My perception of Lermontov’s poem “The Sea Princess”
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov is a great Russian poet who lived in the 19th century. He wrote both poetry and stories. We have already read his poems, and I can say that Lermontov is a subtle lyricist. He conveys a person’s thoughts and feelings very truthfully. The themes of Lermontov's poems are different. He wrote about love, and about the Motherland, and about nature. There are also ballads in his work. Ballads are dedicated to some historical event or legend. In Lermontov's time, it was customary to write ballads based on fairy-tale plots. The poem “The Sea Princess” is such a ballad. It says that the hero was driving along the seashore and heard a girl’s voice. A beautiful girl, a sea princess, appeared before him:
A hand appeared from the water,
Catches by the brushes of the silk bridle.
Then the young head came out,
Sea grass is woven into the braid.
Dreaming eyes burn with love;
The splashes on the neck, like pearls, tremble.
The princess was in love with this hero, and he decided to laugh at her. He grabbed her by the braid and pulled her ashore to show her friends. But the princess could not live without water. When the hero looked around, instead of a beautiful girl, he saw a monster:
He sees lying on the golden sand
A miracle of the sea with a green tail.
The tail is covered with snake scales,
All freezing, twisting, trembling.
Foam runs off the forehead in streams,
A deadly darkness covered my eyes.
The sea princess wanted love and affection, but he cruelly played a joke on her. She could not live on earth and died. Here Lermontov says that love can destroy a person. However, he makes it clear to us at the end of the poem that the hero will be punished for this.
Mikhail Yurjevich Lermontov
The prince bathes his horse in the sea;
He hears: “Tsarevich! look at me!
The horse snorts and curls his ears,
It splashes and splashes and floats away.
The prince hears: “I am the king’s daughter!
Do you want to spend the night with the princess?”
A hand appeared from the water,
Catches by the brushes of the silk bridle.
Then the young head came out,
Sea grass is woven into the braid.
Blue eyes burn with love;
The splashes on the neck, like pearls, tremble.
The prince thinks: “Good! wait!”
He deftly grabbed the braid with his hand.
Holds, the fighting hand is strong:
She cries and begs and fights.
The knight bravely swims to the shore;
Floated out; loudly calls his comrades:
"Hey you! Come together, dashing friends!
Look how my prey beats...
Why are you standing there like an embarrassed crowd?
Have you ever seen such beauty?
The prince looked back:
Gasped! the triumphant look faded.
He sees him lying on the golden sand.
Miracle of the sea with a green tail;
The tail is covered with snake scales,
The whole thing is freezing, curling, trembling;
Foam runs off the forehead in streams,
A deadly darkness covered my eyes.
Pale hands grab the sand;
The lips whisper an incomprehensible reproach...
The prince rides away thoughtfully.
He will remember about the king's daughter!
Lermontov's early love lyrics had specific addressees. More precisely, in the overwhelming majority of cases it was dedicated to the same person - the flighty Ekaterina Sushkova. The poet’s straightforward and fairly open poems left no doubt about his feelings, which remained unanswered.
Ekaterina Sushkova
This strange romance lasted almost 10 years and ended in a loud scandal: Lermontov, disappointed in his chosen one, took cruel revenge on her, compromising Ekaterina Sushkova in front of secular society, and then publicly humiliating her. Echoes of this revenge can be found in the poet’s lyrical ballad entitled “The Sea Princess,” written in 1841, shortly before the tragic death of the author.
At first glance, it seems that at the final stage of his work, Lermontov decided to abandon thoughtful works, giving preference to folklore motifs. However, in the image of the fairy-tale character one can easily discern the same Ekaterina Sushkova, who turns from a beautiful sea princess into a terrible monster. “The tail is covered with snake scales, the whole thing freezes, curls and trembles,” notes the author, mocking his victim and, at the same time, presenting him in an unsightly light. The content of this ballad, if we discard the fairy-tale flair, comes down to the fact that Lermontov for many years loved a beautiful woman who was completely unworthy of such high feelings. Her true appearance is that of an insidious and cruel person who is ready to turn the head of the first man she meets just to demonstrate the power of her charms.
Lermontov does not want to admit that he himself succumbed to temptation, falling into the skillfully placed networks of the temptress. In the poem, he identifies himself with the prince, who easily saw through the cunning plan of the sea princess, dragging her to the shore, where she turned into a monster. This part of the work is deeply metaphorical, since in real life the poet also publicly exposed his chosen one in front of witnesses precisely at the moment when Ekaterina Sushkova least expected it. The summary of the ballad is quite laconic, but at the same time contains some ambiguity. “The prince rides away thoughtfully. He will remember about the Tsar’s daughter!” notes the author, emphasizing that the image of Ekaterina Sushkova still lives in his heart. However, it is not clear whether he loves the one who caused him so much pain, or whether he experiences a feeling bordering on disgust from the object of his sighs.
The prince bathes his horse in the sea,
He hears: “Tsarevich! look at me!The horse snorts and curls his ears,
It splashes and splashes and floats away.The prince hears: “I am the king’s daughter!
Do you want to spend the night with the princess?”A hand appeared from the water,
Catches by the brushes of the silk bridle.Then the young head came out,
Sea grass is woven into the braid.Blue eyes burn with love,
The splashes on my neck tremble like pearls.The prince thinks: “Good! wait!”
He deftly grabbed the braid with his hand.Holds, the fighting hand is strong:
She cries, and begs, and she fights.The knight bravely swims to the shore;
Floated out; loudly calls his comrades:"Hey you! Come together, dashing friends!
Look how my prey beats...Why are you standing there like an embarrassed crowd?
Have you ever seen such beauty?The prince looked back:
Gasped! The triumphant look faded.He sees lying on the golden sand
A sea miracle with a green tail;The tail is covered with snake scales,
All freezing, twisting, trembling.Foam runs off the forehead in streams,
A deadly darkness covered my eyes.Pale hands grab the sand
The lips whisper an incomprehensible reproach...The prince rides away thoughtfully.
He will remember about the king's daughter!
Analysis of Lermontov's poem “The Sea Princess”
Lermontov's early love lyrics had specific addressees. More precisely, in the overwhelming majority of cases it was dedicated to the same person - the flighty Ekaterina Sushkova. The poet’s straightforward and fairly open poems left no doubt about his feelings, which remained unanswered.
This strange romance lasted almost 10 years and ended in a loud scandal: Lermontov, disappointed in his chosen one, took cruel revenge on her, compromising Ekaterina Sushkova in front of secular society, and then publicly humiliating her. Echoes of this revenge can be found in the poet’s lyrical ballad entitled “The Sea Princess,” written in 1841, shortly before the tragic death of the author.
At first glance, it seems that at the final stage of his work, Lermontov decided to abandon thoughtful works, giving preference to folklore motifs. However, in the image of the fairy-tale character one can easily discern the same Ekaterina Sushkova, who turns from a beautiful sea princess into a terrible monster. “The tail is covered with snake scales, the whole thing freezes, curls and trembles,” notes the author, mocking his victim and, at the same time, presenting him in an unsightly light. The content of this ballad, if we discard the fairy-tale flair, comes down to the fact that Lermontov for many years loved a beautiful woman who was completely unworthy of such high feelings. Her true appearance is that of an insidious and cruel person who is ready to turn the head of the first man she meets just to demonstrate the power of her charms.
Lermontov does not want to admit that he himself succumbed to temptation, falling into the skillfully placed networks of the temptress. In the poem, he identifies himself with the prince, who easily saw through the cunning plan of the sea princess, dragging her to the shore, where she turned into a monster. This part of the work is deeply metaphorical, since in real life the poet also publicly exposed his chosen one in front of witnesses precisely at the moment when Ekaterina Sushkova least expected it. The summary of the ballad is quite laconic, but at the same time contains some ambiguity. “The prince rides away thoughtfully. He will remember about the Tsar’s daughter!” notes the author, emphasizing that the image of Ekaterina Sushkova still lives in his heart. However, it is not clear whether he loves the one who caused him so much pain, or whether he experiences a feeling bordering on disgust from the object of his sighs.
The image of the crowberry in Russian legends and mythology. 4
Analysis of the poem "The Sea Princess". 5
CONCLUSION 10
APPENDIX 1 12
APPENDIX 2 13
APPENDIX 3 15
REFERENCES 17
INTRODUCTION
A poem is an image that is concentrated in a small text space. Often, to create an image of a work, the author turns to sources such as mythology, folk tales, traditions and customs. To reveal this image and understand the meaning of the work, you need to turn to the above sources and draw a parallel between them, make a comparison.The purpose of the research work is to identify the image of this poem, analyzing it, relying on Slavic mythology and legends, and understand the secret meaning of what the author wanted to convey to us.
Our tasks are to study Slavic mythology and tales of water-women and compare them with M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem “The Sea Princess” for further analysis.
Vodyanitsa is a very ancient mythological image. The water frog is a resident of river waters. There are also seamen - they live in the sea.
Every water girl was once a girl, but either drowned herself, by accident, or was ruined by someone’s evil will. Some of them - those who were baptized - may return to people after two or three years, especially if they did not drown, but were cursed by their parents and carried to the river bottom by evil spirits. These are called "damned" or "joke". They will return home if a baptized person puts a cross around their neck. Jesters also marry the mortals they love, who will be able to reprimand them from the spell.
But for most waterworts there is no way back to earth. Only at night do they go out to the banks, ride on a mill wheel (like the waterman himself, they passionately love this fun, and mills and millers in general), sit on the bank, combing their beautiful long hair with a comb made from a pike ridge. Such a comb has magical powers: while combing her hair, a water woman can release a whole river of water and even flood a village whose inhabitants have somehow angered her.
In appearance, waterworts are all unearthly beauties, even if they were not such during life. Only they are unusually pale and seem transparent - they are undead after all!
The dwellings of water maidens (nests made of straw and feathers) are built in pools and deep basins, as well as under river rapids. But other beauties, who have made friends with the water kings, live in luxurious palaces made of crystal and amber.
Of course, the favorite pastime of waterworts is to harm people. Some even challenge people to talk and drown them for mocking the speed of the current or the width of the river in which they live. But more often they simply confuse fishermen’s nets, clinging to grass or snags, and help the waterman break dams and destroy bridges. The sailors (and they are usually giantesses), rising from the waves in a storm, rock the ships so that they capsize. Sometimes on bridges or in mills waterworts attack people, trying to drag them under water. You can weaken such an evil maiden by tearing out as much of her hair as possible.
Waterworts are related to the ancient sirens. They lurk near the coastal rocks, so that their long hair can be mistaken for sea foam, and as soon as the ship comes closer to the dangerous reefs, the sea lions poke out of the waves. The frightened helmsman loses his head, the ship goes off course, becomes a toy of stormy waves, and the shipmen find themselves in the water, where the sailors are waiting for them. Few people manage to escape these destructive embraces. They drag the youngest and most beautiful sailors to the bottom of the sea to indulge in love with them, and simply drown the rest indiscriminately. They say that their lovers also become inhabitants of the underwater kingdom and sometimes even rise to the surface of the water to lead the new ship astray and destroy other sailors.
^
The image of the crowberry in Russian legends and mythology.
DANA AND PRINCE
Once upon a time there lived a beautiful Dana. Her hair is golden, her body is whiter than a water lily. The evil stepmother was jealous of Dana's beauty and set out to destroy her stepdaughter. Once she invited me to swim near a water mill on a hot day and drowned her.
And Dana had a fiance, a young prince. He missed his bride very much and often came to the place where his beloved died. One day he stayed until late at night on the shore and suddenly saw: the mill wheels began to spin by themselves, and beautiful girls began to rise from the water on them. They laugh, sing songs, comb their long green hair with white combs.
And the prince could not believe his eyes when he saw Dana among them.
He rushed to the mill wheel, wanting to grab her, but the girl had already jumped into the water.
The prince is behind her. But he got entangled in her long green hair and couldn’t swim out. Went to the bottom...
Here he stands on golden sand, and in front of him is a semi-precious palace.
If you want to come back, come back right now, otherwise it will be too late,” says Dana. - Another minute - and no force will be able to bring you back to life.
No, says the prince, I won’t return. Life is not good for me without you. I'll stay with you.
Dana kissed him deeply - and after that the prince became the water king of that river. During the day, he, along with Dana and other mermaids, rides in the depths on fish harnessed to a golden chariot. And on moonlit nights it comes ashore to scare and surprise good people.
^
Analysis of the poem "The Sea Princess".
In 1841, a few months before his death, 27-year-old Lermontov wrote the ballad “The Sea Princess.” “Sail”, “I Go Out Alone on the Road”, “Duma” and many other poems have already been written, confirming that we have before us a fully formed nature with its own subjective worldview. After such masterpieces, the simple plot of “The Princess” looks at least frivolous. If we consider it outside of the poetic form, it looks almost banal: the prince, while bathing his horse, heard a voice, swam towards him, grabbed the mermaid who was calling him, pulled her ashore, she turned into a monster; The prince abandoned her and went home. What's special here?
This was my first thought when I decided to take a closer look at the poem.
Well, let's try to analyze the poem and understand what the author actually wanted to convey to us.
At first glance, the theme of the poem may be the theme of love.
"I am the king's daughter!
Blue eyes burn with love...
But the rest of the text refutes the initial assumption. In the words of the prince, “Well, wait!” sounds more threatening than tender. The prince’s hand is called “combat”; he himself calls the mermaid pulled ashore “prey”. Thus, the theme of struggle, confrontation, duel, but not love, unfolds before us.
Let's take a closer look at how the events are presented in the poem.
The prince bathes his horse in the sea;
He hears: “Tsarevich! Look at me!”
Where does the prince bathe his horse? It is obvious that at the beginning of the poem the hero is in shallow water, where a voice reaches him from the water. The second stanza reads:
The horse snorts and curls his ears,
It seems that something is missing in the text. The prince had just heard the voice and immediately rushed into the water and swam towards the sound. The voice from the water was a kind of “signal” for him, according to which the prince rushes into the water. Let's call it hypothetically a "challenge to a duel."
The prince hears: “I am the king’s daughter!
Do you want to spend the night with the princess?"
It becomes clear that this is a mermaid who is luring the prince in order to seduce him and then kill him. This “invitation to execution” is clothed in the form of a love call, which is intended to deceive the prince. But as we will see in the text, the hero does not succumb to such deception; he knows what such a call threatens him with.
It also seems interesting to us that only in the third stanza the prince realizes who was actually the source of the voice: the sea princess, the mermaid. Only in the third stanza does she open up to the hero, realizing that this will not change anything for him, for he is in her element, and therefore in her power. The question arises: in the 2nd stanza, the prince jumped into the water, not knowing exactly who his opponent was? As paradoxical as it may sound, according to the text of the poem we must answer “yes”.
Let's look at the fourth, fifth and sixth stanzas together, because they are thematically articulated:
A hand appeared from the water,
Then the young head came out;
Blue eyes burn with love;
The three stanzas quoted reflect the gradual approach of the prince to the source of the voice heard - first a hand is shown, then the head of the sea princess, then we distinguish blue eyes. Let us pay attention to the vocabulary accompanying the description of the princess. She is truly beautiful: the head is called “young”, it is crowned with a braid with woven grass, “blue eyes” (an archaic, sublime description) “burn” with love, the splashes on the neck are compared to precious “pearls”. The mermaid is in her element, which is why she is beautiful.
But at the same time we notice the verb that denotes the princess’s action: “catches.” It is disharmonious with the majestic and beautiful appearance of the princess, betraying her real desire - she grabs the reins of the horse to drag him and his rider to the bottom. And the prince notices this:
The prince thinks: “Okay! Wait!”
It is significant that the prince does not express his emotions out loud, he only “thinks” so as not to frighten away his future prey. It is at this point that the theme of confrontation finally pushes aside the previously assumed love line and becomes dominant. In these words of the prince one can see a hidden threat, an expectation of a fight; he finds himself prepared for a duel, which unfolds in the next stanza:
Holds, the fighting hand is strong:
She cries and begs and fights.
What we have before us is not even a struggle, but a short-lived conquest of the sea princess. The hero needs to conquer the mermaid, break her will, so that in the next stanza he can swim with her to the shore without hindrance.
Floated out; loudly calls his comrades.
Only the winner, triumphant in the consciousness of his victory, can swim “courageously” to the shore. And he needs the recognition of others - that’s why he calls his comrades.
"Hey you! Come together, dashing friends!
Have you ever seen such beauty?
It is important for the hero to show the “miracle of the sea” pulled ashore; he is proud of his victory.
It is easy to explain the embarrassment of friends - wanting to share the joy of the hero’s victory, they do not understand the reason for the triumph. In front of them is a sea monster, which the prince himself sees, turning around:
The prince looked back:
Sees: lying on golden sand
The whole thing freezes, curls up and trembles;
Foam runs off the forehead in streams.
A deadly darkness covered my eyes.
Pale hands grab the sand;
Lermontov describes the metamorphosis with the sea princess in a truly amazing way. The prince's triumph turns into horror at the sight of the picture before him. His victory turns out to be premature. The transition from one state to another occurs through a turn back: “The prince looked back.” It is interesting to once again pay attention to the vocabulary describing the princess, but now in a different capacity. “The miracle of the sea with a green tail” contrasts unfavorably with the background against which it is presented (“golden sand”) - which further emphasizes its ugliness. The very word “miracle” means something incomprehensible, uncertain, unknown and, as a result, alien, hostile. The tail is an indispensable attribute of the mermaid, which, remarkably, is not emphasized in the first description, suggesting that the miracle belongs to evil spirits.
The monster dies and the eyes, which were blue and burned with love, turn out to be dressed in “deadly darkness”; “pale hands” emphasize the deadness of the creature. What incomprehensible reproach does the monster’s mouth whisper? The answer is obvious: this is a reproach to the prince, who dragged the mermaid ashore and doomed her to death. In its modern meaning, the word “incomprehensible” here means rather “inaudible.” This stanza is notable in that it ends with an ellipsis, which emphasizes, on the one hand, the reticence (the monster, dying, did not have time to say everything), on the other, the end (in this case, of the monster’s life).
The last stanza shows the prince riding away and thinking:
The prince rides away thoughtfully.
He will remember the king's daughter.
Strange ending. Incomprehensible. At first glance, the ending is clearly defined: the prince has won, the monster has died, the hero rides away. But on the other hand, a number of unresolved issues remain. What did the dying mermaid not say? Why is the prince driving “thoughtfully”, what is he thinking about? How “will he remember the king’s daughter”: as a result of victory, as the horror he saw, or will he begin to reflect on the reasons for the transformation of the beautiful maiden into a miracle of the sea? The questions seem to remain unanswered, the ending of the poem seems to be open.
CONCLUSION
After analyzing M. V. Lermontov’s poem “The Sea Princess,” I came to the following conclusion:The image of the crowberry is water, the most feminine and beautiful element; it acts as a symbol of the feminine principle. The sea is the home of the crowberry.
The image of the prince is sand, his home is dry land. Land and sea are far from each other and cannot become one; they are closest only where there is shallow water.
The main idea and meaning lies in the confrontation and duel between the sea princess and the prince. It is no coincidence that the author turns to Slavic mythology to create images of the heroes of his work, since it was through the use of two opposing elements in this poem that he showed us this confrontation, a duel in all its meanings and manifestations.
Having read Lermontov's letters, the memories of his friends, his biography, one can assume that this poem describes the love story of Lermontov and Varvara Lopukhina.
Lermontov, even in his youth, met Varvara Lopukhina, one of the younger daughters of a family close to him. His friend Alexey Lopukhin introduces him to her. Lermontov falls in love with her at first sight and loves her with the most sincere and pure love throughout his life. And many of his works are dedicated to her, for example, such as: “Demon”, “However, all her movements, smile, speech and features...”, “Since you appeared to me, my love is my defense from proud thoughts and vanity...", "We were accidentally brought together by fate, we found ourselves in each other..." and others.
But they are not destined to be together, no matter how much they strive for each other, like the sea and the land. Lermontov moved to St. Petersburg in 1832 and entered the school of cadets. But he continues to be interested in Varya’s fate and corresponds with her sister Maria Lopukhina. And in 1835, Varvara married an actual state councilor, a wealthy landowner Nikolai Fedorovich Bakhmetev, who was 17 years older than her. The wedding was planned by her parents, without her consent. Her parents always imposed their will on her, as evidenced by the line: “Sea grass is woven into her braid.” Having learned about this, Lermontov begins to accuse her of treason, his dreams and illusions collapse, just as in the poem the transformation of a beautiful princess into a monster occurs.
“He sees: lying on the golden sand
Miracle of the sea with a green tail;
The tail is covered with snake scales,
All freezing, twisting, trembling..."
These stanzas indicate Lermontov’s attitude towards the fact that his beloved is marrying someone else. These verses indicate that he warmed the snake on his chest (golden sand), since the description of the princess’s tail is similar to that of a snake.
The death of the crowberry indicates how love dies, tormented and suffering, after this news. But Varya loves Lermontov, this marriage is not of her will. When he comes to their engagement party, he does not notice either the sparkle in her eyes or the joy from the upcoming celebration.
“Pale hands grab the sand;
The lips whisper an incomprehensible reproach...”
Lopukhina reaches out to Lermontov with all her being, but nothing can be changed. Her fate is crippled, and their love is doomed. The reproach was addressed to Mikhail for the fact that he could not maintain and preserve their relationship. But for him this is an “incomprehensible reproach,” because he does not understand why Varvara accuses him of this.
“The prince rides away thoughtfully.
He will remember about the Tsar’s daughter!”
The last stanza most likely implies his return to his duty stations. And the last line says that he will never forget about his love and will always love Lopukhina Varvara.
This is such a sad love story.
I really liked this poem. It so skillfully interweaves intrigue, struggle and beauty in such a way that it is not always clear how to correctly understand this or that stanza and makes you think, reflect on the meaning, thereby sinking into the soul and remaining in the memory for a long time. And this, in turn, adds respect to such a writer as M. Yu. Lermontov.
ANNEX 1
M. Yu. Lermontov."Sea Princess".
The prince bathes his horse in the sea;
He hears: “Tsarevich! look at me!
The horse snorts and curls his ears,
It splashes and splashes and floats away.
The prince hears: “I am the king’s daughter!
Do you want to spend the night with the princess?”
A hand appeared from the water,
Catches by the brushes of the silk bridle.
Then the young head came out,
Sea grass is woven into the braid.
Blue eyes burn with love;
The splashes on the neck, like pearls, tremble.
The prince thinks: “Good! wait!”
He deftly grabbed the braid with his hand.
Holds, the fighting hand is strong:
She cries and begs and fights.
The knight bravely swims to the shore;
Floated out; calls his comrades loudly;
"Hey you! Come together, dashing friends!
Look how my prey beats...
Why are you standing there like an embarrassed crowd?
Have you ever seen such beauty?
The prince looked back:
Gasped! the triumphant look faded.
Sees: lying on golden sand
Miracle of the sea with a green tail;
The tail is covered with snake scales,
The whole thing is freezing, curling, trembling;
Foam runs off the forehead in streams,
A deadly darkness covered my eyes.
Pale hands grab the sand;
The lips whisper an incomprehensible reproach...
The prince rides away thoughtfully.
He will remember about the king's daughter!
APPENDIX 2
Excerpts from the memoirs of M. Yu. Lermontov's friends.From the memoirs of A.P. SHAN-GIREY.
“The Lopukhin family lived next door to us, an old father, three virgin daughters and a son; they were with us like family and very friendly with Michel, who was rarely there.”
“As a student, he was passionately in love with the young, sweet, smart as day, and completely delightful V. A. Lopukhina; she was an ardent, enthusiastic, poetic and extremely attractive person. How now I remember her tender gaze and bright smile; she was about fifteen or sixteen years old; We were children and teased her a lot; she had a small black birthmark on her forehead, and we always pestered her, repeating: “Varenka has a birthmark, Varenka is ugly,” but she, the kindest creature, was never angry. Lermontov’s feeling for her was unconscious, but true and strong, and he almost retained it until his death, despite some subsequent hobbies, but it could not (and did not cast) a dark shadow on his existence, on the contrary: at the beginning in its own way, it aroused reciprocity, subsequently, in St. Petersburg, in the guards school, it was temporarily drowned out by the new situation and the noisy life of the cadets of the then school, upon their entry into the world with new successes in society and literature; but it was instantly and strongly awakened by the unexpected news of the marriage of its beloved woman.”
“I brought him a bow from Varenka. In his absence, she and I often talked about him; He was equally dear to both of us, although not equally. At parting, holding out her hand, with wet eyes, but with a smile, she told me:
Bow down to him for me; tell me that I am calm, content, even happy.
I was very annoyed with him that he listened to me as if in cold blood and did not ask about her; I reproached him for this, he smiled and answered:
You're still a child, you don't understand anything!
And even though you understand a lot, you’re not worth her little finger! “I objected, getting seriously angry.”
“At the same time, I had the opportunity to make sure that Michel’s first passion had not disappeared. We played chess, the man handed in a letter; Michel began to read it, but suddenly his face changed and turned pale; I was scared and wanted to ask what it was, but he, handing me the letter, said: “Here is the news - read it,” and left the room. This was news about the upcoming marriage of V. A. Lopukhina.”
“In the spring of 1838, Varvara Alexandrovna came to St. Petersburg with her husband while traveling abroad. Lermontov was in Tsarskoye, I sent a messenger to him, and I galloped off to her. My God, how painfully my heart sank at the sight of her! Pale, thin, and there was no shadow of the old Varenka, only her eyes retained their shine and were as affectionate as before. “Well, how do you live here?” - “Why is it you?” - “Because I’m asking about two people.” - “We live as God sent, but we think and feel as in the old days. However, another answer will come from Tsarskoye in two hours.” This was our last meeting; neither he nor I was destined to see her again. She outlived him, languished for a long time and died, they say, peacefully, about ten years ago.”
APPENDIX 3
Excerpts from letters from friends of M. Yu. Lermontov.“He was passionately in love with V. A. Bakhmetyeva (before V. A. Lopukhin’s marriage); she was his cousin; I think he loved me because he found similarities in us, and his favorite conversation was about her.”
“I would really like to ask you one small question, but the pen refuses to write it. If you guess right, good, I’ll be glad; if not, then if I asked this question, you still wouldn’t be able to answer it.
This is the kind of question that perhaps doesn’t even occur to you!”
“Believe me that I have not lost the ability to guess your thoughts, but what do you want me to tell you? She is healthy, apparently quite cheerful, in general her life is so monotonous that there is not even anything to say about her, today is like yesterday. I think that you will not be very upset to learn that she leads such a lifestyle, because it protects her from all trials; but for my part I would like a little variety for her, because what kind of life is this for a young lady wandering from one room to another, where will such a life lead her? - will become an insignificant creature, that’s all. So what? Did I guess you right?
^ M. A. LOPUKHINA
“The latest news about my sister Bakhmeteva is truly sad. She was ill again, her nerves were so upset that she was forced to spend about two weeks in bed, she was so weak. Her husband suggested that she go to Moscow - she refused; to go abroad - she refused and stated that she absolutely did not want to undergo treatment anymore. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I attribute this disorder to the death of Michel, since these circumstances converge so closely that it cannot but arouse certain suspicions.”
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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST
http://lermontov.niv.ru/ - site dedicated to M. Yu. Lermontov.
http://legendy.claw.ru/ - site myths and legends of peoples, Vodyanitsa.