Images of birds in the lyrics of E.F. Markin

The image of a goose is one of the most important “bird” images in the work of E.F. Markin. For Evgeny Fedorovich, the goose is not an ordinary bird. Firstly, it is a poetic symbol of his homeland - Meshchera, the nature of which the poet cannot imagine without geese flying in the sky and their songs. In the poem “River Goose” the poet writes.

Swan

In Russian folklore, the symbolism of the poetic image of a wild goose largely coincides with the symbolism of the image of a swan. Both the goose and the swan are symbols of freedom and, thanks to seasonal migrations, symbols of autumn and spring. These traditions of folk poetry are continued by E.F. Markin. For example, geese and swans as harbingers of autumn are depicted in the poems “Snowfall!” and “In the green thickets...”

In addition, the swan is a symbol of rebirth, purity, chastity, proud loneliness, nobility, wisdom, and perfection. There is even a belief about the ability of the soul to wander through the sky in the form of a swan. Traditionally, in the lyrics of Evgeny Fedorovich, swans symbolize grace and lightness, hence the comparison:

In world literature, the swan is considered the bird of poets. The song of the dying swan is the song of the poet - the designation of the last significant creation of outstanding people. There is a belief that swans sing before they die. In Aeschylus’s tragedy “Agamemnon,” Clytemnestra, comparing Cassandra’s dying inspired words with the plaintive cry of a dying whooper swan, says: “She who, like a swan, sang her last plaintive, mortal song.” Cicero applies the same comparison to Licinius Crassus, who died after delivering a speech: “It was like a swan song.” Brem in “The Life of Animals,” talking about the whooper swan, cites the testimony of naturalists: “His voice resembles the pleasant ringing of a silver bell... Everything that is said about the song of a dying swan is not fiction at all, since the last breaths of a mortally wounded swan escape from him in the form of a song."

The image of a swan is also found in the name of Lake Swan in the Klepikovsky district. In the poem “Swan Lake,” the poet admires the beauty of nature and admires the places dear to his heart. Thinking about the name of the lake, E.F. Markin tries to explain it from the point of view of a modern person familiar with P.I. Tchaikovsky’s ballet: “They say that the sad echo of the ballet got lost in the pine thicket.” The last lines of the poem repeat the sounds that make up the word “Swan”.

Crane

One of the key images in the poetry of E.F. Markina is a crane. In his poems, the Ryazan poet more than once compares himself to this bird. The homeland of the gray crane, its main habitat is Meshchera.

E.F. Markin is devoted to his small homeland. For him there is no place on Earth better than the Meshchera region. The poet admits that in any other region he, “like a crane, has no repentance.” The image of the crane is associated with the motif of restlessness, homelessness of the lyrical hero.

The unique whine of a crane wedge cutting through the blue sky always attracts people's attention. Inexplicably, cranes awaken in souls sensitivity and sincerity, a desire to raise their gaze to the heavens and think about something important, elusive, eternal... E.F. Markin, watching the cranes flying in the sky, comes to the conclusion that “cranes are souls of disgraced poets." The theme of the difficult fate of a disgraced poet, an exiled poet is very close to him.

The wedge of cranes flying away in the fall among the people symbolizes incredible longing for their native land, because the farewell crowing of the cranes does not leave anyone indifferent, the notes of despair and sorrow are so clearly heard in the birds’ voices. Villagers sometimes ran for a long time after the crane wedge and, so that the birds would return home in the spring, shouted: “The road is by the wheel.” People said that with these words it was possible to delay the flying cranes, and with them the onset of frost.

Seagull

Seagulls are free river birds. The image of white seagulls soaring over expanses of water can be found in a variety of poems by E.F. Markin. Most often, these birds symbolize the cheerful time of youth, full of freedom, boundless happiness and unearthly love.

This poem expresses regret that over the years romance disappears somewhere, concerns about material well-being become the main ones: “And only about her, about salary, are conversations from dark to dark.” Meanwhile, white gulls are still freely circling over the reaches, reminiscent of the dreams of youth.

The image of a small homeland - the Meshchera region - is an integral part of the image of a large homeland - the Fatherland. E.F. Markin had to visit different parts of the Soviet Union. And everywhere his soul was open to people and the natural world around him. The birds, which the poet was accustomed to seeing in the Ryazan region since childhood, reminded him of places dear to his heart, excited, disturbed him, so the image of white seagulls is like a thread connecting him with his native land.

Falcon

In Slavic folklore, the falcon symbolized a warrior, usually a young hero, a hero and a prince leading a fighting squad. This image is often mentioned, for example, in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The Trident of Rurikovich appeared as an allegory of a diving falcon. The epic Prince Volga could turn into a falcon.

Ancient people attached many meanings to the image of a falcon, but the most widespread and stable was the perception of it as a high-born warrior, protected by heavenly grace. Therefore, it is no coincidence that even today a number of elite Russian military units contain a falcon in their name or emblem.

We also find the image of a warrior in the form of a falcon in the poems of the Ryazan poet:

The image of a falcon in the poetry of E.F. Markin is closely intertwined with the theme of the Great Patriotic War. Relying on folklore and literary traditions, in the poem “Bullets fell around...” the poet creates a memorable, bright, piercing image of a dying warrior:

Eagle

For the Slavs, the eagle is God's bird, the lord of the heavens. According to an ancient legend, he lives longer than all birds (with the exception of the raven) and is not subject to time: having reached a respectable age, he flies to the ends of the world and, having bathed there in a lake with living water, regains his youth.

The image of this bird is found in the poem “Crossroads”, where the soaring eagle symbolizes rebirth:

Orlan

The eagle is a larger bird than the eagle. In the poet's lyrics, the eagle is the embodiment of extraordinary strength and lightness:

Chibis

The lapwing is an amazing bird. The lapwing can never be confused with any other bird and is always easily recognized thanks to its piercing cry-question: “Whose are you, whose are you?” The Ryazan poet also emphasizes this feature in his poem “Chibis.”

Of course, E.F. Markin does not limit himself to transmitting the calls of lapwings. He uses alliteration, choosing words that sound like the calls of lapwings. Poetic sound writing serves not just as a decoration for speech, in this case it helps to convey the special mood of the lyrical hero who dreams of happy love:

Stork

According to Russian folk beliefs, the stork is a sacred bird that brings life, it is a symbol of the hearth. This is how E.F. Markin interprets the image of the stork in the poem “The Moldavian Stork.” The poet depicts a stork, admiring its beauty, grandeur and devotion to its native land.

E.F. Markin is constantly expanding the geographical boundaries of his poetic space. Images of birds help him in this. The poet could also see storks in Meshchera, so in Moldova they also attract his attention, excite and disturb him.

Raven

In the poetry of E.F. Markin, the images of birds are predominantly light. The exception is the images of a raven and a hawk, symbolizing sadness, grief, sorrow.

Death was depicted in the image of a raven or raven in folklore tradition. In popular beliefs, a raven foreshadows imminent death by flying (and even more so circling) and cawing over the traveler’s head. The Ryazan poet continues poetic traditions.

But the poem is not dedicated to a military theme at all, but to the verbal duels of young poets and critics. The traditional image of a black raven is reinterpreted: with its help, a satirical image of a “red-faced, representative club” is created, which “bludgeons our young songs and destroys our paintings.”

The raven is also popularly associated with bloodshed, violence and war, apparently due to the fact that ravens usually fly to battle sites and peck the flesh of the dead, which has also become the reason for the negative attitude towards these birds. We meet images of ravens - the messengers of war in the poem “The Ballad of the Twenty-Third Anniversary”:

Hawk

The hawk, in the minds of the Slavs, is an image of a dangerous predator, embodying militant aggressiveness, mercilessness and lack of nobility. The image of a hawk is primarily associated with the swiftness of an attack on the enemy.

In a poem dedicated to A.I. Solzhenitsyn, the poet touches on the most complex topic of personal freedom during political repression. In these lines you can feel the breath of the era itself, so strong is the impression made by the image of the guard, whose hawkish gaze can be felt even on your back.

Nightingale

The image of youth is made up of smaller specific images: flowers, nightingale songs, lightning. The epithet “winged lightning” seems unusual, but this image is characteristic of E.F. Markin’s lyrics. Obviously, the concept of “winging”, associated with images of birds, embodies certain romantic dreams and hopes that inspire a person.

Quail

The image of a quail in the poetry of E.F. Markin appears in the poem “In our hostel.” He helps create a comic image of the commandant. It turns out that during the mating season of the quail, its calls (or, as they also say, fight) can be heard especially far away in the evening dawn, and at the height of the mating season they do not stop all day. The quail's call is very unique: from the quiet “va-va, va-va” to the ringing “time to sleep, time to sleep.” Hence the comparison:

Cuckoo

In mythology, the cuckoo is a prophetic bird dedicated to the goddess of spring. Flying from the transcendental land, from where the souls of newborns descend, where the dead retire and where the maidens of fate reside, the cuckoo knows the hours of birth, marriage, and death. Married women ask her how many children they will have, and girls ask her how soon they will be married and how long they will live married. Of course, every person strives to immediately ask the bird’s things how many years he has left to live in this world. There are many signs and predictions associated with the image of the cuckoo.

Lun

The harrier bird is a remarkable creature that combines the characteristic features of day and night bird predators. The song of the harrier is tender and languid. The poet writes about this in the poem “Snowfall!”

Bittern

The bittern is a secretive night bird. During the mating season, males emit a loud cry, similar to the distant cry of a bull. "U-room!" - you can hear such a frequent howl from the reeds. Although people know that it is a bittern roaring, but still, when they hear this strange sound, many involuntarily feel creepy. It seems that there is some kind of pain, melancholy and threat in the bittern’s voice. It is precisely this feature of the bittern’s cry that E.F. Markin accurately notes: