Images and symbols in the poem “The Twelve” (A. Blok). Essay: Blok a. A

Blok’s poem “The Twelve” cannot be considered a work dedicated exclusively to the October Revolution, without perceiving what is hidden behind the symbols, without giving significance to the issues that were raised in it by the author. Alexander Alexandrovich used symbols in order to convey deep meaning to the most ordinary, seemingly meaningless scenes. Blok used many symbols in his poem: names, numbers, and colors.
The leitmotif of the poem appears from the first bars: in the gap and opposition of “white” and “black”. Two opposite colors, I think, can only mean a split, a division. Black color is the color of a vague, dark beginning. White color symbolizes purity, spirituality, it is the color of the future. The poem contains phrases: black sky, black anger, white rose. I think that the “black sky” hanging over the city is akin to the “black anger” accumulated in the hearts of the “twelve”. Here one can discern a long-standing resentment, pain, hatred towards the “old” world.
Anger, sad anger.
Boiling in my chest
Black anger, holy anger...
The color red also appears in the poem. It symbolizes blood, fire. Blok reflects on the possibility of human rebirth in the cleansing fire of revolution. Revolution for the author is the birth of harmony from chaos. The number twelve is also symbolic. Twelve is the number of the apostles of Christ, the number of jurors in court, the number of people in the detachments that patrolled Petrograd. The main characters of the poem are unthinkable in this era, the era of revolution. Twelve people walking, the beginnings of a new consciousness, are contrasted with the embodiment of the “old” world - “the bourgeois at the crossroads”, “the lady in astrakhan fur”, “the writer is in turmoil”. “The Twelve” symbolizes, I think, the revolution itself, striving to get rid of the past, moving rapidly forward, destroying all its enemies.
Revolutionary step up!
The restless enemy never sleeps!
Comrade, hold the rifle, don’t be afraid!
Let's fire a bullet into Holy Rus'...
“The hungry beggar dog” symbolizes the “old”, passing world in the poem. We see that this dog is pursuing the “twelve” everywhere, just as the old world is pursuing the new system, the revolution. From this we can conclude that supporters of the new time cannot yet get rid of the remnants of the past. Blok also does not make predictions about what the future will be like, although he realizes that it will not be rosy:
Ahead is a cold snowdrift,
-Who else is there? Come out!
Only a poor dog is hungry
He hobbles behind.
-Get off, you scoundrel!
I'll tickle you with a bayonet!
The old world is like a mangy dog,
If you fail, I'll beat you up!
The image of Christ is also symbolic in the poem. Jesus Christ is the messenger of new human relationships, an exponent of purity, holiness and purifying suffering. For Blok, his “twelve” are real heroes, since they are the executors of a great mission, carrying out a holy cause - a revolution. As a symbolist and mystic, the author expresses the holiness of the revolution religiously. Emphasizing the holiness of the revolution, its cleansing power, Blok places the invisible walking Christ before these “twelve”. According to Blok, the Red Guards, despite the spontaneity of their movement, were subsequently reborn and became apostles of the new faith.
So they walk with a sovereign step -
Behind is a hungry dog,
Ahead - with a bloody flag,
And invisible behind the blizzard,
And unharmed by a bullet,
With a gentle tread above the storm,
Snow scattering of pearls,
In a white corolla of roses -
Ahead is Jesus Christ.
Literary symbolism can subtly express the hero’s sympathy or personal view of something important. Blok uses it in its entirety. The poem “The Twelve” is full of mysteries and revelations; it makes you think about every word, every sign, in order to correctly decipher it. This work well illustrates the work of A. Blok, who rightfully takes his place among the symbolists.

Poem "Twelve"- a poem-response to the accomplished revolution - differs in style from other works of the poet: it clearly shows folklore basis, ditty rhythm, use of proverbs and elements of urban romance.

The main principle of the construction of “The Twelve” is contrast. Black wind, white snow, red flag - the color scheme varies within three colors. The poem is polyphonic: it contains many intonations and points of view. The images of the poem acquire particular symbolism: 12 Red Guards are opposed to the old world in the image "a rootless dog»:

The bourgeois stands there like a hungry dog,
It stands silent, like a question.
And the old world is like a rootless dog,
Stands behind him with his tail between his legs.

The old world is presented in the poem satirically, although satire in general is not characteristic of the poet. Images of the “past” acquire a generalizing meaning; they are outlined with only one or two strokes - Vitia, a lady in karakul, a priest whose belly used to shine like a cross at the people.

Opposed to the old world is the new world, the world of revolution. Revolution, according to Blok, is an element, a wind.” all over the world", this is mainly a destructive force, whose representatives go " no saint name».

The image in the title of the poem is multifaceted - 12. This is a real detail: in 1918 the patrol consisted of 12 people; and the symbol is the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, the apostles, into whom the Red Guards turn in the course of the revolutionary action. Transformation is a child flax: for example, the gait of the heroes from an impetuous waddling movement turns into a sovereign gait.

Ahead - with a bloody flag,
And invisible behind the blizzard,
And unharmed by a bullet,
Gently walking above the storm,
Snow scattering of pearls,
In a white corolla of roses -
Ahead is Jesus Christ.

Another equally interesting image of the “Twelve” is the image of Christ. A. Blok himself did not give an exact answer as to why this image, far from the revolution, appears in the poem, which gave rise to multiple interpretations. Thus, Christ is seen as embodiment of justice; How symbol of the greatness and holiness of an epoch-making event; How symbol of a new era and etc.

The image of a blizzard in the poem is multifaceted. Firstly, a blizzard is a raging, uncontrollable, “primitive” element, which is how the poet imagined the revolution: “ Wind! Wind! A man can't stand on his feet" Secondly, the image of a blizzard also appears in some of the author’s poems, where a blizzard becomes a symbol of death, going to “nowhere” and “never.” Let us remember the poem “The Dead Man Goes to Sleep”: “ The dead man goes to bed // On a white bed. // Easily spinning in the window // Calm snowstorm" Thirdly, a blizzard as a symbol of God's providence and fate is traditional for Russian classical literature ( Pushkin's "Blizzard" and "The Captain's Daughter").

The poem is also interesting in terms of its system of aesthetic principles. “The Twelve” is not pure symbolism; the scope of aesthetics in the poem is expanded: symbolic images are combined with satirical denunciation, the pathos of contempt for the “past” - for the old world is combined with the dream of a new Russia, purified and revived.

The poem “The Twelve,” written in 1918, still remains enigmatic and mysterious due to the multiplicity of interpretations and diversity of images, which provides great opportunities for researching the work.

Happy Literature Study!

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Immediately after the revolutionary events, Alexander Alexandrovich Blok wrote his famous poem “The Twelve”. How did it happen that the writer chose such a bloody topic? But he chose her for a reason. Blok truly believed that the revolution could radically change people's lives for the better. He believed in it so much, believed that the revolution was capable of burning out all the rubbish surrounding people that prevented them from living in a wonderful new world. So the poem Twelve appears, where we can observe images of the old and new worlds, where the old world is an old woman, a writer-vitia, prostitutes, a bourgeois, a tramp and a rootless dog.

The image of the Red Army soldiers in the poem

Further in the poem, images of Red Army soldiers appear. This is a collective image of twelve people, which we associate with the twelve apostles. They appear in the poem for a reason. By this, Blok shows that many people strive to change the old world. Shows the collective will of the people, and not someone’s individual opinion. It is with the image of the Red Guards in poem 12 that the idea of ​​the new world, which we see in the created image of the heroes, is connected. These are rifle belts, a cigarette in the mouth, a cap on the head, and all around is the ghost of freedom without a cross.

The twelve apostles of the new world are ready to fight enemies, fulfilling their revolutionary duty; they are representatives of the popular element, entrusted with the mission of defending the revolution, no matter what. Even though their path runs through death and cruelty. In this freedom they see an anarchic free spirit, the embodiment of their dreams, against the old foundations, against the established rules. We see how the Red Army soldiers make their way through the blizzard, succumbing to instincts, without really imagining what awaits them there ahead. By creating the image of the Red Army soldiers, the author reveals permissiveness and shows violence without which change is impossible. At the same time, Blok himself believes that without chaos it is impossible to achieve harmony in the future.

The Red Army soldiers are followed by an old dog, which they brush aside, because this dog is a legacy of the old world. But they are worried about what is hiding there ahead. And there the image of Christ appears as a symbol of the spiritual and moral ideal of people. We see how the Red Army soldiers in a friendly manner call the stranger comrade, but at the same time they themselves shoot at him.

The motive of movement is the main motive of both the rhythmic-intonation and content structure of “The Twelve”. Its bearers are the heroes of the poem, acting both as a revolutionary watch and as apostles of the new world. The association with these biblical characters arises thanks to the not randomly chosen number - twelve, although the poet does not at all idealize his heroes: “There’s a cigarette in your teeth, you’ll wear a cap, you’d need an ace of diamonds on your back.” These people, walking through the windy revolutionary St. Petersburg, will not stop at blood and murder. The revolution, according to Blok, splashed onto the forefront of history the mass - the bearer of elemental forces, which becomes the driving force of the world historical process. Even twelve Red Army soldiers feel like grains of sand in that world whirlwind, the scope and power of which is felt by representatives of a world hostile to the revolution: “a writer, a hero,” “a lady in karakul,” “a sad comrade priest.”

Blok mentally accompanies his heroes, going through their difficult path with them. His narrator is “fused” into the narrative, his voice is the same expression of the era as the other equal voices of the poem. The polyphony of "The Twelve" is a reproduction of the polyphony of the "turned over" era. The contrast and diversity of the poem reflect the social contrast of the era. The author's position is manifested not in individual remarks or appeals, but in the construction of the common “fate” of the twelve, in the nature of the path that they take on the pages of the poem.

The beginning of the poem introduces the reader to the setting of St. Petersburg at the end of the 17th year. The signs of a turbulent revolutionary era were embodied in such expressive details as a huge poster “All power to the Constituent Assembly!”, a “lady in karakul” mourning Russia, an angry hissing “writer, vita”, individual, fragmentary remarks, as if reaching the reader.

From the first lines of the second chapter, a continuous image appears before us:

The wind is blowing, the snow is fluttering, twelve people are walking. The single image of the twelve is illuminated by the author from different angles. The heroes are representatives of the lower classes of society, that urban stratum that has concentrated in itself a huge reserve of hatred for the “tops”. “Holy malice” controls them, becoming a high and significant feeling. Solving the problem of revolution for himself, Blok at the same time, as it were, reminds the heroes of their high mission, that they are the heralds of a new world. This is how the ending of the poem is logically prepared. After all, Blok not only leads the Red Guard apostles through twelve chapters from the old world to the new, he also shows the process of their transformation. Among the twelve, only Petrukha is named, the other eleven are given in the form of an indivisible image of the mass. These are both the apostles of the revolution and the broad symbolic embodiment of the lower classes of society. What is the purpose of this movement? What is the outcome?

Main the poem's question: "What's ahead?" - was clear to Blok, he saw with his inner eye who was walking ahead of the gang of Red Army soldiers.*

So they walk with a sovereign step - Behind is a hungry dog, Ahead - with a bloody flag, And invisible behind the blizzard, And unharmed by a bullet With a gentle tread above the blizzard, With a snowy tread of pearls, In a white corolla of roses - Ahead - Jesus Christ. Harmony is born from chaos. This image of Christ is the antithesis of the wolf dog, as a symbol of evil and the old world, an image that embodies the ideal of goodness and justice. Christ is, as it were, elevated above everyday life and above events. He is the embodiment of harmony and simplicity, which Blok’s heroes subconsciously yearn for. At the end of the poem, everything is enlarged and has an openly conventional character. This is the combined image of the “twelve”, and the newly emerging images of the bourgeois and the hungry dog, and the image of Christ that crowns the poem. There are no names here, all remarks consist of the most general words or rhetorical questions. The illusiveness of Christ walking at the head of the twelve apostles dissociates with the sovereign step of the revolution. Over the years, literary scholars have interpreted the meaning of the poem from diametrically opposed points of view - from welcoming the new revolutionary Russia, “taking a sovereign step,” to completely denying the revolution as a rebellion of a bunch of thugs. I think that it was M. Voloshin who most accurately defined the main idea of ​​the poem: “All twelve walk into the distance without the name of the saint.” And their invisible enemy is not at all a hungry “beggar” dog (a symbol of the old world) hobbling behind. - Get off, you scabby, I'll tickle you with a bayonet! The old world is like a mangy dog, If you fail, I'll beat you up! As we see, the Red Guards only brush aside the hungry dog ​​- the old world. Their anxiety and anxiety are caused by someone else who keeps flashing ahead, hiding and waving a red flag. -Who is waving the red flag there? - Take a closer look, it’s so dark! -Who walks there at a quick pace, Hiding behind all the houses? The spiritually blind “twelve” are not allowed to see Christ; for them he is invisible. These apostles of the new world only vaguely sense his presence. Their attitude towards Christ is tragically ambivalent: they call him with the friendly word “comrade”, but at the same time they shoot at him. But Christ cannot be killed, just as one cannot kill conscience, love, pity in oneself. As long as these feelings are alive, the person is alive. Despite the blood, dirt, crimes, everything “black” that the revolution brings with it, there is also a “white” truth in it, a dream of a free and happy life, for the sake of which its apostles kill and die. This means that Christ, who ghostly appeared at the end of the poem, is Blok’s symbol of the spiritual and moral ideal of humanity.

All the poem is built on contrasts: contrasts of color, contrasts of tempo and melody of the verse, contrasts of the characters’ actions. The poem opens with the lines:

Black evening. White snow. Wind, wind! The man is not standing on his feet. Wind, wind - All over God's world! The black sky and white snow are symbols of the duality that is happening in the world, that is happening in every soul. A formidable whirlwind disrupts the calm flow of life, takes on a worldwide scale, the cleansing storm of revolution brings new ideas that are incompatible with the entire established way of the old world. At the same time, the revolution also brings blood, dirt, and crimes. Blok does not hide its dark side. In the poem “The Twelve,” the author gives an objective, impartial assessment of the events taking place; Blok the symbolist is side by side with Blok the realist. The red color of anxiety and rebellion appears from time to time on the pages of the poem. ("The red flag hits my eyes"). The color scheme of the poem is almost exhausted by these three colors, symbolizing the main aspects of life in revolutionary Petrograd.

From chapter to chapter, the rhythm of the verse changes sharply, as completely different layers of society appear, events are contrasting and contradictory. “How our guys went to serve in the Red Guard...”, obviously without hesitation for long - this is a folk ditty, “You can’t hear the noise of the city, There is silence above the Neva Tower...” - the smooth music of a Russian urban romance enters the poem. And in this passage we are talking about the “bourgeois..., silent as a question,” about the upper strata of society, hostile to the revolution. The minted revolutionary slogan is repeated several times: “Keep your step revolutionary! The restless enemy does not sleep!”, which immediately after the release of the poem ended up on street posters. Blok called for “listening to the music of the revolution,” and it was this music that he conveyed in his poem. Unexpected transitions give the poem special expressiveness, charging it with new dramatic energy. This feature of “The Twelve” was noted by O. Mandelstam, calling the poem a “monumental dramatic ditty,” which is doomed to immortality, like folklore.

The actions and feelings of the heroes are also contrasting, they instantly move from love to “black anger”, from murder to despair, having heard the justification of “the current times”, Petrukha immediately “became cheerful again” and is ready for robbery.

The folk element permeates the poem, expanding the “personal” plane of the narrative and deepening the “social” one. The central climactic episode of the poem - the murder of Katka - is the pinnacle of the dramatic suffering of Petrukha - one of the “twelve”, who, unlike his comrades, cannot suppress his feelings: either frantic jealousy for the unfaithful Katka, then deep despair and love for her, then gloomy an attack of melancholy for everything around him. It would seem, what historical significance can the experiences of the most ordinary, far from ideal person have? But this is where Blok’s brilliant insight was reflected. He, focusing on the intimate and personal experiences of a person, revealed their social and public significance. The poet was able to capture the emergence of a dangerous tendency to suppress for the sake of the idea of ​​everything personal, which would subsequently lead to the moral deformation of society. The ideological meaning of the poem is not limited to the artistic depiction of the conflict between the old and new worlds. For this, the images of a bourgeois and a hungry dog ​​would be enough. The conflict of the poem is hidden deeper - in the soul of the Red Guard bandits, walking “without the name of a saint,” who “need nothing, do not regret anything.” Called upon to maintain order, they are ready to shoot at anyone without looking, without thinking, expecting that “the fierce enemy will wake up.”

The soldiers’ thoughts and feelings are contradictory, but their actions are global, irreversible:

We are on the woe of all the bourgeoisie, we will fan the world fire, the world fire in the blood - God bless!

* K Chukovsky, in the article “Alexander Blok as a Man and a Poet,” recalls an interesting episode: “Gumilyov said that the end of the poem “The Twelve” (the place where Christ appears) seems to him to be artificially glued, that the sudden appearance of Christ is a purely literary effect. Blok listened, as always, without changing his face, but at the end of the lecture he said thoughtfully and carefully, as if listening to something:

I don't like the ending of "The Twelve" either. I wish this ending had been different. When I finished, I myself was surprised: why Christ? But the more I looked, the more clearly I saw Christ. And then I wrote down to myself: unfortunately, Christ.”

Blok’s poem “The Twelve” cannot be considered a work dedicated exclusively to the October Revolution, without perceiving what is hidden behind the symbols, without giving significance to the issues that were raised in it by the author. Alexander Alexandrovich used symbols in order to convey deep meaning to the most ordinary, seemingly meaningless scenes. Blok used many symbols in his poem: names, numbers, and colors.

The leitmotif of the poem appears from the first bars: in the gap and opposition of “white” and “black”. Two opposite colors, I think, can only mean a split, a division. Black color is the color of a vague, dark beginning. White color symbolizes purity, spirituality, it is the color of the future. The poem contains phrases: black sky, black anger, white rose. I think that the “black sky” hanging over the city is akin to the “black anger” accumulated in the hearts of the “twelve”. Here one can discern a long-standing resentment, pain, hatred towards the “old” world.

Anger, sad anger.

Boiling in my chest

Black anger, holy anger...

The color red also appears in the poem. It symbolizes blood, fire. Blok reflects on the possibility of human rebirth in the cleansing fire of revolution. Revolution for the author is the birth of harmony from chaos. The number twelve is also symbolic. Twelve is the number of the apostles of Christ, the number of jurors in court, the number of people in the detachments that patrolled Petrograd. The main characters of the poem are unthinkable in this era, the era of revolution. Twelve walkers, the beginnings of a new consciousness, are contrasted with the embodiment of the “old” world - “the bourgeois at the crossroads”, “the lady in karakul”, “the writer is in a twist”. “The Twelve” symbolizes, I think, the revolution itself, striving to get rid of the past, moving rapidly forward, destroying all its enemies.

Revolutionary step up!

The restless enemy never sleeps!