What is "happy longing"? Interpretation of the poem Marshak "Lily of the Valley"

Samuel Yakovlevich Marshak is widely known as the author of remarkable children's poetic stories and poetic translations. Toddlers, and sometimes adults, laugh with pleasure at the man scattered from the street Bassein. Or, seeing laden persons in excess of the measures of passers-by, they immediately quote: "The lady was handing over to the luggage ..." And with what excitement we read the romantic ballad of Stevenson, translated by Marshak, about heather honey and the courageous Scottish people! The feat of her heroes sank into memory for a long time, and the echoes of it were not forgotten in the course of time. However, the poet also has original, stunningly beautiful lyrical poems.

Spring mood

One of them is called shortly - "Lily of the Valley". This is an amazingly gentle landscape sketch on the spring awakening of nature. The poem was written in 1949, and was first published in the cycle "From the lyrical notebook", which was included in the collection "Poems. 1948-1951. "

The second title of the work is given on the first line: "The forest is turning black ..." Simple, uncomplicated, it turned out in Marshak deeply sincere and excited. A special impression is made by the last stanza: "The forest languishes in the spring early / And all the happy yearning / And all his savor / He gave a bitter flower." What is "happy longing", why is the lily of the valley "bitter"? Let's try to figure this out.

Oxymoron

Among the artistic paths (expressive means of language), in addition to the widely used metaphors, epithets, we love oxymoron poets. This connection in the figurative space of the product of concepts and phenomena, which in real life are quite far apart. In fact, what is "happy longing"? Same as Pushkin's "I'm sad and light / My sadness is light ..."

In explanatory dictionaries, longing is defined as a feeling of negatively colored, heavy mental state, full of despondency, anxiety, depression, general poor health. Happiness is the emotion cardinally opposite. This is bliss, the highest form of contentment with life. But then what is "happy longing", how to decipher the expression? This is a good example of an oxymoron. Thanks to its use, Marshak is able to show expressively and express a joyful anticipation by nature of spring awakening, flowering, filling with life-giving juices. The poet draws a picture of the farewell of the forest with a cold winter dress. He is all naked, black, unsightly and gloomy. But this is only the first, brief impression. In fact, every branch, every branch of the forest is full of anticipation of affectionate sunny days, warm downpours, bird's hubbub and how it is decorated with fresh, glutinous, fragrant young foliage. But still ahead! The forest is looking forward to the moment and its triumph - that's what "happy longing" in our poem is. And now he admires the blossoming lily of the valley, and is ready to give him those vitality, the awakening of which feels in him, so that the flower becomes even more beautiful, even more drawn to the light, blossomed even more magnificently.

From word to image

As we see, the meaning of the word "melancholy" can not always be interpreted in a straightforward manner. Depending on the semantic field, from the lexical compatibility, the word form can acquire additional meaning. It was with this phenomenon that we met in the lyrical sketch of Marshak "The Lily of the Valley." The forest yearns, but its "sadness is light." He knows, foresees that the hour and its triumphs are approaching, that this moment is not far off. In fact, the happy melancholy of the forest is a reflection of the spiritual state of the whole nature in the early spring, of every living being. And the nature of Marshak - alive, endowed with its own spirituality and form of being

Theme and idea of the work

"Lily of the Valley" - a philosophical poem. Forest landscape - a kind of occasion for the poet to reflect on the origins of beauty, the birth of a high work of art. Its creator is the Life, true to its laws, changing in a constant, materializing movement of Time in a fragile beautiful lily of the valley. The flower has absorbed that charm and a bouquet of aromas, which very soon will fill the whole forest, will become a part of it. And while he is alone for all, he sings loudly and solemnly the hymn to Spring and Life!