What is the peculiarity of Lermontov’s love for his homeland?

M.Yu.Lermontov

M.Yu. Lermontov loved his homeland with great love. He loved its people, its nature, wished happiness to his country. According to Lermontov, to love the Motherland means to fight for its freedom, to hate those who keep their homeland in the chains of slavery. Love for the Motherland is the theme of such poems by Lermontov as “Complaints of a Turk”, “Borodin’s Field”, “Borodino”, “Two Giants”. But this theme is revealed with particular force and completeness in the poem “Motherland,” created by the poet a few months before his death. Here Lermontov contrasts his patriotism with official, official patriotism. He declares his blood connection with Russian nature, his native nature, with the Russian people, with the sorrows and joys of his life. Lermontov calls his love for the Motherland “strange,” because he loves the people of his country, nature, but hates the “country of masters,” autocratic serfdom, official Russia.

N.A. Nekrasov

Nekrasov’s entire work is permeated with a feeling of fiery love for the Motherland:

Not to the skies of a foreign Fatherland -

I composed songs for the Motherland! -

declared the poet in the poem “Silence”. He loved his homeland with a deep and tender filial love. "Motherland! I humbled myself in soul and returned to you with a loving heart”; "Motherland! I have never traveled across your plains with such a feeling”; “You are poor, you are abundant, you are powerful, you are powerless, Mother Rus'!” - with these words the poet addressed his Motherland. In Nekrasov’s work, the words “love for the Motherland” were constantly combined with the words “anger” and “sadness”:

Who lives without sadness and anger,

He does not love his Fatherland, -

he wrote. Loving his homeland, Nekrasov never tired of hating the system of tsarist Russia and its ruling classes. He loved while hating, and this love-hate expresses the originality of the patriotism of Nekrasov, a faithful son of his Fatherland, a great national poet-fighter.

S.A. Yesenin

Characterizing his lyrics, Yesenin said: “My lyrics are alive with one great love, love for the Motherland. The feeling of homeland is fundamental in my work.” And indeed, every line of Yesenin’s poems is imbued with ardent love for the homeland, which for him is inseparable from Russian nature and the countryside. This fusion of the homeland, the Russian landscape, the village and the personal fate of the poet is the originality of S. Yesenin’s lyrics. In the poet’s pre-revolutionary poems, there is pain for his poor homeland, for this “abandoned land.” In the poems “The hewn horns began to sing...” and “Go you, Rus', my dear,” the poet says that he loves the “lake melancholy” of his homeland to the point of “joy and pain.” “But I can’t learn not to love you!” - he exclaims, turning to Rus'.

The poet’s love for his homeland gave birth to such heartfelt lines:

If the holy army shouts:

“Throw away Rus', live in paradise!”

I will say: “There is no need for heaven,

Give me my homeland.”

According to Blok, he devoted his life to the theme of the Motherland. The poet claimed that absolutely all of his poems are about the Motherland. The poems of the “Motherland” cycle confirm this statement of the author. In the poem “Rus,” the poet creates an atmosphere of mystery and paganism:

Rus' is surrounded by rivers

And surrounded by wilds,

With swamps and cranes

And the dull gaze of the sorcerer.

In the poems of this cycle, the poet gives both the real features of the Motherland and its symbolic appearance, shows the country from different sides, multifaceted and majestic in its vast breadth.

...To the point of pain

We have a long way to go!

Here the poet tries to find answers to modern questions in the history of Rus', in the events of the Battle of Kulikovo. The ancient world is contrasted with Russia at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. The hero acts as a nameless warrior, thereby identifying the fate of the lyrical hero with the fate of the Motherland. Fighting in the army of Dmitry Donskoy, he is full of patriotism and love for his Fatherland. Nameless Russian warriors are ready to lay down their heads for the salvation and freedom of the Motherland. The poet believes in victory over the enemy, his poems are full of hope.

In the poem “Russia” Blok appears as a citizen and patriot who cannot imagine himself without his Motherland. He experiences with her a bitter fate, her poverty, and sees the hard life of the people. Russia appears before us in the image of a woman with a difficult life, but a strong-willed character:

And the impossible is possible

The long road is easy

When the road flashes in the distance

An instant glance from under the scarf.

A.A.Akhmatova

Many poets addressed the theme of the Motherland, but not all of them developed it on such a scale as in the work of A. Akhmatova. This theme became one of the main ones in her poetry, primarily because Akhmatova lived in a very difficult, tragic era for Russia and for her. This is also connected with the personality of the poet, with the fact that, having accepted the fate of Russia as her own, she did not leave the country, but, having withstood all the trials, remained completely faithful to her Motherland, without betraying herself. For the first time, the theme of the Motherland appears in Akhmatova’s collection “The White Flock.” It includes poems written in 1912-1916, during a period of great upheaval and testing for Russia, during the First World War. Akhmatova perceives the First World War as a terrible national tragedy. The poems of “The White Flock” are strict and philosophical, they feel the proximity of an inevitable catastrophe, a premonition of terrible and tragic events in the life of Russia. Akhmatova always remained aloof from politics, but she expressed her attitude towards Russia in her poems (“We thought: we are beggars...”). In “The White Flock,” the warmth of sacrificial love for the Motherland arises. We see acute pain and worries about the fate of Russia in the poem “Prayer.” Akhmatova is ready to do anything for the sake of Russia, she is ready to sacrifice herself, her “gift of song,” loved ones, friends, even a child, if only “the cloud over dark Russia would become a cloud in the glory of the rays.”

The poem “I had a voice...” is less specific. It is not clear whose voice is calling the heroine to leave Russia: either internal, or a “voice from above” (if we consider that the lyrical situation of the poem is reminiscent of the biblical theme of the “exodus” of the righteous from a sinful land), or is it the voice of Anrep and Akhmatova’s emigrant friends.

The heroine of this poem is faced with a moral choice. And she chooses Russia, accepting its fate as her own:

But indifferent and calm

I covered my ears with my hands,

So that with this speech unworthy

The mournful spirit was not offended (in Akhmatova - “not defiled”)...

Love for MOTHER

We can talk endlessly about mothers. Kind, proud, courageous mothers! How many lives were saved by their hands, how many troubles were driven away by their kind words, how many deeds were accomplished by their brave hearts. Songs, poems, wonderful legends and serious books are written about them.

For the Christian world, the prototype of the ideal mother, of course, is the Mother of God. Sacrificial love, purity and tenderness, meekness and at the same time moral steadfastness - these associations arise when mentioning the Blessed Virgin, even among people far from the Church.

ON THE. Nekrasov Poems “Great Feeling...”, “Mother”

The poem is dedicated to the most sacred thing in every person’s life - the mother:

Great feeling, its until the end

We keep it alive in our souls.

We love sister and wife and father,

But in agony we remember our mother

With the help of syntactic parallelism, Nekrasov focuses our attention on the rhetorical exclamation “Great feeling!” and on the thought that neither children nor mothers can do without each other.

Nekrasov always spoke about his mother with love and admiration. Such an attitude towards her, in addition to the usual sons of affection, undoubtedly stemmed from the consciousness of what he owed her:

Oh, my mother, I am inspired by you!

You saved the living soul in me!

(From the poem "Mother")

S.A. Yesenin Poem "Letter to Mother". The poet’s heart reaches out to his parents’ hearth, to his parents’ home. And, as if reviving the Pushkin tradition of poetic messages, S. Yesenin addresses a letter-poem to his mother:

Let it flow over your hut

That evening unspeakable light.

This is a good wish for a loved one using magnificent epithets (“evening unspeakable light”) and the emotionally charged word “flowing.”

In the second and third stanzas, S. Yesenin’s feelings about his mother are felt. The poet realizes that she knows about his ruined life, about “tavern fights,” about binges. Her melancholy is so great, her forebodings are so joyless that they torment her, and she “often walks on the road.” The image of the road appears more than once in the poem. It symbolizes the poet’s life path, on which the mother always appears, wishing goodness and happiness for her son.

I.A.Bunin Poem "Mothers".

In the poem, the poet recalls his childhood, to which he wants to return again and again. Mentally transporting himself into the past, he notes:

I remember the bedroom and the lamp,

Toys, warm bed

“Guardian angel above you!”

These simple, but very dear images for Bunin become the guiding star that does not allow him to stray from the path of life.

Addressing his mother, the poet remembers with nostalgia: “You cross yourself, kiss... I remember, I remember your voice!”

V.A.Zakrutkin Tale "Mother of Man"

In his book, the author recreated the image of a simple Russian woman who overcame terrible blows of fate. Husband Ivan and son Vasyatka were hanged by the Nazis. Only Maria managed to escape. Alone, she had to fight for her life and for the life of her unborn child. Terrible trials did not break this woman. Further events of the story reveal the greatness of the soul of Mary, who truly became the Mother of man. Hungry, exhausted, she does not think about herself at all, saving the girl Sanya, mortally wounded by the Nazis. Experiencing a burning hatred for the Nazis, Maria, having met a wounded young German, frantically rushes at him with a pitchfork, wanting to avenge her son and husband. But the German, a defenseless boy, shouted: “Mom! Mother!". And the Russian woman’s heart trembled. Maria takes under her roof seven Leningrad orphans who, by the will of fate, were brought to her farm. V. Zakrutkin’s story sounds like a hymn to a Russian woman whose soul is saturated with love.

Love for your profession

Confucius wrote: “If you love what you do, it is not work, it is an exciting journey towards a dream.” Love for one's work... This quality in people fascinates, stops them and makes them want to either experience something similar, or to escape as quickly as possible from the blinding feeling of delight that sparkles those who are passionate about it. They are like lovers, meeting whom people cannot hide their attitude towards life, joy and love.

In what books of Russian classics can you find examples to explore this topic?

N.S. Leskov “Lefty”, I.S. Turgenev “Fathers and Sons”, A.P. Platonov “In a Beautiful and Furious World”, Y.P. German “The Cause You Serve”, V.M. Sanin "72 degrees below zero", D.A. Granin "I'm going into a thunderstorm", "Bison", V.G. Rasputin "French Lessons", V.D. Dudintsev "White Clothes".

Is it easy to read poetry? Is it easy to write poetry?.. The works of some poets are becoming a thing of the past, while the work of others continues to live on for centuries. But there are truly immortal creators, whose poems you read and re-read, each time discovering something new for yourself and becoming richer in soul. One of these poets for me is Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. Why?

The poet solved problems of a universal scale. He was gone. Now other poets are solving the same problems. Life goes on. And in this Life there is a place for Lermontov. His work is multifaceted and amazing. In his poems, he addresses different aspects of human life and various moral and ethical problems. A poet and citizen, Lermontov loved Russia, loved its people, its nature, and wished his country happiness. To love the Motherland, in the poet’s understanding, meant to fight for its freedom, to hate those who keep their homeland in the chains of slavery.

Love for Russia is the theme of many of Lermontov’s poems (“Two Giants”, “Borodino”, “Turk’s Complaint”). Moreover, the poet shows the Motherland as two-faced. On the one hand, it exposes the dark side of the Nicholas gendarmerie empire in all its inhuman ugliness. On the other hand, he paints a people's Russia, bright, solemn, majestic, in which the ordinary and the grandiose are equally poetic. Such a two-faced Russia was a real historical reality for every Russian person of that time.

This theme is revealed with particular force and completeness in the poem “Motherland,” created by the poet in 1841, a few months before his tragic death. Lermontov declares his connection with his native Russian nature, with the Russian people, their sorrows and joys. The poet calls his love for the Motherland “strange” because he loves its people, nature, but hates the “land of masters” - autocratic serfdom, official Russia:

I love the Fatherland, but with a strange love:

My reason will not defeat her,

Nor glory bought with blood,

Nor the peace full of proud trust.

What does a poet love, indifferent to military glory, to the majestic peace of the state, and even to the legends of dark antiquity? Here's what he likes:

On a country road I like to ride in a cart

And, with a slow gaze piercing the shadow of the night,

Meet on the sides, sighing for an overnight stay,

Trembling lights of sad villages.

Lermontov's patriotism is revealed in this poem. The sincerity and artlessness of the poet's feelings for the Motherland are emphasized by simple, rustic images. In this way, a truly national image of Russia is created.

Lermontov, in my opinion, can be called with complete confidence a patriot of his Fatherland. Showy, feigned feelings are alien to him, so he is not interested in the Russia of cities and the royal court. He does not accept the official point of view, according to which his native country is an ideal state. Lermontov's Russia appears in a completely different light:

Goodbye, unwashed Russia,

Country of slaves, country of masters...

Russia entered Lermontov's artistic world through images of its native nature. Most often, these images were associated with the Penza land, with the estate of the poet’s grandmother in Tarkhany:

And I see myself as a child, and all around

Native all places: high manor house

And a garden with a destroyed greenhouse,

The old pond is covered with a green network of grasses,

And beyond the pond the village is smoking, and they stand up

In the distance there are fogs over the fields.

The theme of the Motherland can be clearly seen in the poem “Borodino”. It is strongly associated with the idea of sincere, great patriotism and the willingness to die for one’s native country and for its peace:

What is there to be cunning about, perhaps for battle:

We'll go and break the wall,

And we will stand with our heads

For your Motherland!

This, according to Lermontov, is true love for the native land, love without pathos and high phrases, love is real and deep. For the poet, Russia is different, but this is its true charm and beauty. He madly loves Russia and at the same time despises it for its inertia, vanity and pretense, but cannot imagine his life without it, so different and unpredictable.

Lermontov understands love

To the homeland truly, sacredly and wisely.

N. A. Dobrolyubov

Poet-citizen, M. Yu. Lermontov loved his homeland, its people, its nature, he wished happiness to his country. To love the motherland, in Lermontov’s view, meant to fight for its freedom, to hate those who keep their native country in the chains of slavery. Love for the homeland is the theme of many of the poet's poems ("The Turk's Complaint", "Borodin's Field", "Borodino", "Two Giants", etc.). The feeling of homeland, native land never left him. Already in 1830, in the poem “Bulevar”, he contrasted the people with the secular mob. From that same time, his passion for Russian folk songs began, in which, in his words, “there is probably more poetry than in all French literature.”

In 1831, in the poem “In a hut late at times...” Lermontov glorifies a simple woman, a young Slav, who teaches a child to take revenge on the country’s enslavers. In the poem "Borodino" love for the homeland is expressed through an enthusiastic perception of one of the greatest victories of the Russian people. The poet feels proud of the glorious historical past of his country, his people. Choking in a heavy, gloomy atmosphere, he remembers the past of Russia, its glory, and those who brought victory. And he reminds his contemporaries of it, who have turned into “despicable slaves of power”:

Yes, there were people in our time, Not like the current tribe: The heroes are not you!

A truly high love for his homeland forced Lermontov not only to admire its heroic past, not only to be sad about it, but also to be indignant and indignant at its position as a gloomy “country of slaves.” Almost simultaneously, two poems were written that expressed the feelings of the exiled poet at the moment of leaving for exile. But if in the poem “Clouds” farewell to the homeland causes melancholy and pain of separation, then in the poem “Farewell, Unwashed Russia” one hears anger, condemnation, and pain. Of course, “unwashed Russia” is primarily an emotional image. He conveys the poet’s bitterness both for the country given over to the power of the “blue uniforms” and for the “people obedient to them” who have not awakened from slavery. This is a bold challenge that exposes autocratic Russia. The challenge lies in the audacity with which the poet speaks about his attitude towards ruling Russia, in the frankness of his denunciation.

The autocracy sought to preserve “treasured legends from dark antiquity” for as long as possible in order to keep the people in bondage. Lermontov, against those poets who glorified autocratic-serf Russia in their works, believed that the strength and greatness of the country lay in the religiosity and “humility” of the Russian people. His love is completely different.

The small, intimate poem “Motherland” reveals the poet’s high patriotism. Lermontov calls his love for his homeland “strange” because he loves its people, its nature, but hates “the country of the masters.” The poet is indifferent to military glory, to the stately peace of the state and even to its past. A bright image of people’s Russia passes before us: he loves “to ride in a cart along a country road,” he loves “the trembling lights of sad villages,” he loves “the smoke of burnt stubble, a nomadic convoy in the steppe.” Dear and dear to him

Her steppes are coldly silent, Her forests are boundless swaying, The floods of her rivers are like seas.

At the sight of the rare contentment and simple joy of the hardworking peasants, the poet is overcome by a feeling of joy, unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the “patriots” from high society:

With a joy unknown to many, I see a complete threshing floor, a hut covered with straw, a window with carved shutters.

The “music and dance” of a masquerade ball (“How often surrounded by a motley crowd”) evokes “bitterness and anger” in the poet’s soul. He sees, as in a dream, “images of soulless people”, hears “the whisper of confirmed speeches.” He wants to confuse their cold gaiety with “his iron verse.”

It was not the “dark antiquity”, not its “cherished legends” that attracted Lermontov. “...It is all in the present and future,” he writes about Russia shortly before his death. Lermontov dreamed of a future, of a free and proud man who would be closely connected with his country. This “secret thought” of his, which runs through all his work, helps readers of all generations to recognize and understand Lermontov.

“I love my fatherland, but with a strange love!”

M. Yu. Lermontov

The image of the homeland in Lermontov’s work is one of the key ones. However, the poet’s attitude towards Russia is ambiguous.

Thus, Mikhail Yuryevich idealizes the past of his homeland, but is completely dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in it. The theme of the homeland in Lermontov's lyrics takes on tragic notes associated with the impossibility of correcting the situation even with the efforts of the best people. At the same time, on the pages of his works one can find many praises of the exploits and achievements of Russia, but they are all connected with the country’s past.

Strange and painful love for the homeland

The homeland in Lermontov’s works is presented, as already mentioned, very ambiguously. The poet was not prone to ostentatious patriotism and analyzed the reality around him. And much of what he saw he did not like, it seemed wrong.

Lermontov actively opposed the official point of view, which stated that today's Russia is practically an ideal state. The writer saw something different in his homeland - it was a country of slaves and masters.

But at the same time, Lermontov loves his homeland: “I love my fatherland, but with a strange love! My reason will not defeat her.” This feeling is irrational, inexplicable and causes the poet new torment.

Image of native nature

Lermontov paints his native landscapes with bright, rich colors. Nature and homeland are closely intertwined in the poet’s mind. Despite the fact that Lermontov is considered a recognized singer of Caucasian beauties, his work contains many appeals to his native nature.

The homeland in Lermontov's poetry is often associated with childhood memories. Thus, in the poem “How often surrounded by a motley crowd...” the lyrical hero, feeling his alienation in the bright masquerade world, returns to his memories of the days when he lived as a child on the estate. Before his inner gaze there arises: a house, a garden, a pond, a village, fields and fogs above them, alleys, rustling leaves under his feet. Native nature appears as a place where the hero can hide from the noise and bustle of the human world.

The relationship between images of the Motherland and nature

The homeland in Lermontov’s work appears as a place where one can find protection and peace. However, this image is directly related to landscape sketches. Only when images of lilies of the valley, endless fields, and gardens rise in the poet’s mind does loneliness recede and bliss and peace come.

The image of nature gives Lermontov the ability to conquer people. The theme of the homeland in such poems is deprived of any social or political orientation. The poet sees the beauty and harmony of nature, and therefore of the fatherland. And this beauty and harmony will remain unchanged, in contrast to the constantly changing state power.

Lermontov also sees the manifestation of God in nature. In its expediency, harmony, laws of structure.

The theme of the homeland in Lermontov’s lyrics is closely connected with images of native nature. At the same time, here the poet does not hesitate regarding his love for his homeland. He makes it clear that there is nothing more beautiful and closer to him.

Nature and society

The homeland in Lermontov’s work includes both the image of nature and the image of the society surrounding the poet. At the same time, they are contrasting and opposed to each other.

Thus, society is endowed with disharmonious features. Lies, malice, injustice and hypocrisy reign there. It is impossible to find happiness, peace and tranquility here. For Lermontov, this is a hostile and dangerous world.

Nature appears in contrast to society. It gives peace and drowns out mental suffering. However, peace is given only for that brief moment when the lyrical hero finds himself immersed in nature and removed from society. But, one way or another, he has to return - and the suffering begins again.

How did Lermontov feel about feudal Russia?

The theme of the homeland is closely connected with the problem of serfdom and autocratic power. is acutely aware of the social injustice reigning in the country. He sees people chained and deprived of freedom. However, even suffering from the surrounding reality, he is unable to overcome his love for his homeland. Here the theme of the homeland in Lermontov’s lyrics takes the form of torment and suffering, which are closely intertwined with the motive of love for the fatherland.

Thus, the homeland appears to the lyrical hero as a place of death and birth, a country of both close people and evil liars and traitors.

Poem "Motherland"

Lermontov often turned to the image of his homeland. “Motherland” is a poem in which this image becomes the main one. Moreover, this is a poetic declaration of love.

Describing the manifestations of his homeland, the lyrical hero confesses his love for her, and Lermontov himself confesses his love. “Motherland” is a poem in which there is an understanding of why Russia is dear to the hero. He lists her advantages and disadvantages, painting a majestic and unapproachable image.

In the poem, Lermontov describes three landscapes replacing each other. This is the steppe, forest and river - typical images of Russian folklore. The steppe fascinates with its vastness and freedom. The forest appears mighty, powerful, its image gives heroic features to the native nature. And the description of a full-flowing, calm and majestic river closes the landscape series. These sketches of native nature reflect the greatness, breadth and scope of Russia.

However, the image of the homeland includes not only natural descriptions, but also images of the people who live here. The poet turns to the image of a Russian person who remains natural, harmonious in his coexistence with nature.

The scene of folk fun on a holiday is colorfully and vividly depicted. The poet endlessly rejoices at the reigning unbridled joy in which the freedom of the Russian people is manifested.

Lermontov depicts different facets of the image of his homeland, which he admires and sincerely loves. Any manifestation of the homeland resonates in the poet’s soul.

Description of Russia's heroic past

Lermontov, unable to find ideals in the reality around him, is forced to turn to the past of his homeland. The poet has a great interest in the history of Russia. This is explained by the fact that Lermontov sought to find heroic characters at least in the past, if it did not work out in the present.

The homeland in Lermontov's work is closely connected with the concept of national character. Thus, within the framework of this concept, the poet in “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov” draws the image of Kalashnikov. The merchant is endowed with the traits of a hero; he appears honest, strong in spirit, courageous, capable of standing up for a just cause and truth to the end. By creating such images, Lermontov romanticizes the characters of the past and exalts them to the pedestal of courage and honor.

Poem "Borodino"

The poem was written in honor of the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino. The poem is structured as a dialogue between a representative of the 1812 generation and the writer’s generation.

The story is narrated by a soldier expressing his view of the people's war. The poem often contrasts the previous generation with the current one: “Yes, there were people in our time, not like the current tribe: The heroes are not you!” Lermontov's contemporary youth appears inactive, incapable of heroism and courage. At the same time, the writer portrays the past generation not just as a mass of people, but as strong individuals united by one desire.

The strength and beauty of the national spirit

The poem reflects the confrontation between “civilization,” which the French represent, and “nature,” which the Russian people embodies. Thus, the Russians prefer open battle and strength, skill and dexterity, and neglect French cunning and resourcefulness.

The uniqueness of the national spirit is also manifested in the fact that the attitude towards people is determined by personal qualities, and not by the richness of the uniform and belonging to a certain class.

This is Lermontov’s understanding of the ideal homeland, which he loves, imagines and portrays, resorting to romantic idealization.

The main motives in the poet’s lyrics related to the theme of the Motherland

The connection between the image of the homeland and the theme of the poet and poetry is reflected in Lermontov's early poems. The theme “Motherland” is manifested in them through the feeling of kinship between the lyrical hero and the people’s soul. Thus, in the poem “No, I’m not Byron, I’m different...” the hero reveals his kinship with his homeland through his nationality - “with a Russian soul.”

The homeland is also associated with an unattainable ideal, as, for example, in the poem “Mtsyri”. The image of the homeland for the hero merges with images of freedom and will. But the dream turns out to be unattainable and leads the hero to death.

Later, motives of homesickness appear. This topic arises due to the fact that the poet himself was cut off from his native places, the reason for this being frequent references to the Caucasus. The poet had a hard time being separated from his homeland. In poems of the late period, images of the native land as a source of life-giving force begin to appear. At the same time, isolation from it brings suffering and death for the writer.

The poet feels only contempt for those who do not have a homeland and who are unable to suffer from separation from it. For example, in the poem “Clouds,” the hero clearly states the difference between himself, exiled and suffering, and the clouds, which do not experience any torment or torment.

Conclusion

All the works that Lermontov created over the years of his creative life are related to the themes of homeland and freedom. The poet did not always speak about this directly, but these themes were also heard in those poems that depicted the fate of generations, discussed the purpose of the poet, talked about a prisoner or senseless bloodshed, and talked about exile and the worthlessness of life. The theme of the Motherland ran through all these works as an invisible line.

If we talk about what place the homeland occupies in, then we can definitely say that it is central. Many motives of the poet’s lyrics will in one way or another be connected with the image of the homeland.

Lermontov understands love

to the homeland truly, holy and wisely.

N. A. Dobrolyubov

Poet-citizen, M. Yu. Lermontov loved his homeland, its people, its nature, he wished happiness to his country. To love the motherland, in Lermontov’s view, meant to fight for its freedom, to hate those who keep their native country in the chains of slavery. Love for the homeland is the theme of many of the poet’s poems (“The Turk’s Complaint,” “Borodin’s Field,” “Borodino,” “Two Giants,” etc.). The feeling of homeland, native land never left him. Already in 1830, in the poem “Bulevar”, he contrasted the people with the secular mob. From the same time, his passion for Russian folk songs began, in which, in his words, “there is probably more poetry than in all French literature.”

In 1831, in the poem “In a hut late at times...” Lermontov glorifies a simple woman, a young Slav, who teaches a child to take revenge on the country’s enslavers. In the poem “Borodino”, love for the homeland is expressed through an enthusiastic perception of one of the greatest victories of the Russian people. The poet feels proud of the glorious historical past of his country, his people. Choking in a heavy, gloomy atmosphere, he remembers the past of Russia, its glory, and those who brought victory. And he reminds his contemporaries of it, who have turned into “despicable slaves of power”:

Yes, there were people in our time, Not like the current tribe: The heroes are not you!

The autocracy sought to preserve the “treasured traditions of dark antiquity” for as long as possible in order to keep the people in bondage. Lermontov, against those poets who glorified autocratic-serf Russia in their works, believed that the strength and greatness of the country lay in the religiosity and “humility” of the Russian people. His love is completely different.

The small, intimate poem “Motherland” reveals the poet’s high patriotism. Lermontov calls his love for his homeland “strange” because he loves its people, its nature, but hates “the country of the masters.” The poet is indifferent to military glory, to the stately peace of the state and even to its past. A bright image of folk Russia passes before us: he loves “to ride in a cart along a country road,” he loves “the trembling lights of sad villages,” he loves “the smoke of burnt stubble, a nomadic convoy in the steppe.” Dear and dear to him

Her steppes are coldly silent, Her boundless forests are swaying, The floods of her rivers are like seas.

At the sight of the rare contentment and simple joy of the hardworking peasants, the poet is overcome by a feeling of joy, unfamiliar and incomprehensible to the “patriots” from high society: Material from the site

With joy unknown to many, I see a complete threshing floor, a hut covered with straw, a window with carved shutters.

The “music and dance” of the masquerade ball (“How often surrounded by a motley crowd”) evoke “bitterness and anger” in the poet’s soul. He sees, as in a dream, “images of soulless people”, hears “the whisper of confirmed speeches.” He wants to confuse their cold gaiety with his “iron verse.”

It was not the “dark antiquity”, not its “cherished legends” that attracted Lermontov. “...It is all in the present and the future,” he writes about Russia shortly before his death. Lermontov dreamed of the future, of a free and proud man who would be closely connected with his country. This “secret thought” of his, which runs through all his work, helps readers of all generations to recognize and understand Lermontov.

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