Lyrical digressions of “Dead Souls” and their ideological content. Lyrical digressions and their meaning in the poem by N.V. Gogol “Dead Souls Lyrical digression in the poem Dead Souls 2
Main objectives of the lesson:
“Grade 9 Lesson No. 45 Lyrical digressions in Gogol’s poem.”
| 9th grade | ||
| Lesson #45 | Lyrical digressions and their role in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls". |
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| Lesson objectives: | introduce students to the topic of lyrical digressions, determine the role of lyrical digressions in Gogol’s poem, through analysis and comparison of Gogol’s motifs in the works of writers of subsequent generations; improve oral and written communication skills, promote the development of the ability to express one’s point of view and prove it; the ability to compare, analyze, assume, draw conclusions; to form a culture of thought, feeling, communication. |
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| Predicted results: | students know the content and issues of the work, are able to analyze the text, retell it, and read expressively; complete the learning task in accordance with the goals; are able to formulate their own thoughts; generalize and draw conclusions; adequately use verbal means to present the result. |
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| Equipment: | presentation, audio file, lesson plan (for each group), A-4 sheets, markers (green, black, blue, red), magnets |
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| Lesson format: | creative workshop |
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| Lesson progress | Teacher activities | Student activities |
| Organizational and motivational stage | Greeting students. Creating an emotional and psychological mood. The teacher's word to a romance written to Gogol's poems. Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich is not only a writer, whose works have been an achievement of world literature for about two centuries, but he is also an artist and a poet! Gogol's prose is so sonorous and melodic that it can only be compared with the poet's creation! Our glorious Russian language is transformed in Gogol’s works and becomes even more vibrant, even more diverse. Did you know that a lyrical romance is being played now? A. Zhurbina, written to a verse by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol(E. Guseva - L. Serebrennikov) Inductor 3.1. Play with the word "lyrics". Choose association words for it (synonyms, words with the same root). 3.2. Goal setting. – The mysteries of “Dead Souls” begin even before reading the work. So, for example, the genre is a poem (lyric-epic work.) We became acquainted with the epic (narrative) component of “Dead Souls” in previous classes. – What tasks do you set for yourself today in class? Observe... behind the features of the lyrical component of the poem Research... fragments of lyrical digressions of the poem Define... the role of lyrical digressions in the poem | Greetings from the teachers. Listen to the teacher's introductory speech, a romance based on Gogol's poems. Students write down on their technology cards: feelings, moods, experiences, emotions, type of literature... Students write down tasks in the technological map |
| Operational stage | Creating a creative product in group interaction based on deconstruction(work in the technological map.) 4.1. Read an excerpt from the article by D.I. Pisarev. D.I. Pisarev wrote: ... Gogol was our first folk, exclusively Russian poet; (...) the best modern figures of our literature can be called followers of Gogol; all their works bear the stamp of his attention, the tears of which will probably remain on Russian literature for a long time. 4.2. Describe the critic’s attitude towards the work of N.V. Gogol. What seemed unusual to you about the writer’s characterization? What does D.I. Pisarev give him credit for? Discuss as a group and write down your observations. Prepare an argumentative speech from the group. Formulate your answer in one sentence using expressions -emphasizes, affirms, draws attention. (3 min) 4.3.Group performances (about 2 minutes) / recordings are drawn up on A3 sheets and posted on a magnetic board. Reconstruction. Work in groups. How did the lyrical component expand the horizons of the poem “Dead Souls”, how did it influence contemporaries and subsequent generations of Russian writers? Group work - Read an excerpt from the work. Decide for yourself how you will complete the task. Either everyone analyzes the passage and brings their conclusions to the overall conclusion, or you will go through all the stages of the work together. Present your conclusion in the form of a table (15 min) Advertising and adjusting the creative product/ presentation of results in a common stand (work with markers: black, green, blue, red) – Tell us what conclusions you came to as a result of working in groups. While listening to your comrades, complement your conclusions. (7 min) * Explanation of the meaning of color in psychology Blue- this is constancy, perseverance, perseverance, devotion, dedication, seriousness, rigor. Green color -People who choose green choose their life path clearly and rationally Red color -represents power, breakthrough, the will to win. Red loves to be first Black color -People who prefer black are mysteries. They want to unconsciously attract the attention of others. Reading by heart the passage “Rus-troika” Creative work “Paths and Crossroads” (implementation of homework). Create a symbol of Gogol's Russia. What Dead Souls cover would you draw today? Create a poem that reflects the main idea of the poem. Write a travel essay: “What kind of Rus' did we see?” Create a collage “Where is Gogol’s Rus' rushing?” | They get acquainted with the statement, discuss it on the proposed questions, and formulate conclusions in one sentence. For example, D.I. Pisarev emphasizes the exceptional poetry of Gogol’s legacy, draws attention to the fact that the best figures of Russian literature can be called his followers, argues that the main thing in the writer’s legacy is tears, which left a mark on all Russian literature They read excerpts from the poem, analyze, compare with the works of writers of the twentieth century, draw conclusions, write them down in a technological map They choose the color of the marker and display the results of the work in a common stand. They read by heart in groups, choose the best reader - listening at the board. Present creative works made at home |
| Reflective-evaluative stage | Reflection(3 min) Like the statement by N.V. Gogol that best reflects your state after the lesson: No matter how stupid the words of a fool are, sometimes they are enough to confuse an intelligent person. Youth is happy because it has a future. The higher the truths, the more careful you need to be with them: otherwise they will suddenly turn into commonplaces, and they no longer believe commonplaces. ...there is hardly any higher of pleasures than the pleasure of creating. By teaching others, you also learn. | Put “likes” next to Gogol’s statement (you can ask several people to comment on your choice) |
| Homework | RR: Homework based on Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” | Determine the topic of the essay, write it down in a notebook for creative work |
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"LYRICAL DISTRACTIONS B"
LYRICAL DISTRACTIONS IN “DEAD SOULS”
I. Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem, thereby emphasizing the equality of the lyrical and epic principles: narration and lyrical digressions (see Belinsky on the pathos of “subjectivity” in terms of “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”).
II. Two main types of lyrical digressions in the poem:
1. Digressions related to the epic part, with the task of showing Rus' “from one side.”
1. Digressions associated with the epic part serve as a means of revealing characters and generalizing them.
1) Digressions revealing the images of officials.
A satirical digression about fat and thin typifies the images of officials. The antithesis on which this digression is based correlates with the general problem of the poem (the death of the soul): it is physical qualities that are the main ones in a person, determining his fate and behavior.
Men here, as elsewhere, were of two kinds: some thin, who all hovered around the ladies; some of them were of such a kind that it was difficult to distinguish them from those from St. Petersburg... Another type of men were fat or the same as Chichikov, i.e. not too thick, but not thin either. These, on the contrary, looked askance and backed away from the ladies and only looked around to see if the governor’s servant was setting up a green table for whist... These were honorary officials in the city. Alas! fat people know how to manage their affairs in this world better than thin people. The thin ones serve more on special assignments or are just registered and wander here and there; their existence is somehow too easy, airy and completely unreliable. Fat people never occupy indirect places, but all are straight, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly, so that the place will sooner crack and bend under them, and they will not fly off.
(chapterI )
The images of officials and Chichikov are also revealed in digressions:
About the ability to handle:
It must be said that in Rus', if we have not yet kept up with foreigners in some other respects, we have far surpassed them in the ability to communicate... We have such wise men who will speak to a landowner with two hundred souls completely differently than to to the one who has three hundred of them, and to the one who has three hundred, they will again speak differently than to the one who has five hundred, and to the one who has five hundred, again differently than to the one who has there are eight hundred of them - in a word, even if you go up to a million, there will be shades of them all.
I ask you to look at him when he sits among his subordinates - but you simply cannot utter a word out of fear! pride and nobility, and what does his face not express? just take a brush and paint: Prometheus, determined Prometheus! Looks out like an eagle, acts smoothly, measuredly. The same eagle, as soon as he left the room and approaches the office of his boss, is in such a hurry as a partridge with papers under his arm that there is no urine.
(Chapter III)
About the millionaire:
A millionaire has the advantage that he can see meanness as completely disinterested, pure meanness, not based on any calculations...
(chapterVIII )
About hypocrisy:
This is what happens on the faces of officials when a visiting chief inspects their places entrusted to management: after the first fear had passed, they saw that he liked a lot of things, and he himself finally deigned to make a joke, that is, to utter a few words with a pleasant grin...
(chapterVIII )
On the ability to talk with ladies:
To our greatest regret, it must be noted that sedate people and those occupying important positions are somehow a little difficult in conversations with ladies; for this, masters, gentlemen, lieutenants, and no further than the ranks of captain...
(chapterVIII )
2) A group of lyrical digressions generalizes the characters of landowners, elevates particular phenomena to more general phenomena.
MANILOV:
There is a kind of people known by the name: so-so people, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan, according to the proverb.
(chapterII )
Manilova's wife LISA (about boarding houses):
And a good education, as you know, comes from boarding schools. And in boarding houses, as you know, three main subjects form the basis of human virtues: the French language, necessary for the happiness of family life, the piano, for bringing pleasant moments to the spouse, and, finally, the actual economic part: knitting wallets and other surprises. However, there are various improvements and changes in methods, especially at the present time; all this depends more on the prudence and abilities of the boarding house owners themselves. In other boarding houses it happens that first the piano, then the French language, and then the economic part.
(chapterII )
Speaking about the BOX, Gogol uses several stages of generalization:
1) see the digression on landowners like Korobochka in the topic “Means of character development in Dead Souls.”
2) comparison of the landowner with “her aristocratic sister”:
Maybe you will even begin to think: come on, is Korobochka really standing so low on the endless ladder of human improvement? Is it really so great that the abyss separating her from her sister, inaccessibly fenced by the walls of an aristocratic house...
(Chapter III)
3) A very broad generalization is given through apparent illogicality:
However, Chichikov was angry in vain: he is a respectable man, and even a statesman, but in reality he turns out to be a perfect Korobochka. Once you’ve got something in your head, you can’t overpower it with anything; No matter how much you present him with arguments, clear as day, everything bounces off him, like a rubber ball bounces off a wall.
(Chapter III)
NOZDREV:
Maybe they will call him a beaten character, they will say that now Nozdryov is no longer there. Alas! those who speak like this will be unjust. Nozdryov will not leave the world for a long time. He is everywhere between us and, perhaps, only wears a different caftan; but people are frivolously undiscerning, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person.
(chapterIV )
Nozdryov's son-in-law MIZHUEV:
The blond man was one of those people in whose character, at first glance, there is some kind of stubbornness... But it will always end with the fact that their character will turn out to be soft, that they will agree to exactly what they rejected, they will call stupid things smart and go dancing like It couldn’t be better to follow someone else’s tune - in a word, they’ll start as smooth and end up as shit.
(chapterIV )
SOBAKEVICH:
Were you really born a bear, or did provincial life, grain crops, fussing with peasants make you bearish, and through them you became what is called a man - a fist?.. No, whoever is a fist cannot bend into a palm! And if you straighten your fist with one or two fingers, it will turn out even worse. If he tasted the top of some science, he would let all those who had actually learned some science know later, having taken a more prominent place.
(chapterV )
Only PLYUSHKIN is an atypical phenomenon. The lyrical digression in Chapter VI is based on negation; the generalization is given as if by contradiction:
It must be said that such a phenomenon rarely occurs in Rus', where everything likes to unfold rather than shrink.
3) In addition, there are digressions on everyday topics that are close to the epic part in pathos and language and also serve as a means of generalization:
About food and stomachs of average gentlemen:
The author must admit that he is very envious of the appetite and stomach of this kind of people. For him, all the gentlemen of great hands who live in St. Petersburg and Moscow, who spend their time thinking about what to eat tomorrow and what kind of dinner to create for the day after tomorrow, mean absolutely nothing to him...
(chapterIV )
About scientific reasoning and discoveries:
Our brothers, the intelligent people, as we call ourselves, do almost the same, and our scientific reasoning serves as proof.
(chapterIX )
On human weirdness:
Go and have fun with the man! does not believe in God, but believes that if the bridge of his nose itches, he will certainly die...
(chapterX )
From the analysis carried out it is clear that in Gogol’s works we are not dealing with traditional typification, but rather with a generalization, universalization of phenomena.
2. Digressions contrasted with the epic part, revealing the positive ideal of the author.
1) Lyrical digressions about Russia (Rus), linking together the themes of the road, the Russian people and the Russian word.
A digression about the aptly spoken Russian word in Chapter V (see “Folk images, the image of the people, the nationality of “Dead Souls”).
About barge haulers (the image of the people):
And in fact, where is Fyrov now? He walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having arranged himself with the merchants. Flowers and ribbons on the hat, the whole gang of barge haulers is having fun, saying goodbye to their mistresses and wives, tall, stately, in monasteries and ribbons; round dances, songs, the whole square is in full swing... and the entire grain arsenal looms large until it is all loaded into deep marmot ships and the goose and people rush off into the endless valley. That's where you'll work hard, barge haulers! and together, as before they walked and raged, you will set to work and sweat, dragging the strap under one endless song, like Rus'.
(chapterVII )
Eh, three! bird troika, who invented you?.. Aren’t you, Rus', like a lively, unstoppable troika, rushing?.. Rus', where are you rushing, give me the answer? Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and other peoples and states sidestep and give way to it.
(chapterXI )
About the road:
How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful is the word: road! how wonderful it is, this road: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air... tighter in your travel overcoat, a hat over your ears, you will press closer and more comfortably to the corner!.. And the night? heavenly powers! what a night is taking place in the heights! And the air, and the sky, distant, high, there, in its inaccessible depths, so vastly, sonorously and clearly spread out!..
(chapterXI )
About Rus' and its heroes:
Rus! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you; The daring divas of nature, crowned by the daring divas of art, will not amuse or frighten the eyes... Everything in you is open, deserted and even; like dots, like icons, your low cities stick out inconspicuously among the plains; nothing will seduce or enchant the eye. But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts you? Why is your melancholy song heard and heard incessantly in your ears, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea? What is in it, in this song?.. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Isn’t it here, in you, that a boundless thought will be born, when you yourself are endless? Shouldn't a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk? And a mighty space envelops me menacingly, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: oh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus!..
(chapterXI )
2) Lyrical digressions on philosophical topics, similar in language to lyrical digressions associated with a positive ideal.
On the inconsistencies of life:
Whether it’s a box, whether it’s Manilova, whether life is economic or non-economic - pass them by! This is not how the world works wonderfully: what is cheerful will instantly turn into sadness if you just stand in front of it for a long time; and then God knows what comes to mind.
(chapterIII )
About youth:
If at that time, instead of Chichikov, some twenty-year-old youth had come across, whether he was a hussar, a student, or just someone who had just begun the field of life - and God! no matter what wakes up, moves, or speaks in him!..
(chapterV )
Today's fiery young man would jump aside in horror if they showed him his own portrait in old age. Take with you on the journey, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, you will not pick them up later!..
(chapterVI )
About old age:
The old age coming ahead is terrible, terrible, and nothing gives back and back!
(chapterVI )
III. In addition, we can highlight a number of digressions that reveal the author’s views on artistic creativity:
About two types of writers. Based on this digression, Nekrasov’s poem “Blessed is the gentle poet” (on the death of Gogol) was written.
| Happy is the writer who, past characters that are boring, disgusting, and striking with their sad reality, approaches characters that demonstrate the high dignity of a person who, from the great pool of daily rotating images, has chosen only a few exceptions, who has never changed the sublime structure of his lyre... There is no equal in his power - he is God! | Blessed is the gentle poet, Who has little bile, a lot of feeling... Loving carelessness and peace, Disdaining daring satire, He firmly dominates the crowd With your peace-loving lyre. |
| But this is not the fate, and the fate of the writer is different, who dared to call out everything that is every minute before the eyes and what indifferent eyes do not see - all the terrible, stunning mud of little things that entangle our lives, all the depth of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters with which ours teems. an earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road, and with the strong power of an inexorable chisel, who dared to expose them prominently and brightly to the eyes of the people! | But fate has no mercy To him whose noble genius Became an accuser of the crowd, Her passions and delusions. |
| He will not receive popular applause, he will not experience the grateful tears and unanimous delight of the souls excited by him... (chapterVII) | He is persecuted by blasphemers; He catches the sounds of approval Not in the sweet roar of praise, And in the wild screams of anger. |
The digression about the portrait of heroes in Chapter II is connected with the problem of the method. It is built on an antithesis: the romantic hero (portrait) is an ordinary, unremarkable hero.
It is much easier to depict large characters: there, just throw paint from your entire hand onto the canvas, black scorching eyes, drooping eyebrows, a wrinkled forehead, a cloak black or scarlet as fire thrown over your shoulder, and the portrait is ready; but all these gentlemen, of whom there are many in the world, who look very similar to each other, and yet, when you look closely, you will see many of the most elusive features - these gentlemen are terribly difficult for portraits. Here you will have to greatly strain your attention until you force all the subtle, almost invisible features to appear before you, and in general you will have to deepen your gaze, already sophisticated in the science of prying.
(II chapter)
In a lyrical digression on the language of a work of art, the principle of democratization of language is declared; the author opposes its artificial “ennoblement”.
Guilty! It seems that a word that was noticed on the street came out of our hero’s mouth. What to do? Such is the position of the writer in Rus'! However, if a word from the street ends up in a book, it’s not the writer’s fault, it’s the readers, and above all the readers of high society: from them you won’t be the first to hear a single decent Russian word, but they will probably endow you with French, German and English words in such quantities, whatever you want.
(chapterVIII )
See also “Female images in The Inspector General and Dead Souls.”
About choosing a hero:
But a virtuous person is still not taken as a hero. And you can even say why it wasn’t taken. Because it’s time to finally give rest to the poor virtuous man, because the word idly spins on his lips: a virtuous man, because they turned a virtuous man into a workhorse, and there is no writer who would not ride him, urging him on with a whip and with everything that came his way. ; because they have starved a virtuous man to such an extent that now there is not even a shadow of virtue on him, and only ribs and skin instead of a body remain... because they do not respect a virtuous man. No, it’s time to finally hide the scoundrel too. So, let's harness the scoundrel!
(chapterXI )
Gogol claims the role of the main character of the antihero (see “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”).
About creative plans, about a positive ideal:
But... perhaps in this same story one will sense other, hitherto unstrung strings, the untold wealth of the Russian spirit will appear, a husband gifted with divine virtues will pass by, or a wonderful Russian maiden, which cannot be found anywhere in the world, with all the wondrous beauty of a woman souls, all from generous aspiration and selflessness. And all the virtuous people of other tribes will appear dead before them, just as a book is dead before a living word!.. But why and why talk about what lies ahead? It is indecent for the author, who has long been a husband, brought up by a harsh inner life and the refreshing sobriety of solitude, to forget himself like a young man. Everything has its turn, place and time!
(chapterXI )
See also the concept of “The Plot and Composition of Dead Souls.”
And for a long time it is determined for me by the wonderful power to walk hand in hand with my strange heroes, to survey the whole enormously rushing life, to survey it through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to it tears! And the time is still far off when, in another key, a menacing blizzard of inspiration will rise from the head, clothed in holy horror and splendor, and in confused trepidation they will sense the majestic thunder of other speeches...
(chapterVII )
IV.Unlike Pushkin, Gogol has no autobiographical digressions, except for the poetic “Oh my youth, oh my freshness!”, but it is also of a general philosophical nature:
Before, long ago, in the years of my youth, in the years of my irrevocably flashed childhood, it was fun for me to drive up to an unfamiliar place for the first time... Now I indifferently approach any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance.
(chapterVI )
V. From the point of view of the principle of artistic generalization, the lyrical digressions of “Dead Souls” can be divided into two types:
(chapterII )
That's how it is Russian person: a strong passion to become arrogant with someone who would be at least one rank higher than him...
(chapterII )
Because Russian man in decisive moments, there will be something to do without going into long-term reasoning, then, turning right, onto the first cross road, he [Selifan] shouted: “Hey, you, respectable friends!” - and set off at a gallop, thinking little about where the road taken would lead.
(chapterIII )
Here Nozdryov was promised many difficult and strong desires; There were even some bad words. What to do? Russian man, and in the hearts too!
(chapterV )
Selifan felt his mistake, but since Russian man doesn’t like to admit to others that he is to blame, he immediately said, becoming poised: “Why are you jumping around like that? did he put his eyes in a tavern, or what?”
(chapterV )
The guest and the host each drank a glass of vodka and had a bite to eat. the whole vast Russia in cities and villages...
(chapterV )
In Rus' lower societies love to talk about the gossip that happens in higher societies...
(chapterIX )
What did this scratching mean? and what does it even mean?.. It means a lot of different things Russian people scratching the back of the head.
(chapterX )
See also digressions about Plyushkin and Sobakevich.
Russia in “Dead Souls” is a special world, living according to its own laws. Its wide open spaces give rise to broad natures.
She [the governor's wife] was holding by the arm a young sixteen-year-old girl, a fresh blonde with thin, slender features, a sharp chin, and a charmingly round oval face, the kind an artist would take as a model for the Madonna and which only comes across on rare occasions. in Rus', where everything loves to appear in a wide size, everything that is: mountains, and forests, and steppes, and faces, and lips, and legs.
(chapterVIII )
And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast?? Is it possible for his soul, trying to get dizzy, to go on a spree, to sometimes say: “damn it all!” - Is it his soul not to love her?
(chapterXI )
2. Through all-Russian, national lies the way to universal.
AND in the world chronicle of humanity There are many entire centuries that, it would seem, were crossed out and destroyed as unnecessary. Many mistakes have been made in the world that, it would seem, even a child would not have made now. What twisted, deaf, narrow, impassable roads did he choose? humanity, trying to achieve eternal truth, while the straight path was open before him, like the path leading to the magnificent temple assigned to the king’s palace!
(chapterX )
All universal generalizations are in one way or another connected with the plot-forming motif of the road (see “The Plot and Composition of Dead Souls”).
VI. Gogol's poem is built on the thematic and stylistic opposition of the epic and lyrical principles. Often this antithesis is specifically emphasized by Gogol, and he collides two worlds:
And a mighty space envelops me menacingly, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: oh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus!..
“Hold it, hold it, you fool!” - Chichikov shouted to Selifan. “Here I am with a broadsword!” - shouted a courier with a mustache as long as he was galloping towards. “Don’t you see, damn your soul: it’s a government carriage!” And, like a ghost, the troika disappeared with thunder and dust.
How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful is the word: road!
(chapterXI )
In general, speaking about the stylistic originality of lyrical digressions, we can note the features of romantic poetics.
Conceptually: in contrast to youth and old age.
See lyrical digressions on philosophical topics.
In artistic means (hyperbole, cosmic images, metaphors). See “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”.
God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like a perishing and drowning person, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt!..
(chapterXI )
VII. The compositional role of lyrical digressions.
1. Some chapters open with digressions:
A digression on youth in Chapter VI (“Before, long ago, in the years of my youth...”).
A digression about two types of writers in Chapter VII (“Happy is the writer...”).
2. Digressions can end the chapter:
About the “aptly spoken Russian word” in Chapter V (“The Russian people express themselves strongly...”).
About “scratching the back of the head” in Chapter X (“What did this scratching mean? And what does it even mean?”)
About the “bird troika” at the end of the first volume (“Eh, troika, bird troika, who invented you?..”).
3. A digression may precede the appearance of a new hero: a digression about youth in Chapter VI precedes the description of the village of Plyushkin.
4. Turning points in the plot can also be marked by lyrical digressions:
Describing Chichikov’s feelings when meeting the governor’s daughter, the author again reminds the reader of the division of people into fat and thin.
It is impossible to say for sure whether the feeling of love has truly awakened in our hero - it is even doubtful that gentlemen of this kind, that is, not so thick, but not so thin, were capable of love; but despite all this, there was something so strange here, something of the kind that he could not explain to himself...
(chapterVIII )
The author includes discussions about the ability of fat and thin gentlemen to entertain ladies in the description of another novel scene: Chichikov’s conversation with the governor’s daughter at the ball.
People who are sedate and occupy important positions are somehow a little difficult in conversations with ladies; for this, masters, gentlemen, lieutenants, and no further than the ranks of captains... This is noted here so that readers can see why the blonde began to yawn during our hero’s stories.
(chapterVIII )
5. Towards the end of the poem, the number of lyrical digressions associated with a positive ideal increases, which is explained by Gogol’s plan to build “Dead Souls” on the model of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (see “Plot and composition of “Dead Souls”).
VIII. The language of lyrical digressions (see “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”).
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"RM - Rus' (by heart)"
God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt!..
Rus! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you; the daring divas of nature, crowned by the daring divas of art, cities with many-windowed high palaces grown into the cliffs, picture trees and ivy grown into houses, in the noise and eternal dust of waterfalls will not amuse or frighten the eyes; her head will not fall back to look at the boulders of stone endlessly piled up above her and in the heights; the dark arches thrown one upon the other, entangled with grape branches, ivy and countless millions of wild roses, will not flash through them; the eternal lines of shining mountains, rushing into the silver clear skies, will not flash through them in the distance. Everything about you is open, deserted and even; like dots, like icons, your low cities stick out inconspicuously among the plains; nothing will seduce or enchant the eye. But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts you? Why is your melancholy song, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea, heard and heard incessantly in your ears? What's in it, in this song? What calls and cries and grabs your heart? What sounds painfully kiss and strive into the soul and curl around my heart? Rus! what do you want from me? what incomprehensible connection lies between us? Why are you looking like that, and why did everything that is in you turn its eyes full of expectation to me?.. And still, full of bewilderment, I stand motionless, and a menacing cloud has already overshadowed my head, heavy with the coming rains, and my thoughts are numb before yours. space. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Isn’t it here, in you, that a boundless thought will be born, when you yourself are endless? Shouldn't a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk? And a mighty space envelops me menacingly, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: oh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus!..
How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful is the word: road! and how wonderful it is, this road: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air... tighter in our travel overcoat, a hat over our ears, let’s press closer and more comfortably to the corner! For the last time, a shudder ran through the limbs, and was already replaced by a pleasant warmth. The horses are racing...
God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt!..
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"RM for groups"
1 group.
A. Discourse on thick and thin (Chapter 1)
The men here, as everywhere else, were of two kinds: some thin, who kept hovering around the ladies; some of them were of such a kind that it was difficult to distinguish them from those from St. Petersburg: they also had very clean, deliberately and tastefully combed sideburns, or simply beautiful, very smoothly shaven oval faces, they sat down just as casually next to the ladies, they spoke the same way in French and made the ladies laugh just like in St. Petersburg. Another class of men were fat or the same as Chichikov, that is, not too fat, but not thin either. These, on the contrary, looked askance and backed away from the ladies and only looked around to see if the governor’s servant was setting up a green whist table somewhere. Their faces were full and round, some even had warts, some were pockmarked; They didn’t wear their hair on their heads in crests, curls, or the devil-may-care style, as the French say; their hair was either cut low or slicked back, and their facial features were more rounded and strong. These were honorary officials in the city. Alas! fat people know how to manage their affairs in this world better than thin people. The thin ones serve more on special assignments or are just registered and wander here and there; their existence is somehow too easy, airy and completely unreliable. Fat people never occupy indirect places, but always straight ones, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly, so that the place will sooner crack and bend under them, and they will not fly off. They do not like external shine; the tailcoat on them is not as cleverly tailored as on the thin ones, but in the boxes there is the grace of God. At the age of three, the thin one does not have a single soul left that is not pawned in a pawnshop; The fat man was calm, lo and behold, and somewhere at the end of the city a house appeared, bought in the name of his wife, then at the other end another house, then a village near the city, then a village with all the land. Finally, the fat man, having served God and the sovereign, having earned universal respect, leaves the service, moves over and becomes a landowner, a glorious Russian gentleman, a hospitable man, and lives and lives well. And after him, again, the thin heirs, according to Russian custom, send all their father’s goods by courier.
| Words, phrases, details | ||
B. Assignment: Are there similar thoughts and reasoning in the text of the story “Thick and Thin” by A.P. Chekhov and in this passage? Confirm the similarities with the text of the story “Thick and Thin” or explain in your own way.
At the Nikolaevskaya railway station, two friends met: one fat, the other thin. The fat man had just had lunch at the station, and his lips, coated with oil, were shiny like ripe cherries. He smelled of sherry and fleur-d'orange. The thin one had just gotten out of the carriage and was laden with suitcases, bundles and cardboard boxes. He smelled of ham and coffee grounds. A thin woman with a long chin peeked out from behind him - his wife, and a tall schoolboy with a squinted eye - his son.
Well, how are you doing, friend? - asked the fat man, looking at his friend enthusiastically. - Where do you serve? Have you achieved the rank?
I serve, my dear! I have been a collegiate assessor for the second year now and I have Stanislav. The salary is bad... well, God bless him! My wife gives music lessons, I privately make cigarette cases out of wood. Great cigarette cases! I sell them for a ruble apiece. If someone takes ten grand or more, then, you know, there is a concession. Let's make some money. I served, you know, in the department, and now I’ve been transferred here as the head of the same department... I’ll serve here. Well, how are you? Probably already a civilian? A?
No, my dear, raise it higher,” said the fat man. “I have already risen to the rank of secret... I have two stars.”
The thin one suddenly turned pale and petrified, but soon his face twisted in all directions with a broad smile; it seemed as if sparks were falling from his face and eyes. He himself shrank, hunched over, narrowed... His suitcases, bundles and cardboard boxes shrank, wrinkled... His wife's long chin became even longer; Nathanael stood tall and fastened all the buttons of his uniform...
I, Your Excellency... It’s a pleasure, sir! A friend, one might say, from childhood and suddenly became such a nobleman, sir! Hee hee sir.
Well, that's enough! - the fat man winced. - What is this tone for? You and I are childhood friends - and why this respect for rank?
For mercy... What are you... - the thin one giggled, shrinking even more. - The gracious attention of your Excellency... seems like life-giving moisture...
2nd group.
Before, long ago, in the summers of my youth, in the years of my irrevocably flashed childhood, it was fun for me to drive up for the first time to an unfamiliar place: it didn’t matter whether it was a village, a poor provincial town, a village, a settlement, the child discovered a lot of curious things in it curious look. Every building, everything that bore only the imprint of some noticeable feature, everything stopped me and amazed me. Is it a stone, state-owned house of well-known architecture with half of the false windows, standing alone among a hewn log heap of one-story bourgeois, philistine houses, or a round, regular dome, all upholstered in sheet white iron, raised above a new church, white as snow, a market whether it was a district dandy who came across the city - nothing escaped fresh, subtle attention, and, sticking my nose out of my traveling cart, I looked at the hitherto unprecedented cut of some frock coat, and at the wooden boxes with nails, with grey, yellowing in the distance, with raisins and soap, flashing from the doors of a vegetable shop along with jars of dried Moscow sweets, I looked at an infantry officer walking to the side, brought from God knows what province, out of provincial boredom, and at a merchant flashing in Siberia on racing droshky, and was carried away mentally after them into their poor life. The district official walk by - I was already wondering where he was going, whether for the evening to some brother of his or straight to his home, so that, after sitting for half an hour on the porch, before dusk had yet completely set in, he could sit down for an early dinner with mother, with his wife, with his wife’s sister and the whole family, and what they will talk about at the time when the courtyard girl in monists or the boy in a thick jacket brings, after soup, a tallow candle in a durable household candlestick. Approaching the village of some landowner, I looked curiously at the tall, narrow wooden bell tower or the wide, dark wooden old church. From afar, through the greenery of the trees, the red roof and white chimneys of the manor's house flashed temptingly to me, and I waited impatiently until the gardens that surrounded it dispersed on both sides and he appeared all his own, then, alas! not at all vulgar appearance, and from him I tried to guess who the landowner himself was, whether he was fat, and whether he had sons or six daughters with ringing girlish laughter, games and the eternal beauty of his little sister, and whether they were dark-eyed, and whether they were merry. he himself is either gloomy, like September in the last days, looking at the calendar and talking about rye and wheat, boring for youth.
Now I indifferently approach any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance; It’s unpleasant to my chilled gaze, it’s not funny to me, and what would have awakened in previous years a lively movement in the face, laughter and silent speech, now slides past, and my motionless lips keep an indifferent silence. O my youth! oh my freshness!
| Words, phrases, details | Conclusions about the role of retreat (What the author thinks about) |
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| The narrator in his youth | ||
| Narrator in adulthood |
B. Assignment: Are there similar thoughts and reasoning in the text of S. Yesenin’s poem and in this passage? Confirm the similarities with the text of the poem or explain in your own way.
| I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry, Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees. Withered in gold, I won't be young anymore. Now you won't fight so much, A heart touched by a chill, And the country of birch chintz It won't tempt you to wander around barefoot. The wandering spirit! you are less and less often You stir up the flame of your lips | Oh my lost freshness A riot of eyes and a flood of feelings! I have now become more stingy in my desires, My life, did I dream about you? As if I were a booming early spring He rode on a pink horse. All of us, all of us in this world are perishable, Copper quietly pours from the maple leaves... May you be blessed forever, What has come to flourish and die. |
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3 group
A. Lyrical digression about Rus' and the road (Chapter 11)
And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast? Is it his soul, striving to get dizzy, to go on a spree, to sometimes say: “damn it all!” - Is it his soul not to love her? Isn’t it possible to love her when you hear something enthusiastically wonderful in her? It seems that an unknown force has taken you on its wing, and you are flying, and everything is flying: miles are flying, merchants are flying towards you on the beams of their wagons, a forest is flying on both sides with dark formations of spruces and pines, with a clumsy knock and the cry of a crow, it flies the whole road goes to who knows where into the disappearing distance, and something terrible is contained in this quick flickering, where the disappearing object does not have time to appear, only the sky above, and the light clouds, and the rushing month alone seem motionless. Eh, three! bird three, who invented you? to know, you could only have been born among a lively people, in that land that does not like to joke, but has spread out smoothly across half the world, and go ahead and count the miles until it hits your eyes. And not a cunning, it seems, road projectile, not grabbed by an iron screw, but hastily, alive, with one ax and a chisel, the efficient Yaroslavl man equipped and assembled you. The driver is not wearing German boots: he has a beard and mittens, and sits on God knows what; but he stood up, swung, and began to sing - the horses were a whirlwind, the spokes of the wheels mixed into one smooth circle, only the road trembled and the stopped pedestrian screamed in fright! and there she rushed, rushed, rushed !.. And you can already see in the distance how something is gathering dust and drilling into the air.
Aren't you, Rus, like a brisk, unstoppable troika, rushing along? The road beneath you smokes, the bridges rattle, everything falls behind and is left behind. The contemplator, amazed by God's miracle, stopped: was this lightning thrown from the sky? What does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power is contained in these horses, unknown to the light? Oh, horses, horses, what kind of horses! Are there whirlwinds in your manes? Is there a sensitive ear burning in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once tensed their copper chests and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into just elongated lines flying through the air, and rushing, all inspired by God !.. Rus', where are you going, give me the answer? Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and other peoples and states sidestep and give way to it.
| Words, phrases, details | Conclusions about the role of retreat (What the author thinks about) |
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B. Assignment: Are there similar thoughts and reasoning in the text of A. Blok’s poem “Russia” and in this passage? Confirm the similarities with the text of the poem or explain in your own way.
| Again, like in the golden years, Three worn out flapping harnesses, And the painted knitting needles knit Russia, poor Russia, I want your gray huts, Your songs are windy to me, - Like the tears of first love! I don't know how to feel sorry for you, And I carefully carry my cross... Which sorcerer do you want? Give me your robber beauty! Let him lure and deceive, | You won't be lost, you won't perish, And only care will cloud Your beautiful features... Well, what then? One more concern - The river is noisier with one tear And you are still the same - forest and field, Yes, the patterned board goes up to the eyebrows... And the impossible is possible The long road is easy When the road flashes in the distance An instant glance from under a scarf, When it rings with guarded melancholy The dull song of the coachman!.. |
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"Worksheet"
Fill out the table:
| Subject of l.o. | Examples from the text | |
| About thick and thin | ||
| About education in Russia | ||
| About the subtlety of treatment | ||
| About gentlemen of the “middle class” | ||
| About apt Russian word | ||
| About youth and youth | ||
| About the fate of the writer in Russia | Lyrical digressions in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"  Lyrical digressions – deviations from immediate plot in a literary work Lyrical digressions give the poem scale, breadth and depth of coverage of problems, symbolism  Chapter 1 About thick and thin Chapter 2 About education in Russia Chapter 3 About the subtlety of treatment  Theme of lyrical digressions in the poem Chapter 4 About gentlemen of the “middle class” Chapter 5 About apt Russian word Chapter 6 About youth and youth  Theme of lyrical digressions in the poem Chapter 7 About the fate of the writer in Russia Chapter 8 About city people Chapter 9 About Russian peasants  Theme of lyrical digressions in the poem Chapter 11 About Russia  The role of lyrical digressions in the poem Lyrical digressions in the poem:
  I wish you all to plunge into a beautiful, bewitching world more than once in your life, whose name is GOGOL   I. Prologue A strange dream... As if in the kingdom of shadows, above the entrance to which an unquenchable lamp with the inscription “Dead Souls” flickers, the joker Satan opened the doors. The dead kingdom began to stir and an endless line stretched out from it. Manilov in a fur coat on large bears, Nozdryov in someone else's carriage, Derzhimorda on a fire pipe, Selifan, Parsley, Fetinya... And he was the last to move - Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov in the famous to his chaise. And the whole gang moved towards Sovetskaya Rus' and amazing things happened in it then incidents. And which ones follow that? points. |
The poem “Dead Souls” cannot be imagined without “lyrical digressions”. They entered the structure of the work so organically that we can no longer imagine it without these magnificent author’s monologues. Thanks to “lyrical digressions,” we constantly feel the presence of the author, who shares with us his thoughts and experiences about a particular event described in the poem. He becomes not just a guide leading us through the pages of his work, but rather a close friend with whom we want to share the emotions that overwhelm us. Often we wait for these “digressions” in the hope that he, with his inimitable humor, will help us cope with indignation or sadness, and sometimes we just want to know his opinion about everything that is happening. Moreover, these “digressions” have incredible artistic power: we enjoy every word, every image and admire their precision and beauty.
What did Gogol’s famous contemporaries say about the “lyrical digressions” in the poem? A. I. Herzen wrote: “Here the transition from the Sobakeviches to the Plyushkins is filled with horror; With every step you get stuck, you sink deeper, the lyrical place suddenly revives, illuminates and is now replaced again by a picture that reminds even more clearly what kind of pit of hell we are in.” V. G. Belinsky also highly appreciated the lyrical beginning of “Dead Souls,” pointing to “that deep, comprehensive and humane subjectivity that in the artist reveals a person with a warm heart and a sympathetic soul.”
With the help of “lyrical digressions,” the writer expresses his attitude not only to the people and events he describes. These “digressions” carry within them a statement of a person’s high calling, the significance of great social ideas and interests. Whether the author expresses his bitterness and anger about the insignificance of the heroes he shows, whether he speaks about the writer’s place in modern society, whether he writes about the living, lively Russian mind - the source of his lyricism is thoughts about serving his native country, about its destinies, sorrows and hidden gigantic strength.
The author includes lyrical passages in the work with great artistic tact. At first, they contain his statements only about the heroes of the work, but as the plot develops, their themes become more and more versatile.
Having talked about Manilov and Korobochka, the author briefly interrupts the story, as if he wants to step aside a little so that the picture of life painted becomes clearer to the reader. The author's digression, which interrupts the story about Korobochka, contains a comparison of her with a “sister” from an aristocratic society, who, despite her different appearance, is no different from the local mistress.
After visiting Nozdryov, Chichikov meets a beautiful blonde on the road. The description of this meeting ends with the author’s remarkable digression: “Wherever in life, whether among the callous, rough-poor and unkempt and moldy low-lying ranks, or among the monotonously cold and boringly neat upper classes, everywhere at least once you will meet on the way to a person, a phenomenon unlike anything he has ever seen before, which will at least once awaken in him a feeling not similar to those that he is destined to feel throughout his life.” But all this is completely alien to Chichikov: his cold caution is here compared with the direct manifestation of human feelings.
At the end of the fifth chapter, the “lyrical digression” is of a completely different nature. Here the author is no longer talking about the hero, not about the attitude towards him, but about the mighty Russian man, about the talent of the Russian people. Outwardly, this “lyrical digression” seems to have little connection with the entire previous development of the action, but it is very important for revealing the main idea of the poem: true Russia is not the Sobakevichs, Nozdryovs and Korobochki, but the people, the element of the people.
Closely connected with lyrical statements about the Russian word and national character is the artist’s inspired confession about his youth, about his perception of life, which opens the sixth chapter.
The story about Plyushkin, who most powerfully embodied base aspirations and feelings, is interrupted by the author’s angry words, which have a deep, generalizing meaning: “And a person could condescend to such insignificance, pettiness, and disgusting!”
Gogol begins the seventh chapter with his thoughts about the creative and life fate of the writer in his contemporary society, about two different destinies awaiting the writer who creates “exalted images” and the realist writer, satirist. This “lyrical digression” reflected not only the writer’s views on art, but also his attitude towards the ruling elite of society and the people. “Lyrical digression”: “Happy is the traveler who, after a long and boring road...” is an important stage in the development of the narrative: it seems to separate one narrative link from another. Gogol's statements illuminate the essence and meaning of both previous and subsequent paintings of the poem. This “lyrical digression” is directly related to the folk scenes shown in the seventh chapter, and plays a very important role in the composition of the poem.
In the chapters devoted to the depiction of the city, we come across the author’s statements about ranks and classes: “... now all ranks and classes are so irritated with us that everything that is in a printed book already seems to them to be a person: that’s how it is, apparently, location in the air."
Gogol ends his description of the general confusion with reflections on human delusions, on the false paths that humanity has often followed in its history: but the current generation laughs and arrogantly, proudly begins a series of new delusions, which posterity will also laugh at later.”
The writer’s civic pathos reaches particular strength in the “lyrical digression”: “Rus, Rus'! I see you from my wonderful, beautiful distance.” Like the lyrical monologue at the beginning of the seventh chapter, this “lyrical digression” forms a clear line between two parts of the narrative - the city scenes and the story about the origin of Chichikov. The theme of Russia, in which it is “poor, scattered and uncomfortable,” but where heroes cannot but be born, has already been widely developed here. Following this, the author shares with the reader the thoughts that the distant road and the rushing troika evoke in him: “How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road! and how wonderful this road itself is.” Gogol sketches here one after another pictures of Russian nature that appear before the gaze of a traveler racing on fast horses along an autumn road. And despite the fact that the image of the three-bird is left behind, in this “lyrical digression” we feel it again.
The story about the main character of the poem is completed by the author’s statements, presenting sharp objections to those who may be shocked by both the main character and the entire poem, depicting the “bad” and “despicable”.
“Lyrical digressions” reflect the author’s high sense of patriotism. The image of Russia that concludes the novel-poem is filled with deep love, an image that embodies the ideal that illuminated the artist’s path when depicting petty, vulgar life.
But the most important question for Gogol remains unanswered: “Rus, where are you rushing?” What awaited this “God-inspired” country at the end of the road, then only God could know.
Kozak Nadezhda Vasilievna, teacher of Russian language and literature
MBOU "Secondary School No. 2" Tarko-Sale, highest category.
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Purovsky district, Tarko-Sale.
Lyrical digressions in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”.
Goals: develop the ability of commentary and analytical reading;
improve the skills of understanding the ideological and artistic meaning of lyrical digressions as integral plot and compositional elements, expressive means of depicting the image of the author, expressing his position;
develop proficient reading skills;
cultivate a love and interest in literature.
Equipment: portrait of N. V. Gogol, presentation, tables for working on agricultural storage.
Behind the dead souls are living souls.
A. I. Herzen
(1 slide)
PROGRESS OF THE LESSON
I. Organizational moment.
1. Greeting from the teacher.
(2nd slide) Hello guys. Today in class we are finishing our study of N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.” This does not mean that we will put an end to our acquaintance with the work and personality of the writer. What sign we will close the conversation with will be decided at the end of the lesson.
Let's remember howN.V. Gogol began working on the creation of “Dead Souls” in 1835.
(3rd slide) But soon after the production of The Inspector General, hounded by the reactionary press, Gogol left for Germany. Then he travels to Switzerland and France, continuing to work on
"Dead souls."During his visit to Russia in 1839–40, he read to friends chapters from the first volume of Dead Souls, which was completed in Rome in 1840–41. (
4 slide) It is known that the writer planned to create a large poem similar to Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. The first part (volume 1) was supposed to correspond to “Hell”, the second (volume 2) to “Purgatory”, the third (volume 3) to “Paradise”. The writer thought about the possibility of Chichikov's spiritual rebirth.
2. Write down the date, topic of the lesson, epigraph in a notebook.
The key words in our conversation will be todaywords from the title of the lesson topic.
II. The main part of the lesson.
(5 slide) Gogol’s book “Dead Souls” can rightfully be called a poem. This right is given by the special poetry, musicality, and expressiveness of the language of the work, saturated with such figurative comparisons and metaphors that can only be found in poetic speech. And most importantly, the constant presence of the author makes this work lyrical-epic.
(6 slide) Lyrical digressions permeate the entire artistic canvas of “Dead Souls”. It is lyrical digressions that determine the ideological, compositional and genre originality of Gogol’s poem, its poetic beginning associated with the image of the author. As the plot develops, new lyrical digressions appear, each of which clarifies the idea of the previous one, develops new ideas, and increasingly clarifies the author's intention.
It is noteworthy that “dead souls” are unevenly filled with lyrical digressions. Until the fifth chapter there are only minor lyrical insertions, and only at the end of this chapter the author places the first major lyrical digression about the “myriad number of churches” and how “the Russian people express themselves strongly.”
III. Exploratory conversation based on the implementation of individual homework
1. Quick survey
Students talk about the topic of lyrical digressions.
(7 slide) Lyrical digression is an extra-plot element of the work; compositional and stylistic device, which consists in the author’s retreat from the direct plot narrative; author's reasoning, reflection, statement expressing an attitude towards the depicted or having an indirect relation to it. Lyrically, the digressions in Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” introduce a life-giving, refreshing beginning, highlight the content of the pictures of life that appear before the reader, and reveal the idea.
2. Comparative work with a reference table
(8 slide) Lyrical digressions in the poem n. V. Gogol “Dead Souls”
Chapter 1 About “thick” and “thin”.
Chapter 2 About which characters are easier for a writer to portray.
Chapter 3 About the various shades and subtleties of circulation in Rus'.
Chapter 4 About gentlemen of great and middle hand; about the survivability of nostrils.
Chapter 5 About the “sweeping, lively Russian word.”
Chapter 6 About passing life, youth, lost “youth and freshness”; “terrible”, “inhuman” old age.
Chapter 7 About two types of writers and the fate of a satirical writer; the fate of the peasants bought by Chichikov.
Chapter 11 Appeal to Rus'; reflections on the road, on why the author could not take a virtuous person as a hero; “Rus is a bird-three.”
“About fat and thin officials” (chap. 1); the author resorts to generalizing the images of civil servants. Self-interest, bribery, veneration for rank are their characteristic features. The opposition between thick and thin, which seems at first glance, actually reveals the common negative features of both.
“About the shades and subtleties of our treatment” (chap. 3); speaks of ingratiation to the rich, respect for rank, self-humiliation of officials in front of their superiors and an arrogant attitude towards subordinates.
4. Ideological and thematic analysis of the lyrical digression.
About the “sweeping, lively Russian word”
What does the “sweeping, lively Russian word” indicate?
How does it characterize the people?
Why does Gogol place this digression at the end of the fifth chapter, dedicated to Sobakevich?
Conclusion. Language and words reveal the essential characteristics of the character of each people. The “loose” Russian word reveals the lively and lively mind of the people, their observation, ability to accurately and accurately characterize the whole person in one word. It is evidence of the living soul of the people, not killed by oppression, a guarantee of its creative powers and abilities.
“About the Russian people and their language” (chapter 5); the author notes that the language and speech of a people reflects its national character; A feature of the Russian word and Russian speech is amazing accuracy.
“About two types of writers, about their destiny and destinies” (chapter 7); the author contrasts a realist writer and a romantic writer, indicates the characteristic features of the work of a romantic writer, and talks about the wonderful destiny of this writer. Gogol writes with bitterness about the lot of a realist writer who dared to portray the truth. Reflecting on the realist writer, Gogol determined the meaning of his work.
“Much has happened in the world of error” (chap. 10); a lyrical digression about the world chronicle of mankind, about its errors is a manifestation of the writer’s Christian views. All of humanity has wandered away from the straight path and is standing on the edge of an abyss. Gogol points out to everyone that the straight and bright path of humanity consists in following the moral values founded in Christian teaching.
“About the expanses of Rus', national character and the bird troika”; the final lines of “Dead Souls” are connected with the theme of Russia, with the author’s thoughts about the Russian national character, about Russia as a state. The symbolic image of the bird-troika expressed Gogol’s faith in Russia as a state destined for a great historical mission from above. At the same time, there is an idea about the uniqueness of Russia’s path, as well as the idea about the difficulty of foreseeing specific forms of Russia’s long-term development.
3. Statement of a problematic question.
Teacher. Why did the writer need lyrical digressions?
What caused their need for an epic work written in prose?
The lyrical digressions express the widest range of the author’s moods.
Admiration for the accuracy of the Russian word and the liveliness of the Russian mind at the end of chapter 5 is replaced by a sad and elegiac reflection on the passing of youth and maturity, on the “loss of living movement” (the beginning of the sixth chapter).
(9 slide) At the end of this digression, Gogol directly addresses the reader: “Take it with you on the journey, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, bitter courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, you will not pick them up later! The old age coming ahead is terrible, terrible, and nothing gives back and back!
(10 slide) 4. An expressive prepared reading of a passage about Rus' - the “three bird” and an analyzing conversation on it.
The image of the road that runs through the entire work is very important in lyrical digressions.
(11 slide) - What do the expressions “with a singing voice”, “the horses stirred up”, “a light chaise” mean?
How is the breadth of the Russian soul revealed, its desire for rapid movement? What visual means does the writer use to convey this movement, which is more like flight?
What does the comparison of a troika with a bird mean? Make an associative series for the word “bird”.
(Bird - flight, height, freedom, joy, hope, love, future...)\
Expand the metaphorical image of the road? What other images have a metaphorical meaning?
Why did Gogol answer his question: “Rus, where are you rushing?” - does not receive an answer?
What does Gogol mean when he says: “...other peoples and states sidestep and give her way”?
Conclusion. Thus, two of the most important themes of the author’s reflections – the theme of Russia and the theme of the road – merge in a lyrical digression that ends the first volume of the poem. “Rus'-troika,” “all inspired by God,” appears in it as the vision of the author, who seeks to understand the meaning of its movement; “Rus, where are you going? give me the answer. Doesn't give an answer."
(12 slide) Lyrical digressions not only expand and deepen its meaning, revealing the grandiose appearance of “all Rus',” but also help to more clearly present the image of its author - a true patriot and citizen. It was the lyrical pathos of the affirmation of the great creative forces of the people and faith in the happy future of the homeland that gave him the basis to call his work a poem.
Exercise. Now we will divide you into pairs; in front of each pair on the desk there is a table with a task. Your task is to add to the table in 3-5 minutes the means of expression that the author used in a certain digression.
This task will help you repeat and comprehend the influence of artistic means not only in poetic, but also in epic works. You and I are preparing for an exam in the GIA format; in Part A there is a task related to finding a means of expression. Today's work will help, I hope, to better and more clearly find and distinguish paths and figures.
Let's see what you came up with. Read your passages, give examples of the means of expression proposed to you.
So what did Gogol want to tell us in his digressions? A question, like all questions, to which you and I probably will not give a direct answer, just as Gogol could not give an answer to many of the questions posed in the poem.
Gogol's thoughts about the fate of the people are inseparable from thoughts about the fate of his homeland. Tragically experiencing the situation of Russia, given over to the power of “dead souls,” the writer turns his bright and optimistic hopes to the future. But, believing in the great future of his homeland, Gogol, however, did not clearly imagine the path that should lead the country to power and prosperity.
(13 slide) He appears in lyrical digressions as a prophet bringing the light of knowledge to people: “Who, if not the author, should tell the holy truth?”
But, as it has been said, there are no prophets in their own country. The author’s voice, sounded from the pages of the lyrical digressions of the poem “Dead Souls,” was heard by few of his contemporaries, and even less was understood by them. Gogol later tried to convey his ideas in the artistic and journalistic book “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends”, and in the “Author’s Confession”, and - most importantly - in subsequent volumes of the poem. But all his attempts to reach the minds and hearts of his contemporaries were in vain. Who knows, maybe only now the time has come to discover Gogol’s real word, and it’s up to us to do this.
Your home. The task will be to answer the question: how do I imagine N.V. Gogol after reading the poem “Dead Souls”?
1 group. Lyrical digression in chapter 6, beginning with the words: “Before, long ago, in the summer... I was amazed...”
following something
(words in a sentence, plot elements).
2Repetitions (repetitions of words or
cognate words, roots).
3 Appeals, exclamations.
4Parcellation (technique of dividing a phrase into
parts or even individual words in the form
independent incomplete sentence.
Its goal is to give speech intonation
expression by
5Name sentences.
6Synonyms
7Antonyms (words with opposite meanings).
8 Homogeneous members (syntactic means:
words with the meaning of listing facts,
events).
9Comparisons (one item is compared
with another).
10Metaphorical epithets (metaphor -
to the subject).
11Sound writing: alliteration (repetition
identical or homogeneous consonants).
12Sound writing: Assonance (consonance of vowel sounds).
2nd group. A lyrical digression in Chapter 5 with the words: “The Russian people express themselves strongly!”
Expressive means Examples
1Inversion - changing the usual order
plot elements).
2Repetitions (repetitions of words
or cognate words, roots).
3 Appeals, exclamations.
4Gradation.
5Synonyms (words close in meaning).
artistic medium,
using a word figuratively
to define any object or
a phenomenon similar to it in certain features
or
attitude towards the subject).
8Colloquial speech.
9Phraseological units.
3rd group. A lyrical digression in chapter 11 with the words: “And what kind of Russian doesn’t like driving fast!... for a month some seem motionless.”
Expressive means Examples
1Inversion - changing the usual order
following something (words in a sentence,
plot elements).
2Repetitions (repetitions of words or
cognate words, roots).
3 Appeals, exclamations.
4Synonyms (words close in meaning).
5Gradation.
6Personifications (inanimate object
endowed with living qualities).
7Metaphorical epithets (metaphor -
artistic medium,
using a word figuratively
to define any object or
a phenomenon similar to it in certain features
or by the parties; epithet – colorful adjective,
attitude towards the subject).
8Colloquial speech.
9Rhetorical questions.
10Antonyms.
11Parcellation (method of division
her abrupt pronunciation).
4th group. Lyrical digression in chapter 11 with the words: “Eh, three! The bird is a troika and drills into the air.”
Expressive means Examples
1Inversion - changing the usual
the order of something (words)
in a sentence, plot elements).
2Repetitions (repetitions of words or
cognate words, roots).
3 Appeals, exclamations.
4Hyperbole.
5Gradation.
6Personifications (inanimate object
endowed with living qualities).
7Metaphorical epithets (metaphor -
artistic medium,
using a word figuratively
to define any object or
a phenomenon similar to it in certain features
or by the parties; epithet – colorful adjective,
attitude towards the subject).
8Colloquial speech.
9Rhetorical questions.
10Sayings, catchphrases.
11Parcellation. (Method of dividing a phrase
into parts or even individual words
as an independent incomplete sentence.
Its goal is to give speech intonation expression
by its abrupt pronunciation).
12Anaphora (same beginning of sentences).
5 group. A lyrical digression in chapter 11 with the words: “Aren’t you, too, Rus', so lively…”
Expressive means Examples
1Repetitions (repetitions of words or
cognate words, roots).
2 Appeals, exclamations.
3Synonyms.
4Metaphorical epithets (metaphor -
artistic medium,
using a word figuratively
to define an object
or a phenomenon similar to it in some ways
features or sides; epithet – colorful
adjective used to express
5Rhetorical questions.
phrases into parts or even into separate ones
words as independent incomplete
offers. Its goal is to give speech
intonation expression by
abrupt pronunciation.)
7Anaphora (same beginning
proposals).
6 group. A lyrical digression in chapter 11 with the words: “Rus! Rus!…"
Expressive means Examples
1Personifications.
2 Appeals, exclamations.
3Reps.
4Metaphorical epithets
parties; epithet – colorful adjective,
attitude towards the subject).
5Rhetorical questions.
6Parcellation. (Method of dismemberment
phrases into parts or even into separate ones
words as independent incomplete
offers. Its goal is to give speech
intonation expression by
her abrupt pronunciation).
7 Anaphora (same beginning
proposals).
Group 7, chapter 1 “About thick and thin.”
Expressive means Examples
1Repetitions (repetitions of words or
cognate words, roots).
2Metaphorical epithets
(metaphor is a means of artistic
figurativeness, use of words
in a figurative sense to define
any object or phenomenon,
similar to it in certain features or
parties; epithet – colorful adjective,
attitude towards the subject).
3 Appeals, exclamations.
4Synonyms, antonyms
5Rhetorical questions,
Exclamations.
6.Antithesis (opposition)
from Shurikov and a textbook for applicants to universities, written by Krasovsky
With the help of lyrical digressions, the image of the author is created. By introducing the image of the author into the poem, Gogol had the opportunity to expand the subject of the image, to bring to the reader’s attention a whole series of problems that could not be posed and solved at the plot level. This explains the richness of the problematic of lyrical digressions in the poem. They touch upon philosophical questions of the path of life, and the problem of spiritual losses that a person suffers (lyrical digression about the fate of a young man in Chapter 6); problems of true and false patriotism; create the image of Rus' - a bird of three.
In lire In his digressions, G. poses and solves literary questions. In lire In a digression on two possible paths of a creative personality (beginning of Chapter 7), he affirms a new ethical system proclaimed by the natural school - the ethics of love-hate: love for the bright side of national life, for living souls, presupposes hatred for the negative sides of existence, for dead souls. The author understands perfectly well what he is dooming himself to by taking the path of “exposing the crowd, its passions and errors” - to persecution and persecution from false patriots, to rejection by his compatriots - but he courageously chooses this path.
Claiming in lire. In his digressions on the new concept of the creative personality, G. defends his right to choose the subject of the image: the vices of society and the individual are in the center of his attention.
There are also extra-plot elements - in chapter 11 there is a parable about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich. Also about patriotism.
In the author's digressions, Gogol looks at Russia with the gaze of an epic writer who understands the illusory, ephemeral nature of the vulgar life of the people he depicts. Behind the emptiness and immobility of the “sky-smokers”, the author is able to consider “all the enormously rushing life”, the future vortex movement of Russia.
In lire The digressions express the widest range of the author’s moods. Admiration for the accuracy of the Russian word and the liveliness of the Russian mind (end of chapter 5) is replaced by a sad and elegiac reflection on youth and maturity, on the loss of “living movement” (beginning of chapter 6). Beginning of chapter 7: comparing the fates of two writers, the author writes with bitterness about the moral and aesthetic deafness of the “modern court”, which does not recognize that “glasses that look at the suns and convey the movements of unnoticed insects are equally wonderful”, that “high enthusiastic laughter is worthy of standing next to with high lyrical movement." The author considers himself to be a type of writer that is not recognized by “modern court”: “His field is harsh, and he will bitterly feel his loneliness.” But in the finale there is a lyre. retreat, the author’s mood changes: he becomes an exalted prophet, his gaze reveals the future “formidable blizzard of inspiration”, which “will rise from the chapter clothed in holy horror and splendor” and then his readers “will sense in embarrassed trepidation the majestic thunder of other speeches.”
In chapter 11, a lyrical and philosophical reflection on Russia and the vocation of the writer, whose “head was overshadowed by a menacing cloud, heavy with the coming rains” (“Rus! Rus'! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you ...”), is replaced by a panegyric for the road, a hymn movement - the source of “wonderful ideas, poetic dreams”, “wonderful impressions” (“How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road!..”). The 2 most important themes of the author’s thoughts – the theme of Russia and the theme of the road – merge in a lyrical digression that concludes the first volume. “Rus-troika,” “all inspired by God,” appears in it as a vision of the author, who seeks to understand the meaning of its movement: “Rus, where are you rushing? give me the answer. Doesn't give an answer." The image of Russia echoes Pushkin’s image of Russia - a “proud horse” (in “The Bronze Horseman”). Both P. and G. passionately desired to understand the meaning and purpose of the historical movement of Russia. The artistic result of the writers’ thoughts was the image of an uncontrollably rushing country.
from my notebooks for preparing for admission
In lire The digressions reflected Gogol's high aesthetic ideals, love for the homeland, pain for the country, for the people, tears invisible to the world.
Chapter I: a digression about fat and thin officials (not about their figure, but about the peculiarities of their social status).
Chapter II:
· Everyone has their own “enthusiasm.” Manilov did not have such “enthusiasm” - he was dead.
· Words about good upbringing.
Chapter III: about the shades of Russian treatment of people of different social status. Ridiculing veneration.
Chapter IV: When characterizing a landowner, the author always gives him a generalized description, as if showing this type of people.
Chapter V: Chichikov's meeting with the blonde (the governor's daughter). Constructed using the technique of contrasts. Gogol: “The true effect lies in sharp contrast; beauty is never as bright and visible as in contrast.”
· the meaning of a dream, a brilliant joy that appears at least once in life.
· contrast: dream and everyday life; possible perception of a 20-year-old boy (how Chichikov perceives the governor’s daughter => not at all the same as a 20-year-old boy).
Gogol: “The originality of the Russian mind is especially heard among the peasants,” and this mind is precisely glorified by Gogol at the end of Chapter 5.
Chapter VI: a digression on youth and the cooling that comes in mature years ( impotence is called).
Here Gogol speaks in the first person, i.e. as if from myself. Here is an example of a partial discrepancy between the author and the narrator. Gogol himself retained an interest in life. But the main thing is not this, but the fact that with the help of a first-person narration the author creates the same significant image as with the help of a third-person narration. “I” at the beginning of Chapter VI is also a unique character, and in it it is also important for Gogol to outline a certain psychological appearance.
The change of a person on the “road of life” is what is highlighted in this character. Such a change, which did not occur without his participation, for which he is also to blame. All this is connected with the internal theme of this chapter. The chapter is about Plyushkin, about the amazing changes that he had to endure. And, having described these changes, G. again resorts to the image of the road: “Take it with you on the road, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road: you will not pick them up later!”
Again the familiar metaphor of the “road of life”, the contrast of beginning and end.
Chapter VII:
· About a traveler (contrast between road and home, home and homelessness).
· About two types of writers:
1. pure art (writes only about the pleasant and good)
· Chichikov’s long discussion about the peasants he bought (a digression, but not lyrical or the author’s, but Chichikov’s, which the author picks up at the end). The author emphasizes that his thoughts are close to Chichikov’s thoughts.
Chapter VIII:
· about writers and readers in secular society
· continuation of the discussion about fat and thin officials
Chapter X:
· the story of Captain Kopeikin (hero of the 12-year-old war, the cat lost an arm and a leg), the government renounces its defenders, thereby showing its anti-national essence. This is the completion and generalization of the theme of dead souls.
There have been many misconceptions in the world
Chapter XI:
· reasoning about the Motherland (patriotic), thought about the hero
· goes into a digression about the road (Gogol spent a lot of time on the road, and that’s where a large number of ideas were born).
· discussion about the hero (Chichikov is openly called a scoundrel)
· inserted parable about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich (a hero is born in Rus', but his wealth is not directed towards that purpose)
· bird-troika (where the bird-troika rushes: Gogol’s ideal is high, but abstract. He loved his homeland, the people and believed in a bright future. Russia will find a way to move its poor, homeless life). A naive hope that there should be a person who will open the eyes of all Russian people to the vulgarity of their lives, anti-human morals and customs. Gogol takes on the role of such a person. “Who else but the author should tell the truth.” He did not open his eyes to officials and landowners, but subsequent revolutionaries honored him)
Analyzing Gogol’s “Dead Souls,” Belinsky noted the “deep, comprehensive and humane subjectivity” of the poem, subjectivity that does not allow the author “with apathetic indifference to be alien to the world he depicts, but forces him to conduct living phenomena of the external world through his soul, and through then I can breathe my soul into them...”
It was no coincidence that Gogol considered his work a poem. Thus, the writer emphasized the breadth and epic nature of the narrative, the importance of the lyrical principle in it. The same thing was noted by the critic K. Aksakov, who saw in the poem “an ancient, Homeric epic.” “It may seem strange to some that Gogol’s faces change without any particular reason... It is epic contemplation that allows this calm appearance of one face after another without external connection, while one world embraces them, connecting them deeply and inextricably with internal unity,” wrote critic.
The epic nature of the narrative, internal lyricism - all this was a consequence of Gogol’s creative ideas. It is known that the writer planned to create a large poem similar to Dante's Divine Comedy. The first part (volume 1) was supposed to correspond to “Hell”, the second (volume 2) to “Purgatory”, the third (volume 3) to “Paradise”. The writer thought about the possibility of Chichikov’s spiritual rebirth, about the appearance in the poem of characters who embodied the “countless wealth of the Russian spirit” - “a husband gifted with divine virtues,” “a wonderful Russian maiden.” All this gave the story a special, deep lyricism.
The lyrical digressions in the poem are very diverse in their themes, pathos and moods. Thus, describing Chichikov’s journey, the writer draws our attention to many details that perfectly characterize the life of the Russian province. For example, the hotel where the hero stayed was “of a well-known type, that is, exactly the same as there are hotels in provincial cities, where for two rubles a day travelers get a quiet room with cockroaches peeking out like prunes from all corners.”
The “common room” where Chichikov goes is well known to every passer-by: “the same walls, painted with oil paint, darkened at the top from pipe smoke,” “the same smoked chandelier with many hanging pieces of glass that jumped and rang every time the floor servant ran on worn oilcloths,” “the same paintings covering the entire wall, painted with oil paints.”
Describing the governor's party, Gogol talks about two types of officials: “fat” and “thin.” “Thin” in the author’s view are dandies and dandies hanging around the ladies. They are often prone to extravagance: “for three years, the thin one does not have a single soul left that is not pawned in a pawnshop.” Fat people are sometimes not very attractive, but they are “thorough and practical”: they never “take indirect places, but are all straight, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly...”. Fat officials are “the true pillars of society”: “having served God and the sovereign,” they leave the service and become famous Russian bars and landowners. The author's satire is obvious in this description: Gogol perfectly understands what this “official service” was like, which brought a person “universal respect.”
The author often accompanies the narrative with general ironic remarks. For example, when talking about Petrushka and Selifan, Gogol notes that it is inconvenient for him to occupy the reader with people of low class. And further: “This is how a Russian person is: a strong passion to become arrogant with someone who would be at least one rank higher than him, and a casual acquaintance with a count or prince is better for him than any close friendly relations.”
In lyrical digressions, Gogol talks about literature, writing, and various artistic styles. These arguments also contain the author's irony; one can discern the hidden polemic of the realist writer with romanticism.
Thus, depicting the character of Manilov, Gogol ironically notes that it is much easier to depict large characters, generously throwing paints onto the canvas: “black scorching eyes, drooping eyebrows, a wrinkled forehead, a cloak black or scarlet like fire thrown over a shoulder - and a portrait ready...". But it is much more difficult to describe not romantic heroes, but ordinary people, “who look very similar to each other, but when you look closely, you will see many of the most elusive features.”
Elsewhere, Gogol talks about two types of writers, meaning a romantic writer and a realistic satirist writer. “A wonderful destiny is enviable” for the first, who prefers to describe sublime characters that demonstrate the “high dignity of man.” But this is not the fate of the second, “who dared to bring out all the terrible, stunning mud of little things that entangle our lives, all the depth of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters with which our earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road is teeming.” “His field is harsh,” and he cannot escape the modern court, which considers his works “an insult to humanity.” There is no doubt that Gogol is talking here about his own destiny.
Gogol satirically describes the way of life of Russian landowners. So, talking about the pastime of Manilov and his wife, Gogol remarks, as if in passing: “Of course, one could notice that there are many other activities in the house, besides long kisses and surprises... Why, for example, is it stupid and useless to cook in the kitchen ? Why is the pantry pretty empty? Why is a thief a housekeeper? ...But all these are low subjects, and Manilova was brought up well.”
In the chapter dedicated to Korobochka, the writer talks about the “extraordinary ability” of the Russian person to communicate with others. And here comes the author's outright irony. Noting Chichikov’s rather unceremonious treatment of Korobochka, Gogol notes that the Russian man has surpassed the foreigner in the ability to communicate: “it is impossible to count all the shades and subtleties of our treatment.” Moreover, the nature of this communication depends on the size of the interlocutor’s fortune: “we have such wise men who will speak completely differently to a landowner who has two hundred souls than to one who has three hundred...”.
In the chapter on Nozdrev, Gogol touches on the same topic of “Russian communication,” but in a different, more positive, aspect of it. Here the writer notes the unique character of the Russian person, his good nature, easygoingness, and gentleness.
Nozdryov’s character is quite recognizable - he is a “broken fellow”, a reckless driver, a reveler, a gambler and a rowdy. He has a habit of cheating while playing cards, for which he is repeatedly beaten. “And what’s strangest of all,” Gogol notes, “which can only happen in Rus' alone, is that after some time he already met again with those friends who were pestering him, and they met as if nothing had happened, and he, as they say, nothing, and they are nothing."
In the author’s digressions, the writer also talks about the Russian noble class, shows how far these people are from everything Russian, national: from them “you won’t hear a single decent Russian word,” but they will be endowed with French, German, English in such quantities that you won’t even if you want." High society worships everything foreign, forgetting its original traditions and customs. The interest of these people in national culture is limited to the construction of a “hut in Russian taste” at their dacha. The author's satire is obvious in this lyrical digression. Gogol here calls on his compatriots to be patriots of their country, to love and respect their native language, customs and traditions.
But the main theme of the lyrical digressions in the poem is the theme of Russia and the Russian people. Here the author’s voice becomes excited, the tone becomes pathetic, irony and satire recede into the background.
In the fifth chapter, Gogol glorifies the “living and lively Russian mind,” the extraordinary talent of the people, and the “aptly spoken Russian word.” Chichikov, asking a man he met about Plyushkin, receives a comprehensive answer: “... patched, patched! - the man exclaimed. He also added a noun to the word “patched”, which is very successful, but not commonly used in social conversation...” “The Russian people are expressing themselves strongly! - exclaims Gogol, “and if he rewards someone with a word, then it will go to his family and posterity, he will drag him with him into service, and into retirement, and to St. Petersburg, and to the ends of the world.”
The image of the road that runs through the entire work is very important in lyrical digressions. The theme of the road appears already in the second chapter, in the description of Chichikov’s trip to Manilov’s estate: “As soon as the city went back, they began to write, according to our custom, nonsense and game on both sides of the road: hummocks, a spruce forest, low thin bushes of young pines, charred trunks old, wild heather and similar nonsense.” In this case, this picture is the background against which the action takes place. This is a typical Russian landscape.
In the fifth chapter, the road reminds the writer of the joys and sorrows of human life: “Everywhere, across whatever sorrows from which our life is woven, brilliant joy will rush merrily, like sometimes a brilliant carriage with golden harness, picture horses and the sparkling shine of glass suddenly and unexpectedly will rush past some dead poor village..."
In the chapter about Plyushkin, Gogol discusses the susceptibility of people of different ages to life impressions. The writer here describes his childhood and youthful feelings associated with the road, with travel, when everything around him aroused keen interest and curiosity in him. And then Gogol compares these impressions with his current indifference, cooling towards the phenomena of life. The author’s reflection ends here with a sad exclamation: “Oh my youth! oh my freshness!
This reflection of the author imperceptibly turns into the idea of how a person’s character and inner appearance can change with age. Gogol talks about how a person can change in old age, to what “insignificance, pettiness, disgusting” he can reach.
Both author’s digressions here echo the image of Plyushkin, with the story of his life. And therefore, Gogol’s thought ends with a sincere, excited appeal to readers to preserve in themselves the best that is characteristic of youth: “Take with you on the journey, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them behind.” road, you won’t get up later! The old age coming ahead is terrible, terrible, and nothing gives back and back!
The first volume of Dead Souls ends with a description of the troika rapidly flying forward, which is a real apotheosis of Russia and the Russian character: “And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast? Is it possible for his soul, striving to get dizzy, to go on a spree, to sometimes say: “Damn it all!” - Is it his soul not to love her? ...Oh, three! bird-three, who invented you? to know, you could have been born to a lively people, in that land that does not like to joke, but has spread out smoothly across half the world... Rus', where are you rushing to? give me the answer. Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; “everything that is on earth flies past, and, looking askance, other peoples and states move aside and give way to it.”
Thus, the lyrical digressions in the poem are varied. These are satirical sketches of Gogol, and pictures of Russian life, and the writer’s thoughts about literature, and ironic observations on the psychology of the Russian person, the peculiarities of Russian life, and pathetic thoughts about the future of the country, about the talent of the Russian people, about the breadth of the Russian soul.
