Analysis of the poem “The daylight has gone out. Literary analysis of "The Daylight Has Gone Out"
“The star of day has gone out” Alexander Pushkin
The evening fog fell on the blue sea.
I see a distant shore
The lands of the midday are magical lands;
I rush there with excitement and longing,
Intoxicated with memories...
And I feel: tears were born in my eyes again;
The soul boils and freezes;
A familiar dream flies around me;
I remembered the crazy love of previous years,
And everything that I suffered, and everything that is dear to my heart,
Desires and hopes are a painful deception...
Make noise, make noise, obedient sail,
Worry beneath me, sullen ocean.
Fly, ship, carry me to the distant limits
By the terrible whim of the deceptive seas,
But not to the sad shores
My foggy homeland,
Countries where the flames of passions
For the first time feelings flared up,
Where tender muses secretly smiled at me,
Where it bloomed early in the storms
My lost youth
Where the light-winged one changed my joy
And betrayed my cold heart to suffering.
Seeker of new experiences,
I ran away from you, fatherly land;
I ran you, pets of pleasures,
Minutes of youth, minute friends;
And you, confidants of vicious delusions,
To whom I sacrificed myself without love,
Peace, glory, freedom and soul,
And you are forgotten by me, young traitors,
The secret golden friends of my spring,
And you are forgotten by me... But the wounds of the former hearts,
Nothing has healed the deep wounds of love...
Make noise, make noise, obedient sail,
Worry beneath me, gloomy ocean...
Analysis of Pushkin’s poem “The Daylight Has Gone Out”
Epigrams on officials and the sovereign Emperor Alexander I himself, written by Pushkin, had very sad consequences for the poet. In 1820 he was sent into southern exile, and his final destination was Bessarabia. Along the way, the poet stopped for several days to visit his friends in various cities, including Feodosia. There, watching the stormy sea, he wrote a reflective poem, “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out.”
Pushkin saw the sea for the first time in his life and was fascinated by its strength, power and beauty. But, being far from being in the best mood, the poet endows him with gloomy and gloomy features. In addition, in the poem, like a refrain, the same phrase is repeated several times: “Noise, noise, obedient twirl.” It can be interpreted in different ways. First of all, the poet is trying to show that the sea element is completely indifferent to his mental torment, which the author experiences due to forced separation from his homeland. Secondly, Pushkin applies the epithet “obedient twirl” to himself, believing that he did not fully fight for his freedom and was forced to submit to someone else’s will, going into exile.
Standing on the seashore, the poet indulges in memories of his happy and rather serene youth, filled with crazy love, revelations with friends and, most importantly, hopes. Now all this is in the past, and Pushkin sees the future as gloomy and completely unattractive. Mentally, he returns home every time, emphasizing that he constantly strives there “with excitement and longing.” But he is separated from his cherished dream not only by thousands of kilometers, but also by several years of his life. Still not knowing how long his exile would be, Pushkin mentally says goodbye to all the joys of life, believing that from now on his life is over. This youthful maximalism, still living in the poet’s soul, forces him to think categorically and reject any possibility of resolving the life problem that he has encountered. It looks like a sinking ship that was washed up by a storm on a foreign shore, where, according to the author, there is simply no one to expect help from. Time will pass, and the poet will understand that even in the distant southern exile he was surrounded by faithful and devoted friends, whose role in his life he has yet to rethink. In the meantime, the 20-year-old poet is erasing from the heart the momentary friends and lovers of his youth, noting that “nothing has healed the former heart wounds, the deep wounds of love.”
The daylight has gone out - this is a poem that belongs to the so-called Crimean elegies. The author wrote the poem The Daylight Has Gone Out when he was sailing from Kerch to Gurzuf.
Pushkin The daylight went out
The work The Daylight Has Gone Out and its year of writing refers to the period of the author’s southern exile. It was 1820. If we talk about the verse The daylight has gone out and about the genre of this poem, then we can say that this is one of the first poems that belongs to the new period of Pushkin’s creativity. The author uses a genre such as elegy. The verse itself as a whole is the best example of Pushkin’s romantic lyrics.
We were assigned the poem The Daylight Has Gone Out in a literature lesson, and I’ll start with the fact that the author wrote a wonderful work, where we can see both hope for the future and sad memories of the past. So the verse can be roughly divided into two parts, where at first we see how the lyrical hero sails on the sea in the evening. The sea is covered with fog, it is agitated and resembles a gloomy ocean. And here we see that our hero represents the distant lands that await him and he says that these are magical lands. Our hero strives and his desire is both exciting and sad.
Further in the work The Daylight Has Gone Out and by analyzing it we learn about memories from a past life. And although the hero is sailing to new shores, he can’t help himself and with a sinking heart he remembers the old days, his crazy love. The hero remembers everything that was dear to his heart, he remembered all his hopes, serene youth, friends, fans. The author says that he fled from his native land, and everything is forgotten by the hero, but deep wounds in the heart cannot be healed.
In his work, Pushkin uses metaphors, definitions, Old Church Slavonicisms, paraphrases, epithets, which makes the poem rich, alive and you begin to experience with the hero, you can directly feel his pain at the same time as hope.
The daylight has gone out to listen
To analyze this poem, it is important to know the history of its creation and remember some facts from the life of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
The elegy “The daylight has gone out...” was written by a young poet (he was barely 21 years old). The two years after graduating from the Lyceum were full of various events for Pushkin: his poetic fame grew rapidly, but the clouds also thickened. His numerous epigrams and sharp political works (ode “Liberty”, poem “Village”) attracted the attention of the government - the issue of imprisoning Pushkin in the Peter and Paul Fortress was discussed.
Only thanks to the efforts of the poet's friends - N. M. Karamzin, P. Ya. Chaadaev and others - was it possible to soften his fate: on May 6, 1820, Pushkin was sent into exile to the south. On the way, he became seriously ill, but, fortunately, General N.N. Raevsky obtained permission to take the poet with him to the sea for treatment.
Pushkin called the journey with the Raevsky family happiest time In my life. The poet was fascinated by Crimea, happy with his friendship with the people who surrounded him with care and love. He saw the sea for the first time. The elegy “The daylight has gone out...” was written on the night of August 19, 1820 on board sailing ship, sailing towards Gurzuf.
In the poem, the poet looks back and bitterly admits that he wasted a lot of mental strength. His confessions, of course, contain a lot of youthful exaggeration; he claims that his “lost youth bloomed early in the storms.” But in this Pushkin follows fashion - young people of that time liked to be “chilled” and “disappointed” (Byron, the English romantic poet who captured the minds and hearts of young people, is largely to blame).
However, Pushkin's elegy is not only a tribute to his passion for Byron. It captures the transition from carefree youth to maturity. This poem is significant primarily because the poet first uses a technique that will later become one of distinctive features of his entire work. Just like on that southern night, returning to his experience and summing up some results, Pushkin will always be honest
and sincerely examine your thoughts and actions.
The poem “The daylight has gone out...” is called an elegy. An elegy is a poetic work, the content of which is reflection with a tinge of slight sadness.
The piece begins with a short introduction; it introduces the reader to the environment in which the reflections and memories of the lyrical hero will take place:
The daylight has gone out;
The evening fog fell on the blue sea.
The main motive of the first part is the expectation of meeting with “magical lands”, where everything promises happiness for the lyrical hero. It is still unknown what direction the thoughts of a lonely dreamer will take, but the reader is already in a solemn mood with vocabulary unusual for everyday life. The author uses the word “sail” instead of “sail”, “daytime” instead of “daytime”, “ocean” instead of “Black Sea”.
There is one more expressive feature that draws attention to - the epithet gloomy (ocean). This feature is not only a transition to the second part - it leaves an impression on the entire poem and determines its elegiac mood.
The second part is a complete contrast to the first ( typical technique for a romantic work). The author devotes it to the theme of sad memories of fruitlessly wasted forces, of the collapse of hopes. The lyrical hero tells what feelings possess him:
And I feel: tears were born in my eyes again;
The soul boils and freezes...
He remembers the “mad love of former years”,
“desires and hopes are a painful deception.”
The poet says that he himself broke with the noisy bustle
Petersburg and a life that did not satisfy him:
Seeker of new experiences,
I ran away from you, fatherly land;
I ran you, pets of pleasures,
Minutes of youth, minute friends...
And although in reality this was not at all the case (Pushkin was expelled from the capital), the main thing for the poet is that for him it began new life, which gave him the opportunity to comprehend his past.
The third part of the elegy (only two lines) returns the lyrical hero to the present time - love, despite separation, continues to live in his heart:
But former heart wounds,
Nothing has healed the deep wounds of love...
The first part talks about the present, the second – about the past, the third – again about the present. All parts are connected by repeating lines:
Make noise, make noise, obedient sail,
Worry beneath me, sullen ocean.
The technique of repetition gives the poem harmony. The theme of the sea, which permeates the entire poem, is significant. “Ocean” is a symbol of life with its endless worries, joys and anxieties.
As in many other works, Pushkin uses one of his favorite techniques - direct appeal to an imaginary interlocutor.
The poem entitled “The Daylight Has Gone Out” was written in August 1820. In this work, the poet looks back with bitterness, seeing that he had wasted a lot of energy. The poem, which belongs to the genre of philosophical elegy, is considered one of the best romantic works.
How was the poem written?
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin always openly expressed his opinion in various epigrams addressed both to representatives of the authorities and to the emperor himself - information about this can also be contained in an analysis performed by a student. In the analysis of “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out,” the student can indicate that these actions of the poet did not go unpunished - Pushkin was exiled. On the way to Bessarabia, the poet made several stops to rest and see friends. One of these places was Feodosia - a magical and beautiful place where the poet first became acquainted with the mighty sea. The work was written by the poet at night on board a ship that was sailing to Gurzuf. However, Pushkin was in a gloomy mood, and it seemed to him that the elements were indifferent to man’s difficulties.
The languor of the lyrical hero
The soul of the lyrical hero is filled with sadness and suffering, longing for his homeland. After all, the poet had to come to terms with his impending exile. Looking at the endless expanses of the sea, the lyrical hero plunges into the memories of his youth and first love, when he could have fun and be truly happy. But now, according to the poet, these times are far behind.
He faces a future far from his native land and a cozy home - this thought should be included in the literature analysis. In the analysis of “The Daylight Has Gone Out,” the student can point out: since the poet does not know how long his exile will last, he decides to mentally say goodbye to all the bright moments of the past, to leave them behind once and for all. But this property can be regarded as a manifestation of youthful maximalism. Any thoughts about a possible bright outcome of events are resolutely rejected by the author of the poem. He does not expect help or consolation, plunging into a feeling of loneliness and rejection.
The work is an example of romantic poetry - an indication of the type of poem must be included in the literary analysis for a good assessment. “The star of day has gone out,” the analysis of which is discussed in this article, let us continue with one more remark. In the editions of the poet's poems for 1826 and 1829. Near the title “The Daylight Has Gone Out,” the elegy had an additional subtitle: “Imitation of Byron.” There is nothing surprising in this note, because the great Russian poet loved his works. In the poem you can find motifs similar to Childe Harold's songs. However, the experiences that the poet expressed in his work cannot be compared with Childe Harold’s farewell. In his work, the poet seeks to exaggerate his experiences. He is completely consumed by the mistakes he made in his youth.
Topic, main idea
The theme of the work is philosophical reflections, longing for one’s native land. The great Russian poet describes the lyrical hero as “escaping,” but this is only a tribute to the traditions of romanticism. In reality, the poet was expelled. The main idea of the work is that the poet’s life will no longer be the same, but he accepts these changes. The lyrical hero is ready to both comprehend the experience of the past and accept the unknown future. His love has not faded away - the poet emphasizes that a person always has a personal core that is not subject to external circumstances.
Artistic media
In the analysis of Pushkin’s “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out,” a student can talk in detail about all the artistic techniques used in the work. In order to add solemnity to it, the poet uses many archaisms - “eyes”, “intoxicated”, “youth”. It is worth noting that the language of the poem is simple and understandable. The great Russian poet also uses epithets - “languid deception”, “light-winged joy”, “foggy homeland”. In the work, the reader will find simple but meaningful metaphors - “youth has faded,” “the dream flies.” The meter of the poem is unequal iambic.
Analysis of the poem “The Daylight Has Gone Out” by Pushkin: composition
Conventionally, the poem can be divided into three parts. They are separated from each other by a repetition (refrain) consisting of two lines. The first part is devoted to the poet's description of the majestic nature - the sunset, the excitement of the sea, which gradually darkens with the onset of night. The gloomy nature brings back to the lyrical hero memories of long-gone times of youth - of the friends and women who surrounded him. The next part of the work is dedicated to these memories. In his poem, the poet reflects the transition from frivolous and carefree youth to adulthood.
In the third part of the poem, the poet says that he was running away from all this. But can he be lying to himself when he calls exile an “escape”? No - the king’s punishment only accelerated his inner, spiritual flight from this life - a schoolchild can also focus on this when analyzing the poem “The Daylight Has Gone Out.” The desire to leave everything that I liked in my youth was actually internal.
In the life of every person, sooner or later there comes a moment when he realizes that something needs to be changed in his life. And often they push to this decision external events. In this case, the great Russian poet, thanks to his exile, realized that he was wasting the precious energy of his youth on the wrong people who were worthy of it. As soon as dark clouds gathered over his head, the “young traitors” immediately left him. “Momentary friends” also disappeared from his life.
On August 19, 1820, Pushkin perhaps boarded a ship for the first time and made his first cruise. The vastness of the sea stunned the young poet, enchanted him with its charm and inspired him to create a new poetic work. The elegy “The Sun of Day Has Gone Out” was written by him on board a sailing ship sailing towards Gurzuf. In this work, Pushkin enthusiastically sees a boundless raging ocean in the Black Sea.
Analysis of the poem by A.S. Pushkin’s “The Daylight Has Gone Out” shows that the idea of the poem “The Daylight Has Gone Out” was partly inspired by the work of the English poet Byron, who was captivated by the aristocratic youth of that time. In part, the work reflected Pushkin’s youthful maximalism. In youth, everything seems different than in adulthood. It seems that first love is for life; the slightest disappointment gives rise to the feeling that life has lost all meaning. “The Daylight Has Gone Out” is not the only work that reflected Pushkin’s melancholic mood.
In Russian literature of the 18th-19th centuries, the elegy genre includes lyrical poems that reflect the author’s philosophical reflections on the difficult issues of life.
As the analysis of the verse “The Daylight Has Gone Out” shows, two repeated lines not only divide the whole poem into three parts, but also make it related lyrical work with a song. Couplet
Make noise, make noise, obedient sail, Worry beneath me, gloomy ocean...
Sounds like a chorus. But not only. The ocean serves as a metaphor, symbolizing life with its storms, worries, joys and anxieties.
The poem is related to folk art by Old Slavonicisms - a sail instead of a sail, a luminary - instead of the sun, a confidante (friend). The epithets that the poet heard in peasant chants and used in this work also emphasize the songlike nature of the elegy: evening fog, crazy love, distant borders, blue sea.
The poet uses capacious expressive means in his work, giving the story picturesqueness and brightness: youth has faded, the ship flies, the dream flies.
Analyzing the size of the verse, at some point you can come to the conclusion that the poet is violating all the rules of versification. But Pushkin doesn’t do anything by accident, just like that. And the unequal iambic with alternating male and female rhymes, and the combination of cross and ring rhymes also bring this work closer to folk chants.
The first part of the elegy is dedicated to the nature surrounding the poet: the sunset of the evening sun, the gloomy ocean agitated overboard, darkening with the onset of night, the fog thickening over the ship. And the sound of a sail in the wind. All this inspired the poet with memories of his stormy youth, of the friends and women who surrounded him. The second part of the lyric poem is dedicated to these memories. The elegy reflected the transition from carefree youth to maturity.
The year the work was written coincided with his exile to Crimea. In tsarist Russia there was such a measure of punishment when people who were indignant against the tsarist power were expelled from capital cities to the periphery in order to avoid political unrest. And only thanks to the patronage of the Raevsky family, Pushkin this time did not end up in the Caucasus, but was sent with them to the Crimea. Nikolai Raevsky vouched for Pushkin to the Tsar and took the young poet, who needed treatment, under his wing.
In the third part of the elegy, Pushkin says that he fled from his momentary youth and friends. Can a poet lie to himself? No. His escape was spiritual. The link only accelerated and simplified this gap. In everyone's life young man there comes a moment when he realizes that he is growing up and understands that he must change something in his life. Often life changes and events push us towards this understanding. In this case, when Alexander Sergeevich fell out of favor with those in power, he got the opportunity to evaluate all those who surrounded him, to understand that he was wasting his mental strength and time on the wrong people. As soon as the clouds gathered over his head, the “young traitors” left him, the “momentary friends” disappeared.
Fly, ship, carry me to the distant limits By the menacing whim of the deceptive seas, But not to the sad shores of my Foggy homeland.
With these lines the poet makes it clear that old life no return.
