The Philosophy of nature in the lyrics of Albert Vasiliev

Lyubimov Nikolay Ivanovich ORCID: 0000-0002-0879-0890 Postgraduate student, Department of Finno-Ugrian Comparative Philology, Mari State University 424000, Russia, Republic of the Republic of Mari El, Yoshkar-Ola, Lenin Square, 1 nikolay_lyubimov@inbox.ru Other publications by this author

 Albert Vasiliev is one of the brightest representatives of modern Mari poetry, his work is closely connected with its philosophical direction. In addition to such problematic-thematic layers that we highlight in his lyrics as the philosophy of history, the philosophy of national culture, the philosophy of modernity, the philosophy of creativity, we can talk about one more – the natural–philosophical - poetic layer.

Poetic natural philosophy is a very relevant topic of research in modern Russian, Finno–Ugric, Ural-Volga and, in general, Russian literary science.  You can point, for example, to the famous monograph by M.N. Epstein "Nature, the world, the hiding place of the universe ..." ^[13], articles by A.V. Shapurina (about the lyrics of V. Tyutchev) ^[12], T.V. Menshikova (on the poetry of N. Zabolotsky) ^[7], L.V. Ryzhkova-Grishkina (on the poetry of N. Rubtsov) ^[11] and others, dissertation research by I.V. Burnosova (on the poetry of Mordovia) ^[1], E.V. Nagumanova (on Tatar poetry in in the context of Tyutchev traditions) ^[10], G.S. Kabulova (about Ossetian poetry) ^[4] and others. Researchers are unanimous in the correlation in philosophical lyrics of the natural and human world. In it, as M.N. Epstein notes, "in one way or another, the main questions that every philosophy has always posed to itself are reproduced, first of all, about the kinship or hostility of natural principles to the human soul" ^{[13, p. 21]}.

The purpose of our article is to identify the semantics and artistic functions of the natural images used in them, which represent the philosophical attitude and worldview of the author and characterize his lyrical hero in a certain way, based on the material of the poems included in the collection of Albert Vasiliev "Osh Lumyshto chever Polan" ("Red Viburnum on white Snow", 2017). In this aspect, the lyrics of Albert Vasiliev in Mari literary studies are considered by us for the first time.

The methodological basis of our research is the structural and semantic analysis of the poems of the Mari poet; this approach allows us to determine and describe the structural and semantic levels of natural images that reveal the artistic and philosophical concept of the author and the personality features of the lyrical hero.

Let's consider the main images of the poet, which represent various natural phenomena and processes and represent the author's philosophy of nature. All natural images are projected onto human life, give rise to reflections (or are caused by reflections) about the structure of the social world order, as it was, in fact, among Russian classical poets and contemporaries. For example, in Nikolai Zabolotsky, "in his poems, any object of nature can contain human traits and reflect the moral problems of human society" ^{[3, p. 17]}. In this sense, Albert Vasiliev's lyrics, of course, are not only natural philosophical, but also socio-philosophical in essence.

The system of images that connects the Mari poet's human world with the world of nature in the collection "Red Viburnum on white snow" includes many images: winter and cold, silence, rain and sun, snow, moon, wind and blizzard, fog, dawn, frost, frost, etc.

At the same time, the nature of the nature described almost always coincides with the mood (emotional state) of the lyrical hero; also, natural images are almost always endowed by the author with human feelings, live and act like people. For this purpose, the author used a variety of tropes: metaphors (lum shonymash – snow thought ^{[2, p. 12. A subscript translation of quotations from A. Vasiliev's poems into Russian here and then everywhere our. – N.L.]}, surtdymo mardezh – homeless wind ^{[2, p. 196]}); epithets (osh pokshym – white frost ^{[2, p. 12]}, shem pyl – black cloud ^{[2, p. 26]}); personifications (mardezh kuem kudashyn shogalten – the wind divided the birch ^{[2, p. 138]}, kurzhyn tolyn vesela mardezh – the merry wind came running ^{[2, p. 149]}); comparisons (yo?galtyt sh?dyrla – they sparkle like stars ^{[2, p. 10]}, k?sh?ch y?rla y?rash tale – it poured from above like rain ^{[2, p. 115]}).

In the psychoemotional role, the image of rain became widespread in Albert Vasiliev's poems [see: 2, p. 26, 34, 74, 97, 115, 131, 150 In nature, rain washes away dust and dirt, refreshes the air. For Albert Vasiliev, rain is an opportunity for emotional cleansing, an opportunity to throw off everything superfluous that weighs on the soul. The lyrical hero is sure that the rain will be able to "wash away" his grievances (not the best condition and not the right way to communicate with people around him), will free his soul and give hope for the future:

Chyla shuen kurzhnem my mlande t?rysh,

Ke?ezh guy lev-lev yrysh [2, p. 186]

(Having abandoned everything, I want to run to the end of the world,

In a rain as warm as summer).

Only sometimes we do not find emotional harmony between the natural and human condition, but even in this case the natural image is necessarily associated with some kind of artistic and philosophical invective of the author. For example, the arrival of winter (white and "soft"), traditionally perceived by people (both children and adults) as an unexpected joy, for the lyrical hero is a source / confirmation of his sadness, an expression of sadness:

Onchen yyrvash kopa yymach,

My yrshynat ynem kuane ^{[2, p. 15]}

(Looking around from under the palm of his hand,

I don't want to be happy at all).

This is explained as follows: winter for Albert Vasiliev is a symbol of aging, which no one can escape and which, like winter, "comes quietly." In the author's mind, silence, surprise and inevitability come to the fore, correlated with this image of nature. No matter how brave a person is in front of her (winter-death), it is unlikely that he is able to defeat her. The poet presents the image of a man who tried to show himself brave and courageous in the form of a fir tree that refuses to retreat before the winter frost: "Oh, yosht?" man, nigush ok pyzne ("Oh, frost" without saying, does not press anywhere). But she will not hide from winter, because she is part of the natural world. Man, being a natural being, is forced to come to terms with the universal cycle of life, merge / unite with nature, its laws. That is why silence (see: winter has come quietly) is not frightening for the lyrical hero. Silence is a "calm, peaceful state of mind" when the image of silence "unites man and nature" ^{[12, p. 91]}.

Albert Vasiliev's symbol of old age is also frost, in other cases also frost. It is no coincidence that the frost is silver (like the silver-gray hair of old people):

Liyshash mo yle, trys liyyn,

Optalyn vuyysh pokshym shiyym ^{[2, p. 245]}

(What was supposed to happen, completely happened,

Frost painted over the head (lit. poured on the head. – N.L.) silver).

As we can see, the Mari poet's natural and human worlds are merged together. Natural images convey the physical and psychological state of the lyrical hero, who is not fixated on old age, calmly accepts it and continues to live his creative life.

One of the bright anthropomorphic natural philosophical images of Albert Vasiliev is the sun: it "smiles", "looks with envy", that is, observes life, evaluates everything it observes. This is a friend of the lyrical hero, who shares his difficulties, and a certain moral and ethical guideline that does not allow him to be weak and helpless in the modern world. That is why the lyrical hero, soaked through, cannot sit idle waiting for the sun, forgetting about his principles and using the fire of someone else's hearth:

Chot nyrenam, vosht vitymeshke.

Yd shuyn – nigushan koshkash.

Erden keche nltalmeshke,

E? tul vokten mo shinchyltash? ^{[2, p. 50]}

(Very wet, through and through.

Night has come – there is nowhere to dry.

Before sunrise in the morning,

Is it really possible to sit near someone else's fire?) ^{[2, p. 50]}.

The sun is also a symbol of a bright future, which largely depends on the person himself, his principles and the strength of his soul. The path to it is not easy. This is a path of difficult reflections, independent spiritual searches, social and personal work. Therefore, the lyrical hero of Albert Vasiliev is not a person frozen in place, but a person of thought and action, living / driven not by other people's beliefs, but by his personal views and principles:

Shke verym e? dec ?ryn-vozhyl

Eshe mynyar zhap kychalman?

Ala mgesh kum kornovozhysh

Mylamzhe p?rtyl onchyman? ^{[2, p. 50]}

(His place, surprised and ashamed of others,

How much more time to look for?

Or maybe back to the fork of three roads

Should I turn around and look?).

"The fortress of thought" and firm life behavior based on principles and one's own views – that's what Albert Vasiliev claims should be the basis of human personality and human behavior, life. These principles may seem anachronistic to someone, but the main thing, according to the author, is not that; the main thing is that he has them, that they affirm honesty and humanity, that they provide him with inner freedom.

L.V. Ryzhkova-Grishina, analyzing the attitude to nature of the Russian poet Nikolai Rubtsov, based, in her opinion, "on the experience and moral principles of the people," notes that "nature was for him a bridge connecting him with time as such, with the present and the past, with the antiquity that bothered him so much a restless heart" ^[11]. Such a natural philosophical perspective is often found in modern Mari lyrics, especially in terms of mythopoetics, the ontological connection between nature and folk antiquity. So, for the lyrical heroine Albertina Ivanova, nature is Mother Earth ^[5]. Albert Vasiliev very often refers to the color symbolism of white, correlated with natural images and occupying a central place in the traditional worldview of the Mari people. The white color is represented in the self-reflection of the people (ethnic autonomy). "Mari people often called themselves "chiy Mari", "shiy Mari", i.e. "silver", "white" Mari, or "white man", – writes Mari ethnographer T.L. Molotov ^{[8, p. 81]}. The white color is also reflected in the traditional religion of the people: it is present in the name of the main god of the Mari pagan pantheon (Osh Poro Kugu Yumo = White Good Elder God). The white color in this context is significant not only for Albert Vasiliev, but also for other Mari poets of our time, for example, for Zoya Dudina [see about this: 6; 9]. R.A. Kudryavtseva and T.N. Belyaeva call it a traditional pagan color that enhances in Zoya Dudina's lyrics "not only the individual expression of the author's voice, but also its ethnically unconscious component" ^{[6, p. 32]}.  The semantics of this color among the Mari poets, including Albert Vasiliev, always correlates with purity and kindness (obviously, this happens by analogy with the ancient ideas of the people; as already mentioned above, in the name of the supreme pagan god Mari, the word "white" is always adjacent to the word "kind").

Albert Vasiliev's white color range is manifested by the image of snow – white, clean, fluffy. It is also emphasized in the very title of the collection – "Red viburnum on white snow", it is also present in a number of poems in this collection: osh lumym urzo den kyshken (throwing handfuls of white snow) ^{[2, p. 19]}, lum guy oshyn (like white snow) ^{[2, p. 50]}, osh lum den petyrnen kertesz (may be covered with white snow) ^{[2, p. 56]}, etc.

The author calls white not only snow, but also a blizzard, fog ... The author, in an unexpected way for the reader, "paints" even the moon in white, which in modern Mari poetry is most often used in love poems of poets, but in Albert Vasiliev – in his philosophical lyrics.

Peljd erten,

But my om male.

Oknashke tylze ?ryn onchalesh.

The poet ulam,

And you are a nim from pale.

Kolat: at muro chonyshtem shochesh ^{[2, p. 64]}

(Midnight has passed,

But I'm not sleeping.

Luna looked out the window in surprise.

I'm a poet,

And you don't know anything.

Do you hear: a new song is born in the soul).

The above fragment of one of Albert Vasiliev's poems presents a dialogue between the poet and the moon (a similar fantastic situation comes to mind – the poet's conversation with the sun in Vladimir Mayakovsky) – about poetry, a source of inspiration, the importance of poetic work. The lyrical hero wants to draw the attention of his interlocutor (the moon) to the fact that he is a poet and that the moon is a witness to the birth of his new creation. But the white moon was suddenly covered by black clouds, which were caught up by the wind, and the muse left before the creative process was completed. Accordingly, the natural image (the moon) turns into a source and a necessary condition for creativity in the poem. Albert Vasiliev notes with regret how many songs (meaning: ideas, useful deeds, deeds, etc.) are not created, are lost / disrupted halfway, are not implemented due to unforeseen situations and insurmountable obstacles (wind and clouds). The white moon as the poet's assistant (good power) and clouds, wild wind as the sources of his creative failures (evil forces) – such an antithesis is undoubtedly present in the author's philosophical subtext of the poem; the wind, called wild by the author, in order to be his like-minded and co-creator, which is the white moon, lacks neither talent, no sincerity, no courage:

Ir mardezh, murymemzhym lugych k?rlyn,

Myyyn semyn muraltash ok tosht ^{[2, p. 178]}

(Wild wind, suddenly breaking my song,

Won't dare to sing like me).

         The lyrical hero is an opponent of hypocrisy, slyness, empty / cold emotions, the embodiment of which in his works are wind, blizzard, storm, blizzard, blizzard, which cannot become a source of creativity for him, and even a windy forest, which he does not intend to enter, because he is able to generate in it only what his soul does not need "cold song":

Om kychal poranyshte at murym,

Yuzhgunam kech palymyn shishka.

Chodyrashke unala om puro –

Kyzytesh mardezh tushto lyoshka.

Me ik semyn ogyna muralte.

yosht? muro ok k?l chonemlan ^{[2, p. 178]}

(I'm not looking for new songs in the storm,

Although sometimes it whistles familiar.

I will not enter the forest to visit –

While the wind is making noise there.

We won't sing a duet.

My soul doesn't need a cold song).

The wind is a bad force, evil feelings, a destroyer of mental balance and creative spirit. The lyrical hero of Albert Vasiliev wants readers not to compare him with this force and once again not to excite his vulnerable soul:

Ik muro dene vele ida akle,

Umbakyzhat onchalza lashtyklen.

Ulat mardej guy man ida titakle –

Chonem shukertak pelygych katlen ^{[2, p. 92]}

(Don't judge by just one song,

Look further by leafing through.

Don't blame by calling the wind, –

My soul has long been broken in half).

The image of the wind in Albert Vasiliev's lyrics is not only wild, bringing disorder into the world, but sometimes waiting ^{[2, p. 53]}, affectionate ^{[2, p. 105]} and cheerful ^{[2, p. 149]}, but such states are always deceptive and disturbing.   And a blizzard sometimes correlates with strong manifestations of the character of the lyrical hero or with self-reflection of his behavior (straightforwardness, fussiness and unbalance):

Yal muchko, er kynel, poran

Kapkam sh?kedyl oshkylesh ^{[2, p. 19]}

(In the village, getting up early, a blizzard

Walking, pushing the gate).

A blizzard can act as a symbol of a person's struggle and vitality.  In one of his poems, Albert Vasiliev presents this in the painting "competitions" of winter and spring, at the same time warns that in nature and human society everything has its time and place, that the hypertrophied passion for victorious domination (January rain and April blizzard) violates harmony:

Kertesh januaryshte yr yryn,

Aprelyshte – lyoshken poran ^{[2, p. 267]}

(It may rain in January,

In April, there will be a blizzard).

Nevertheless, the author is confident that natural laws are strong and unchangeable, they are a source of balance and harmony, the author claims, comparing nature and man:

Kerek p?rt?s kastene y?yn,

Ok lii erdene mokmyran ^{[2, p. 267]}

(Let nature get drunk in the evening,

She won't have a hangover in the morning).

In the context of Albert Vasiliev's artistic natural philosophy, the images of dew are also of interest (er lupsym podylna ^{[2, p. 107]} – they drank the morning dew; lupsysh savyrnen ^{[2, p. 149]} – turned into dew; mushkyltyn peledysh you lupsesh ^{[2, p. 149]} – this flower washed in dew) and fog. Fog is represented in his poems as the personification of anxiety and mental suffering; it is given in epithet form and attached to the word "hope":

Chonemzhym t?tyran ?shan

Mynyar gana syren ondalysh ^{[2, p. 322]}

(My soul is a misty hope

I cheated, how many times I promised).

In an unexpected philosophical context, Albert Vasiliev presents a natural picture, in the center of which is the image of the dawn (Kavam kaszhara tarla – The evening dawn will embroider the sky). It arises within the framework of the lyrical hero's reflections on his life position and moral and ethical principles. The basis of the author's worldview is the acceptance of the laws of nature and impeccable adherence to life principles (not to envy and not to be offended). In this light, the lyrical hero is not afraid of death, because it is a law of nature. To express this philosophical idea, Albert Vasiliev turns to the above natural-figurative picture, in which there is more light, positivity than tragedy. The evening dawn, signifying the fading life, illuminates the evening sky for the last time. Not just illuminates, but creates his farewell, calm and peaceful embroidery. So the lyrical hero intends to calmly accept the last "touch" of his natural life, having adequately completed his earthly path:

Ilem tunar, kunar p?raltyn,

K?ranyde, ?pkelyde.

Kavam kaszhara t?rla gyn,

Cheverlasem chamanide ^{[2, p. 187]}

(I live as long as I'm meant to,

Without envy, without resentment.

If the evening dawn embroider the sky,

I'll say goodbye without pity).

So, natural images in Albert Vasiliev's lyrics occupy a significant place, they are not only a bright emotional background of his works (in this sense, they usually express the psycho-emotional state of the lyrical hero), but also recreate the natural philosophical views of the author and his lyrical hero (in this sense, they are mostly symbolic, projected on human life – external and internal, accumulate both universal and ethnically significant values of the poet). Thanks to the natural images-symbols (phenomena and processes) used by the author in the collection "Red Viburnum on white Snow", Albert Vasiliev's philosophy of nature is highlighted, which is based on nature and power, order and harmony, universal connection and interdependence, the art of dialogue. The lyrical hero, closely connected with nature, lives in human society, deeply imbued with its troubles and joys (in general, Albert Vasiliev is a poet of the socio–philosophical typological variety of modern Mari philosophical lyrics); in this sense, natural images help to proclaim the author's moral and ethical attitudes (honesty, humanity, inner freedom, personal principles). The symbolism of white natural color, highlighted in the collection "Red viburnum on white snow", has an unconditional ethnophilosophical orientation.

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