Biography Zhukovsky Vasily Andreevich

/> After the death of Bunin (1791), the grandmother (MG Bunina) took care of the growing Zhukovsky, who shared them with the poet’s mother. However, the gradual realization of the material dependence on the Bunins and the instability of their situation in their family became for Zhukovsky a source of deep inner feelings reflected in the early diary entries. In 1797 he was appointed to the Noble University Boarding School (Moscow).
Staying in a boarding house (1797- 1800) is the most important period of the creative formation of the future poet. Zhukovsky became one of the active participants in the “Meeting of the Inmates of the University Noble Boarding School” and the almanac “Morning Dawn”, produced by him. The first printed work of Zhukovsky is a lyrical poem “May morning”. His boarding compositions are for the most part imitative solemn odes “in case” or speech, intended for annual boarding acts and speeches in the “Meeting of the Inmates…” (“The Might, Glory and Welfare of Russia”, 1799, Mir, 1800; speech “On the beginning of society, the dissemination of education and the duties of each person in relation to society”, 1799), or poems and prosaic passages on themes of a moral, ethical and patriotic character set by the mentors [“The prosperity of Russia, organized by its great autocrat Pavel the First”, 1797; “Virtue” (“Under the starry shelter of a quiet night”), 1798; “Virtue” (“From the light of lights a ray was born”), 1798; “To Hope,” 1800, and others]. Zhukovsky, however, also perceives new literary and aesthetic trends connected with sentimentalism and pre-romanticism. One of the best students, Zhukovsky graduated from a boarding school with a silver medal in 1800. In early 1801, together with A. Turgenev, A. F. Voeikov, A. F. Merzlyakov, S. E. Rodzianko and others organized a friendly literary society that existed for a short time ( January – November 1801),
In 1804-1806 the poet translated the Florianovian adaptation of Cervantes’ novel “Don Quixote”, which helped familiarize the domestic reader with the repertoire of world classics. In 1801, Zhukovsky joined the “city secretary” in the Moscow Main Salt Office. Zhukovsky’s indifference to the “post,” and even more to the extent of his employment in literature, caused the “displeasure” of the chief, who concluded the negligent subordinate under “arrest”, which for a long time disgusted him from further attempts to determine himself for service. Immediately after his release from the “arrest” Zhukovsky resigned and went to Mishenskoye with the firm intention of fully devoting himself to literary activity.
1802-1807 the poet spent in his native land, only occasionally driving to Moscow to arrange his literary affairs (remittances earnings) and meetings with Moscow writers and friends. During these years I was intensively engaged in self-education. These years are characterized by a variety of genre searches: preserving the traditional genre forms, including the ode (“To poetry”, 1805), Zhukovsky “tests” himself in the genres of the military-patriotic anthem (“The Song of the Bard over the Coffin of the Slavic Winners”, 1806), fables (translations from Florian, Lafontaine, Lessing, Pfeffel, as well as original fables) and even a “descriptive” poem (plans for “Spring”). However, in the center of his search – elegy. With elegy “Rural Cemetery”, which, according to Zhukovsky’s own definition, became the beginning of his independent literary activity, to the young writer comes literary fame and reader success. Elegy affirms the high value of a person, independent of his class membership. Reflections on death lead the poet to the assertion of being, of his high meaning and beauty. The multidimensionality of the artistic vision of the world, the apparent tangibility of poetic images, the richness of the sound harmony of verse, the sophistication of its melodic design, the variety of rhythmics-these features of the poetic talent of Zhukovsky, first manifested in the Rural Cemetery, are developed in the elegance “Evening” (1806).
“Evening” marked the transition of the poet to romanticism. Gradually, elegy receives Zhukovsky’s more distinctive features of the genre of the national Russian, and the text is saturated with acute social (and even political) content (such, for example, the elegy “To the death of Field Marshal Count Kamensky,” 1809, developing the idea of ​​the inevitability of fate, the inevitability of retribution for what was done; The reason for its writing was the murder of M. F. Kamensky, cruel to serfs and disgraced himself in the Prut campaign 1807). In the future, Zhukovsky resorts to elegy in the turning points of creative evolution, meaning important events of inner life [Slavyanka, 1815; “The color of the covenant”, 1819; The Sea, 1822; “I’m a muse young, happened”, 1822 or 1824].
The most important milestone in the creative biography of Zhukovsky is the year 1806, marked by a “lyrical explosion”, the creation of about 50 poems of various genres: the ode and the heroine (“Eloise’s Epistle to Abelard,” a translation from A. Pop), inscriptions to a portrait and a number of original romantic songs a special genre of love lyrics, very popular among romantics, who sought to return the song to its folklore element). It was this year marked one of the first songs of Zhukovsky, inspired not so much by the litas. (in the future – Moyer, 1793-1823) – “Song”: “When I was loved, in ecstasy, in enjoyment” .
A special stage of the literary activity of the poet is participation in the “Vesnike Evropy” magazine, the best Russian journal of the first decade of the 19th century. Becoming the editor of the magazine (1808-1809), he contributed to the penetration on his pages of works in a “new” (that is, romantic) spirit. In 1808-1810 Zhukovsky lived mainly in Moscow, only during the summer time leaving for his native places Orel and Tula provinces. He wrote extremely critical articles in critical articles, where the journal’s position was thoroughly substantiated: as a new understanding of purely literary and aesthetic tasks, and the public, civic and socio-political purpose of the journal, the need to go “level” with European enlightenment. The cycle of his critical sketches about writers is gaining wide programmatic significance.
However, the interest in the translation, predominantly prose, predominates in Zhukovsky’s literary pursuits. By the time of the active participation of the poet in the “Messenger of Europe” are also his own prosaic experiments, largely due to the search for new forms of nationality for Russian literature: the fairy tale “Three Belts” (1808), the “ancient legend” “Marina Grove” (1809) and the historical the novel “Vadim of Novgorod” (1803).
In 1808-1814 Zhukovsky wrote 13 ballads, including free translations: “Lyudmila” (1808), “Kassandra” (1809), “Desert” (1813), “Adelstan” (1813), “Ivikov Cranes” (1814) , “Warwick”, “Alina and Alsim”, “Elvin and Edwin” (all three – 1815) and the original ballads “Achilles”, “
A kind of symbol of the new romantic poetics was the ballad “Aeolov harp” – a beautiful song about the immortality of love and art. A special place in the ballad cycle is “Svetlana” – the brightest, optimistic creation of Zhukovsky. A kind of epilogue to the cycle of ballads – “Twelve sleeping virgins,” a free verse translation of the prose novel of the same name by the German writer KG Shpis.
In 1811, having handed over the publication of the “Messenger of Europe” to Kachenovsky, Zhukovsky returned to Mishenskoye. He constantly visits Protasov’s house in Muratov, organizes a humorous “Cherno-Muratovsky society of learned people”, where together with his friend, composer-amateur Pleshcheyev, and his sisters Protasov, he plays parodies and comic plays, publishes humorous magazines “Muratovskaya losh” and “Muratovsky morel” – prototypes of the Arzamas “nonsense”. He devotes much time to the publication of the Collection of Russian Poems… (M., 1810-11), in five parts of which he decided to present all Russian poetry from AD Kantemir and MV Lomonosov to the present day.
Zhukovsky under the influence of Karamzin and A. Turgenev plunges into the ocean of annals.
August 10, 1812 Zhukovsky was admitted to the Moscow militia as a lieutenant. On the day of the Battle of Borodino, he was in reserve; then, being seconded to the headquarters of MI Kutuzov, makes leaflets and bulletins in the military printing press, which became an important page in the history of Russian journalism in 1812. But his main word about the Patriotic War was the poem “The Singer in the Camp of Russian Warriors.” The messages “Leader of the winners” (the original title “To the Elder Kutuzov”, November 1812), “Emperor Alexander” (1814) and the poem “The Singer in the Kremlin” (1816) will be a kind of continuation of the ideas and motives of the “heroic cantata”. Recovering from illness (in fever lay in the hospital in Vilna), Zhukovsky, awarded the rank of captain and the Order of St. Anne, in January 1813 came to Muratovo. Patriotic poetry brings the poet wide popularity; After “Rural Cemetery” Zhukovsky became known to the literary elite, after “Lyudmila” – to all readers, after “Singer in the camp…” – throughout Russia. Zhukovsky is drawn to the yard.
At the same time, the poet’s life came one of the most dramatic periods: all his attempts to get Masha’s hand were destroyed by the firm confrontation of her faithful mother, who referred to the inadmissibility of marriage because of the relationship of lovers. The love drama became a terrible shock for Zhukovsky. Songs and Romances 1813-1814, ballads – a poetic chronicle of dramatic love. The forced marriage of Masha, and then her early death in 1823 determine the tragedy of the poet’s worldview. The last meeting with Masha Zhukovsky dedicated a poem “March 9, 1823”.
October and November 1814 Zhukovsky spent in Dolbino. Dolbinskaya Autumn was fruitful. Humorous home verses, friendly messages addressed to KN Batyushkov, VL Pushkin, PA Vyazemsky, ballads, patriotic poems make up an original poetic system. Its unity is in the discovery of the diverse spheres of romantic existence. Friendship, love, suffering, pain and joy of creativity, the search for the meaning of life, religion are inseparable in his mind. The result of creativity Zhukovsky 1808-1814 was the publication of “Poems by Vasily Zhukovsky,” which includes about 80 works, including the elegy “Slavyanka” (Part 2) created in the autumn of 1815 – one of the masterpieces of romantic lyrics.
Love for painting, which he called “sister of his own” poetry, the poet carried through all his life. His numerous drawings, contacts with romantic artists, primarily with K. D. Friedrich, articles on painting are an organic part of his romantic aesthetics. Zhukovsky’s formula: “the main painter is the soul”, equally characterizes both his painting and poetry.
In September 1815 Zhukovsky met with Lyceum student Pushkin. March 26, 1820 the poet will present Pushkin on the occasion of the end of his poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” his portrait with the inscription: “The winner-pupil from the defeated teacher.” The friendship of the poets will continue until Pushkin’s death. In September 1815 in St. Petersburg premiere of the comedy AA Shakhovsky “Lesson of Coquette, or Lipetsk waters, where in the image of the” sensitive poet “Fialkin, in his parody speeches on the” fashionable kind of ballads, “viewers saw polemics with Zhukovsky. This was the reason for the formation of the literary society “Arzamas”, whose members were Zhukovsky and his friends-like-minded people (A. Turgenev, Batiushkov, Vyazemsky, V. Pushkin); later it was joined by a young A. Pushkin. Members of the Society (who had nicknames, taken from the ballads of Zhukovsky) fought against anti-Karamzin’s “Conversation of the lovers of the Russian word”, headed by A. S. Shishkov. Permanent secretary of the society and his soul – Zhukovsky, received the nickname Svetlana. His protocols (part of the poetic, written by a hexameter) became a vivid monument of literary struggle and the embodiment of the Arzamas “laughter culture.” Arzamas gave impetus to the consolidation of young literary forces, for the emergence of Russian Romanticism as a direction, although it lasted only two years (until October 1817). written hexameter) became a vivid monument of literary struggle and the embodiment of the Arzamas “laughter culture”. Arzamas gave impetus to the consolidation of young literary forces, for the emergence of Russian Romanticism as a direction, although it lasted only two years (until October 1817). written hexameter) became a vivid monument of literary struggle and the embodiment of the Arzamas “laughter culture”. Arzamas gave impetus to the consolidation of young literary forces, for the emergence of Russian Romanticism as a direction, although it lasted only two years (until October 1817).
In January-May 1818, five issues of the almanac “For the few” (“Rig Wenige”) appeared, entirely filled with translations of Zhukovsky, among which such masterpieces as “The Forest Tsar”, “Mina”, “The Fisherman” from Goethe, “The Mountain Road” , “Knight Togenburg”, “Voice from the Other World,” “Count of the Hapsburg” from Schiller. Translations constitute the greater part of Zhukovsky’s creative heritage. Opening the Russian reader the world of Homer, Goethe, Schiller, he primarily translated their ideas and images into the language of Romanticism and made them an organic part of Russian literature. Along with the lyrics, the poet mastered the most diverse forms of the ancient epic and European poems; in the 1820’s. he translates Herder’s romances about Side, the “Orleans’ virgin” of Schiller, “The Prisoner of Chillon” Byron, “
In October 1818 the poet was admitted to the Russian Academy. In 1819-1824 Zhukovsky created a whole series of poems that played the part of his poetic manifestos: “Inexpressible,” “On the Death of Her Majesty, Queen of Württemberg,” “The Color of the Covenant,” “To a Migrant Friend Known by Genius,” “Life” (1819), “Detailed Report on the Moon” (1820), “Lalla Ruk” (1821), “The Sea” (1822), “I Muzu Young, Happened” (1822-1824), “Mysterious Visitor”, “Moth and Flowers” (1824) ). “Life and Poetry One” (poem “I am a Muse young, happened…”) is a poetic formula that grew out of the whole system of lyrics of this period. Zhukovsky’s open state of inspiration, meetings with the “Genius of Pure Beauty” (an image that first arose in the poem ” Lala Ruk “) became fruitful for the subsequent Russian poetry (primarily for lyrics for subsequent Russian poetry (primarily for Pushkin’s lyrics) .The vivid expression of the romantic” philosophy of art “Zhukovsky – the poem” The Inexpressible “(August 1819), poetry is designed to capture the beauty of being and its mystery, but subject to the expression “earthly language” “ineffable” – “the presence of the Creator in the creation” and “holy mysteries” that “only know the heart”? Using both metaphor, and allegory, and myth and emblem, Zhukovsky creates a special type of characters olicheskogo thinking, which is embodied in the general system of his poems 1819-1824, which became a kind of mythology of his romanticism. ) became fruitful for subsequent Russian poetry (primarily for lyrics for subsequent Russian poetry, primarily for Pushkin’s lyrics.) The vivid expression of Zhukovsky’s romantic “philosophy of art” is the poem “The Inexpressible” (August 1819), poetry is designed to capture the beauty of being and its secret, but subject to the expression “earthly language” “ineffable” – “the presence of the Creator in the creation” and “holy mysteries” that “only the heart knows”? Using both metaphor, and allegory, and myth and emblematic, Zhukovsky creates a special type of symbolism about thinking, which is embodied in the general system of his poems of 1819-1824, which became a kind of mythology of his romanticism. ) became fruitful for subsequent Russian poetry (primarily for lyrics for subsequent Russian poetry, primarily for Pushkin’s lyrics.) The vivid expression of Zhukovsky’s romantic “philosophy of art” is the poem “The Inexpressible” (August 1819), poetry is designed to capture the beauty of being and its secret, but subject to the expression “earthly language” “ineffable” – “the presence of the Creator in the creation” and “holy mysteries” that “only the heart knows”? Using both metaphor, and allegory, and myth and emblematic, Zhukovsky creates a special type of symbolism about thinking, which is embodied in the general system of his poems of 1819-1824, which became a kind of mythology of his romanticism. Zhukovsky – poem “Inexpressible” (August 1819); poetry is designed to capture the beauty of being and its secrets, but is subject to the expression “earthly language” “ineffable” – “the presence of the Creator in the creation” and “holy mysteries” that “only the heart knows”? Using both metaphor, and allegory, and myth, and emblematic, Zhukovsky creates a special type of symbolic thinking that is embodied in the general system of his poems 1819-1824, which became a kind of mythology of his romanticism. Zhukovsky – poem “Inexpressible” (August 1819); poetry is designed to capture the beauty of being and its secrets, but is subject to the expression “earthly language” “ineffable” – “the presence of the Creator in the creation” and “holy mysteries” that “only the heart knows”? Using both metaphor, and allegory, and myth, and emblematic, Zhukovsky creates a special type of symbolic thinking that is embodied in the general system of his poems 1819-1824, which became a kind of mythology of his romanticism. ? Using both metaphor, and allegory, and myth, and emblematic, Zhukovsky creates a special type of symbolic thinking that is embodied in the general system of his poems 1819-1824, which became a kind of mythology of his romanticism. ? Using both metaphor, and allegory, and myth, and emblematic, Zhukovsky creates a special type of symbolic thinking that is embodied in the general system of his poems 1819-1824, which became a kind of mythology of his romanticism.
As early as 1815 Zhukovsky was approached to the court. In December 1816 he was appointed by the highest order (taking into account his works and talents) a lifelong pension (4000 rubles a year). In 1817 he became a teacher of the Russian language of the Grand Duchess, the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. From 1826 to 1841 – the tutor of the heir, the future emperor Alexander II. Almost 25 years of communication with the court could not but postpone the impression on the worldview of Zhukovsky, but his soul remained pure. The Enlightenment idea determined all its activities. The program of the “enlightened monarchy” was constantly confronted with official lawlessness and administrative arbitrariness, as Zhukovsky repeatedly wrote to Nicholas I and Chief of Section III A. Kh. Benkendorf. His help to the exiles EA Baratynsky and FN Glinka, the Decembrists, AI Herzen, participation in the fate of A. V.
In 1821-early 1822 Zhukovsky in the retinue of the Grand Duchess made his first trip abroad. He met with German Romantics, visited Chillon Castle in Switzerland, where the hero of Byron’s poem “The Chillon Prisoner” was languishing, visited Goethe, inspected the Dresden Gallery – all this was imprinted in numerous drawings, diary entries. The translation of Byron’s poem, reflections in letters to the Grand Duchess about the personality and creativity of Tik and Frederick, the article “Raphael Madonna” – specific creative traces of the journey. Then the poet finished the translation of the dramatic poems of Schiller “The Maid of Orleans”, excerpts from which, as well as the article “Rafaelova Madonna”, “Journey through Saxon Switzerland”, were printed in the almanac “Polar Star” in 1823 and 1824.
In early 1823 Zhukovsky, along with the Voyeikovs, settled in Menshikov’s house on Nevsky Prospekt. Evenings in the salon of AA Voyeikova (Svetlana) gather the most prominent figures of literature. Here, and later on the “Sabbaths” in Shepelevsky House, where the poet lived in 1827-1840, new works are being discussed, there are literary disputes that largely determined the development of Russian poetry and social thought. Zhukovsky’s historical and literary works The Review of Russian Literature in 1823 (1824) and The Abstract on the History of Russian Literature (1826-1827) reveal the activities of the first Russian romanticist as the organizer of the literary forces, the propagandist and historian of Russian literature. By the beginning of March 1824, the third collected works of the poet – “Poems” – appeared in three volumes. It summed up his poetic activity in more than 20 years.
The head of Russian Romanticism entered a new period of his work, the pathos of which was the mastering of the “narrative kind of poetry”, the poetic epic.
The constant interest in Russian history, fueled by the release of Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State,” manifested itself in Zhukovsky’s work on a drama from the era of the Time of Troubles, whose plan was preserved in the poet’s archive and dated April 14, 1824. At this time Zhukovsky also touched on the public ideas of Decembrism. SP Trubetskoy and Turgenev suggested that he get acquainted with the charter of the Union of Welfare and counted on his participation in the Decembrist journal. But Zhukovsky did not accept this proposal, although he shared the anti-serfdom program of the Decembrists. The attitude of the poet to the Decembrist uprising was complex, as evidenced by his letter to A. Turgenev on December 16, 1825, where he condemns the rebels. As we become acquainted with the events and persons who participated in them, Zhukovsky, without taking up rebellion as a form of protest,
In May 1826, seriously ill, with gloomy thoughts about death, as evidenced by the testament, the poet went abroad. For a year and a half, in Germany and France, he studies the works of historians about the French Revolution; gets acquainted with the basics of European legislation; in the salons he meets FR Chateaubriand, A. Lamartine and Guizot, visits Goethe in Weimar.
Returning to the court, Zhukovsky pays much attention to pedagogical activity. But at the same time, his social activities are intensified, creating him, according to Nicholas I, a reputation as a “leader of the opposition.” Zhukovsky’s public actions: a letter to Nikolai I about the Decembrist amnesty, letters about the prohibition of IV Kireevsky’s magazine The European, intercession for Viazemsky, petition for the wives of the Decembrists – were based on his ideas about the “enlightened monarchy”, about human freedom and legality.
The time for the new creative upsurge of the poet was 1831. In December, two editions of “Ballads and stories” were published. The first included all the ballad works of 1809-1831, the second, one-volume, only new works created in 1828-1831. In the new ballads, the epic nature of the genre – eventuality, narrative, interest in philosophical problems – is becoming more and more evident. 12 new ballads form a thematic unity. In the center of all of them is the theme of fate, the duel of a person and circumstances. “The triumph of the winners” and “Excerpts from the Spanish romances about Side” – the beginning and end of the ballad cycle – constituted a ring of heroics, within which the theme developed.
Poetic epic Zhukovsky opened the world in a terrible tension of spiritual contradictions of the person, the vacillations between humility, religious renunciation and protest, in unequal struggle with destiny, and at the same time – the world of passionate dream of harmony.
Summer – autumn 1831 Zhukovsky spent in Tsarskoe Selo, where he also lived with his young wife Pushkin. In a kind of competition with Pushkin, Zhukovsky wrote here “The Tale of Tsar Berendey…”, “The Tale of the Sleeping Princess”, “The War of Mice and Frogs”. In all three fairy tales, the moment of creative re-creation of folklore material is important, the orientation to the author’s literary fairy tale, including folklore sources, foreign-language samples.
In June 1832 Zhukovsky went abroad. After completing treatment on the waters of Ems, he settled with a friend, the German artist GF Reitern, in the Swiss village of Verne on the shores of Lake Geneva, making numerous walks, especially to the mountains. Zhukovsky keeps a diary, makes sketches from nature and translates a lot: “The court in the dungeon” (excerpt from the poem by V. Scott “Marmion”), the ballads “Roland the Armsman”, “The Swimming of Charlemagne”, “Knight Rolland”, “The Old Knight” – all from Uhland, from it – the dramatic story “Norman custom”, written in white 5-foot iambic.
In April-May 1833 the friends visited Italy. In Rome, Zhukovsky often meets with KP Bryullov, AA Ivanov, talks about art with Stendhal, who visited him along with Zinaida Volkonskaya, examines the workshops of the head of the Nazarene group IF Overbeck, the German historical painter P. Cornelius, the Danish sculptor B. Torvaldsen, OA Kiprensky. In September 1833 the poet returned to Russia. He participated in the creation of the libretto of Ivan Glinka’s opera Ivan Susanin (defining the historical plot and writing the words for the epilogue), as well as the national anthem “God Save the Tsar” (1st stanza-translation of the beginning of the English anthem, 2nd and 3rd – A. Pushkin, the rest – Zhukovsky, music AF Lvov). In 1834 he prevented the resignation of Pushkin, settling his conflict with the king and Benckendorff.
In the first issue of Pushkin’s “Contemporary” (1836), whose active collaborator was Zhukovsky, is his ballad “The Night Review” (the translation of the same poem by IK Tsedlits), which immediately became a popular romance thanks to Glinka’s music. In the same year, Zhukovsky completed the “Undinu”, begun as early as 1831. Discovering “Undine” dedication in verse (“There were days of rapturous visions”) is addressed to Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (daughter of Nicholas I).
In November 1836 Zhukovsky prevented Pushkin’s duel with Dantes. He tries to help Pushkin; but on January 27, 1837, one of the first to learn about the duel and the severe wounding of Pushkin. Zhukovsky makes concise notes important for understanding the last days of the poet’s life. His letter to S. L. Pushkin under the title “The Last Minutes of Pushkin” and a letter to Benckendorff about the death of the poet became the most important public documents. They recreate the life drama of Pushkin and directly call Benkendorf and the court the persecutors of the poet. After Pushkin’s death, Zhukovsky helped his family a lot and contributed to the publication of his works. In March 1839 the poet created a free translation of the “dramatic poem” by the German poet F. Galma “Camoens”. The tragic earthly fate of the Portuguese poet, the author of “The Lusiad,” is justified by his high calling:
A trip to England (1839), a visit to a rural cemetery near Windsor, where he wrote his elegy T. Gray, aroused Zhukovsky’s new interest in her. His translation of the “Village Cemetery” 1839 differs from the translation of 1802 not only by versification and textually: this new attitude. In place of the “solitary singer” comes an open hero to the world. The situation is “grounded” and “domesticated”.
In August 1840, during the next tour of Germany, the poet’s engagement with Elizabeth Reitern (1821-1856), the daughter of his friend to the artist, to which he dedicated the poem “Oh, I beg you, the Creator” (free translation from N. Lenaou) took place. In 1841 Zhukovsky filed a petition for resignation and left for Germany, where his wedding was held on May 21.
1840-ies. – A new period in the creative biography of the poet. Despite all attempts by Zhukovsky to return to Russia, the circumstances of his life are such that this intention did not materialize. The illness of his wife, the birth of his daughter Alexandra (1842-1899) and his son Paul (1845-1912), his own illness, detained him in Germany for the rest of his life. However, ties with the homeland were never interrupted due to meetings with fellow countrymen, friends. His works are published by the poet in Russian journals, predominant in Pletnev’s Contemporary and Moskvityanin.
His creative activity intensified in different directions. He teaches his own children on a special method, creates an alphabet for them, devotes children’s poems to them “Birdy”, “Kotik and goat”, “Skylark”, “Boy-with-finger”. Carefully following the events of European life, responds to them with journalistic articles. An expression of Zhukovsky’s social philosophical position was the book “Thoughts and Remarks,” finished in 1850 and rejected by Russian censorship.
At the center of the aesthetic interests of Zhukovsky is the problem of the “high” strength of art, the power of the word and the responsibility of the artist (the article “On Melancholy in Life and Poetry”, 1846, “On the Poet and Its Present Significance.” Letter to Nikolai Gogol, 1848, “Two scenes from the” Faust “1849).
In 1843 he translated the poetic stories “Matteo Falcone” (from A. Chamisso based on the story of P. Merimee) and “Captain Bopp” (the source is not installed). In 1844 for “Moskvityanina” he created stories and translations from Chamisso and F. Rukkert. In 1845 he wrote “The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf” and the tale “Tulip Tree”. In parallel, Zhukovsky developed the theory of “narrative poetry,” spoke of the convergence of poetry and prose. He is looking for his own form of national epic. This is evidenced by the idea of ​​the book “Narratives for Youth”.
The most important stage in the implementation of the epic concept was the transcription of the samples of the oriental epic: “Nahl and Damayanti” (1837-1841) – an excerpt from the ancient Indian epic “Mahabharata”, and “Rustem and Zorab” (1846-1847) – an episode from the epic poem Firdousi ” Shahnameh “in the translations of the German poet F. Rukkert received Zhukovsky’s original embodiment.
The main work of these years was the translation of the “Odyssey” by Homer (1842-1849). Zhukovsky created the romantic Odyssey: The idea of ​​man’s confrontation with fate, his endless pursuit of the future, his “dear homeland,” his home, his beloved and faithful wife, his son received a special power of emotional sound. In a certain sense, Zhukovsky’s translation can be called the “Odyssey of the New Time”, “the Russian Odyssey.”
April 12, 1852 Zhukovsky died (was buried in Baden-Baden, but in August his ashes were transported to Petersburg and buried near the grave of Karamzin).