Poem A. Blok "On railway" begins with a description of the death of the heroine - a young woman. The author returns us to her death at the end of the work. The composition of the verse is thus circular and closed.

The name is symbolic. Let us remember that in Russian literature Anna Karenina and women who leave their homeland die by “railroad-tram” death - in M. Tsvetaeva’s poem “Rails”, the lyrical hero of the poem N found himself not in “his” tram, that is, in a time alien to him Gumilyov "The Lost Tram". The list could be continued...

In the author’s note to this poem, Blok testifies: “Unconscious imitation of an episode from Tolstoy’s “Resurrection”: Katyusha Maslova at a small station sees Nekhlyudov in a velvet chair in a brightly lit first-class compartment in the window of the carriage.” However, the content of the poem, of course, goes far beyond the scope of “unconscious imitation.”

In the first quatrain, Blok paints the image of a “beautiful and young” woman, whose life was interrupted in its prime. Her death is just as absurd and unexpected as it is absurd that now she, “in a colored scarf thrown over her braids,” lies “under an embankment, in a ditch...”:

She walked calmly, “decorously,” but there was probably so much restrained tension, hidden expectation, and inner drama in it. All this speaks of the heroine as a strong nature, which is characterized by depth of experience and constancy of feelings. As if on a date, she comes to the platform: “Tender blush, cooler curl...” She arrives long before the appointed hour (“walking all the way around the long platform...”).

And the carriages “walked along the usual line,” indifferently and tiredly “trembled and creaked.” Life in the carriages went on as usual, and no one cared about the lonely young woman on the platform. In the first and second grades (“yellow and blue”) they were coldly laconic, fencing themselves off from the rest of the world with an armor of indifference. Well, in the “green” (III class carriages), without hiding their feelings and without being embarrassed, they “cried and sang”:

How humiliating and unbearable these “even glances” must have been for the heroine of the poem. Will they really not notice her? Doesn't she deserve more?! But she is perceived by those passing in the same row as the bushes and the gendarme. A typical landscape for those traveling on a train. Normal indifference. Only in Blok’s poem does the railway become a symbol of the poet’s contemporary life with its meaningless cycle of events and indifference to people. General impersonality, dull indifference to others, both of entire classes and individuals, creates an emptiness of the soul and makes life meaningless. This is “road melancholy, iron”... In such a deadening atmosphere, a person can only be a victim. Only once did the young woman have an alluring vision of a hussar with a “tender smile,” but, probably, it only stirred her soul. If happiness is impossible, mutual understanding in the conditions " scary world“Impossible, is life worth living? Life itself is losing value.

The author refuses to explain the reasons for the death of the young woman. We don’t know whether “she was crushed by love, by dirt, or by wheels.” The author also warns us against unnecessary questions. If they were indifferent to her during her lifetime, why now show insincere, short-term and tactless participation.

The poem “On the Railroad,” completed on June 14, 1910, is part of the “Motherland” cycle. The poem consists of 36 lines (or 9 stanzas), written in iambic meter with a two-syllable accent on the second syllable. The rhyme is cross. Alexander Blok clarifies in the notes to the poem that this is an imitation of one of the episodes of L.N. Tolstoy from "Resurrection".

The poem “On the Railway” conveys pain, melancholy, naivety and faith in a possible easy, happy life for a pretty young girl who still could not curb her wayward fate and chose death over her unsuccessful path in life.

Plot develops at a sparsely populated passenger station of one of the train stations, and the narration is narrated by a man who knew this woman and remembered what she was like until she decided to follow in the footsteps of Anna Karenina. The poem has ring composition, because in its last quatrain it returns us to the first.

It is not clear why she waited for her happiness on the platform?.. Why so good woman, "beautiful and young" couldn't arrange your life? Why did she choose death instead of fighting for her happiness? The author asks: "Don't approach her with questions", but, penetrating the soul of this rhymed work, quite a lot of them arise.

But heroine image laconic, nevertheless, it does not repel, but is endearing. It is clear that the woman in her youth chose the wrong road, from which it was very difficult to turn off. She flattered herself with the hope that some passer-by would be enchanted and “he will look more closely from the windows”.

Of course, the woman secretly expected and wanted attention from the yellow or blue carriages (which is equivalent to first and second class), but “Only once did the hussar... Slide over her with a tender smile...”. The passengers of the yellow and blue carriages were primly cold, indifferent to the whole world and, especially, to this woman, whom they simply did not notice. Green carriages (third class) were not shy about showing their feelings, so they were equally loud "they cried and sang". But they also cast indifferent glances at the heroine; some were uninteresting, others did not need her, and others had nothing to give in return.

It is not for nothing that this poem is placed in the “Motherland” cycle, which reveals many aspects of patriotic themes. This is the fate of Russian women, and the bleak life in pre-revolutionary Russia, and the image of their beloved homeland.

• “Stranger”, analysis of the poem
• “Russia”, analysis of Blok’s poem
• “The Twelve”, analysis of the poem by Alexander Blok
• “Factory”, analysis of Blok’s poem
• “Rus”, analysis of Blok’s poem
• “Summer Evening”, analysis of Blok’s poem

Poem by A.A. Blok’s “On the Railroad” is rich in artistic details that make the reader shudder. The cinematic verisimilitude with which each stanza is written clearly paints a tragic picture before us.

At this time, Blok was re-reading “Resurrection” by Leo Tolstoy. The plot of the poem has an intertextual connection with the story of Nekhlyudov and Katyusha Maslova. Here you can see a reference to another, no less famous novel, Anna Karenina. However, it cannot be said that “On the Railroad” is a poetic imitation. The author uses new symbols, imbuing them with Blok sound.

The idea is based on real case, which Blok witnessed. Driving by railway station, he saw through the train window a poisoned teenage girl and local inhabitants standing at a distance and looking with petty curiosity. Blok saw everything from the inside. He couldn't help but respond with his heart.

As you know, the poet was very attentive and free from indifference. This conclusion can be drawn from the memoirs of his contemporaries, from what was created by Blok, for example, such an article as “Irony”, from his diaries and letters. The author always reacted sharply to any slightest change in the world order. His sensitive heart, which heard the music of the revolution, was not able to pretend to be a mechanical engine.

For Block human life– this is the life of the whole country. In the poem “On the Railway” there is a clear identification of the existence of an individual person and the fate of the entire Motherland.

Genre, direction, size

Genre of the poem “On the Railway” - lyrical work. It reflects the features of the symbolist movement.

First of all, it should be noted the ambiguity of each image appearing in the work, the musicality of the syllable and the philosophical sound of the central theme. At the end of this poem, a symbolist view of life's realities from the point of view of eternity is clearly visible. Musicality, expressed not only by poetic techniques, but also concentrated in internal energy“On the Railroad” also relates this work to symbolism.

Blok uses an ambiguous poetic meter: alternating iambic pentameter and iambic tetrameter. “On the Railroad” consists of nine quatrains. The type of rhyme is also special; the first and third lines of the quatrains are dactylic rhymed. The second and fourth have a female clause. Thus, an internal rhythm is created, giving the poem a wave-like intonation sound.

Composition

The composition “On the Railroad” is circular. The poem begins with the image of a dead girl lying “under an embankment, in an unmown ditch,” and ends with a return to the same image. Blok uses a cinematic technique, gradually moving the lens away from the main character to show her fate, and then again returning to the figure of the unfortunate girl. It gives the reader a feeling of being involved in what is happening. The existence of an individual heroine becomes an impulse to think about the fate of the Motherland.

The ring composition allows Blok to create an image of infinity: the end is the beginning, and the beginning is the end. However, the last lines leave hope for deliverance from this fate. The dead heroine is described as if alive: “Don’t approach her with questions, / You don’t care, but she’s content: / With love, dirt or wheels / She’s crushed - everything hurts.” One gets the feeling that she can still hear the hustle and bustle around her, still sees figures approaching her, still distinguishes the faces of curious onlookers. Dead man written out as if existing between the world below and above. This duality in that the flesh belongs to the earth, and the soul rushes to the sky, is shown as deadened, but still present.

Images and symbols

The poem contains hidden symbols that capture the essence of the era.

• For example, in this quatrain: “The carriages walked in the usual line,/Trembled and creaked;/The yellow and blue ones were silent;/The green ones cried and sang…” - the poet allegorically means social inequality and in general the polarity of perception of Russian reality of that time by different classes. And at the same time he notices the dull indifference to the fate of man, both from the upper and lower strata. Some are hidden behind the mask of an aristocrat, others are hidden behind the illusion of the breadth of their own soul. In any case, everyone is the same in one thing: no one notices the human waiting, no one reaches out a hand. However, Blok does not reproach people, he only asks them to be more sensitive at least to her death, since they were unable to live. Blok wrote this: “Heart, shed tears of pity for everything and remember that you cannot judge anyone...”
• The heroine's unfortunate fate can be viewed from a symbolist point of view. The image of a girl “in a colored scarf thrown over her braids” - personification of Russia. “A decorous gait”, exciting expectations in hopes that now a miracle will happen - and life will become easier, and everything will change. It seems to me that Blok wanted to put a global meaning into this symbol - the eternal expectations of the Russian people for a better life.
• Another can easily be guessed in the girl’s fate a symbol of the difficult life of a Russian woman. Endless expectations of happiness, the keys to which are thrown deep into the water and long ago eaten by fish, according to the heroine of Nekrasov’s poem.
• Railway image is a symbol of the path. People are rushing on a train, no one knows where, not noticing how the entire country is plunged into mortal melancholy. “Greedy glances” that the girl throws at the windows of the cars, hoping for a heartfelt response - an attempt to stop the train of that era and be saved by love.
• Lyrical hero treats the girl with deep sympathy and compassion. First of all, he sees Russia in the girl’s face. One gets the feeling that he is passing through himself all the pain of this unfortunate fate, realizing his helplessness in the face of the tragedy that has taken place.

Topics

The main theme of the poem is the theme of loneliness in the crowd, the tragic fate of a person who was striving for love and was met only by the cold of external space. The theme of human indifference, as a result of universal blindness, is also woven into the outline of the plot. The inability to forget oneself and see one’s neighbor, the inability to get out of the carriage of life rushing to God knows where and just stop for a moment, look around, notice, listen, become sensitive. The closeness and isolation of everyone gives rise to an all-consuming icy void into which the entire country is plunging. Blok draws a parallel between the destinies of a particular heroine and Russia, showing how lonely and dilapidated the Motherland seems to him, enduring so much pain and not finding a sensitive soul in its own expanses.

Blok also brings up the theme of unfulfilled dreams. The sound of “On the Railroad” is tragic precisely because of this victory of life’s realities over dreams.

Problems

The problems of “On the Railroad” are multifaceted: here is the path of Russia, the fate of the Russian woman, and the insurmountability of fate.

There is not a single rhetorical question in the poem, however, the interrogative intonation is palpable in the subtext of the work. The poet reflects on the fate of his own country, trying to understand where and why everything around him is moving. The feeling of external bustle and internal loneliness is created due to the station surroundings. The smallness of a person against the backdrop of a huge space, trains rushing somewhere, busy crowds of people. The problem of hopelessness and hopelessness is examined using the example of a single human destiny.

Idea

The main idea that Blok puts into his creation is also ambiguous. Each symbol carries more than one meaning.

The main idea is to comprehend the path of the Motherland. The lyrical hero is not indifferent to what is happening. He is trying to encourage people to be sensitive and careful. If we consider the fate of the heroine as a symbol of the fate of Russia, then we can say that the central idea of ​​this poem is to listen to an already dying country. This is a kind of premonition of the approaching events of that era. What will be said in the article “Intellectuals and Revolution” eight years later is reflected in this work.

The important thing is that the lyrical hero is also among those who rushed past, and only the contemplation of death excites his entire being. In fact, all these artistic details (“an orderly gait”, “a softer blush, a cooler curl”, etc.) are recreated only in his imagination. Seeing the outcome of this sad story, he seems to scroll back to realize the mistake, to feel all the pain of what the main character experienced.

Means of artistic expression

The means of artistic expression found in this poem are also multifaceted. Here are the epithets “even gaze”, “greedy gaze”, etc., and the comparison “as if alive”, and the antithesis “The yellow and blue ones were silent; / In the green ones they cried and sang.”

Blok also uses the sound recording “The carriages walked in a familiar line, trembled and creaked” to more accurately convey the atmosphere of the station.

The anaphora in the sixth quatrain “He slid over her with a tender smile,/Slipped - and the train sped off into the distance...” is necessary here for expressiveness and emphasizing the fleeting nature of what is happening. In the penultimate quatrain there is a rhetorical exclamation: “What, the heart has been taken out a long time ago!”, conveying the emotional tension of the poem. In the same quatrain, Blok again uses anaphora: “So many bows were given, / So many greedy glances were cast,” which, first of all, creates a pumping intonation.

Blok also often uses a dash in the middle of a line, thus creating a long caesura, which focuses attention on what is being said and becomes an impulse of internal tension: “He slipped and the train sped off into the distance,” “You don’t care, but she’s satisfied,” “... or wheels/She is crushed - everything hurts.”

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A.A. Blok, according to the testimony of people who knew him well, had a colossal moral influence on those around him. "You more than a person and more than a poet, you are not carrying your own human burden,” E. Karavaeva wrote to him. M. Tsvetaeva dedicated more than twenty poems to Blok and called him “a complete conscience.” These two assessments perhaps contain the main thing about Blok as a person.
A. Blok always very subtly felt the pulse of his country, his people, and took all changes in the life of society close to his heart. After the lyrical diary addressed to To the beautiful lady, new themes and new images enter the poet’s poetic world. The landscape changes: instead of mountain heights and radiant horizons there is a swamp or a city with its terrible ulcers. If earlier for the block there were only his personal experiences and his Heavenly Virgin, now he sees people next to him, tormented by poverty, lost in the labyrinth of a stone city, crushed by the hopelessness and hopelessness of poverty and lawlessness.
One after another, poems appear in which the poet expresses sympathy for the oppressed and condemns the indifference of the “well-fed.” In 1910, he wrote the famous poem “On the Railroad.”
When you read this poem, you immediately remember Nekrasov’s lines about the unbearably difficult fate of a Russian woman. The theme and idea of ​​the poem “Troika” is especially close. It seems to me that the plots and even the compositional organization of these works have something in common. Alexander Blok, as it were, picks up a topic deeply and comprehensively studied by Nikolai Nekrasov more than half a century ago, and shows that little has changed in the fate of a Russian woman. She is still powerless and oppressed, lonely and unhappy. She has no future. Youth passes, exhausted in “empty dreams.” In dreams of a decent life, about a faithful and attentive friend, oh happy family, about peace and prosperity. But a woman from the people cannot escape from the iron clutches of need and backbreaking work.
Let’s compare with Nekrasov:
And why are you running hastily?
Following the rushing troika?
At you, beautifully akimbo,
A passing cornet looked up.
Here's Blok's:
Just once a hussar, with a careless hand
Leaning on the scarlet velvet,
He slid a gentle smile over her...
He slipped and the train sped off into the distance.
Blok’s poem is more tragic: the girl threw herself under the wheels of the locomotive, driven by “road, iron melancholy” to despair:
Under the embankment, in the unmown ditch,
Lies and looks as if alive,
In a colored scarf thrown on her braids,
Beautiful and young...
The worst thing is that none of those around him attached much importance to what happened. “The carriages walked in a familiar line,” they “looked around the unfortunate woman with an even gaze,” and, I think, after a few minutes they forgot about what they saw. Indifference and heartlessness have struck society. This society is sick, morally sick. The poem literally screams about this:
Don't approach her with questions
You don’t care, but she’s satisfied:
Love, sadness or wheels
She is crushed - everything hurts.
The poem is written in realistic traditions. A through image of the road runs through the entire work. The railway is not just a symbol of a difficult path, but also of hopelessness, the “cast iron” of existence and the death of the soul. The theme of “death on the way” appears in the poem from the first stanza and goes beyond the scope of the work.
Iambic pentameter alternates with tetrameter, creating some kind of monotonous and mournful rhythm, gradually turning into the monotonous sound of wheels. A train in the dark turns into a terrible three-eyed monster (personification). The poet skillfully uses synecdoche: “the yellow and blue were silent, the green ones cried and sang.” By the color of the carriages we learn about their passengers. The rich public rode in yellow and blue, and ordinary people rode in green.
The epithets correspond to the author’s mood (“faded bushes”, “habitual” line, “careless” hand). Vivid metaphors amaze with their accuracy and originality (“desert eyes of carriages,” “iron” melancholy). Blok also paints a generalized image of autocratic Russia in this poem. This is a gendarme standing like an idol next to a victim lying in a ditch.
After creating the poem “On the Railroad,” Blok increasingly wrote poems that were plot scenes about the fate of people ruined, tortured, crushed by circumstances and harsh reality. The gap between dream and reality deepens in the poet’s work; the dull prose of life surrounds him in an ever-closer ring. The poet is haunted by a premonition of an impending catastrophe, a feeling of the imminent death of the old world. One of the main themes in Blok’s lyrics is the theme of retribution - retribution to a society that shackled, froze, enslaved a person, which threw young, young, young people under the wheels of its iron indifference. strong people. After the poem “On the Railroad” he will write:
Nineteenth century, iron,
Truly a cruel age!
By you into the darkness of the starless night.
Careless abandoned man!
****
The twentieth century...even more homeless,
Even worse than life is darkness.
(Even blacker and bigger
Shadow of Lucifer's Wing) (From the poem "Retribution")

Maria Pavlovna Ivanova

Under the embankment, in the unmown ditch,
Lies and looks as if alive,
In a colored scarf thrown on her braids,
Beautiful and young.

Sometimes I walked with a sedate gait
To the noise and whistle behind the nearby forest.
Walking all the way around the long platform,
She waited, worried, under the canopy.

Three bright eyes rushing -
Softer blush, cooler curl:
Perhaps one of those passing by
Look more closely from the windows...

The carriages walked in the usual line,
They shook and creaked;
The yellow and blue ones were silent;
The green ones cried and sang.

We got up sleepy behind the glass
And looked around with an even gaze
Platform, garden with faded bushes,
Her, the gendarme next to her...

Just once a hussar, with a careless hand
Leaning on the scarlet velvet,
Slipped over her with a tender smile,
He slipped and the train sped off into the distance.

Thus the useless youth rushed,
Exhausted in empty dreams...
Road melancholy, iron
She whistled, breaking my heart...

Why, the heart has been taken out a long time ago!
So many bows were given,
So many greedy glances cast
Into the deserted eyes of the carriages...

Don't approach her with questions
You don’t care, but she’s satisfied:
With love, mud or wheels
She is crushed - everything hurts.

Analysis of the poem “On the Railway” by Blok

The poem “On the Railroad” (1910) is included in Blok’s “Motherland” cycle. The poet depicted not just an accidental episode of the death of a woman under the wheels of a steam locomotive. This is a symbolic image of the difficult Russian fate. Blok pointed out that the plot is based on the tragic story of the death of Anna Karenina.

What is certain is that the heroine is deeply unhappy. What makes her come to the station is suffering and hope for happiness. Before the arrival of a steam locomotive, a woman is always very worried and tries to give herself a more attractive look (“softer blush”, “cooler curl”). Such preparations are typical for girls lung behavior. But hardly a railway platform suitable place to find clients.

Blok invites the reader to “finish” the woman’s fate himself. If this is a peasant woman, then she may be trying to escape from village life. The author especially highlights the fleeting smile of the hussar, which for a moment gave the girl hope. This scene is reminiscent of Nekrasov's Troika. The only difference is the means of transportation.

But days pass after days, and the passengers of passing locomotives do not care about the lonely girl. Her youth is irrevocably spent in melancholy and useless waiting. The heroine falls into despair, her endless “bows” and “greedy gazes” do not lead to any result. Her friends probably found life partners a long time ago, but she still lives in her imagination. In this state, she decides to commit suicide. The railroad took her youth, let it take her life too. Physical death no longer matters, since the girl has long been “crushed by love.” She experienced real pain during her life.

In the last stanza, the author warns: “Don’t approach her with questions, you don’t care...” It would seem that the dead girl “doesn’t care” anymore. But Blok specifically draws attention to this. People will gossip and go about their business, forgetting about what happened. And the girl drank the cup of suffering to the end. Death was a relief for her. Discussion of her fate and the motives that pushed her to commit suicide would be a desecration of the memory of a pure soul.

The poem “On the Railroad” makes you think about the reasons that push young and healthy people to commit suicide. In Christianity this is considered a terrible sin. But such a step can be led to by the usual indifference of others who, at the right moment, did not want to support a desperate person.