Are you mature, singer Tiisky!
Like a bull in a meadow in spring
Russian girls dance
Under the flute is a shepherdess?
How they walk, bowing their heads,
Shoes are knocking in harmony,
Quietly your hands move your gaze
And they talk with their shoulders?
Like their golden ribbons
White foreheads shine,
Under precious pearls
Are your tender breasts breathing?
Like blue veins
Pink blood flows
Fire on the cheeks
Did love cut the holes?
How sable their eyebrows are,
A falcon's gaze full of sparks,
Their grin is the soul of a lion
And the eagles' hearts are stricken?
If only I could see these red maidens,
You should forget the Greeks
And on voluptuous wings
Your Eros was chained.

Analysis of the poem “Russian Girls” by Derzhavin

Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin willingly praised female beauty in his poetry. His delight was devoted exclusively to Russian beauties.

The poem was written in 1799. Its author was 56 years old, he had made a dizzying career, ruled the Tambov province, managed to serve as the cabinet secretary of the empress herself, and during this period he chaired the Commerce Collegium. The genre is an ode to the beauty of Russian girls, the meter is trochee with cross rhyme, there is no division into stanzas. The lyrical hero is the author himself. He begins almost mockingly: are you mature? At the same time, he turns to the long-dead ancient poet Anacreon, known for his love lyrics. “The bull is dancing”: folk dance with stomping. The entire poem is pure admiration, a hail of enumerations that should convince Anacreon that he was in vain singing the praises of Greek women and would have taken a closer look at Russian red maidens. Diminutive suffixes emphasizing the author’s pleasure: cowgirl, with shoes, bull. Anaphora: how. The poet gives an attractive portrait of a Russian beauty. It should be noted that his praise went to girls of the common class. The nature of the dance and the simplicity of the musical accompaniment (pipe) testify to this. The author draws from life: white foreheads, tender breasts, blue veins, pink blood, dimples on the cheeks (lanites), sable eyebrows, a falcon's gaze. He tries to convey the movements of the dance: bowing their heads, knocking, moving their hands, moving their eyes, speaking with their shoulders. There is also a description of the details of the costume: gold ribbons, precious pearls. The vocabulary is both sublime and neutral, sometimes outdated. The intonation is ardent, with an abundance of rhetorical questions, with a clear folklore sound. Inversion is one of the main techniques of this work: you are mature, blood is flowing, love has struck. Many epithets seem to be from a folk tale: falcon, fire, sable. He conveys a smile with the bright word “grin”, the same one that would later decorate N. Gogol’s early works. Metaphors: souls of lions, full of sparks, hearts of eagles. Here we mean brave men, warriors whose bastions withstood the onslaught of enemies, but fell under the fiery female gaze. "Tiisky": Anacreon is a native of the Greek city of Theos. “Eros is chained”: referring to the deity of passion.

The poem “Russian Girls” by G. Derzhavin was first published 9 years after its creation.

G. R. Derzhavin’s odes - laudatory lyrical works - belong to Peru. But in his poem “Russian Girls” the praising character borders on the simplicity of life. He glorifies Russian young women in it. To do this, he describes them during a traditional dance, popularly called “bull”.

The actions described in the poem take place in the spring in the meadow. It’s not in vain that this time of year was chosen: everything is blooming and in motion. This period perfectly complements the picture depicting a group of young and beautiful girls in whom youth and love are burning. All this happens to the sound of a shepherd's pipe.

In the first lines of the work, he addresses the Greek poet with a question. And then he describes this dance of young women. First they talk about their movements. They are smooth and beautiful. The large number of verbs he used to describe the dance conveys its rhythm. The lines themselves are lively and dynamic. And the girls’ movements are eloquent.

Then Derzhavin proceeds to describe the external merits of the girls. They are wonderful. Behind their smiles hide brave and strong souls - “lions”. These young beauties are capable of slaying any man.

This is how the poet describes Russian girls. He emphasizes their virtues and superiority over others. At the end of the work, Derzhavin again turns to the foreign singer with the words that if he had seen with his own eyes the picture presented in these lines, he would have forgotten the Greek women forever. After all, Russian girls are not only beautiful, but also full of life.

Behind the evidence of the superiority of Russian women over others, another thought is hidden: the superiority of Russian culture and spirituality of the people. This is precisely what Derzhavin is trying to prove, having painted it so picturesquely, in this lyrical work.

Option 2

At the turn of the century in 1799, Gavrila Derzhavin wrote the poem Russian Girls, where he glorified the beauty of the inhabitants of the Russian land. It should be noted that this topic is still relevant and quite justifiably relevant. After all, girls in Russia are truly distinguished by their beauty, and this fact is recognized not only here, but also in many other countries.

Actually, this is where the poet begins his work, he turns to the lyricist Anacreon, who in the text is called “the singer of Tiis,” that is, a singer from the city of Teos. Next, a varied description of Russian beauties begins and it continues like a kaleidoscope, spreading through a kind of dance, in which each new figure offers to consider another aspect of Russian beauty. Derzhavin consistently gives a description of bodily beauty: “white foreheads”, “tender breasts”, “fiery pits on the cheeks”, a look, a grin and much more.

In fact, such a description is reminiscent of love lyrics and can even shift attention towards the classics of this genre, for example, the Song of Songs or something similar. Indeed, often love lyrics dedicated to a specific person are just such a sequential enumeration of elements of beauty that are compared with something magnificent, for example, a look - full of sparks. Derzhavin, in turn, creates a certain collective image, which represents, as it were, the generalized beauty of Russian girls, a selection of the best qualities that can only be observed in them.

It must be said that the poet is not talking about court ladies or representatives of high society, he is talking about ordinary people, of whom there are a huge number on earth. It is this simplicity that is true beauty, and beauty lies in the ease with which the girls dance the “bull” and knock their “shoes in tune.” This emphasis is also emphasized by the manner of versification, where simple rhyme and rhythmic patterns are used, which also take the reader somewhere in the direction of folk dances and creativity.

The poem is also full of movement. Many verbs are used and the lines are often in a question form. This creates a response from the reader and additional dynamics.

Analysis 3

The poem praises the beauty and meekness of simple Russian girls. They are no worse than foreign women, no worse than princesses or those maidens sung by the poets of antiquity. This pleasant poem consists of one long stanza.

In the very first line, the author addresses a certain singer, by whom he means, it turns out, an ancient Greek poet. (This appeal is emotional - even with an exclamation mark, and then the question itself follows.) Anacreon sang the girls of his era, so Derzhavin asks the long-gone genius if he had seen Russian beauties. Since he was clearly not lucky enough to see them, Gavrila Romanovich draws their portrait in his poem.

These girls are especially happy in the spring, dancing in the fields (also beautiful) to the sounds of the shepherd's pipe. The heroines move in a dance, bowing their heads, knocking their shoes rhythmically. (That is, they don’t even have soft country bast shoes, but shoes with heels!) The beauties quietly lead with their eyes, with their hands... And with their shoulders - they speak! That is, it is expressed metaphorically that they move their shoulders to the rhythm of the music, as if they are telling a story. And this whole description is again enclosed in a question. Of course, the ancient poet did not see this either, otherwise he would have sung such beauty.

Now the reader has already approached the girls, sees how their gold ribbons shine, how clean and tender their skin is, how beautiful the pearls are on them... (Again, gold and pearls show that these are not peasant women at all, but rich girls.)

The poet adds color: pink blood runs through the blue veins! But this is the author’s assumption, since everyone knows that blood is either scarlet or burgundy. On the rosy cheeks of the heroines, the reader already sees dimples that were seemingly created by love itself. Again a beautiful description: sable eyebrows, falcon gaze, full of sparks. And now the transition is that their smile can defeat even an eagle or a lion. With one look and a smile, a Russian girl can make the bravest and richest man fall in love with her!

And so the conclusion is drawn that the ancient Greek creator, if he had seen the handsome Russians, would have forgotten his Greek women. He would simply fall in love with them, dream about them and sing about them. The heroines are almost perfect.

The poem is written in an outdated language, there are many no longer used words (gold, lanits, ripen, that is, see) and grammatical forms (Russian, dragimi, chapters). And yet the work is quite easy to read, the thought in it is also easy and very pleasant (for Russians).

Are you mature, singer Tiisky!
Like a bull in a meadow in spring
Russian girls dance
Under the flute is a shepherdess?
How they walk with their heads bowed,
Shoes are knocking in harmony,
Quietly your hands move your gaze
And they talk with their shoulders?
Like their golden ribbons
White foreheads shine,
Under precious pearls
Are your tender breasts breathing?
Like blue veins
Pink blood flows
Fire on the cheeks
Did love cut the holes?
How sable their eyebrows are,
A falcon's gaze full of sparks,
Their grin is the soul of a lion
And the eagles' hearts are stricken?

You should forget the Greeks
And on voluptuous wings
Your Eros was chained.

Analysis of Derzhavin’s poem “Russian Girls”

The poem “Russian Girls” was written by Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin in 1799. More than two hundred years have passed since this moment, so some of the expressions reflected in it may seem incomprehensible to a modern reader. Fortunately, both the poet himself and numerous researchers of his work left explanatory comments on this bright, slightly frivolous work.

In the poem, the author acts as an interlocutor of the famous ancient Greek lyricist Anacreon (in Derzhavin’s comments it is spelled “Anacreon”). This poet is known for his ironic poems about entertainment, feasts, and love, which were usually performed to the accompaniment of the lyre. It is not surprising that when talking with this famous Greek in his poem “Russian Girls”, Gabriel Romanovich uses the same lively, playful manner of versification.

This work consists of simple quatrains united by one form of rhyme - abab. The meter of the poem is trochaic tetrameter, which adds zest and rhythm to the lines.

The poem begins with an address:
Are you mature, Tii singer,
Like a bull in a meadow in spring
Russian girls dance...

and already here the reader may be confused. For example, who is the “Tis singer”? By this epithet, Derzhavin means Anacreon, using a distorted Theosian, since the ancient Greek poet was from the city of Theos. The bull is not a pet, but an ancient dance that was popular among peasant youth.

Then, over the course of four stanzas, the author praises the virtues of Russian girls while watching them dance. The poet describes the beauty of young compatriots, using outdated words. Calling the head the head, the forehead the brow, and the cheeks covered with blush the cheeks, the poet introduces into the portraits of the heroines a piece of solemnity, ancient majesty, inherited from proud ancestors.

Drawing images, the poet does not skimp on epithets: his girls have “sable eyebrows”, “a falcon’s gaze full of sparks”, “lanitas of fire”. It is curious that when describing the outfit of the heroines, the author mentions luxurious wardrobe items, for example, “golden ribbons”, “dear pearls” (meaning expensive)”, shoes. All this is difficult to imagine in an ordinary peasant woman, so it seems that the author exaggerates the image of Russian young ladies in order to present them to his interlocutor in a more favorable light:
If only I could see these red maidens,
You should forget the Greeks...

The crafty Gabriel Romanovich mentions in the poem both the god of carnal love Eros with his “voluptuous wings” and the “tender breasts” of young maidens. Thanks to these frivolous hints, one gets the impression that Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin did not set himself the goal of composing a patriotic work. But it, nevertheless, does honor to the beauty of the daughters of the Russian land.