Diver. From schiller

Ballad is a lyric-epic work, that is, a story told in poetic form, of a historical, mythical or heroic nature. The plot of a ballad is usually borrowed from folklore. Ballads are often set to music.

Ballads are Zhukovsky’s calling card (Fig. 1), although he wrote a lot, including quite large, voluminous texts. But the ballad - individual dramatic poems with a sharp, cool, exciting plot - is the main thing that we remember him for now.

Rice. 1. V.A. Zhukovsky. Artist O. A. Kiprensky

Pushkin called him that in his poems – “my balladeer”:

Sorry, my balladeer,

Beleva is a peaceful resident!

May Phoebus be with you,

Our longtime patron!

You are happy among the fields

And in a secluded hut.

Like a young nightingale

In the cool of a dark grove...

A.S. Pushkin (Fig. 2)

Rice. 2. A.S. Pushkin

Zhukovsky became a balladeer because he was a romantic.

The ballad genre came into use at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 18th century. XIX centuries among romantic poets, primarily among the Germans and English. Zhukovsky knew these languages very well and readily translated from them. Thus, he translated a large number of ballads.

Translation of the Odyssey

Vasily Zhukovsky was closely connected with Germany throughout his life, although he found himself abroad for the first time quite late, he was about 40 years old. But he knew German well since childhood. He translated a lot and knew German culture well. This interest of his gradually became part of his destiny.

Zhukovsky had a friend - the artist Evgraf Reitern (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Evgraf Reitern

He was a Russian-German artist, German by birth, who lived in both Russia and Germany. He lost his right arm in the war with Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig, while being part of the Russian army. After that, he became a one-armed artist; he created paintings with his left hand.

Reutern is a fairly major figure in the artistic life of Germany at that time. He was both a friend of Russian artists and poets and a very close friend of Zhukovsky.

Zhukovsky married Reutern's eldest daughter Elizaveta Reutern and after that moved to Germany. His wife's poor health required a calm, measured life.

In Germany, Zhukovsky performs his most ambitious and most important work. He translates the Odyssey, Homer’s famous epic poem, into Russian (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Jean-Baptiste-Auguste Leloir “The Apotheosis of Homer”

It is very interesting how this translation was made. The fact is that Zhukovsky did not know the ancient Greek language, so he translated the Odyssey from German. He did this with the help of interlinear.

Interlinear- interlinear, literal translation of some text.

A person who knows a language takes some work in that language and does not make a literary translation, but gives the meaning of each word in another language.

That is, a German professor, an expert in Greek antiquity, made an interlinear translation for Zhukovsky. For each word of the Odyssey, I found a German equivalent. And Zhukovsky dealt with this interlinear. That is, he translated the Odyssey from ancient Greek into Russian through German. This story seems very interesting and entertaining. The translation is excellent, although it bears some of the conventions of that time, dramatic cliches, etc.

In Germany, Zhukovsky spent the last 10 years of his life, translating mainly the Odyssey. He died in Germany, but was buried in the capital of Russia, St. Petersburg.

“Odyssey” is Zhukovsky’s legacy, which should not be neglected. Do not be afraid of its large size or the size of the verse in which this work is written. All this is not as difficult as it might seem. If you open this book and fall in love with this melodious verse, you will be rewarded for the work of reading, for your patience, because there is truly a lot of beauty there.

Original and translated ballads of Zhukovsky

The ballad “Cup” is a free translation of the ballad by Schiller (Fig. 5) (German poet). In the original, this ballad is called “Der Taucher” (in translation - diver, diver).

Rice. 5. Friedrich Schiller

Free translation– translation of key information without taking into account the formal components of the source text.

In Zhukovsky's time there was no modern concept of translation. Now we expect accuracy from the translation, compliance by the translator with the “letter of the text” he is translating. Then everything was different: it was important to convey not the “letter of the text”, but its spirit.

Often, translators of that time added something of their own, shortened something, changed names, names of places, and felt very free, very free. Therefore, often poetic translations of that time are practically the original works of the translator. There is no hard line here; it’s hard to understand where Schiller or Walter Scott ends and, in this case, Zhukovsky begins.

Often, ballads under the name of Zhukovsky, especially in children's publications (Fig. 6), are published without indicating the sources.

Rice. 6. A. Koshkin. Illustration for the collection of ballads by V. A. Zhukovsky

There is some kind of justice in this, although it is not very correct from a scientific point of view. If you put some book with ballads in front of you, and “Zhukovsky” is written on the cover in large letters, after reading it, you will not see the difference between the texts that are there. Although some are original ballads that Zhukovsky made out of nothing, completely composed, while others are translations, free to one degree or another. We can say that he made any text that Zhukovsky translated his own, giving it his own special style.

Stylistics– a set of features that characterize the art of a certain time, direction or individual style of the author.

It was in Zhukovsky’s translations that the branches and flowers of Western romantic poetry were perfectly grafted onto the tree of Russian poetry.

Pushkin considered Zhukovsky the father of modern Russian romantic and democratic poetry. Many followed Zhukovsky along the path of creating ballads and other works of romantic genres.

Friedrich Schiller

The German poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller, whom Zhukovsky and other Russian romantics loved to translate, is considered one of the greatest authors in Germany and in Europe in general. For example, his “Ode to Joy”, set to the music of Beethoven (Fig. 7), in a modified form, is the anthem of the European Union.

Rice. 7. Ludwig Beethoven

One of the main, interesting, major features of Schiller’s life is his friendship with the German genius Johann Goethe (Fig. 8). They are often presented as an inseparable couple. Goethe and Schiller are Weimar authors, Weimar romantics, they are also classics, because they changed their artistic tastes several times during their lives.

Rice. 8. Johann Goethe

Maybe Schiller’s friendship with Goethe was even a little damaging, because Goethe is the German Pushkin, Shakespeare, that is, the “number one” German author. Schiller is also beloved, also revered, but was a little in the shadow of Goethe. He did not live long, unlike the long-lived Goethe.

Schiller wrote not only poetry, ballads and lyric poems, but also prose, philosophical works, and dramas.

In Germany, his drama “The Robbers” was especially loved. The main character of this play, Karl Moor, is a noble robber. He takes the path of guerrilla warfare against the philistinism, against tyrants, against the rulers of this world. He appears as one of the first noble robbers, and Schiller introduces this theme into world literature, including Russian (remember Dubrovsky). With Schiller, the fashion for noble robbers and the poeticization of rebellion and uprising began. This is his contribution to world culture.

Motives and basics of the ballad “Cup”

The ballad “Cup” (Fig. 9), like many other author’s literary ballads, has a legendary basis about how a ruler gives a dangerous task to a certain person, or sometimes the brave man himself tries to accomplish a feat, descends into the depths of the water and dies.

Rice. 9. Book cover from 1913 edition

Detailed analysis of the ballad “Cup” by V. A Zhukovsky

Let's analyze the ballad "Cup", read it, see what is interesting in it, besides the beauty of the verse and the bright decorativeness with which it is distinguished.

Beginning of the ballad:

Rice. 10. Illustration by L. Zusman in a book published in 1936

So the king shouted, and from a high cliff,
Hanging over the abyss of the sea,
Into the abyss of the bottomless, yawning darkness
He threw his gold cup.
“Who, brave, will dare to undertake a dangerous feat?
Who will find my cup and return with it?

But the knight and the man-at-arms stand motionless;
Silence is a response to a challenge;
They look at the menacing sea in silence;
There is no brave man behind the cup.
And for the third time the king shouted loudly:
“Will someone be found brave enough to perform a dangerous feat?”

This is the beginning. Moreover, as is usual in folklore texts, everything is repeated three times, that is, the king throws down his challenge three times. This could have been a challenge to battle if it had been called out not by the king, but by some formidable knight.

The construction of the work becomes visible. The reader understands that something dangerous and formidable is coming. Nobody dares. Only after the third challenge does the hero come out (Fig. 11):

“And everyone is unrequited... suddenly a young page
Move forward humbly and boldly;
He took off his cap and took off his belt;
Silently he lays them on the ground...
Both ladies and knights think, silently:
"Oh! young man, who are you? Where are you going, beautiful?

Rice. 11. The page accepts the king's challenge

It is no coincidence that it is not the knight who accepts the challenge, but the page.

Page- in medieval Western Europe, a boy from a noble family who was in the service (as a personal servant) of a noble person; the first step to knighting.

In order for this page to become a knight, he needs to pass some tests, and then there will be a ceremonial initiation. Therefore, calling the king for a page is a chance to quickly jump through all these tests. It is clear that if he accomplishes a feat, he will immediately become a knight with an excellent reputation, he will be not just one of many knights, but a man who has distinguished himself before everyone: before the king, his retinue and the rest of the knights.

"And he approaches the slope of the rock
And he looked into the depths...
Waves ran from the belly of the abyss,
Noisy and thundering, into the heights;
And the waves spiraled and the foam boiled:
It was as if a thunderstorm was roaring as it approached. (Fig. 12)

Rice. 12. Illustration by L. Zusman in a book published in 1936

And howls, and whistles, and hits, and hisses,
Like moisture mixing with fire,

A smoking column of foam;
The abyss is rebelling, the abyss is bubbling...
Isn’t it the sea that wants to erupt from the sea?

And suddenly, having calmed down, the excitement subsided;
And menacingly from gray foam
The mouth opened up like a black slit;
And the water comes back in droves
They rushed into the depths of the exhausted womb;
And the depths groaned with thunder and roar.”

The description of the sea element that we see in these stanzas is typical of the poetry of romanticism.

Romanticism- a phenomenon of European culture of the 18th–19th centuries. It is characterized by an affirmation of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the depiction of strong characters, spiritualized and healing nature.

The sea element, the depths of the sea, have long attracted people as an image of a hostile element that must be overcome. All sorts of horrors happen in the depths of the sea, monsters live. Therefore, going down to the seabed is a feat of heroism. In mythology, this is the same as descending into the world of the dead, into the underworld. The one who goes down there will accomplish the greatest feat, and if he rises up from the underground kingdom or from the bottom of the sea, it is like a new birth of a hero, and he is born in a new, more beautiful quality and appearance than he was before.

“And he, forestalling the angry tide,
He called upon the Savior God,
And the spectators trembled, all crying out, -
The young man has already disappeared into the abyss.
And the abyss mysteriously closed its mouth:
No force can save him.”

Here comes a terrible moment - the young man throws himself into this very force, which will now drag him in, as everyone thinks, irrevocably. Pay attention to a very significant point - he jumps after praying before doing so. That is, he surrenders himself to the intercession of heavenly powers. This is an important point for understanding the meaning of the work.

“It has calmed down over the abyss... there is a dull noise in it...
And everyone, take your eyes off
Not daring from the abyss, he sadly repeats:
“Beautiful brave man, forgive me!”
It howls quieter and quieter at the bottom...
And everyone’s heart aches with anticipation.

“At least throw your golden crown there,
Having said: whoever returns the crown,
He will share my throne with him! -
Your throne will not deceive me.
What that silent abyss hides,
No one's living soul can tell here.

Many ships are tossed around by waves,
Its depth swallowed:
All the small ones flew back like chips
From its impregnable bottom..."
But it is heard again in the deep abyss
It’s as if the murmur of a thunderstorm is not far away.”

This moment of suspense shows readers the difference between the page and everyone else. All reasonable people (all these men-at-arms, knights), accustomed to danger, will never climb into this abyss, because they know that this is a deadly number. The lines that describe the thoughts and thoughts of knights and men-at-arms, their direct speech are very important:

“What that silent abyss hides,
No one’s living soul can tell here.”

This is a warning: don’t go where you shouldn’t, the world has some secrets.

“And howls, and whistles, and beats, and hisses,
Like moisture mixing with fire,
Wave after wave; and flies to the sky
A smoking column of foam...
And the stream splashed with a deafening roar,
Erupted into the abyss by a gaping mouth.

Suddenly... something through the foam of the gray depths
Flashed with living whiteness...
A hand and shoulder flashed from the wave...
And fights, argues with the wave...
And they see - the whole shore shook from the cry -
He rules with the left, and the prey is in the right (Fig. 13).

Rice. 13. Illustration by D. Mitrokhin in a book published in 1913

And he breathed for a long time, and he breathed heavily,
And God's light greeted...
And everyone with joy: “He’s alive! - repeated. -
There is no more wonderful feat!
From the languid coffin, from the damp abyss
A handsome, brave man saved a living soul.”

The words “from the dead grave” confirm the judgment that going under water is tantamount to going down into the world of the dead.

We see a beautiful scene of rejoicing. Everything is fine. Here Zhukovsky and Schiller should finish the story, put an end to it. But then it won’t be anything special - an ordinary story about a brave man. Interesting, bright, but simple. And this is where the fun begins. What did he see there? How to react to what you saw? How will the king, knights and men-at-arms, the swimmer and another character who will appear soon behave next?

“He went ashore; he is met by a crowd;
He fell at the king's feet;
And he placed a golden cup at his feet;
And the king ordered his daughter:
Give the young man a cup with a stream of grapes;
And that reward was sweet for him (Fig. 14).

Rice. 14. Illustration by D. Mitrokhin in a book published in 1913

“Long live the king! Who lives on earth
Have fun with your earthly life!
But it’s scary in the underground mysterious darkness...
And mortals humble themselves before God:
And don’t boldly wish with your thoughts
It is wise for them to know the secrets hidden from us.”

The last lines are the report of a young swimmer about his feat. He did it, but he admits that it was scary, that it was bad, that living on a cheerful, calm land is better than diving into the abyss. He says the same thing that the knights standing on the shore said: even a mortal humble himself before God. There is no need to venture into the unknown. He did it, but is it good? Would he have done this of his own free will, without the will of the king?

“I flew there headlong like an arrow...
And suddenly a stream came towards me;
Water flowed from a crack in the stone;
And a terrible whirlwind drew
Me into the depths with an incomprehensible force...
And I was terribly circled and beaten there.

But then I brought a prayer to God,
And he was my savior:
I saw a cliff sticking out of the darkness
And grabbed him tightly;
There was also a cup hanging on a coral branch:
The moisture did not sweep him away into the bottomless.

And everything was vague below me
In the purple dusk there;
Everything fell asleep for hearing in that deaf abyss;
But it seemed scary to my eyes,
How the ugly piles moved in it,
The depths of the sea are untold miracles (Fig. 15).

Rice. 15. Illustration by D. Mitrokhin in a book published in 1913

I saw how they boil in the black abyss,
In a huge curling club,
And the water bastard and the ugly stingray,
And the horror of the seas is one-toothed;
And he threatened me with death, his teeth flashing,
Mokoy insatiable, sea hyena.

And I was alone with an inevitable fate,
Far from people's sight;
Some are among monsters with a loving soul;
In the belly of the earth, deep
Under the sound of a living human word,
Between the terrible inhabitants of the dungeon there is no one.

And I shuddered... suddenly I heard: crawling
Hundred-legged menacingly from the darkness,
And he wants to grab it, and his mouth opens...
I'm terrified away from the rock!..
It was salvation: I was caught by the tide
And he was thrown upward by a gust of water cannon.”

An incredibly expressive picture appears, and all this is very visible and imaginable. This whole water system really works like a volcano or some kind of giant geyser: it draws water to the bottom and throws it up. All this is easy to imagine, as well as the hero who moves back and forth in this crater, and below him is a monster. This is the outer plane - the hero and the abysses of the sea. On the other hand, reasoning about the meaning of what is happening continuously continues. The young man again says that he was saved by prayer. He emphasizes the loneliness of the human soul among the cold abysses, it is as if he were buried alive there.

The story seemed wonderful to the king:
“Take my golden cup;
But with it I will also give you a ring,
In which the diamond is expensive,
When will you dare to do something again?
And you will retell all the secrets of the seabed to Morskov.”

Hearing this, the princess with excitement in her chest,
Blushing, he says to the king:
“Enough, parent, spare him!
Who would do something like this?
And if there must be experience again,
They came out as a knight, not as a young page.”

The king wants a continuation, he wants the page to repeat his feat, but now the king’s motives are different. Before that, he just wanted to have fun with someone else’s adventure, so that his subjects would show what they were capable of and show their prowess. Now he has some new thirst for knowledge. He wants to know what is at the bottom of the sea, he wants to be told more. This is a very important point. He wants to find out the secrets of the world, the secrets of the depths of the sea.

And then his daughter steps in, acting as an intercessor, and that decides the matter. It only escalates the conflict and gives the page a new reason to jump again:

“But the king, not heeding his golden cup
Threw him into the abyss from a height:
“And you will be here, my beloved knight,
When you return with him, you;
And my daughter, now yours before me
The intercessor will be your wife."

In him the soul is kindled with heavenly life;
Courage sparkled in his eyes;
He sees: she blushes, she turns pale;
He sees: there is pity and fear in her...
Then, full of indescribable joy,
He threw himself into the waves for life and death...”

The page accepts the challenge with joy, with pleasure, because the stakes are raised in such a way that it is no longer possible to retreat: he will become the first knight, he will become the husband of a beautiful girl, the daughter of the king. That is, from pages he becomes a winner, the first knight, almost a prince. This is typical of a fairy tale: the hero undergoes trials and receives a reward in the end - the king's daughter. And something similar can happen in this work.

“The abyss has subsided... and is noisy again...
And full of foam again...
And with trepidation the princess looks into the abyss...
And wave after wave beats...
The wave comes and goes quickly:
But the young man is not and will not be forever” (Fig. 16)

Rice. 16. Illustration by L. Zusman in a book published in 1936

Moral of the ballad "Cup"

We see tragedy, which is very typical for a ballad. There is no happy ending that readers were tuning in for. This is done in order to present morality to us in artistic form. This is a moral about being careful with the world and its secrets, and not rushing into it recklessly. Perhaps the world, Mother Nature, God have some secrets, secrets that it is better not to intrude on. It is clear that for us, children of scientific and technological progress, this sounds reactionary. They say that Zhukovsky is trying to limit our curiosity and interest in the world. This can be judged in different ways. Let us recall the myth of Pandora's box - a box in which misfortunes, fears, and illnesses were hidden (Fig. 17).

Rice. 17. Pandora's Box

And one curious woman named Pandora discovered it, and all these fears flooded the world. Schiller and Zhukovsky warn us against pride, omnipotence and know-it-all, and call for humility and reasonable caution.

Zhukovsky is a romantic who was actually afraid of destructive passions and too daring, arrogant enterprises. He was a religious man. This religiosity was largely brought up by the misfortunes of his life, because he experienced unhappy love. He came closer and closer to the ideals of calm contemplation of the flow of his life, to calmly, patiently, wisely peering into the world, and not approaching it with a master key.

Questions for notes

Define the concept of ballad.

Name the main characters of the ballad “Cup”. What main character traits do they have?

What is the main moral of V.A.’s ballad? Zhukovsky "Cup"?

“Who, whether a noble knight or a simple man-at-arms,
Will he jump from above into that abyss?
I throw my golden cup there:
Who will find the depths in the darkness
My cup will return harmlessly with it,
For that he will be a victorious reward.”
So the king shouted, and from a high cliff,
Hanging over the abyss of the sea,
Into the abyss of the bottomless, yawning darkness
He threw his gold cup.
“Who, brave, will dare to undertake a dangerous feat?
Who will find my cup and return with it?
But the knight and the man-at-arms stand motionless;
Silence is a response to a challenge;
They look at the menacing sea in silence;
There is no brave man behind the cup.
And for the third time the king shouted loudly:
“Will someone be found brave enough to perform a dangerous feat?”
And everyone is unrequited... suddenly a young page
Move forward humbly and boldly;
He took off his cap and took off his belt;
Silently lays them on the ground...
Both ladies and knights think, silently:
"Oh! young man, who are you? Where are you going, beautiful?
And he approaches the slope of the cliff
And he looked into the depths...
Waves ran from the belly of the abyss,
Noisy and thundering, into the heights;
And the waves spiraled and the foam boiled:
It was as if a thunderstorm was roaring as it approached.

Like moisture mixing with fire,

A smoking column of foam;
The abyss is rebelling, the abyss is bubbling...
Isn’t it the sea that wants to erupt from the sea?
And suddenly, having calmed down, the excitement subsided;
And menacingly from gray foam
The mouth opened up like a black slit;
And the water comes back in droves
They rushed into the depths of the exhausted womb;
And the depths groaned with thunder and roar.
And he, forestalling the angry tide,
He called upon the Savior God,
And the spectators trembled, all crying out,
The young man has already disappeared into the abyss.
And the abyss mysteriously closed its mouth:
No amount of force can save him.
It has calmed down over the abyss... there is a dull noise in it...
And everyone, take your eyes off
Not daring from the abyss, he sadly repeats:
“Beautiful brave man, forgive me!”
It howls quieter and quieter at the bottom...
And everyone’s heart aches with anticipation.
“At least throw your golden crown there,
Saying: who will return the crown,
He will share my throne with him! —
Your throne will not deceive me.
What that silent abyss hides,
No one's living soul can tell here.
Many ships are tossed around by waves,
Its depth swallowed:
All the small ones flew back like chips
From its impregnable bottom..."
But it is heard again in the deep abyss
As if the murmur of prose is short-lived.
And howls, and whistles, and hits, and hisses,
Like moisture mixing with fire,
Wave after wave; and flies to the sky
A smoking column of foam...
And the stream splashed with a deafening roar,
Erupted into the abyss by a gaping mouth.
Suddenly... something through the foam of the gray depths
Flashed with living whiteness...
A hand and shoulder flashed from the wave...
And fights, argues with the wave...
And they see - the whole shore shook from the cry -
He rules with the left, and the spoil is with the right.
And he breathed for a long time, and he breathed heavily,
And God's light greeted...
And everyone with joy: “He’s alive! - repeated. —
There is no more wonderful feat!
From a dark coffin, from a damp abyss
A handsome, brave man saved a living soul.”
He went ashore; he is met by a crowd;
He fell at the king's feet;
And he placed a golden cup at his feet;
And the king ordered his daughter:
Give the young man a cup with a stream of grapes;
And that reward was sweet for him.
“Long live the king! Who lives on earth
Have fun with your earthly life!
But it’s scary in the underground mysterious darkness...
And mortals humble themselves before God:
And don’t boldly wish with your thoughts
To know the secrets, it is wise for them to be hidden from us.
I flew there like an arrow...
And suddenly a stream came towards me;
Water flowed from a crack in the stone;
And a terrible whirlwind drew
Me into the depths with an incomprehensible force...
And I was terribly circled and beaten there.
But then I brought a prayer to God,
And he was my savior:
I saw a cliff sticking out of the darkness
And grabbed him tightly;
There was also a cup hanging on a coral branch:
The moisture did not sweep him away into the bottomless.
And everything was vague below me
In the purple dusk there;
Everything fell asleep for hearing in that deaf abyss;
But it seemed scary to my eyes,
How the ugly piles moved in it,
The depths of the sea are untold miracles.
I saw how they boil in the black abyss,
In a huge curling club,
And the water bastard and the ugly stingray,
And the horror of the seas is one-toothed;
And he threatened me with death, his teeth flashing,
Mokoy insatiable, sea hyena.
And I was alone with an inevitable fate,
Far from people's sight;
One among monsters with a loving soul,
In the belly of the earth, deep
Under the sound of a living human word,
Between the terrible inhabitants of the dungeon there is no one.
And I shuddered... suddenly I heard: crawling
Hundred-legged menacingly from the darkness,
And he wants to grab it, and his mouth opens...
I'm terrified away from the rock!..
It was salvation: I was caught by the tide
And he was thrown upward by a gust of water cannon.”
The story seemed wonderful to the king:
“Take my golden cup;
But with it I will also give you a ring,
In which the diamond is expensive,
When will you dare to do something again?
And you will retell all the secrets of the seabed to Morskov,”
Hearing this, the princess with excitement in her chest,
Blushing, he says to the king:
“Enough, parent, spare him!
Who would do something like this?
And if there must be experience again,
They came out as a knight, not as a young page.”
But the king, not heeding his golden cup
Threw him into the abyss from a height:
“And you will be here, my beloved knight,
When you return with him, you;
And my daughter, now yours before me
The intercessor will be your wife."
In him the soul is kindled with heavenly life;
Courage sparkled in his eyes;
He sees: blushes, turns pale she;
He sees: in her pity and fear...
Then, full of indescribable joy,
He threw himself into the waves for life and death...
The abyss has calmed down... and is making noise again...
And full of foam again...
And with trepidation the princess looks into the abyss...
And wave after wave beats...
The wave comes and goes quickly:
But the young man is not and will not be forever.

“All ballads,” we read in the book “Flowers of a Solitary Dream,” “are built on some legendary legend, certainly miraculous. This is either the action of a supernatural force, or a terrible accident, or an unforeseen event or incident that unexpectedly turns the fate of the heroes.” And here's what they say about the ballad "The Cup": "From the 12th century, a German legend has come down to us about a swimmer who threw himself into the sea for treasure. This legend was literary processed by the great German poet Friedrich Schiller, writing the ballad "The Diver."

The ballad became widely known, and our great poet V.A. Zhukovsky translated it and put it into Russian. A medieval legend from the 12th century reported a common situation in which greed killed a swimmer. The German poet gave the ballad sublimity and solemnity.

Zhukovsky based his ballad on feelings of courage, tyranny, caprice and pity. For him, the age of the hero and characters plays a big role. The king, playing with the lives of his subjects, invites them to perform a feat and show courage. He wants to confront a person with a violent, indomitable element that exceeds human strength. Mature and wise men - knights and men-at-arms - are not cowards, but they understand that the king's desire is a whim that has nothing to do with a real test of courage. But there is a young page who longs to distinguish himself. He rushes towards danger and emerges victorious. However, he owes his feat and life not so much to his weak forces as to God...

Without God's help, the page would not have returned from the abyss. God forgave him and returned him to shore. The page's story excited the king, he promised new treasures to the page if he would throw himself into the fatal abyss again. Now the king does not call for feat and courage. Everyone understands that he is driven by a bad personal feeling. And then the princess stands up for the page.

However, the king is implacable. The second test ended in death for the page. The page, having violated the Divine commandment for the second time, did not receive God’s help. The idea of Zhukovsky’s ballad was for people to combine their desires and thoughts with an understanding of their imperfection. Only by humbling their pride and relying on the will of God, resorting to His help and mercy, will they be able to fully and comprehensively demonstrate their best human qualities.”

Thinking about what we read

Features of V. A. Zhukovsky’s ballads

A ballad (French ballade - dance song) is a poem, which is most often based on a historical event, a legend with a sharp, intense plot.

Who are the main characters of the ballad?
How are the nobility, chivalry and cruelty of the heroes of the ballad manifested?
What actions of the heroes do you welcome, which ones do you justify, which ones do you condemn?
How does the author relate to the characters - whom does he condemn, whom does he pity? How did you determine this?

Learning to read expressively

Prepare an expressive reading based on the roles of one of the works of V. A. Zhukovsky.
How do you read the ballad "Cup" out loud? What intonations will be repeated especially often (sad, anxious, solemn, mournful)?

Creative task

Try to compose your own ballad in the spirit of the works of V. A. Zhukovsky.

Zhukovsky's Ballads The Cup was first published in "Ballads and Stories of V. A. Zhukovsky", in two parts, published in 1831. The work was based on a translation of Schiller's ballad "Der Taucher" ("The Diver"). Schiller's plot is based on medieval German legends of the 12th century (there are no romantic motives: the cause of the swimmer's death was his greed). Zhukovsky significantly transformed the plot of the ballad, replacing a number of mythical characters with real creatures. In addition, Zhukovsky’s central idea was that man is inaccessible to the knowledge of everything that should lie, according to the divine will, beyond the boundaries of the human mind.

And everyone is unrequited... suddenly a young page
Move forward humbly and boldly;
He took off his cap and took off his belt;
Silently lays them on the ground...
Both ladies and knights think, silently:
"Oh! young man, who are you? Where are you going, beautiful?

And he approaches the slope of the cliff
And he looked into the depths...
Waves ran from the belly of the abyss,
Noisy and thundering, into the heights;
And the waves spiraled and the foam boiled:
It was as if a thunderstorm was roaring as it approached.

Like moisture mixing with fire,

A smoking column of foam;
The abyss is rebelling, the abyss is bubbling...
Isn’t it the sea that wants to erupt from the sea?

And he, forestalling the angry tide,
He called upon the Savior God,
And the spectators trembled, all crying out,
The young man has already disappeared into the abyss.
And the abyss mysteriously closed its mouth:
No amount of force can save him.

It has calmed down over the abyss... there is a dull noise in it...
And everyone, take your eyes off
Not daring from the abyss, he sadly repeats:
“Beautiful brave man, forgive me!”
It howls quieter and quieter at the bottom...
And everyone’s heart aches with anticipation.

“At least throw your golden crown there,
Having said: whoever returns the crown,
He will share my throne with him! —
Your throne will not deceive me.
What that silent abyss hides,
No one's living soul can tell here.

Many ships are tossed around by waves,
Its depth swallowed:
All the small ones flew back like chips
From its impregnable bottom..."
But it is heard again in the deep abyss
As if the murmur of a nearby thunderstorm.

And howls, and whistles, and hits, and hisses,
Like moisture mixing with fire,
Wave after wave; and flies to the sky
A smoking column of foam...
And the stream splashed with a deafening roar,
Erupted into the abyss by a gaping mouth.

And he breathed for a long time, and he breathed heavily,
And God's light greeted...
And everyone with fun: “He’s alive!” - repeated. —
There is no more wonderful feat!
From the languid coffin, from the damp abyss
A brave handsome man saved a living soul.”

He went ashore; he is met by a crowd;
He fell at the king's feet;
And he laid gold at his feet;
And the king ordered his daughter:
Give the young man a cube with a stream of grapes;
And that reward was sweet for him.

“Long live the king! Who lives on earth
Have fun with your earthly life!
But it’s scary in the underground mysterious darkness...
And mortals humble themselves before God:
And don’t boldly wish with your thoughts
To know the secrets, it is wise for them to be hidden from us.

I flew there like an arrow...
And suddenly a stream came towards me;
Water flowed from a crack in the stone;
And a terrible whirlwind drew
Me into the depths with an incomprehensible force...
And I was terribly circled and beaten there.

The story seemed wonderful to the king:
“Take my golden cup;
But with it I will also give you a ring,
In which diamond is expensive,
When will you dare to do something again?
And you will retell all the secrets of the seabed to Morskov.”

But the king, not heeding his golden cup
Threw him into the abyss from a height:
“And you will be here, my beloved knight,
When you return with him, you;
And my daughter, now yours before me
The intercessor will be your wife."

The abyss has calmed down... and is making noise again...
And full of foam again...
And with trepidation the princess looks into the abyss...
And wave after wave beats...
The wave comes and goes quickly:
But the young man is not and will not be forever.

Ballad by V. Zhukovsky “Cup”.

Pushkin called him that in his poems - "my balladeer":

Sorry, my balladeer,

Beleva is a peaceful resident!

May Phoebus be with you,

Our longtime patron!

You are happy among the fields

And in a secluded hut.

Like a young nightingale

In the cool of a dark grove...

A.S. Pushkin (Fig. 2)

Rice. 2. A.S. Pushkin ()

Zhukovsky became a balladeer because he was a romantic.

Zhukovsky had a friend - the artist Evgraf Reitern (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Evgraf Reitern ()

Reitern is a fairly major figure in the artistic life of Germany at that time. He was both a friend of Russian artists and poets and a very close friend of Zhukovsky.

Zhukovsky married Reutern's eldest daughter Elizaveta Reutern and after that moved to Germany. His wife's poor health required a calm, measured life.

In Germany, Zhukovsky performs his most ambitious and most important work. He translates the Odyssey, Homer’s famous epic poem, into Russian (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Jean-Baptiste-Auguste Leloir “The Apotheosis of Homer”

Interlinear- interlinear, literal translation of some text.

A person who knows a language takes some work in that language and does not make a literary translation, but gives the meaning of each word in another language.

In Germany, Zhukovsky spent the last 10 years of his life, translating mainly the Odyssey. He died in Germany, but was buried in the capital of Russia, St. Petersburg.

The ballad “Cup” is a free translation of the ballad by Schiller (Fig. 5) (German poet). In the original, this ballad is called “Der Taucher” (translated - diver, diver).

Rice. 5. Friedrich Schiller ()

Free translation - translation of key information without taking into account the formal components of the source text.

Often, ballads under the name of Zhukovsky, especially in children's publications (Fig. 6), are published without indicating the sources.

Rice. 6. A. Koshkin. Illustration for the collection of ballads by V. A. Zhukovsky ()

Stylistics - a set of features that characterize the art of a certain time, direction or individual style of the author.

It was in Zhukovsky’s translations that the branches and flowers of Western romantic poetry were perfectly grafted onto the tree of Russian poetry.

Pushkin considered Zhukovsky the father of modern Russian romantic and democratic poetry. Many followed Zhukovsky along the path of creating ballads and other works of romantic genres.

Rice. 7. Ludwig Beethoven ()

Rice. 8. Johann Goethe ()

Maybe Schiller’s friendship with Goethe even hurt him a little, because Goethe is the German Pushkin, Shakespeare, that is, the “number one” German author. Schiller is also beloved, also revered, but was a little in the shadow of Goethe. He did not live long, unlike the long-lived Goethe.

Schiller wrote not only poetry, ballads and lyric poems, but also prose, philosophical works, and dramas.

Rice. 9. Cover of the book published in 1913 ()

Let's analyze the ballad "Cup", read it, see what is interesting in it, besides the beauty of the verse and the bright decorativeness with which it is distinguished.

Beginning of the ballad:

Rice. 10. Illustration by L. Zusman in a book published in 1936 ()

The construction of the work becomes visible. The reader understands that something dangerous and formidable is coming. Nobody dares. Only after the third challenge does the hero come out (Fig. 11):

“And everyone is unrequited... suddenly a young page
Move forward humbly and boldly;
He took off his cap and took off his belt;
Silently lays them on the ground...
Both ladies and knights think, silently:
"Oh! young man, who are you? Where are you going, beautiful?

Rice. 11. The page accepts the king's challenge ()

It is no coincidence that it is not the knight who accepts the challenge, but the page.

Page - in medieval Western Europe, a boy from a noble family who was in the service (as a personal servant) of a noble person; the first step to knighting.

Rice. 12. Illustration by L. Zusman in a book published in 1936 ()

And howls, and whistles, and hits, and hisses,
Like moisture mixing with fire,
A smoking column of foam;
The abyss is rebelling, the abyss is bubbling...
Isn’t it the sea that wants to erupt from the sea?

The description of the sea element that we see in these stanzas is typical of the poetry of romanticism.

Romanticism - phenomenon of European cultureXVIII- XIXcenturies. It is characterized by an affirmation of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the depiction of strong characters, spiritualized and healing nature.

“And he, forestalling the angry tide,
He called upon the Savior God,
And the spectators trembled, all crying out,
The young man has already disappeared into the abyss.
And the abyss mysteriously closed its mouth:
No force can save him.”

“What that silent abyss hides,
No one’s living soul can tell here.”

This is a warning: don’t go where you shouldn’t, the world has some secrets.

Rice. 13. Illustration by D. Mitrokhin in a book published in 1913 ()

And he breathed for a long time, and he breathed heavily,
And God's light greeted...
And everyone with joy: “He’s alive! - repeated. —
There is no more wonderful feat!
From the languid coffin, from the damp abyss
A handsome, brave man saved a living soul.”

Words "from the dead grave" confirm the judgment that going under water is tantamount to going down to the world of the dead.

We see a beautiful scene of rejoicing. Everything is fine. Here Zhukovsky and Schiller should finish the story, put an end to it. But then it won't be anything special - an ordinary story about a brave man. Interesting, bright, but simple. And this is where the fun begins. What did he see there? How to react to what you saw? How will the king, knights and men-at-arms, the swimmer and another character who will appear soon behave next?

Rice. 14. Illustration by D. Mitrokhin in a book published in 1913 ()

The last lines are the report of a young swimmer about his feat. He did it, but he admits that it was scary, that it was bad, that living on a cheerful, calm land is better than diving into the abyss. He says the same thing that the knights standing on the shore said: and mortal humble himself before God. There is no need to venture into the unknown. He did it, but is it good? Would he have done this of his own free will, without the will of the king?

And everything was vague below me
In the purple dusk there;
Everything fell asleep for hearing in that deaf abyss;
But it seemed scary to my eyes,
How the ugly piles moved in it,
Unspeakable miracles of the sea depths(Fig. 15) .

Rice. 15. Illustration by D. Mitrokhin in a book published in 1913 ()

And then his daughter steps in, acting as an intercessor, and that decides the matter. It only escalates the conflict and gives the page a new reason to jump again:

Rice. 16. Illustration by L. Zusman in a book published in 1936 ()

Rice. 17. Pandora's Box ()

Bibliography

Textbook-khre-sto-ma-tiya for 5th grade, edited by Ko-ro-vi-noy V.Ya. - M. “Pro-lighting”, 2013.
Akhmetzyanov M.G. Textbook-reader “Literature in 5th grade in 2 parts” - Magarif, 2005.
E.A. Samoilova, Zh.I. Kritarova. Literature. 5th grade. Textbook in 2 parts. - M. Association XXI century, 2013.

Zhukovskiy.ouc.ru ().
Method-kopilka.ru ().
Nsportal.ru ().

Homework

Define the concept ballad.
Name the main characters of the ballad “Cup”. What main character traits do they have?
What is the main moral of V.A.’s ballad? Zhukovsky "Cup"?