Essay text:
Blok expressed his attitude towards the revolution and everything that followed it in the poem Twelve, written in 1918. It was a terrible time: the Bolsheviks came to power, four years of war, devastation, murders were behind us. People who belonged to the large intelligentsia, which included Blok, perceived what was happening as a national tragedy. And against this background, Blok’s poem sounded in clear contrast, in which the poet, who quite recently wrote heartfelt lyrical poems about Russia, directly says: Let’s fire a bullet at Holy Rus'.
Contemporaries did not understand Blok and considered him a traitor to his country. However, the poet’s position is not as clear-cut as it might seem at first glance, and a more careful reading of the poem proves this.
Blok himself warned that one should not overestimate the importance of political motives in the poem Twelve; the poem is more symbolic than it seems. In the center of Blok’s poem we put a blizzard, which is the personification of the revolution. In the midst of this blizzard, snow and wind, you can hear the music of the revolution, which for him is opposed to the most terrible philistine peace and comfort. In this music he sees the possibility of the revival of Russia, the transition to a new stage of development. The bloc does not deny or approve of the riots, robberies, seething dark passions, permissiveness and anarchy that have reigned in Russia. In all this terrible and cruel present, Blok sees the cleansing of Russia. Russia must pass this time, plunging to the very bottom, into hell, into the underworld, and only after that will it ascend to heaven.
The fact that Blok sees in the revolution a transition from darkness to light is proven by the very title of the poem. Twelve is the hour of transition from one day to another, an hour that has long been considered the most mystical and mysterious of all. What was happening at that moment in Russia, too, according to Blok, emanated a certain mysticism, as if someone unknown and omnipotent at the midnight hour began to practice witchcraft.
The most mysterious image of the poem, the image of Christ walking ahead of a detachment of Red Army soldiers, is also associated with this motif. Literary scholars offer many interpretations of this image. But it seems to me that Blok’s Jesus Christ personifies the future of Russia, bright and spiritual. This is indicated by the order in which the characters appear at the end of the poem. Behind everyone trudges a mangy dog, in whose image one can easily guess the autocratic and dark past of Russia, ahead of him walks a detachment of Red Army soldiers, personifying the revolutionary present of the country, and this procession is led in a white corolla of roses by Jesus Christ, an image embodying the bright future awaiting Russia when she will rise from the hell she finds herself in.
There are other interpretations of this image. Some literary scholars believe that Jesus Christ (this version appeared due to the fact that Blok is missing one letter in the name of Jesus, and this cannot be called an accident or the necessity of the verse) is the Antichrist, leading a detachment of Red Army soldiers, and therefore the entire revolution. This interpretation is also consistent with Blok’s position regarding the revolution as a transitional period to the kingdom of God.
The poem Twelve still causes a lot of controversy among critics and readers. The plot of the poem and its images are explained in different ways. However, one thing leaves no doubt. At the time of its writing, Blok treated the revolution as a necessary evil that would help lead Russia to the true path and revive it. Then his views will change, but at that moment Blok believed in the revolution, like a sick person believes in an operation that, although it causes pain, will nevertheless save him from death.
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The theme of revolution in A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve”
I. Alexander Blok’s attitude to the revolution.
II. Depiction of the revolution in the poem. The originality of Blok's vision of revolutionary events.
1. The universal scope of the revolutionary element (symbols of the element).
2. The image of time in the poem:
a) signs of the times in the poem (city, revolutionary revelry, a detachment of Red Army soldiers, the poster “All power to the constituent assembly!” - a reminder of the dispersal of the assembly, hunger, devastation, etc.);
b) heroes of the time (the image of 12 Red Army soldiers);
c) destruction of the old world (symbolism of the old world);
d) the motive of the path to the future, the riddle of the ending.
3. Man and comrade in the image of A. Blok. Petrukha's drama.
4. Semantic and rhythmic contrasts of the poem as a reflection of the contradictions of time in a symbolistic poem.
III. Ambiguous assessment of the poem in criticism.
Alexander Blok's attitude to the revolution
For Blok, in the Russian revolution one could hear the voice of a new world being created before his eyes, but the poet never idealized the revolution. In the article “Intellectuals and Revolution” he wrote: “Why did you think that the revolution was an idyll? That creativity does not destroy anything in its path? Are the people good?.. And, finally, the age-old conflict between white and black blood will be resolved so bloodlessly and so painlessly? Between the educated and the uneducated, between the intelligentsia and the people? Blok called for awareness of the “sins of the fathers” and with all the body, all the heart, all the consciousness to “listen to that great music of the future, the sounds of which fill the air.” The poet himself, who managed to record the growing, “terrible noise” of what was happening, wrote in his diary after finishing the poem on January 28, 1918: “Today I am a genius.”
Blok foresaw the revolution: “I foresee the beginning of great and troubling years for you” (“On the Kulikovo Field”). In the old world, in addition to its cruelty, the poet saw the growth of the national element. And revolution is the embodiment of the elements. The Asian principle (spontaneous, unbridled, barbaric: “Yes, we are Scythians! \\ Yes, we are Asians!) can no longer be restrained, because “the time has come.” In the collision of the national element with European civilization, a new Russia - the “third truth” - should be born.
The revolution was perceived by the poet as a welcome storm. He accepted it, worked on various literary and theatrical commissions, and was chairman of the administration of the Bolshoi Drama Theater and the Petrograd administration of the All-Russian Union of Poets. But creative work at this time almost ceased. On August 7, 1921, Blok died from a fatal illness, which was especially acute due to deep depression caused by a tragic discord with the surrounding reality. There was no place for creativity in the midst of the elements. And Blok was a poet.
Symbolism of the poem.
Symbolic landscape. Symbols of the revolution.
Symbolic motives. The key symbolic motifs are wind, blizzard, blizzard - symbols of social cataclysms and upheavals.(the word “wind” appears 10 times in the poem, “blizzard” - 6, “snow”, “snowy” - 11.)
"Revolutions come surrounded by storms." Behind the snowstorm, the poet wants to hear the music of the revolution.
Black evening
White snow.
Wind, wind!
The man is not standing on his feet.
Wind, wind -
All over God's world!
The cosmic nature of the landscape. The element of wind - the element of revolution - acquires universal proportions. A small human figure is depicted in the universal wind. A man, not a Red Army soldier, but just a man, cannot stand on his feet from the blows of the wind, he has nowhere to hide from the all-pervading wind of revolution.
The wind rules the world, it knocks some people off their feet, while others find it cheerful. (“biting wind”, “cheerful wind”, “the wind is blowing”)
10 ch.
There was some kind of blizzard,
Oh blizzard, oh blizzard!
Can't see each other at all
In four steps
Chapter 11
And the blizzard throws dust in their eyes
Days and nights
All the way...
Go-go,
Working people!
12 chapters.
They walk into the distance with a mighty step...
- Who else is there? Come out! -
This is the wind with a red flag
Played out ahead...
In the last chapters of the poem, a symbolic landscape with images of a blizzard and wind appears again. 12 Red Army soldiers walk through the blizzard, symbolizing Russia’s movement through the revolution into the future. But the future is dark. Over an attempt to get closer to him, to shout out to “who is there,” “the blizzard bursts with long laughter in the snow.” “Ahead of the twelve is the wind, a “cold snowdrift,” the unknown and the path “into the distance” under a red flag, and in the author’s assessment, a “bloody flag.”
Blok’s element of revolution destroys the world, but after it the “third truth” (new Russia) is never born. There is no one ahead except Christ. And although the twelve deny Christ, he does not abandon them.
Symbolism of color. “Black evening,\\White snow.” The symbolic landscape is executed in a black and white contrasting manner. Two opposite lights indicate schism, division.
Black and white are symbols of the duality that happens in the world, that happens in every soul. Darkness and light, good and evil, old and new. Understanding and accepting the renewal, the “white” essence of the revolution, Blok at the same time saw blood, dirt, crime, i.e. her black shell.
“Black sky”, “black anger”, and “white snow”. Then the color red appears: “The red flag is beating in the eyes,” “we will fan the world fire,” the Red Guards. Red is the color of blood. In the finale, red is combined with white:
Ahead with a bloody flag,
In a white corolla of roses,
Ahead - Jesus Christ
The following explanation is possible: when black and white collide, there is bloodshed, through it there is a path to light.
Symbolism of time. The poem presents the past - the old world and the struggle of the past with the present and the path to the future.
The present of Russia is symbolized by a detachment of Red Army soldiers walking through a blizzard with a powerful step. The image of a crossroads turns out to be symbolic. This is the turn of eras, the crossroads of historical destinies. Russia is at a crossroads.
The old world is also represented symbolically. Images of the old world - a bourgeois standing at a crossroads, a “mangy dog.”
In Chapter 9, the image of the bourgeois, the dog and the old world are linked with each other.
The bourgeois stands like a hungry dog,
Stands silent, like a question,
And the old world is like a rootless dog,
Stands behind him with his tail between his legs.
In chapter 12, this image-symbol appears again. The old world is not left behind, it “limps” behind the events:
Ahead is a cold snowdrift,
Who is in the snowdrift - come out!.. -
Only a poor dog is hungry
Waddles behind...
Get off, you scoundrel.
I'll bayonet you!
The old world is like a mangy dog,
If you fail, I'll beat you up
He, this old world, is inside a new person. It is impossible to free yourself from him, he does not lag behind. This makes the twelve peer even more intently into the future, asking, calling, almost conjuring it:
“Who else is there? Come out!”
“Whoever is in the snowdrift, come out!”
“Hey, answer who’s coming”
“Who’s waving the red flag there?”
The murder of Katka is a real, but also a symbolic action. With this murder, Peter seeks to destroy the spirit of the old world in himself. But at first he does not succeed, and then he “became cheerful” again and, like everyone else, is ready for violence and robbery, supposedly for the sake of revolution and the destruction of the old world.
The future is connected with revolutionary events, the bloody path through the blizzard and with the image of Christ. Although the future is in darkness, it is unclear: “Look closely, what darkness!” The appearance in the finale of the image-symbol of Christ, a symbol of high morality, is largely unjustified, but, apparently, is connected with the author’s hope for the moral revival of Russia.
Symbolism of the number. The title of the poem is symbolic.
12 people in a squad, 12 chapters in a poem, 12 is the sacred number of the highest point of light and darkness (noon and midnight). 12 is the number of the apostles of Christ, the apostles of the revolution.
Blok uses religious and philosophical symbols of the Christian tradition. The 12 Red Army soldiers are correlated with the twelve apostles of Christ. One of them is named Peter, the other Andrey, in honor of St. Andrew the First-Called, who is traditionally considered the patron saint of Rus'. But Christian symbolism is presented here in an inverted (carnivalized) form. The opposite situation corresponds to the Gospel story about Peter’s renunciation of Christ in the poem. Petka at some point calls out to Christ as if by accident (“Oh, what a blizzard, Savior!”). But comrades pay attention to this:
-Petka! Hey, don't lie!
What did I save you from?
Golden iconostasis?!
If the evangelical Peter subsequently returns to Christ to become a zealous apostle, then Petka, after the exhortations of his comrades, forgets about God, and then everyone heads “into the distance” already “without the name of a saint.” What is the logic of such changes in religious symbols? The religious worlds of the old world have lost their saving power and the appearance of Christ in the final chapter of the poem can be understood as the last procession of the old world. But this is only one version of the explanation of the image of Christ.
Various interpretations of the image of Christ.
1. Christ embodies the highest ideals of the old culture. This is the positive pole. The negative pole of this culture is symbolized by the dog.
2. Christ is the highest justification of the revolution.
3. Christ is an enemy for the Red Army soldiers, because they shoot at him. They are aimed at the invisible Christ, flashing ahead with a bloody flag, which becomes his new cross in the poem, a symbol of his current crucifixions. (M. Voloshin)
4. The Red Army soldiers are led not by the real Christ, but by the Antichrist.
5. Christ is a symbol of the morality of the people; he must lead Russia through blood and tragedy to rebirth.
6. Christ, who embodied the ideal of goodness and justice, is, as it were, raised above everyday life, above events. The heroes yearn for him. Although they suppress this melancholy. He is the embodiment of harmony and simplicity, which the heroes subconsciously yearn for.
7. Christ, as it were, poses to the heroes the question of responsibility for their actions.
Alexander Aleksandrovich Blok was everything - a poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator, literary critic. In addition, A. A. Blok is one of the classics of Russian literature of the twentieth century. Russian symbolism is unthinkable without this author. He made a huge contribution to its development and is one of its largest representatives. A. A. Blok lived in difficult historical times, which were rich in events. One of them was the October Revolution. Blok’s attitude towards the revolution cannot be defined as unambiguous, which is what will be discussed in this article.
Historical background - October Revolution
The October Revolution did not come out of nowhere; it had its own reasons. The people of that time were tired of hostilities, complete collapse threatened industry and agriculture, the peasants became increasingly poor every day in the absence of a solution to the agrarian issue. The implementation of social and economic reforms was constantly delayed, and a financial crisis of a catastrophic nature arose in the country. As a result of this, at the beginning of July 1917, Petrograd was shaken by popular unrest, which demanded the overthrow of the Provisional Government. The authorities issue a decree to suppress a peaceful demonstration with the use of weapons. A wave of arrests sweeps through, and executions begin everywhere. At this moment the bourgeoisie wins. But in August the revolutionaries regain their positions.
Since July, the Bolsheviks carried out extensive campaigning among workers and military personnel. And it brought results. The attitude has taken root in the minds of the people: the Bolshevik Party is the only element of the political system that truly stands for the protection of the working people. In September, the Bolsheviks receive more than half of the votes in the elections to the district dumas. The bourgeoisie is collapsing because it did not have mass support. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin begins developing a plan for an armed uprising in order to win power for the Soviets. On October 24, the uprising began, and armed units loyal to the government were immediately isolated from it. On October 25, in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks successfully captured bridges, the telegraph, and government offices. On October 26, the Winter Palace was captured and members of the Provisional Government were arrested. The October Revolution of 1917 divided the world into two large sides - capitalist and socialist.
A turning point, difficult and global changes
The 20th century was a difficult period in Russian history. The October Revolution of 1917 shook society. This historical event left no one indifferent. One of the public groups that responded to what happened was In 1918, the famous poem “The Twelve” was written by Alexander Alexandrovich Blok.
The author’s attitude towards the 1917 Revolution has been discussed for many generations, and each time more and more new interpretations of his position appear. No one can say that A. A. Blok adhered to a specific side (let’s say as simply as possible: “Was the uprising good for the country?”). Let's figure out what is contradictory about Blok's attitude towards the revolution.
Brief plot of the poem "The Twelve"
For those who did not study well at school, let us briefly recall the plot of the poem. The first chapter introduces the plot of the action. The author describes the winter snowy streets of Petrograd, engulfed in revolution (winter of 1917-1918). The portraits of passers-by are striking in their brevity, but their imagery. A patrol detachment consisting of twelve people is walking along the streets of Petrograd. The revolutionaries are discussing their former comrade Vanka, who abandoned the revolution for the sake of drinking and became friends with a former prostitute, Katka. In addition to talking about a comrade, the patrolmen sing a song about serving in the Red Army.
Suddenly the patrol encounters a cart in which Vanka and Katka were traveling. The revolutionaries attack them, the cabman was able to escape, and Katya was killed by a shot from one of the patrolmen. The man who killed her regrets what happened, but the others condemn him for it. The patrol moves further down the street, and a stray dog, who was driven away with bayonets, joins them. After this, the revolutionaries saw the vague outlines of a figure in front of them - Jesus Christ was walking in front of them.
Not only "Twelve"
During the period of time when Blok was creating the poem “The Twelve,” he was simultaneously working on the poem “Scythians” and the article “Intellectuals and Revolution.” Blok’s attitude towards the October Revolution in these works was very clear. He encouraged everyone to fully listen and hear the Revolution.
Delight is what the author initially felt in relation to what happened. Blok saw great changes that would in the future lead Russia to a time of prosperity and a truly better life. However, Blok's attitude towards the Revolution began to change over time. After all, sometimes hopes are not destined to be justified.
The wind of change. Blok's new attitude to revolution
In the poem "The Twelve" the author rethinks history. The former enthusiasm and praise are absent. Objectivity in relation to what is happening is what comes to the fore when determining the Bloc’s attitude towards the Revolution. Historical events are beginning to be perceived as spontaneous phenomena. He compares them to a storm, a blizzard, which in their movement and action do not have any specific goal or direction.
What is Blok’s attitude towards the revolution now? From a symbol of a new better life, it is transformed into natural will and inevitability. Everything that had been accumulating for years, discontent and complaints, suddenly broke free and began to destroy everything that stood in the way. This is the reason why at the beginning of the poem, when describing the winter streets, the wind tears down the bourgeois posters.
A world that is dying
The symbolism of Blok, of which he became the personification, is also present in this poem. The pre-Soviet world is dying - it is represented by the “lady in karkul”, the “bourgeois” and others who feel uncomfortable under the revolutionary wind.
The lady slips, and the bourgeois hides his nose in his collar to keep warm. At the same time, Blok does not mean the death of the entire large country, but rather the departure of the old way of life.
Contrasting colors of events that happened
The natural contrast of black evening and white snow is transferred to people. Their emotions are painted in two contrasting colors: anger is divided into black and holy. Blok's attitude towards the Revolution in the poem "The Twelve" becomes contradictory, because he understands the obviousness that revolutionary good goals are often achieved through violent and oppressive means.
Everywhere a reign of robbery, violence, murder and immorality is established. But at the same time, the thought runs through the entire work about whether there is still at least a drop of hope for the creative power of the revolution.
Twelve Red Guards
The main expression of Blok's attitude to the revolution in the poem "12" is the image of patrolmen. The purpose of a patrol is to establish order. However, the Red Guards themselves are uncontrollable, like a storm or the wind. They act completely unpredictably, their actions cannot be predicted, and their emotions and feelings are unknown. This is the tragedy of the situation.
In addition, the outward expression of the image of the patrollers does not correspond to a new better life. They look more like prisoners - wrinkled caps, rolled cigarettes in their teeth. On the other hand, for the poet, patrolmen are ordinary Russians who are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the Revolution, but specifically for what purpose remains unclear.
Issues of Morality and Holiness
Revolutionaries believed in creating a new world, but what kind? Blok's attitude towards the Revolution and the new world is frightening. In the newly created state, people rob, engage in looting, and bring death not only to the guilty, but also to completely innocent people. This symbolizes the death of Katka, killed in a spontaneous outburst of a patrolman who succumbed to a flash of momentary violent emotions. Blok cannot help but emphasize the tragedy of Katya’s death, since Blok’s woman is being killed. Holiness and sinfulness are combined in the poem. Throughout the entire narrative, the patrolmen constantly talk about renouncing Christ. Russian people have always been characterized by the “sacred,” a symbol of morality and spiritual purity. But despite everything, the guards cannot completely renounce Christ. At the end of the poem, they still meet with him, while the patrolmen were waiting for the enemy, and a holy image appeared. The importance of the image of Christ lies in the fact that he walks with a gentle step. Which is equal to how he came two thousand years ago to save human souls. One of the provisions of Blok’s attitude towards the revolution is that he understood and accepted the inevitability of what was happening around him, but at the same time he never came to terms with immoral and inhuman revolutionary methods.
Finally
Considering the twentieth century, its events and the intelligentsia who lived at that time, one can notice how they reacted emotionally and deeply to the historical events taking place. A. A. Blok was one of the first to react to revolutionary actions, and at the same time his reaction was complex and mysterious. In the poem "The Twelve" this problem reaches its peak. On the one hand, the fact that the poem ends with the image of Christ carrying a flag makes the reader understand that revolution can be a positive phenomenon. But on the other hand, the scene of the girl’s murder is accompanied by real and sincere pity and compassion. Katya is the image of the old, passing world. This leads the reader to the fact that Blok’s rethinking of the revolution becomes less logical and more mystical in nature. From a historical event for Blok, the revolution became a process of transition of society into a new, completely different state, which could lead to the degeneration of the human personality. The collision between two worlds must lead humanity somewhere.
Blok's attitude to the revolution- a complex complex of thoughts and feelings, hopes and worries. From the poet’s biography you know that he, one of the few among the Russian intelligentsia, accepted the revolution and sided with the Bolsheviks. The poet sincerely writes about his mood in the poetic message “Z. Gippius":
Scary, sweet, inevitable, necessary
I should throw myself into the foamy shaft...
Blok expresses his thoughts about the revolution and the fate of man in an era of colossal achievements in the article “Intellectuals and the Revolution”, in the poems “Scythians” and “The Twelve”.
Let us make an attempt to understand Blok’s worldview through his magnum opus – “The Twelve”. The poem was written in January 1918. The author's first entry about her was made on January 8. January 29 Blok writes: “Today I am a genius.” This is the only self-characterization of this kind in the entire creative destiny of the poet.
The poem becomes widely known. On March 3, 1918, it was published in the newspaper “Znamya Truda”, in April - together with an article about it by the critic Ivanov-Razumnik, “Test in a thunderstorm and storm” - in the magazine “Our Way”. In November 1918, the poem “The Twelve” was published as a separate brochure.
Blok himself never read “The Twelve” aloud. However, in 1918–1920. At Petrograd literary evenings, the poem was read more than once by L. D. Blok, the poet’s wife and professional actress.
The appearance of the poem caused a storm of contradictory interpretations. Many of Blok’s contemporaries, even former close friends and associates, decisively and completely did not accept it. Among the irreconcilable opponents of the “Twelve” were Z. Gippius, N. Gumilyov, I. Bunin. Ivanov-Razumnik, V. Meyerhold, and S. Yesenin accepted the poem with delight. Blok received an approving review from A. Lunacharsky.
The most complex, subtle, and meaningful was the reaction of those who, without accepting the “topical meaning” of “The Twelve,” saw the brilliance, depth, tragedy, poetic novelty, and high inconsistency of the poem. This is how M. Voloshin, N. Berdyaev, G. Adamovich, O. Mandelstam and others rated “The Twelve”.
Listen to how M. Voloshin expressed his impressions:
The poem “The Twelve” is one of the beautiful artistic translations of revolutionary reality. Without betraying himself, Blok wrote a deeply real and - surprisingly - lyrically objective thing. The internal affinity of “The Twelve” with “Snow Mask” is especially striking. This is the same St. Petersburg winter night, the same St. Petersburg blizzard... the same wine and love frenzy, the same blind human heart that has lost its way among the snow whirlwinds, the same elusive image of the Crucified, sliding in the snow flames... To the transmission of carbon monoxide and Blok approached the dull lyrics of his heroes through the tunes and rhythms of ditties, street and political songs, common words and popular democratic words. The poet's musical task was to create a subtly noble symphony of rhythms from deliberately vulgar sounds.
...There is nothing unexpected in this appearance of Christ at the end of the blizzard Petersburg poem. As always with Blok, He is invisibly present and shines through the obsessions of the world, just as the Beautiful Lady shines through the features of Harlots and Strangers. After the first - “Eh, eh without a cross” - Christ is already here...
Now it (the poem) is used as a Bolshevik work, with the same success it can be used as a pamphlet against Bolshevism, distorting and emphasizing its other aspects. But its artistic value, fortunately, stands on the other side of these temporary fluctuations in the political exchange.
Blok felt the direction of the historical movement and brilliantly conveyed this future unfolding before his eyes: the state of souls, the mood, the rhythms of the procession of some segments of the population and the ossified doom of others.
Blok's attitude towards the poem was quite complex. In April 1920, a “Note about the Twelve” was written: “... In January 1918, for the last time, I surrendered to the elements no less blindly than in January 1907 or March 1914... Those who see in the “Twelve” political poems, or are very blind to art, or sit up to their ears in political mud, or are possessed by great malice - be they enemies or friends of my poem.” (Here Blok compares this poem with the cycles “Snow Mask” and “Carmen”.)
The poem “The Twelve” was the result of Blok’s knowledge of Russia, its rebellious elements, and creative potential. Not in defense, not in glorification of the “coup party” - but in defense of the “people's soul”, slandered and humiliated (from Blok’s point of view), erupting in rebellion, maximalist “all or nothing”, standing on the brink of death, cruel punishment - it was written poem. Blok sees and knows what is happening: the shelling of the Kremlin, pogroms, the horror of lynchings, burning of estates (Blok’s family estate in Shakhmatovo was burned), the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, the murder of the ministers of the Provisional Government Shingarev and Kokoshkin in the hospital. According to A. Remizov, the news of this murder became the impetus for the start of work on the poem. In these “lifeless” weeks of January 1918, Blok considered it the highest duty of a Russian artist, a “repentant nobleman,” a lover of the people to give to the people, to sacrifice to the will of the “people’s soul,” even his last asset—the measure and system of ethical values.
The poem is dictated by this sacrifice, awareness of one’s strength, immeasurable, unreasoning pity. Voloshin will call her “a merciful representative for the soul of Russian Razinovism.”
Blok's attitude to the revolution- a complex complex of thoughts and feelings, hopes and worries. From the poet’s biography you know that he, one of the few among the Russian intelligentsia, accepted the revolution and sided with the Bolsheviks. The poet sincerely writes about his mood in the poetic message “Z. Gippius":
Scary, sweet, inevitable, necessary
I should throw myself into the foamy shaft...
Blok expresses his thoughts about the revolution and the fate of man in an era of colossal achievements in the article “Intellectuals and the Revolution”, in the poems “Scythians” and “The Twelve”.
Let us make an attempt to understand Blok’s worldview through his magnum opus – “The Twelve”. The poem was written in January 1918. The author's first entry about her was made on January 8. January 29 Blok writes: “Today I am a genius.” This is the only self-characterization of this kind in the entire creative destiny of the poet.
The poem becomes widely known. On March 3, 1918, it was published in the newspaper “Znamya Truda”, in April - together with an article about it by the critic Ivanov-Razumnik, “Test in a thunderstorm and storm” - in the magazine “Our Way”. In November 1918, the poem “The Twelve” was published as a separate brochure.
Blok himself never read “The Twelve” aloud. However, in 1918–1920. At Petrograd literary evenings, the poem was read more than once by L. D. Blok, the poet’s wife and professional actress.
The appearance of the poem caused a storm of contradictory interpretations. Many of Blok’s contemporaries, even former close friends and associates, decisively and completely did not accept it. Among the irreconcilable opponents of the “Twelve” were Z. Gippius, N. Gumilyov, I. Bunin. Ivanov-Razumnik, V. Meyerhold, and S. Yesenin accepted the poem with delight. Blok received an approving review from A. Lunacharsky.
The most complex, subtle, and meaningful was the reaction of those who, without accepting the “topical meaning” of “The Twelve,” saw the brilliance, depth, tragedy, poetic novelty, and high inconsistency of the poem. This is how M. Voloshin, N. Berdyaev, G. Adamovich, O. Mandelstam and others rated “The Twelve”.
Listen to how M. Voloshin expressed his impressions:
The poem “The Twelve” is one of the beautiful artistic translations of revolutionary reality. Without betraying himself, Blok wrote a deeply real and - surprisingly - lyrically objective thing. The internal affinity of “The Twelve” with “Snow Mask” is especially striking. This is the same St. Petersburg winter night, the same St. Petersburg blizzard... the same wine and love frenzy, the same blind human heart that has lost its way among the snow whirlwinds, the same elusive image of the Crucified, sliding in the snow flames... To the transmission of carbon monoxide and Blok approached the dull lyrics of his heroes through the tunes and rhythms of ditties, street and political songs, common words and popular democratic words. The poet's musical task was to create a subtly noble symphony of rhythms from deliberately vulgar sounds.
...There is nothing unexpected in this appearance of Christ at the end of the blizzard Petersburg poem. As always with Blok, He is invisibly present and shines through the obsessions of the world, just as the Beautiful Lady shines through the features of Harlots and Strangers. After the first - “Eh, eh without a cross” - Christ is already here...
Now it (the poem) is used as a Bolshevik work, with the same success it can be used as a pamphlet against Bolshevism, distorting and emphasizing its other aspects. But its artistic value, fortunately, stands on the other side of these temporary fluctuations in the political exchange.
Blok felt the direction of the historical movement and brilliantly conveyed this future unfolding before his eyes: the state of souls, the mood, the rhythms of the procession of some segments of the population and the ossified doom of others.
Blok's attitude towards the poem was quite complex. In April 1920, a “Note about the Twelve” was written: “... In January 1918, for the last time, I surrendered to the elements no less blindly than in January 1907 or March 1914... Those who see in the “Twelve” political poems, or are very blind to art, or sit up to their ears in political mud, or are possessed by great malice - be they enemies or friends of my poem.” (Here Blok compares this poem with the cycles “Snow Mask” and “Carmen”.)
The poem “The Twelve” was the result of Blok’s knowledge of Russia, its rebellious elements, and creative potential. Not in defense, not in glorification of the “coup party” - but in defense of the “people's soul”, slandered and humiliated (from Blok’s point of view), erupting in rebellion, maximalist “all or nothing”, standing on the brink of death, cruel punishment - it was written poem. Blok sees and knows what is happening: the shelling of the Kremlin, pogroms, the horror of lynchings, burning of estates (Blok’s family estate in Shakhmatovo was burned), the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, the murder of the ministers of the Provisional Government Shingarev and Kokoshkin in the hospital. According to A. Remizov, the news of this murder became the impetus for the start of work on the poem. In these “lifeless” weeks of January 1918, Blok considered it the highest duty of a Russian artist, a “repentant nobleman,” a lover of the people to give to the people, to sacrifice to the will of the “people’s soul,” even his last asset—the measure and system of ethical values.
The poem is dictated by this sacrifice, awareness of one’s strength, immeasurable, unreasoning pity. Voloshin will call her “a merciful representative for the soul of Russian Razinovism.”