vocals: V.Penkova
guitar: O.Fol
She was sitting on the floor
And I sorted through a pile of letters,
And, like cooled ash,
She picked them up and threw them away.
I took familiar sheets
And I looked at them so wonderfully,
How souls look from above
The body thrown on them...
Oh, how much life there was here,
Irreversibly experienced!
Oh, how many sad moments
Love and joy killed!..
I stood silently on the sidelines
And I was ready to fall on my knees, -
And I felt terribly sad,
As from the inherent sweet shadow.
Analysis of Tyutchev’s poem “She was sitting on the floor...”
http://pishi-stihi.ru/ona-sidela-na-polu-tyutchev....
The love lyrics of Fyodor Tyutchev are one of the brightest and most exciting pages of the poet’s work. Poems dedicated to the chosen ones are filled with sensuality, emotionality and often tragedy. The thing is that at the age of 47, Tyutchev, being a respected and high-ranking government official, a happy family man and a fairly famous poet, fell in love with a 24-year-old student of the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens, Elena Denisyeva. Their secret romance proceeded stormily and serenely until it became clear that the hereditary noblewoman, entrusted to the care of her St. Petersburg aunt, was expecting a child from the poet. The enormous scandal that erupted in society could not remain secret for the poet’s wife, Eleonora Tyutcheva, who was very painfully worried about her husband’s betrayal. In a fit of despair, she even destroyed a significant part of the correspondence with the poet, which contained many poems dedicated to her, which turned out to be irretrievably lost. It was to this sad event that Tyutchev dedicated his poem “She was sitting on the floor...”, created in 1858.
If you don’t know the background to how it was written, you get the impression of a very idyllic and slightly sad picture, when a mysterious stranger, sitting on the floor, sorts through old letters and “like cold ash,” picks them up, and then throws them away again. The author addresses the heroine of his work in the third person and in the past tense, noting that she looks at the pages of letters yellowed by time, which contain joys and sorrows, somehow detached, “like souls looking from above at the body they abandoned.” . And at the same time, it seems that he does not notice the culprit of his suffering, who stands aside and feels clearly superfluous in this strange company of a woman and letters, once so dear, but now having lost all their value. The author notes that at that moment he was “ready to drop to his knees,” but he understood that nothing could be corrected, and the fragile sheets, which are material evidence of once ardent love, as well as the feeling itself, were doomed to destruction. And the author is no longer a tangible person of flesh and blood for the heroine of his work, gradually turning into a “sweet shadow,” a mirage, a phantom. The realization of this causes deep sadness in Tyutchev, as if another page of his difficult life turns out to be turned over and crumbles into ashes, like old letters.
Despite all the piquancy and ambiguity of the situation, the poet did not find the strength to part with his wife, but at the same time he was unable to give up his feelings for Elena Denisyeva. The poet lived in such a love triangle for 14 years, until the death of Deniseva, whom he affectionately called Lelechka. She died of consumption, giving Tyutchev three children, two of whom were also destined to die. All these years, the poet took care of his second family and continued to love both women. Denisyev for her extraordinary intelligence, courage, beauty and the sacrifice she made in the name of their strange union, which cost her her reputation and inheritance. To the spouse - for understanding and the ability to forgive. It is noteworthy that it was with the consent of Eleanor Tyutcheva that the poet’s children born out of wedlock received his surname. And after Denisyeva’s death, it was his wife who became the poet’s main comforter, sharing his heartache with him.
It is also worth noting that the poet outlived both of his lovers. But even after their death, he continued to dedicate his poems to women, touching, tender, filled with sincere admiration and love, as well as gratitude for the fact that they brightened up the author’s life, bringing into it a little joy, light and warmth.
Tyutchev’s love lyrics were based on his own relationships, emotional quests, tossing and experiences, morality and immorality. The poet poured out all his emotional impulses onto paper, and he had something to say. In his poems one can find repentance, pangs of conscience, and regret. A talented man, Fyodor Ivanovich, could even wrap tragedy in an exquisite literary wrapper.
The poem “She was sitting on the floor...” can be considered such an example of romantic lyrics. This is a real brilliant phenomenon of Russian poetry, as Nikolai Nekrasov said.
The history of the creation of Tyutchev’s poem “She was sitting on the floor...”
Tyutchev wrote this poetic work already in adulthood. By this time, the diplomat had a position in society, he was known as a decent family man, and respected as a high-ranking official. The man was 47 years old.
At this time, a new feeling, unexpected love, bursts into his life. He falls in love with Elena Denisyeva, who was barely twenty-four years old.
It soon became clear that not only the poet had ardent and tender feelings for Elena Deniseva, he was also loved. A whirlwind romance breaks out between two completely different people both in age and in their views, which ultimately led to Elena’s pregnancy. It was no longer possible to hide it, and society will know what happened. Everyone discusses Tyutchev’s personal life and condemns him. This scandal in society reached his family. Soon his wife finds out about his relationship on the side. Eleanor accepts her husband's betrayal very painfully and tragically. In an emotional outburst, she begins to destroy her husband’s letters that he once wrote. They contained poems that were dedicated only to her and were unknown to the world. Thus, most of the correspondence was destroyed. Unfortunately, these Tyutchev creations were never restored.
The poet saw this picture, this scene of the destruction of his letters stood before his eyes for a long time. Therefore, in 1858, he wrote his poem “She was sitting on the floor...”, dedicated to his wife. New love brought happiness, grief, and tragedy into his life. He could not divorce his wife, but he also could not leave Elena, so the affair continued, and the man was literally torn between two women. This triangle with his wife and mistress lasted for fourteen years, until the death of Elena returned Tyutchev to the family bosom. But for the rest of his life he continued to love both of them, and was grateful to both of them that he was able to experience such strong feelings.
The plot of Tyutchev's poem
There are only two main characters in this work. The author, on whose behalf the entire text is narrated, is also the lyrical hero and the main character. A woman, sitting in her room, sorts out letters that she had previously sacredly kept. She takes each letter in turn, and she has some kind of memory associated with each of them. After holding it in her hands for a while, the woman throws the letter. The lyrical hero carefully observes the woman, trying to capture the emotions that she is experiencing.
The poet-philosopher dreams of conveying all the emotions that the heroine feels at this turning point in her life. That is why the lyricist uses such a composition. There are only four stanzas, each of which reflects a deep and subtle feeling.
The main theme of Tyutchev's entire poem “She was sitting on the floor” is a love theme. But the author raises and touches on in his subtle and gentle poem the problem that a person himself someday comes to the realization that strong feelings go away and they will not return. Therefore, he describes the actions of the main character in the first two stanzas. But the third and fourth stanzas allow us to describe the internal state of the main characters.
The second character in Tyutchev’s poem “She was sitting on the floor...” is the lyrical hero, who is not far from the woman and carefully watches her. But he does not take any action and does not try to interfere with the woman. He himself worries very much, watching her. And bitter sadness settles in his soul. He sees how a woman suffers, how hard it is for her, but he cannot help her or change anything. Therefore, sometimes his suffering reaches complete despair. The mistakes have already been made and there can be no turning back.
The letters that occupy a central place in the poem can also be distinguished into a separate image. There are a lot of them, and they all confirm the feelings that raged in the souls of the spouses. But now it’s just ash that has even managed to cool down. For the heroine, these feelings and these letters are reminders that everything has passed, this is a memory of love that will now not be resurrected.
Analysis of Tyutchev's poem
In the composition of Tyutchev's poem, four stanzas stand out. Let's look at them in more detail. The first stanza is a description of the actions of the main character, who, sitting on the floor, sorts out old letters dear to her heart. The very fact that the woman was sitting on the floor shows her emotional state, because this is her enormous suffering, the tragedy of her personal life, and defenselessness. All these letters have already turned into a large pile, which still holds the memories of dear days for the heroine. A beautiful woman takes one piece of paper at a time, reads it, and then abruptly throws it aside. The author clearly shows the reader that this was once expensive for a woman.
In the second stanza of Tyutchev, the tragedy of man sounds. The author uses the grammatical form of the imperfective and past tense. This allows the lyricist to create an atmosphere of memory. Therefore, the poet-philosopher puts a thoughtful ellipsis at the end of the second line, creating an atmosphere of memories, showing that this story is not over yet. But this ellipsis can be read in another way: a woman suffers from the life in which she was happy and which remains in the past.
The third stanza is a woman's memoir, where the heroine remembers those moments when she was happy, but she will never be able to return that time. Tyutchev uses the words “life” and “killed”, showing that there can be no return. This contains all the woman’s experiences and the tragedy of the situation.
In the fourth stanza, Tyutchev also shows the main character, who is precisely the culprit of women's suffering. Looking at her, he also feels the pain that the heroine is experiencing, he himself is ready to apologize to her, but he understands that he can’t change anything, that the feelings have already cooled down and it is impossible to resurrect them.
Means of expression
The author used an incredible number of different artistic means in the poem “She was sitting on the floor...”. This allows the poet to achieve unusual melodiousness and sensuality.
♦ Simile: letters are compared to ashes.
♦ Rhetorical exclamation, which gives the entire text a special emotional intensity.
♦ Inversion, which helps to create a special mood for the text and give it a special rhythm.
There are ellipses in the text, showing that the author cannot always express or explain everything in words. Unexpressed thoughts and feelings remain one of the highlights of Tyutchev’s lyrics. This work about love is written in iambic tetrameter, cross rhyme, and there is a gradual alternation of male and female rhymes.
She was sitting on the floor
And I sorted through a pile of letters,
And, like cooled ash,
She picked them up and threw them away.
I took familiar sheets
And I looked at them so wonderfully,
How souls look from above
The body thrown on them...
Oh, how much life there was here,
Irreversibly experienced!
Oh, how many sad moments
Love and joy killed!..
I stood silently on the sidelines
And I was ready to fall on my knees, -
And I felt terribly sad,
As from the inherent sweet shadow.
Criticisms and reviews
L. Tolstoy expressed his opinion about Tyutchev’s poem with just two letters: “T.Ch.”, if deciphered, they meant the following words: “Tyutchev. Feelings". He believed that the sensual poet managed to convey what no one else could do before him: he conveyed feelings in words. The poet himself said that love always brings torment and suffering, because, in his opinion, this is:
"the struggle of two unequal hearts"
All this made the poem relevant for all times. People get into love triangles all the time. After all, even a strong feeling that can fade away can happen to anyone. This is the secret of the relevance of the work. That’s why this Tyutchev’s poetic masterpiece penetrates so deeply into the hearts of people, forcing them to repeat the lines and empathize with the heroine.
Tyutchev wrote the poem “She was sitting on the floor” in 1858. It was published in the same year in the magazine “Russian Conversation” in the second volume.
It is assumed that the poem is dedicated to Tyutchev’s second wife Ernestine. Tyutchev's relationships with women were complicated. His first wife, Eleanor, died under tragic circumstances, but Tyutchev soon married Ernestine. He knew Ernestina long before the death of his first wife. But in the second decade of a happy marriage with Ernestina, the situation repeated itself. In 1849, Tyutchev fell in love with Elena Denisyeva, who was almost half his age. From then on, for 14 long years, until Deniseva’s death, Tyutchev was torn between two women. Ernestina was wise and saved the marriage. But she must have felt despair. This is exactly the state of the heroine of the poem “She was sitting on the floor.”
Literary direction and genre
The poem belongs to the genre of intimate lyrics. It is written in the best traditions of romanticism. The lyrical hero and heroine of the poem are described at the moment of the highest tension of feelings; they are alone and ready for action, but refuse it as useless. The intensity of passions intensifies further, without finding a release.
Theme, main idea and composition
The poem consists of four quatrains. The first, second and fourth are a genre scene, a description of a woman sorting through a pile of letters (the first two stanzas) and the lyrical hero watching this (the last stanza). In the third stanza, the lyrical hero refers to the content of the letters being analyzed, which he knows because he himself wrote them.
The theme of the poem is the conflict between once close people, faded feelings. The main idea: love, even if faded, never leaves a person, living in his heart as sadness, regret, pain, which will remain with him forever.
Paths and images
The image of the heroine is devoid of any details. She has no appearance, no name, replaced by a pronoun she. And yet the image of a woman is very specific. Through her appearance (posture and actions), Tyutchev conveys her inner world.
The beginning of the poem should have shocked the 19th century reader. This is our contemporary who can sit in jeans on the floor and rummage through papers. If a noblewoman in the 19th century. sitting on the floor, this means that something outrageous happened in her life, that her legs simply gave way or she is not herself.
The heroine’s attitude towards letters as cooled ash (comparison) means that they were useless and meaningless for her. But the heroine still takes them in her hands. Obviously, she only throws away letters belonging to the lyrical hero.
Having described the confusion in the soul of the heroine, Tyutchev turns to her only characteristic in the poem - a look that is called wonderful, that is, strange (although in the original word looked wonderful emphasis on at, obviously for rhythm).
In the comparison of the second stanza, the whole essence of the heroine’s state, the whole range of her feelings. Her gaze is compared to the gaze of souls at the abandoned body. This is regret, and relief, and liberation, and a step towards something new, and the undoubted end of earthly life. Letters are dead for the heroine, just as the relationship with the person who wrote them is dead. It’s not for nothing that Tyutchev uses the epithet familiar sheets, as if talking about people. On the other hand, the sheets are familiar not only to the heroine. The lyrical hero recognizes his letters in them.
In the third stanza the motif of murdered love and joy appears. This stanza differs from the other three in its emotional intensity. Outwardly, everything still remains calm, but exclamations burst out from the heart of the lyrical hero, emphasized by the interjection O. Tyutchev characterizes the life of the past, remaining in letters, as irrevocably experienced, and calls the minutes sorrowful(epithets).
The motif of death remains in the fourth stanza. The lyrical hero is “terribly sad.” Word scary– a stronger adverb than Very. The sadness was so strong, as if he felt the presence cute shadows (epithet), that is, remembered the deceased. This dead woman is love. Participle inherent- Old Church Slavonicism, meaning located here. Today we would say present.
The lyrical hero, unlike the heroine, does not lose his head. He silently stands aside and repents of something, ready to fall to his knees, but does not fall. Either he feels the futility of such an act, or he does not fully admit his guilt. But the male figure towering over the female figure sitting exhausted on the floor is a symbol of the insoluble conflict between lovers.
The poem “She was sitting on the floor” does not need at all in the context of Tyutchev’s biography; it is understandable to anyone, regardless of whether he is familiar with the poet’s life. But still, the poem is autobiographical. Ernestina knew about Denisyeva and was able to live with this knowledge. In addition, Tyutchev actually wrote to her “ pile letters” (epithet), many of which she destroyed, so that some poems dedicated to her were irretrievably lost.
Meter and rhyme
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter. The rhyme is cross, male and female rhymes alternate.
- Analysis of the poem by F.I. Tyutchev “Silentium!”
Reading the poem “She was sitting on the floor...” by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev is extremely sad, knowing the history of its writing. The work was created in 1958. Then the already adult poet began an affair with a young girl. Despite the fact that the man was married, their romance had an incredible and turbulent history. However, young Elena soon became pregnant, which resulted in a scandal of enormous proportions. The poet's wife Eleanor Tyutcheva was in despair at this news. This even prompted her to destroy most of her correspondence with her husband. This poem is dedicated to this event.
The author is like an outside observer in this story. He looks at the woman who is sorting through old letters, throwing them away and looking at them again. She doesn't seem to notice him, completely focused on what now doesn't matter. Despite the fact that the poet feels ready to “fall to his knees,” he understands that nothing can be changed. For his chosen one, he becomes only a shadow, gradually losing his significance. Just like these letters, which are doomed to disappear. And she gradually loses touch with reality, demonstrating complete detachment from what is happening.
The text of Tyutchev’s poem “She was sitting on the floor...” is full of sadness and sorrow for what can no longer be returned. Each line is like a requiem for lost trust and broken alliance. The poet understands the inevitability of the situation, but he can no longer do anything, and this realization kills. This sadness of the author is transmitted to the reader. Despite the ambiguity of the situation, it causes sadness and melancholy about what is happening. It is impossible not to be imbued with the feelings of a person whose life seems to be crumbling before our eyes. The work is taught in literature classes in high school. You can read it online or download it in full on our website for free.
She was sitting on the floor
And I sorted through a pile of letters,
And, like cooled ash,
She picked them up and threw them away.
I took familiar sheets
And I looked at them so wonderfully,
How souls look from above
The body thrown on them...
Oh, how much life there was here,
Irreversibly experienced!
Oh, how many sad moments
Love and joy killed!..
I stood silently on the sidelines
And I was ready to fall on my knees, -
And I felt terribly sad,
As from the inherent cute shadow.
She was sitting on the floor
And I sorted through a pile of letters,
And, like cooled ash,
She picked them up and threw them away.
I took familiar sheets
And I looked at them so wonderfully,
How souls look from above
The body thrown on them...
Oh, how much life there was here,
Irreversibly experienced!
Oh, how many sad moments
Love and joy killed!..
I stood silently on the sidelines
And I was ready to fall on my knees, -
And I felt terribly sad,
As from the inherent cute shadow.
Analysis of the poem “She was sitting on the floor” by Tyutchev
The poem “She was sitting on the floor...” (1858) is dedicated to a personal tragedy in Tyutchev’s life. He was married for the second time and had children when he met E. Deniseva, a friend of his daughters. The poet could not resist the sudden outbreak of passion. The hobby grew into a serious romance. For some time Tyutchev managed to hide it, but after the birth of Denisyeva’s child, this affair led to a scandal. The poet's wife Ernestine was amazed by her husband's betrayal. In a fit of jealousy, she burned most of the letters that Tyutchev once wrote to her. The poem is dedicated to this episode.
The author depicts a woman sitting on the floor, sorting through a “pile of letters.” These letters were once of great importance to her. They were written by a man passionately in love with her. His betrayal turned the letters into “cooled ash.” It symbolizes long-burnt feelings. The poem does not directly say about the burning of papers, but this follows from the text itself. Her husband’s betrayal killed the remnants of love in Ernestine herself, so Tyutchev compares her look at the letters with the look of the soul at an “abandoned body.”
At one time, Ernestina made a huge impression on Tyutchev. He was incredibly happy to marry her. For a long time, the woman was a source of inspiration for him. The poet respected Ernestina very much and was grateful to her for the years they lived together. The letters to his wife contained a whole life filled with love and joy. Tyutchev was infinitely sorry for his wife, but at the same time he could not do anything with his heart, which fell in love with another.
In the last stanza, the lyrical hero himself appears, watching the grief-stricken woman. He doesn't know what to say or do in such a hopeless situation. All tender and loving words turn to dust before his eyes, and apologies are useless. Tyutchev also experiences suffering, but understands that murdered love cannot be returned. Out of pity for his wife, the author is ready to kneel before her, but this will not change anything. Burning love letters can be compared to the murder of a person who, like a past love, cannot be resurrected.
Ernestine never forgave Tyutchev for his betrayal, but for the sake of the children she agreed not to break off the marriage. The poet lived a double life for a long time, which was well known in society.
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