Mandelstam notre d'analysis. Analysis of the poem by O. E. Mandelstam “Notre Dame. Literary direction and genre
Osip Mandelstam is one of the brightest representatives of the Silver Age poets. His contribution to the development of Russian literature of the twentieth century is difficult to overestimate, and his tragic fate leaves no one indifferent.
The analysis of the poem is fascinating and interesting in itself. Mandelstam also reveals in his lyrics the world of the Acmeists, their attitude to poetry and artistic orientation. The article will examine the writer’s most famous works: “Leningrad”, “Insomnia”, “Tender Evening”, “Century” and “Notre Dame”.
Curriculum Vitae
The future poet was born in 1891 into a Warsaw merchant family, which moved to St. Petersburg in 1897. Here Osip Emilievich graduates from the Tenishev School. After which he goes to Paris, attends lectures at the Sorbonne, and studies at the University of Heidelberg.
In 1910, his poems were published for the first time in the Apollo magazine. Over the course of a year, Mandelstam became part of the literary community, while gravitating towards the ideas of the Acmeists. In 1913, the writer published his first collection of poems - “Stone”.
The poet's life journey ends in 1938, when he was repressed and exiled to Voronezh. Mandelstam died in an exile camp and was buried in a mass grave.
Analysis of the poem helps to reveal the inner world and features of the poet’s worldview. In this regard, Mandelstam reveals to the reader his point of view on what happened at the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia, and what he himself witnessed.
Characteristics of Osip Mandelstam's lyrics
Mandelstam's poetic path began at the age of 14, when his first poems were written. From this moment begins the early period of creativity, characterized by pessimism and the search for the meaning of life. Initially, Mandelstam was captivated by the ideas of the Symbolists and turned to musical images and motifs in his poetry. However, acquaintance with the Acmeists dramatically changed the ideas and tone of the poet’s lyrics. In works such as “Nature is the same as Rome...” architectural images begin to appear, which is confirmed by the analysis of the poem. Mandelstam understands the development of civilizations as a continuous, constant process, where cultural heritage (including architecture) reflects the changes and views of peoples.
To understand and comprehend the features of Mandelstam's lyrics, it is necessary to turn to the analysis of his program poems.
"Leningrad"
An analysis of the poem “Leningrad” by Mandelstam can begin with a description of the plot. The lyrical hero returns to the city of his childhood - Leningrad. Here he found his calling, made friends, many of whom he can no longer meet. His connection with the city is so strong that it is comparable to blood and carnal ties: “down to the veins, to the swollen glands of children.” This is a connection with the space of Leningrad: “the fat of Leningrad river lanterns”, “the yolk is mixed with the ominous tar” (a metaphor describing the cloudy sky and dim sunlight). But the strongest bonds of friendship are: “I still have addresses where I will find the voices of the dead.” But no matter how strong the connection between the lyrical hero and the city, there are those who can easily break it - “guests”. They come at night without an invitation and take their family and friends with them. Their arrival is tantamount to death, since those whom they take away never return.
An analysis of the poem “Leningrad” by Mandelstam speaks about an incredibly alarming time. The author perfectly conveyed the growing anxiety, the lack of any protection from the tyranny happening around and the hopelessness of the future.
"Century"
This is one of the most expressive and terrifying works that Mandelstam wrote. The analysis of the poem “My Age, My Beast...” in many ways reflects the same feelings about the loss of the usual calm world as the previous verse.
Mandelstam compares his age to a ruthless and unbridled beast, which has broken the backbone of the established world order and cannot fix it, looking back with longing on the past. The poet subtly feels the whole tragedy of what is happening and tries with his art (which is personified by the flute) to connect the vertebrae, but there is no time, and the strength of one person is not enough. And the “building blood” continues to flow from the country’s wounds. The image of the century-beast contains not only unbridledness, but also helplessness: a broken back prevents it from regaining its former strength, all that remains is to look “at the traces of its own paws.” Thus, Mandelstam experiences the revolutionary events and the change of power painfully, difficultly and tragically.
Analysis of the poem “Insomnia”
The work is based on the second canto of Homer’s “Iliad” - “The Dream of Boeotius, or the List of Ships,” which lists all the ships and commanders that went to Troy.
The beginning of the poem is the word “insomnia”, which describes the physical state of the hero. And immediately the poet immerses the reader in an ancient Greek myth: “Homer. Tight couple...” Endlessly stretching ships are like an endless night, tormenting and not allowing you to fall asleep. The image of a crane wedge only enhances the slowness and elongation of space and time, which Mandelstam seeks to emphasize. Analysis of the poem “Insomnia” reflects the smooth flow of time and thoughts of the lyrical hero. From the description of the ships, he moves on to reflect on the purpose of the ancient war. A huge army is driven by love: “Where are you sailing? If not for Helen, what is Troy to you, Achaean men?.. And the sea, and Homer - everything moves with love.” The next line returns to reality, to the present era for the lyrical hero: “Who should I listen to? And so Homer is silent."
Love is the main driving force that remains unchanged from ancient times to this day, Osip Mandelstam expressed this opinion in this poem.
Analysis of the poem “Tender Evening”
The poem describes one of the picnics on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where Mandelstam was a frequent guest during his studies at the Sorbonne. This work stands out sharply against the background of all the poet’s work with its joy, happiness and carefree pink light. The poet acts as a romantic, paints a beautiful landscape picture filled with sounds, smells and bright colors. The nineteen-year-old writer is happy, he feels the freedom and limitlessness of his possibilities, the whole world opens up before him. The poet openly expresses his opinion, there is no fear or fear of incurring trouble (which appears in later work). 
After returning to Russia, Mandelstam would never write such joyful lines again. Analysis of the poem “Tender Evening” reveals the cheerful soul of the writer, thirsting for freedom and life.
"Notre Dame"
The poem “Notre Dame,” like the previous one, is based on the impressions that studying in France left behind. Mandelstam traveled a lot during this period and was shocked by the sight of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The poem is dedicated to this architectural monument. Mandelstam describes the building incredibly metaphorically and sensually. Analysis of the poem “Notre Dame” reveals the beauty of the cathedral, compared to a living creature: “the light cross vault plays with its muscles.” The poet is frightened and delighted by the spectacle, he is imbued with the beauty and grandeur of the structure and gradually recognizes it as the most beautiful in the world. 
With the very first line, Mandelstam refers to the history of the creation of the Council: “Where the Roman judge judged a foreign people.” The emerging Roman theme is necessary in order to show the connection between architecture and the cultural and historical development of peoples.
Mandelstam admires and is surprised by the abilities of the ancient architects. The analysis of the poem “Notre Dame” can be reduced to a description of the contrasts on which the entire work is built: “light vault” - “heavy mass of the wall”, “Egyptian power” - “Christian timidity”, “oak” - “reed”. The combination of conflicting feelings, dissimilar materials and different approaches to depiction hides the beauty of both the cathedral itself and the poet’s poem. 
Conclusion
Thus, a simple analysis of the poem will help to reveal the author’s position and understand the soul, worldview and mood of the poet. Mandelstam is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and unusual poets of the Silver Age, whose work delights, attracts and fascinates.
The work dates back to the early period of Mandelstam’s work. It was published in 1913 along with the manifesto of a new direction in poetry - Acmeism. In contrast to the symbolists, who wrote about fictitious other worlds, the Acmeists believed that poets should write about beautiful earthly things, to which the poet should give names, like Adam in paradise (therefore, his mention in the first stanza of the poem is not accidental).
The poem describes the delight of contemplating the majestic building of Notre Dame Cathedral. But analysis of the poem "Notre Dame" is impossible without knowledge of some facts from history and architecture. The cathedral was built on the island of Cité, where Lutetia, a Roman settlement among the Gauls (“foreign people”), was located during the Roman Empire. During the construction of the cathedral, an innovative achievement of the Gothic style was used - a cross vault, which was strengthened from the outside with girth arches. Outwardly, they resemble a fish skeleton (“monstrous ribs”). The cathedral is the successor of three cultures - Gallic, Roman and Christian.
Analysis of the poem "Notre Dame" is simple. The poem is built on contrasts: the “joyful and light” cross vault, as seen inside the room, of course, has a “heavy mass.” But since the outer arches support the vault and walls, the vault ram is not involved. In the third stanza there are even more antitheses. The most outstanding of them is about the Gothic soul that created the unconscious, which is called the rational abyss. The abyss is something spontaneous, beyond reason, but it turns out that it was rationally thought out by man. The timidity of Christians before God, however, made it possible to create a temple that was not inferior in grandeur to the Egyptian pyramids. The poem glorifies the creation of man, dedicated to God, but the main theme is not religious, but the theme of organizing material through the labor of architects and builders (“everywhere the king is a plumb line”).
The lyrical hero’s admiration for the grandiose structure leads to the conclusion that just as from stone one can create such a light, skyward building, full of light and beauty, so from ordinary words one can create beautiful poetic works, similar to the best examples of architecture. Poems should also impress with their lightness and grace, no matter how long and difficult the process of creating them is for the poet.
To read the poem “Notre Dame” by Osip Emilievich Mandelstam, you need to know the fact that by the year it was written (1912), he had already been a student at the Sorbonne for several years. However, the poet spent his student years not only studying French literature, but also traveling around the country and walking around Paris. This work is dedicated to one of its attractions - Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Studying it in a classroom literature lesson shows that describing the materiality of beauty is not all that the poet wants to say. Talking about the architecture and beauty of the Gothic cathedral, he makes a completely philosophical conclusion, drawing a parallel between stones and words.
In the text of Mandelstam's poem “Notre Dame,” words are the same building material as stones. And if with the help of the latter you can create aerial architecture that delights and excites people, then the former - just as rude and uncouth - can create beautiful lines that you want to learn in full. And indeed, after reading this work online, you can “see” all the beauty of the building described in it, and the skill of the man who built his own masterpiece from words, only poetic.
Where the Roman judge judged a foreign people -
There is a basilica, and - joyful and first -
Like Adam once, spreading his nerves,
The light cross vault plays with its muscles.
But a secret plan reveals itself from the outside,
Here the strength of the girth arches was taken care of,
So that the heavy weight of the wall does not crush,
And the ram is inactive on the daring arch.
A spontaneous labyrinth, an incomprehensible forest,
Gothic souls are a rational abyss,
Egyptian power and Christianity timidity,
Next to the reed is an oak tree, and everywhere the king is a plumb line.
But the closer you look, the stronghold of Notre Dame,
I studied your monstrous ribs, -
The more often I thought: out of unkind heaviness
And someday I will create something beautiful...
The poem “Notre Dame” was written by the young Mandelstam in 1912 and was included in his first poetry collection “Stone” (1916).
Literary direction and genre
In 1913, the poem was published in the appendix to the manifesto (declaration) of Acmeism as its ideal example. The essence of the poem corresponds to the acmeist postulate that poetry should find the subject of the image in the ordinary, earthly. Acmeism is the poetry of precise words and tangible objects. Mandelstam chooses “Notre Dame” as such a subject.
Theme, main idea and composition
The title of the poem indicates the subject of the description - Notre Dame Cathedral.
The poem consists of four stanzas. Each stanza is a new look at the subject, a new turn of thought. Thus, the whole is made up of harmonious parts. The poem is like a majestic cathedral, which is perceived by the lyrical hero as a living organism.
The first stanza is the lyrical hero’s view from the inside at the cathedral vault. The second stanza is a description of the cathedral from the outside. The third and fourth stanzas are a closer look at the cathedral from the inside and outside. This cross-alternation is in harmony with the cruciform vault of the cathedral, a find from the 12th century.
The composition of the poem is connected not only with the description of the cathedral, but also with the reasoning of the lyrical hero looking at it about the past, present and future of humanity and himself in the context of historical and cultural development.
The first stanza describes the past of mankind: the cathedral was founded at the end of the 12th century. on the site where there was once a Roman colony. Comparing the first used cruciform vault design with the first man Adam, Mandelstam turns to the theme of the first, new discovery in human history and culture.
The second and third stanzas describe the cathedral as a combination of three cultures: Roman classical antiquity, Gallic (pagan) and Christian as the spiritual filling of the material creation of the architects.
The third stanza looks to the future. Mandelstam, who is 21 years old, strives to create “beautiful”, like a harmonious cathedral consisting of “monstrous ribs.”
Mandelstam, like Adam, must correctly name earthly things, and this is the purpose of the poet from the point of view of Acmeism. The theme of the poem is the purpose of the poet and his connection with the cultural heritage of all humanity. The main idea is the connection of all objects and things: past and future, Christianity and paganism, ugly and beautiful, the artist and his creation.
Paths and images
The main idea is best reflected by the main symbol of this poem - a stone. This is an ideal material, the embodiment of everything earthly. The stone is filled with the wisdom of centuries, becoming a cathedral.
The poem is built on contrasts and oppositions. This structure is dictated by the architectural style of the cathedral. Gothic is a system of opposing forces. The cathedral, like a perfect organism, combines opposites. The vault of the cathedral, which seems light from the inside, presses with such force that girth arches are needed to support this “ram”.
The third stanza is entirely based on contrasts. The labyrinth and the forest are images of horizontal and vertical obstacles. The floor of Gothic churches was sometimes laid out with a labyrinth; it was a symbol of the path to the heavenly Jerusalem. The image of a dense forest in which a person gets lost, traditional for culture, is used, for example, in Dante's Divine Comedy.
Oak and reed are contrasted as dissimilar elements of the cathedral (thick and thin). There is philosophical depth in this opposition: a person as a thinking reed (in the words of Pascal) in all his vulnerability and misunderstanding is contrasted with a person of a different worldview, who understands everything and is self-confident.
Egyptian (pagan) power is contrasted with Christian timidity. The mental abyss is an oxymoron. The abyss cannot be rational, but for the gothic soul, uniting opposites, the world looks like this.
In the last stanza, the monstrous is contrasted with the beautiful, just as the material from which masterpieces are created (“bad heaviness”) is contrasted with the creation of human hands.
The entire poem is based on the personification of the cathedral. The cathedral has monstrous ribs, the vault plays with muscles, spreading out the nerves.
The poem's epithets are very emotional: a daring vault, an incomprehensible forest, monstrous ribs, an unkind heaviness. Most epithets are metaphorical. There are also individual metaphors: “everywhere the king is a plumb line.”
Meter and rhyme
The poem is written in iambic hexameter with many pyrrhic lines, which is why the poem does not have an artificial strict rhythm. The rhyme pattern in the stanzas is circular. The researchers noticed that the author's surname rhymes with the first and last lines of the fourth stanza-conclusion. It seems that Mandelstam subscribes to the poem.
- "Leningrad", analysis of Mandelstam's poem
1891 - 1921. Collection "Stone".
Poems" Notre Dame " 1912 .
Biographical information.
Teacher's opening speech.
Osip Mandelstam is one of the most mysterious and most significant Russian poets of the 20th century. His early work dates back to the “Silver Age”, and later goes far beyond this time period.
O. Mandelstam was born on January 3 (15), 1891 in Warsaw in the family of a merchant of the first guild, Khatskel (Emil) Veniaminovich Mandelstam.
He spent his childhood in St. Petersburg, absorbed Russian culture with its “worldwide responsiveness,” and it became closer to him than Jewish culture, although he was born into a Jewish family. He spent his school years at the famous Tenishevsky School (humanitarian gymnasium).
In 1909, he visited France, Italy, and Germany for the first time, and there Mandelstam absorbed the spirit of European culture. In 1911 he returned to Russia and entered the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University.
Mandelstam finds himself in a poetic environment, meets Symbolist poets, attends meetings on the V. Ivanov Tower, becomes close to N. Gumilyov, and performs in the famous cafe "Stray Dog".
The beginning of a creative journey. Break with symbolism.Mandelstam is an Acmeist.
Working with quotations. What conclusion can be drawn from O. Mandelstam’s statements about the duty of a poet, about the peculiarities of the poetics of early creativity?
Mandelstam begins his creative path as a student of the symbolists, but his entry into literature comes at a time when the crisis of symbolism is already obvious. The attraction to the tangible, material world led Mandelstam to Acmeism.
In his programmatic article “The Morning of Acmeism,” Mandelstam speaks out against symbolism with its denial of the three-dimensional world: “In order to build successfully, the first condition is sincere reverence for the three dimensions of space - to look at the world not as a burden and an unfortunate accident, but as God.” this palace.<...>You can build only in the name of “three dimensions,” since they are the conditions of all architecture. This is why an architect must be a good homebody, and the Symbolists were bad architects. To build means to fight emptiness, to hypnotize space. The good arrow of the Gothic bell tower is evil, because its whole purpose is to prick the sky, to reproach it for being empty.”
The poet also does not accept futurism with its disbelief in the real meaning of the word, with its word invention: “... discarding with contempt the spillikins of the futurists, for whom there is no higher pleasure, like hooking a difficult word with a knitting needle, we introduce Gothic into the relations of words, similar to , as Sebastian Bach established it in music. What madman would agree to build if he does not believe in the reality of the material whose resistance he must overcome,<...>... Tyutchev’s stone, which “having rolled down from the mountain, lay down in the valley, torn down by itself or thrown down by a thinking hand” (see F. I. Tyutchev’s poem “Problem” - auto) - there is a word. The voice of matter in this unexpected fall sounds like articulate speech. This challenge can only be answered by architecture. The Acmeists reverently lift the mysterious Tyutchev stone and place it at the base of their building. The stone seemed to long for a different existence. He himself discovered the potential ability of dynamics hidden in him - as if he asked to be taken into the “cross vault” to participate in the joyful interaction of his own kind.”
A poet, according to Mandelstam, is a builder, an architect. Just as the material for a builder is stone, so for a poet it is the word. Stone is a rough, unprocessed material, but it has the potential to become part of the whole: a cross vault, a Gothic cathedral, a spire. We need to lift it, connect it with others, turn heaviness into dynamics, material into structure. The word is material, but words should not stand alone, they should “play with all their tints, in a “cheerful” roll call among themselves, like stones in cathedrals.” This analogy determined both the title of Mandelstam’s first collection (“Stone”) and the place that the theme of architecture occupies in the collection.
Poetics of the collection "Stone".
Analysis of the poem "Notre Dame" 1912.
Where the Roman judge judged a foreign people,
There is a basilica - and, joyful and first,
Like Adam once, spreading his nerves,
The light cross vault plays with its muscles.
But a secret plan reveals itself from the outside:
Here the strength of the girth arches was taken care of,
So that the heavy weight of the wall does not crush,
And the ram is inactive on the daring arch.
A spontaneous labyrinth, an incomprehensible forest,
Gothic souls are a rational abyss,
Egyptian power and Christianity timidity,
Next to the reed is an oak tree, and everywhere the king is a plumb line.
But the closer you look, the stronghold of Notre Dame,
I studied your monstrous ribs
The more often I thought: out of unkind heaviness
And someday I will create something beautiful.
Questions to identify a general idea of the poem as a whole.
Frontal work.
1. What is this poem about? How does the lyrical hero perceive the cathedral? What is the conclusion of the poem?
2. Use the necessary comments to understand stanzas I and II.
3. Pay attention to the composition of the poem. How does poetic thought develop in a poem? What special do you see in the arrangement of the stanzas? Where is the lyrical hero, where does he look at the cathedral? What can you say about the time plan of the poem?
Questions for analyzing a poemin groups.
To help students, dictionaries and excerpts from articles by literary scholars are offered.
4. How do the images of stanza III relate to each other? What opposing principles are present in the appearance of the cathedral? What unites dissimilar elements into a single harmonic structure? What other associations do you have in connection with the lines of stanza III?
5. How is the image of the cathedral connected with the content of the last stanza? What is unique about the sound of this stanza? How does its phonetic structure reveal the idea of the poem?
6. Analyze the context into which this poem fit by Mandelstam and his contemporaries.
Suggested answers.
1. What is this poem about? How does the lyrical hero perceive the cathedral? What is the conclusion of the poem?
This is a poem about a cathedral. The poet enthusiastically describes it: the lyrical hero sees the cathedral as light, joyful, beautiful, human-like, built on contradictions. The last stanza concludes: out of unkind heaviness, and someday I will create something beautiful.
2. Let's get the necessary comments to understandIAndIIstanzas.
Notre Dame is built on the Ile de la Cité in the center of Paris, where ancient Lutetia, a colony founded by Rome, was located: Roman settlement among someone else's Gallic people. Let us also recall that Rome is the capital of Catholicism, Notre Dame is a Catholic cathedral. In Roman, Catholic culture, Mandelstam at that time saw an example of man’s creative and active transformation of the world. It is no coincidence that many of the poems in the collection “Stone”, in which the poem was included, are related to the theme of Rome
Many elements of Notre Dame are associated with Gothic, a movement in architecture and art that originated in the 12th century and became widespread in medieval Europe. In architecture, where there are no arches and vaults, the entire “evil weight” of the building presses only from top to bottom - as in a Greek temple. And when a vault and a dome appear in architecture, it not only presses down on the walls, but also pushes them sideways: if the walls don’t hold up, they will collapse in all directions at once. To prevent this from happening, in the Early Middle Ages they did it simply: they built the walls very thick - it was the Romanesque style. But it is difficult to make large windows in such walls; the temple was dark and ugly.
Then, in the High Middle Ages, in the Gothic style, they began to make the dome not smooth, like an overturned cup, but with wedges, like a sewn skullcap. This was the cross vault: in it the entire weight of the dome went along the stone seams between these wedges, and the spaces between the seams did not put pressure, the walls under them could be made thinner and cut through with wide windows with colored glass. But where the stone seams with their increased weight rested against the walls, these parts of the walls had to be greatly strengthened: for this, additional supports were attached to them from the outside - girth arches, flying buttresses, which with their bursting force pressed towards the bursting force of the vault and thereby supported the walls. From the outside, these girth arches around the building looked just like the ribs of a fish skeleton: hence the word ribs in stanza IV. And the stone seams between the dome wedges were called ribs: hence the word nerves in stanza I.
3. Let's pay attention to the composition of the poem. Where is the lyrical hero, where does he look at the cathedral? What can you say about the time plan of the poem? What special do you see in the arrangement of the stanzas?
Now this is enough to retell the poem in your own words in stanzas: (I, exposition) the cathedral on the site of the Roman judgment seat is beautiful and light, (II, the most “technical” stanza) but this lightness is the result of a dynamic balance of opposing forces, (III, the most pathetic stanza) everything in it amazes with contrasts, - (IV, conclusion) that’s how I would like to create beauty from resisting material. At the beginning of stanzas II and IV there is the word But, it singles them out as the main, thematically supporting ones; a compositional rhythm is obtained, alternating less and more important stanzas after one. I stanza - a look from the inside under light cross vault; Stanza II - a look from the outside; III stanza - again from the inside; Stanza IV - again a studying look from the outside. Stanza I looks to the past, II-III to the present, IV to the future.
4. How do the images relate to each other?III stanzas? What opposing principles are present in the appearance of the cathedral? What unites dissimilar elements into a single harmonic structure? What other associations do you have in connection with the lines?IIIstanzas?
The Gothic style is a system of opposing forces: accordingly, the style of a poem is a system of contrasts, antitheses. They are thickest - we noticed this - in stanza III. The brightest of them: Gothic souls, a mental abyss: an abyss is something irrational, but here even the abyss, it turns out, is rationally constructed by the human mind. Elemental labyrinth- something horizontal incomprehensible forest- something vertical: also contrast. Elemental Labyrinth: The natural elements are organized into a human construct, intricate but deliberately confusing. Here, according to some commentators, Mandelstam is referring to the floor decoration often used in Gothic cathedrals, symbolizing the path to Jerusalem. Further. Egyptian power and Christian timidity- also an antithesis: the Christian fear of God unexpectedly prompts the construction of buildings not humble and wretched, but mighty, like the Egyptian pyramids. An oak tree next to a reed- the same thought, but in a specific image.
An architectural structure is not a creation of nature, but its likeness, executed with absolute constructive precision. The cathedral is the creation of a man who, in accordance with a strict creative plan, a “secret plan,” managed to transform material (stone) into a work of art, into a complex structure that combines the rational and the incomprehensible, the powerful and the subtlest, which is emphasized by the compositional structure of the third stanza. All the heterogeneous elements that make up the cathedral are united by extreme precision and strict technical calculation (“and everywhere the king is a plumb line”).
In the subtext of the image with a reed next to an oak tree- fables of Lafontaine and Krylov: in a storm the oak tree dies, and the reed bends, but survives; and behind it is another subtext with contrast, Pascal’s maxim: Man is just a reed, but a thinking reed, we remember her from Tyutchev’s line: ...and the thinking reed murmurs. And in the early poems of Mandelstam himself, a reed growing out of a swamp was a symbol of such important concepts as Christianity growing out of Judaism. Let's not digress too far, but you see how our perception is enriched in connection with the understanding of these particulars, i.e. subtext of the work.
5. How is the image of the cathedral related to the content of the last stanza? What is unique about the sound of this stanza? How does its phonetic structure reveal the idea of the poem?
In the depicted cathedral, the poet sees a universal model of creativity, including poetic creativity: just as a magnificent work of architecture emerges from a heavy uncut stone, so a poetic work is created from a “raw” word. The very sound of the last stanza conveys the emergence of the beautiful from the heaviness of the unkind, the overcoming of the material with creativity: the alliteration of the first three lines (t - r t - r // w - r - r // w - t - r) is replaced in the last line by an assonance with four accents A(a - o - a // e - a - o // o - a).
6. And inconclusionLet's look at the context into which this poem fit by Mandelstam and his contemporaries.
The poem was published at the beginning of 1913 as an appendix to the declaration of a new literary movement - Acmeism, led by Gumilyov, Akhmatova and the now forgotten Gorodetsky. Acmeism opposed itself to symbolism: the symbolists had the poetry of allusions, the acmeists had the poetry of precise words. They declared: poetry should write about our earthly world, and not about other worlds; this world is beautiful, it is full of good things, and the poet, like Adam in heaven, must give names to all things. (This is why Adam is mentioned, seemingly unnecessarily, in stanza I of Notre Dame). And indeed, we can notice: Notre Dame is a poem about a temple, but it is not a religious poem. Mandelstam looks at the temple not through the eyes of a believer, but through the eyes of a master, a builder, for whom it does not matter what god he is building for, but only important is that his building lasts firmly and for a long time. This is emphasized in stanza I: Notre Dame is the heir of three cultures: Gallic (foreign people), Roman (judge), and Christian. Culture is not part of religion, but religion is part of culture: a very important feature of a worldview. And to this feeling, common to all Acmeists, Mandelstam adds his own: in his programmatic article “The Morning of Acmeism” he writes: “Acmeists share their love for the body and organization with the physiologically brilliant Middle Ages.” In his poem he glorifies NotreDame as the organization of material through the labors of a builder. We see how the poem Notre Dame fit into the context of the literary struggle of Acmeism with symbolism in 1913, it is a hymn to an organization: culture.
Conclusion.
Thus, Mandelstam the architect weaves into a single design the signs of past cultures. Mandelstam’s poems sound the speech of a modern person, but a person living in a cultural space formed by numerous eras.
Homework:
Students read the collection "Stone". Complete written tasks C3, C4. Learn by heart one of your favorite poems.
Examples of homework:
In what images of the poem "Notre Dame" is the lyrical hero's idea of the cathedral embodied?
God created Adam, and man the creator created Notre Dame in honor of Our Lady of Paris. The cathedral is like a man: “joyful” (happy with life), “flexing his muscles.” It is as complex and mysterious as God's creation. He is the unity of opposites: powerful and subtle (“Egyptian power and Christianity’s timidity, with a reed next to it is an oak tree”), rational and incomprehensible (“an elemental labyrinth, an incomprehensible forest, a Gothic soul’s rational abyss”). This work of art is the result of the labor of the human mind, the embodiment of a “secret plan”. The cathedral was made with absolute structural precision, verified, technically calculated: “and everywhere there is a plumb line.”
Just as God created the world - the Universe, so over the centuries man has been arranging his world - the Earth, “out of evil heaviness” creating beauty for the joy of himself and future generations. The poet looks at the cathedral through the eyes of a master, glorifying the organization of the material through the labors of the builder. The motive of creativity sounds. The sight of Notre Dama inspires the lyrical hero to create a beautiful work of art - poetic - from raw words.
Petrov Anatoly. 11Ya.
In which works of Russian poets does the theme of “beautiful” arise and what makes them similar to O. Mandelstam’s poem? " Notre Dame"?
Beauty can inspire. Just as Mandelstam writes about Notre Dame, so A.S. Pushkin writes about the Bronze Horseman in the poem of the same name. He admires the pride and strength of the ruler immortalized in the monument:
What a thought on the brow!
What power is hidden in it!
......................................
O mighty lord of fate!
For Pushkin, the monument is a symbol of the greatness of St. Petersburg, built by Peter I:
From the darkness of the swamps, from the swamps of blat
He ascended magnificently and proudly.
St. Petersburg, the pearl of Russia, has been inspiring more than one generation of people to create beauty.
Pushkin also writes that a person can be a beautiful source of vitality. In the poem “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” he says that it is the “genius of pure beauty”, “a fleeting vision” that can revive and heal a soul suffering in captivity:
And the heart beats in ecstasy,
And for him they rose again
And deity and inspiration,
And life, and tears, and love.
A person lives while he contemplates, experiences the beautiful, and creates it; This is the happiness of a person.
Schultz Ksenia. 11 I.
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