It is impossible to read the poem “Clouds” by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov without a feeling of melancholy and hopelessness that fills the work. The poet wrote this work in 1840, while in yet another exile. Then the author felt a lack of mutual understanding both in his relationship with external environment, and in your own inner world. He felt like a stranger. The poet understood that he did not have the opportunity to do as he pleased. He felt the fact that people are not always free to manage their lives as they please. Lermontov was tormented by the thought that sometimes he had to obey someone else’s will and renounce own rules. It was these reflections that helped these poems come into being.
The text of Lermontov's poem “Clouds” is full of deep tropes. It is with the clouds that the author compares himself. He gives them exceptional human qualities. Poor clouds are forced to move “from the dear north towards the south” in spite of their own desires. Mikhail Yuryevich compares this event with his exile, asking himself whether this is a government decision or the machinations of fate? The poet envies his main characters. They have no home, no boundaries or laws. They just move in an unknown direction, without thinking about anything. For them there are no concepts of time and rules. While the world that surrounded Lermontov brought him only painful sensations. Soon after writing of this work, the poet was killed in a duel.
Many find hidden subtext in the work. They believe that one of the key ideas of the poem is the lack of mutual understanding between people and natural phenomena. It is impossible to unite with incredible elements. You can only admire them as an outside spectator. The author accuses the world of not being able to rise, like a cloud, above this routine, saying a confident “no” to all fears, resentments and anger. The work evokes a special mood, full of philosophical reflections. Everyone finds something of their own and personal in it. After all, all people are individuals with their own vices. The poem is recommended to be taught in literature classes in high school. You can read the poem in full or download it online on our website.
Heavenly clouds, eternal wanderers!
The azure steppe, the pearl chain
You rush as if like me, exiles
From the sweet north to the south.
Who is driving you away: is it destiny’s decision?
Is it secret envy? Is it open anger?
Or is crime weighing on you?
Or is slander from friends poisonous?
No, you are tired of barren fields...
Passions are alien to you and suffering is alien to you;
Forever cold, forever free
You have no homeland, you have no exile.
Author's and publisher's editions of the text
Clouds (“Heavenly clouds, eternal wanderers...”)
Illustrated full meeting works by M. Yu. Lermontov / Edited by V. V. Kallash. - M.: Pechatnik, 1914. - T. III.(RSL)
Screensaver art V. Zamirailo
Notes
396. Dated 1840. Published from “Poems by M. Lermontov” (St. Petersburg, 1840, pp. 167-168), where it appeared for the first time. V. A. Sollogub testified that the poem was written on the day of departure for exile in the Caucasus, in the Karamzins’ apartment, where friends gathered to say goodbye to the poet. According to the testimony of Sollogub, cited by P. A. Viskovatov, Lermontov composed the poem standing at the window and looking at the clouds floating over the Neva and Summer Garden. The Karamzins lived in a house opposite the Summer Garden, near the “Salt Town” (Viskovatov. p. 300). Lermontov concluded the collection of his poems with “clouds” and set the date: April 1840, thereby indicating the date of his exile.
According to the testimony of Sollogub, cited by P. A. Viskovatov, Lermontov composed the poem while standing at the window and looking at the clouds floating over the Neva and the Summer Garden. The Karamzins lived in a house opposite the Summer Garden, near the “Salt Town” (Viskovatov. p. 300). “Friends and acquaintances gathered in the Karamzins’ apartment to say goodbye to their young friend, and here, touched by the attention to himself and the unfeigned love of his chosen circle, the poet, standing in the window and looking at the clouds that were creeping over the Summer Garden and the Neva, wrote the poem “Heavenly Clouds , eternal wanderers!..” Sofya Karamzina and several guests surrounded the poet and asked him to read the poem he had just sketched. He looked at everyone with the sad look of his expressive eyes and read it. When he finished, his eyes were wet with tears...” (see volume VI of the collected works, edited by Viskovatov, p. 338).
Belinsky wrote about this poem that it is “full of some kind of gratifying feeling of recovery and hope, and captivates with its luxury poetic images, some kind of excess of tender feeling” (Belinsky, vol. 6, 1903, p. 51).
"Clouds" Mikhail Lermontov
Heavenly clouds, eternal wanderers!
The azure steppe, the pearl chain
You rush as if like me, exiles
From the sweet north to the south.Who is driving you away: is it destiny’s decision?
Is it secret envy? Is it open anger?
Or is crime weighing on you?
Or is slander from friends poisonous?No, you are tired of barren fields...
Passions are alien to you and suffering is alien to you;
Forever cold, forever free
You have no homeland, you have no exile.
Analysis of Lermontov's poem "Clouds"
The poem "Clouds", created by Mikhail Lermontov in 1840, refers to late period creativity of the poet. It was written during the second Caucasian exile, when the author was at odds not only with the world around him, but also with himself. Awareness that a person cannot control own life and to act as he considered necessary and correct caused Lermontov a feeling of annoyance and irritation. Therefore, in the Caucasus, he considered himself not only a stranger, but also an exile who must submit to the will of others and abandon his own principles.
“Clouds” is a work that is built on a very subtle allegory. It is with them that the poet identifies himself, who, like these ephemeral “heavenly wanderers,” is forced, by someone’s evil whim, to rush “from the sweet north to the south.” Lermontov is trying to find an answer to the question of whether his next exile is an ordinary government decision, or whether the will of fate is discerned behind it, which, as we know, no one has ever managed to evade. However, if the poet is unable to understand what is happening to his own life, then he finds a completely reasonable and very poetic explanation for the behavior of the clouds. Lermontov is sure that they are free from passions and vices, they are indifferent and indifferent to everything, and they are simply bored with the cold northern regions. “You have no homeland, you have no exile,” the poet asserts, secretly envying the clouds that do not obey human laws. They are outside of time and outside of events. Outside observers who do not care about the pettiness and vanity of the human world. Oh, how Lermontov would like to be in their place and solve all his problems at once!
However, the poet understands that only death can free him from emotional experiences and the need to defend his views. Apparently, this is precisely what explains the poet’s conflictual nature, who by this time was already reputed to be an avid duelist and rowdy. Lermontov's contemporaries explained this by saying that the poet consciously sought his death, since living in the world that surrounded him was a burden to him. Therefore, it is not surprising that a few months after writing the poem “Clouds,” the poet will be killed in a duel, immediately freeing himself from the shackles that had oppressed him for many years.
This work has its own subtext, which is that people do not know how to live in harmony with nature. They can only watch its metamorphoses with admiration, but they will never become one with earth, water, air and fire. It is for this reason, the author believes, that all the troubles and problems of humanity arise, which cannot rise above the worldly vanity, like clouds, and abandon its own pride, grievances, desires and aspirations. For this reason in human world There will never be mutual understanding and love, since each of the individuals is a tangled tangle of vices and passions, which can only be unraveled by higher powers.
Lermontov understands that his generation is special. He did not experience the high-profile victories and glory of the soldiers of the Battle of Borodino. And the conquest of the Caucasus is such a worthless and empty undertaking that it is not able to give the soldiers a reason to be proud of their courage and valor. It is no coincidence that in the story “A Hero of Our Time” Lermontov portrays the image of a rather cynical and unprincipled Pechorin, for whom life is a game. The same idea runs like a red thread through the entire poem “Clouds”. Lermontov compares his generation with them, cold, ruthless, indifferent and completely worthless, who have no homeland and affection, goals and desires, feelings and compassion.
Heavenly clouds, eternal wanderers!
The azure steppe, the pearl chain
You rush as if like me, exiles
From the sweet north to the south.
Who is driving you away: is it destiny’s decision?
Is it secret envy? Is it open anger?
Or is crime weighing on you?
Or is slander from friends poisonous?
No, you are tired of barren fields...
Passions are alien to you and suffering is alien to you;
Forever cold, forever free
You have no homeland, you have no exile.
Analysis of the poem “Clouds” by Lermontov
The poem “Clouds” was written by Lermontov several months before his tragic death. Contemporaries claimed that this happened in April 1840, on the day the poet left for the Caucasus for his second exile.
It is believed that Lermontov had a presentiment of his death. This is confirmed by the special tragedy of his last poems. "Clouds" can be considered an example of this. The hints about one's fate in this work are quite transparent. The poet had nothing to lose or fear in life, especially since he was heading into exile anyway.
"Clouds" are perceived as a natural phenomenon only in the first two expressive lines. In the future, they are only a symbol of the poet’s fate. Expulsion “from the dear north” looks quite strange. The North in poetry is a gloomy and inhospitable abode of cold, and the South is a happy kingdom of warmth and light. “Tuchki” should rejoice in their movement to the south, and not feel like “exiles”. Lermontov's Caucasian exile is clearly visible in this.
In the second stanza, the poet asks the question: what caused his expulsion? Real direct cause became a duel between Lermontov and the Frenchman Barant. The true reason for the duel is still unknown. It is believed that the Frenchman was deliberately set up to challenge Lermontov. Be that as it may, the Frenchman missed, and the poet behaved more than nobly: he fired into the air. Lermontov was still found guilty.
The poet considers himself right, so he lists possible reasons: fate, envy, malice, crime, slander. In principle, the main reason lies somewhere in the middle. Lermontov had long been disliked not only by the Tsar, but also by most of high society. He was not loved for his independent lifestyle, for his secrecy and silence, and finally, for his works. Lermontov understood that this irritated many people. Contemporaries recalled that before his last trip, the poet claimed that he was going to the Caucasus in search of death.
Therefore, the final stanza is imbued with enormous pessimism. Lermontov was tired of life, he could not find understanding in anyone and doubted the significance of his work. “... passions and... suffering became alien to him.” Eternal loneliness bored the poet. Being an ardent patriot, he makes a terrible confession: “You have no homeland.” If a poet is expelled from Russia for the second time, to which he wanted to devote his life, then it is difficult for him to remain optimistic. Without a sense of Russia there can be no exile, so Lermontov is overcome by complete indifference to his fate.
