Images and symbols in the poem "The Twelve" (A. Blok)

1. Poems are the soul of the poet.
2. General information about Blok's work.
3. A symbol is a deep and accurate image of reality.
4. Symbolism of color.
5. Revolutionary image of the wind (storms, snowstorms).
6. Symbolism of the number "twelve".
7. The image of Christ in the poem.

In the poems that a real poet creates, all his thoughts and even his soul are reflected. When reading a poem, it immediately becomes clear what the state of a person was at the time of writing the poetic creation. Poems are like a diary of the poet's life. Not everyone will be able to express in words, and even more so to express on paper their state of mind, their feelings and experiences. Each time, re-reading the poet's books, you begin to understand him more and more as a person. Although, on the other hand, it seems that he is the same as we are, and does not differ from us in anything: the same thoughts, the same desires. And yet he is able to express his feelings somehow differently, in a different way, with some special specificity, probably more hidden and of course through poems. A person who has been given such a gift to express his thoughts and feelings through poems cannot do otherwise.

A remarkable Russian poet of the early 20th century, A. A. Blok, was born in November 1880 in St. Petersburg. A. A. Blok began his career in 1904 while studying at the Faculty of Philology at St. Petersburg University. This is how “Poems about the Beautiful Lady” (1904), cycles of poems “Crossroads” (1902-1904), “Fed”, “Unexpected Joy”, “Snow Mask” (1905-1907) appeared. After graduating from university in 1906, the writer continued his literary activity: in 1907, the poetic cycle "On the Kulikovo Field", "Motherland" (1907-1916), then the poems "The Twelve", "Scythians" (1918) appeared.

For quite a long time, Blok's poem "The Twelve" was perceived as a work that describes only the events of the October Revolution, and no one saw what is hidden under these symbols, no one understood the important questions that stand behind all the images. In order to put a deep and multifaceted meaning into simple and ordinary concepts, many writers, both Russian and foreign, use various symbols. For example, in one writer, a flower denotes a Beautiful Lady, a majestic woman, and a bird is a soul. Knowing all these nuances of literary creativity, the reader is already beginning to perceive the poet's lyrics in a completely different way.

In the poem "The Twelve" A. A. Blok very often uses various symbols, images - these are colors and nature, numbers and names. In his poem, he uses various contrasts to enhance the effect of the impending revolution. In the very first chapter, at the very beginning, the color contrast is obvious: black wind and white snow.

Black evening.
White snow.
Wind, wind!

The black and white colors of the landscape run through the entire Blok's poem "The Twelve": black sky, black malice, white roses. And gradually, in the course of events, this color scheme is diluted with a red-bloody color: suddenly the red guard and the red flag appear.

... They go far with a sovereign step ...
- Who else is there? Come out!
It's the red flag wind
Played ahead...

Bright red colors are the colors that symbolize blood, and this indicates that bloodshed is bound to happen and it is very close. Soon, soon the wind of revolution will rise over the world. A special place in the poem is occupied by the image of the wind, which is also associated with an alarming foreboding of the inevitable revolution. The wind is a symbol of rapid advancement into the future. This image runs through the whole poem, it fills all the thoughts of the poet in the days of the revolution. The wind shakes the poster "All power to the Constituent Assembly", knocking people off their feet, people who make up the old world (from the priest to the girl of easy virtue). It shows not just the wind, but the elemental wind, the wind of global change. It is this wind that will blow away everything old, will save us from the "old world", which is too stuffy and inhuman. The revolutionary wind of change will bring with it something new, some new, better system. And people are waiting for him, waiting for changes in their lives.

A person does not stand on his feet.
Wind, wind -
In all God's world!

When Blok worked on the poem "The Twelve", he repeatedly used the image of the wind in his notebook: "By evening, a hurricane (a constant companion of translations)" - January 3, "By evening - a cyclone" - January 6, "The wind is raging (again a cyclone? ) - January 14". By itself, the wind in the poem is just as perceived as a direct depiction of reality, since in January 1918 in Petrograd there was just such windy and blizzard weather. The image of the wind was accompanied by images of a storm, cold, snowstorm. These images in the poet's work are one of the favorite ones, and the poet resorted to them when he wanted to convey a sense of the fullness of life, people's expectation of great changes and excitement at the impending revolution.

Played out, something blizzard
Oh, blizzard, oh blizzard,
Can't see each other at all
In four steps!

This night, gloomy, cold blizzard, snow storm is opposed by lights, bright, light, warm lights.

The wind is blowing, the snow is falling.
Twelve people are coming.
Rifles black straps.
All around - lights, lights, lights ...

Blok himself spoke of his work on the poem as follows: “During and after the end of The Twelve, for several days I physically felt, with hearing, a lot of noise around - continuous noise (probably noise from the collapse of the old world) ... the poem was written in that historical and always a short time when a passing revolutionary cyclone produces a storm in all seas - nature, life and art.

The number "twelve" occupies a special place in the poem. Both the revolution and the very title of the poem are very symbolic and this magical combination of numbers can be traced everywhere. The work itself consists of twelve chapters, creating a feeling of a cycle - twelve months a year. The main characters are twelve people walking in a detachment, a roaming squalor, potential killers and convicts. On the other hand, these are the twelve apostles, among which the names Peter and Andrew are symbolic. The symbol of twelve is also used in the sacred number of the highest point of light and darkness. It's noon and midnight.

Closer to the end of the poem, Blok tries to find a symbol that would mean the beginning of a new era and thus Christ appears. The poet's Jesus Christ is not a specific image, he is revealed to the reader as a kind of invisible symbol. Christ is not accessible to any earthly influences, it is impossible to see him:

And invisible behind the blizzard
The note of the bullet is unharmed,

This silhouette can only be followed; as the highest moral authority, it leads twelve people.

In a white wreath of roses
In front is Jesus Christ.

A large number of symbols and images in the poem "The Twelve" makes us think about every word and sign, because we want to understand what is hidden behind them, what is the meaning. It is not for nothing that the poet takes his place next to the great symbolists, and the poem "The Twelve" illustrates this well.

The poem "The Twelve" was written by A Blok in January 1918, when the October events were already over, but not enough time had passed to comprehend them and give an objective historical assessment. The revolution of 1917 swept through like a storm, like a hurricane, and it was difficult to unambiguously say what good and what bad it brought with it. It was under such a spontaneous impression that the poem “The Twelve” was written.
Bright, multi-valued images and symbols play an important role in A. Blok's poem, their semantic load is great; this allows us to more vividly present revolutionary Petersburg, revolutionary Russia, to understand the author's perception of the revolution, his thoughts and hopes. One of the main symbols of the revolution in the poem "The Twelve" is the wind, like it, it blows everything in its path.
Wind, wind!
A person does not stand on his feet.
Wind, wind -
In all God's world!
Curls the wind
White snow.
Ice under the snow.
Slippery, hard
Every walker
Slides - oh, poor thing!
In this part of the poem, A. Blok sought to convey to the reader the atmosphere of the time, when anyone can “slip” on the “ice” of the revolution, taken by surprise by a hurricane of change.
Another bright symbol is found in the poem - “world fire”. In the article "The Intelligentsia and the Revolution" Blok wrote that the revolution is like a natural phenomenon, a "storm whirlwind", a "snowstorm"; for him, “the scope of the Russian revolution, which wants to embrace the whole world, is this: it cherishes the hope of raising a world cyclone...”. This idea was reflected in the poem "The Twelve", where the author speaks of a "global fire" - a symbol of the universal revolution. And this “fire” is promised to be fanned by twelve Red Army men:
We are on the mountain to all bourgeois
Let's fan the world fire
World fire in the blood -
God bless!
These twelve Red Army soldiers personify the twelve apostles of the revolutionary idea. They are entrusted with a great task - to defend the revolution, although their path lies through blood, violence, cruelty. With the help of the image of twelve Red Army soldiers, Blok reveals the theme of shed blood, violence during the period of great historical changes, the theme of permissiveness. The "apostles of the revolution" are able to kill, rob, violate Christ's commandments, but without this, according to the author, it is impossible to carry out the tasks of the revolution. Blok believed that the path to a harmonious future lay through chaos and blood.
In this sense, the image of Petrukha, one of the twelve Red Army soldiers who killed Katya out of jealousy, is important. On the one hand, A. Blok shows that his villainy is quickly forgotten and justified by even greater future villainy. On the other hand, through the images of Petrukha and Katya, Blok wants to convey that, despite the ongoing important historical events, love, jealousy, passion are eternal feelings that guide human actions.
Also important in the poem "The Twelve" are the images of an old woman, a priest, a bourgeois - they are representatives of the old, obsolete world. For example, the old woman is far from the revolution, from political affairs, she does not understand the meaning of the poster “All power to the Constituent Assembly!”, She does not accept the Bolsheviks either (“Oh, the Bolsheviks will be driven into a coffin!”), But the old woman believes in the Mother of God, ". For her, pressing problems are important, not a revolution:
On the rope - poster:
“All power to the Constituent Assembly!”
The old woman is killed - crying,
Never understand what it means
What is this poster for?
Such a huge patch?
How many footcloths would come out for the guys ...
The priest and the bourgeois are afraid of the consequences of the revolution, they are afraid for their fate, for the failure of their future life:
The wind is biting!
The frost is not far behind!
And bourgeois at the crossroads
He hid his nose in the collar.
And out and long-sleeved -
Sideways - for a snowdrift ...
What is unhappy today
Comrade pop?
The old, obsolete, unnecessary world in the poem is also presented as a “rootless”, “cold” dog, which barely trails behind twelve Red Army soldiers:
... bares his teeth. - the wolf is hungry -
The tail is tucked in - does not lag behind -
A cold dog is a rootless dog...
In front is Jesus Christ.
The image of Christ in the poem personifies Blok's faith in overcoming bloody sin, in the outcome from the bloody present to a harmonious future. His image symbolizes not only the author’s faith in the sanctity of the tasks of the revolution, not only the justification of the “holy malice” of the revolutionary people, but also the idea of Christ accepting another human sin, the idea of forgiveness and the hope that people will come to His precepts, to the ideals of love, to eternal values . Jesus walks ahead of the twelve Red Army soldiers who are on their way from freedom “without a cross” to freedom with Christ.
Revolutionary Petersburg, in which the “universal elements” are playing out, personifies the whole of revolutionary Russia. A. Blok portrayed it as a world split in two, as a confrontation between black and white. The symbolism of color plays an important role in the poem "The Twelve": on the one hand, black wind, black sky, black malice, black rifle belts, and on the other hand, white snow, Christ in a white halo of roses. The black, evil present is opposed to the white, bright, harmonious future. The symbolism of the red color expresses the motif of a bloody crime. The red flag, on the one hand, is a symbol of the victorious end, on the other hand, a symbol of the bloody present. Colors are associated with the image of time: a black past, a bloody present and a white future.
Thanks to the system of images and symbolism in the poem "The Twelve", Blok managed to show that in the bloody present, the formation of a new person and the transition from chaos to harmony take place. This, according to the poet, is the true meaning of the revolution.

Images and symbols in A. Blok's poem "The Twelve"

Bright, multi-valued images and symbols play an important role in A. Blok's poem, their semantic load is great; this allows us to more vividly present revolutionary Petersburg, revolutionary Russia, to understand the author's perception of the revolution, his thoughts and hopes. One of the main symbols of the revolution in the poem "The Twelve" is the wind, like it, it blows everything in its path.

Wind, wind! A person does not stand on his feet.

Wind, wind - In all God's world! The wind curls White snow.

Ice under the snow.

Slippery, heavy, Every walker Slips - oh, poor thing! In this part of the poem, A. Blok sought to convey to the reader the atmosphere of the time, when anyone can “slip” on the “ice” of the revolution, taken by surprise by a hurricane of change.

Another bright symbol is found in the poem - “world fire”. In the article "The Intelligentsia and the Revolution" Blok wrote that the revolution is like a natural phenomenon, a "storm whirlwind", a "snowstorm"; for him, “the scope of the Russian revolution, which wants to embrace the whole world, is this: it cherishes the hope of raising a world cyclone...”. This idea was reflected in the poem "The Twelve", where the author speaks of a "global fire" - a symbol of the universal revolution. And this “fire” is promised to be fanned by twelve Red Army soldiers: We will fan the world fire on the mountain to all bourgeois, The world fire in the blood - Lord, bless! These twelve Red Army soldiers personify the twelve apostles of the revolutionary idea. They are entrusted with a great task - to defend the revolution, although their path lies through blood, violence, cruelty. With the help of the image of twelve Red Army soldiers, Blok reveals the theme of spilled blood, violence during the period of great historical changes, the theme of permissiveness. The "apostles of the revolution" are able to kill, rob, violate Christ's commandments, but without this, according to the author, it is impossible to carry out the tasks of the revolution. Blok believed that the path to a harmonious future lay through chaos and blood.

In this sense, the image of Petrukha, one of the twelve Red Army soldiers who killed Katya out of jealousy, is important. On the one hand, A. Blok shows that his villainy is quickly forgotten and justified by even greater future villainy. On the other hand, through the images of Petrukha and Katya, Blok wants to convey that, despite the ongoing important historical events, love, jealousy, passion are eternal feelings that guide human actions.

Also important in the poem "The Twelve" are the images of an old woman, a priest, a bourgeois - they are representatives of the old, obsolete world. For example, the old woman is far from the revolution, from political affairs, she does not understand the meaning of the poster “All power to the Constituent Assembly!”, She does not accept the Bolsheviks either (“Oh, the Bolsheviks will be driven into a coffin!”), But the old woman believes in the Mother of God, ". For her, pressing problems are important, not revolution: On the rope - a poster: "All power to the Constituent Assembly!" The old woman is killing herself - crying, Doesn't understand what it means, What is such a poster for, Such a huge flap? How many footcloths would come out for the guys ...

The priest and the bourgeois are afraid of the consequences of the revolution, they are afraid for their fate, for the failure of their future life: The biting wind! The frost is not far behind! And the bourgeois at the crossroads hid his nose in his collar.

And there is the long-sleeved one - Sideways - behind the snowdrift ...

What is gloomy now, Comrade pop? The old, obsolete, unnecessary world in the poem is also presented as a “rootless”, “cold” dog, which barely trails behind twelve Red Army soldiers: ... Bares its teeth. - the wolf is hungry - The tail is tucked in - does not lag behind - The dog is cold - the dog is rootless .. .

In front is Jesus Christ.

The image of Christ in the poem personifies Blok's faith in overcoming bloody sin, in the outcome from the bloody present to a harmonious future. His image symbolizes not only the author’s faith in the sanctity of the tasks of the revolution, not only the justification of the “holy malice” of the revolutionary people, but also the idea of Christ accepting another human sin, the idea of forgiveness and the hope that people will come to His precepts, to the ideals of love, to eternal values . Jesus walks ahead of the twelve Red Army soldiers who are on their way from freedom “without a cross” to freedom with Christ.

Revolutionary Petersburg, in which the “universal elements” are playing out, personifies the whole of revolutionary Russia. A. Blok portrayed it as a world split in two, as a confrontation between black and white. The symbolism of color plays an important role in the poem "The Twelve": on the one hand, black wind, black sky, black malice, black rifle belts, and on the other hand, white snow, Christ in a white halo of roses. The black, evil present is opposed to the white, bright, harmonious future. The symbolism of the red color expresses the motif of a bloody crime. The red flag, on the one hand, is a symbol of the victorious end, on the other hand, a symbol of the bloody present. Colors are associated with the image of time: a black past, a bloody present and a white future.

Thanks to the system of images and symbolism in the poem "The Twelve", Blok managed to show that in the bloody present, the formation of a new person and the transition from chaos to harmony take place. This, according to the poet, is the true meaning of the revolution.

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://www.coolsoch.ru/ were used.

A symbol is one of the secret matching methods. From other similar literary devices - metaphors, hyperbole and others, they are distinguished by ambiguity. Any person perceives them as much as he likes, and as he personally understands them. In a literary text, symbols are born not only due to the intentional desire of the author for the reader to recognize something abstract in them, but also due to instinctive factors. Often they are combined with the writer's extremely metaphysical associations with respect to various words, objects, and actions. To some extent, symbols serve to reveal the author's point of view, however, due to the ambiguity of their perception, it is usually impossible to draw any true conclusions.

Alexander Blok's poem "The Twelve" is quite rich in symbolism, which is generally characteristic of the lyrics of the Silver Age, and further we will try to assemble these symbols into some kind of unified system.

The rhythm of the first chapter of "The Twelve" is sustained in the folk style, which usually accompanied the performances of small puppet theaters - nativity scenes or various buffoon performances. This technique immediately gives a feeling of unreality. Immediately added such an element as a huge canvas, very similar to the cinema screen. This approach, combined with constant black-and-white contrasts, creates the impression that we are watching a movie or a performance from the same nativity scene, and this impression does not disappear until the very end of the poem. The landscape is again graphic: white snow - black sky - wind - lights. These easily imagined details do not at all add reality to the pictures, but they are easily associated with frames from the movie "Terminator", which, in turn, is plotted with the Apocalypse. Black skies, snow, and fire are apt symbols for an earth over which the wrath of God hangs.

To continue the theme of the Last Judgment, you can take the main song of the Icelandic "Elder Edda" - "Divination of Völvi". According to Norse mythology, the end of the world is preceded by a three-year winter called "Fimbulvetr", which begins with the wolf eating the sun. During this winter, fratricidal wars take place, so it is said about it - "... the time of wolves and trolls is great fornication." This is directly indicated by some details of The Twelve - the same black and white landscape, the gathering of prostitutes, even the wolf is present - however, in the form of a shabby dog! According to the Edda, after this winter the Last Battle will take place, when the "good" deities - aces and heroes will come out against the bad trolls, giants, the wolf, Fepriz and the Midgard snake - the "world snake". Recall the episode from the last chapter, when the “twelve” threaten with a bayonet a dog, that is, a wolf, and snowdrifts, in which, as you know, witches, trolls and other evil spirits celebrate weddings. However, the role of the "twelve" in this system is not clearly defined - whether they are "good" aces, or bloody trolls, corpse-eaters, instigators of the world hellish fire, along with whom - the wolf.

Twelve is the key number of the poem, and many associations can be associated with it. First of all, it is twelve hours - midnight, twelve months - the end of the year. It turns out some kind of "boundary" number, since the end of an old day (or year), as well as the beginning of a new one, is always overcoming a certain milestone, a step into an unknown future. For A. Blok, the fall of the old world became such a boundary. It's not clear what's ahead. Probably, the "global fire" will soon spread to all things. But this also gives some hope, because the death of the old world promises the birth of something new. So in Christianity, where the elect will find paradise, so among the Scandinavians, where during the Last Battle the world ash Iidrasil collapses, both heaven and hell (by the way, created from the corpse of a giant) will collapse. But some Æsir will be saved, and a man and a woman who

Will eat

dew in the morning

And people will be born.

Another numerical association is the twelve apostles. This is indirectly indicated by the names of two of them - Andryukha and Petrukha. Let us also recall the story of the Apostle Peter, who denied Christ three times in one night. But with A. Blok, the opposite is true: Petrukha returns to the faith three times in one night and retreats again three times. In addition, he is the killer of his former lover.

Wrapped a scarf around his neck -

No way to recover.

A handkerchief, like a noose, around the neck, and Peter turns into Judas. And the role of the traitor Judas is played by Vanka (John).

And they go without the name of a saint

All twelve - away.

Ready for everything

Nothing to be sorry...

Their rifles are steel

To the invisible enemy...

And a little earlier: "Eh, eh, without a cross!" It turns out some kind of anti-apostles - with rifles instead of a cross, criminals, robbers, murderers, ready to shoot even at a snowdrift, at least at a bourgeois, at least at a dog, at least at all Holy Rus', at least at Jesus Christ himself. And suddenly A. Blok unexpectedly destroys the concept of anti-apostles - by leading their procession, however, invisible to them, Jesus Christ with a bloody flag! Another important detail is connected with these "twelve": "On the back you need an ace of diamonds!" Here you can find different explanations. Firstly, "twelve" are convicts, and an ace is a sign of distinction from civilians. Secondly, this is a colorfully dressed up pagan procession, Christmas carols, for example. Thirdly - the procession, then Jesus Christ is in place. Further, "ace" in English "ace", and again the Scandinavian aces are remembered, of which, by the way, there were also twelve. Or maybe it's just a revolutionary patrol and red aces - again, for distinction.

The complex order of the symbolism of Alexander Blok does not bring the likelihood of saying who these "twelve" are. However, this is not so significant, because it was thanks to the symbolism that the poem was extremely capacious. Here is the story of sin with subsequent retribution, and murder with pangs of conscience and oblivion, and most importantly, the real idea of the collapse and desecration of the former, old world. It no longer makes sense whether he was good or bad. The fall has become a reality, and I just want to hope that in the future everything will be the best.

The revolution of 1917 left an indelible mark on the history of our state. After it, a lot has changed, a lot has been rethought. In the poem "" Blok gives his assessment and analysis of the events.

Analyzing this work, it should be noted that the author created a system of images-symbols that show us the full scale of revolutionary events.

One of the first symbolic images that we meet on the pages of the poem is the wind. Being a spontaneous natural phenomenon, the wind becomes a symbol of the spontaneous and destructive nature of the revolution. The revolution, like the wind, sweeps away everything in its path and no one can hide from it.

The next symbol in the poem "The Twelve" is the "global fire", which reflects the global scale of revolutionary events. Blok compared the revolution to a "snowstorm". The author said that the revolution is capable of spreading to the whole world, that is, turning into a "global cyclone".

The driving force behind this "world cyclone" was to be the twelve. Twelve are ordinary Russian soldiers who walked the streets of revolutionary Petrograd. They are the twelve apostles of the revolution who pave the way and bring revolutionary ideas to the masses. Their road is saturated with blood and pain, twelve are ready to kill and deal with everyone. Block did not condemn the actions of the twelve, because he believed that the path to a bright future lies through blood and devastation.

An old woman who does not understand revolutionary slogans becomes the symbols of the old bourgeois society. The pop and the bourgeois now have to fear for their lives, because they know that there will be no place for them in the "new world".

The old "rootless" dog becomes a symbol of the "old world". He trudges behind the twelve in the hope of pardon and indulgence.

An important place in the poem "The Twelve" is occupied by the image of Christ. Christ here becomes a symbol of a harmonious and bright future. He goes ahead of the twelve, as if showing them the way to the "new world". On the other hand, Blok wanted to show us that Christ, like many centuries ago, again descended to earth to help humanity overcome dirt and devastation.

The revolutionary city becomes the symbol of a vast country, which was engulfed by the revolutionary struggle. In general, the struggle between the "old" and "new" worlds becomes the main theme of the work. Blok shows this struggle through the struggle of color. So, "black sky" is opposed to "white snow"; on the one hand, the red flag becomes a symbol of victory, and on the other, a symbol of the bloody present.

With the help of the poem "The Twelve", Blok wanted to show us how a new person is born in mud and blood. It was in this that the author saw the main purpose of the revolution.