It is extremely sad to read the verse “She was sitting on the floor ...” Tyutchev Fedor Ivanovich, knowing the history of his writing. The work was created in 1958. Then already an adult poet had an affair with a young girl. Despite the fact that the man was married, their romance had an incredible and turbulent history. However, soon young Elena became pregnant, in connection with which a huge scandal arose. The wife of the poet Eleanor Tyutcheva was in despair from this news. This even prompted her to destroy much of her correspondence with her husband. This poem is dedicated to this event.
The author is like an outside observer in this story. He looks at the woman who is sorting through old letters, throwing them away and looking at them again. She does not seem to notice him, completely concentrating on what no longer matters. Despite the fact that the poet feels ready to “fall on his knees”, he understands that nothing can be changed. For his chosen one, he becomes only a shadow, gradually losing his significance. Just like these letters, which are doomed to disappear. And she gradually loses touch with reality, demonstrating complete detachment from what is happening.
The text of Tyutchev's poem "She was sitting on the floor ..." is full of sadness and grief over what can no longer be returned. Each line is like a requiem for lost trust and broken alliance. The poet understands the inevitability of the situation, but he cannot do anything, and this realization kills. This sadness of the author is transmitted to the reader. Despite the ambiguity of the situation, it causes sadness and longing for what is happening. It is impossible not to be imbued with the feelings of a man whose life seems to be crumbling before our eyes. The work is taught in literature classes in high school. And you can read it online or download it in full on our website for free.
She was sitting on the floor
And sorted through a pile of letters,
And, like cooled ashes,
Picked them up and threw them away.
I took familiar sheets
And it was wonderful to look at them,
How souls look from above
On their abandoned body...
Oh, how much life was here
Irrevocably experienced!
Oh, how many sad minutes
Love and joy killed!..
I stood silently aside
And the mouth was ready to kneel, -
And I became terribly sad
As from an inherent sweet shadow.
Tyutchev wrote the poem “She was sitting on the floor” in 1858. It was published in the same year in the Russian conversation magazine in the second volume.
It is assumed that the poem is dedicated to Tyutchev's second wife Ernestina. Tyutchev's relationship with women was confusing. His first wife, Eleonora, died under tragic circumstances, but Tyutchev soon married Ernestine. He knew Ernestina long before the death of his first wife. But in the second ten years of a happy marriage with Ernestina, the situation repeated itself. In 1849, Tyutchev fell in love with Elena Denisieva, who was almost half his age. Since then, for a long 14 years, until the death of Denisyeva, Tyutchev was torn between two women. Ernestine was wise and saved the marriage. But she must have been desperate. This is precisely the state of the heroine of the poem "She was sitting on the floor."
Literary direction and genre
The poem belongs to the genre of intimate lyrics. It is written in the best traditions of romanticism. The lyrical hero and heroine of the poem are described at the moment of the highest tension of feelings, they are lonely and ready for action, but they refuse it as useless. The intensity of passions is still intensifying, finding no release.
Theme, main idea and composition
The poem consists of four quatrains. The first, second and fourth are a genre scene, a description of a woman sorting through a pile of letters (the first two stanzas) and a lyrical hero watching this (the last stanza). In the third stanza, the lyrical hero refers to the content of the letters being parsed, which he knows because he himself wrote them.
The theme of the poem is a conflict between once close people, extinct feelings. The main idea: love, even extinct, never leaves a person, living in his heart as sadness, regret, pain, which will remain with him forever.
Paths and images
The image of the heroine is devoid of any details whatsoever. She has no appearance, no name, replaced by a pronoun she is. And yet the image of a woman is very specific. Through appearance (posture and actions), Tyutchev conveys her inner world.
The beginning of the poem was supposed to shock the reader of the 19th century. This is our contemporary who can sit in jeans on the floor and rummage through papers. If a noblewoman in the 19th century. sitting on the floor, this means that something egregious happened in her life, that her legs just buckled or she was not herself.
The attitude of the heroine to the letters as to cooled ashes (comparison) means that they were useless and meaningless for her. But the heroine still takes them in her hands. Obviously, she throws out only letters belonging to the lyrical hero.
Having described the confusion in the soul of the heroine, Tyutchev refers to her only characteristic in the poem - a look that is called wonderful, that is, strange (although in the original word looked wonderful emphasis on at, obviously for rhythm).
In comparison of the second stanza, the whole essence of the state of the heroine, the whole gamut of her feelings. Her gaze is compared with the gaze of souls on the abandoned body. This is regret, and relief, and liberation, and a step towards the new, and the undoubted end of earthly life. Letters are dead for the heroine, just as the relationship with the person who wrote them is dead. No wonder Tyutchev uses the epithet familiar sheets, as if talking about people. On the other hand, the sheets are familiar not only to the heroine. The lyrical hero recognizes his letters in them.
In the third stanza, the motive of murdered love and joy just appears. This stanza differs from the other three in emotional intensity. Outwardly, everything still remains calm, but exclamations break out from the heart of the lyrical hero, underlined by interjection about. The life of the past, remaining in the letters, Tyutchev characterizes as irretrievably experienced, and calls the minutes woeful(epithets).
The motive of death remains in the fourth stanza. The lyrical hero is "terribly sad." Word scary- stronger adverb than very. The sadness was so strong, as if he felt the presence cute shadows (epithet), that is, he remembered the deceased. This dead woman is love. Participle inherent- old Slavicism, meaning located here. Today we would say present.
The lyrical hero, unlike the heroine, does not lose his head. He silently stands aside and repents of something, ready to fall on his knees, but does not fall. Either he feels the futility of such an act, or he does not fully admit his guilt. But the male figure, towering over the exhausted female sitting on the floor, is a symbol of the insolubility of the conflict between lovers.
The poem "She was sitting on the floor" does not need the context of Tyutchev's biography at all, it is understandable to anyone, regardless of whether he is familiar with the life of the poet. However, the poem is autobiographical. Ernestina knew about Denisyeva and was able to live with this knowledge. In addition, Tyutchev did write to her " heap letters ”(epithet), many of which she destroyed, so that some poems dedicated to her were irretrievably lost.
Size and rhyme
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter. Cross rhyming, male and female rhymes alternate.
- Analysis of the poem by F.I. Tyutchev "Silentium!"
F. I. Tyutchev created wonderful poems in which he sang the beauty of nature. But he also has works about a beautiful and lofty feeling - love. One of the creations of love lyrics is the poem "She was sitting on the floor", an analysis of which is presented in our article. We will also briefly describe what prompted the poet to write this masterpiece, which poetry lovers still admire.
History of creation
The analysis of the poem "She was sitting on the floor" should begin with the one to whom it is dedicated. This work was written in 1858. It is believed that it is dedicated to the second legal wife of the poet Ernestine Fedorovna. But Tyutchev fell in love with Elena Denisyeva, who was much younger than the poet.
Fedor Ivanovich maintained relations with both. Ernestina Feodorovna was a wise woman, so she managed to save the marriage. But it was not easy for her, and that is how she appeared in F. Tyutchev's poem "She was sitting on the floor."
Literary genre of the work
In the analysis of the poem "She was sitting on the floor" it is necessary to determine which literary movement and genre it belongs to. This work is written in the best traditions of romanticism and love lyrics. The heroes are very worried about their love, but they do not know how to solve the problem.
The hero and the heroine are both a couple and lonely at the same time. Therefore, the tense state in which they are intensifies. The whole poem is written in such a sadly lyrical mood.
Theme and features of the composition
The next point in the analysis of the poem "She was sitting on the floor" is the definition of the main theme of the work. This is a conflict that arose between two once close people, between whom feelings faded. And from the realization of this, both experience bitterness, regret, sadness.
But despite the fact that feelings have already lost their strength, memories of them bind these people. The first, second and fourth stanzas are a description of one simple scene. The main characters are a woman parsing letters and a man watching her. And in the third stanza, a description is given of letters that cause so many emotions in the heroine.
stanza analysis
In a brief analysis of the poem "She was sitting on the floor," each stanza can be considered separately. In the first, the reader sees the image of a woman who is sitting on the floor not from fatigue, but from an excess of feelings that she experiences at that moment. She is overwhelmed with despair, sadness, because, sorting through the letters, she understands that all feelings have passed. These messages remind her of this, so the woman cannot hold the letters in her hands.
In the next stanza, the poet develops the idea that was described at the very beginning. Letters have already become part of the heroine. Reading what is written in them, she remembers everything that has already passed. And that's why she's in such a sad mood. In the third stanza, the poet shows the whole tragedy of departed love, because, according to Tyutchev, love and strong feelings are inseparable from each other.
In the last part, the image of the lyrical hero is revealed. Although he, like the heroine, is silent, his observation of her speaks more than words. He feels guilty because he understands that it is because of him that the woman is so worried. The hero repents of this, and he is also sad that love has passed. For them, she remained only a bright memory.
Hero Skins
In the analysis of Tyutchev's poem "She was sitting on the floor", one should definitely note the features of the heroes of the work. The hero and heroine are devoid of any details: there are no names, no descriptions of appearance, no distinguishing features of character. But the emphasis in the work was placed on the inner experiences of the characters.
The woman sorts through the letters, comparing them to the cooled ash. This can be interpreted as the fact that they mean nothing to her. But she takes some. Therefore, it can be assumed that some messages are of particular value to her. The only hint of her appearance is the description of the look of the heroine. It is in the eyes of a person that you can understand what he feels. The woman does not notice the presence of the hero, she is absorbed in her experiences. A man feels superfluous in this situation.
The hero here acts as a silent contemplator. Sheets of paper seem familiar to him, and the reader understands that he wrote these letters. But the man, unlike the heroine, is still able to reason. He is ready to ask her forgiveness, but, realizing the futility of the act, does nothing. But the fact that he stands aside, towering over a woman, shows the insolubility of the conflict situation.
Literary tropes and the size of the poem
In the analysis of "She was sitting on the floor" it should be noted that the comparisons and epithets that the poet used were used to convey the experiences of the characters. Comparison of sheets of paper with cooled ash shows that these letters are a symbol of extinct feelings. The heroine, sorting through them, plunges into memories. All epithets have a minor connotation, which emphasizes the tragedy of the situation.
The work is written in iambic tetrameter. The alternation of male and female rhymes was used.
This poem is autobiographical. Although no names are indicated in it, the researchers are sure that it is dedicated to the second wife of the poet, who endured and turned a blind eye to his relationship with Denisyeva. The poet loved Elena for her intelligence and courage, because her relationship with him cost her reputation and inheritance.
But thanks to Ernestine, the marriage was saved. And it was she who later, when Tyutchev lost Elena, consoled him. This poem shows the complexity of their situation, in which Tyutchev's beloved and himself were. But even those who are not familiar with his biography, after reading this work, understand that we are talking about once close people. This poem is one of the most famous creations related to the love lyrics of F.I. Tyutchev.
She was sitting on the floor
And sorted through a pile of letters,
And, like cooled ashes,
Picked them up and threw them away.
I took familiar sheets
And it was wonderful to look at them,
How souls look from above
On the abandoned body...
Oh, how much life was here
Irrevocably experienced!
Oh, how many sad minutes
Love and joy killed!..
I stood silently aside
And the mouth was ready to kneel, -
And I became terribly sad
As from an inherent sweet shadow.
One of my favorite poems by F.I. Tyutchev "She was sitting on the floor ..." was written in 1858.
The 1850s are a time of dramatic experiences associated with Tyutchev's love for E. A. Denisyeva, a young pupil of the Smolny Institute, where the poet's two daughters studied at that time. Their romance, which society knew about, lasted 14 years and ended with the death of the girl.
However, the poet dedicated this poem not to the young Denisyeva, but to his second wife, Ernestine von Dernberg. The woman knew about her husband's affair and, of course, experienced indescribable bitterness from this.
She was sitting on the floor
And sorted through a pile of letters ...
I believe that the main thing of the poem is the image of this heap of letters. These letters are like yellowed autumn leaves, which only irritate the soul with memories of the past. They are nothing more than "cooled ash", left over from the flame of the former feeling.
I took familiar sheets
And it was wonderful to look at them...
The lyrical heroine rereads these letters with surprise. She remembers, but no longer understands those vivid feelings that she experienced earlier. These letters are her past. Not even her, but that young woman who looks "from above" at her current self.
However, the heroine is unable to discard the memories. Yes, and how? She loved and suffered. Is it possible to leave this behind? After all, “how much life was here, ... how many sorrowful minutes, love and joy killed ...”
But, as the poet correctly notes, all feelings between these people have already been irrevocably experienced. The lyrical hero understands this. But he, standing "silently, aside" and watching this woman, "was ready to fall on his knees." What for? For what? To ask for forgiveness? Or to share the bitterness of memories of the past? He is ready to be there at this moment, she only needs to give him a sign. But there is no sign, and the hero leaves the woman alone, allowing her to live these moments alone.
For me, the poem “She was sitting on the floor ...” is the pinnacle of the creative genius of F.I. Tyutchev. Probably, someone will not agree with me, but the sincerity of these lines will not leave anyone indifferent.
The main themes of F.I. Tyutchev became human feelings and experiences, reflections on the meaning of life, an image of the beauty of Russian nature. The verse "She was sitting on the floor ..." is an example of the poet's romantic lyrics.
The plot of the work
If you look at the event outline of the verse, you can see that there are a lot of actions in it, which is usually not found in poetic texts. In the work, there are two on behalf of which the story is being told, and the heroine whom he is watching. The heroine sorts out old letters, picks them up and throws them away.
creative history
Without studying the creative history of a work, it is impossible to analyze it. Tyutchev's poem "She was sitting on the floor ..." is dedicated to the second wife of the poet, Ernestine Fedorovna.
It was created in the late 1850s. Just at this time, Tyutchev is experiencing the deepest love experience in his life. He entered into an illegal relationship with Elena Denisyeva. Elena was much younger than Tyutchev, but real feelings broke out between them. However, the poet was married. Denisyeva plucked up the courage to be with her beloved. She had to break all her family and friendship ties, she was not recognized in society. She gave everything for the sake of love for Tyutchev. Therefore, the poems of these years are filled with sorrow, suffering, as "She was sitting on the floor ..." is no exception. True, in it, rather, the lyrical heroine, the victim of a love triangle, experiences more suffering.
Poem idea
The task of the poet was to show how destructive love has. Even an almost extinguished feeling causes the greatest suffering to a person. Indeed, in this text, the heroine burns the letters that her lover once wrote to her. She recalls the bright moments that were in their lives. But he looks at the letters as if they were something unimaginably distant and almost forgotten.
means of expression
The poem "She was sitting on the floor ..." Tyutchev created using a large amount. Thanks to this, it turned out to be very bright, beautiful and sensual. The main technique used by the author is comparison. "Like cooled ashes", "like souls look from above". Of course, the poet did not do without his favorite syntactic means - a rhetorical exclamation. It helps to give the text more emotional richness. The observer is amazed at how the heroine sorts through these letters. In her every movement, pain and suffering are felt, the soul is torn, because love has passed, it is forgotten.
Another syntactic means is inversion. The wrong order of words in sentences allows the author to place accents, highlighting segments that are important in meaning. In addition, inversion allows you to create a special rhythm of the text.
The dots at the end of the lines create a certain feeling of understatement. Not everything that is now in the soul of the lyrical hero and heroine can be conveyed in words, something remains unexpressed. This is one of the main motifs in "The Unspeakable" first appeared in the lyrics of Zhukovsky, later this motif was developed by other poets. Tyutchev believed that sometimes silence speaks better than words. Moreover, words can be false, it is impossible to clothe deep human experiences in a speech form without distorting the meaning. As Tyutcheva shows, "She was sitting on the floor ..." this idea is confirmed precisely thanks to the dots, a kind of mystification of the internal state of the characters.
Formal analysis
The poem is written Pyrrhic and spondei, which are present in each line, help to decorate its rhythm. They rhyme every four lines. The rhyme in the stanza is cross. Male and female rhymes alternate: "on the floor - ashes", "disassembled - thrown."
Emotional response
The poem "She was sitting on the floor ..." (year of writing 1858) is more than a century and a half. But what familiar feelings Tyutchev describes in it! Years and centuries go by, but one thing remains unchanged: love in a person's life is the greatest experience. Everyone strives to find this feeling, but it does not always bring happiness. According to Tyutchev, on the contrary, love is always torment and suffering, "the struggle of two unequal hearts." People falling in love pass a death sentence on their other half. You can share this opinion, but you can think differently. But what is described in the poem, probably, every person experiences at least once in a lifetime, even if not so much. Lost love hurts a lot. A person remembers all the good moments, experiences again. Sometimes, even after many years, a meeting with a former lover is a pain or a nagging feeling of sadness about youth, about ardor and passion. In the poem "She was sitting on the floor ..." Tyutchev creates the same feeling in the lyrical heroine that old letters evoke. The same emotions are transmitted to the involuntary witness of this scene. In turn, he, as the author on behalf of whom the story is being told, wants to convey them to the reader.
To understand the mood of the verse allows its detailed analysis. Tyutchev's poem "She was sitting on the floor ..." is the greatest example of psychological lyrics.