The flower vase broke and threw out its crystal. Osip Emilievich Mandelstam

Osip Emilievich Mandelstam

Inexpressible sadness
I opened two huge eyes
Flower woke vase
And she threw out her crystal.

The whole room is watered
Istomoy is a sweet medicine!
Such a small kingdom
So much sleep has swallowed up.

A little red wine,
A little sunny May -
And, breaking a thin biscuit,
The thinnest fingers are whiteness.

In 1913, the first edition of Mandelstam's debut book "Stone" was published, which reflected the creative searches of the young poet, his experiences in the field of symbolism and acmeism. Greatest influence the early lyrics were influenced by two geniuses - Tyutchev and Verlaine. Osip Emilievich borrowed some themes from the first. From the second - lightness of form.

Often, when analyzing the first period of Mandelstam's work, literary critics do not take into account one very important fact- the young poet suffered from two diseases at once: angina pectoris and asthma. The situation was quite dangerous, there was even a prediction near death Osip Emilievich. She greatly frightened the poet. Mandelstam was afraid that the body would die before the "feat of the soul" could be accomplished. The illness gave rise to a feeling of fragility of being. At any moment the world can sway and break, which was reflected in the 1909 poem "Ineffable Sadness". The fragility motif appears in the first stanza: the vase spills out its crystal. In the second quatrain, the room appears as a whole world - a small kingdom, which is at the same time closed and boundless. At the end of the poem, the theme of fragility returns. The world described earlier, like a biscuit, can be destroyed with the help of the finest fingers. Who do they belong to - fate, God, man? In this case, it is not so important as long as there is an opportunity to enjoy "red wine" and "sunny May". By the way, even the disease has a peculiar advantage - it is able to expand vision: "Inexpressible sadness opened two huge eyes ...".

Sometimes Mandelstam is accused of tongue-tied. Notice the last two lines of Ineffable Sadness:

... And, breaking a thin biscuit,
The thinnest fingers are whiteness.

Here, from the point of view of the rules of the Russian language, the use is obvious adverbial turnover... Well, how can whiteness act as a performer of any action? And at Mandelstam's, she breaks a thin biscuit. The sensitive reader is captivated precisely by the irregularity contained in the image invented by Osip Emilievich. A similar idea is found in Nikolai Gumilyov, a friend of Mandelstam and his colleague in the "Workshop of Poets".

Nikolay Gumilyov

He wrote that the poem "should be impeccable even to the point of incorrectness", since the individuality of the work is given only by deliberate deviations from generally accepted rules.

Literary critic and philologist Mikhail Gasparov connected "Inexpressible sadness" with another early lyrical sketch of Mandelstam - "In the vastness of the twilight hall ...". It presents an empty room with tall vases on the table. In them - lilies, open flowers as if asking for wine. Compare with the picture depicted in the poem we are considering - a bouquet in a vase, a sip of wine, a thin biscuit.

"Inexpressible Sadness" is a magnificent example of Mandelstam's impressionistic work. Not without the influence of Paul Verlaine.

Paul Verlaine

He is considered the first impressionist poet in world literature who, with his lyrics, marked the transition from romanticism to symbolism. "Pure observation", which underlies the new direction in art, meant the rejection of the idea in creativity, completeness, generalization. Every moment was depicted. Perception took the place of thought, reason replaced instinct. Accordingly, there was a rejection of the story, the plot. "Inexpressible sadness" is a wonderful impressionistic sketch, the images of which each reader can interpret in their own way, depending on their own life experience, perception of art and reality.

Interpretation.

O. E. Mandelstam

Inexpressible sadness

opened two huge eyes,

flower woke up vase

and threw out her crystal.

The whole room is watered

languid - sweet medicine!

Such a small kingdom

so much sleep has swallowed up.

A little bit of red wine

a little sunny May -

and breaking a thin biscuit,

the finest fingers are whiteness.

OM Mandelstam's poem "Inexpressible sadness ..." is one of the earliest in the poet's work (1909). According to Akhmatova, "the tenths are a very important time in Mandelstam's creative path ..." (The Silver Age. Memoirs. Anna Akhmatova. Leaves from the diary. M., 1990, p. 407). Indeed, the poet experimented a lot. The beginning of the century: symbolism is still in vogue, the impressionist experiments of Innokenty Annensky are interesting. Mandelstam has many exemplary teachers, but he is proud to represent a new trend in poetry - acmeism, the "clear" poetic world.

If you call Mandelstam's poetry painting, then this is undoubtedly impressionism. A ray of sunshine - an unheard-of audacity in painting - the innovation of Manet, Morisot, Degas and many other artists. Bright lighting in the picture makes the color of objects saturated: green water, fiery water lilies, a red bow in the buttonhole, phosphoric white feathers of ballerinas, Olympia's yellow body.

Mandelstam in the poem calls one bright color - red ("a little red wine"), but how many sun glare in the picture: the vase "threw out its crystal" - the brightest shine, "thin" biscuit, "the thinnest fingers whiteness" - also white.

Inexpressible Sadness is a small lyrical sketch in the style of a still life. The theme of the etude is morning awakening, the feeling of one's being and connection with objects of reality: a room, a crystal vase, a biscuit, wine. A ray of the sun creates movement in the picture: first it hits a crystal vase, then it illuminates the whole room, and finally wakes up the one who is in the room and plays on his fingers.

There are two plans in the painting: an imaginary window through which a ray of the sun penetrates and the space of a room with objects in it. This can be correlated with the external and internal state of the lyric hero - macro and microcosm. The state of the hero, as well as the state of affairs, can change at any moment: the ray will disappear, the wine will become tart, the biscuit will be eaten.

This poem has a number of features that apply to all of the poet's lyrics. Very often in the first stanzas, Mandelstam denies: "We cannot stand tense silence," "I am not a fan ...", "There is no need to talk about anything," etc. Here, too, is denial - "inexpressible sadness." A very strange definition of sadness, but if you recall Akhmatova “The music in the garden rang / with such inexpressible grief ...” or “Glory to you, hopeless pain!”, Then you can put these words in a row of traditional maxims of Acmeism. Namely, in pain, suffering, sorrow there is longing, even "languor is a sweet medicine." Acmeists love this kind of oxymoron.

Sadness opens "two huge eyes." These can be windows that become transparent at dawn, "open". Either these are Mandelstam's eyes - beautiful, brown, with long eyelashes... The Acmeists urged to call everything by their proper names, in contrast to the Symbolists, who tried to put a sacred meaning into everyday words, thereby (according to the Acmeists) devaluing the sacredness of the inexpressible.

"The whole room is watered ..." - a reminiscence to Pushkin's "The whole room with amber shine / Watered ...". This is an indication of the general mood in the stanzas of Pushkin and Mandelstam, which is important for the correct reading of the poem. Reminiscences, open citation, intertexturing are a constant technique in Mandelstam's poetry. This makes the verses difficult to understand and at the same time enriches them. Sometimes reminiscence is reduced only to repetition of a combination of words in isolation from the context of the original. This is, perhaps, an allusion to Ostrovsky's "sleepy kingdom" ("Such a small kingdom / So many ... sleep"), which is difficult to interpret other than as an exclusively sound playing on a familiar combination of words.

A little red wine

A little sunny May ...

It resembles an excerpt from a recipe. Mandelstam was very fond of sweets. This can be found in the memoirs of Odoevtsa. For example: “... He tells how one spring morning before his death he wanted an eggnog. He went to the market and bought an egg from a merchant. But on the way, the man was selling Golden Label chocolate, Mandelstam's favorite chocolate. Seeing the chocolate, Mandelstam forgot about the eggnog, he wanted chocolate to the bone. "

The third stanza again brings us back to the painting technique. In Impressionism, the brushstroke lays down easily, quickly, tree trunks, sails, figures, faces appear on the ripples of foliage and the sky. The fragmentary painting effect creates continuous movement in the painting. The third stanza of Mandelstam is a series of verbal strokes: objects are not written out photographically (using whole sentences), but are called one or two strokes, which unfold in the mind of the reader into full-fledged elements of the picture. Mandelstam gives free rein to the imagination. Grammatically, he avoids predicates, and in the last two lines he brings fragmentary to the limit.

The poem contains some features of a self-portrait. Eyes and fingers. According to his contemporaries, Mandelstam was short, with his head thrown back upward ("You throw your head back ..."). It is quite possible to imagine that the graceful Mandelstam has “the finest fingers of whiteness”. On the other hand, this portrait characterization is also indirect, like “two huge eyes”.

The poem is harmonious and musical. Words play with each other, la catches up with two, as - za, etc. The syllables turn into notes (ra, cha, va, ta, na, la), and the notes - into a violin solo, bringing out a fragile, nervous melody.

So, in a short poem, with amazing ease and skill, the magical unity of the three arts - poetry, painting and music - is realized.

Inexpressible sadness

I opened two huge eyes
Flower woke vase
And she threw out her crystal.

The whole room is watered
Istomoy is a sweet medicine!
Such a small kingdom
So much sleep has swallowed up.

A little bit of red wine
A little sunny May -
And, breaking a thin biscuit,
The thinnest fingers are whiteness.

Osip Mandelstam, 1909

OM Mandelstam's poem "Inexpressible sadness ..." is one of the earliest in the poet's work (1909). According to Akhmatova, "the tenths are a very important time in Mandelstam's career ..." Indeed, the poet experimented a lot. The beginning of the century: symbolism is still in vogue, the impressionist experiments of Innokenty Annensky are interesting. Mandelstam has many exemplary teachers, but he is proud to represent a new trend in poetry - acmeism, the "clear" poetic world.

If you call Mandelstam's poetry painting, then this is undoubtedly impressionism. A ray of sunshine - an unheard-of audacity in painting - the innovation of Manet, Morisot, Degas and many other artists. Bright lighting in the picture makes the color of objects saturated: green water, fiery water lilies, a red bow in the buttonhole, phosphoric white feathers of ballerinas, Olympia's yellow body.

Mandelstam in the poem calls one bright color - red ("a little red wine"), but how many sun glare in the picture: the vase "threw out its crystal" - the brightest shine, "thin" biscuit, "the thinnest fingers whiteness" - also white.

Inexpressible Sadness is a small lyrical sketch in the style of a still life. The theme of the etude is morning awakening, the feeling of one's being and connection with objects of reality: a room, a crystal vase, a biscuit, wine. A ray of the sun creates movement in the picture: first it hits a crystal vase, then it illuminates the whole room, and finally wakes up the one who is in the room and plays on his fingers.