My work is dedicated to, in my opinion, current topic of our time - the topic of mothers and motherhood. In this work, I would like to analyze the current situation in Russia through the prism of myths, tales, literary monuments and works of art, which in one way or another affect the problems of motherhood. I will try to evaluate the changes that have occurred over the centuries in relation to motherhood. After all, it’s no longer news to anyone that now even the very concept of “motherhood” is treated completely differently than, say, in the 19th century or even in the 50s of the 20th century. The change in priorities is so rapid that it becomes scary, what will happen next? That’s why I chose this topic among many, many other interesting and deep topics.
The Image of the Mother in Orthodoxy. Icons.
The image of a woman-mother is glorified in numerous works of literature and art, reverently embodied in wondrous icons. I would like to dwell on the latter in more detail, since for me this topic is closer than all the others. The history of Orthodoxy and Christianity goes back more than two thousand years, so it is not surprising that it cultural heritage so rich. One could list monuments of literature, architecture and icon painting for a very long time, but this is not necessary now.
Based on the specifics of the work, I immediately identified a specific area of research for myself – the icons of the Mother of God. Believers know how huge the number of images of the Mother of God is, in some of them She is alone, but in most icons she is holding the Child Christ in her arms. Orthodox Christians know such icons as the Sovereign, Iveron, Inexhaustible Chalice, Pochaev, Joy of All Who Sorrow, Tikhvin, Kazan and many, many others, miraculous, with their own history and list of miracles. For example, we can recall Catholic images of the Virgin Mary. This Sistine Madonna, Raphael's Madonna and other masterpieces of the great masters of the Middle Ages. There is one significant similarity between para-Orthodox icons and Catholic paintings - in all of them the Virgin Mary is depicted with her Son.
Thus, the Mother of God becomes one of the most sacred symbols for believers - a symbol of high, sacrificial motherhood. After all, all mothers know how difficult and painful it is to learn about any failure or illness of their children. But few people know how difficult it is to live with the knowledge of the entire future terrible fate of their child. And the Mother of God knew the whole fate of her Son from his very birth. Therefore, perhaps, the very image of a mother is so sacred for all people that since ancient times her work in raising children has been equated with a feat.
The image of the Mother in the mythology of the Slavs and other peoples.
All peoples of the world have always had a place for female deities in the religious picture of the world, and they have always stood separately from male gods. The patron goddesses of the hearth, land, and fertility were greatly respected by all ancient peoples.
The original archetype of birth, the beginning of life, the creation of Nature subconsciously led to the worship of Mother Earth, who gives everything for people’s lives. Therefore, the ancient Slavs identified not one god - Heaven, as one might think, but two - Heaven and Earth. They generally considered Earth and Heaven to be two living beings, and even more so, a married couple, whose love gave birth to all life on earth. The God of heaven, the Father of all things, is called Svarog. What did the Slavs call the great Goddess of the Earth? Some scientists believe that her name is Makosh. Others, no less authoritative, argue with them. But I will proceed from the fact that the name of the Earth goddess is still Makosh. The interpretation of the name Makosh itself is very interesting. And if “ma” is clear to everyone – mom, mother, then what is “cat”? It’s not entirely clear, if you don’t remember some words, this is, for example, a wallet where wealth is stored, a shed where the living wealth of the peasant is driven - sheep, the leader of the Cossacks is called koshev, fate, lot were also called kosh, and also a large basket for vegetables and fruit. And if you add all these meanings into a semantic chain, then it turns out: Makosh is the Mistress of Life, the Giver of the Harvest, the Universal Mother. In one word – Earth.
We still call the Earth Mother. Only we treat her not nearly as respectfully as good children should. The pagans treated her with greatest love, and all the legends say that the Earth paid them back in kind. It is not for nothing that both the Slavs and the Greeks have a myth about a hero who cannot be defeated, since the Earth itself helps him. On the tenth of May they celebrated the “name day of the Earth”: on this day it could not be disturbed - plowing, digging. The earth witnessed the solemn oaths; at the same time, they touched it with the palm of their hand, or they took out a piece of turf and placed it on their head, mystically making a lie impossible: it was believed that the Earth would not bear a deceiver. In Rus' they said: “Don’t lie - the Earth hears,” “Love as the Earth loves.” And now sometimes, when we take an oath, we demand: “Eat the earth!” And what is the custom of taking a handful of native land to a foreign land worth!
By the Upper Paleolithic era - 40-50 thousand years BC. e. include the first archaeological finds in the form of stone figurines of female deities. During the Neolithic period - 10-12 thousand years BC. e. Numerous images of the Mother Goddess are already appearing, as a reflection of various forces of nature. Among the ancient Sumerians, this is the goddess of love Ishtar, associated with the morning star Venus, who has many epithets - the Lady of the Gods, the Queen of Kings, who was worshiped throughout the Mediterranean, was also considered the Mother of the Gods, the keeper of secret knowledge. The Egyptian goddess Isis was endowed with the same qualities. The ancient Persians, who accepted the teachings of Zoroaster, worshiped the Goddess of purity and purity, Anahita.
Slavic and Indian mythology have common Indo-Aryan roots, and this is especially noticeable in the culture national costume, where images of the goddess with palms outstretched forward are often found - a gesture of protection. It is not for nothing that in Ukraine one of the names of the goddess is Bereginya. On costumes this image is found in the form of stylized embroidery patterns and is called “Mokosh”. The goddess Mokosh among the Slavs is a spinner who spins endless yarn - the all-pervading energy of the universe. Archetypal ideas about the Goddess-spinner were preserved among the Sami, Finns, Lithuanians, and other peoples of the North.
One of the earliest images of the World Tree in Rus' from the time of Hyperborea is the petroglyph of Lake Onega. The drawing combines two universal symbols - the World Tree and the Swan sitting on it. The swan is an ancient symbol of the Goddess giving birth to the Cosmic Egg - the third cosmic symbol. Let us recall Russian folk tales or Pushkin’s tales “On the sea-ocean, on the island of Buyan, a green oak grows”, “At Lukomorye there is a green oak”, the Swan Princess, the egg where Koshchei’s source of life is kept, etc.
All the mysterious Eleusinian mysteries among the Athenians were associated with the cult of the Earth, collecting fruits, storing seeds, the art of agriculture and growing crops. This merged into a single sacred sacrament, personified by the Mother-Giving birth, who gives continuation to the family and preserves it. The Slavs also had gods responsible for the prosperity and offspring of all living things in nature and the multiplication of the human race. These are the Rod and Rozhanitsy, mentioned in ancient Russian literature. The clan sent the souls of people to Earth from heaven when children were born. The Goddesses of Birth are usually spoken of in the plural. Ancient manuscripts speak briefly about them, only mentioning bread, honey and “cheese” (previously this word meant cottage cheese), which were sacrificed to them. Due to the paucity of this information, some researchers of past years were accustomed to seeing in Rozhanitsy numerous, faceless female Deities who helped in various women’s concerns and work, as well as in the birth of children. However, modern scientists, having processed a large amount of archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic material, turning to information relating to neighboring peoples, came to the conclusion that there were two Rozhanits: Mother and Daughter.
The Slavs associated the Mother in Birth with the period of summer fertility, when the harvest ripens, becomes heavier, and becomes full. This is fully consistent with the image of mature motherhood: artists usually depict the fruitful Autumn as a middle-aged woman, kind and plump. This is a respectable mistress of the house, the mother of a large family. The ancient Slavs gave her the name Lada, which has many meanings. They all have to do with establishing order: “Getting along,” “getting along,” and so on. The order in this case was thought of primarily as a family one: “LADA”, “LADO” - an affectionate address to a beloved spouse, husband or wife. "LADINS" - wedding conspiracy. But Lada’s sphere of activity is by no means limited to the home. Some researchers recognize the Great Lada as the mother of the twelve months into which the year is divided. But the months, as we know, are associated with the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, which, according to astrological science, influence human destiny!. Thus, for example, Scorpio and Sagittarius are the property of not only foreign (non-Slavic) culture, as we are accustomed to believe. And Lada appears before us not just as the Goddess of summer, home comfort and motherhood, she is also connected with the universal cosmic law! So the Slavic religious cult was not so primitive.
Lada also had a daughter, a Goddess named Lelya, the youngest Rozhanitsa. Let’s think about it: it’s not for nothing that a baby’s cradle is often called a “cradle”, gentle, careful attitude the word “cherish” is used to refer to a child. A stork that supposedly brings children is called “leleka” in Ukrainian. And the child himself is sometimes affectionately called “lilya” even now. This is how the Slavic Lelya was born - the Goddess of tremulous spring sprouts, the first flowers, and young femininity. The Slavs believed that it was Lelya who took care of the barely hatched seedlings - the future harvest. Lelya-Vesna was solemnly “called out” - they invited her to visit, they went out to meet her with gifts and refreshments. And before that, they asked Lada’s Mother for permission: would she let her daughter go?
The holiday of Rozhanitsa was celebrated in the spring - April 22-23. On this day, sacrifices were made with vegetable and dairy products, which were solemnly, with prayers, eaten at a sacred feast, and then bonfires were burned all night long: a huge one, in honor of Lada, and around it twelve more smaller ones - according to the number of months of the year. According to tradition, it was a women's and girls' holiday. Guys, men looked at him from afar. So, having examined the pagan cults of some peoples, I concluded that the very concept of Woman - Mother was present among all peoples, moreover, in very similar forms and images, which also speaks of the common roots of all beliefs and myths in general.
Domostroy. Attitude towards a woman-mother in the Middle Ages.
Gender relations in Russia were, of course, greatly influenced by the ideology of Christianity. A kind of regulatory basis for the relationship between a man and a woman was “Domostroy,” which ordered a woman to obey her husband (father, brother) in everything. “Domostroy” lists in detail the responsibilities of women, which are based on tireless work in the family, and obedience to the husband, father, owner, and the responsibility of mothers for their children and housekeeping. But along with this, there is also a chapter that instructs the husband to honor his wife, instruct her and love her.
“If God gives a good wife, better than a precious stone; such a benefit will not leave, always good life will arrange for her husband. If a husband is blessed with a good wife, the number of days of his life will double, a good wife will delight her husband and fill his years with peace; Let a good wife be a reward for those who fear God, for a wife makes her husband more virtuous: firstly, having fulfilled God’s commandment, to be blessed by God, and secondly, to be glorified by people. A kind wife, and hardworking, and silent - a crown to her husband, if the husband has found his good wife - she only takes good things out of his house; blessed is the husband of such a wife and they will live their years in good peace. For a good wife, praise and honor to the husband.”
Domostroy drew a sharper line between men and women, and, accordingly, the attitude towards mothers changed. But one cannot think that it has sharply worsened: it has become a little different, requiring more strict adherence to certain Christian norms and rules. Mother and wife had to treat their husband with respect and their children with severity, raising them in piety. Some people think that with the advent of Christianity, the position of women worsened compared to the era of paganism. I don’t think so: there have always been domestic tyrants, no rules stopped them, so with the advent of the “Domostroy” era, such husbands simply found, so to speak, a compelling justification for their behavior. And yet, a woman has always been the mistress of the house, the keeper of the hearth and virtue in the family, a faithful helper and friend to her husband.
This attitude towards women has left its mark in Russian folklore: “God help the single man, and the mistress will help the married man,” “The family is at war, the lonely man grieves,” “Husband and wife are one soul.” There was a strict division of the roles of men and women, which developed over centuries. This is especially evident in work. The wife's activities do not extend beyond the family. The husband’s activities, on the contrary, are not limited to the family: he - public figure, and through him the family participates in the life of society. The woman was in charge, as they say, of the keys to the whole house, keeping records of hay, straw, and flour. All livestock and all domestic animals, except horses, were under the supervision of a woman. Under her vigilant supervision was everything related to feeding the family, taking care of linen and clothing repairs, weaving, baths, etc.
The owner, the head of the house and family, was, first of all, a mediator in the relations of the farmstead and land society, in the relations of the family with the authorities. He was in charge of the main agricultural work, plowing, sowing, as well as construction, logging and firewood. Together with his adult sons, he bore the entire physical burden of peasant labor on his shoulders.
Only when there was great need did a woman, usually a widow, take up an ax, and a man (also most often a widower) sat down with a milk pan under the cow.
From childhood, boys were taught male wisdom, and girls - female wisdom. There was no patriarchal pedantry in the relationships between boys and girls. From adolescence, acquaintances and hobbies changed, young people seemed to “get used to” each other, looking for a mate according to their soul and character. Evidence of spiritual freedom and spiritual looseness in the relationships of young people is the many love songs and ditties in which the female side does not at all look passive and dependent. Parents and elders were not strict with the behavior of young people, but only before the wedding. But even before marriage, freedom of relationships did not at all mean sexual freedom. There were very clear boundaries of what was permitted, and they were violated very rarely. Both sides, male and female, tried to maintain chastity.
But still, a woman was perceived as an “addition” to a man, and not as an independent, full-fledged person. The existing family was strictly patriarchal.
The image of a woman-mother in Russian XIX literature century.
After the 17th century, attitudes towards women and mothers in society gradually changed, with other values and priorities coming to the fore. This can be seen in the number and themes of works by writers of that time. Very few write about mothers, praising their hard work; most of those who write talk about the severity and complexity of a mother’s life, about her difficult fate. This is, for example, Nekrasov. The images of Arina, the soldier’s mother, Matryona Timofeevna from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” glorified the difficult fate of the Russian peasant woman. Sergei Yesenin dedicated touching lines of poetry to his mother. In Maxim Gorky’s novel “Mother,” Pelageya Nilovna becomes an assistant to her Bolshevik son, and consciousness awakens in her.
But Leo Tolstoy thought about this topic most of all in his novel War and Peace. His Natasha Rostova is the image of motherhood that has been absent from Russian literature for so long. Natasha passionately dreams of a husband and children. Even in her early youth, she felt how unequal the rights and opportunities of women in her circle were compared to the opportunities and rights of men, how narrowly a woman’s life was squeezed. Only in the family, taking part in her husband’s activities, raising children, can she find an application for her strengths. This is her calling, in this she sees her life’s duty, a feat, and with all her soul she strives to fulfill it.
In the person of Pierre Bezukhov, fate gave her the person who was the only one who could understand and appreciate her. At the end of the novel, fate gives her what she always considered herself destined for - a husband, family, children. This is happiness, and it, like love for Pierre, absorbs her completely. It couldn't be any other way. It always seems strange to me when, after reading War and Peace, someone says that Natasha in the epilogue of the novel, immersed in caring for children, in diapers and feeding, jealous of her husband, giving up singing, is a completely different Natasha. But in fact, Natasha was always the same, or rather, her essence was the same - tender, honest, thirsty for the feat of love. We part with our beloved heroine in 1820 on the eve of Nikolai's day, the name day of Nikolai Rostov. The whole family is assembled, everyone is alive, healthy, happy and relatively young. All's well that ends well? But nothing ends even for these people - and, most importantly, the contradiction of life, its struggle, does not end with these characters. The contradiction and struggle are resolved not by the outcome (any of which is always only partial and temporary), not by the plot ending, not by the denouement of the novel. Although in the epilogue there are marriages and families, Tolstoy was still right when he declared that he was unable to set certain “boundaries” to the development of action and his “fictitious persons” with this classic literary denouement. Marriages in the finale of War and Peace, if there is a definite result of the relationship between individuals, then this result is inconclusive and conditional; it did not destroy the “interest of the narrative” in Tolstoy’s book. This emphasizes the relativity of the outcome itself in the process of life and the idea of the outcome as an attitude to life, a point of view on it. The epilogue rounds off and immediately refutes any kind of rounding of life - individual person or even more so the life of everyone.
The current state of affairs.
Significant changes in the status of women occurred in many countries of the world already in the 20th century, largely under the influence of the Great October Revolution. Among the first decrees of the Soviet government were those issued in December 1917: the Decree on civil marriage, children and keeping books, as well as the Decree on divorce. These decrees abolished the laws in force before the revolution that placed women in an unequal position with men in the family, in relation to children, in rights to property, in divorce, and even in choosing a place of residence. After the October Revolution, women in Russia for the first time acquired the right to freely choose a profession and receive an education. Equality of women with men in political, civil rights was enshrined in the first Soviet constitution. And now, when the participation of women in the socio-political life of developed countries has become a common phenomenon, it is worth remembering that Soviet Russia was in the top five countries in the world that gave women the right to vote and be elected to representative bodies countries. At different stages of development of the Country of Soviets, specific issues related to the participation of women in government and public life, protection of motherhood and childhood, women’s labor activity, increasing their general educational and professional level, and others were solved primarily as state tasks.
By 1920 Soviet power faced complex socio-demographic and socio-medical problems (disorganization of family and marital relations, an increase in the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions, the spread of prostitution, etc.). Unable to cope with them in a civilized way, the authorities turned to repressive measures (recriminalization of homosexuality, restriction of freedom of divorce, ban on abortion). The ideological justification for this policy was Bolshevik sexophobia (“we don’t have sex”). But the goal - strengthening the family and increasing the birth rate - was not achieved. The constitutional establishment of equal rights for women and men was a social achievement of socialism. Unfortunately, in this area, as in other areas of social, political and social life, between the human rights proclaimed in the Constitution of the USSR and their implementation, between word and deed, there was a very significant gap that grew over time. As for the issue of equal rights for men and women, stagnation and lack of progress have actually even led to a certain rollback.
Gender relations found themselves, like other areas of human life, under the control of the state.
The sexual revolution occurred in Russia much later than in other countries - in the early 1990s. In the 90s, and even today in Russia, there was a “striking inequality of chances for women”, a “clear imbalance” in the social positions and opportunities of men and women. It is impossible not to notice that in the late 90s, just as in the late 80s, it was considered “bad form” to talk about the social needs of women, about their political needs and career aspirations. But, as we see, women are moving further and further in “conquering living space.” Thus, the further development of relations between men and women presupposes recognition by society of their equality, equivalence and equal rights.
Although one cannot help but see how low the Mother’s authority has fallen, how people feel about the very thought of a second, not to mention a third, child. I, like many caring people, hope that with changes in demographic policy, the very attitude towards mothers will change. A shift is already noticeable, very weak, but a shift. I think with great hope of a time when people will respect mothers no less than, say, the president or famous actors.
Mom is the first word
The main word in every destiny.
Mom gave life
She gave the world to you and me.
Song from the film “Mama”
There is probably not a single country where Mother's Day is not celebrated.
In Russia, Mother's Day began to be celebrated relatively recently - since 1998.
Among the many holidays celebrated in our country, Mother's Day occupies a special place. This is a holiday to which no one can remain indifferent. On this day I would like to say words of gratitude to all Mothers who give their children love, kindness, tenderness and affection.
Every minute a miracle happens on the planet. This is a miracle - the birth of a child, the birth of a new person. When a little man is born, then, of course, he does not understand anything and knows practically nothing. Why practically? Yes, because the baby knows for sure that his mother, the dearest and closest person, should be somewhere nearby. Yes, yes, mother and child are inextricably linked with each other and this connection begins in the womb. “Mom” is the most sacred word in the world. Love for a mother is inherent in nature itself. This feeling lives in a person until the end of his days. How can you not love your mother if you owe your birth to her? The place of a mother is always special, exceptional in our lives. The most important shrines of our life are named after our mother.
Throughout the history of mankind, the image of the Mother of God has been glorified. Artists and sculptors, poets and composers dedicate their creations to the Mother of God. The image of the mother has been so ancient and organically inherent in Russian literature that it seems possible to consider it as a special literary phenomenon, which has deep roots and occupies an important place in both classical and modern literature. Taking its source from the very birth of Russian literature, the image of the mother consistently passes through all stages of its development, but even in the literature of the 20th century it retains its main features that were characteristic of it from the beginning. The Russian image of the mother is a national cultural symbol that has not lost its high value from ancient times to the present day. It is no coincidence that when speaking about the national Russian cosmos, Russian consciousness, the Russian model of the world, philosophers and cultural scientists spoke, first of all, about the “maternal” in the foundation of Russian. Mother Earth, Mother Russia, the Mother of God are the most important and highest aspects of this maternal. The image of the mother, already in oral folk art, acquired the captivating features of a keeper of the hearth, a hard-working and faithful wife, a protector of her own children and an invariable caretaker for all the disadvantaged, insulted and offended. These defining qualities of the mother’s soul are reflected and sung even in Russian folk tales and folk songs.
It is this holiday in Central City Library The exhibition is dedicated to The image of the mother in Russian literature."
The following books are presented at the exhibition: 
** Collection of poems “Mother”- a kind of anthology of Russian and Soviet poetry, dedicated to a topic dear and close to every person - the theme of the mother. The collection includes best works poets created over almost three centuries.
** Collection “Mom”, which contains works dedicated to the mother. You will feel the reverent love and boundless gratitude that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had for his mother; You will find out what a tender and courageous mother Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya was. The lines of Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, Nikolai Nekrasov, the heartfelt words of Alexander Fadeev and Alexander Tvardovsky help us better understand and appreciate our mothers.
** Collection of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, in which the image of a woman - mother is clearly presented in many of his works: “The village suffering is in full swing”, “Orina, the soldier’s mother”, “Hearing the horrors of war”, the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”.
** Collection of the great Russian poet S. A. Yesenin, who created surprisingly sincere poems about his peasant mother.
** Poem "Requiem" by A.A. Akhmatova.
** Vasily Grossman's novel “Life and Fate”
** “Mother of Man” by Vitaly Zakrutkin- a heroic poem about the unparalleled courage, perseverance and humanity of a Russian woman - a mother.
At the exhibition, readers will be able to get acquainted with other works of Russian and Soviet writers and poets.
The exhibition is on display in the Central City Hospital's subscription hall until the end of November 2014.
Mom is the first word
The main word in every destiny.
Mom gave life
She gave the world to you and me.
Song from the film “Mama”
There is probably not a single country where Mother's Day is not celebrated.
In Russia, Mother's Day began to be celebrated relatively recently - since 1998.
Among the many holidays celebrated in our country, Mother's Day occupies a special place. This is a holiday to which no one can remain indifferent. On this day I would like to say words of gratitude to all Mothers who give their children love, kindness, tenderness and affection.
Every minute a miracle happens on the planet. This is a miracle - the birth of a child, the birth of a new person. When a little man is born, then, of course, he does not understand anything and knows practically nothing. Why practically? Yes, because the baby knows for sure that his mother, the dearest and closest person, should be somewhere nearby. Yes, yes, mother and child are inextricably linked with each other and this connection begins in the womb. “Mom” is the most sacred word in the world. Love for a mother is inherent in nature itself. This feeling lives in a person until the end of his days. How can you not love your mother if you owe your birth to her? The place of a mother is always special, exceptional in our lives. The most important shrines of our life are named after our mother.
Throughout the history of mankind, the image of the Mother of God has been glorified. Artists and sculptors, poets and composers dedicate their creations to the Mother of God. The image of the mother has been so ancient and organically inherent in Russian literature that it seems possible to consider it as a special literary phenomenon that has deep roots and occupies an important place in both classical and modern literature. Taking its source from the very birth of Russian literature, the image of the mother consistently passes through all stages of its development, but even in the literature of the 20th century it retains its main features that were characteristic of it from the beginning. The Russian image of the mother is a national cultural symbol that has not lost its high meaning from ancient times to the present day. It is no coincidence that when speaking about the national Russian cosmos, Russian consciousness, the Russian model of the world, philosophers and cultural scientists spoke, first of all, about the “maternal” in the foundation of Russian. Mother Earth, Mother Russia, the Mother of God are the most important and highest aspects of this maternal. The image of the mother, already in oral folk art, acquired the captivating features of a keeper of the hearth, a hard-working and faithful wife, a protector of her own children and an invariable caretaker for all the disadvantaged, insulted and offended. These defining qualities of the mother's soul are reflected and sung in Russian folk tales and folk songs.
It is this holiday in Central City Library The exhibition is dedicated to The image of the mother in Russian literature."
The following books are presented at the exhibition:
** Collection of poems “Mother”- a kind of anthology of Russian and Soviet poetry, dedicated to a topic dear and close to every person - the theme of the mother. The collection includes the best works of poets created over almost three centuries.
** Collection “Mom”, which contains works dedicated to the mother. You will feel the reverent love and boundless gratitude that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had for his mother; You will find out what a tender and courageous mother Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya was. The lines of Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, Nikolai Nekrasov, the heartfelt words of Alexander Fadeev and Alexander Tvardovsky help us better understand and appreciate our mothers.
** Collection of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, in which the image of a woman - mother is clearly presented in many of his works: “The village suffering is in full swing”, “Orina, the soldier’s mother”, “Hearing the horrors of war”, the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”.
** Collection of the great Russian poet S. A. Yesenin, who created surprisingly sincere poems about his peasant mother.
** Poem "Requiem" by A.A. Akhmatova.
** Vasily Grossman's novel “Life and Fate”
** “Mother of Man” by Vitaly Zakrutkin- a heroic poem about the unparalleled courage, perseverance and humanity of a Russian woman - a mother.
At the exhibition, readers will be able to get acquainted with other works of Russian and Soviet writers and poets.
The exhibition is on display in the Central City Hospital's subscription hall until the end of November 2014.
Love
mothers...
Russian poetry is great and diverse, and during its development and existence it has managed to absorb and accommodate all the storms of social upheavals and transformations. Its civil and social resonance and significance are undeniable. At the same time, she always knew how to capture and express the subtlest and most intimate movements of the human soul; and in harsh times, rising to the alarm thunder, poetry did not break off its pure and subtle melody of a loving heart; it revealed and strengthened global philosophical truths and shook hitherto existing ideas about the world order.
From this great sea, which seems to reflect all the abysses, you can draw endlessly - and it will not become shallow forever. It is no coincidence that we publish voluminous collections and entire volumes of poems about camaraderie and friendship, love and nature, soldier’s courage and the Motherland. Any of these themes deserved and received their full and worthy embodiment in the deep and original works of masters of poetry.
But there is another holy page in our poetry, dear and close to any unhardened heart, any unlost soul that has not forgotten or renounced its origins - this is poetry about the mother.
Gamzanov wrote, bowing to his mother:
Everyone stand up and listen while standing,
Preserved in all its glory
This word is ancient, holy!
Straighten up! Get up! Stand up everyone!
This word will never deceive you,
There is a life hidden in it,
It is the source of everything. There is no end to it.
Stand up, I say it: mom!..
Mother! How capacious, how beautiful this word is! Maxim Gorky wrote: “Without the sun, flowers do not bloom, without love there is no happiness, without a woman there is no love, without a mother there is neither a poet nor a hero, all the pride of the world comes from Mothers!”
What could be more sacred in the world than a mother!..
From the first day of a child’s life, the mother lives by his breath, his tears and smiles. A man who has not yet taken a single step on the earth and is just beginning to babble, hesitantly and diligently puts together “ma-ma” syllable by syllable and, feeling his luck, seeing a joyful mother, laughs, happy...
The sun warms all living things, and mother's love warms the baby's life. Mom has the kindest and most affectionate heart. I recall lines from a poem by L. Nikolaenko:
I love you, mom, for what, I don’t know
Probably because I live and dream,
And I rejoice in the sun and the bright day.
This is why I love you, dear...
All the most precious shrines are named and illuminated by the name of the mother, because the very concept of life is associated with this name.
Happy is the one who has known maternal affection since childhood and grew up under the caring warmth and light of a mother’s gaze; and to death he suffers and is tormented, having lost in his early years the most precious being in the world - his mother; and even when he ends his seemingly well-lived life, he cannot, without tears and bitterness, remember this unhealed pain, this terrible damage that his merciless fate has burdened him with.
It is no coincidence that we respond with all our hearts to the poetry of G. Lysenko, a poet from Vladivostok, whose biography is easily discernible behind the lines of his poems: homeless post-war childhood, cloudless youth... The poet wrote a poem dedicated to the memory of his mother:
Hand casting a fresh throne:
It's still warm. Another one I remember is copper.
Before her death, the mother throws the icon into the oven -
Then I wouldn’t dare to do this either.
Then the night seemed long to me too.
Mother died.
I am naive with audacity
He blamed everything not on God, but on the doctors.
Kazin showed his incomprehensible bitterness and loss in the final lines of the poem “On the Mother’s Grave”:
Both grief and bewilderment are oppressive,
It stuck like a nail in my being,
I’m standing - your living continuation,
A beginning that has lost its own.
We look with respect and gratitude at a man who reverently pronounces his mother’s name to the point of gray hair and respectfully protects her old age; and with contempt - who forgot about the woman who gave birth and raised him, and in the bitter time of old age turned away from her, denied her a good memory, a piece or shelter. The poem by the poet A. Remizova about feelings for her mother “Take care of mothers” will be very relevant for such people:
Please, take care of your mothers,
Protect with warmth from the blizzard of life,
Their love is a hundred times hotter,
Than friends and beloved girlfriend.
Mother will take your pain upon herself,
All the torment, confusion and torment,
Mother will put bread and salt on the road
And he will stretch out his hands towards you...
In printed literature, which was initially the preserve of only representatives of the upper classes, the image of the mother remained in the shadows for a long time. Perhaps the reason for this phenomenon is simple and natural: after all, then, noble children, as a rule, were not only given tutors for their education, but also fed, and the children of the noble class, unlike the children of the peasant class, were artificially removed from their mother and were fed with the milk of other women; therefore, there was a dulling of filial feelings, albeit not fully conscious, which could not, ultimately, not affect the work of future poets.
It is no coincidence that he did not write a single poem about his parent and so many lovely poetic dedications to his nanny Arina Rodionovna, whom the poet often affectionately and carefully called “mummy.”
We all know Pushkin’s favorite lines:
Friend of my harsh days,
My decrepit dove!
Alone in the wilderness of pine forests
For a long, long time you have been waiting for me...
And indeed, nothing human was alien to Alexander Sergeevich. In these lines we hear his living voice, the overflow of the poet’s living feelings.
The theme of the mother sounded truly deeply and powerfully in democratic poetry. Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov created a surprisingly complete and capacious image of a peasant woman-mother. Suffice it to recall his poems “...There are women in Russian villages”, “The village suffering is in full swing”, “Orina, the soldier’s mother”, “A Knight for an Hour”, the epic poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”.
The image of a mother, already in oral folk poetry, acquired the captivating features of a keeper of the hearth, a hard-working and faithful wife, a protector of her own children and an invariable caretaker for all the disadvantaged, insulted and offended. He continued this theme in his work. In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the poet described the love for the children of the peasant woman Matryona Timofeevna. Demushka's death was a terrible tragedy for her mother. All the hardships of a hard peasant life and the death of a child still cannot break Matryona Timofeevna. Time passes, she has children every year, and she continues to live, raise her children, and do hard work. Matryona Timofeevna ready to do anything to protect her beloved children. This is evidenced by the episode when they wanted to punish her son Fedot for an offense. Matryona throws herself at the feet of a passing landowner so that he can help save the boy from punishment. And the landowner ordered:
Helping a minor
Out of youth, out of stupidity
Forgive... but the woman is impudent
Approximately punish!
Why did Matryona Timofeevna suffer punishment? For his boundless love for children, for his willingness to sacrifice himself for them.
Nekrasov’s traditions were promptly picked up and widely and fully developed not only by such poets as I. Surikov, I. Nikitin, but in the course of further literary process and later authors. Of these, first of all, the name of Sergei Yesenin should be mentioned, who created surprisingly sincere and emotional poems about his mother, a peasant woman by birth and occupation, therefore in some ways continuing a gallery of Nekrasov’s images.
One of S. Yesenin’s poems “Letter to a Mother” is addressed to the closest person on Earth and begins with the address:
Are you still alive, my old lady?
I'm alive too. Hello, hello!
Let it flow over your hut
That evening unspeakable light...
... That you often go on the road
In an old-fashioned, shabby shushun.
The image of the poem expresses the motive of the meeting. From Yesenin’s lines:
They write to me that you, harboring anxiety,
She was very sad about me,
you can find out that Yesenin’s mother is alive and anxiously awaiting a meeting with her son.
In difficult moments of his life, his heart reached out to his parents' hearth. Many Russian poets have written about mothers more than once, but it seems to me that Yesenin’s poems can be called the most touching declarations of love to a “sweet, dear old lady.” His lines are full of piercing cordiality.
Peaceful labor, procreation, the unity of man with nature - these are the ideals by which history should be oriented. Any deviation from this life that has been established for centuries threatens with unpredictable consequences, leads to tragedy, and misfortune.
The name of this misfortune is war. The joy of life is darkened by memories of those killed and not returned. And no matter how many simple-haired mothers run out into the alleys and look from under their palms, they won’t wait for those dear to their hearts! No matter how many tears stream from swollen and faded eyes, it will not wash away the melancholy! It is about such aged people, bent to the ground from the constant maternal grief, that many poems have been written by the poets A. Tvardovsky, Y. Smelyakov, D. Blynsky, O. Berggolts, M. Maksimov, A. Dementiev...
It is impossible without inner awe and deep complicity to read the lines filled with high meaning from Nekrasov’s poem “Hearing the Horrors of War” about the holy, sincere tears of mothers:
...Holy, sincere tears -
Those are the tears of poor mothers!
They will not forget their children,
Those who died in the bloody field,
How not to pick up a weeping willow
Its drooping branches...
This theme is continued by A. Nedogonov in the poem “Mother’s Tears”, despite the fact that his son returned from the war:
...The fifth snow began to swirl and covered the road
Over the bones of the enemy near the Mozhaisk birch.
The gray-haired son returned to his native threshold...
Mother's tears, mother's tears!..
A different era dictated its motives. The image of the mother began to look even more tragic against the backdrop of the great and terrible in its cruelty last war. Who suffered more than a mother at this time? She lost her sons at the front, survived the occupation and was left with small children in her arms without bread and shelter, she worked until exhaustion in the workshops and fields and, helping the Fatherland with all her might to survive, shared the last piece with the front. She endured and overcame everything, and therefore, in our minds, the concepts of “homeland” and “mother” have long merged together.
The beautiful, brave image of the mother-heroine is described in the poem “Mother”:
... And herself, like a mother bird, towards -
Withdraw the enemy for a short period of time.
And one grabbed her by the shoulders,
And the other one tore off her scarf.
But what fire was still hidden?
In this weak, dried-out chest!
She grinned, looking at the soldier:
Did you deal with the old woman? Lead! –
They led me, dragged me to torment
For love and honor to answer.
They twisted her, tied her hands -
Hands that have worked for so many years.
That they cooked food, cut rye,
What miles of cloth have been woven,
That they raised sons-heroes, -
Far away sons. There is war all around...
They beat me, but they didn’t kill me. Like a dog
They left. I woke up from the dew.
That's okay. You can at least cry
So that the dogs don't see your tears...
The image of the mother has always carried the features of drama and even tragedy and almost always, and above all, sounded social: if the mother, the most sacred creature on earth, feels bad, then can we talk about the justice of the world?
It is impossible to remain indifferent to the poem "Requiem".
An unfamiliar woman, just like someone standing in prison lines in Leningrad, asked her to describe all the horrors of the Yezhovshchina. And Anna Andreevna responded. And it couldn’t be otherwise, because as she herself says:
I was then with my people,
Where my people, unfortunately, were...
Repression fell not only on friends, but also on Akhmatova’s family: her son, Lev Gumilyov, was arrested and exiled, and then her husband, and earlier, in 1921, her first husband, Yev, was shot.
Husband in the grave, son in prison,
Pray for me... -
she writes in “Requiem”, and in these lines one can hear the prayer of an unfortunate woman who has lost her loved ones.
Before us passes the fate of a mother and son, whose images are correlated with gospel symbolism. We see either a simple woman whose husband is arrested at night, or a biblical Mother whose Son was crucified. Here before us is a simple Russian woman, in whose memory the crying of children, the melting candle at the shrine, the mortal sweat on the face of a loved one who is being taken away at dawn will forever remain. She will cry for him just as the Streltsy wives once cried under the walls of the Kremlin. Then suddenly we see the image of a mother, so similar to Anna Akhmatova herself, who cannot believe that everything is happening to her - the “mockery”, “darling”... Could she ever have thought that she would be three hundredth in line at Kresty . And now her whole life is in these queues:
I've been screaming for seventeen months,
I'm calling you home
I threw myself at the feet of the executioner,
You are my son and my horror...
It is impossible to discern who is the “beast” and who is the “man,” because innocent people are being arrested, and all the mother’s thoughts involuntarily turn to death.
And then the sentence sounds - “the word of stone”, and you have to kill the memory, petrify the soul and learn to live again. And the mother thinks about death again, only now - her own. She seems to be her salvation, and it doesn’t matter what form she takes: “a poisoned shell,” “a weight,” “a typhus child,” the main thing is that she will save her from suffering and spiritual emptiness. These sufferings are comparable only to the suffering of the Mother of Jesus, who also lost her son.
But the mother understands that this is only madness, because death will not allow you to take with you:
Nor the son's terrible eyes -
Petrified suffering
Not the day when the thunderstorm came,
Not an hour of prison visiting...
This means that we must live in order to name those who died in Stalin’s dungeons, to remember always and everywhere who stood “both in the bitter cold and in the July heat under the blinding red wall.”
There is a poem in the poem called "The Crucifixion". It describes last minutes the life of Jesus, his appeal to his mother and father. There is a misunderstanding of what is happening, and the realization comes that everything that is happening is senseless and unfair, because there is nothing worse than the death of an innocent person and the grief of a mother who has lost her son.
In the poem, A. Akhmatova showed her involvement in the fate of the country. The famous prose writer B. Zaitsev, after reading “Requiem,” said: “Could it be imagined that this fragile and thin woman would utter such a cry - feminine, maternal, a cry not only for herself, but also for all those who suffer - wives, mothers, brides , in general, about all those crucified?” And it is impossible for the lyrical heroine to forget the mothers who suddenly turned gray, the howl of the old woman who lost her son and not embody their images in the poem. And the poem “Requiem” sounds like a memorial prayer for all those who died in the terrible time of repression.
How stingy and tragic this sounds, how simple and close everything is to our time. And again, the crimson reflections of recent fires instantly come to life in the blood, deadly shells howl and rumble, screams of horror and powerless groans are heard. And above all this torn and torn world, the bent figure of the mother rises in silent grief.
In 2005, Mila Lysenko wrote another “Requiem for the boys of the 131st Maikop brigade” for the sad date of January 2, 1995, when our lives exploded along with the explosions of the first shells in Grozny. Her son fought in this war. The mother recalls: “Yes, these shells not only tore apart the lives of our boys who served in the Maikop 131st motorized rifle brigade, they tore apart the lives of hundreds, thousands of families. Those who died and those who are alive - we must always remember this...” This is how Mila describes the image of her mother, love for her son, memory for children in “Requiem for the boys of the 131st Maikop brigade”:
...The asphalt is covered in blood, huge rubble...
The cars are burning, the flames are like daylight!
And at home mothers watch TV,
Praying to fate: “If only not about him!”
I read a telegram at the post office,
She suddenly lost consciousness
And this is the son, preserving the health of his mother -
He didn’t tell her where he went then.
And this mother, not believing her dreams,
She waited, and mentally shielded herself from the bullet,
Losing strength, she wove an alu shawl,
As if she were protecting her son.
And she protected him and found him,
When your strength is running out,
In a distant city, he lay shell-shocked,
And yet he’s alive, thin, but he walks and walks!
But how many of them are there who, having waited,
Let's go look for our own boys!
For many months we walked around the yards,
As they asked questions, they cried more and more quietly.
Then we recognized them with great difficulty
Out of thousands of the same burnt,
Then they were buried by the whole regiment,
Playing music on raw nerves.
And coming here for the tenth time
We want to say, shedding tears:
Dear ones, you are all alive for us,
And you will be alive for years, years!..
Even in the most seemingly calm times, an ominous fate hung and disturbed the mother, so the Russian mother from distant centuries bears the mark of an eternal sufferer. Prosperous people, carefreely basking in their happiness, rarely rise to the level of understanding the suffering of their neighbor; Maybe that’s why the mother in our literature, who has had her share of dashing, is most often a compassionate person, capable of understanding and comforting the neglected and neglected, supporting the weak and instilling faith in the disillusioned. The power of maternal feeling is clearly and succinctly said in L. Tatyanicheva’s poem “Sons”:
They tell me it's too much
I give love to children
What maternal anxiety
Aging my life before its time.
Well, what can I answer them -
As impassive as armor?
The love I gave to my children
Makes me stronger...
But, acquiring the features of a symbol and fulfilling a huge social mission, the mother never lost her usual human features, remaining a hospitable hostess and an intelligent interlocutor, a diligent worker and a natural singer, broad in the feast and courageous in grief, open in joy and restrained in sadness, and always kind, understanding and feminine.
Motherhood itself is a whole world.
Summarizing all of the above, bowing to the poets who skillfully, sincerely, and lovingly described the image of the mother, I will try to create literary portrait in a few lines of a prose poem of his own composition: “You are like this in my thoughts! Heavenly blue is light and clear. In the transparency of deep colors of inexplicable purity, with eyes of blue dreams, you stopped, raising your child so that it could look at the path leading to the grove in the radiant fog. And on your face there is peace and grace - your two companions and every mother who is ready to suffer and wait for the child - to her, the first to her, to pronounce her word that is about to be born.
How could one not be proud of her, one of the mothers, of the initial seed of a huge life that she allowed to be born - like every mother in the world who gives childhood to the world, neglecting her torment. So the sun gives the world at dawn its first ray, the baby of a new earthly day. And anyone who can weigh a grain of sand on his hand, invisible in the sand, is able to feel the entire weight of the planet. So a mother, lifting her child, holds the whole Earth. And that’s the only reason why we can call her a saint.”
Essentially, the image of a mother in Russian poetry has become a kind of standard of female virtues. The generous imagination of poets depicts us with an almost flawless creature, but the tongue does not dare to say that such a predilection sometimes inevitably leads to idealization: after all, the mother really was and remains an extraordinary person!
Mother!.. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most profound and harmonious creations of Russian poetry!
Literature
1. “Everyone stand up and listen while standing...” // Mom. Poems by Russian poets about mother. – M.: Young Guard, 1980.- p. 39
2. Gorky about Italy. – M.: Fiction, 1973.- p.59
3. “I love you, mom...” // Mom. Poems by Russian poets about mother. – M.: Young Guard, 1980.- p. 39
4. Hand casting a fresh throne // Roof over your head.- V.: Far Eastern Book Publishing House, 1979.- p. 10
5. At the mother’s grave // Mom. Poems by Russian poets about mother. – M.: Young Guard, 1980.- p. 107
6. Take care of mothers // Scientific and methodological journal “Class Teacher”, 2004 No. 3.- p. 110
7. Pushkin // Pushkin. – M.: Children's literature, 1978. – p. 174
8. Nekrasov lives well in Rus' // Nekrasov. – T.3.- M.: Pravda, 1954. – p. 83-96
9. Yesenin’s mother // Yesenin. – M.: Fiction, 1985.- p. 76
10. “Hearing the horrors of war...” // Nekrasov’s works. In 2 volumes. T. 1.- M.: Fiction, 1966. – p.110
11. Mother's tears // Mom. Poems by Russian poets about mother. – M.: Young Guard, 1980.- p. 53
12. Tvardovsky // Tvardovsky. – M.: Children's literature, 1985. – p.18
13. Akhmatova // Akhmatova and poems.- M.: Young Guard, 1989.- p. 147-157
14. Sons // Mom. Poems by Russian poets about mother. – M.: Young Guard, 1980.- p. 39
15. You are like this in my thoughts. Poem in prose // The image of a mother in poetry. - D.: 2008
Appendix to the work “The Image of the Mother in Poetry”
Creative work of a second year student of group No. 82
by profession "Cook, confectioner"
Valuyskaya Anastasia Sergeevna
“Image of the mother” (6 drawings)
