☰ Contents · Russian language

A. S. Pushkin: life and lyric poetry

Lessons 24 · 1 lessons · M. E. Rozhnova, U. T. Yaminova. Russian Language, Grade 8 (textbook for general secondary schools with Uzbek and other languages of instruction), 2nd revised edition. “Uzbekistan” Publishing and Printing Creative House, Tashkent, 2019
24

A. S. Pushkin: life and lyric poetry. «Я помню чудное мгновенье…»

Textbook: pp. 81–84
GoalLearn about A. S. Pushkin’s life and work; know the three literary kinds and the genre of lyric poetry; understand the poem «Я помню чудное мгновенье…».
New words
лирика · lirikaэпитет · epitetссылка · surgunлирический герой · lirik qahramon
Explanation

A. S. Pushkin was born in 1799 in Moscow into a noble family that was not wealthy. He was raised by his grandmother M. A. Gannibal (who taught him to read Russian), his nanny Arina Rodionovna (who told him folk songs and tales) and a French tutor. He entered the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum in 1811, finished in 1817 and served in Petersburg; he was exiled in 1820 for his poems about freedom. In autumn 1830 at Boldino he wrote «Повести Белкина», the last chapters of «Евгений Онегин» and many lyric poems. He died in 1837 of a wound received in a duel. Literature has three kinds: epic (novel, tale, story), drama (tragedy, comedy) and lyrics. Lyrics show a person’s inner feelings; the word comes from the ancient Greek instrument, the lyre. Pushkin’s love lyrics and landscape lyrics («Осень», «Зимнее утро») are famous.

Worked examples
«К*** (Я помню чудное мгновенье…)» in brief: the poet remembers a wonderful moment when she appeared like a fleeting vision, a “genius of pure beauty”. Years passed, storms scattered his dreams, he forgot her voice, and in exile his days went by without inspiration or love. Then his soul awoke, she appeared again, and his heart beat with joy as inspiration, life, tears and love returned.
Epithets in the poem: «чудное мгновенье, мимолётное виденье, голос нежный, небесные черты» — they make the moment and the woman vivid. Two lines of the first stanza come back almost word for word in the fifth stanza and tie the poem together like a ring.
Class activity

“Lyric or epic?” The teacher reads short extracts (feeling / events); pupils name the kind and justify it.

Practice
1
When and where was Pushkin born, which lyceum did he attend?
2
Who looked after Pushkin’s upbringing?
3
Name the three kinds of literature and explain what is special about lyrics.
4
Why are the two lines beginning «Как мимолётное виденье…» repeated (in stanzas 1 and 5)?