We don’t carry them on our chests in our treasured amulet,
We don’t write poems about her sobbingly,
She doesn't wake up our bitter dreams,
Doesn't seem like the promised paradise.
We don’t do it in our souls
Subject of purchase and sale,
Sick, in poverty, speechless on her,
We don't even remember her.
Yes, for us it’s dirt on our galoshes,
Yes, for us it's a crunch in the teeth.
And we grind, and knead, and crumble
Those unmixed ashes.
But we lie down in it and become it,
That's why we call it so freely - ours.

Analysis of the poem “Native Land” by Akhmatova

IN last years life in Akhmatova’s work, themes of deep philosophical analysis of her own fate appear, which was very difficult. The poetess belonged to the old world, swept away by Soviet power. She had a sharply negative attitude towards the revolution, but even anticipating future suffering, she did not want to leave Russia. Loyalty to the Motherland resulted in the execution of her husband and the exile of her beloved son. Akhmatova’s creativity was not recognized; she constantly felt the close attention of punitive authorities. All these troubles did not shake the boundless patriotism of the poetess. During the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War Akhmatova’s works reappear in print and are extremely popular. For the next anniversary of the beginning of the most terrible test in the history of the country, the poetess wrote a poem “ Motherland"(1961), in which she gave her explanation of patriotism.

Akhmatova made the final lines from her own poem “I am not with those who abandoned the earth...” as the epigraph to the work. Forty years later, the poetess continues the theme she started a long time ago. She means people for whom the political regime has no importance in front of the main value - their native land. Such people could not leave the country, even if they hated the Soviet system. They neglected their own well-being and lives for the sake of their land. Their patriotism is devoid of pathos and heroism. Such people do not strive to publicly declare their feelings, counting on approval (“we don’t write poems while weeping”).

Akhmatova hints at those false patriots who are abundant both abroad and in the Soviet Union. Their enthusiastic declarations of love for the Motherland are based only on material gain. Russia became for them “an object of purchase and sale.” It just so happens that the most terrible disasters reveal the true essence of people. During the Great Patriotic War, many opponents of Soviet power abandoned their beliefs and expressed full support for the Russian people. A large number of people returned to Russia to join the ranks of its fighters. By their example, they confirmed Akhmatova’s thoughts about true patriots.

For the poetess, the Motherland is the Russian land itself in literally(“dirt on galoshes”, “crunch on teeth”). Only by truly experiencing how precious this land can be can you consider it yours. Akhmatova believes that a Russian person should die on his native land. Thus, he becomes part of it, and even after death joins the Motherland.

Akhmatova’s tragic fate allows her to rightfully call the Russian land her own. Her life is an example of true patriotism, which deserves great respect.

Analysis of the poem

1. The history of the creation of the work.

2. Characteristics of a work of the lyrical genre (type of lyrics, artistic method, genre).

3. Analysis of the content of the work (analysis of the plot, characteristics of the lyrical hero, motives and tonality).

4. Features of the composition of the work.

5. Analysis of means of artistic expression and versification (presence of tropes and stylistic figures, rhythm, meter, rhyme, stanza).

6. The meaning of the poem for the poet’s entire work.

The poem “Native Land” was written by A.A. Akhmatova in 1961. It was included in the collection “A Wreath for the Dead.” The work belongs to civil poetry. Its main theme is the poet’s feeling of the Motherland. The epigraph to it was lines from the poem “I am not with those who abandoned the earth...”: “And in the world there are no people more tearless, More arrogant and simpler than us.” This poem was written in 1922. About forty years passed between the writing of these two works. Much has changed in Akhmatova’s life. She survived terrible tragedy– her ex-husband, Nikolai Gumilyov, was accused of counter-revolutionary activities and executed in 1921. Son Lev was arrested and convicted several times. Akhmatova survived the war, famine, illness, and the siege of Leningrad. It was no longer published in the mid-twenties. However, difficult trials and losses did not break the spirit of the poetess.

Her thoughts are still turned to the Motherland. Akhmatova writes about this uncomplicatedly, sparingly, sincerely. The poem begins with a denial of the pathos of patriotic feeling. The lyrical heroine’s love for the Motherland is devoid of external expressiveness, it is quiet and simple:

We don’t carry them on our chests in our treasured amulet,
We don’t write poems about her sobbingly,
She doesn't wake up our bitter dreams,
Doesn't seem like the promised paradise.
We don’t do it in our souls
Subject of purchase and sale,
Sick, in poverty, speechless on her,
We don't even remember her.

Researchers have repeatedly noted the semantic and compositional similarity of this poem with the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov "Motherland". The poet also denies official patriotism, calling his love for the Motherland “strange”:

I love my fatherland, but with a strange love!
My reason will not defeat her.
Nor glory bought with blood,
Nor the peace full of proud trust,
Nor the dark old treasured legends
No joyful dreams stir within me.
But I love - for what, I don’t know myself -...

To official, state Russia, Lermontov contrasts natural and folk Russia - the vastness of its rivers and lakes, the beauty of forests and fields, the life of the peasantry. Akhmatova also strives to avoid pathos in her work. For her, Russia is a place where she is ill, in poverty, and experiencing deprivation. Russia is “dirt on galoshes”, “crunch on teeth”. But at the same time, this is the Motherland, which is infinitely dear to her, the lyrical heroine seems to have merged with her:

Yes, for us it’s dirt on our galoshes,
Yes, for us it's a crunch in the teeth.
And we grind, and knead, and crumble
Those unmixed ashes.
But we lie down in it and become it.
That’s why we call it so freely – ours.

Here we involuntarily recall Pushkin’s lines:

Two feelings are wonderfully close to us -
The heart finds food in them -
Love for the native ashes,
Love for fathers' coffins.
(Based on them since centuries
By the will of God himself
Human independence
The key to his greatness).

In the same way, for Akhmatova, a person’s independence is based on his inextricable, blood connection with his Motherland.

Compositionally, the poem is divided into two parts. In the first part, the lyrical heroine refuses excessive expression and pathos in showing her feelings for Russia. In the second, she denotes what the Motherland is for her. The heroine feels like an organic part of a single whole, a person of a generation, of her native land, inextricably linked with the Fatherland. The two-part nature of the composition is reflected in the metric of the poem. The first part (eight lines) is written in free iambic. The second part is a three-foot and four-foot anapest. The poetess uses cross and pair rhymes. We find modest means of artistic expression: epithet (“bitter dream”), phraseological unit (“promised paradise”), inversion (“we do not do it in our soul”).

The poem “Native Land” was written in the final period of the poetess’s work, in 1961. It was a period of summing up and remembering the past. And Akhmatova in this poem comprehends the life of her generation against the backdrop of the life of the country. And we see that the poet’s fate is closely connected with the fate of her Fatherland.

Anna Akhmatova is an outstanding poetess of the 20th century. Her life and creative path cannot be called easy. The Soviet propaganda machine slandered her, created difficulties and obstacles, but the poetess remained a strong and unshakable patriot of her country. Her civil lyrics is aimed at telling everyone why they should love and be proud of their native land.

Anna Andreevna Akhmatova wrote “Native Land” in 1961. At this time, the poetess was in the Leningrad hospital. The poem is part of the collection “A Wreath for the Dead.”

“Native Land” belongs to civil lyrics great poetess– therefore, the motive for writing the work is very clear. For Akhmatova, the post-war period was a difficult period: personal family tragedies and the inability to publish freely, but the poetess did not give up and continued to write. Anna Andreevna’s patriotic poems were created as if in secret; she was forbidden to freely publish her works. Since the mid-50s, she was not allowed to live in peace, but she did not allow herself to break down and wrote again and again that her native country, although not ideal (“does not seem like a promised paradise”), still remains beloved. At the same time, many artists (writers, poets, playwrights, actors) left the country, disappointed and somewhat humiliated. They all lost faith in the Motherland, did not see anything positive, but Akhmatova saw, tried to feel in this darkness at least the slightest ray of light and found it. She found it in the nature of Russia - in its incredible nature - the nurse of the entire Russian people.

Genre, direction and size

“Native Land” is a deeply patriotic lyrical work. Akhmatova herself defined the genre of this poem as civil poetry. Strong love and respect for one’s country are the feelings that permeate these lines.

Anna Andreevna worked within the framework of the direction - Acmeism. The poem is small in volume - 14 lines, the first 8 of which are written in iambic, and the last 6 in anapest. Loose cross rhyme (ABAB) creates the impression of free composition. It is worth noting that the type of rhyme indicates the informality of the dialogue between the lyrical heroine and the audience. The work is not subject to a strict external form.

Composition

A trained reader will immediately notice some similarities between Akhmatova’s “Native Land” and Lermontov’s “Motherland”. In both poems, in the first lines, the poets deny pathos and patriotism, but only that which has become somewhat typical for people - glorification, hymns. Masters of words point to a “different” love, which does not have to be proven with “incense” on the chest and poems. Both poets say that true love for the Motherland is devoid of external manifestations and is not directed at the viewer - it is an intimate feeling, personal for each person, unlike anyone else.

It is also worth noting that in this poem Russia is precisely the land, a place of fertile soil, and not a country with military merits. This is exactly the kind of homeland that appears before ordinary people, for whom Akhmatova writes.

Compositionally, the poem can be divided into two parts.

1. In the first part, the denial of excessive expression in the manifestation of love for the Motherland comes to the fore.
2. In the second part there is an explanation of what the Motherland is for the poetess herself: “dirt on the galoshes,” “crunch on the teeth.”

Images and symbols

Poems of this type always contain the image of the Motherland. In this work, Akhmatova focuses readers’ attention on the fact that the homeland is not a country, but a land in the literal sense - loose, dirty, its own!

The poem is not replete with a lot of symbols, because it is not required. The poetess does not write about the Motherland as an artistic image, she depicts everything simply and clearly, describes what the motherland is for her, and what she personally is ready to do for the fatherland.

Of course, it is worth noting that in a lyrical work there is almost always an image of a lyrical hero. In this poem, the lyrical heroine is the poetess herself, Akhmatova depicts her own thoughts, what is close to her - the Motherland in its nature, the land, native landscapes, familiar and beloved landscapes.

Themes and mood

The main theme of “Native Land” is the image of a beloved country, but not traditionally - majestically and in a military way, but from the everyday side - the native land, a place of hard work and titanic labor.

From the very first lines, each reader begins to experience the feelings and mood that the poetess herself experienced - love. Akhmatova selflessly and devotedly loves Rus', does not shout about it to the whole world, but loves in her own way, for what is close to her. She soberly evaluates the Motherland, does not idealize it, because there are no universal ideals in the world that everyone would like: a person finds in the totality of pros and cons what is close to him, and for this he begins to love, beautifully, sacrificially, selflessly.

Meaning

The poem is philosophical; it is impossible to immediately answer what the Motherland is. Only at the end of the text is the author’s position and idea of ​​the poem visible - a person can call a region his own only if he intends to live in it until the end of his days, despite the difficulties and obstacles. I immediately want to draw a parallel with my mother: no one changes her for another, she is with us to the end. Kinship and blood ties cannot be changed in any way. So they don’t change the fatherland, even if it is not affectionate or beautiful. The poetess proved from her own experience that a true patriot can remain loyal to his country. Akhmatova says that the Fatherland is the true value of humanity, eternal, faithful, enduring.

I would like to note that the theme of the homeland for Akhmatova is one of the main thoughts in her work. She had a negative attitude towards those who left the country in search of a better life, although the country treated her very cruelly - her husband ended up in the grave, her son was serving a sentence in prison. These torments influenced the poetess’s work, creating an indescribable tragedy of the lyrics.

Means of artistic expression

The poem “Native Land” cannot be classified as a lyrical work that is replete with visual and expressive means, because the poetess wanted to convey everything simply and freely. One of the few tropes is the epithet “bitter dream,” which conveys the pain of the Russian person. The comparison “we do not make it in our souls an object of purchase and sale” is very expressive. The poetess again focuses on the fact that the Motherland is the most intimate and dear thing for people, something that cannot even be assessed. The lines “Yes, for us it’s dirt on the ears” are very metaphorical. Yes, for us it’s a crunch in the teeth.” The author shows exactly why he loves his native land.

It is worth noting that the very manner of writing this poem is an artistic means. Anna Andreevna wanted to succinctly and simply show with this lyrical work how and why you can love your Motherland. It seems to prove that the Fatherland is loved not externally, not in public, but secretly and intimately, each in his own way. To convey this as easily and naturally as possible, the poetess deliberately does not load the text with detailed metaphors, hyperboles and gradations, which every reader must think about before fully comprehending.

G.Yu. Sidnev, I.N. Lebedeva

The theme of the Motherland is a cross-cutting theme in the works of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova. This is a long-term internal dispute of the poet - both with ideological opponents and with his own doubts. In this dialogue, three noticeable milestones can be noted - “I had a voice...” (1917), from which Akhmatova’s entire further creative path can be traced: “I was not with those who abandoned the earth...” (1922) as a continuation and development of the civil lines; “Native Land” (1961), which sums up a long-term philosophical debate about what the Motherland is, about the complex essence of emotional and moral relationships with it.

The subject of this article is the poem “Native Land”; the perfection of its form and natural sound are achieved through extensive work, invisible to the reader. To imagine the process and volume of this work is not only interesting, but also necessary to comprehend the full richness of the content and skill of the great poet.

Motherland
And there are no more tearless people in the world, more arrogant and simpler than us.
1922

We don’t carry them on our chests in our treasured amulet,
We don’t write poems about her sobbingly,
She doesn't wake up our bitter dreams,
Doesn't seem like the promised paradise.
We don’t do it in our souls
Subject of purchase and sale,
Sick, in poverty, speechless on her,
We don't even remember her.
Yes, for us it’s dirt on our galoshes,
Yes, for us it's a crunch in the teeth.
And we grind, and knead, and crumble

But we lie down in it and become it,

("Running of Time")

Choosing the traditional sonnet form, A.A. Akhmatova enriches it with bold innovative discoveries. The philosophical premise and iambic beginning are reminiscent of Shakespeare's sonnets. The ratio of stanzas is preserved, emphasizing the artistic logic of the development of thought: the first quatrain is the thesis (plot); the second quatrain is the development of the thesis; third quatrain - antithesis (culmination); final couplet-synthesis (denouement). However, the rhythmic diversity, intonation richness and figurative content of the poem indicate that this is a sonnet of a new type, a unique creation of a bright and original poet. That is why it is especially interesting how Akhmatova, bringing the form to harmonic perfection, builds rhythm and works on the word.

First of all, it is necessary to remember that meter and rhythm are not the same thing. Meter is a form that unites many syllabic-tonic verses with similarly ordered stressed and unstressed syllables, and in each specific case it carries a strictly individual rhythm, which is the meaning-forming element of the verse. The semantics of a particular poetic meter depends on the meaning and rhythm of the phrases that make up the meter. But it often happens that one rhythm contributes to the development of the dominant mood in poetry, while another does not. Akhmatova’s complex intonation patterns emphasize and enhance semantic associativity. The entire poem is a rhythmic monolith with very flexible rhythmic-semantic and associative connections that form supporting rhythmic parallels.

The author of the sonnet discovers true mastery in the fact that the rhythm of the poem does not exist on its own; it provides exceptional scope for the development of the lyrical plot. The strict iambic style of the first two quatrains indicates expression, enhanced by emphasized laconicism.

Each quatrain of a traditional sonnet is graphically separated from the rest. Akhmatov's sonnet does not need this.

In the ideological disclosure of the topic, the following rhythmic and semantic connection can be noted: the number of syllables and the location of the last stresses of the lines of the last couplet rhythmically echo the iambic hexameter lines, which emphasizes the following train of thought: “We don’t carry them on our chests in the treasured amulet” - “But we lie down in it and become by her." Denial turns into affirmation of a qualitatively new thought.

The interconnection of all the structural elements of the sonnet clearly brings it into thematic unity with the entire patriotic work of Anna Akhmatova. Starting from the epigraph, which rhythmically seems to be continued in the poem, the semantic connection is constantly supported by grammatical parallels: there are no more tearless people - We don’t write poetry out of our minds; arrogant and simpler than us - that’s why we call so freely... Finally, a reader familiar with Akhmatova’s poetry will easily discover the structural (and therefore artistic) connection between the ending of the sonnet and the version of the ending of the poem included by the author in the epigraph: “But we lie down in it and become it... - “and there are no more tearless people in the world...” The “poetic resonance” that arose at the very beginning reaches its highest point, which allows the final lines, outwardly devoid of expression, to produce a genuine emotional explosion. This artistic effect is the result of the poet’s strict adherence to two most important stylistic principles. The first of them is laconicism. Akhmatova was firmly convinced that every poem, even a small one, should carry a huge emotional load - figurative, semantic, intonational. The second is an orientation towards a living spoken language, which determines the naturalness of poetic speech, which in Russian poetry is primarily associated with the name of Pushkin. One gets the feeling that the author, without visible effort, uses and collides different speech styles: traditional sublimely poetic vocabulary is contrasted with words with a deliberately reduced specific emotional coloring. The solemnity of reflection followed by a significant conclusion is often created as if in spite of the reduced vocabulary used. Akhmatova is not afraid to rhyme (and rhymes for a great poet are always the center of meaning) in galoshes and crumbs. On the contrary, she needs this rhyme in order to explode her with the pathetically sublime: there is dust on her teeth. Note that this rhyme crowns the third, culminating, quatrain, preparing the denouement-synthesis.

It is interesting to use tropes in this poem - words with figurative meaning. Metaphor is rarely present in Akhmatova’s poems. One of the main elements of imagery for her is the epithet, the renewal of which has been going on in her poetry for a long time. Let us recall at least these lines from the poem “Listening to Singing”:

Here, with the help of epithets, new, unexpected properties of audible music are conveyed, and an unearthly sense of reality is expressed. And it would be natural to expect a similar artistic technique in “Native Land”. However, instead we find quite traditional, “cherished amulet”, “promised paradise”, which has become a poetic cliche - and even adjacent to the expressions: “dirt on galoshes”, “chalk, and knead, and crumble”. The combination of such contradictory images in one poem is not an external method of mixing a high style with a low one, not just a opposition of different principles, opposite world relations, but a new harmony that allows you to organically connect the traditionally poetic with an ordinary, discreet, but true in its depth feeling .

Striving for the utmost laconicism in expressing this feeling, Akhmatova resorts to “semantic imposition,” which is why the word acquires a special capacity and ambiguity. Thus, the keyword earth appears in several meanings at once, and its semantic dominant is constantly moving, changing and becoming more complex from line to line, since the semantic field of this word cannot be clearly differentiated into the main and peripheral parts. This is both a symbolic attribute (amulet) of a person’s belonging to the land where he was born, and its generalized meaning - Motherland, country, state, and soil, the surface of our planet. The imposition of meaning is facilitated by the fact that the word earth itself is mentioned only in the title of the poem. In the future, this word is replaced by the pronouns she or it. Associative connections are provided by the selection of signal words that form the necessary context: paradise, dirt, crunch, dust. In addition, the keyword, in connection with one or another of its semantic dominants, combines various actions in relation to it: we don’t wear, we don’t remember, we grind, and we knead, and we crumble. And in the final part of the poem, all meanings are combined at a qualitatively new semantic level:

But we lie down in it and become it,
That's why we call it so freely - ours.

She doesn't disturb our bitter dreams...

The following phrases attract attention: a bitter dream and a dream that does not disturb. Tears, grievances, memories or share can be bitter; You can heal wounds, including mental ones. The word dream, therefore, appears in combinations unusual for it. But the psychology of artistic perception excludes linguistic confusion. The transparency of the noted artistic image allows us to avoid its reinterpretation.

The word in the line is subject to a similar contamination of meaning: we don’t write poems about it sobbingly... Here the phrases are combined: crying bitterly and writing poetry - creating poetic appeals to the Motherland, imbued with tearful sentimentality.

The words in the following lines of the poem enter into even more complex associative connections:

And we grind, and knead, and crumble
Those unmixed ashes.

The theme of the homeland in the works of Anna Akhmatova occupies one of the most important places. The poetess often thought about the fact that a person can belong to something greater than himself. And in particular, he is connected by invisible ties with his native land. Similar motives prompted the poetess to write the work “Native Land” in 1961. This was the final period in Akhmatova’s work.

A work about the relationship to the earth

An analysis of Akhmatova’s “Native Land” can begin with the fact that from the first lines the work provokes bewilderment in the reader. After all, the patriotic name is absolutely at odds with its content. There are no laudatory odes in it, but main image- native land - compared to mud stuck to galoshes. However, this comparison speaks much louder and more meaningfully than any praise addressed to the homeland. An analysis of Akhmatova’s poem “Native Land” demonstrates that the poetess does not distinguish herself from the Russian people, and she writes that among the broad masses the concept of “Motherland” has begun to depreciate. People forget what their native land should mean to them, they do not realize its holiness and take it for granted. The homeland is compared to mud on galoshes.

Changing attitude towards the shrine

The poem cannot be called intricate. It is written in simple but sincere language. An analysis of Akhmatova’s “Native Land” shows: at the beginning of the poem, the poetess notes that people do not carry land in “cherished amulet.” Once upon a time in ancient times the land was called “holy”, but in post-revolutionary times the attitude towards it became different. Everything that was endowed with a mystical meaning was refuted. The people began to love the homeland itself as a native land, and the land was assigned the role of fertile soil.

By the beginning of the 60s of the last century, the tradition of worshiping the native land was a thing of the past. However, the poetess reminds us that reverence for the native land should live in every person. It is impossible to destroy ethnic memory that has accumulated over centuries. Of course, those people who do not work in the fields do not pay attention to the land. But without this very “dirt” that sticks to the galoshes, life is impossible. And the earth must be revered, if only for the reason that after death, every person returns to it and gives it his mortal body. IN in simple words Akhmatova has a deep sacred meaning.

Reproof

When analyzing “Native Land” by Anna Akhmatova, a student can point out: the work is quite short, but it has a powerful accusatory force. The final lines reveal the most important philosophical truth about the attitude towards one’s native land. A person becomes one again with his native land after he dies. He turns into a part of it, and in these words the poetess opens her eyes to the fact that the earth is not ordinary dirt. According to the plan, the analysis of the poem “Native Land” by Akhmatova should contain an indication that this work reflects the theme of the homeland. This topic was the most important for the poetess. The homeland should have a sacred status; everyone who has an idea of ​​their essence and their calling should remember it.

The poetess’s attitude towards her native land

The analysis of Akhmatova’s “Native Land” can be supplemented with information about how the poetess herself related to her homeland. Akhmatova was a true patriot. She forever connected her life with her native Russia and did not leave the country even after the difficult trials that befell her. People refused to publish her works, and her son was arrested twice. Akhmatova's first husband was shot. However, even all these terrible circumstances could not extinguish the love for her native land in her heart.

Akhmatova did not move to Europe either in 1917 or later, when N. Gumilyov persistently invited her with him. She did not understand how one could be happy in foreign lands. The poetess survived all the horrors of besieged Leningrad and mortal danger. Akhmatova was even under threat of reprisals. And in her work she writes about the land as fertile black soil, which is still revered by grain growers to this day.

Two meanings of the word "earth"

In the analysis of Akhmatova’s “Native Land,” it can be pointed out that the work reveals two meanings of the word “land” - on the one hand, it is the homeland in which a person is born, lives and dies; on the other hand, it is the soil thanks to which the people feed. And these values ​​do not oppose each other. On the contrary, they complement each other with their meaning and content. Each line of the work reveals one meaning of this concept, then another. But for Akhmatova herself, these words are inseparable, because one is impossible without the other.

Not only for the poetess, but also for other people, her native land did not become the promised paradise. During Akhmatova’s time, many were subjected to persecution and persecution. The earth remained a “crunch in the teeth”, but it was to blame for the troubles ordinary people no - after all, historical events are created by those who control the people. The earth is a physical form capable of giving life. The final part of the work indicates that a person born on earth at the end of his life becomes part of it. And these are the most important events in the circle of life, which gives the earth the status of a shrine.

Analysis of the poem “Native Land” by Akhmatova: size of the poem

It is also especially worth noting the unusual size in which the poetic work is written. It begins with iambic pentameter. Then this size is replaced by a three-foot anapest, and after that by a four-foot anapest. Why did the poetess find it necessary to switch rhythms like this? This is necessary in order to divide the poem into emotional parts of different meanings and a logical conclusion to the work.