Ode “Felitsa” written in 1782 is the first poem that made Gavril Romanovich Derzhavin very famous, and also which became an example of a new style in Russian poetry.
The ode received its name from the heroine of “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” which was written by Catherine II herself. She is also named by the same name, which translates as “happiness,” in Derzhavin’s ode, which glorified the empress and caricatured her entire entourage. Indeed, breaking all the traditions of the genre of laudable odes, Derzhavin widely introduced colloquial vocabulary and even non-literary statements into it, but most importantly, he did not draw an official portrait of the empress, but depicted her human appearance. But not everyone was as delighted with this poem as the empress. It confused and worried many.
On the one hand, in the ode “Felitsa” a completely established image of a “god-like princess” is drawn, which expresses the writer’s concept of the standard of the Right Reverend monarch. Noticeably embellishing the real Catherine II, Derzhavin firmly believes in the image he painted.
On the other hand, in the writer’s poems one hears the idea not only of the wisdom of power, but also of the dishonesty of performers who are only interested in their own benefit. The idea is not new, but behind the figures of the nobles who were described in the ode, the features of real people were clearly visible.
In these images you can easily recognize the favorite of the Empress Potemkin, her close associates Alexei Orlov, Panin, Naryshkin. By painting their bright, mocking portraits, Derzhavin showed great courage - because any of those whom the poet offended could easily deal with the writer. And only the empress’s benevolent attitude saved Derzhavin. And he even decides to give a recommendation to Catherine: to obey the law, which is the same for everyone. The work ends with the traditional praise of Catherine and the wish for all the best to her.
Thus, in “Felitsa” Derzhavin appeared as a bold pioneer who combined the style of laudatory ode with individualization of characters and satire, and introduced elements of low styles into the high genre of ode. Later, the author himself defined the genre of “Felitsa” as a “mixed ode”.
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The ode was written in 1782 - the first work that made the poet famous, and in addition, it is the image of a new style for poetry in Russia.
The work was named in honor of the heroine from the fairy tale “Prince Chlorus,” written by Catherine II. Also, the name means “happiness”, named in the poet’s work, and this glorified the empress and was able to show everyone around her. And having destroyed the customs of the genre of laudatory odes, the author was able to introduce colloquial vocabulary, in addition to some obscene phrases, but also importantly - he depicted the empress herself, in human form. But very few people liked such a work as the empress herself. Most were confused and discouraged.
The work shows well-established images of a decent queen, which reflects the author’s concepts about the standard of a dedicated monarch. Strongly brightening up Catherine II herself, the poet believes the image he created.
But if you look at it a little differently, then Derzhavin’s work also reflects the dishonesty of clerks who are attracted only by lucrative offers. This thought is not considered new, but behind the images of nobles who are painted in this work, the figures of real people are clearly reflected.
Here it’s easy to find out the image of the Empress’s favorite Prince Potemkin, as well as Orlov, Panin and others. By outlining their clear, funny images, the poet reflected his great courage - since anyone touched by the author could easily deal with Derzhavin. And only a good relationship with Catherine helped the poet. And he gives advice to Catherine - to obey her laws, because they are the same for everyone.
Picture or drawing Derzhavin - Felitsa
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The poet's reputation develops during his lifetime. The real understanding of his poetry and its place in literary development is determined and conditioned by history. A striking illustration of this pattern is the work of Derzhavin.
Fame came to Derzhavin suddenly in 1783, when his ode “Felitsa” was published in the first issue of the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word.” The Empress liked the poem addressed to Catherine II, and the author was awarded a gold snuffbox and 500 chervonets.
This happened at a time of growing crisis of classicism, when the ode was becoming obsolete. The rules of normative poetics obliged to follow models (in fact, in the Russian Federation, to imitate Lomonosov’s odes).
Derzhavin acted as a daring destroyer of the aesthetic system of classicism, a brave innovator who opened new paths for Russian poetry.
What did Derzhavin do? “You have chosen an untrodden and new path.” And along this path, his originality manifested itself: while maintaining a high theme - chanting the “virtues” of the empress - he abandoned rhetoric and in a simple style expressed his personal attitude towards Catherine II and her entourage: “You knew how to elevate yourself among us with simplicity.”
His early odes, especially the famous "Felitsa", also contain a surge of solemn praise of the queen for the high virtue of her reign. Of the 26 ten lines of “Felitsa” (a lyrical meditation of 260 verses), 19 express such drawn-out and largely monotonous praise.
But the author of this ode began to create at a time when the hyperpersonality of civil thinking, characteristic of “orthodox” classicism, began to be lost, when differentiation of the personal principle, excited by the beginning of the crisis of the old class society and its power, was already arising in it. This led to significant shifts in the sphere of artistic “worldview”, to overcoming its civil-moralistic abstraction and, in particular, to a significant strengthening of substantive representation in the genre of civil ode. Derzhavin acted in this place as an innovative poet - he amazed his contemporaries by introducing motifs of a humorous depiction of private life into that very “high” and solemn genre.
In “Felitsa”, after 4 stanzas of introduction and the first praises of the strict life of the queen, in contrast to them, there are 7 stanzas containing a slightly mocking image of the free and carefree life of the lyrical subject himself, one of the queen’s close associates, and in hints - her nobles. In these stanzas, substantive depiction arises when reproducing individual moments of the nobleman’s free life; it directly prevails over meditativeness. But it is still subordinated to the general ironic intonation of the description. And moreover, syntactically, as many as five stanzas of such a description are interconnected by anaphoric repetitions of the conjunction “or” (“Or at a rich feast, // Where a feast is given for me, // Where the table glitters with silver and gold, // Where thousands of different dishes... ", "Or in the middle of a beautiful grove, // In the gazebo, where the fountain is noisy...", etc.). And then, developing the same contrast, the poet also turns to long, tense and solemn praises of the queen and conducts them in an abstract and meditative manner.
Derzhavin’s ode “Felitsa” made a strong impression at the court of Catherine II, primarily due to the admiration of the empress herself, but the empress’s attitude only gave way to the work, and the ode took its well-deserved place in Russian poetry thanks to its merits.
The idea for the ode was prompted by “The Tale of Prince Chlorus,” written by the Empress to her grandson Alexander and published in 1781. Derzhavin used the names and motifs of this tale to write an ode, poignant in content and instructive in purpose, in which he went beyond the traditional praise of a person in power. Having written the work in 1782, Derzhavin did not dare to make it public, but the ode fell into the hands of Princess E.R. Dashkova, director of the Academy of Sciences. Dashkova, without his knowledge, published an ode in the magazine “Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word” entitled “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa, written by some Tatar Murza, who had long settled in Moscow, and lived on business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic in 1782.” This is followed by the addition that the ode was composed in Russian and its author is unknown.
The ode is built on contrast: it contrasts Princess Felitsa, by whose name Derzhavin means Empress Catherine II herself, and her depraved and lazy subject, Murza. The allegorical images in the ode were too transparent, and contemporaries easily recognized who was behind them and for what purpose they were used. It was convenient for Derzhavin, without falling into primitive flattery, to sing the virtues of the empress when addressing the Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess; this gave him greater freedom to express his thoughts. Calling himself a Murza, the poet uses a subtle technique: on the one hand, Derzhavin has the right to do this, because his family comes from the Tatar Murza Bagrim, on the other hand, the poet means Catherine’s nobles who surrounded her throne. Thus, Derzhavin’s Murza in “Felitsa” is a collective portrait of the court nobles - “Murzas”: idle, “transforming everyday life into a holiday,” spending their lives in feasts and luxury “among wines, sweets and aroma,” in entertainment and laziness. Describing the uselessness of nobles, Derzhavin draws a conclusion regarding general morals that need correction, as if suggesting to his ruler what needs to be changed in the state:
That's it, Felitsa, I'm depraved!
But the whole world looks like me,
Who knows how much wisdom,
But every person is a lie.
The next, larger part of the ode is devoted to a description of the virtues of Catherine II, but here Derzhavin’s doxology aims to give advice, indicate correct behavior in governance and relations with subjects, extolling simplicity, hard work, justice, virtue, sanity and other qualities of the queen. At the end of the ode, Derzhavin proclaims the ideal image of government and life of the state,
Whose law, right hand
They give both mercy and judgment.
Prophetic, wise Felitsa!
Where is a rogue different from the honest?
Where does old age not wander around the world?
Does merit find bread for itself?
Where does revenge not drive anyone?
Where do conscience and truth live?
Where do virtues shine? —
Isn't it yours at the throne?
It is not surprising that after such a wise and passionate appeal, the empress distinguished Derzhavin, giving him an expensive gift and bringing him closer to her. Catherine II was so impressed by the faithfulness of Derzhavin’s characteristics of her nobles that she sent them lists of odes, noting on the copies which passage from the text related to the addressee. Derzhavin, in addition to poetic recognition, gained a reputation as an honest subject-citizen.
Derzhavin's ode produces a strong impact on the reader and listener with its structure, sonority of language, precision of expressions and phrases, and energetic rhythm, based on the poet's iambic tetrameter. Derzhavin achieved an amazing unity of seemingly mutually exclusive registers of poetic speech: solemnity of style and conversational intonation in addresses. The ode seems to flow forward thanks to a cascade of anaphors and syntactic parallelisms, as, for example, in the sixth stanza, in which the threefold beginning of the lines “where-where-where” is also replaced by the threefold “there-there-there”. Finally, everyday descriptions of real life are so detailed that when reading, you become, as it were, a witness of that time.
In the 70s of the 18th century, changes began in Russian literature. They deal specifically with poetry in a way that disrupts canonized forms. Little by little Lomonosov, Maikov, Kheraskov started this, but Derzhavin approached the world of genres like a rebel.
This is especially true for the genre of solemn ode, as evidenced by, if you read carefully and thoughtfully, the ode “Felitsa”, a brief summary of which is presented below.
Title of the ode
Felicitas means "happiness" in Latin. But this is not enough. Derzhavin read a fairy tale that Catherine II wrote for her grandson, Alexander, on behalf of Princess Felitsa to Prince Chlorus, who will later appear in the text as an active hero.
Due to ridicule of the nobles surrounding Catherine II, friends did not advise publishing the ode. It is not harmless, this ode to “Felitsa”. A summary of a long work could anger high dignitaries. And how could the empress herself react to the humorous description of her life? Moreover, it also speaks about important issues. Nevertheless, the ode was published and brought tears of tenderness to the empress. She found out who its author was and did him all the best. The ode “Felitsa” is not of interest to schoolchildren these days. They will read the summary out of necessity and with longing.
Start
The first ten verses tell how the princess, like the gods, showed the way to the captive prince Chlorus - the way to the place where the rose grows without thorns. He needed this rose to free himself from slavery. And the rose grows on a high mountain, where the abode of virtue is located. This tale about the prince and the khan’s daughter Felitsa was composed, as already mentioned, by the empress herself. So the ode “Felitsa”, a brief summary of which includes a retelling of the work of Catherine II, could no longer help but flatter the empress. The second ten verses ask Felitsa for help in learning to live correctly, because the author himself is weak and cannot cope with everyday passions.
"Simplicity" of the Empress
In the next ten poems, Derzhavin creates an ideal image of the heroine, describing her behavior and habits: love for walking, simple food, reading and writing, and a measured daily routine. Her contemporaries were no different from all this. There is no portrait description (referring to the ode “Felitsa”). Derzhavin, a brief summary of this shows, highlights the monarch’s democracy, unpretentiousness, and friendliness.
Irony and satire
The poet introduces such an innovation into the ode, while previously such liberties were not allowed in this genre. He contrasts the virtuous Felitsa with her environment. The poet writes in the first person, but means Prince Potemkin, who leads a riotous lifestyle at court and, when fighting, imagines himself as a sovereign ruler, like the Sultan. When preparing for war, and he fought a lot and, as a rule, successfully, he spends his days in feasts, where exquisite food, which is countless, is served on golden dishes. Or he rides in a golden carriage, accompanied by friends, dogs, and beauties.
The author also does not forget A.G. Orlov (ode “Felitsa”). Derzhavin (we are considering a summary) talks about his love for horse racing. The Orlovs bred purebred trotters at their stud farms. The count organized races on his wonderful horses. Derzhavin also remembers the passion of the Orlov favorites for dancing and fist fights. This made their spirit happy.
In addition, the poet mentions P.I. Panin, who helped the empress in the coup. Panin loved hound hunting and devoted a lot of time to it, forgetting about government affairs. Derzhavin does not neglect such a great courtier as Naryshkin, who loved to ride along the Neva at night, and why at night, it is unknown, accompanied by a whole orchestra of musicians with horn instruments. Peace and quiet in the capital city could only be dreamed of by the common man who worked hard to earn his living. Well, how can you not smile at the peaceful entertainment of Prosecutor General Vyazemsky? In his free time, he read popular stories and dozed over the Bible.
The poet is also ironic about himself, as if counting himself among a narrow circle of the elite. No one dared to write in such an ironic vein. The ode “Felitsa” (Derzhavin), a brief summary of which is conveyed here, became an innovative work. When Derzhavin was reproached for ridicule, which nowadays seems quite harmless, the poet pointed to the place where he describes his shortcomings, for example, chasing pigeons in a dovecote or simply playing cards like a fool. People, according to the poet, and rightly so, are not inclined to deal with serious matters all the time. It is only important not to run after empty dreams, not to lead a luxurious and lazy life, and not to grumble when they demand money for government affairs. And both Potemkin and Prince Vyazemsky were famous for this, whom Catherine II described in her fairy tale about Prince Chlorus under the names Lazy and Grumpy.
Literary joke
But the poet has no condemnation of the empress, who is surrounded by people with human weaknesses. After all, their talents are at the service of the prosperity of the great empire. This is shown by the analysis of Derzhavin’s poem “Felitsa”. The literary anecdote technique is used in the portraits of high-ranking courtiers. In those days, an anecdote was understood as a real story about a real person, but artistically processed, which has an instructive or satirical sound. Indeed, in the memory of descendants there remained a reveler, a duelist and a tireless ladies' man, a favorite of Catherine II, Alexei Orlov, a cautious Panin, a sybarite, but also a victorious warrior Potemkin. The gradual departure from the scene of the Freemasons, which began during the time of Catherine II under the influence of the bloody revolution that took place in France, is described. The Masons are mentioned at the very beginning of the ode. But in general, Derzhavin’s irony was not pathetic, accusatory in nature; it was soft, rather playful.
How the image of Catherine is created
Through the fairy tale about the clever Felitsa, who helps Prince Chlorus, Derzhavin creates the image of an ideal ruler. Where an ordinary person, says Derzhavin, goes astray and follows passions, one princess is able to illuminate everything with her wisdom. He hints at the creation of provinces in the state, which would bring its administration into greater order. He appreciates in Catherine II that she does not humiliate people, does not oppress and destroy like a wolf, and turns a blind eye to their weaknesses. Catherine II is not God, and behaves accordingly. People are more subject to God than to the king. This is what the analysis of Derzhavin’s poem “Felitsa” says. The Empress observes this rule, because she is an enlightened monarch.
And, nevertheless, Derzhavin decides to give very delicate advice to the empress: dividing the state into provinces, sealing them with laws so that there are no disagreements. He goes on to beautifully compare her to a skilled captain leading a ship through a stormy sea.
Emphasizing modesty and generosity in the image of Catherine
Many stanzas are devoted to this, but the most important thing is that she refused the titles of “Wise”, “Great”, “Mother of the Fatherland”, which the senators presented to her. Yes, the modesty was false, but it looked beautiful. When you carefully read not only the ode, but also the comments to it, such conclusions are implied by the analysis of the ode “Felitsa” by G. R. Derzhavin.
Idealization of the image of Catherine
In the first part of the ode, the image of a monarch with the simple habits of an ordinary person greatly impresses the poet. Further, Derzhavin praises her as a wise statesman. This is the image of an enlightened sovereign in comparison with the queens who ruled before her, often deeply ignorant and cruel. In the third, final part, the image of a philosopher soaring high above his subjects is created, who deeply thinks about the fate of the state and the people.
These are all the ideals of G. R. Derzhavin in the ode “Felitsa”. Felitsa is a living goddess on earth, which is confirmed by the final stanzas. They are full of praise, and it is no wonder that the empress shed tears while reading this essay.
Oriental motifs in ode
Having built the ode “Felitsa” from beginning to end on an oriental fairy tale written by the monarch herself, Derzhavin gave it an oriental flavor. It contains Lazy Guy, Grumpy, Murza, Khan, the Khan's daughter, and a godlike princess. This creates a special “flavor” that is unusual neither in Russian prose nor poetry. In addition, having made the monarch the subject of poetry, the poet wrote the ode as praise and at the same time as a satirical work. This ensures the originality of Gabriel Derzhavin’s ode “Felitsa”. He is one of the first poets to begin to discover new treasures of the living word in literature, one of those whose work does not fit into the framework of the theory of three styles.
