Analysis of Gumilev's poem "Giraffe", the history of creation

Nikolai Gumilev is a Russian poet of the 20th century, a legendary figure and a passionate traveler. His love for bright exotic landscapes is confirmed by poetic works, in which the beauty of the Russian language is harmoniously combined with southern images. Analysis of Gumilev's poem "Giraffe" - one of the pearls of poetry of the last century - reveals the hidden thoughts and romantic fantasies of the author, speaks of his passion for travel and the thirst for adventure.

Trip to Africa

Before analyzing Gumilev's poem "Giraffe", we should say a few words about the beginning of his love for African wonderful landscapes.

Since childhood, the Russian poet dreamed of being on the black continent, but the long-awaited trip took place when he was twenty-two. By this time, a small sum of money, which the Sorbonne student managed to save, allowed her to leave Russia without the approval of her father, in whose eyes such a journey was extremely reckless. The trip has become spontaneous, but it is with her that the long research activity begins, which Gumilev devoted to the hot continent.

Today your view is especially sad ...

Before traveling to Africa, Gumilev made a proposal to Anna Gorenko, known in Russian literature under the pseudonym Akhmatova. An analysis of Gumilev's poem "Giraffe" should begin with a review of the first lines in which the author refers to a girl whose look is sad and sits, "hugging her knees." The beginning of the poem contrasts with the main part, where an exotic African nature is depicted.

Akhmatova refused to Gumilev. And this refusal was not the first. The young poet wanted to prove to his lover that he was worthy of her. After all, in order to go to the wild African deserts, you need to have some courage and determination.

Two years after the publication of the collection, which included the words addressed to Anna Akhmatova, where we are talking about a picturesque hot place, where "exquisite giraffe roams", Gumilev finally received the long-awaited agreement. In this work there is no confession of love, but it has an unusual romanticism and fairy-tale. The author tells her beloved girl about the beautiful distant lands where he visited. He seeks to please her with a description of the marvelous landscape, and at the same time to interest and win her heart.

The image of a giraffe

The gray rational world, in which there are no sensual emotions and vivid impressions, is opposed by fairy-tale images. The phrase "exquisite giraffe" Gumilev used to create a beautiful and almost unreal world. The African landscape is not a fiction or a fairy tale. However, a man accustomed to the Russian autumn rage, this picture seems unattainable.

Already in the second stanza the poem acquires colorful warm tones. Gracefulness and magic pattern has, as Gumilev believes, a giraffe. The history of the creation of this romantic work begins, perhaps, even in the early years of the author, when the future Acmeist poet dreamed of exotic distances associated with children's dreams with this animal.

I know that many wonderful things the earth sees ...

Analysis of Gumilev's poem "Giraffe" is necessary for understanding the ideological content and artistic form of this work. In the third and fourth stanzas, Gumilev seems to invite the reader to look at this world with different eyes. Giraffe in the perception of the poet has several images. This is not just a wild African animal. This is part of the beautiful world that not everyone can or wants to see. Offering to get rid of the "heavy fog", the poet calls to know how vast and wonderful the world is. Appeal to the reader is carried out through dialogue with a mysterious girl.

Lake Chad

Turning to her sad companion, Gumilev makes the reader a witness of this dialogue. This artistic device allows us to express the classic for Romantic conflict of reality and dreams. And the lake here symbolizes the beauty of the exotic continent, which are too far from the poet's muse. She used to, as he said, "a heavy fog," and believes only in the rain. These words can be interpreted as an unwillingness to rejoice in life and indulge in dreams.

Composition

The narrative completeness is peculiar to the works created by Nikolai Gumilev. "Giraffe", whose composition has it for all its variety of artistic images, has a fairly clear structure. In this work there lives a melody. The poem begins with a minor, but turns into a cheerful major. In bright colors, the poet paints the dream he lives in. His romantic dreams he aspires to settle in the heart of the beloved. But there are doubts that she is able to believe in his marvelous dream. This leads to the fact that his narrative ends in a quiet minor chord.

How can he tell her about the tropical gardens, the slender palms and the smell of unthinkable wild herbs, if she is used to living in a rational and colorless world? But despite all the sadness that lives in the lines of Gumilev, there is no pessimism in them.

"The master of a fairy tale" - so the poet himself called himself. In this statement there is justice, since his works have dazzling pictures and a ring frame. Such artistic means are characteristic of any fairy tale. The poet does not give up his intentions to tell his chosen one about the wonders of the hot continent and take her out of the "heavy fog" in which she used to exist. When reading the poem, it seems that he is ready to talk about the solar country again and again. Heaven on Earth exists, he can convince her of this. And his wishes are confirmed by the last words, from which the work begins. She cries ... And he again begins his bright story.

In his work Gumilev portrayed two worlds. The first is dull and colorless. The second one is bright and diverse. He paid little attention to the dull tones. The colorless world, rather, plays the role of a background. The colorful bright world for the poet is his fascination with African nature, the constant desire for a romantic dream and, undoubtedly, the love of a woman. This small work is so multifaceted that it can not be unambiguously interpreted. Every reader sees in him that which is closer to his heart.