Derzhavin's ode to Felitsa in abbreviation. Essay analysis of ode Derzhavin Felitsa. Artistic features of the ode "Felitsa"

Often works literary creativity, distant from modern times by many years and even centuries, turn out to be difficult to perceive, understand and assimilate not only for school students, but even for adults. That is why today we will talk about such a poet of the 2nd half of the 18th - 1st half of the 19th century as Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin. "Felitsa" summary which will be discussed in this article will help us better understand the author and his creative heritage.

Historical commentary: creation

It is impossible to start a conversation about the work without determining what Derzhavin himself lived at the time of its creation. “Felitsa” (a summary and even an analysis is the topic of this material) was written by Gavriil Romanovich in St. Petersburg in 1782. The genre of traditional ceremonial ode in in this case was destroyed by the poet: he decided to violate the law of three calms and in his creation combined book vocabulary with popular, colloquial vocabulary. In addition, satirical and laudatory were mixed in the space of one work, which also contradicted the established canons.

Favorable coincidence of circumstances

Derzhavin’s friends, who were the first to hear the ode, were delighted with it, but hastened to cool the poet’s ardor: there was nothing to hope for the publication of the work, because it so clearly contained attacks against Catherine’s nobles. Nevertheless, fate itself seemed to have arranged everything so that the work would not lie forever in the drawer of Derzhavin’s desk. A year later, the ode came to the poet Osip Kozodavlev, and from him to the lover of literature I.I. Shuvalov, who read these poems at a dinner before a company of gentlemen, among whom was Prince Potemkin, one of the people veiledly ridiculed in the ode. The prince decided to pretend that the essay did not touch him and had nothing to do with him at all, as a result of which Gabriel Romanovich was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Catherine II's reaction

It’s still not enough what I could count on next famous poet Derzhavin? “Felitsa,” a brief summary of which will soon be described, caught the President’s fancy Russian Academy E. Dashkova, and in 1783 the creation was published anonymously in one of the spring issues of the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word.” Dashkova presented the poem to the empress herself; Catherine was moved to tears and became very interested in the author of the work. As a result, Derzhavin received from the empress an envelope with 500 gold rubles and a gold snuff box studded with diamonds. Soon Gabriel Romanovich was presented to the court and favored by the queen. Thus, it was after the creation of this ode that Derzhavin gained literary fame. “Felitsa,” a brief summary of which will answer questions of interest, is an innovative work. It was qualitatively different in thought and form from everything that existed before.

G. R. Derzhavin, “Felitsa”: a summary of the stanzas. Start

The ode consists of 25 stanzas. Its beginning is traditionally classic: in the first stanzas a solemn, sublime image is drawn. Catherine is called the Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess because at that time the poet himself had villages in the then Orenburg province, not far from which the territories of the Kyrgyz horde, subject to the empress, began. In addition, a certain fairy tale about Prince Chlorus is mentioned here - this is an orientally colorful work that was written and printed in 1781 by Catherine herself for her 5-year-old grandson, the future Emperor Alexander Pavlovich (known as Alexander I). Chlorine, kidnapped by the khan, was the son of the great Prince of Kyiv. The kidnapper, wanting to test the boy's abilities, sent him to certain death, ordering him to get a rose without thorns. Chlor was helped by Felitsa, the kind, kind and cheerful daughter of the khan, who gave him an assistant, her son, whose name was Reason, to accompany him. The boy was subjected to temptations: Murza Lazyr wanted to lead him astray, but Chlorus was always helped by Reason. Finally, the comrades reached the rocky mountain where the same rose without thorns grew - as it turned out, it was Virtue. As a result, Chlorus successfully obtained it and returned to his father, the Tsar of Kyiv. It is the theme of virtue that runs through the entire ode as a red thread. The empress herself was named Felitsa in honor of the Roman goddess of bliss, success and happiness.

The main part of the ode. Image of the monarch

What else does Felitsa talk about in his work (a brief summary will help anyone who wants to understand the meaning of the work) is then contrasted not only with his court and those close to him, but also with the author himself, who approaches the consideration of his person extremely critically. Thus, Catherine is so poeticized that her literary portrait turns out to be completely devoid of flaws. Her perfect moral and psychological inner world is revealed through habits, descriptions of actions, orders, acts of state. The Empress loves to walk in silence, eat simply and without frills, and read and write a lot. The descriptive part and the depiction of appearance are compensated by the general mood, the impression of the depicted features of the enlightened monarch: she is modest, democratic, unpretentious, simple, friendly, intelligent and talented in the field of government activities.

Antithesis “empress - nobles”

Who did Derzhavin contrast with the ideal empress in every sense? “Felitsa” (in abbreviation this is understood especially clearly) describes to us a certain corrupted “I”; behind him lies the collective image of a close courtier, which, in essence, includes the features of all the queen’s closest associates. This is the already mentioned prince, whose portrait can be seen below, and Catherine’s favorites Grigory and Alexei Orlov, revelers, lovers of horse racing and fist fights, Field Marshal Pyotr Panin, first a hunter, and only then a civil servant, Prosecutor General Alexander Vyazemsky, who especially revered popular popular stories, and many others. And who did Derzhavin himself consider himself to be? “Felitsa” (analysis of the ode, summary and analysis help to establish this) is a work in which the author approaches his personality without bias, and therefore considers himself to be part of a noble company, because by this time Gabriel Romanovich had already become a state councilor. However, at the same time, he was able to objectively recognize his own sins, weaknesses, vices, and, according to the poet’s personal remark, “stupidity.” Derzhavin does not condemn the human passions of court servants and noble men: he understands that, characteristic of many, they are sometimes balanced by a brilliant mind and talent, which serve for the benefit of the Russian state and for the sake of its prosperity.

Satirical criticism of the past

However, Derzhavin is not always good-natured. "Felitsa" short description the main idea of which was presented in this article also shows the reader another line - this is a description of the period of Anna Ioannovna’s reign. Here the poet does not hide his own indignation at the case of the forced marriage of the high-born prince M. Golitsyn, at the whim of the queen, to an old ugly dwarf, because of which a worthy man turned into a court jester (stanza 18). According to Derzhavin, other representatives of noble Russian families were also humiliated - Count A. Apraksin and Prince N. Volkonsky. Oda G.R. Derzhavin's "Felitsa", a brief summary of which allows us to evaluate its large-scale idea, among other things, affirms the inviolability of the human right to preserve personal dignity and honor. The trampling of these categories is considered by Gabriel Romanovich as a great sin, and therefore he calls on both the reader and the empress to respect them. To do this, Catherine needs to comply with the laws, be the guarantor of their supremacy, protect the “weak” and “poor”, and show mercy.

Final lines

Finally, the artistic originality of G. R. Derzhavin’s ode “Felitsa”, a brief summary of which was presented in detail in the sections above, is also manifested in the final stanzas of the work. Here the exaltation of the empress and her reign rises to a new limit - the author asks the “great prophet” and the “heavenly powers” to bless Catherine and save her from illness and evil.

Although the end again returns the reader to the mainstream of classicism and the canonical ode, yet, taken together with the rest of the content, it seems to carry a new, rethought meaning. The praise here is not a simple tribute to the direction, traditions and conventions, but a real impulse from the soul of the author, who at that time still sincerely believed in the image of Catherine he created. The famous critic Belinsky called this work “one of the best creations” of Russian poetry of the 18th century.

The updated odes of 1779, published anonymously, were noticed only by poetry lovers. In 1782 Derzhavin wrote the ode “Felitsa”. Published early next year in the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word,” it became a literary sensation, a milestone not only in the history of the ode, but also of Russian poetry.

In terms of genre, it was like a typical laudatory ode. Another, unknown poet praised Catherine II, but the “praise” was incredibly impudent, not traditional, and it was not she, but something else that turned out to be the content of the ode, and this other thing resulted in a completely new form.

The innovation and freshness of the form of the ode “Felitsa” were perceived with particular acuteness in that literary atmosphere when the laudable ode, through the efforts of Petrov, Kostrov and other ode-writers, reached the extreme point of decline and satisfied only the tastes of the crowned customer. The general dissatisfaction with the laudable ode to classicism is perfectly expressed by Knyazhnin:

I know that the odes are daring,

Which are already out of fashion,

Very capable of annoying.

They always Catherine,

Crazy chasing the rhyme,

They compared the paradise to Krin;

And, becoming the rank of prophets,

Communicating with God as if with a brother,

Without fear of a pen,

In his borrowed delight,

The universe is turning upside down,

From there to countries rich in gold,

They let loose their paper thunder.

The reason for the exhaustion of odes, according to Knyazhnin, is in the adherence of their authors to the rules and canons of classicism: they demanded imitation of models - and so the ode became sadly imitative and epigone. Moreover, these rules did not allow the poet’s personality to manifest itself in poetry, which is why odes are written by those who “borrow delight.” The success of Derzhavin’s ode lies in its deviation from the rules, from following models; he does not “borrow” delight, but expresses his feelings in an ode dedicated to the empress.

Under the name Felitsa, Derzhavin portrayed Catherine II. The poet uses the name Felitsa, mentioned in the “Tale of Prince Chlorus” written by the empress for her grandson Alexander, which was published in 1781. The content of the tale is didactic. The Kirghiz Khan kidnapped the Russian Tsarevich Chlorus.

Wanting to test his abilities, the khan gives the prince a task: to find a rose without thorns (a symbol of virtue). Thanks to the help of the Khan's daughter Felitsa (from the Latin felicitos - happiness) and her son Reason, Chlorus finds a rose without thorns on the top of a high mountain. The image of the Tatar nobleman Murza has a double meaning: where the ode goes to a high tone, this is the author’s self; in satirical places - a collective image of Catherine’s nobles.

Derzhavin in “Felitsa” does not create an official, conventional and abstractly ceremonial image of a “monarch”, but draws a warm and heartfelt portrait of a real person - Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, with her habits, activities, and everyday life characteristic of her as a person; he praises Catherine, but his praise is not traditional.

The image of the author (Tatar Murza) appears in the ode - in fact, he depicted not so much Catherine as his attitude towards her, his sense of admiration for her personality, his hopes for her as an enlightened monarch. This personal attitude is also manifested towards her courtiers: he doesn’t really like them, he laughs at their vices and weaknesses - satire intrudes into the ode.

According to the laws of classicism, mixing genres is unacceptable: everyday details and satirical portraits could not appear in the high genre of ode. But Derzhavin does not combine satire and ode - he overcomes genre. And his updated ode can only formally be attributed to this genre: the poet writes simply poems in which he freely talks about everything that tells him his personal experience what worries his mind and soul.

The ode “Felitsa” is associated with the tragic failure of Derzhavin’s plan to become Catherine II’s advisor. A sincere feeling of respect and love for the empress was warmed by the warmth of the living heart of an intelligent and talented poet. Catherine not only loved praise, but also knew how rare it is to hear sincere praise. That is why she immediately, after meeting the ode, thanked the poet by sending him a golden snuffbox, sprinkled with diamonds, with five hundred ducats.

The success excited Derzhavin. Catherine liked the ode, which means that the boldness of addressing it was approved. Moreover, Derzhavin learned that she had decided to meet him. I had to get ready for the show. The opportunity opened up to get closer to the empress.

Derzhavin decided to immediately explain himself to her - he could not, he had no right to miss the opportunity to take the place of an adviser to the monarch. The presentation of his program was to be the ode “Vision of Murza”. The reception was scheduled for May 9, 1783. The poet did not have time to write the program ode, but a prosaic detailed plan for this ode was preserved in his papers.

The poet begins with an interpretation of Catherine II’s promises to be an enlightened monarch: “Your enlightened mind and great heart remove the bonds of slavery from us, elevate our souls, make us understand the preciousness of freedom, which is only characteristic of a rational being such as man.” It recalls the lessons of the Pugachev uprising.

If they listen to him and change their policy, then the monarchs “will be disgusted by tyranny and under their rule human blood will not be shed like a river, corpses will not stick out on stakes and heads on scaffolds, and gallows will not float in rivers.” This was already a direct allusion to the tsarist reprisal against the participants of the Pugachev uprising.

Inspired by the concept of enlightened absolutism, Derzhavin explained in detail the need to establish contractual relations between the poet and the empress. He claimed that he was free from flattery and that he was committed to always telling only the truth. Using his favorite legend about Alexander the Great, who, trusting his doctor, boldly drank the medicine he offered, rejecting the slander of the courtiers who claimed that the doctor poured poison into his cup, the poet boldly expressed his desire to be such a “doctor” under Catherine.

He convinced her to trust him. The “drink” he offers will be healing, it will ease suffering, and help you see everything in its true light. And then he will sing of the empress’s merits: believe that my song “will encourage you to exploit the virtues and will aggravate your jealousy for them,” he says to Catherine.

The ode plan contains a list of political, public and social events that the Russian empress must implement. They constitute the essence of the program of Russian enlightened absolutism outlined by Derzhavin.

“The Vision of Murza” could become one of the best works of Russian civil poetry. But it didn't. The outlined plan did not receive a poetic embodiment. All Derzhavin’s hopes of becoming an advisor under Catherine collapsed. Introduced to the empress, the poet hoped that they would remain alone and he would have the opportunity to tell her about his plans... Everything turned out differently: Catherine coldly greeted him in front of everyone.

With her arrogant and majestic appearance, she emphasized her dissatisfaction with the daring poet, who dared to satirically depict people close to her. The poet was stunned. All plans and hopes collapsed. There was no point in thinking about Catherine agreeing to bring him closer to her as a “doctor.” Moreover, anxiety crept in - whether he was in danger of falling into disgrace.

Apparently, Fonvizin was right, who in his “Minor” (presented in the past, 1782) portrayed the wise Starodum. His friend Pravdin expressed the wish that he be called to the court “for what a doctor is called to the sick for.” To this Starodum answered sternly and firmly: “It is in vain to call a doctor to the sick without healing. The doctor won’t help you here.”

Instead of “Vision of Murza” Derzhavin wrote “Gratitude to Felitsa”. In the ode, he tried to explain that his “courage” was generated by sincerity, that his “heart is grateful” to the empress and “burns with zeal.” “Explanatory” poems have lost their strength, energy, and fervor of feeling. The main thing about them is obsequious obedience. True, at the end of the ode, the poet carefully and delicately, but still hinted that he was unlikely to soon be able to sing the “god-like princess” again.

Derzhavin was not mistaken in his assumption: “heavenly fire” did not ignite in his soul, and he did not write more poems like “Felitsa.” The desire to be the singer of Felitsa-Catherine meant for Derzhavin the establishment of contractual relations between the poet and the empress.

He would continue to sing Felitsa selflessly, would sincerely glorify her name for centuries, if she, acting as an enlightened monarch, boldly updated legislation and carried out the reforms necessary for the country and people. The idea collapsed. Ode "Felitsa" remained lonely.

True, two more odes were dedicated to Catherine: “Image of Felitsa” (1789) and “Vision of Murza” (new edition of 1791, sharply different from the prose plan of 1783). “The Image of Felitsa” is truly an ode of praise. Derzhavin betrayed himself. It is written in a traditional plan. Uncontrollably extolling the virtues of Catherine in a very long, needlessly drawn-out ode, he demonstratively catered to Felitsa’s taste.

She needed praise, not Derzhavin's personal feelings. Flattery was part of Derzhavin’s plan - he was removed from the post of Tambov governor and put on trial. I had to go to St. Petersburg to seek protection from Catherine. In his autobiographical “Notes,” the poet explains the reason for writing the ode: “There was no other way left but to resort to my talent.

As a result, I wrote... the ode “Image of Felitsa.” The ode was delivered to the empress, she liked it, and the persecution of Derzhavin was stopped. In this ode, Derzhavin the poet was defeated by Derzhavin the official, associated with the court.

History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983.

The ode “Felitsa” was written in 1782 and dates back to the early period of G. Derzhavin’s work. This poem made the poet's name famous. For the work, the author provides a clarification subtitle “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa, written by the Tatar Murza, who has long settled in Moscow...”. With this clarification, the author hints at “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” written by Catherine II, from which the name of the main character is taken. Empress Catherine II herself and the court nobility are “hidden” under the images of Felitsa and the nobles. The ode does not glorify them, but ridicules them.

The theme of the poem is a humorous depiction of the life of the empress and her entourage. The idea of the ode “Felitsa” is twofold: the author exposes the vices of the queen, presenting an idealized image of Felitsa and, at the same time, shows what virtues a monarch should have. The ideological sound of the work is complemented by showing the shortcomings of the nobility.

The central place in the ode is occupied by the image of Queen Felitsa, in whom the poet embodies all the wonderful traits of a woman and a monarch: kindness, simplicity, sincerity, bright mind. The portrait of the princess is not “festive”, but everyday, but this does not spoil it at all, but makes it more beautiful, bringing it closer to the people and the reader. The queen lives luxuriously and righteously, knows how to “tame the excitement of passions,” eats simple food, sleeps little, giving preference to reading and writing... She has a lot of virtues, but if you consider that behind the mask of the Kirghiz-Kaisak princess hides the Russian empress, it’s not hard to guess that the image is idealized. Idealization in this ode is a tool of satire.

Enough attention is paid to the princess’s associates, who are preoccupied with wealth, fame, and the attention of beauties. Potemkin, Naryshkin, Alexey Orlov, Panin and others are easily recognizable behind the portraits created by Gavriil Derzhavin in the analyzed ode. The portraits are characterized by caustic satire; by daring to publish them, Derzhavin took a great risk, but he knew that the empress treated him favorably.

The lyrical hero remains almost unnoticeable among the gallery of bright satirical images, but his attitude towards the depicted is clearly visible. Sometimes he dares to give advice to the princess-empress herself: “From disagreement - agreement // And from fierce passions happiness // You can only create.” At the end of the ode, he praises Felitsa and wishes her all the best (this ending is traditional for an ode).

Metaphors, epithets, comparisons, hyperboles - all these artistic media found a place for themselves in the poem “Felitsa”, but it is not they that attract attention, but the combination of high and low style. The work mixes book and colloquial vocabulary and vernacular.

The ode consists of 26 stanzas, 10 lines each. In the first four lines of the verse the rhyme is cross, then two lines have a parallel rhyme, the last four have a ring rhyme. Poetic size– iambic tetrameter with pyrrhic. The intonation pattern corresponds to the ode genre: praises are occasionally reinforced by exclamatory sentences.

The ode “Felitsa” is the first embodiment of Russian life in “a funny Russian style,” as Derzhavin himself spoke of his creation.

Often works of literary creativity, which are many years and even centuries removed from modern times, turn out to be difficult to perceive, understand and assimilate not only for school students, but even for adults. That is why today we will talk about such a poet of the 2nd half of the 18th - 1st half of the 19th century as Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin. “Felitsa,” a brief summary of which will be discussed in this article, will help us better understand the author and his creative heritage.

Historical commentary: creation

It is impossible to start a conversation about the work without determining what Derzhavin himself lived at the time of its creation. “Felitsa” (a summary and even an analysis is the topic of this material) was written by Gavriil Romanovich in St. Petersburg in 1782. The genre of the traditional solemn ode in this case was destroyed by the poet: he decided to violate the law of three calms and in his creation combined book vocabulary with popular, colloquial vocabulary. In addition, satirical and laudatory were mixed in the space of one work, which also contradicted the established canons.

Favorable coincidence of circumstances

Catherine II's reaction

What could the still little-known poet Derzhavin count on next? “Felitsa,” a brief summary of which will soon be described, attracted the attention of the President of the Russian Academy E. Dashkova, and in 1783 the creation was anonymously published in one of the spring issues of the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word.” Dashkova presented the poem to the empress herself; Catherine was moved to tears and became very interested in the author of the work. As a result, Derzhavin received from the empress an envelope with 500 gold rubles and a gold snuff box studded with diamonds. Soon Gabriel Romanovich was presented to the court and favored by the queen. Thus, it was after the creation of this ode that Derzhavin gained literary fame. “Felitsa,” a brief summary of which will answer questions of interest, is an innovative work. It was qualitatively different in thought and form from everything that existed before.

G. R. Derzhavin, “Felitsa”: a summary of the stanzas. Start

The ode consists of 25 stanzas. Its beginning is traditionally classic: in the first stanzas a solemn, sublime image is drawn. Catherine is called the Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess because at that time the poet himself had villages in the then Orenburg province, not far from which the territories of the Kyrgyz horde, subject to the empress, began. In addition, a certain fairy tale about Prince Chlorus is mentioned here - this is an orientally colorful work that was written and printed in 1781 by Catherine herself for her 5-year-old grandson, the future Emperor Alexander Pavlovich (known as Alexander I). Chlorine, kidnapped by the khan, was the son of the Grand Duke of Kyiv. The kidnapper, wanting to test the boy's abilities, sent him to certain death, ordering him to get a rose without thorns. Chlor was helped by Felitsa, the kind, kind and cheerful daughter of the khan, who gave him an assistant, her son, whose name was Reason, to accompany him. The boy was subjected to temptations: Murza Lazyr wanted to lead him astray, but Chlorus was always helped by Reason. Finally, the comrades reached the rocky mountain where the same rose without thorns grew - as it turned out, it was Virtue. As a result, Chlorus successfully obtained it and returned to his father, the Tsar of Kyiv. It is the theme of virtue that runs through the entire ode as a red thread. The empress herself was named Felitsa in honor of the Roman goddess of bliss, success and happiness.

The main part of the ode. Image of the monarch

What else is Derzhavin talking about in his work? Felitsa (a brief summary will help anyone who wants to understand the meaning of the work) is further contrasted not only with her court and those close to her, but also with the author himself, who approaches the consideration of his person extremely critically. Thus, Catherine is so poeticized that her literary portrait turns out to be completely devoid of flaws. Her perfect moral and psychological inner world is revealed through habits, descriptions of actions, orders, and acts of state. The Empress loves to walk in silence, eat simply and without frills, and read and write a lot. The descriptive part and the depiction of appearance are compensated by the general mood, the impression of the depicted features of the enlightened monarch: she is modest, democratic, unpretentious, simple, friendly, intelligent and talented in the field of government activities.

Antithesis “empress - nobles”

Who did Derzhavin contrast with the ideal empress in every sense? “Felitsa” (in abbreviation this is understood especially clearly) describes to us a certain corrupted “I”; behind him lies the collective image of a close courtier, which, in essence, includes the features of all the queen’s closest associates. This is the already mentioned Prince Grigory Potemkin, whose portrait can be seen below, and Catherine’s favorites Grigory and Alexei Orlov, revelers, fans of horse racing and fist fights, Field Marshal Pyotr Panin, first a hunter, and only then a civil servant, Prosecutor General Alexander Vyazemsky, who especially revered popular print stories, and many others. And who did Derzhavin himself consider himself to be? “Felitsa” (analysis of the ode, summary and analysis help to establish this) is a work in which the author approaches his personality without bias, and therefore considers himself to be part of a noble company, because by this time Gabriel Romanovich had already become a state councilor. However, at the same time, he was able to objectively recognize his own sins, weaknesses, vices, and, according to the poet’s personal remark, “stupidity.” Derzhavin does not condemn the human passions of court servants and noble men: he understands that, characteristic of many, they are sometimes balanced by a brilliant mind and talent, which serve for the benefit of the Russian state and for the sake of its prosperity.

Satirical criticism of the past

However, Derzhavin is not always good-natured. “Felitsa,” a brief description of the main idea of which was presented in this article, also shows the reader another line - this is a description of the period of Anna Ioannovna’s reign. Here the poet does not hide his own indignation at the case of the forced marriage of the high-born prince M. Golitsyn, at the whim of the queen, to an old ugly dwarf, because of which a worthy man turned into a court jester (stanza 18). According to Derzhavin, other representatives of noble Russian families were also humiliated - Count A. Apraksin and Prince N. Volkonsky. Oda G.R. Derzhavin's "Felitsa", a brief summary of which allows us to evaluate its large-scale idea, among other things, affirms the inviolability of the human right to preserve personal dignity and honor. The trampling of these categories is considered by Gabriel Romanovich as a great sin, and therefore he calls on both the reader and the empress to respect them. To do this, Catherine needs to comply with the laws, be the guarantor of their supremacy, protect the “weak” and “poor”, and show mercy.

Final lines

Derzhavin Gavrila Romanovich (1743-1816). Russian poet. Representative of Russian classicism. G.R. Derzhavin was born near Kazan into a family of small landed nobles. The Derzhavin family originated from the descendants of Murza Bagrim, who voluntarily went over to the side of Grand Duke Vasily II (1425-1462), which is attested in the document personal archive G.R. Derzhavin.

Derzhavin's work is deeply contradictory. While revealing the possibilities of classicism, he at the same time destroyed it, paving the way for romantic and realistic poetry.

Derzhavin's poetic creativity is extensive and is mainly represented by odes, among which civil, victorious-patriotic, philosophical and anacreontic odes can be distinguished.

A special place is occupied by civil odes addressed to persons endowed with great political power: monarchs, nobles. Among the best of this cycle is the ode “Felitsa” dedicated to Catherine II.

In 1762, Derzhavin received a call to military service to St. Petersburg, in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. From this time it begins civil service Derzhavin, to whom the poet devoted over 40 years of his life. The time of service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment is also the beginning of Derzhavin’s poetic activity, which undoubtedly played an exceptionally important role in his career biography. Fate threw Derzhavin into various military and civilian positions: he was a member of a special secret commission, the main task of which was to capture E. Pugachev; For several years he was in the service of the all-powerful Prosecutor General Prince. A.A. Vyazemsky (1777-1783). It was at this time that he wrote his famous ode "Felitsa", published on May 20, 1873 in the "Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word".

"Felitsa" brought Derzhavin noisy literary fame. The poet was generously rewarded by the empress with a golden snuffbox sprinkled with diamonds. A modest official of the Senate department became the most famous poet throughout Russia.

The fight against the abuses of nobles, nobility and officials for the good of Russia was a defining feature of Derzhavin’s activities both as a statesman and as a poet. And Derzhavin saw the power capable of leading the state with dignity, leading Russia to glory, to prosperity, to “bliss” only in an enlightened monarchy. Hence the appearance in his work of the theme of Catherine II - Felitsa.

In the early 80s. Derzhavin was not yet closely acquainted with the empress. When creating her image, the poet used stories about her, the dissemination of which Catherine herself took care of, a self-portrait painted in her literary works, ideas preached in her “Instructions” and decrees. At the same time, Derzhavin knew very well many prominent nobles of Catherine’s court, under whose command he had to serve. Therefore, Derzhavin’s idealization of the image of Catherine II is combined with a critical attitude towards her nobles,

The very image of Felitsa, a wise and virtuous Kyrgyz princess, was taken by Derzhavin from “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” written by Catherine II for her grandchildren. "Felitsa" continues the tradition of laudable odes of Lomonosov and at the same time differs from them in its new interpretation of the image of the enlightened monarch. Enlightenment scholars now see in the monarch a person to whom society has entrusted the care of the welfare of citizens; he is entrusted with numerous responsibilities towards the people. And Derzhavin’s Felitsa acts as a gracious monarch-legislator:

Not valuing your peace,

You read and write in front of the lectern

And all from your pen

Shedding bliss to mortals...

It is known that the source of the creation of the image of Felitsa was the document “Order of the Commission on the Drafting of a New Code” (1768), written by Catherine II herself. One of the main ideas of the “Nakaz” is the need to soften the existing laws that allowed torture during interrogations, the death penalty for minor offenses, etc., so Derzhavin endowed his Felitsa with mercy and leniency:

Are you ashamed to be considered great?

To be scary and unloved;

The bear is decently wild

Rip animals and drink their blood.

And how nice it is to be a tyrant,

Tamerlane, great in atrocity,

There you can whisper in conversations

And, without fear of execution, at dinners

Don't drink to the health of kings.

There with the name Felitsa you can

Scrape out the typo in the line

Or a portrait carelessly

Drop it on the ground.

What was fundamentally new was that from the very first lines of the ode the poet depicts the Russian Empress (and in Felitsa, readers easily guessed it was Catherine) primarily from the point of view of her human qualities:

Without imitating your Murzas,

You often walk

And the food is the simplest

It happens at your table...

Derzhavin also praises Catherine for the fact that from the first days of her stay in Russia she strove to follow in everything the “customs” and “rites” of the country that sheltered her. The Empress succeeded in this and aroused sympathy both at court and in the guard.

Derzhavin's innovation was manifested in "Felitsa" not only in the interpretation of the image of an enlightened monarch, but also in the bold combination of laudatory and accusatory principles, ode and satire. The ideal image of Felitsa is contrasted with negligent nobles (in the ode they are called “Murzas”). “Felitsa” depicts the most influential persons at court: Prince G. A. Potemkin, Counts Orlov, Count P. I. Panin, Prince Vyazemsky. Their portraits were so expressively executed that the originals were easily recognizable.

Criticizing the nobles spoiled by power, Derzhavin emphasizes their weaknesses, whims, petty interests, unworthy of a high dignitary. So, for example, Potemkin is presented as a gourmet and glutton, a lover of feasts and amusements; The Orlovs amuse “their spirit with fist fighters and dancing”; Panin, “giving up worry about all matters,” goes hunting, and Vyazemsky enlightens his “mind and heart” - he reads “Polkan and Bova”, “he sleeps over the Bible, yawning.”

Enlightenmentists understood the life of society as a constant struggle between truth and error. In Derzhavin’s ode, the ideal, the norm is Felitsa, the deviation from the norm is her careless “Murzas”. Derzhavin was the first to begin to depict the world as it appears to an artist.

The undoubted poetic courage was the appearance in the ode “Felitsa” of the image of the poet himself, shown in an everyday setting, not distorted by a conventional pose, not constrained by classical canons. Derzhavin was the first Russian poet who was able and, most importantly, wanted to paint a living and truthful portrait of himself in his work:

Sitting at home, I'll do a prank,

Playing fools with my wife...

The “eastern” flavor of the ode is noteworthy: it was written on behalf of the Tatar Murza, and eastern cities are mentioned in it - Baghdad, Smyrna, Kashmir. The end of the ode is in a laudatory, high style:

I ask the great prophet

I will touch the dust of your feet.

The image of Felitsa is repeated in Derzhavin’s subsequent poems, caused by various events in the poet’s life: “Gratitude to Felitsa”, “Image of Felitsa”, “Vision of Murza”.

The high poetic merits of the ode “Felitsa” brought it wide fame at that time in the circles of the most advanced Russian people. A. N. Radishchev, for example, wrote: “If you add many stanzas from the ode to Felitsa, and especially where Murza describes himself, almost poetry will remain without poetry.” “Everyone who can read Russian found it in their hands,” testified O. P. Kozodavlev, editor of the magazine where the ode was published.

Derzhavin compares Catherine's reign with the cruel morals that reigned in Russia during the Bironism under Empress Anna Ioannovna, and praises Felitsa for a number of laws useful for the country.

The ode "Felitsa", in which Derzhavin combined opposite principles: positive and negative, pathetic and satire, ideal and real, finally consolidated in Derzhavin's poetry what began in 1779 - mixing, breaking, eliminating the strict genre system