Loyal people to them. "goodbye, unwashed Russia" as an ideological sabotage

Lermontov is one of my favorite poets. Liberals, scolding Russia, often refer to the poem "Farewell to unwashed Russia", calling the author Lermontov. This is the same, our literary scholars, philologists, linguists, candidates of sciences and academicians assert. V Soviet years it was politics. The poet is a fighter against tsarism. Today it is fashionable to scold Russia, the intelligentsia is enthusiastically engaged in this, taking Lermontov as an ally. I have been doing translations for a long time, trying to use the author's dictionary, therefore, when reading poetry, I pay attention to the style and vocabulary. I was surprised by the "blue uniforms" and "unwashed Russia", which Lermontov did not use anywhere else, an appeal to the people on, you, to " blue uniforms", Personifying the gendarme corps, on, you. Realizing that the author of the poems "Borodino" and "Motherland" could not write that way, I began to collect evidence confirming my doubt. Such were found.
1. No one has seen the handwritten original of the poem. But this has happened before, there were witnesses confirming the authenticity of the verses. The strange thing is that until 1873 nothing was known about these verses. Not only was the text not found, but even the very existence of such verses was not known.
2. Publisher Bartenev accompanied the verses with a note: "Recorded from the words of the poet by a contemporary."
"Recorded from the words of the poet by a contemporary." What is the name and surname of a contemporary? Unknown. When did he write it down? Immediately, as Lermontov recited his poem to him, Or decades later? Pyotr Ivanovich Bartenev was silent about all this.

All evidence that this poem belongs to the pen of Lermontov is based solely on this silence. There is no other evidence of Lermontov's authorship in relation to this poem. Nobody has ever seen Lermontov's manuscript, it was recognized by Bartenev himself with the words: "Recorded from the words of the poet by a contemporary." Here is the first draft of the text:
Goodbye unwashed Russia
And you blue uniforms
And you, obedient people to them.
Perhaps behind the ridge of the Caucasus
I will hide from your c<арей>
From their unseeing eye
From their deaf ears.
Are you surprised? The text clearly falls short of the genius poet. Why goodbye, Russia? The poet was not going abroad in 1841. Goodbye sounds ridiculous.
In the academic 6-volume edition of the Works of Lermontov 1954-1957, in the notes to this poem it is said:
"Goodbye, unwashed Russia ..." (p. 191, 297)
Reprinted from the publication of the Russian Archive (1890, book 3, no. 11, p. 375), which is the most likely edition. The text is accompanied by a note: "Recorded from the words of the poet by a contemporary." There is a copy of IRLI (op. 2, no. 52 in a letter from PI Bartenev to PA Efremov dated March 9, 1873), the text of which is given in a footnote. Sending the poem to Efremov, Bartenev wrote: "Here are some more Lermontov's poems copied from the original." However, this message cannot be considered reliable, since the poem was published by the same Bartenev in the Russian Archive in a different edition (see text). "

There were actually two letters. About the second letter (to Putyata), found in 1955, the academic publishers, who published their first volume in 1954, did not have time to find out. Can you imagine how they would have had to twist to explain the words of Bartenev from the second letter, in which he sets out another version of the poem "from the original hand of Lermontov"?
Apparently, the proud spirit of Lermontov could not come to terms with the shortcomings of the text, so he decided to edit the verse. Here's a new variation:

Goodbye unwashed Russia
Land of slaves, land of masters
And you blue uniforms
And you, their loyal people.

I will hide from your pasha
From their unseeing eye
From their all-hearing ears. "
Agree, the text has become better. The rhyme of kings - ears no longer hurts the ear. The obedient people became devotees. Deaf ears have become all-hearing. But it’s not over yet. A third option appears:

Goodbye unwashed Russia
A land of slaves, a land of masters.
And you blue uniforms
And you, their loyal people.
Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I will hide among the pashas,
From their all-seeing eye
From their all-hearing ears ...
Agree dramatic changes. The people became devotees. A devotee is no longer just obedient. Obedient, submissive can be due to the fear of punishment. But in this version the people are loyal. Faithful earnestly, infinitely.
Does “unwashed Russia” also strike you? Lermontov knew very well that the Russian peasant washes in the bath more often than the French count, who hides his stench with perfume. How could a poet who wrote:
With joy, unfamiliar to many,
I see a complete threshing floor.
Hut covered with straw,
Window with carved shutters;
And on a holiday, dewy evening,
Watch until midnight ready
To the dance with stamping and whistling
Under the talk of drunken peasants.
to say so contemptuously about Russia?

The lines are permeated with warmth, love for the people and their lives. I don’t believe that after this one can write a contemptuous one - “unwashed Russia”. To do this, you need to be a hardened cynic and a hypocrite. Even the enemies did not say that about Lermontov. In the Caucasus, he said Baron L, V, Rossillon:
"Gathered a bunch of dirty thugs .... He wore a red canaus shirt that never seemed to wash." He ate with the command from one pot, slept on the bare ground. Setting out on such a life to say “unwashed Russia? It is not logical, it does not climb into any gate.

No one had heard of poetry, and suddenly, in 1873 and later, not one list appears at once, but several variants in succession. These variants are undergoing changes ("kings - leaders - pasha" - in search of rhyme to "ears"). That is, new, more successful words appear, replacing "kings" with a more folding rhyme. The meaning of the last two lines changes polarly by replacing the words "unseeing - deaf" with their opposite. Moreover, the new version gives the poems a new meaning, emotionally and logically much more successful.
It turns out that in the seventies, the poems "Farewell, unwashed Russia" are not simply modified. They change towards clear improvement. There are all the signs that these verses were not found at all in the seventies, but they were created at this time.
The process of creating a poem takes place. A process that left evidence of the author's search for a more successful form of his work. As different options of this verse.

The people in those years were primarily about the serf peasantry. The blue uniforms are the gendarme corps. The assertion that the people are "obedient", "subdued" or, even more so, "devoted" to a separate corps of gendarmes is an absurdity. Ridiculousness, due to the elementary absence common points contact between the people and the gendarmes.
Yes. The people could be obedient, could be subdued. But to whom?
Of course, to his master - the master. This means that all contacts of the serf peasant with outside world... But this is at the very top. Every day, these were people chosen by the master. Managers, bailiffs, headmen. However, these connections were closed with the peasant, I repeat, all the same with his master. "Here comes the master, the master will judge us ..."
The serf peasant could not only never see a single "blue uniform" in his entire life. He might not even be aware of his existence.
No gendarme could punish or pardon him. Only his own master could punish or have mercy. Unlike any gendarme rank, who had no such rights. Any claims of the gendarmes against any peasant could only be addressed to his owner, since the serf was not a legally independent person. Its owner was responsible for his behavior. That is why he was given the right and power to punish or pardon. With blue uniforms, in my opinion, it is clear. The people not only were not devoted to them, but for the most part did not even know about them.

It is logical, finally, to pose the question: Prove that the author of the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia" is Lermontov. Please provide at least one piece of evidence. Even the weakest.

Summarize. Throughout the seventies, the poems "Goodbye, unwashed Russia" appear in several versions. The editing took place in front of contemporaries.
The change also affected the clarification of the degree of servility of the peasants in relation to the gendarmes. Note:
In a letter from Bartenev to Efremov, "a people obedient to them" appears in verse. In Bartenev's letter to Putyata, we already see "the people obedient to them." This is the seventies. And then, all of a sudden, a variant appears that sharply increases the degree of groveling - "a people devoted to them."
Why? Let's remember the history. In the spring of 1874, a mass movement began among progressively minded youth - "going to the people". This movement continued until 1877. The greatest scope falls in the spring-autumn of 1874. Soon, mass arrests of participants in this action began.

PA Kropotkin wrote in October 1874 to PL Lavrov: “Listening to the names of cities and towns in which they are grabbed, I am simply amazed. Literally: you need to know the geography of Russia in order to understand how great the mass of arrests is”.
The reason for such an effective work of the Separate Gendarme Corps was simple. It was the peasants who played the main role in exposing the activities of the revolutionary agitators in the countryside. The gendarmes got involved when the men brought in a propagandist they bound. This reaction of the countryside to the attempts of its political enlightenment offended the progressive circles of Russian society. Then in the first publication of the aforementioned poem in 1887, instead of the "obedient (obedient) people", the line appears:
And you, their loyal people.

Here you can feel the indignation of some revolutionary who went to the people to enlighten and call. To his surprise and indignation, it was not blue uniforms that tied him, but ungrateful peasants. Perhaps the correction was the reaction of one of his sympathetic writers.
The speech in a poem about the desire to hide behind the "wall of the Caucasus" while Lermontov went to serve in the North Caucasus, that is, strictly speaking, before reaching its wall. Finally, the main thing is that this contradicts the entire system of views of Lermontov, who was becoming more and more entrenched in his Russophilia, who writes (the autograph in Vl. F. Odoevsky's album has been preserved):
"Russia has no past: it is all in the present and the future. A fairy tale tells: Eruslan Lazarevich sat in the seat for 20 years and slept soundly, but at the age of 21 he woke up from a heavy sleep - he got up and went ... and he met 37 kings and 70 heroes and defeated them and sat down to reign over them ... Such is Russia ... "Now, I hope everyone agrees that the author of these verses is not Lermontov?
In 2005, an article was published by the candidate of philosophical sciences from Nizhny Novgorod AA Kutyreva, who convincingly proved the true authorship. Kutyreva writes: “Literary scholars, who value their reputation, usually stipulate the absence of an autograph and never attribute a work to the author without at least lifetime copies. But not in this case! Both publications - PA Viskovatov, and then PI I. Bartenev, although they were not once convicted of dishonesty, were accepted without hesitation and further disputes were only about discrepancies.And here a controversy unfolded, which has not subsided until now.However, the arguments of opponents of Lermontov's authorship in this dispute were not seriously taken into account. The poem became canonical and is included in school textbooks as a masterpiece of the great poet's political lyrics.
It is because of the first line that the poem has become popular, and for some it is now over-topical.

Today, everyone who speaks and writes about Russia scornfully, with a mockery, complete rejection of its social, both pre-revolutionary and revolutionary systems, will certainly cite the famous line, taking it as their allies and referring to the authority of the great national poet. This is symptomatic. A stronger literary argument for denigrating Russia than a reference to its national poetic genius is hard to come up with. "
“Before naming the author's name, let's pay attention to several features of the mentioned poem. First of all, the adjective "unwashed". Let's turn to Lermontov's older brother. In his essay "A Journey from Moscow to St. Petersburg" (the title was given in polemics with the essay of the liberal Alexander Radishchev "A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow"), Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin cites the following dialogue between the author and an Englishman:
"I. What struck you most of all in the Russian peasant?
He. His neatness, intelligence and freedom.
I. How is it?
He. Your peasant goes to the bathhouse every Saturday; she washes her face every morning, moreover, she washes her hands several times a day. There is nothing to say about his cleverness. Travelers travel from region to region across Russia, not knowing a single word of your language, and everywhere they are understood, they fulfill their requirements, conclude conditions; I have never met between them what our neighbors call un badoud, I have never noticed in them either coarse surprise or ignorant contempt for a stranger. Everyone knows their susceptibility; agility and dexterity are amazing ...
I. Fairly; but freedom? Do you really regard the Russian peasant as free?
He. Look at him: what could be freer than his circulation! Is there even a shadow of slavish humiliation in his gait and speech? You have not been to England? "For Lermontov, Pushkin was an authority. In addition, he is the author of the poem" The Death of a Poet "and" Homeland ", a man of his time, a Russian nobleman and an officer, so he could not say that about Russia.

Who could? A person of a different historical time and origin. Kutyreva reports that this poem "rather parodies Pushkin's lines" Farewell, free element! " who discovered the gift of the poet-satirist Dmitry Dmitrievich Minaev.

It was in the post-reform era that it became fashionable among the intelligentsia and semi-educated people to scold not only the government, but also Russia. By the end of the reign of Nicholas I, it came to idiocy and savagery - educated people wanted us to be beaten in Sevastopol and Crimean war! And when this, unfortunately, happened, only the enemies of Russia were the winners. The children of priests and officials hated not only their class, their environment, their government, but the entire Russian people. This bacillus infected the Bolsheviks, who also wanted defeat in the war with Japan and Germany. Their heirs introduced a disgusting rhyme, attributing it to Lermontov, into school anthologies, so that the pernicious smell would spread to subsequent generations. We hope that the truth will be restored not only in the works of literary critics, but also in school textbooks... This is much more important. " I completely agree with Kutyryova.

At a meeting with teachers - winners of the Teacher of the Year of Russia 2016 competition, Vladimir Putin read the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia!"

Among other things, there was a conversation about Lermontov and Putin began to read his poems.

Goodbye unwashed Russia
Land of slaves, land of masters
And you blue uniforms
And you, their loyal people.

Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I will hide from your pasha
From their all-seeing eye
From their all-hearing ears.

What should you remember when you hear this poem? It appeared for the first time in a letter from the famous publisher, archaeographer and bibliographer, Peter Ivanovich Bartenev, to the literary critic Peter Alexandrovich Efremov dated March 9, 1873. That is, 32 years after the death of Lermontov. Bartenev wrote: "Here are Lermontov's poems copied from the original." In 1890, publishing the poem in his journal "Russian Archive", Bartenev placed a postscript: "Recorded from the words of the poet by a contemporary." That is, the poem is either "copied from the original", then written down from someone else's words. Marvelous. Surprising and suspicious.

However, the first to PRINT the poem was Pavel Aleksandrovich Viskovatov in the 12th issue of the historical monthly "Russian antiquity" in 1887. 46 years after the death of Lermontov. Also, without indicating the source and circumstances of obtaining this text. By the way, this is the same Viskovatov, about whom Dostoevsky wrote: "a Russian who lives abroad permanently," and travels to Russia "every year for three weeks to receive income and returns again to Germany, where he has a wife and children."
Well, finally, already in Soviet time in 1955, a letter from the same Bartenev to the amateur historian Nikolai Vasilyevich Putyata was published, with a postscript: "from the original hand of Lermontov."

It's funny that in all three cases there are discrepancies. Then instead of the "devoted people" - "obedient to them people." Then instead of "I will hide from your pasha" - "I will hide from your kings." Then instead of "I will hide from your kings" - "I will hide from your leaders." The people are sometimes "obedient", sometimes "submissive", sometimes "betrayed." How Lermontov, having been dead for a long time, could amend his poem for decades is unclear.
Neither the original of the poem, nor the mysterious "contemporary", to whose memory Bartenev referred, are still unknown to literary scholars.

Although, of course, the Lermontov archive is not at all perfect and about a hundred originals of his poems are still unknown. For example, the autograph of a part of the poem "Death of a Poet" has been lost. The last one is quite sharp 16 lines. But: there is a large number of lists - 23, and 7 of them refer to 1837; the memoirs of Lermontov's friend - Raevsky - about how the poem was created, and other evidence are known. This is how authorship is established.

Well, it should be added that the lack of confidence in literary critics in Bartenev is caused, among other things, by the fact that before the "discovery" of "unwashed Russia" he had already twice (!) Been convicted of trying to pass off unknown verses as Lermontov's. What sensational discoveries you can make for the sake of increasing the number of subscribers to your magazine! It's almost like catching Pokemon in a church.

It is also strange that after the first publication in 1887 there was no reaction to the poem from the reading public. There was no discussion, no controversy in the press. Maybe the audience just knew who these lines belonged to?
According to the most common version, the author of the falsification was the poet-parodist Dmitry Minaev, who was well known to Bartenev. Russian poet-satirist, journalist, translator, critic, "extreme liberal and nihilist", an ardent antipatriot. One of the favorite themes of his works is the theme of the "backwardness" of Russia.

Minaev parodied Pushkin, Nekrasov, Ostrovsky, Fet, Tyutchev, Turgenev, Benediktov ... All. Among others, Minaev parodied Lermontov. In one of his parodies with the title "Demon" he just used the metaphor about "blue uniforms". Which is not found anywhere in Lermontov himself.

The demon is racing.
No interference
He does not see on the night air
On his blue uniform
Stars of all ranks sparkle ...

Lermontov Minaev parodied repeatedly. Here, for example, is a caustic parody of Lermontov's prophetic tragic poem "Dream". Written shortly before his death.

Lermontov:
V midday fever, in the valley of Dagestan,
Lead in my chest I lay motionless.
A deep wound was still smoking,
Drop by drop my blood was grinded ...

Minaev:
In the midday heat at Bezborodko's dacha
I lay motionless with the Russian Conversation.
It was a burning noon, the air was flowing meekly,
Lulling me ...

Russkaya Beseda was a patriotic magazine of that time.

It is also important to note that Unwashed Russia is primarily a parody of Pushkin.

TO THE SEA
Goodbye free element!
V last time in front of me
You roll blue waves
And you shine with proud beauty.

It is difficult to imagine that Lermontov, who idolized Pushkin, could take the lines of his beloved poet as the basis for a vulgar Russophobic parody.

Well, and a few words about the actual content of the poem. Particularly surprising are the lines about the people devoted to blue uniforms. The people in those years were primarily the serf peasantry. The blue uniforms are the gendarme corps. Political police of the Russian Empire. It was created by decree of Nicholas I after the uprising of the Decembrists.

The assertion that the people are "obedient", "subdued" or, even more so, "devoted" to a separate corps of gendarmes is nonsense. The people were devoted and subdued to the master, the landowner. And most likely he knew nothing about the existence of blue uniforms. And to engage in blue uniforms spying on the peasants is somehow strange. Any claims and questions of the gendarmes could only be addressed to the owner of the peasant, since it was he who was responsible for him. The peasant himself was simply not an independently responsible subject.

During the Soviet era, Lermontov had to be shown as a fierce fighter against autocracy. Every schoolchild has been cramming these verses almost from the first grade.
Well, today the words "unwashed Russia, the land of slaves, the land of masters" have become a powerful ideological cliché that almost everyone knows. For some reason, we still really need our citizens from an early age to consider the Motherland "unwashed" and wretched.
The fact that this poem is a literary forgery has been repeatedly pointed out by the authors of Literaturnaya Rossiya, director of the Pushkin House, respected scientist, academician and doctor of philological sciences Nikolai Skatov, Soviet writer Vladimir Bushin, literary critic Mikhail Elzon and Candidate of Philosophy Alexander Kutyreva.

It is a pity that at a meeting with Putin, none of the teachers dared to inform the president that Mikhail Lermontov, an ardent Russian patriot, an officer, not only did not write, but could not write such a foul poem. Surely they know.

Goodbye unwashed Russia
A land of slaves, a land of masters.
And you blue uniforms
And you, their loyal people.
Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I will hide from your pasha
From their all-seeing eye
From their all-hearing ears.

The poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..." Lermontov wrote in the last year of his untimely interrupted life. At the very time of the heyday of literary talent.

These simple eight lines are almost the most recognizable passage among the rich literary heritage of the poet. And it's not even a matter of any special sense, beauty or perfection of the poem's syllable. It's just that these lines have been mandatory for decades. school curriculum and memorized by each new generation of students.

What did the poet want to say with this eight-line? What circumstances prompted him to write the verse "Goodbye, unwashed Russia ..."? How deep is the meaning hidden in a few, at first glance, simple lines?

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

It is almost impossible to correctly understand any work if viewed outside the context of the historical background. This statement is especially applicable to poetry. After all, a voluminous work such as a novel or a story allows us to draw this very background, which affects our perception, and a short verse most often serves as a kind of manifestation of emotions caused by the environment and needs explanation.

The poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..." (Lermontov), ​​the analysis of which will be carried out, dates back to 1841. At this time, the half-century war in the Caucasus was in full swing. Russia sought to annex these mountainous territories and strengthen the border, and the freedom-loving mountaineers tried with all their might to preserve their freedom.

At that time, the transfer of a soldier or officer to units operating in the Caucasus was synonymous with exile with a one-way ticket. Especially if the person was followed by a corresponding order, which encouraged the use of the above brave man in the hottest spots of battles.

photo: istpravda.ru

PERSONALITY OF THE WRITER

By 1841, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was already 26 years old (he did not live to see his birthday this year). He had already gained fame as a poet, but as a person in society he was not loved. And this attitude, it must be admitted, was well deserved. The writer deliberately tried to gain a reputation as a joker and a rake. Moreover, his jokes were more caustic and impudent than good-natured. Lermontov's poems and his personal qualities as a noisy frequenter of secular salons were so strikingly inconsistent with each other that most readers considered the experiences reflected in poetry to be a sheer game of rich imagination. Only nice words that do not have the closest relation to him.

However, according to the testimony of his few friends, Mikhail put on the mask in public, and on the paper he poured out the secret songs of the soul that had suffered from the callousness of the world around him.

But no one doubted that the one who wrote "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..." was a real patriot. Love for the Motherland was expressed not only in lofty rhymes, but also in military deeds. When the time came to participate in hostilities, Mikhail Yuryevich did not disgrace the honor of his ancient noble family. In fairness, it should be noted that a military career did not appeal to Mikhail at all. He even tried to resign in order to be able to engage in literary activities without distractions, but did not dare to disappoint his grandmother who raised him, who dreamed of seeing her only grandson as a successful military man.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE

In 1837 Lermontov was convicted for the poem "Death of a Poet" and sent to the first exile in the Caucasus. Thanks to the petition of the grandmother Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, who had connections at the court, he did not stay there for long - only a few months. And this stay was for the poet a treasure trove of pleasant impressions rather than a real danger.

At the beginning of 1840, Lermontov got involved in a duel, for which he was sentenced to a second exile in the war zone. This time, the order was accompanied by the order of the emperor on the need to constantly involve the convict in the first line of the offensive.

In connection with these events, the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..." was written. Lermontov expressed in it his attitude to the then existing order. He throws daring remarks, in which there is an inexpressible bitterness from the fact that arbitrariness is happening in his beloved Fatherland, and the whole people servilely maintains the established order.

This poem, without a doubt, was written impromptu, in one fell swoop. In it, the author threw out all his indignation and desire to leave behind the pain of the injustice. He expresses the hope to find peace far from the Motherland, in the vast expanses of the Caucasus.

Lermontov was not only a talented poet, but also a gifted artist. Many sketches were made by Lermontov during his exile to the Caucasus in 1837. Among them there is a wonderful landscape of Krestovaya mountain

Literally every phrase in these two verses contains a serious semantic load. It is worth taking a little time to understand the significance of the images used by Lermontov for people who lived at the end of the turbulent 19th century. Only in this case, the strength and beauty contained in the eight verses in question will appear before you in all its splendor.

"GOODBYE"

The word "goodbye" does not raise any special questions at first. The author goes to the war zone, and such an appeal is quite appropriate here. However, even in this, at first glance, completely obvious and indisputable concept, there is something more. In fact, the poet seeks to say goodbye not to his beloved Motherland, but to the existing social order that is unacceptable to him.

This is a gesture almost bordering on despair. The feeling of indignation seething in the poet's chest spills out with a short "Farewell!" Even if he is defeated by the system, he is not broken in spirit.

"UNWASHED RUSSIA"

The first and completely legitimate question that arises for everyone who is even a little familiar with the work of Mikhail Yuryevich is the following: why does the poet use the phrase "unwashed Russia"? Lermontov does not mean here the physical impurity of his fellow citizens.

At first, Lermontov's poems testify that it was simply unthinkable for him to humiliate ordinary Russian people. Love and respect for them permeates all of his work. The poet boldly challenges the way of life of the nobility, but he absorbs the life of ordinary peasants as organically as the harsh beauty of Russian nature.

And secondly, historically, it so happened that from time immemorial in Russia, the maintenance of cleanliness was held in high esteem. Baths existed in the poorest villages, and the peasants bathed there at least once a week. The same cannot be said about "enlightened" Europe, where sophisticated noble ladies took a bath - at best - two or three times a year. And their gentlemen used gallons of perfume and cologne in order to kill the stench of an unwashed body.

So, with the expression "goodbye, unwashed Russia" Lermontov, whose verse, according to the customs of that time, was supposed to be scattered throughout the noble salons, even without being published, simply wanted to express his disregard for the state structure. It was an insulting remark, which, by the way, could only offend a Russian at that time.

"LAND OF SLAVES"

Even a superficial analysis of the poem "Farewell, Unwashed Russia ..." does not give grounds to believe that by the word "slaves" the author somehow means serfs. No, here he points to the slavish obedience of the upper class. In fact, the powerlessness of each of them in the face of the mighty of the world this.

"LAND OF THE LORD"

The word "gentlemen" here carries a clear negative connotation. It is akin to the concept of "tyrants" - those who commit reprisals solely at their own discretion. The dissatisfaction of the young poet is understandable. After all, the duel for which he was convicted was just childish. When Lermontov's opponent, who was the initiator of the duel, missed by shooting, Mikhail simply unloaded his pistol with a shot to the side - he was not going to harm Ernest de Barant, who called him.

duel between Lermontov and De Barant

However, it was Mikhail who had to be punished, because Ernest de Barant was a son French ambassador, and his participation in the unseemly incident was simply hushed up. Perhaps that is why the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ...", the history of the creation of which is closely connected with a not entirely fair trial, is saturated with such bitterness.

"AND YOU, BLUE UNITS ..."

Blue uniforms in Russian Empire were worn by representatives of the gendarmerie, who were not particularly popular either among the common people or among the military. And the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..." does not depict them at all as a force that maintains order, but as accomplices of the existing tsarist arbitrariness.

"AND YOU, THEIR DEVOTED PEOPLE"

People loyal to the security department? Yes, it never happened! Here Lermontov speaks not so much about the people as about people, but about state structure generally. The author believes that Russia has lagged well behind the neighboring powers in Europe in terms of the development of the state apparatus. And this situation is possible only because the people as a whole resignedly support the existing order.

"IT MAY BE HIDDEN BEYOND THE WALL OF THE CAUCASUS"

The desire to hide from anything in a war zone may not seem entirely logical. However, for Lermontov, the Caucasus was a truly special place. He first visited it when he was still a little boy, and he carried vivid impressions of this period throughout his life.

During his first exile, Mikhail traveled more than fought. He admired the majestic nature and felt very comfortable away from secular squabbles. Keeping these circumstances in mind, it is easier to understand the poet's desire to hide in the Caucasus.

"... FROM YOUR PASHA"

But the word "pasha" looks somewhat incongruous when applied to the representatives of power in the Russian Empire. Why Lermontov uses the title of military leaders Ottoman Empire to describe the Russian gendarmes?

Some editions put the word "kings" or even "leaders" in this place. However, it is difficult to agree that it was these options that were initially used by Lermontov. "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..." - a verse in which the author opposes the specific existing order, in which the tsar played a key role. But there can be only one king, like a leader, in a country. Use similar titles in plural in this case it would be simply illiterate.

To contemporaries of Mikhail Yuryevich, such a phrase would definitely cut the ear. Imagine that in the news an announcer says something like: "And today the presidents of our country ...". This is roughly how the phrase “hide from the kings” would have sounded to readers in the 19th century.

Throughout history, the Turks have been irreconcilable enemies for the Russian people. And until now, identification with this nationality is used for offensive nicknames. The verse "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..." was written at a time when Turkey for the Russian society was firmly associated with a tough despotic state. Therefore, representatives of the top of the gendarmes were sometimes called pashas to emphasize the attitude of the common people towards them. Apparently, it was this meaning that the great Russian poet put into his poem.

"ALL-SEEING" AND "ALL-HEARING"

The ill-fated duel between Mikhail Lermontov and Ernest de Barant was, of course, exclusively private. A quarrel between young people took place in the house of a certain Countess of Laval, who was giving a ball. The duel itself took place two days later according to all unwritten rules - in a secluded place and in the presence of seconds on both sides.

Despite the fact that this skirmish did not have any unpleasant consequences, less than three weeks had passed since Lermontov was taken into custody. He was charged with the article on "failure to report." Neither the seconds nor his opponent were called to account.

The reason for the beginning of the investigation was not some specific denunciation by one of the direct participants, but rumors of a duel that spread among the young officers. Therefore, the poet uses the epithets "all-seeing" and "all-hearing", characterizing the work of the security department.

However, some editions of the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..." give a diametrically opposite reading of the last two lines. In them, the author complains about “the eyes not seeing” and “ears not hearing”, speaking about the blindness and partiality of the legal proceedings.

Well, this theory has a right to exist. However, where does so much variation come from? In the end, Lermontov's poems are not works of a thousand years ago, which archaeologists have to restore bit by bit. And at the time of writing this poem, the author was already famous enough that his creation scattered among the intelligentsia in the blink of an eye, thereby leaving a trail of tens and hundreds of copies. Such discrepancies made many doubt even that this verse was written by Lermontov at all. "Goodbye, unwashed Russia ..." has come under crushing criticism.

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The main argument made by those who doubt that the author of this poem is Mikhail Lermontov, - this is the time of publication of the work. Almost half a century has passed since the poet's death - 46 years. And the earliest copy of the manuscript copies that have survived to this day dates back to the early 70s of the last century. And this implies a gap of three decades between the writing of the original and the copy.

Not a single sketch or draft, made by the hand of Mikhail Yuryevich himself, also exists. True, Bartnev (the historian who revealed a previously unknown poem) in a letter of a personal nature refers to the existence of the original, written with the pen of Lermontov, however, besides him, no one has ever seen this document.

Even more bewilderment among literary critics is caused by the very nature of the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ...". An analysis of the author's attitude to the country he is leaving leaves no doubt not only of disappointment, but even, in some way, of disdain for the Motherland, which Lermontov had never shown before.

But, somewhat besieging fans of spectacular revelations, it is worth noting that his famous "Farewell!" Lermontov throws not at all to the Motherland, but to the imperfect state apparatus. And all the literary critics and biographers of the poet agree with this.

Another argument used by critics is comparative analysis two verses: "Homeland" and "Goodbye, unwashed Russia ...". They were supposedly written several months apart. However, one is imbued with reverence for the Fatherland, and the second is full of epithets that are unflattering for the same Motherland.

Could the poet's mood have changed so dramatically? Is not it so? Notes of bitterness of loneliness are inherent in most of Lermontov's works. We find them, simply expressed more expressively, in the verse "Farewell, unwashed Russia ...". There is no disregard for the native land, which critics are stubbornly trying to point out. There is pain here that the poet would like to see his country prosperous and progressive, but he has to come to terms with the fact that these aspirations are being stifled by the existing regime.

But, in the end, everyone decides for himself personally what to believe in. There are enough arguments both from one side and from the other. And whoever the author of this poem really is, it is firmly rooted in Russian literature and can definitely tell a lot about the situation reigning in the middle of the 19th century.

And for fans of the work of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, there are enough works, the author of which, undoubtedly, is the poet. By the way, the one who was called Pushkin's successor during his lifetime! His literary heritage, no doubt, can be compared with the placers of precious stones in the treasury of Russian literature.

Goodbye unwashed Russia
Land of slaves, land of masters
And you blue uniforms
And you, their loyal people.

Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I will hide from your pasha
From their all-seeing eye
From their all-hearing ears.

Analysis of Lermontov's poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ..."

In the work of Mikhail Lermontov there are many controversial works that were created under the influence of a momentary impulse or emotional experiences. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the poet was a rather unbalanced, quick-tempered and touchy person who could start a quarrel over any trifle and reacted very painfully to how others treated him. One of such works, which reflects, first of all, the moral state of the author and deliberately presents the world in gloomy tones, is the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia ...". It was created in the winter of 1841 in St. Petersburg, on the eve of the poet's departure to the Caucasus. Lermontov spent more than a month in the northern Russian capital, hoping to retire and put a bold cross on military career that weighed him down. However, at the insistence of his grandmother, he was forced to abandon this idea. Social events did not seduce the poet, arousing in him an acute feeling of irritation, he did not want to return to the service either. In addition, hoping to devote his life to literature, Lermontov realized that because of his harsh and accusatory verses he was in disgrace, and the doors of many noble houses were already closed to him.

Being in such a bad mood, the poet saw the world exclusively in black tones. And if lyrics are present in his early work, then poetry last year difficult to categorize as romantic. "Goodbye, Unwashed Russia" - a work that turns the whole inside out of the country... Its first line is very capacious and accurate, characterizing not only the social order, but also the way of thinking of people, "unwashed", primitive and devoid of grace. In addition, the symbol of Russia for the poet is the "blue uniforms" in which the guards of law and order, who suppressed the uprising of the Decembrists, sported, as well as the "devoted people", who do not even think that it is possible to live in a completely different way.

“Perhaps, behind the wall of the Caucasus, I will hide from your pasha,” writes Mikhail Lermontov, making it clear that he is tired of constant censorship and the inability to openly express his views. At the same time, the poet is not only oppressed by the duality of his position, but also frightened by the prospect of repeating the fate of those who have already been sent to hard labor. Therefore, the next appointment to the Caucasus seems to Lermontov the best way out of the situation, although he perceives the next round in the army service as a voluntary hard labor... Nevertheless, the author expresses the hope that this trip will help him hide from the “all-seeing eye” and “all-seeing ears” of the tsarist secret police, which closely follows the poet's every step.

Being by nature a rather freedom-loving and wayward person, Lermontov, nevertheless, suppresses in himself the desire to openly oppose the existing regime. He still remembers the attacks and humiliations that Pushkin suffered shortly before his death. To be publicly ridiculed for Lermontov is tantamount to suicide, and staying in the Caucasus, in his opinion, will allow to calm down the unrest that invariably caused the poet's poems, which occasionally appear in print.

However, Lermontov hardly imagined that he was saying goodbye to Russia forever. Although there is an opinion that the poet not only had a presentiment of his death, but also strove for death. Nevertheless, the country, which the author loved so much and admired its heroic past, remained in the poet's creative heritage just like that - unwashed, rough, cruel, enslaved and turned into one huge prison for strong-willed and free people, to whom Lermontov undoubtedly included himself.

Goodbye unwashed Russia
Land of slaves, land of masters
And you blue uniforms
And you, their loyal people.

Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I will hide from your pasha
From their all-seeing eye
From their all-hearing ears.

Analysis of the poem "Goodbye, unwashed Russia" by Lermontov

Lermontov often expressed sharp social and political views in his works. One of the strongest in this regard is the poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia." It was created by the poet in 1840, on the eve of his trip to the Caucasus. Many see in him Lermontov's foresight of his death, since the farewell to the homeland was the last.

Russia's ill-wishers often pose this work as an example of harsh criticism of his country by one of its best representatives. One can admit the validity of this opinion. But do not forget that only a person of this magnitude has every right to make such statements. Lermontov deeply loved Russia, he perfectly understood and felt all its shortcomings, the main of which he considered the political system. It is also necessary to take into account the time of creation of the work. Towards the end of his life, the poet experienced a feeling of bitter disappointment in his life. The death of Pushkin, the persecution for, the rejection of society - all this had a depressing effect on the author.

Lermontov despised high society and did not want to continue military service... His dream was to surrender completely literary activity... But the rigid framework of censorship here also limited the poet's freedom. The result was a severe spiritual crisis. In this state, the sharply negative poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia" was written.

The first stanza is full of caustic remarks. "Unwashed Russia" symbolizes the dullness and darkness of the overwhelming mass of the population. The country is clearly divided into two main classes: "slaves" and "masters". Arts and sciences, great achievements and victory are just an external cosmetic coating. It is based on the power of the "blue uniforms" over " obedient people". Lermontov is not particularly enthusiastic about the trip to the Caucasus. He sees it as just an attempt to get rid of the "all-seeing eye" and "all-hearing ears." In these figurative expressions, Lermontov described the atmosphere of total control and surveillance that pervades the entire Russian society.

“Farewell, unwashed Russia” is a merciless assessment of Russian reality in the mid-19th century. In many ways, it is caused by the poet's fatigue and irritation, but is based on love for his Motherland and the desire for her good and happiness. It is sad that a person, guided in his life only by the best intentions, was forced to say goodbye to his homeland in this way.