Analysis of the poem the shadow of a friend of Batyushkov. Analysis of Batyushkov’s poem “Shadow of a Friend Shadow of a Friend of Batyushkov history of creation

I left the shore of foggy Albion:
It seemed as if he was drowning in leaden waves.
Halcyone hung behind the ship,
№4 And her quiet voice amused the swimmers.
The evening wind, the splashing of the waves,
The monotonous noise and flutter of sails,
And the helmsman's cry on deck
№8 To the guard, dozing under the chatter of the shafts, -
Everything was filled with sweet thoughtfulness.
Enchanted, I stood at the mast
And through the fog and night veil
№12 I was looking for the kind luminary of the North.
My whole thought was in memory
Under the sweet sky of the fatherland,
But the winds are noisy and the seas are swaying
№16 A languid oblivion was brought over the eyelids.
Dreams gave way to dreams,
And suddenly... was it a dream?... appeared comrade to me,
Died in the fatal fire
№20 An enviable death over the Place streams.
But the view was not terrible; brow
Didn't save deep wounds
Like a May morning, it bloomed with joy
№24 And everything heavenly reminded the soul.
“Is it you, dear friend, comrade? better days!
Is that you? - I cried out, - oh warrior forever dear!
Isn't it me over your untimely grave,
№28 With the terrible glow of Bellona's fires,
Isn't it me with true friends
I inscribed your feat on a tree with a sword
And escorted the shadow to the heavenly homeland
№32 With prayer, sobbing and tears?
Shadow of the unforgettable! answer, dear brother!
Or everything that happened was a dream, a daydream;
Everything, everything, and the pale corpse, the grave and the ceremony,
№36 Accomplished by friendship in your memory?
ABOUT! say a word to me! let the familiar sound
My greedy ears still caress,
Let my hand, oh unforgettable friend!
№40 Squeezes yours with love..."
And I flew towards him... But the mountain spirit disappeared
In the bottomless blue of cloudless skies,
Like smoke, like a meteor, like the ghost of midnight,
№44 And sleep left my eyes.

Everything slept around me under the roof of silence.
The menacing elements seemed silent.
In the light of a cloud-covered moon
№48 The breeze was barely blowing, the waves were barely sparkling,
But sweet peace fled my eyes,
And all the soul flew after the ghost,
Everyone wanted to stop the heavenly guest:
№52 You, oh dear brother! O best of friends!

Ya bereg pokidal tumanny Albiona:
Kazalos, on v volnakh svintsovykh utopal.
Za korablem vilasya Galtsiona,
I tikhy glas yee plovtsov uveselyal.
Vecherny vetr, valov pleskanye,
Oddnoobrazny noise and tremble parusov,
I kormchego on deck vzyvanye
Ko strazhe, dremlyushchey pod govorom valov, -
Everything is sweet, zadumchivost pitalo.
How charming, u machty ya stoyal
I skvoz fog i night pokryvalo
Svetila Severa lyubeznogo iskal.
Vsya mysl moya byla v vospominanye
Pod nebom sladostnym otecheskoy zemli,
No vetrov noise i morya kolykhanye
Na vezhdy tomnoye zabvenye naveli.
Mechty smenyalisya mechtami,
I vdrug... to byl li son?., predstal tovarishch mne,
Pogibshy v rokovom ogne
Zavidnoy death nad Pleysskimi struyami.
No vid ne strashen byl; chelo
Glubokikh ran ne sokhranyalo,
Like morning mayskoye, veseliyem tsvelo
I vse nebesnoye dushe napominalo.
“Ty l eto, mily drug, tovarishch luchshikh day!
Ty l eto? - ya vskrichal, - o voin forever mily!
Ne ya li nad tvoyey bezvremennoy mogiloy,
Pri strashnom zareve Belloninykh ogney,
Ne ya li s vernymi druzyami
Mechom na dereve tvoy podvig nachertal
I ten v nebesnuyu otchiznu provozhdal
S molboy, rydanyem i slezami?
Ten unforgettable! otvetstvuy, mily brother!
Ili proteksheye vse bylo son, mechtanye;
Vse, vse, i bledny trup, mogila i obryad,
Svershenny druzhboyu v tvoye vospominanye?
O! molvi word mne! Puskay znakomy zvuk
Yeshche moy zhadny slukh laskayet,
Puskay ruka moya, o nezabvenny drug!
Tvoyu s lyuboviyu szhimayet..."
I ya letel k nemu... No gorny dukh ischez
V bezdonnoy sineve bezoblachnykh heavens,
Kak dym, kak meteor, kak prizrak polunochi,
I left my eyes.

All spalo vkrug menya pod krovom quietiny.
Stikhii groznye kazalisya bezmolvny.
Pri svete oblakom podernutoy luny
Chut veyal veterok, yedva sverkali volny,
No sweet pokoy bezhal moikh ochey,
I vse soul za prizrakom letela,
All gostya gornego ostanovit khotela:
Tebya, oh mily brother! o luchshy iz druzey!

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I left the shore of foggy Albion:
It seemed as if he was drowning in leaden waves.
Halcyone hung behind the ship,
And her quiet voice amused the swimmers.
The evening wind, the splashing of the waves,
Monotonous noise and fluttering of sails,
And the helmsman's cry on deck
To the guard, dozing under the chatter of the shafts, -
Everything was filled with sweet thoughtfulness.
Enchanted, I stood at the mast
And through the fog and night veil
I was looking for the kind luminary of the North.
My whole thought was in memory
Under the sweet sky of the fatherland,
But the winds are noisy and the seas are swaying
A languid oblivion was brought over the eyelids.
Dreams gave way to dreams,
And suddenly... was it a dream?.. a comrade appeared to me,
Died in the fatal fire
An enviable death, above the streams of Place.
But the view was not terrible; brow
Didn't save deep wounds
Like a May morning, it bloomed with joy
And everything heavenly reminded the soul.
“Is it you, dear friend, comrade of better days!
Is that you? - I cried out, - oh warrior forever dear!
Isn't it me over your untimely grave,
With the terrible glow of Bellona's fires,
Isn't it me with true friends
I inscribed your feat on a tree with a sword
And escorted the shadow to the heavenly homeland
With prayer, sobbing and tears?
Shadow of the unforgettable! answer, dear brother!
Or everything that happened was a dream, a daydream;
Everything, everything - the pale corpse, the grave and the ceremony,
Accomplished by friendship in your memory?
ABOUT! say a word to me! let the familiar sound
My greedy ears still caress,
Let my hand, oh unforgettable friend!
Squeezes yours with love..."
And I flew towards him... But the mountain spirit disappeared
In the bottomless blue of cloudless skies,
Like smoke, like a meteor, like the ghost of midnight,
And sleep left my eyes.

Everything slept around me under the roof of silence.
The menacing elements rolled silently.
In the light of a cloud-covered moon
The breeze was barely blowing, the waves were barely sparkling,
But sweet peace fled my eyes,
And still the soul flew after the ghost,
I wanted to stop the heavenly guest:
You, oh dear brother! O best of friends!

K. N. Batyushkov - Shadow of a friend

Notes: The epigraph of the poem is taken from the elegy “The Shadow of Cynthia” by the Roman lyricist Propertius (b. c. 49 – d. c. 15 BC). According to P. Vyazemsky, Batyushkov “wrote these poems on a ship, on the return journey from England to Russia after the conclusion of the European peace in Paris.” In 1814, after the Russian army's overseas campaign, Batyushkov visited London and returned from England to his homeland through Sweden, reaching this country by sea. The elegy is dedicated to the memory of Batyushkov’s untimely deceased friend I. A. Petin.

Pushkin remarked about this elegy: “Charm and perfection - what harmony” (P, vol. 12, p. 262).

Albion- An ancient name for England.

Halcyone- seagull.

Wedges- eyelids.

Place jets– the waters of the Pleissy River in Germany, near which Petin was killed.

Bellonina lights- military lights.

Konstantin Batyushkov
"Shadow of a Friend"

I left the shore of foggy Albion:
It seemed as if he was drowning in leaden waves.
There was a galcyon hanging behind the ship,
And her quiet voice amused the swimmers.
The evening wind, the splashing of the waves,
Monotonous noise and fluttering of sails,
And the helmsman's cry on deck
To the guard, dozing under the chatter of the shafts, -
Everything was filled with sweet thoughtfulness.
Enchanted, I stood at the mast
And through the fog and night veil
I was looking for the kind luminary of the north.
My whole thought was in memory
Under the sweet sky of the fatherland,
But the winds are noisy and the seas are swaying
A languid oblivion was brought over the eyelids.
Dreams gave way to dreams,
And suddenly... was it a dream?.. a comrade appeared to me,
Died in the fatal fire
An enviable death, above the streams of Place.
But the view was not terrible; brow
Didn't save deep wounds
Like a May morning, it bloomed with joy
And everything heavenly reminded the soul.
“Is it you, dear friend, comrade of better days!
Is that you? - I cried out, - oh warrior, forever dear!
Isn't it me over your untimely grave,
With the terrible glow of Bellona's fires,
Isn't it me with true friends
I inscribed your feat on a tree with a sword
And escorted the shadow to the heavenly homeland
With prayer, sobbing and tears?
Shadow of the unforgettable! Answer, dear brother!
Or everything that happened was a dream, a daydream;
Everything, everything - the pale corpse, the grave and the ceremony,
Accomplished by friendship in your memory?
ABOUT! say a word to me! Let the familiar sound
My greedy ears still caress,
Let my hand, oh unforgettable friend!
Squeezes yours with love..."
And I flew towards him... But the mountain spirit disappeared
In the bottomless blue of cloudless skies,
Like smoke, like a meteor, like the ghost of midnight,
Disappeared - and sleep left the eyes.
Everything slept around me under the roof of silence.
The menacing elements seemed silent.
In the light of a cloud-covered moon
The breeze was barely blowing, the waves were barely sparkling,
But sweet peace fled my eyes,
And all the soul flew after the ghost,
Everyone wanted to stop the heavenly guest:
You, oh dear brother! O best of friends!

Literary criticism, while recording the situation, does not challenge the status established by the attitude of the poets. The elegy is usually called among Batyushkov’s masterpieces, with the aim, however, not to return to it again (with the exception of several precise remarks in the works of I. M. Semenko and V. V. Vinogradov [Semenko I. M. Poets Pushkin's time.– M., 1970, p. 42; Vinogradov V.V. Pushkin’s style. – M., 1941, p. 306–307.]; as well as a short article by V. Rzhiga, published in the 30s [Rzhiga V. “Shadow of a Friend” by K. N. Batyushkov. – In memory of P. N. Sakulin.: Sat. scientific works. – M., 1931, p. 239–241.]). “The Shadow of a Friend” remains aside even when the general patterns of Batyushkov’s poetry become clear. Other verses are usually used as illustrations. Not because they are “better” or “worse” than the one named. They lie on the paths of the poet’s creative development that we have already recognized and fall into the “graphs” of the developed classification.
In particular, it is customary to talk about two types of Batyushkov’s elegy - intimate and historical or epic [The definition was given by Belinsky and was established in literary criticism. See: Maikov L. Batyushkov, his life and works. 2nd ed. – St. Petersburg, 1886, p. 170; Fridman N.V. Batyushkov’s poetry. – M., 1971, p. 273.] (according to the designation of B.V. Tomashevsky - “monumental” Tomashevsky B.V.K. Batyushkov. - In the book: Batyushkov K. Poems. - L., 1936, p. 40.). “Shadow of a Friend” is formally closer to the latter. So much so that Belinsky saw in it a belated echo of the “rhetorical” poetry of classicism. After the “excellent” first stanza, the critic claims, “a loud recitation begins, where not a single true fresh feeling is noticeable...” [Belinsky V. G. Works of Alexander Pushkin. – Collection op. in 9 volumes. T. 6. – M., 1981, p. 42.].
A modern researcher views this “declamation” differently. “The monologue addressed to the shadow of a friend who appeared to the poet,” writes I. M. Semenko, “the disappearance of the shadow, given in an almost Derzhavin style, is both touching and epically detailed.” [Semenko I. Decree. cit., p. 42.]
With polarity of assessments, both statements are addressed to the same side of the phenomenon. Correlated, they help to capture the “strangeness” that puts “The Shadow of a Friend” in a special place among the poet’s elegies. The monumental structure is not determined here by historical or legendary material (as in “Crossing the Rhine. 1814”, “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden”). The poem does not concern the great names so beloved by Batyushkov (Tassa, Homer). It is intimate in the nature of events and feelings, but this intimacy contains something that presupposes “epicly detailed” forms of expression.
This fact does not seem to me a simple concession to archaic inertia: this is the general properties of the lyricism of the pre-Pushkin era. Let us try to identify the specifics of this lyricism, and at the same time those features of “art” that gave the poem the well-deserved fame of a poetic masterpiece.
“The Shadow of a Friend” has a peculiar prose “pair” in Batyushkov’s work - the essay “Memories of Petin”. Both works are based on a single psychological foundation - the memory of a really existing person. Both breathe sorrowful love, the pain of loss. But when placed side by side, they are perceived as artistically contrasting. Not, however, in the sense in which “poetry and prose, ice and fire” are usually opposed. The essay is animated and hot. The narrator's feelings are trustingly naked, his reactions are simple and spontaneous. “Shadow of a Friend” against the backdrop of this “simple-minded” prose is an almost closed work, with an indirect, “roundabout” way of expressing thoughts. However, the essay lies in the realm of epic; elegy is lyrical in its very essence.
The author’s goal in “Memories of Petin” is to protect the image of a beautiful person from oblivion; the core of the narrative is the self-sufficient “he”. Personal consciousness certainly dominates in the poem. “Epic element”, “means of dramatic art” (I. M. Semenko) [Semenko I. Decree. cit., p. 37.] introduced into a powerful lyrical context, transformed by it.
This applies primarily to the eventual sphere of elegy. Its plot center is the appearance of a ghost, a motif that is quite common in world literature. But in works where the narrative has an epic value in itself, even the fantastic is included in the chain of cause and effect. The dead disturb the living for some purpose. The shadow of King Hamlet, the ghost of the Countess in “The Queen of Spades”, the murdered knight of the ballad “Smalholm Castle, or Midsummer’s Evening” are led into the world they left behind by a fatal secret, a thirst for retribution or atonement for sins. Dissimilar in any way, these images are united by a common function: they are a source of knowledge that encourages action.
Not so with Batyushkov. In the elegy, the appearance of the ghost is free from any pragmatic motivation. It does not generate an effective solution, but an outpouring of feelings - a surge of love and sadness.
It seems that this is not the individual author’s manner of expressing itself, but the general type of lyrical thinking. [It seems fair to the opinion of a modern researcher that lyrics as a genre are not devoid of an eventful plot, but “have a special, unique way of refracting the element of events” (Grekhnev V.A. Pushkin’s Lyrics: On the poetics of genres. - Gorky, 1985, p. . 191.)] A similar plot picture is given by Zhukovsky’s poem “March 19, 1823”. And there the deceased beloved appears “for nothing” and remains silent. Pushkin in “The Spell” reinforces the same point with an accentuated rejection of any goals alien to love:

The situation is just an excuse, or rather a springboard, for the flight of feelings. Impatiently passionate - in Pushkin’s elegy. Zhukovsky’s is peacefully contemplative, like a sigh and a look embracing the universe: “Stars of heaven! Silent night!..” [Zhukovsky V. A. Poems. – L., 1965, p. 253.] Reflective-anxious - in Batyushkov. Not only worldview and temperament are different; The manner of writing itself is deeply significant.
“Shadow of a Friend” is more archaic than the later masterpieces of Zhukovsky and Pushkin. But perhaps even more unexpected.
The theme of the transcendental meeting with the eternal beloved since the times of Dante and Petrarch has been felt as canonical, “literary”. The story about the vision of a friend, whose “deep wounds,” death, burial are remembered with the clarity of yesterday, is freer from the canon, psychologically isolated. That is why he is again mysterious. What happened is not taken for granted (Zhukovsky’s tone). It evokes a whirlwind of questions, a desire to fly after the disappeared, an attempt to internally “replay” the past.
It is precisely this semantic subtext that Batyushkov has in his oscillating alternative of sleep and reality.
“And suddenly... was it a dream?.. a comrade appeared to me,” [Batyushkov K.N. Experiments in poetry and prose. – M., 1977, p. 222. – In the future, Batyushkov’s works are quoted from this edition, the page is indicated in the text.] – this is how the story about the vision opens. The doubt voiced here is not a traditional tribute to rhetoric. What is happening is so vivid, so gratifying to the heart, that for a moment the real and the unreal change places:

The concept of “sleep” loses its everyday definition and acts as a sign of a special, prophetic-drowsy state of the soul.

wrote the poet of the generation that followed Batyushkov, Baratynsky. [Baratynsky E. A. Complete. collection poems. – L., 1957, p. 129.] Lyrics, which essentially know only one reality - the world of the subject - provide the greatest opportunities for the embodiment of this “being”.
The lyrical transformation of reality takes place in Batyushkov’s poem not only in the area of ​​events. It is also in that developing emotional atmosphere, which could conventionally be called the coloring of a thing. Conditionally, since, unlike painting, color in poetry is not a purely color phenomenon (and not even primarily color). Indirect visual impressions are coupled here with auditory sensations, with images of integral psychophysical states. The complex also includes the influence of the “sounding matter of the verse” - its phonetics and rhythm.
For “The Shadow of a Friend” the tuning fork is the magical first line, solemnly smooth, slow:

The abundance of singing vowels gives the verse “length”. An unusual arrangement of words removes speech automatism and induces listening rather than “understanding.” Double inversion brings to the center of the line not the subject or action, but the “disembodied” ghost - the word “foggy”. According to the laws of the “verse series” (Yu. N. Tynyanov’s term), it “infects” both neighboring ones with meaning – “shore” and “Albion”. The second is even greater than the first: it itself is distinguished by its rare sound and rhythmically strong position in the line. This is how a “poetic formula” is created – “foggy Albion” [On the stylistics of “poetic formulas” see: L. Ginzburg. About the lyrics. 2nd ed. – L., 1974, p. 29–30. One of the hallmarks of a “formula” is repetition. In the poem “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden” we read: “Foggy Albion is burning from end to end (...)” (203).] - an emotional harbinger of the entire lyrical flow.
A decade later, V.K. Kuchelbecker, ridiculing “dull” poetry, lined up a number of its “commonplaces.” It is completed “especially by fog: fog over the waters, fog over the forest, fog over the fields, fog in the writer’s head.” [Kuchelbecker V.K. About the direction of our poetry, especially lyrical, in the last decade. – In the book: Literary-critical works of the Decembrists. – M., 1978, p. 194.] The observation, if we ignore the irony that colors it, is quite accurate. “Nebula” is an indispensable feature of the “northern”, “Ossianic” elegy. It is characteristically said about Pushkin’s Lensky, the creator of “northern poems”:

The epithet is included in the verse series according to the laws of stylistics, close to Batyushkov’s. Inversion puts him between two concepts: “Germany” and “learning.” Logic gives way to ironically pedaled tradition. The poetic formula triumphs over geography: “foggy Germany” replaces “foggy Albion.”
Let us return, however, to Batyushkov’s poem. In “The Shadow of a Friend” the word “foggy”, given in the first line, is the key to the general coloring of the thing. It is outlined by the visual plan of the second line - a “lead”-gray tone, [See. a reflection of the same tone in the already mentioned poem by Tsvetaeva: “I see the dull waters’ disturbed bosom / And the dim firmament, familiar by heart.”] the image of the shore disappearing from the eyes:

It is supported by retry options:

Or:

Auditory impressions (also indirect) correspond to the landscape, where the main thing is the foggy blur of outlines. The author recreates a string of monotonous sounds merging into a continuous noise stream:

And again: “(...) the noise of the winds and the swaying of the sea.” “Wiggle” - and in the direct rhythmic effect of the verse, in the correct alternation of lines of 6-, 5-, 4-foot iambic.
The background corresponds to a number of internal states. These are “sweet thoughtfulness”, “charm”, “memory” and, finally, “sweet oblivion”, synonyms of which are not only “sleep”, but also “dream”. Color, sound, internal state are inextricably intertwined: the lyrical “I” is almost dissolved in a foggy world. But this is only a prologue to the extraordinary.
The appearance of a ghost sharply (“suddenly”) breaks the harmony of the “middle” tones. (At the same time, the correctness of the alternation of lines of different sizes and the uniformity of their syntactic structure are violated). [IN. V. Vinogradov notes in Batyushkov “unexpected and excited transitions, suggesting an emotional pause, subtle changes in tone associated with the breakdown of the traditional logical foundations of poetic syntax.” (Vinogradov V.V. Op. cit., p. 306).] The shadow of a friend brings with it a semblance of radiance:

The “heavenly,” however, cannot completely obscure the earthly. The feeling of light accompanies living memory about the “terrible glow of Bellona’s fires”, about prayer and sobs over the “timeless” grave. The “Mountain Spirit” is surrounded by a frame of “bottomless blue,” and next to it are dark, vague images. And most importantly: the moment of the highest triumph of light is also the moment of its loss:

The collision of polar principles is resolved by a return to the foggy reality:

But the return is incomplete. The soul, shocked by the light, no longer shares the drowsy peace of the world. She goes after the ghost. The elegy ends with a gesture of flight after the disappeared, an invocation, drawn-out and sorrowful:

This is the general result of the emotional movement taking place in the poem. It accompanies the plot as a chain of facts, placing a lyrical event at the center of the work.
It is generally accepted that the lyrical perspective of eventfulness manifests itself in the fragmentation of the image, the condensation of the action to the embryo of the situation. [Grekhnev V.A. Decree. cit., p. 192.] I don’t argue. But in our case something else is more important. Due to the inherent generality and increased information content of lyrics, the event, while maintaining individual specificity, here receives a certain super-meaning. It arises from the emotional subtext of the poem, from its changing color. It is also activated by the “big context” of a poetic book, the dynamics of inter-verse connections.
The second (poetic) part of Batyushkov’s “Experiments” is structured according to the genre principle, but this does not eliminate the possibility of compositional semantics. The collection opens with the poem “To Friends” that precedes all sections - a dedication and at the same time a thematic screensaver. The theme is picked up by the elegy “Friendship,” placed immediately before “Shadow of a Friend.” These two poems are especially closely related. They represent, as it were, two stages of the movement of poetic thought, two ways of presenting it: normative-generalized and personal-individual (according to the definition of L. Ya. Ginzburg - deductive and inductive [Ginsburg L. Particular and general in a lyric poem. - In the book. : Ginzburg L. Literature in search of reality. – L., 1987, pp. 96–97.]).
“Friendship” is constructed as a confirmation of a given thesis:

This is followed by illustrations, a reference to ancient “samples”, and a mention of immortal friendly couples. The enumeration is subject to the principle of gradation (it is completed by greatest hero antiquity - Achilles), but fundamentally static. The thought does not go beyond the intended level and does not change qualitatively. Such a system is natural, if it is embodied, it “remembers” what is already known. In relation to “The Shadow of a Friend,” “Friendship” acts as a kind of introduction, that first stage of cognition, after which comes the turn of individual search.
The connecting link between the works is the epigraph from Propertius that precedes “The Shadow of a Friend”:

The lines of Propertius connect the poem to the common sphere of antiquity with “Friendship” and at the same time subtly shift the topic. We are talking not only about the eternity of feelings, but also about the immortality of the human soul. The super-meaning of the lyrical event in “The Shadow of a Friend” is an affirmation of the inescapability of the spiritual substance of existence. Friendly love and the soul itself are just different manifestations of this single substance.
Thus, immersion in the world of a work reveals its “multi-layeredness”. On the surface there is an apology for friendship inherent in all Arzamas residents. Completely sincere, genuine, it is designed to satisfy the reader prone to traditional impressions. But in its deepest meaning, the poem is addressed to a new type of reader, one whose tastes have yet to be shaped by romanticism. The elegy sounds, beloved by romantics of all times (from Zhukovsky to Blok), the motif of the transcendental “call”.
In Russian literature, the most complete embodiment of this motif is “The Mysterious Visitor” by Zhukovsky. Written a decade after “The Shadow of a Friend,” this poem carries within itself the completeness of the absolute result. The mystery of the “beautiful guest” here again serves as a reason for a string of questions, but they are free from internal anxiety. Uncertainty is given clearly defined limits, the singular is raised to law:

Batyushkov, formally farther from romanticism than Zhukovsky, acted as a pioneer in some of its facets. Moreover, he paid for these discoveries at the cost of life tragedy. The loss of what the poet called his “little philosophy” (enlightened hedonism) immeasurably complicated his relationship with people and the world. There was a feeling of an incomparably higher spirituality of existence, but at the same time a frightening irrationality. The religion that Batyushkov tried to turn to did not provide unconditional stability. It did not have the status of a systematic primordial truth in his mind (Zhukovsky’s type of worldview). “Contact with other worlds” became under such conditions a source of confusion, giving rise to happiness and pain, a thirst for flight and the torment of abandonment.
“The Shadow of a Friend,” unlike “The Mysterious Visitor,” lives not by a statement of a general law, but by personal participation in an event that shakes the soul. Hence the inescapable effectiveness of the poem, the feeling of the relevance of an artistic discovery - despite some archaic features of the form.
But it is also wrong to underestimate the “specific weight” of this archaism: it is not the outer shell of thought, but its informative and substantive element.
Russian poetry of the beginning and second half of the 19th century. shares not only the style of expression, but also the nature of feeling. Since the times of Fet, the late Tyutchev, and Polonsky, lyric poetry has acquired the right to impressionistic understatement. A hint, a stroke, an associative “discontinuity” began to be recognized as generic characteristics, properties that contrast the lyrical “flight” with the slow flow of the epic.
Pre-Pushkin and partly Pushkin poetry does not know such a contrast. On the contrary, it is characterized by a focus on the special completeness of the experience of emotion, the “length” of the complaint. She strives to prolong the process of aesthetic experience itself. Perhaps this was due to the orientation of literature towards ritual forms of behavior, which occupied a very significant place in the life of a person in the 18th century. In the lyrics early XIX V. There are clearly relics of ritualism - ritual moments of oratorical oratory, funeral lament, prayer-incantation. Batyushkov’s “Shadow of a Friend” also reflected them.
And - a new paradox: its very archaic nature has become consonant with the poetry of the first decades of our century. The greatest artists of this era - O. Mandelstam, M. Tsvetaeva - in their own way resurrected some aspects of the “old” manner - the melody of a slow complaint, the smoothness of stately pathos. Isn’t this one of the reasons for Mandelstam’s special affection for Batyushkov or Tsvetaeva’s appeal to him, who created the “variant” of “Shadow of a Friend” - the lines included in the epigraph of this work:

Divine heights! Divine sadness!