But you are surrounded by some kind of crowd. “How often surrounded by a motley crowd” - analysis of the poem. You might be interested

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On December 31, 1839, a New Year's masquerade ball was held in the white-columned hall of the Noble Assembly on Mikhailovskaya Square in St. Petersburg, which was attended by high society and Nicholas 1 with members of his family. Mikhail Lermontov was also at this ball.

Subsequently, I. S. Turgenev recalled: “At the ball of the Noble Assembly they did not give him peace, they constantly pestered him, took him by the hands; one mask was replaced by another, and he almost did not move from his place and silently listened to their squeaks, turning his gloomy eyes on them one by one. It seemed to me then that I caught on his face the beautiful expression of poetic creativity.” Lermontov deliberately emphasized that the poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd ...” was written in connection with this ball: instead of the epigraph, the date was set - “January 1”.

The poet depicted in his work high society, which he despised, and openly expressed his attitude towards it. main topic poems - denunciation of life's "masquerade" and cold
the soullessness of secular society. The work has a ring composition. It begins and ends with a description of the high society. In the middle, the lyrical hero is transported to childhood - he plunges into the natural world of harmony. The work is characterized by a combination of two contrasting genres - elegy and satire.

The poem has three semantic parts. The first part gives a picture of a high society ball. In the second, the poet takes the reader into the bright world of his memories. In the third part, the lyrical hero returns to a world alien to him, which causes a storm of indignation and mental pain in him.
The first two six lines represent one complex sentence with two
subordinate clauses:
How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...
I caress in my soul an ancient dream,
Holy sounds of the lost years.
Re-reading two common subordinate clauses, the reader clearly feels a heap of images, flashing colorful figures and masks. Such emotional sensations, created by complex syntactic construction, bring the reader closer to the lyrical hero. The hero is bored among the “motley crowd”, “the wild whisper of rehearsed speeches”, among “soulless people” and “the decency of pulled masks.” The women at this ball, although beautiful, are very similar to puppets. The lyrical hero is disgusted by their flirtatiousness, gestures rehearsed in front of the mirror, “long-intrepid” hands that know neither excitement nor embarrassment. These city beauties know their worth and are confident that no one can resist their charms. But the hero is bored among them.

Everyone present at the ball put on masquerade masks as if to hide their soullessness and other vices. In this crowd, the lyrical hero feels alien and lonely. To distract himself from the unpleasant noise and shine, he is mentally carried away to the cherished world of dreams - to his childhood. The second part of the poem immerses the reader in a special atmosphere:
And I see myself as a child, and all around
All native places: tall manor house
And a garden with a destroyed greenhouse...
His native place is Tarkhany, where Lermontov spent his childhood. There is a clear contrast between the soulless world of high society and living nature:
I enter a dark alley; through the bushes
The evening ray looks and the yellow sheets
They make noise under timid steps.
Soul lyrical hero is drawn to naturalness and sincerity - to what has long been forgotten in the “high society”. For Lermontov, his home and childhood are symbols of the “ideal world” (it is shown in the works “Motherland”, “Mtsyri”, “Will”). But the “ideal world” exists only in memories, and the hero, “in memory of recent antiquity,” flies as a “free bird.”
The poet painted a romantic landscape. There are all the romantic attributes here: a sleeping pond, haze, fogs, dark alley. A poetic atmosphere of mystery and Divine presence has been created.

It is at such a moment that the lyrical hero turns to the theme of love. He talks either about his dream, or about his dream. The image of a beautiful girl for him is the embodiment of purity and tenderness:
With eyes full of azure fire,
With a smile as pink as a young day
The first light appears behind the grove.
These eyes and pink smile are a complete contrast to the masks of soulless people at the ball. Only in this world is the lyrical hero happy - here he feels harmony. It turns out that the soul of the lyrical hero belongs to the ideal world, and he is forced to live in the real world - among the “motley crowd”. His tragedy is the tragedy of all romantic heroes. It lies in the fact that the hero is doomed to eternal wandering between these two worlds. The pictures of childhood in comparison with the pictures of the ball are so beautiful that when the lyrical hero again finds himself among the crowd that he hates, he can no longer endure this suffocating atmosphere, and
he has a desire to throw an angry challenge to the kingdom of masks:
Oh, how I want to confuse their gaiety
And boldly throw an iron verse into their eyes,
Doused with bitterness and anger! ..
Expressive means language help the poet to reveal the ideological content of the poem. It is entirely built on antithesis (opposition). The poet depicts two worlds using sharp contrasts. Everything in the poem is contrasting - sounds, colors. The world of bustle is depicted with the words motley, flashing, masks - here brightness and brilliance are mixed into one faceless mass. Drawing an ideal world, the poet uses a completely different palette - azure, green grass, radiance, pink smile, yellow leaves. The sound tone in these worlds is also different. The festival of masks is accompanied by the noise of music, dancing, “wild whispers: - all this is very disharmonious. The sounds of an ideal world form a quiet melody - this is silence, the rustling of leaves,
human crying.

Depicting the artistic space of the earthly world, Lermontov shows us a close circle of faceless figures - a “motley crowd” that monotonously revolves around the lyrical hero “with the noise of music and dancing.” Here, cramped conditions and lack of freedom reign - “masks pulled down with decency.” But the space of the imaginary world is limitless. Here is the endless sky (<лечу Я вольной, вольной птицей»), и бесконечные просторы (поле, пруд, туманы), и бесконечная глубь (тёмная аллея, уводящая в таинственную неизвестность). У стихотворения сложный, сбивчивый размер (иногда шести-, иногда четырехстопный ямб). Наблюдается также сочетание парной рифмовки с
annular. All this together, as well as complex syntactic structures, convey the painful, disharmonious state of the lyrical hero.

Lermontov's life was instantaneous and dazzling, like a flash of lightning in a stormy sky. But before he reached the age of 27, he went through the entire circle of life with ups and downs of inspiration and the bitterness of disappointment. Lermontov's lyrics are rich and varied in events, sometimes contradictory. Whatever side of life we take, everywhere in Lermontov one can see a polarity in his approach to life, almost mutually exclusive feelings. Contradictions surrounded him from childhood, revealing the tragic discords of life. Belonging by origin to the highest noble society, Lermontov constantly felt loneliness; he did not accept secular society, and it did not accept him. The tragedy of the poet’s fate in secular society is presented in the poems “The Death of a Poet”, “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”, “Light”. Secular society in them is not just boring, but criminal, it kills poets.

Now let’s turn to the poem “How often surrounded by a motley crowd...” (January 1, 1840). The poem was written under the impression of the New Year's ball at the Assembly of the Nobility in St. Petersburg. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, who saw Lermontov twice, wrote in his memoirs: “There was something sinister and tragic in Lermontov’s appearance, some kind of gloomy and unkind force, brooding contempt and passion wafted from his dark face, from his large and motionless dark eyes . Internally, Lermontov was probably deeply bored; he was suffocating in the narrow sphere into which fate had pushed him.” The poem begins with the words “How often surrounded by a motley crowd...” - it does not have its own title. Above it is only the designation of the exact date of writing - January 1. The poem belongs to that category of lyrics that are called “poems for the occasion”: here the real life situation experienced by the poet becomes the basis of a poetic creation and allows the author to express his view of things, his pain, his indignation and love.

The poem is clearly divided into three semantic parts. The first part is a picture of a high society ball, a secular crowd - images of soulless people, “masks pulled down with decency.” Everything irritates the poet, and he tries to “be forgotten by memory” in “recent antiquity”, caresses “an ancient dream in his soul.” The masquerade is disgusting in its falseness. This is a pretense that has nothing to hide, these are masks covering soullessness. How absurd are the masks that preserve emptiness! The “motley crowd” is not bright, but erased, seen “as if through a dream.” There is no melody in music, it is destroyed (“the noise of music”). Whispering suggests sincerity and intimacy of what is being said, but in a masquerade, “confirmed speeches” are spoken in a whisper, and therefore it is a “wild whisper.” “City beauties” are distinguished not by tenderness, timidity, but by the “careless courage” of “long-faltering hands.” Everything is unnatural, everything lies.

In the second part, sharply contrasting the first in meaning and mood, the poet takes the reader into the bright world of his memories. The picture of the second part of the poem is full of clear, bright and delicate colors. This is the world of nature and the world of childhood, which in Lermontov’s mind usually merge:

And I see myself as a child, and all around

Native all places: high manor house

And a garden with a destroyed greenhouse...

The third part of the poem is the result, a new return of the poet to an alien world and a new, even stronger than in the first part, explosion of pain and indignation:

When, having come to my senses, will I recognize the deception?

And the noise of the human crowd will frighten away my dream...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Oh, how I want to confuse their gaiety

And boldly throw an iron verse into their eyes,

Doused with bitterness and anger!..

And here we come to the answer to the question: where does the poet get the strength to resist the empty and cold society, so as not to become part of it and not perish spiritually.

To fight, you need faith in the ideal world; for audacity, you need the strength that comes from connection with the true and beautiful world. Lermontov always carries this world in his soul, and therefore the “higher” society fails to kill the poet’s soul and subjugate him to itself. In the world there is a “sleeping pond”, behind which “the village smokes”, “fogs over the fields”, and “an evening ray of sun”, and a girl “with eyes full of azure fire” - all this constitutes a “wonderful kingdom” that helps a person remember about true values, to feel the light from them in your soul.

In his poem, Lermontov uses the technique of contrast. Contrast in the composition of a work is not just an artistic device. Contrast is an expression of the author's pain and love, great joy and great indignation. It is found most often where there is a strong feeling - and it generates in the reader an equally strong reciprocal feeling. The third part of the poem grows out of the contrast of the first two - and emotionally it is the strongest, most significant part. The parts in the poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...” turn out to be unequal. The last, final part is the shortest; it consists of six verses. This six-line poem was written at the extreme limit of anger. Thus, the entire poem is imbued with the pathos of feeling, poetic mood. And this is achieved by the unity of the composition.

Lermontov's lyrics entered the treasury of Russian literature. In his poems, issues of social behavior merge with a deep analysis of the human soul, taken in the fullness of its life feelings and aspirations. The result is a complete image of the lyrical hero - tragic, but full of strength, courage, pride and nobility. Before Lermontov, there was no such organic fusion of man and citizen in Russian poetry, just as there was no such deep reflection on the issues of life and the meaning of human life. Pushkin's heir - Lermontov, at the same time, is not just his student or follower - he gave Russian poetry a new character, which affected its entire further movement. Belinsky predicted historical immortality for Lermontov: “The time is not far when his name in literature will become a popular name and the harmonic sounds of his poetry will be heard in the everyday conversations of the crowd...”

“How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...” Mikhail Lermontov

How often, surrounded by a motley crowd,
When in front of me, as if through a dream,

With the noise of music and dancing,

With the wild whisper of closed speeches,
Images of soulless people flash by,

Decorously pulled masks,

When they touch my cold hands
With the careless courage of city beauties

Hands that have long been indefatigable, -

Externally immersed in their splendor and vanity,
I caress in my soul an ancient dream,

Holy sounds of the lost years.

And if somehow for a moment I succeed
Forget yourself - in memory of recent times

I fly as a free, free bird;

And I see myself as a child; and all around
All native places: tall manor house

And a garden with a destroyed greenhouse;

The sleeping pond is covered with a green network of grasses,
And beyond the pond the village is smoking - and they get up

In the distance there are fogs over the fields.

I enter a dark alley; through the bushes
The evening ray looks and the yellow sheets

They make noise under timid steps.

And a strange melancholy is already pressing in my chest:
I think about her, I cry and love her,

I love my creation dreams

With eyes full of azure fire,
With a smile as pink as a young day

The first light appears behind the grove.

So the omnipotent lord of the wondrous kingdom -
I sat alone for long hours,

And their memory is still alive

Under a storm of painful doubts and passions,
Like a fresh island, harmless among the seas

Blooms in their damp desert.

When, having come to my senses, I recognize the deception,
And the noise of the human crowd will frighten away my dream,

An uninvited guest for the holiday,

Oh, how I want to confuse their gaiety,
And boldly throw an iron verse into their eyes,

Doused with bitterness and anger!..

Analysis of Lermontov’s poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”

As a teenager, Mikhail Lermontov dreamed of shining in secular society. However, over time, he realized that the people with whom he had to communicate at various balls and receptions were characterized by amazing hypocrisy. Very soon the young poet became bored with empty and pompous conversations that had nothing to do with reality, and he began to avoid communicating with those whom he considered “double bottom people.”

One should also take into account the fact that Lermontov himself was by nature a rather secretive person; he did not know how to maintain small talk at the proper level and reward women with flattering compliments. When etiquette required this, the poet became harsh and mocking, which is why he very soon gained fame as an ill-mannered rude man who despised etiquette. What was the poet thinking about at these moments? He tried to express his thoughts and observations in the poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”, which he wrote in January 1840. At this time, Lermontov, having received another vacation, came to Moscow for several weeks and found himself in the thick of social events, when traditional winter balls followed literally one after another. He could not ignore them, but he clearly did not enjoy the need to be present at every such event.

Observing the entertainment of the “motley crowd,” the author emphasizes that at this moment, “outwardly plunging into their splendor and bustle, I caress an ancient dream in my soul.” What is Lermontov dreaming about at this moment? His thoughts take him to the distant past, when he was still just a child and lived with his parents in the village of Mikhailovskoye, not far from the town of Tarkhany. Lermontov remembers this period of childhood, when the poet’s mother was still alive, with particular warmth. He sees “a tall manor house and a garden with a destroyed greenhouse,” which he loved to wander around, listening to the rustle of fallen yellow leaves under his feet.

However, the idealistic picture that the poet paints in his imagination does not fit at all with the reality around him, when “with the wild whisper of closed speeches, images of soulless people flash.” Therefore, at balls and social receptions, Lermontov prefers to retire in order to indulge in dreams in which peace and harmony reign. Moreover, the poet personifies his dreams with a mysterious stranger, who is depicted to him in the image of a young girl “with eyes full of azure fire, with a pink smile, like the first glow of a young day behind the grove.” This image captivated the author so much that he found a special charm in solitude and “sat alone for long hours,” not paying attention to the noise and bustle of the crowd.

But sooner or later the moment came when one of those present destroyed the poet’s dreams, forcing him to return to the real world, completely false, full of lies and affectation. And then Lermontov had only one desire - “to confuse their gaiety and boldly throw into their eyes an iron verse, drenched in bitterness and anger.”

This work, filled with both romance and aggression, perfectly characterizes Lermontov’s inner world, contradictory and unpredictable. Over the 28 years of his life, the poet was never able to learn to live in harmony not only with the people around him, but also with himself. Therefore, his later poems are filled with bitterness, resentment and regret that the author never managed to experience the feeling of all-consuming happiness. The poet was dissatisfied with his own fate, but he was even more angry at the actions of representatives of high society, whom Lermontov considered empty and worthless people, living only to indulge in passions and vices. And the poet splashed out this feeling of irritation not only in public, but also in his poems, thus defending himself from human indifference and the meaninglessness of existence.

How often, surrounded by a motley crowd (Lermontov)

“How often, surrounded by a motley crowd”

How often, surrounded by a motley crowd,
When in front of me, as if through a dream,
With the noise of music and dancing,
With the wild whisper of closed speeches,
Images of soulless people flash by,
Decorously pulled masks,

When they touch my cold hands
With the careless courage of city beauties
Long-time fearless hands, -
Externally immersed in their splendor and vanity,
I caress in my soul an ancient dream,
Holy sounds of the lost years.

And if somehow for a moment I succeed
Forget yourself - in memory of recent times
I fly as a free, free bird;
And I see myself as a child; and all around
All native places: tall manor house
And a garden with a destroyed greenhouse;

The sleeping pond is covered with a green network of grasses,
And beyond the pond the village is smoking - and they get up
In the distance there are fogs over the fields.
I enter a dark alley; through the bushes
The evening ray looks and the yellow sheets
They make noise under timid steps.

And a strange melancholy is already pressing in my chest:
I think about her, I cry and love her,
I love my creation dreams
With eyes full of azure fire,
With a smile as pink as a young day
The first light appears behind the grove.

So the omnipotent lord of the wondrous kingdom -
I sat alone for long hours,
And their memory is still alive
Under a storm of painful doubts and passions,
Like a fresh island, harmless among the seas
Blooms in their damp desert.

When, having come to my senses, I recognize the deception,
And the noise of the human crowd will frighten away my dream,
An uninvited guest for the holiday,
Oh, how I want to confuse their gaiety,
And boldly throw an iron verse into their eyes,
Doused with bitterness and anger!..

M.Yu. Lermontov

“How often surrounded by a motley crowd”- a creative work in poetic form, created in 1840 by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.

This poem is rated by many critics as one of Lermontov’s most significant poems, close to “The Death of a Poet” in its mood and emotional pathos. According to contemporaries, this poem was written after Lermontov visited a masquerade on the night of January 1-2, 1840. The publication led to new persecution of the poet, who had recently been “forgiven.” The theme of the masquerade is symbolic. Comparing the poem with “Masquerade”, it is easy to understand that ridicule of specific features of life is nothing more than the poet emphasizing all the falseness of secular society. The imaginary past, bright dreams compete in the poet’s mind with a ghostly reality, saturated with lies and “mask”. And this dirt of reality evokes nothing but contempt in Lermontov’s soul.

Literature

Collection “Lermontov “Lyrics”” edited by E. D. Volzhina.
Collection “Lermontov “Selected Poems””, edited in 1982.

Mikhail Yurjevich Lermontov
Prose	Ashik-Kerib · Vadim · Hero of our time · Caucasian (essay) · Princess Ligovskaya · Panorama of Moscow · Stoss · I want to tell you
Poems	Azrael · Angel of Death · Aul Bastunji · Fugitive · Boyar Orsha · Two slave girls · Daemon · Giulio · Izmail Bay · Confession · The Last Son of Liberty · Prisoner of the Caucasus · Calla lilies · Corsair · Litvinka · Mongo · Sailor · Mtsyri · Oleg · A song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, a young oprichnik and the daring merchant Kalashnikov · Criminal · Sashka · Fairy tale for children · Tambov treasurer · Hadji Abrek · Circassians
Plays	Arbenin · Two brothers · Spaniards · Masquerade · A strange man · Gypsies (sketch) · Menschen und Leidenschaften (people and passions)
Poems	Angel · Ballad (In the hut late at night...) · Ballad (Over the sea, a beautiful maiden...) · Barteneva · Bashilov · Gratitude · Thank you · Shining clouds pass... · The battle · Borodino · Bukharina · To the album · Valerik · Venice · Spring · Palestine branch · Evening after the rain · Look at this face... · Vision · Airship · Will · I go out alone on the road… · To a stupid beauty · I look at the future with fear... · Countess Rostopchina · Hussar · Gifts of Terek · Two giants · Agreement · Dodo · Thought · There are speeches - meaning... · Desire · Cupid's Fallacy · Forget your hopes again... · Will · Star (Above one...) · Call hope a dream... · And boring and sad · From Goethe (Mountain peaks...) · From under the mysterious, cold · half masks... · Confession · Be with me as you were before... · My friend, your efforts are in vain!.. · I will not humiliate myself before you... · When you listen coldly... · To the portrait · Cossack lullaby song · Like the spirit of despair and evil... · Dagger · Cemetery · If only in the humility of ignorance... · When the yellowing field is agitated... · When word spreads to you about a story... · leaf · Dead Man's Love · Martynova · The blizzard is noisy and the snow is falling... · My demon · Prayer (Don't blame me...) · Monologue · On secular chains... · In the wild north it stands alone... · On silver spurs... · Hope · Naryshkina · The day will come - and the world will condemn... · Do not laugh… · People often scolded... · No, it’s not you that I love so passionately... · No, I'm not Byron, I'm different... · Beggar · Alone among the noise of people... · Loneliness · He was born for happiness... · She sings - and the sounds melt away... · They loved each other… · Fear · Excerpt · From what · Sail · There is a piece of paper in front of me... · Dedication to N.N. · Poet · Prediction · You are beautiful, fields... · Prophet · Goodbye, unwashed Russia... · Let me love someone... · Parting · Remorse · We parted, but your portrait... · To kid · Motherland · Mermaid · Russian melody · Saburova · It's finished! fully expect... · September 28 · Silhouette · Blind, inspired by suffering... · Can I hear your voice... · Feel free to believe in what is eternal... · Death of poet · Advice · Neighbor · Rushing north from afar... · Stanzas (Look...) · Stanzas (Instantly running through the mind...) · Happy moment · Tamara · Three palm trees · Cane · Clouds · You could have been a better king... · Uvarova · The terrible fate of father and son... · Prisoner · Cliff · Shcherbatova · Epitaph · I saw her once in the cheerful whirlwind of the ball... · I saw a shadow of bliss; but quite... · I want to live! I want sadness.. · I am not for angels and heaven... · I do not love you… · How often, surrounded by a motley crowd

And if somehow for a moment I succeed
Forget yourself - in memory of recent times
I fly as a free, free bird;
And I see myself as a child, and all around
All native places: tall manor house
And a garden with a destroyed greenhouse;

And a strange melancholy is already pressing in my chest;
I think about her, I cry and love her,
I love my creation dreams
With eyes full of azure fire,
With a smile as pink as a young day
The first light appears behind the grove.

When, having come to my senses, will I recognize the deception?
And the noise of the human crowd will frighten away my dream,
An uninvited guest for the holiday,
Oh, how I want to confuse their gaiety
And boldly throw an iron verse into their eyes,
Doused with bitterness and anger!..

Analysis of the poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd” by Lermontov

M. Yu. Lermontov towards the end of his life completely lost interest in the secular way of life. From birth he was characterized by a desire for loneliness, intensified by his passion for romanticism. Lermontov had strong convictions that he could not freely express in high circles. His open views aroused ridicule and suspicion. This closed the poet even more into himself; he gave the impression of a constantly gloomy and gloomy person. But his noble position obliged him to attend the most important social balls. One of these masquerade balls took place in January 1840. The poet reluctantly attended it and expressed his feelings in the poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”.

Already from the first lines, the poet’s irritation with what is happening is felt. The balls were accompanied by strict decorum and elegant speeches to the sounds of beautiful music. Lermontov’s description of the ball gives a completely different picture: “dance”, “wild whisper”, “soulless images”. The author knows that everyone present perfectly understands the unnaturalness of what is happening, but will never admit it. Any ball is saturated with falsehood and deception. People's conversations make no sense and do not touch on any significant topics. Mutual hatred and malice are hidden under masks. Moreover, by masks Lermontov means not so much paper decorations as unnatural faces of people. Universally recognized beauties have long lost their freshness and charm, their feelings have been dulled by endless romances.

Lermontov's only salvation during the ball is to be carried away by memories of his distant childhood with his naive dreams and hopes. Only as a child could the poet surrender himself wholeheartedly to the beauty of the surrounding landscape. He was not yet familiar with the vicious and deceitful human society. These memories awaken in the author’s heart a long-forgotten feeling of pure love for life. They allow him to feel young and full of energy again. Lermontov can remain in such pleasant oblivion for a long time, protecting himself from the outside world. It was precisely for this complete immersion in himself that the poet gained the bad reputation of a closed and unsociable person.

The longer the poet remains in this state, the more painful and tragic his parting with him. “The noise of a crowd of people” brings him to his senses. Lermontov, as if after a deep sleep, looks around with horror and again sees the hateful picture of disgusting fun. This infuriates him. The poet dreams of breaking the idyll with some daring trick. Realizing that this will lead to the final decline of his authority, Lermontov limits himself to “iron verse,” which became the work “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”.

Analysis of Lermontov’s poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”

Literature

Analysis of the poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd” by Lermontov

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