О новом восприятии поэмы А. С. Пушкина «Полтава»

Abstract

The paper provides a new interpretation of A. S. Pushkin’s poem “Poltava” offering a broader view of its idea. Whereas, according to critics, the Battle of Poltava is only “an episode from the love story of Mazepa” and is “asymmetrically” located in the poem (V. G. Belinsky), the paper shows that Pushkin’s poem is distinguished by a harmonious and thoughtful composition, associated not only with the image of events of the victorious Battle of Poltava, but also with memories of Poltava (Poltava region), linked by Pushkin with the addressee of the poem’s dedication — M. N. Raevskaya-Volkonskaya. The poem is formed by a three-part structure, each stage of which is connected with one of the passions that capture the characters and are subordinate to Pushkin’s special hierarchy. If the first part embodies the passion of love (images of Mary and Mazepa), the second explicates the passion of revenge (Kochubey and Mazepa) and then the third — the highest, according to Pushkin — the passion of serving the Fatherland, the desire to give it all the heart (Peter, Karl, Mazepa). Three stages of compositional construction embody axiological difference of the protagonist passion and, as a result, reflect stadiality of maturing of a central idea of the poem. Its final meaning is to depict not so much the victory of Peter’s army at Poltava, as the struggle of human passions (love, revenge, Motherland) and their commensurability with the grandiosity of historical events involving the main characters.