Analysis of Tolstoy’s poem “That Was in Early Spring...”. Analysis of Tolstoy's poem "That was in early spring That was in early spring" and Tolstoy's analysis
In the romance, Tchaikovsky used the techniques of dynamic swells and combining words into single uncut waves. The main theme of the romance, its “super task” is the joy of the emerging new life in the hero’s soul, caused by the spring awakening of nature. The elated excitement of his spring experiences on the “morning of years” is conveyed by the rising and falling waves of musical periods. The leitmotif of the romance “that was…” sounds on the crests of the waves. Already in the prelude of the romance, the theme of spring is heard - the theme of happiness. The wave of this theme, falling, is supported by a new, similar counter wave, rising in another voice to meet the first wave. The singer’s voice (“that was”) enters on a new crest of a wave after the spring themes, echoing and catching up with each other, fade away in the prelude of the romance. “That was” sounds here on the rise of a musical phrase, and this phrase falls along with the words “in early spring, the grass barely sprouted.” The words of this phrase do not have a caesura (pause) separating them; they sound in a single logical flow. And then this wave breaks into two small phrases: “the streams flowed, the heat did not soar and the greenery of the groves shone through.” The hero's visual impressions are replaced by auditory ones. He recalls that at this time of spring the shepherd’s horn has not yet been heard (“the shepherd’s trumpet has not yet sung loudly in the morning”). But then, before the hero’s gaze, signs of early spring appear: a curl of a thin fern, rising grass. A new surge of enthusiastic emotions is born in his soul. Already with the words “there was a thin fern,” the rise of a new musical wave begins to rise to the words “that was.”
Everything surrounding the hero, as if in passing, passes through his consciousness. Neither curls of ferns, nor flowing streams, nor barely growing grass, nor the shadows of blossoming birches firmly hold his attention. He is completely absorbed in his happiness. The beloved girl, in response to his confession, “lowered her lids,” that is, reciprocated his love. He cries looking at her “sweet face.” The whole environment is just a side theme to the main theme of his happy love. He contemplates the surrounding natural life through tears of happiness. There are exclamations of “Oh!” (“Oh, life, oh, forest, oh, sunshine, oh, youth, oh, hopes!”), everything sparkles and sways in the rays of light. This is an impressionistic musical painting, and everything is dominated and everything contains the words of the hero “that was...”.
Alexey Konstantinovich wrote these lyrical lines in May 1871. Its content shows that the author was sad, but happy. He tells us about a meeting with his beloved, talks about how they sat in the shade of birches and his beloved, with lowered eyes, listened, with bated breath, to the poet’s passionate declaration of love for her.. And the world around them was so beautiful for the poet : forest, sun, youth, beloved’s smile. He cried from the author’s love for the girl. In the last lines, he regretfully recalls his lost youth and everything that happened to him that spring. And he does not let him forget the young, fresh smell of spring birch.
The poet himself called this poem “a small pastoral translated from Goethe.” However, this is not a translation. Tolstoy obviously wanted to emphasize that some poem by Goethe gave impetus to the creation of “That Was in Early Spring..”
The poem is a cry from the soul. There is both joy and pain from the understanding that this will no longer happen. The lines are very gentle and touching. From the very beginning of reading, a romantic atmosphere was created in my imagination: a pleasant aroma of freshness, young greenery - everything is beautiful, everything comes to life. On winter days, these lines come in handy more than ever; this is exactly what is missing.
Sent by: Manaenkova Anastasia
It was early spring
The grass was barely growing
The streams flowed, the heat did not soar,
And the greenery of the groves showed through;
Shepherd's trumpet in the morning
I haven’t sung loudly yet,
And in curls still in the forest
There was a thin fern.
It was early spring
It was in the shade of the birches,
When you smile in front of me
You lowered your eyes.
That's in response to my love
You dropped your eyelids -
O life! oh forest! oh sunshine!
O youth! oh hopes!
And I cried in front of you,
Looking at your dear face, -
It was early spring
It was in the shade of the birches!
That was on the morning of our years -
Oh happiness! oh tears!
O forest! oh life! oh sunshine!
O fresh spirit of birch!
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Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy
It was early spring
The grass was barely growing
The streams flowed, the heat did not soar,
And the greenery of the groves showed through;
Shepherd's trumpet in the morning
I haven’t sung loudly yet,
And in curls still in the forest
There was a thin fern.
It was early spring
It was in the shade of the birches,
When you smile in front of me
You lowered your eyes.
That's in response to my love
You dropped your eyelids -
O life! oh forest! oh sunshine!
O youth! oh hopes!
And I cried in front of you,
Looking at your dear face, -
It was early spring
It was in the shade of the birches!
That was on the morning of our years -
Oh happiness! oh tears!
O forest! oh life! oh sunshine!
O fresh spirit of birch!
The hero of Tolstoy's lyrics connects the image of resurrecting nature with memories of distant youth. The work “In Bygone Days It Happened...” reflects the state of mind that is generated by the sensations of the first warmth of spring. The joyful excitement and cheerful dreams of youth, supported by pictures of the awakening of the living world, are replaced by sadness caused by thoughts of “past happiness.”
A retrospective look at the events of youth is also presented in the poem of 1871: the depicted artistic space is separated from the position of the lyrical subject in the present.
The first quatrains, which set the meditative tone of the text, are dedicated to a landscape sketch. The opening determines the time coordinates of the lyrical situation - early spring. A clearly expressed theme evokes a complex of natural images: young grass, the first greenery of trees, deep streams. What stands out from the general series is the original image of the unfolding leaves of a fern, metaphorically likened to curls. Landscape dominants are also concentrated here, the structure of which is based on negation: the spring sun does not bring heat, and there are no loud sounds of a shepherd’s horn.
In the third quatrain there is a smooth change of theme - from landscape to love. The effect of naturalness is provided by the first couplet, containing a refrain and a line about “the shadow of birches.” Describing the details of the natural world, the poet simultaneously points to spatial landmarks that serve as expressive decorations for a love scene.
In the second part of the text, the emotional intensity intensifies: the author’s elevated intonations increase to enthusiastic ones, expressed in a series of rhetorical exclamations. The episode is full of reminiscences from the legacy of Goethe, who turned to a similar stylistic device, depicting the spring delight of a soul in love.
The traditional, seemingly uncomplicated dating scene informs the reader about the details of the psychological portrait of the young couple. A declaration of love has just been made, and on the stage there is he, inspired, with tears of happiness in his eyes, and she, embarrassed, but greeting sincere words with a joyful smile.
Assessing the events of the past, the lyrical subject resorts to the formula “the morning of our years,” accompanying the metaphor with the already mentioned complex of exclamations. Admiration and selfless tenderness are complemented by light sadness and regret about the past spring of life.
The work belongs to the late work of the poet and is a lyrical composition in the form of a retrospective look at his bygone youth.
The compositional structure of the poem consists of six quatrains, revealing the main theme of the work, which consists in depicting the joyful excitement and cheerful desire of youth, emphasized by the awakening nature on the eve of the onset of early spring.
The work uses iambic tetrameter as a poetic meter, combined with cross rhyme and a two-syllable foot, placing stress on the second syllable. In this case, the narration is carried out on behalf of the lyrical hero.
The first part of the poem “It Was in Early Spring...” concentrates on describing a landscape sketch in the form of clearly defined natural images (young grass, the first greenery of trees, deep streams). The theme then smoothly changes from an image of the natural world, showing the shadows of birch trees, to a love scene, emphasized by spatial references.
The second part of the poem represents an increasing emotional intensity of passions, in which the author's elevated intonation increases through the use of enthusiastic exclamations. In this part of the work, the poet uses reminiscences that he borrowed from the poetic work of Goethe, who uses a similar stylistic device to express the true spring delight of the human soul experiencing love.
Among the means of artistic expression, the poem uses numerous metaphors, comparisons and personifications, focusing the attention of listeners on the artistic space of the poetic narrative, separated from the present-day author’s position.
The final part of the work expresses the lyrical hero’s regret about his irretrievably lost youth, which he is reminded of by the youth and freshness of spring smells, including birch bark.
A distinctive feature of the poem “That Was in Early Spring...” is the combination of a romantic atmosphere of harmony, tenderness and touching of awakening nature with longing and pain for a lost youth.
The semantic load of the work lies in the poet’s masterful depiction of happiness from the experienced true feeling of love not only for the beloved woman, but also for the surrounding nature, united in the soul of the lyrical hero into a single whole in the form of the forest, the sun, youth, and the smile of the beloved.
Analysis of the poem It was early spring according to plan
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