Antiochus Cantemir short biography. Antioch Cantemir: biography. Works by Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir. Cantemir's most famous book

The poem “The Prisoner” was written in 1922, when Pushkin was in exile in Chisinau. At this time, he became close friends with M.F. Orlov and the future Decembrists V.F. Raevsky. Orlov took command of the 16th division in 1920. He was militant and planned to take part in the Greek uprising, which, in his opinion, was “part of the plan of the Russian revolution.”

After the defeat of the Chisinau circle, led by M. Orlov, and the arrest of V. Raevsky, Pushkin wrote the poem “The Prisoner.” But in this poem, the poet only partially considered himself a prisoner, especially since he soon had the opportunity to leave Chisinau, where it had become uncomfortable and unsafe.

The theme of this work, of course, was influenced by the poet’s passion for romantic ideas. One of the main themes (almost the leading one) among the revolutionary romantics at that moment was the theme of freedom. Romantic writers described expressive images of a slave, prison, motives for escape, and liberation from captivity. Suffice it to remember, and. The poem “Prisoner” is from the same thematic series.

The plot of the poem was influenced by his trip to the Caucasus, where nature itself suggested romantic subjects, images, paintings and comparisons.

I'm sitting behind bars in a damp dungeon.
A young eagle raised in captivity,
My sad comrade, flapping his wing,
Bloody food is pecking under the window,

He pecks and throws and looks out the window,
It’s as if he had the same idea with me;
He calls me with his gaze and his cry
And he wants to say: “Let’s fly away!”

We are free birds; it's time, brother, it's time!
There, where the mountain turns white behind the clouds,
To where the sea edges turn blue,
Where only the wind walks... yes I!..

You can also listen to Pushkin’s poem “The Prisoner” performed by the wonderful artist Avangard Leontyev.

I'm sitting behind bars in a damp dungeon. A young eagle, raised in captivity, My sad comrade, flapping his wing, pecking at bloody food under the window, pecking, and throwing, and looking out the window, as if he had the same idea with me; He calls me with his gaze and his cry And wants to say: “Let’s fly away! We are free birds; it’s time, brother, it’s time! To where the mountain turns white behind the cloud, To where the sea edges are blue, To where only the wind walks... yes I !.."

The poem “Prisoner” was written in 1822, during the “southern” exile. Arriving at the place of his permanent service, in Chisinau, the poet was shocked by the striking change: instead of the blooming Crimean shores and sea, there were endless steppes scorched by the sun. In addition, the lack of friends, boring, monotonous work and the feeling of complete dependence on the authorities had an impact. Pushkin felt like a prisoner. It was at this time that the poem “Prisoner” was created.

The main theme of the verse is the theme of freedom, vividly embodied in the image of an eagle. The eagle is a prisoner, just like the lyrical hero. He grew up and was raised in captivity, he never knew freedom and yet strives for it. The eagle's call to freedom (“Let's fly away!”) implements the idea of ​​Pushkin's poem: a person should be free, like a bird, because freedom is the natural state of every living creature.

Composition. “The Prisoner,” like many other poems by Pushkin, is divided into two parts, differing from each other in intonation and tone. The parts are not contrasting, but gradually the tone of the lyrical hero becomes more and more excited. In the second stanza, the calm story quickly turns into a passionate appeal, into a cry for freedom. In the third, he reaches his peak and seems to hover on the highest note with the words “... only the wind... yes me!”

KANTEMIR Antioch Dmitrievich, His Serene Highness Prince, Russian statesman, diplomat, Privy Councilor (1741), poet, translator. From the Kantemirov family. Son of D.K. Cantemir. He received a home education that was brilliant for his time. He studied history, ancient Greek, Latin, Italian, French and Russian. Kantemir's teachers were his father, as well as the Greek A. Kondoidi, the German I. G. Fokkerodt and a graduate of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy I. Yu. Ilyinsky. Under the influence of the latter, in 1725 Cantemir translated from Latin the work of the 12th century Byzantine scholar Q. Manasseh, “Historical Synopsis,” and also composed his first work, “Symphony on the Psalter” ( alphabetical index to verses from the psalms; 1727). From 1722 he served in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. Together with his father he took part in the Persian campaign of 1722-23. In 1724 he studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. In 1726-27 he took courses in philosophy and mathematics from professors H. F. Gross and F. H. Mayer, as well as algebra and astronomy from G. Huyssen at the Academic University of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Translated from French: “A Certain Italian Letter Containing a Description of Paris and the French” (1726), “Table of Kebik the Philosopher” (1729), etc. Sharing the ideas of Peter’s reforms, he became close to Archbishop Feofan Prokopovich and joined the so-called scientific squad.

The mood of the “squad” was reflected in the first poetic satires of Cantemir, written in Russian according to the classical models of Horace and N. Boileau. Of Cantemir's 8 satires, the first 5 were written in Russia in 1729-31 and later heavily revised, the 6th-8th - in Paris in 1738-39 (first published in Russian in 1762, before that they were published in French translation in 1749, in German - in 1752). The 9th satire attributed to Cantemir (published in 1858) does not belong to him. The first two satires (“On those who blaspheme the teachings” and “On the envy and pride of evil nobles”) are distinguished by an abundance of topical political allusions, an anti-clerical orientation, and sharp criticism of pre-Petrine antiquity. In them, the author condemned the actions of those representatives of church and secular circles who tried, after the death of Emperor Peter I, to hinder the spread of scientific knowledge in Russia. Considering Peter's Table of Ranks of 1722, Cantemir defended the idea of ​​the physical equality of people and the extra-class value of a person. The 3rd satire (“On the difference in human passions”), practically devoid of political overtones, in the spirit of Theophrastus and J. de La Bruyère, presents a picture of morals, unfolded in a series of characters personifying universal human vices. The satires written by Cantemir in Paris (“On True Bliss,” “On Education,” “On Shameless Insolence”) are predominantly moral and philosophical discussions in which the optimistic views of the early Enlightenmentists on human nature (J. Locke and others) corrected by the pessimistic moral philosophy of ancient stoicism. The complex, sometimes Latinized syntax and free mixture of Church Slavonic and vernacular vocabulary inherent in the style of satire are the result of Kantemir’s desire to create a special poetic language, equally opposed to the language of church bookishness and actual living speech (Kantemir’s literary and theoretical views are set out in his “Letter of Khariton Mackentin to a friend about Composition of Russian Poems", 1742, published in 1744). In 1730, Cantemir translated from French B. Fontenelle’s treatise “Conversations on the Many Worlds” (published in 1740), in which the heliocentric system of the world was defended in a popular form. The translation of the book and notes to it, many of which were included in the work “On Nature and Man” (1743), were of no small importance for the development of Russian scientific terminology. In the early 1730s, Cantemir worked on the poem “Petrida, or a poetic description of the death of Peter the Great” (not finished; published in 1859). A special place in Cantemir’s creative activity was occupied by the publication of the scientific heritage of his father. At his own expense, Cantemir published in London his father’s fundamental work, “The History of the Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Porte” (volumes 1-2; on English language published in London in 1734-35, in French in Paris in 1743, in German in Hamburg in 1755). Cantemir was a supporter of natural law and shared the ideals of the Enlightenment. He defended the idea of ​​equality of people before the law and the court. He believed that all people are born equal, that a person’s character does not depend on nature, it is shaped by upbringing.

After the death of Emperor Peter II (1730), Cantemir acted as an opponent of the “venture” of the supreme leaders and a supporter of autocratic power. He contributed to the accession to the throne of Empress Anna Ivanovna (participated in the drafting and editing of the text of the nobility's appeal to Anna Ivanovna on the restoration of autocracy).

In 1731-33, resident, then minister plenipotentiary (until 1738) in London; negotiated the recognition by the English court of the imperial title of Anna Ivanovna and the appointment of an English ambassador in St. Petersburg. During the struggle for the Polish Succession (1733-35), he contributed to the election of Augustus III to the royal throne. Through the mediation of Cantemir, a trade agreement was signed in 1734 between Russia and Great Britain. In addition to the diplomatic service, Kantemir, on instructions from the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, acquired books, mathematical, physical and astronomical instruments, and invited European scientists to work at the Academy of Sciences.

Minister Plenipotentiary (1738), Ambassador Extraordinary (1739-44) in Paris. There he met S. L. Montesquieu and translated his “Persian Letters” into Russian (the translation has not survived). He was in correspondence with Voltaire and other philosophers and writers of the French Enlightenment. Kantemir took upon himself the organization of contacts between the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and the French Academy. Purchased and sent to St. Petersburg books by French authors, geographical and nautical charts, plans of European cities and fortresses. Contributed to the publication in The Hague of P. Moran's tragedy "Menshikov" (1739). He translated into Russian 22 messages of Horace (partially published in 1744; complete edition - 1867) and 55 poems of Anacreon (1736, published in 1867), prepared his own works for publication, providing them with commentaries (published with a foreword by I. S. Barkov).

He was buried in Paris, in 1745, at the expense of his sister M.D. Cantemir, was reburied in the family tomb in the Church of Saints Constantine and Helena of the Nikolaev Greek Monastery in Moscow (in 1935 the monastery along with the tomb was destroyed).

Works: Works, letters and selected translations. St. Petersburg, 1867-1868. T. 1-2; Collection of poems. L., 1957.

Lit.: Sementkovsky R.I.A.D. Cantemir, his life and literary activity. St. Petersburg, 1893; Alexandrenko V. N. To the biography of Prince A. D. Kantemir. Warsaw, 1896; Maikov L.N. Materials for the biography of Prince A.D. Kantemir. St. Petersburg, 1903; Ehrhard M. Le prince Cantemir à Paris. 1738-1744. R., 1938; Padovsky M. I. A. Kantemir and St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. M.; L., 1959; Graßhoff N. A. D. Kantemir und Westeuropa. V., 1966; Veselitsky V.V.A. Kantemir and the development of the Russian literary language. M., 1974; Bobyne G. E. Philosophical views of A. Kantemir. Kish., 1981; Nikolaev S.I. Difficult Cantemir: (stylistic structure and criticism of the text) // XVIII century. St. Petersburg, 1995. Sat. 19; Bobână Gh. A. Cantemir. Poet, gânditor şi om politic. Chişinău, 2006.

V. L. Korovin, V. I. Tsvirkun.

Born on 10.IX (21.IX).1708 in the city of Constantinople in the family of the ruler (ruler) of Moldavia, died on 31.III. (11.IV).1744 in Paris; buried in Moscow.

Poet, translator, satirist.

During the Russian-Turkish War of 1711, the family of the Gospodar (ruler) of Moldova went over to the side of Peter I and, after the unsuccessful Prut campaign, moved with his family to Russia. Peter highly valued Father Kantemir (“this ruler is a very intelligent man and capable of giving advice”), endowed him with vast estates in the south of Russia and brought him closer to himself. Antioch Dmitrievich, having arrived in Russia at the age of 3, found his true homeland in it. The future satirist received an excellent education, first under the guidance of home teachers, the Greek Anastasius Kondoidi and Ivan Ilyinsky (a student of the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy).

In 1724-25 enters the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, listens to lectures by professors on mathematics, physics, history, and moral philosophy.

In 1725 Antioch Dmitrievich entered military service.

In 1728 he was promoted to lieutenant (the first officer rank).

In 1730, Kantemir, together with other members of the “Scientific Squad” (Feofan Prokopovich and the historian Tatishchev), took an active part in the fight against the well-known “venture” of the reactionary “supreme rulers” - enemies of Peter’s reforms, who tried, upon Anna Ioannovna’s accession to the throne, to limit autocracy in the selfish interests of the nobles oligarchs. The new nobility won this fight, but Cantemir himself did not receive any personal awards.

Cantemir's literary activity began with translations, as well as with the creation of love songs. His love poems were very popular among his contemporaries (as the poet himself testified in his IV satire), but have not reached our time. His first printed work was “Symphony on the Psalter” (an index to verses from the Psalms of David), published in 1727.

In 1730, the poet completed the translation of Fontenelle’s treatise “Conversations on the Many Worlds,” in which Copernicus’ heliocentric system was defended, which dealt a blow to the churchmen. This work was published only in 1740, and in 1756, by decision of the synod, it was confiscated as an “ungodly little book” full of “satanic deceit.” It is characteristic that it was during periods of temporary weakening of the reaction that Kantemirov’s translation of Fontenelle was published twice more (in 1761 after the death of Elizaveta Petrovna and in 1802). Cantemir also penned a number of epigrams and fables, translations of songs (odes) of Anacreon, messages of Horace, “Persian Letters” of Montesquieu, and a theoretical treatise “Letter of Chariton Mackentin to a Friend on the Composition of Russian Poems.” The most significant in the creative heritage of Antioch Dmitrievich are his satires, which brought their author wide literary fame and public recognition.

At the end of 1731, Antioch Dmitrievich was appointed “resident” (diplomatic representative) to London, where he left on January 1, 1732. This appointment was caused by the desire of the ruling circles to remove the dangerous satirist from Russia. For 12 years (6 in England and 6 in France) he worthily defended the interests of Russia abroad, proving himself to be a talented diplomat.

He wrote nine satires: the first five - from 1729 to 1732, the remaining four - in 1738-39. (there are some discrepancies in the dating of satyrs). Cantemir's satires were closely connected with the Russian national satirical tradition and with the genre form of poetic satire, developed by the poetics of European classicism based on ancient models. But the use of classical poetic form satires, partial adherence to “models” (“especially Horace and Boal, a Frenchman”) did not prevent the satirist from filling his works with domestic content (“what he took in Gallic, he patched in Russian” - “Author about himself,” epigram 1) and advanced ideas of his time. Therefore, in his satires, Kantemir not only ridiculed, in the spirit of classicism, abstract universal human vices (bigotry, stinginess, hypocrisy, wastefulness, laziness, talkativeness, etc.), but, what is especially valuable, he exposed many negative aspects of Russian reality.

A passionate advocate of enlightenment, Antioch Dmitrievich primarily attacked representatives of the church and secular reaction who, after the death of Peter, tried to return Russia to the pre-reform order.

Thus, in the polyphonic chorus of “detractors” (enemies) of science from the first satire, Crito “with a rosary in his hands”, a “brainless clergyman”, a bishop united; a judge scolding those “who ask empty-handed”; the rude landowner Silvan, the ruddy drunkard Luka, the new mannered dandy Medor. All these are not just scattered portrait sketches of bearers of ignorance, but a significant and dangerous, socially defined force that “proudly wears a miter... walks in an embroidered dress, judges the red cloth, boldly leads the shelves.”

In the second satire, Cantemir caustically ridiculed the “evil-minded” nobles who demanded ranks and villages for themselves only for the “nobility” of their “breed”, and defended the right of personal merit for people from other classes in the spirit of Peter the Great’s “Table of Ranks”. Moreover, here the poet was one of the first in Russian literature to assert the extra-class value of man -

“Adam did not give birth to nobles, but one child from two

His garden was digging, another was tending a bleating flock.”

and sharply condemned the landowner for cruel treatment of the serf servant. The last episode from the second satire served for V. G. Belinsky as “irrefutable and solemn proof that our literature, even at its very beginning, was a herald for society of all noble feelings, all high concepts.” The scourge of the satirist and the favorite temporary worker, judges and clerks, dandies and dandies, merchants did not escape; Kantemir truthfully and sympathetically depicted the difficult situation of the serf peasant, who dreamed of becoming a soldier, but who could not find relief in soldiering; VII satire Kantemir devoted entirely to issues of education. In satires one can find genre scenes and everyday pictures of a pronounced national character. It is not surprising that the satires of Antioch Dmitrievich, in which social vices were sharply and courageously scourged, were never published during the poet’s lifetime, but became widespread in Russia in numerous copies and, according to M. V. Lomonosov, were “among the Russian people.” accepted with general approval.”

The first Russian edition of his works appeared only in 1762, when his name gained European fame thanks to his prose translation of satires into French(1749,1750) and a free poetic translation of satires on German (1752).

Cantemir's satires are characterized by the widespread use of vernacular, proverbs and sayings, closeness to the spoken language of that time and at the same time excessive complexity and sometimes confusion of syntactic structures, as well as syllabic verse with paired female rhymes. The poet’s conscious desire to write his satires in a “simple and almost folk style”, reducing Slavic elements in them to a minimum, determined the significant role of Antioch Dmitrievich in the history of the Russian literary language.

In the field of versification, his achievements are much more modest. In the treatise “Letter from Khariton Mackentin to a friend on the composition of Russian poetry” (1744), the poet showed great knowledge in matters of the theory of poetry, but did not accept the new “tonic” principle of composition of poetry proposed by Trediakovsky, although he felt the organizing role of stress in the verse, in connection with with which he introduced a syllabic verse into a thirteen-syllable verse, which had one constant stress on the 12th syllable, a second obligatory stress on the 7th or 5th syllable, which gave the thirteen-syllable a certain rhythmicity. The satirist’s work was consciously of a civil nature (“Everything I write, I write as a citizen, discouraging everything that is harmful to my fellow citizens, perhaps,” the poet himself said) and had a great influence on the further development of the accusatory trend in Russian literature .

In G. R. Derzhavin’s inscription to the portrait Kantemir Antioch Dmitrievich it is rightly said: “The ancient style will not detract from his merits. Vice! don’t come closer: this gaze will sting you.”

In the history of Russian literature, Kantemir occupies an honorable place: he “was the first to bring poetry to life” (Belinsky).

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