINALLY CONCERNED ODE TO CATHERINE.

You, who alone, without the help of a minister, following the example of the gods, hold everything with your own hand and see everything with your own eyes!

Great Empress, if until now, out of prudence, I remained in respectful silence and did not praise you, it was not because my heart hesitated to burn the proper incense for you; but I know little how to praise, and my trembling Muse runs away from such excessive burdens and, not being able to speak worthily about your great deeds, is afraid to touch your laurels, lest they dry up.

I am not blinded by vain desire and moderate my flight according to my weak strength, and with my silence I am wiser than those brave mortals who desecrate your altars with an unworthy sacrifice; who in this field, where their selfishness leads them, dare to sing without strength and spirit your name and who bore you every day in an ugly voice, telling you about your own affairs.

I do not dare to discredit their desire to please you; but why, without having the strength, work uselessly and, without praising you, only disgrace yourself?

To weave praises, it must be Virgil.

I cannot make sacrifices to gods who do not have virtue, and I will never hide my thoughts for your praise: and no matter how great your power, if in this my heart did not agree with my lips, then there would be no reward and no reasons I would have snatched from me not a word of your praise.

But when I see you working with noble ardor in the performance of your office, bringing to shame the sovereigns who tremble at their labor and who are oppressed by the burden of the crown; when I see you enriching your subjects with reasonable orders; the pride of the enemy, trampling underfoot, opening the sea to us, and your brave warriors - promoting your intentions and your great heart, subduing everything under the power of the Eagle; Russia - under your power, ruling happiness, and our ships - Neptune despising and reaching the places from where the sun spreads its run: then, without asking whether Apollo likes it, my Muse warns me in the heat and praises you.

Commentary by J. Grot

In 1781, a small number of copies written by Catherine for her five-year-old grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, was published. The Tale of Prince Chlorus. Chlorus was the son of a prince, or king Kyiv, kidnapped by the Khan during his father's absence Kyrgyz Wanting to believe the rumor about the boy’s abilities, the khan ordered him to find a rose without thorns. The prince set off on this errand. On the way, he met the Khan’s daughter, cheerful and amiable. Felitsa. She wanted to go see off the prince, but her stern husband, the Sultan, prevented her from doing so. Killjoy, and then she sent her son to the child, Reason. Continuing his journey, Chlor was subjected to various temptations, and by the way, he was invited to his hut by his Murza Lazy guy, who, with the temptations of luxury, tried to divert the prince from an undertaking that was too difficult. But Reason forcibly carried him further. Finally they saw in front of them a steep rocky mountain on which grows rose without thorns, or, as one young man explained to Chlorus, virtue. Having climbed the mountain with difficulty, the prince picked this flower and hurried to the khan. The Khan sent him along with the rose to the Kyiv prince. “This one was so happy about the arrival of the prince and his successes that he forgot all the melancholy and sadness.... Here the fairy tale will end, and whoever knows more will tell another.”

This fairy tale gave Derzhavin the idea to write an ode to Felitsa(to the goddess of bliss, according to his explanation of this name): since the empress loved funny jokes, he says, this ode was written in her taste, at the expense of her entourage. But Derzhavin was afraid to give voice to these poems, on which his friends, N.A. Lvov and V.V. Kapnist, agreed with him. The ode became famous due to the immodesty of O.P. Kozodavlev, who, living in the same house with the poet, one day accidentally saw her and begged for a short time (For details, see Explanations Derzhavin). Soon after, Princess E. R. Dashkova, as director of the Academy of Sciences, undertook the publication Interlocutor for lovers of the Russian word and opened Derzhavin’s ode 1st book of this magazine, published on May 20, 1783, Saturday ( St. Petersburg Led. that year No. 40). There, on pp. 5-14, this ode is printed without any signature, under the title: An ode to the wise Kyrgyz princess Felitsa, written by some Tatar Murza, who had long settled in Moscow and lived on business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic 1782. To the words: from Arabic the editors made a note: “Although the name of the author is unknown to us; but we know that this ode was definitely composed in Russian.” Let us add that it was written at the end of 1782.

IN Explanations The poet notes that he called Catherine the Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess also because he had villages in the then Orenburg region, adjacent to the Kyrgyz horde, subject to the empress. Nowadays these estates are located in the Buzulut district of the Samara province.

Ode to Felice delivered Derzhavin a rich gift from the Empress (a golden snuff box with 500 chervonets) and the honor of presenting it to her Winter Palace; but at the same time she instigated persecution against him by his then boss, Prosecutor General Prince. Vyazemsky. In general, this work had a decisive influence on the entire future fate poet.

The new ode created a lot of noise at court and in St. Petersburg society. Catherine sent it (of course in separate prints) to her close associates and in each copy she emphasized what directly related to the person to whom it was assigned. Derzhavin's fame was established; she responded to Interlocutor, where since then they started talking about him both in prose articles and in poetry, calling him Murza, Arabic translator etc. In the following books of the magazine there were four poems addressed to him, between which there were three messages: V. Zhukov, Sonnet to the author of an ode to Felitsa (Part III, p. 46); M. Sushkova, Letter from a Chinese to a Tatar Murza (Part V, pp. 5-8); O. Kozodavleva, Letter to the Tatar Murza (part VIII, pp. 1-8); E. Kostrova, Letter to the creator of an ode composed in praise of Felitsa (part X, 25-30). “In all these poems, which are not particularly distinguished by their merit, Derzhavin is praised not so much for his good poetry as for the fact that he wrote without flattery” ( Op. Dobrolyubova, vol. I, p. 74). Moreover, Felitsa and its author are mentioned with praise in poems Interlocutor: Princess E. R. Dashkova(Part VI, p. 20) and To my friend(Part VII, p. 40).

Regarding the poems of praise to Derzhavin that appeared after Felice, Mr. Galakhov defines the meaning of this ode in our literature as follows: “The poem, signed with the letters O.K. (Osip Kozodavlev), “says that Derzhavin laid new way to Parnassus, that

...except for lush odes,
There is a “different, good kind” in poetry.

Signs of this a new poetic kind indicated by its opposite lush ode. Odes, notices Companion in one article, filled with the names of fabulous gods, they get bored and serve as food for mice and rats; Felitsa is written in a completely different style, as poems of this kind were written before. In another poem, Kostrova, Derzhavin also recognizes the glory of finding a new and untrodden path: for while our hearing was deaf from the loud tones, Derzhavin managed to sing in a simple syllable the deeds of Felitsa without a lyre and Pegasus; he was given the ability and it is important to sing and play the whistle.... Having named Derzhavin singer Felitsa, his contemporaries made it known “that his peculiarity as a poet clearly emerged in this play. The fair name has not yet lost its power: for us, Derzhavin too singer Felitsa; he will remain Felitsa’s singer for further time” (Preface to Historical Christomathy new. Russian period Literature, vol. I, p. II).

As an example of the opinion of contemporaries about Felice, Let us quote Radishchev’s judgment: “Add many stanzas from the ode to Felice, and especially where Murza describes himself... almost the same poetry will remain without poetry" ( Op. Radishcheva, Part IV, p. 82).

In all likelihood, an ode to Felitsa, when she appeared in Interlocutor, was also printed in separate copies. In the 1798 edition (p. 69) it bears the same long title; in the 1808 edition (part I, XII) it was simply entitled: Felitsa.

The meaning of the drawings (Olen.): 1) Felitsa points out to the prince a mountain on which a rose without thorns grows; 2) the subject is the last verse of the 8th stanza: “I’m flying on a fast runner.”

1. We found this sketch in Derzhavin’s papers and wrote it on a special piece of paper in his own hand; judging by the nature of the handwriting, it dates back to the seventies (cf. above, p. 147, note 34 to Felice). Derzhavin’s view of his attitude as a poet towards Catherine and the duty of sincerity in praising the powerful is very remarkable. It's like the author's confession singer Felitsa. Let us count here all those poems by Derzhavin that were written by him before Felitsa in honor of Catherine II:

   1767	Inscription for her procession to Kazan.
   	" Inscription. . Interlocutor (Part XVI, p. 6).

Ode "Felitsa"(1782) - the first poem that made the name of Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin famous, becoming an example of a new style in Russian poetry.

The ode received its name from the name of the heroine of “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” the author of which was Catherine herself, and with this name, which translated from Latin means happiness, she is also named in Derzhavin’s ode, glorifying the empress and satirically characterizing her environment.

The history of this poem is very interesting and revealing. It was written a year before publication, but Derzhavin himself did not want to publish it and even hid the authorship. And suddenly, in 1783, news spread around St. Petersburg: an anonymous ode appeared “ Felitsa", where the vices of famous nobles close to Catherine II, to whom the ode was dedicated, were depicted in a comic form. The residents of St. Petersburg were quite surprised by the courage of the unknown author. They tried to get the ode, read it, and rewrite it. Princess Dashkova, a close associate of the Empress, decided to publish the ode, Krichem, in the very magazine where Catherine II herself collaborated.

The next day, Dashkova found the empress in tears, and in her hands was a magazine with Derzhavin’s ode. The Empress asked who wrote the poem, in which, as she herself said, he portrayed her so accurately that he moved her to tears. This is how Derzhavin tells the story.

IN " Felice“Derzhavin acted as a bold innovator, combining the style of a laudatory ode with individualization of characters and satire, introducing elements of low styles into the high genre of ode. Subsequently, the poet himself defined the genre of “Felitsa” as a “mixed ode.” Derzhavin argued that, in contrast to the traditional ode for classicism, where government officials and military leaders were praised, and a solemn event was glorified, in a “mixed ode,” “the poet can talk about everything.”

Reading the poem " Felitsa“, you are convinced that Derzhavin really managed to introduce into poetry the individual characters of real people, boldly taken from life or created by the imagination, shown against the backdrop of a colorfully depicted everyday environment. This makes his poems bright, memorable and understandable not only for the people of his time. And now we can read with interest the poems of this wonderful poet, separated from us by a huge distance of two and a half centuries.

Classicism forbade combining high ode and satire belonging to low genres in one work. But Derzhavin doesn’t even just combine them in the characterization of different persons depicted in the ode, he does something completely unprecedented for that time. “God-like” Felitsa, like other characters in his ode, is also shown in an ordinary way (“You often walk on foot...”). At the same time, such details do not reduce her image, but make her more real, humane, as if exactly copied from life.

But not everyone liked this poem as much as the empress. It puzzled and alarmed many of Derzhavin’s contemporaries. What was so unusual and even dangerous about him?

On the one hand, in the ode “Felitsa” a completely traditional image of a “god-like princess” is created, which embodies the poet’s idea of ​​​​the ideal of the eminent monarch. Clearly idealizing the real Catherine II, Derzhavin at the same time believes in the image he painted:

Give me some advice, Felitsa:

How to live magnificently and truthfully,

And be happy in the world?

On the other hand, the poet’s poems convey the idea not only of the wisdom of power, but also of the carelessness of performers concerned with their own profit:

Seduction and flattery live everywhere,

Luxury oppresses everyone.

Where does virtue live?

Where does a rose without thorns grow?

This idea in itself was not new, but behind the images of the nobles depicted in the ode, the features of real people clearly emerged:

My thoughts are spinning in chimeras:

Then I steal captivity from the Persians,

Then I direct arrows to the Turks:

Then, having dreamed that I was a sultan,

I terrify the universe with my gaze;

Then suddenly, I was seduced by the outfit,

I'm off to the tailor for a caftan.

In these images, the poet’s contemporaries easily recognized the empress’s favorite Potemkin, her close associates Alexei Orlov, Panin, and Naryshkin. Drawing their brightly satirical portraits, Derzhavin showed great courage - after all, any of the nobles he offended could deal with the author for this. Only Catherine’s favorable attitude saved Derzhavin.

But even to the empress he dares to give advice: to follow the law to which both kings and their subjects are subject:

You alone are only decent,

Princess, create light from darkness;

Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously,

The union will strengthen their integrity;

From disagreement to agreement

You can only create.

This favorite thought of Derzhavin sounded boldly and it was expressed in simple and straightforward language.

The poem ends with the traditional praise of the Empress and wishing her all the best:

I ask for heavenly strength,

They keep you invisibly

Listen to Derzhavin’s ode “Felitsa”

Ode "Felitsa"

_____________________________________
1. The ode was first published in the magazine “Interlocutor”, 1783, part 1, page 5, without a signature, under the title: “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz princess Felitsa, written by the Tatar Murza, who has long settled in Moscow, and lives on his business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic 1782." (go back)

Commentary by J. Grot
1. In 1781, the Tale of Prince Chlorus, written by Catherine for her five-year-old grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, was published in a small number of copies. Chlorus was the son of the prince, or king of Kyiv, who was kidnapped by the Kirghiz khan during his father’s absence. Wanting to believe the rumor about the boy’s abilities, the khan ordered him to find a rose without thorns. The prince set off on this errand. On the way, he met the khan’s daughter, the cheerful and amiable Felitsa. She wanted to go to see off the prince, but her stern husband, Sultan Grumpy, prevented her from doing so, and then she sent her son, Reason, to the child. Continuing his journey, Chlorus was subjected to various temptations, and among other things, he was invited to his hut by Murza Lazy, who, with the temptations of luxury, tried to dissuade the prince from an undertaking that was too difficult. But Reason forcibly carried him further. Finally, they saw in front of them a steep rocky mountain, on which grows a rose without thorns, or, as one young man explained to Chlorus, virtue. Having climbed the mountain with difficulty, the prince picked this flower and hurried to the khan. The Khan sent him along with the rose to the Kyiv prince. “This one was so happy about the arrival of the prince and his successes that he forgot all the melancholy and sadness.... Here the fairy tale will end, and whoever knows more will tell another.”

This fairy tale gave Derzhavin the idea to write an ode to Felitsa (the goddess of bliss, according to his explanation of this name): since the empress loved funny jokes, he says, this ode was written in her taste, at the expense of her entourage.

2. The poet called Catherine the Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess because he had villages in the then Orenburg region, adjacent to the Kyrgyz horde, subject to the empress. Now these estates are located in the Buzulutsky district of the Samara province.

Comment by V.A. Zapadov

3. Your son is accompanying me. – In Catherine’s fairy tale, Felitsa gave her son Reason as a guide to Prince Chlorus.

4. Without imitating your Murzas - that is, courtiers, nobles. The word “Murza” is used by Derzhavin in two ways. When Murza speaks about Felitsa, then Murza means the author of the ode. When he speaks as if about himself, then Murza is a collective image of a nobleman-court.

5. Read and write before the levy. – Derzhavin is referring to the empress’s legislative activities. Lectern (obsolete, colloquial), more precisely “lectern” (church) - a high table with a sloping top, on which icons or books are placed in the church. Here it is used in the sense of “table”, “desk”.

6. You can’t saddle a Parnasque horse. – Catherine did not know how to write poetry. Arias and poems for her literary works it was written by secretaries of state Elagin, Khrapovitsky and others. The Parnassian horse is Pegasus.

7. You do not enter the meeting of spirits, you do not go from the throne to the East - that is, you do not attend Masonic lodges and meetings. Catherine called the Freemasons a “sect of spirits” (Khrapovitsky’s Diary. M., 1902, p. 31). "Vostok" were sometimes called Masonic lodges(Grotto, 2, 709–710).
Masons in the 80s. XVIII century - members of organizations (“lodges”) that professed mystical and moralistic teachings and were in opposition to Catherine’s government. Freemasonry was divided into different movements. A number of leaders of the French Revolution of 1789 belonged to one of them, Illuminism.
In Russia, the so-called “Moscow Martinists” (the largest of them in the 1780s were N.I. Novikov, a remarkable Russian educator, writer and book publisher, his publishing assistants I.V. Lopukhin, S.I. Gamaleya etc.) were especially hostile towards the empress. They considered her an usurper of the throne and wanted to see the “legitimate sovereign” on the throne - the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, the son of Emperor Peter III, who was dethroned by Catherine. Paul, while it was beneficial for him, was very sympathetic to the “Martinists” (according to some evidence, he even adhered to their teachings). The Freemasons became especially active in the mid-1780s, and Catherine composed three comedies: “The Siberian Shaman,” “The Deceiver,” and “The Seduced,” and wrote “The Secret of the Anti-Ridiculous Society,” a parody of the Masonic charter. But she managed to defeat Moscow Freemasonry only in 1789–1793. through police measures.

8. And I, having slept until noon, etc. - “Refers to the whimsical disposition of Prince Potemkin, like all three of the following couplets, who was either getting ready for war, or practicing in outfits, feasts and all kinds of luxuries” (Ob. D., 598).

9. Zug - a team of four or six horses in pairs. The right to ride in a convoy was a privilege of the highest nobility.

10. I'm flying on a fast runner. – This also applies to Potemkin, but “more to gr. Al. Gr. Orlov, who was a hunter before horse racing” (Ob. D., 598). At the Orlov stud farms, several new breeds of horses were bred, of which the most famous is the breed of the famous “Orlov trotters”.

11. Or fist fighters - also applies to A.G. Orlov.

12. And amused by the barking of dogs - refers to P.I. Panin, who loved hound hunting (Ob. D., 598).

13. I amuse myself with horns at night, etc. - “Refers to Semyon Kirillovich Naryshkin, who was then a huntsman, who was the first to start horn music” (Ob. D., 598). Horn music is an orchestra consisting of serf musicians, in which only one note can be extracted from each horn, and all together are like one instrument. Walks of noble nobles along the Neva, accompanied by a horn orchestra, were a common occurrence in the 18th century.

14. Or, sitting at home, I will play a prank. - “This verse generally refers to the ancient customs and amusements of Russians” (Ob. D., 958).

15. I read Polkan and Bova. - “Refers to the book. Vyazemsky, who loved to read novels (which the author, serving on his team, often read in front of him, and it happened that both of them dozed and did not understand anything) - Polkan and Bova and famous old Russian stories" (Ob. D., 599 ). Derzhavin is referring to the translated novel about Bova, which later turned into a Russian fairy tale.

16. But every person is a lie - a quote from the Psalter, from Psalm 115.

17. Between a lazy person and a grouch. Lazy and Grumpy are characters from the fairy tale about Prince Chlorus. “As much as is known,” she meant by the first book. Potemkin, and under another book. Vyazemsky, because the first, as stated above, led a lazy and luxurious life, and the second often grumbled when money was demanded from him, as the manager of the treasury” (Ob. D., 599).

18. Dividing Chaos into harmonious spheres, etc. - a hint at the establishment of provinces. In 1775, Catherine published the “Establishment on the Provinces,” according to which all of Russia was divided into provinces.

19. That she renounced and was considered wise. – Catherine II, with feigned modesty, rejected the titles of “Great”, “Wise”, “Mother of the Fatherland”, which were presented to her in 1767 by the Senate and the Commission for developing a draft of a new code; She did the same in 1779, when the St. Petersburg nobility offered to accept the title of “Great” for her.

20. You allow me to know and think. – In Catherine II’s “Instructions,” which she compiled for the Commission to develop a draft of a new code and which was a compilation from the writings of Montesquieu and other enlightenment philosophers of the 18th century, there are indeed a number of articles, a brief summary of which is this stanza. However, it was not for nothing that Pushkin called the “Nakaz” “hypocritical”: a huge number of “cases” of people arrested by the Secret Expedition precisely on charges of “speaking” “indecent”, “diarrhea” and other words addressed to the empress, heir to the throne, Prince . Potemkin, etc. Almost all of these people were cruelly tortured by the “whip fighter” Sheshkovsky and severely punished by secret courts.

21. There you can whisper in conversations, etc. and the next stanza is a depiction of the cruel laws and morals at the court of Empress Anna Ioannovna. As Derzhavin notes (Ob. D., 599–600), there were laws according to which two people whispering to each other were considered attackers against the empress or the state; Those who did not drink a large glass of wine, “offered for the queen’s health,” and who accidentally dropped a coin with her image were suspected of malicious intent and ended up in the Secret Chancellery. A typo, correction, scraping, or mistake in the imperial title entailed punishment with lashes, as well as moving the title from one line to another. At court, rude clownish “amusements” were widespread, such as the famous wedding of Prince Golitsyn, who was a jester at court, for which an “ice house” was built; titled jesters sat in baskets and clucked chickens, etc.

22. You write teachings in fairy tales. – Catherine II wrote for her grandson, in addition to “The Tale of Prince Chlorus”, “The Tale of Prince Fevey”.

23. Don't do anything bad. - “Instruction” to Chlorus, translated into verse by Derzhavin, is in the appendix to the “Russian alphabet for teaching youth to read, printed for public schools by the highest command” (St. Petersburg, 1781), which was also composed by Catherine for her grandchildren.

24. Lancets means - i.e. bloodshed.

25. Tamerlane (Timur, Timurleng) - Central Asian commander and conqueror (1336–1405), distinguished by extreme cruelty.

26. Which pacified the abuse, etc. - “This verse refers to the time of peace, at the end of the first Turkish war (1768–1774 - V.Z.) in Russia, which flourished, when many philanthropic institutions were made by the empress, like then: orphanage, hospitals and others.”

27. Which granted freedom, etc. - Derzhavin lists some laws issued by Catherine II, which were beneficial to the noble landowners and merchants: she confirmed the permission given by Peter III to the nobles to travel abroad; allowed landowners to develop ore deposits on their property for their own benefit; lifted the ban on cutting down forest on their lands without government control; “allowed free navigation on the seas and rivers for trade,” etc.