A man of exceptional intelligence, enormous willpower, ebullient creative energy, and an indefatigable thirst for activity, Lomonosov believed that everyone’s duty is to work tirelessly for the benefit of society, for the good of the people, and if necessary, heroically give their life in the name of the Motherland, the triumph of their favorite ideas . He wrote:
What is the use of the fact that in deep old age
And in the darkness of ignominy they end a long century!
With kindnesses rise to the heights of high praise
And a man was born to die gloriously.
These exciting lines written by Lomonosov can be used as an epigraph to his own extraordinary fate and unparalleled creative activity.
The son of a Pomor fisherman, Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov spent the first nineteen years of his life in the far North, in the village of Denisovka, near the shores of the White Sea. His childhood years forever imprinted majestic pictures of harsh polar nature in Lomonosov’s consciousness and gave him an excellent knowledge of fairy tales, epics, and proverbs with their living folk language. Fishing trips with his father developed physical strength and endurance in the boy. The feelings of independence and personal dignity characteristic of the inhabitants of Pomerania, not suppressed by serfdom, constituted the most precious trait of his character.
Fourteen-year-old Lomonosov managed to get textbooks on grammar and arithmetic from one of his fellow villagers. He literally memorized these books, which he later called “the gateway to his learning,” and passionately wanted to continue his studies. And so, secretly from his father, attached to one of the convoys, he gets to Moscow and, having overcome numerous obstacles, enters the then school - the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. The ridicule of his schoolmates - the “little kids” - at the “twenty-year-old idiot” who “came to study Latin” and his meager existence on three kopecks a day do not stop Lomonosov. Discovering brilliant abilities, incredible perseverance and hard work, he passes three classes at once in one year.
It is not surprising that when in 1736 the school authorities received a decree to send to the university at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences “good youths who would have sufficient knowledge of sciences suitable for decorating the mind,” the choice fell on Lomonosov. In the same year he was sent from St. Petersburg to Germany to master mining. Abroad, Lomonosov studies exact sciences, philosophy, foreign languages and masters all the achievements of contemporary scientific thought. In 1741, Lomonosov returned to his homeland and began working at the Academy of Sciences.
In 1745, he became a professor of chemistry, an academician and, despite the opposition of the German administrators entrenched in the academy - “enemies of Russian sciences”, he carried out tireless scientific and literary activities, brilliant in their results. To promote the development of domestic science, Lomonosov achieved the creation of the country's first Moscow University, which now bears his name.
Lomonosov himself was a scientist of encyclopedic scope. Pushkin, saying that Lomonosov “experienced everything and penetrated everything,” had the right to call it “our first university.” Lomonosov made a number of outstanding scientific discoveries in various fields of knowledge - chemistry, physics, astronomy.
Along with work in the field of exact sciences, with persistent studies of Russian history, Lomonosov’s fundamental work in the field of the Russian language, literary theory and practice took place. During Lomonosov’s school years, syllabic versification (from the Greek word meaning “syllable”), alien to the nature of the Russian language and folk poetry, was dominant. The poet was only required to maintain the same number of syllables in all lines and to put a rhyme at the end of the line. Such poems were almost devoid of rhythm and musicality. This was already felt by Lomonosov’s senior contemporary, the poet and philologist (philology is the science of language and literature) Trediakovsky. He drew attention to the rhythm-forming role of stress in Russian folk poetry and began to construct poems with a strictly consistent alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables.
So the syllabic system began to be replaced by the syllabic-tonic (from the Greek word tone, meaning "emphasis"). However, Trediakovsky’s transformation affected only long (eleven and thirteen-syllable) poems. Of the poetic meters, he recognized only two-syllable ones: trochee, consisting of a sequential alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, and iambic, formed, on the contrary, by alternating first unstressed and then stressed syllables.
However, Trediakovsky believed that iambic was of little use for Russian versification.
Lomonosov accepted basically Trediakovsky's principle, but, being a bold innovator and following the nature of the Russian language, he extended it to all types of verse. In the same way, he considered it possible to use, along with two-syllables, three-syllable poetic meters: dactyl, amphibrachium, anapest.
Lomonosov especially appreciated the iambic, considering this measure to be the most cheerful and energetic. It was in iambic that Lomonosov’s laudatory ode was written in 1739, glorifying the valor of the Russian troops who took the Turkish fortress of Khotyn. This work, filled with ardent patriotic feeling, written in verse of unprecedented sonority, swiftness and strength, opened a new era in the history of Russian poetry. Odes, which were, as it were, solemn, oratorical speeches in verse, henceforth became Lomonosov’s favorite poetic genre. In them he sang the eternal glory of the heroes, the greatness, power and inexhaustible riches of his native country, and glorified the heroic character of the Russian people.
Lomonosov personifies his “beloved mother” - his homeland in the guise of a sovereign mistress, her head touching the clouds, her elbow resting on the Caucasus Mountains, and her legs stretching to the borders of China. Glorifying the military triumphs of Russia, Lomonosov at the same time persistently emphasizes the peacefulness of the Russian people, who draw the “truthful sword” only in order to establish peace everywhere - “beloved silence.” The poet passionately calls for the development of the natural resources of his native country, for the inculcation of education, and the development of the arts and sciences.
One of the most common words in Lomonosov’s poetic dictionary is the word the science. Enthusiastic praise of science is one of the main themes of Lomonosov's poetry. From generation to generation, Russian schoolchildren have memorized Lomonosov's famous lines about the sciences that “nourish the young” and “give joy to the old.” In one of the odes, the poet lists those areas of scientific knowledge that he especially values for their importance for the development of the country, increasing its strength and wealth:
Into the bowels of the earth you, Chemistry,
Penetrate your gaze with sharpness
And what Russia contains in it,
Dredges reveal the treasures...
The Science of Light Meteors,
Foretell changes in the sky
And the stormy noise of air disputes
Show through the right signs:
So that ratai can choose time,
When to trust the earth with seed
And when I give rest to the reins,
And so that, without fear of the weather,
Peoples walked far with wealth
To Elizabeth's shores.
Lomonosov's poetic calls for the development of domestic sciences were supported by his own scientific activities, which in turn found inspired support and protection in his poems. This is, for example, Lomonosov’s poetic message “On the Benefits of Glass.”
With enormous poetic power, a new scientific perception of the world and the cosmos, opposing naive church-medieval ideas about nature, is revealed in two “Reflections” by Lomonosov. In “Morning Meditation,” the poet describes the sun as it should appear to the human gaze approaching it:
Then all countries would open up
The eternally burning ocean.
There are fiery shafts rushing
And they don’t find the shores,
Fiery whirlwinds swirl there,
Fighting for many centuries;
There the stones, like water, boil,
The burning rains there are noisy.
The poet sees the “countless suns” of the immeasurable spaces of the infinite universe, peering into the star-strewn sky:
An abyss full of stars opened;
The stars have no number, the abyss has no bottom...
Lomonosov, like no one before him, felt the enormous possibilities hidden in the Russian language, its “natural abundance, beauty and strength.” However, these possibilities have not been widely used. The literary language still remained the medieval, Church Slavonic language, divorced from living, colloquial speech. Both the literary language and colloquial speech were clogged with an excessively large number of foreign words.
To bring literary and colloquial speech closer together to ensure the integrity and independence of the national Russian language - this is what Lomonosov’s efforts were aimed at. And he managed to do a lot in this regard.
In order to bring a certain order to the literary language, it is reasonable to limit the use of Church Slavonic and foreign words and phrases, Lomonosov distributed the entire vocabulary of the Slavic-Russian language into three groups - “calms”, attaching to each of them certain literary types (genres).
He completely excluded Church Slavonic words, which were outdated and had become incomprehensible, from literary speech. Those of them that were “intelligible to Russians” were allowed to be used mainly in the so-called high genres - ode, heroic poem, etc., which, due to their special solemnity and elation, were separated from simple, everyday speech. On the contrary, literary works whose content is closer to life - dramatic works, satires - had to be written in a “middle style” - a language less bookish, closer to colloquial. Finally, for “describing ordinary affairs,” composing comedies, epigrams, songs, and friendly messages, one should use “low calm,” in which common words could also be used. Unnecessary foreign words – barbarisms – were also expelled from the language.
The division of the literary language into “three calms,” sharply delimited from each other, was associated with the theory of classicism and subsequently began to constrain writers. Karamzin took the next step in improving the literary language. The work of Pushkin opened up full scope for the free development of the language of fiction, who basically continued and developed the work begun by Lomonosov on the creation of the Russian national language.
The literary activity of the brilliant poet-scientist - his poetic creativity, his work in the field of language and verse - was of exceptionally great importance for the development of Russian literature. It is not for nothing that V. G. Belinsky called Lomonosov “Peter the Great of Russian literature.”
Biography. M.V. Lomonosov was born in 1711 into the family of a wealthy peasant on the Northern Dvina in the village of Denisovka. Here he lived until 1730. In his native village, Mikhail Lomonosov learned to read and write, and here his passion for science developed. His reference books were: “Arithmetic” by Magnitsky, a poetic arrangement of the psalter of Simeon of Polotsk, a grammar of the Church Slavonic language by Smotritsky, etc. In December 1930, Lomonosov went to Moscow to study. He managed to enter the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. There he learned Latin, became acquainted with ancient and Renaissance literature, with the basics of logic and philosophy. He mastered the Church Slavonic language to the subtleties and received good philological training. However, he was not satisfied with the level of education at the academy; in 1734 he went to Kyiv, but even there he did not receive what he was striving for. In 1736, he and several students were sent to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, from where he soon went to Germany. There Lomonosov studied philosophy, physics, mechanics, mathematics and chemistry. It was in Germany that Lomonosov took up poetry seriously. Of course, back in Moscow he wrote syllabic verses, but now he became acquainted with the works of Trediakovsky (he treated them with irony) and witnessed the dying of the Baroque in Germany and the emergence of classicism. However, classicism did not completely captivate him: he was against the dryness of style, the rejection of fantasies and observations of concrete reality. Lomonosov’s attention was also attracted to the issue of versification, and he began to work on expanding Trediakovsky’s reform (the principle of tonic verse). Firstly, he allowed for serious genres not only female, but also masculine rhyme, and secondly, not only trochee, but also other meters, especially iambic. In 1739, he wrote an extensive solemn ode to the Russian victory over the Turks and the capture of the Khotyn fortress. In 1740, due to disagreements with one of the professors, Lomonosov left completely without money and was forced to wander around Germany and Holland, but soon he was called to St. Petersburg. He gets a place in the Academy of Sciences, where he works for the rest of his life. In 1745, simultaneously with Trediakovsky, he received the title of academician. Lomonosov worked in the field of all sciences known in his time: he was a philosopher, physicist, chemist, metallurgist, geographer, biologist, astronomer, philologist... Lomonosov initiated the founding of Moscow State University. His last years were difficult. Catherine 2, who ascended the throne in 1762, was suspicious of him, considering him a supporter of Elizabeth. He was removed from the leadership of the Academy of Sciences. Tired of excessive work and nervous tension, Lomonosov died in 1765. , 53 years old.
Poetry of Lomonosov. For Lomonosov, poetry was not a personal matter, but part of his educational social activities. Personal lyrics (obviously, in 1739 he wrote about love in the spirit of German anacreontics) disappear from his poetry after returning to Russia, and the themes of state building and enlightenment come to the fore.
The main type of Lomonosov's poetic creativity was the solemn, or laudable (Pindaric) ode. Odes occupy the largest place in the collection of his poems and concentrate his main achievements in the field of poetics.
The solemn ode, as we know it from the work of Lomonosov, is an extensive poem consisting of many stanzas (10 verses each). Their writing and publication were most often timed to coincide with official celebrations: birthdays, accession to the throne, etc. empress. During these days, Lomonosov made poetic statements about the ideas that he wanted to introduce into the consciousness of his contemporaries and, above all, into the consciousness of the country's leaders. Each of these odes could contain several topics, which generally provided a poetic overview and generalization of the tasks facing the country and its conquests. Enthusiastic praise of the Empress and glorification of her occupied a large place in the odes.
It must be pointed out that the stable character of Lomonosov's odes with their specific thematic structure, with their stable stanza of ten lines of iambic tetrameter, with their unique majestic and intense style, was Lomonosov's own creation.
Political concept of Lomonosov's odes. The basis of Lomonosov’s political thinking was the idea of “enlightened absolutism.” He believed that an absolute monarch stands above interest in the affairs of any of the social groups of the state under his control, and that the state structure of the country depends on the will and reason of the monarch-legislator. Therefore, as soon as the monarch frees himself from the influence of obscurantist priests and feudal oppressors, as soon as he understands the true tasks of the state, he will be able to issue wise, good, fair laws, and the state will prosper. And so, the task set for themselves by the enlighteners of the 18th century was to open the eyes of not only peoples, but also kings. It seemed to Lomonosov that since Peter’s own daughter was sitting on the throne, she would continue her father’s work. He waited, he hoped that the impetus given to Russia by Peter would be followed by further, no less grandiose, transformations. He encouraged this movement forward, took upon himself the responsibility of propagating the truth, explaining to the queen her duties, serving as her teacher and inspirer. Lomonosov's tragedy was that life constantly and cruelly crushed his hopes for the autocrat. Lomonosov was convinced that the Russian monarchy did not want to be “enlightened” and could not be imbued with his ideals. And then he decided that if it was impossible to hope for the enlightenment of Russian absolutism, then with the support of the monarch he himself would cope - not with political reforms, of course, but with the tasks of enlightening the country. That is why in his odes Lomonosov spoke on behalf of the government. His odes are manifestos of the enlightened power that Lomonosov dreamed of, and not Elizabeth Petrovna. Thus, his most famous ode “On the day of accession, not the throne of Elizabeth Petrovna, 1747.” Lomonosov began with an enthusiastic hymn to peace, bringing prosperity to the country and peace to the people. Lomonosov praises Catherine for the fact that, having ascended the throne, she soon ended the war with Sweden. Meanwhile, it was at the moment of creating the ode that Elizabeth was going to send Russian troops to help Austria, England and Holland, who were fighting a coalition of German states.
The idea of “enlightened absolutism” determined the predominance of the theme of depicting an ideal monarch in Lomonosov’s odes. First, Elizaveta Petrovna appears as such an ideal ruler, then Katerina 2. Over the course of tens of hundreds of poems, Lomonosov praises and extols empresses, returning to this topic again and again. Of course, there was a share of obligatory compliments here, but Lomonosov does not set out to portray and exalt a specific tsar or autocrat. In his odes, he paints a high, noble image of the ideal monarch he dreams of, from whom he expects the bliss and progress of Russia. The task of panegyric as a cultural reality is not to praise (“A donkey will remain a donkey, even if you shower it with stars” - G.R. Derzhavin), but to reveal the qualities of a monarch inherent in him in the world of ideas. Such eulogies could only exist in a society that recognized the existence of hyperreality. Of course, the image created by Lomonosov, which so clearly exceeded all the real capabilities of genuine Russian autocrats, served them as a lesson, and partly as a reproach. Lomonosov, as an educator, was not afraid to teach tsars.
The theme of the ideal monarch acquires particularly significant content from Lomonosov where he talks about Peter 1. Peter is his favorite hero, sung by him in many genres. For Lomonosov, Peter contained many features that were truly characteristic of his ideal idea of an enlightener-tsar, and therefore served as proof of the possibility of realizing the ideal. Portraying Peter, Lomonosov showed him as a hard worker, a worker on the throne, who devoted his life to narrowing the state, tirelessly striving for the common good, forgetting about himself; it was the image of the country’s enlightener, a reformer who had renounced antiquity and was paving new paths for his country. The hymn to Peter's glory was to be the epic poem "Peter the Great", from which Lomonosov wrote only two songs. The first tells about Peter’s campaign to the North, which put the Swedish fleet to flight from Arkhangelsk; in the second song, Peter, on the way from the White Sea to St. Petersburg, “examines the mountains and, noticing signs of ores and healing waters, is going to found factories,” then Peter’s capture of Noteburg (Shlisselburg) is described in detail.
Research by N.Yu. Alekseeva was shown that Lomonosov printed the odes at his own expense => he wrote them not to order, but at his own request.
Lomonosov has only 20 Pindaric odes dedicated to the state system. Reason: these are works of large volume, the stress when writing them is too great. Besides, Lomonosov already said everything he wanted.
Themes from Lomonosov's odes. The greatness of Peter, the greatness of the ideal monarch in general was for Lomonosov, as it were, a symbol of the greatness of Russia itself. The glory and benefit of Russia is, in essence, the main, and in the end, the only generalizing theme of almost all of Lomonosov’s poetic work. Also, his favorite topic of glorifying the sciences was at the same time the topic of glorifying the future progress of Russia. Moreover, Russia is not just a country. In a way, this is the whole world (“a fifth of the whole earth”, i.e. a fifth of the world).
Lomonosov and the church. Lomonosov's scientific and educational activities placed him in a complex and hostile relationship with the church. Lomonosov was not, and could not have been, an atheist at that time. On this issue he draws closer to the deists, for whom God is the principle of the life of nature, its law. This attitude towards religion is quite clearly reflected in the so-called. “spiritual odes” of Lomonosov, i.e., mainly in his poetic transcriptions from the Bible.
Lomonosov's scientific activity was a heresy, an undermining of the foundations of church teaching. In turn, Lomonosov in the mid-1750s. writes the poem “Hymn to the Beard,” where the sting of the satirical song was directed against the Russian clergy, against their ignorance, greed, hostility to knowledge and science. Of course, no one could be deceived by the indications that the “Anthem” was directed against schismatic Old Believers.
Lomonosov style. Lomonosov's poetic activity took place in the era of classicism. Of course, Lomonosov could not help but submit to the inertia of this powerful style, its civic ideals, its centralizing worldview associated with the organizational role of absolutism in European countries. But basically, in the very essence of the artistic method, Lomonosov’s poetry cannot be called classicist. The rationalistic view of reality, the logical nature of dry classical semantics, and the fear of fantasy that underlie classicism are alien to him. All this could not be acceptable to Lomonosov the dreamer, the creator of grandiose visions of the future, and not a systematizer of the present. The titanic images of the ideal, characteristic of Lomonosov, lead us to a generalization of the ideal aspirations of humanity in the art of the Renaissance. Lomonosov was the last representative of the European tradition of Renaissance culture in poetry. The pathos of Lomonosov's ode, its grandiose scope, its bright metaphorical manner bring it closer to the art of the Renaissance.
The style of Lomonosov's odes, majestically solemn, elevated, magnificent, corresponded to that feeling of national uplift, pride, that feeling of greatness and victory of Russian statehood, which were the result of Peter the Great's time in the minds of the best people of the mid-18th century. Lomonosov believed that one cannot speak about the lofty ideals of state building in the same way as they speak about ordinary, everyday things. Therefore, he distinguished high poetic speech from practical everyday language. He considered the virtues of poetic speech to be “importance”, “splendor”, “exaltation”, etc. In accordance with this task, Lomonosov develops in detail in his “Rhetoric” (1748) the doctrine of the development of verbal themes. He believes that it is necessary to enrich speech by all means, to “spread” it. Lomonosov gives practical advice on how to compose an extensive period phrase. Each word-theme must be surrounded by a network of dependent verbal themes, which serve as material for the correct construction of the pattern of a branched phrase, creating the impression of all-encompassing greatness. In Lomonosov, the richness of each verse group distracts from the “backbone” of the structure – the “dry ode”. Lomonosov considers the “decoration” of it, the figure and the path, to be an essential element of literary speech. These techniques are considered in Rhetoric as a necessary measure of elegant style. The question of the intonation organization of the ode: the oratorical word should be organized according to the principle of greatest literary richness. It is also recommended to introduce the so-called. “florid speeches”, i.e. “sentences in which the subject and predicate are combined in some strange way, and thereby constitute something important and pleasant.” The word departs from the main sign of meaning. Flowery speeches are born from “moving things to an indecent place.” At the same time, the ornate organization of the ode breaks with the nearest associations as the least influential. The connection or collision of the words “distant” creates an image. The usual semantic associations of the word are destroyed, and instead there is a semantic breakdown. The trope is recognized as a “perversion.” Lomonosov’s favorite technique is to combine words that are distant in lexical and subject terms (“A cold corpse and the cold stinks”).
The epithet is often transferred from a neighboring lexical series (“Victory sign, scorching sound”).
The predicate is hyperbolic and does not correspond to the main feature of the subject (“In the abyss his trace burns”).
The abundance of Slavicisms and Biblicalisms in Lomonosov’s odic speech supports the general atmosphere of a solemn style.
The choice of words in Lomonosov's lofty style is characteristic, corresponding to his plan to speak about great things in majestic language. For him, the emotional flavor of a word is sometimes more important than its narrowly rational meaning (“There the horses with stormy legs fling up thick ashes to the sky...”). Words are selected based on their emotional aura.
Lomonosov is characterized by a bold metaphorization of speech, the purpose of which is to merge all elements of the image into a unity of emotional tension.
The emotional uplift of Lomonosov's odes is compositionally centered around the theme of the lyrical delight of the poet-ode writer himself. This poet, present in all odes to Lomonosov, is not Lomonosov himself. His image is devoid of specific individual human traits. Earthly objects cannot appear to the gaze of this poet, whose spirit has soared to the superhuman greatness of the history of the people. Specific objects, themes, feelings appear in the form of allegories, generalized to the limit. The ode is composed of a series of pathetic and allegorical pictures. There are no non-living characters in the ode.
The intonational meaning of “questions” and “exclamations” is important. The declamatory originality of the ode lies in the combination of the principle of changing interrogative, exclamatory and narrative intonations with the principle of intonational use of a complex stanza.
Odic delight is an indispensable condition of the ode, necessary to bring the reader into a specific state.
In the ode you can find 3 types of periods: round and moderate (distribution of three syntactic wholes across three sections of the stanza: 4+3+3); unsteady (undistribution of syntactic wholes across three sections); detachable (distribution of syntactic integers across lines). Within one ode, the periods varied so that “their changes would be pleasant.” The first stanza received particular importance as a given intonation structure, then there was a gradual variation, an increase in variations and, at the end, a decline either to the beginning or to equilibrium.
The canonical type of odic stanza: aAaAvvVssV (a, b, c – female rhymes, A, B – masculine). Serman: the stanza expresses some complete thought, which can continue only after several stanzas.
Rhymes are not sound similarities of final syllables, but sound similarities of final words (and it is the semantic brightness of the sounds that is important, and not the uniformity of the final syllables: “brega - trouble”).
A(splendor, depth and height, sudden fear);
e, i, Ђ, yu(tenderness, deplorable or small things);
I(pleasantness, amusement, tenderness, inclination);
oh, uh, s(scary and strong things, anger, envy, fear);
k, p, t, b’, g’, d’(actions are dull, lazy, have a dull sound)
s, f, x, c, w, r(actions are great, loud, scary);
g’, h’, c, l, m, n, b(gentle and soft actions and things).
In addition to grammatical intonation, oratorical intonation also played an important role in Lomonosov’s odes. He left gestural illustrations in application to poetry, i.e. the word received the meaning of a stimulus for a gesture.
The semasiologicalization of word parts is characteristic. The beginning of a speech is a combination of a consonant(s) with a vowel with which a word begins (wonderfulbottom). The word grows into a verbal group, the members of which are connected by associations arising from rhythmic proximity.
The word is surrounded by a related linguistic environment due to the semasiologiza- tion of individual sounds and groups of sounds and the application of the rule that an “idea” can develop in a purely sound way. Often sonically condensed lines turn into sound metaphors (“Only our regiments can be heard splashing”).
Lomonosov's Ode is a verbal construction, subordinate to the author's instructions. Poetic speech is sharply separated from ordinary speech. The oratorical moment became decisive and constructive for Lomonosov’s ode. Lomonosov's odes are harmonious (Pushkin: “tedious and inflated”). Despite the excessive pomposity of the style, all images are meaningful, everything is proportionate, and the same principles are used.
It must be emphasized that the odic style was not the only style developed by Lomonosov. He knew how to write differently, without any artificial embellishment or deliberate splendor of speech. He knew how to write poetry and prose in simple, lively, ordinary and at the same time vivid Russian language. But he believed that only those works that are of an everyday, comic or satirical nature should be written this way.
Much more simple than in Lomonosov’s solemn odes is his poetic language in “spiritual” odes and in his transcriptions of psalms. Psalter in the 18th century. was very loved by readers as a collection of lyrics, in the bright colors of oriental poetry, depicting the melancholy of a man of high spirit, surrounded by bad people, indignant at the untruth that triumphs in the world. This is exactly how Lomonosov understood the Psalter. His “translations” of the psalms are his lyrics. Here Lomonosov appears before us as a son of the fatherland and a scientist, glorifying the greatness of his ideal, the greatness of his god, his nature. A victorious hymn to the courage of the virtuous, an angry rebuke to the vicious - such is the lyrical pathos of Lomonosov’s spiritual odes.
In the famous “Ode Selected from the Forge,” God appears in Lomonosov as the creator of wondrous and miraculous phenomena, who enters into an argument with man and proves his power to him precisely through pictures of a majestic creation. The main idea of the book of Job is the need to rise up, to abandon oneself as a point of reference. Yu.M. Lotman: Lomonosov specifically shows in this ode that the whale and the hippopotamus are creations of God, and not incarnations of the devil, in order to refute the witchcraft processes, because it was believed that Satan copulates with witches in one of these guises.
Speaking about Lomonosov's transcriptions from the Bible, two circumstances should be pointed out: firstly, Lomonosov does not accurately reproduce the sacred text, interpreting it in his own way; secondly, he relies in this genre on a fairly strong tradition (in particular, Jean-Baptiste Rousseau). Perhaps it is precisely this influence that can explain the greater simplicity, lightness, and clarity of the language of Lomonosov’s spiritual odes compared to the solemn odes. However, the theme, more “human” than state, also played a significant role here.
A special section of Lomonosov’s poetic creativity consists of “inscriptions of praise.” These are mostly short poems (written in Alexandrian verse) intended to be placed either at the foot of a sculpture or to explain the allegorical light paintings, illuminations and fireworks displayed by the government on solemn “royal” days. In the “inscriptions” Lomonosov expressed political maxims that were relevant at that moment in slogan form.
It is also impossible not to mention Lomonosov’s poetic translations from the ancients. Thus, he made an elegant translation from Anacreon “In the darkness of the night...”, in which Lomonosov creates a manner of “light poetry”; the poem is written in pure Russian speech, alien to Slavicization and metaphysical tension. The translation of the so-called is written in a higher style. “Monument” by Horace (iamb without rhyme). This was the first Russian “Monument”.
Lomonosov also had to act as a playwright. Having received an order from the Empress to write a tragedy, Lomonosov created “Tamira and Selim”, taking as the plot the motif of the story about the Massacre of Mamayev. In 1751, he also commissioned another tragedy, “Demophon,” based on a plot from ancient mythology. Both of his tragedies were mainly written according to the rules of classicism. Their artistic value is insignificant.
It used to be believed that Lomonosov was rather poor as a poet. Research led by E.V. Khvorostyanova showed that he has many different methods of versification. There are about 1.5 texts per rhythmic-metric model.
Lomonosov and language. To improve the Russian literary language, Lomonosov’s theoretical works on philology and his literary practice were of great importance. In this sense, Lomonosov’s scientific works on literary theory and linguistics are remarkable. Of the former, the central one is “Rhetoric” (1748), of the latter – “Russian Grammar” (1757). Lomonosov's "Grammar" was the first scientific description and systematic study of the living Russian language. She introduced into the literary and even conversational practice of the literate population the principle of organization, correctness of speech, and a certain normalization of it.
Of fundamental importance for understanding the problem of Russian literary style, style, and poetic language was Lomonosov’s article “Preface on the benefits of church books in the Russian language.” Lomonosov considers the historical basis of Russian speech to be the Church Slavonic language, which unites all the diversity of dialects of the national language. Then Lomonosov puts forward the idea that through the Church Slavonic language, Russian culture adopted the high traditions of Greek, ancient and Byzantine culture. This makes the Church Slavonic language especially significant for Russian literature, a reservoir of ancient cultural values and, moreover, not in the least separated from the national element of the Russian language, as was the case with Latin for Western languages. Based on this concept, Lomonosov sets out his theory of the “three calms”. He divides all words of the Russian language into three groups. The first of them is words common to Church Slavonic and Russian languages ( god, glory, hand, now, honor), the second is “words that, although they are still used little, are intelligible to all literate people” ( I open, Lord, planted, I cry), the third is purely Russian words ( I say, a stream, which, for now, is only). “From the judicious use of these three types of sayings, three calms are born: high, mediocre and low. The first is compiled from the sayings of the first group. “Heroic poems and prosaic speeches on important matters should be composed in this calm manner. The middle calm should consist of sayings that are more common in the Russian language, where you can take some Slavic sayings and low words, but with great caution. In this style, write all theatrical works, poetic friendly letters, eclogues and elegies. Low calm accepts utterances of the third kind.” They need to write “comedies, entertaining epigrams, songs, friendly letters, descriptions of ordinary affairs.” Thus, the difference in styles is based, according to Lomonosov, on the linguistic difference in the vocabulary layers of the Russian language. Lomonosov includes Slavicisms in the Russian language, as its integral heritage, enriching it. At the same time, he considers it necessary to do this only with those Slavicisms that have entered the linguistic consciousness of a literate Russian person. At the same time, Lomonosov simultaneously legitimized with his theory (and practice) the use of the living Russian language in literature.
Lomonosov also developed both theoretically and practically his attitude towards borrowings in the Russian language. He fought against the contamination of the Russian language with foreign language, but considered it necessary to introduce words from the international language of science into the Russian language.
Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilievich - one of the greatest Russian poets and scientists (1711 - 1765). “I respect Lomonosov as a great man, but, of course, not as a great poet,” wrote Pushkin; “Between Peter I and Catherine II, he alone is an original supporter of enlightenment. He created the first university; It is better to say that it itself was our first university.” Putting forward the great merits of Lomonosov in the history of Russian science and Russian education, Lomonosov’s activities as the “Russian Pindar”. In the matter of the general spiritual - and at the same time literary - revival of Russia, Lomonosov was the direct successor of Peter the Great. With his various scientific works, as well as with his poetic works, Lomonosov gave Peter's reforms a living, factual application in the field of literature and science. The son of a White Sea peasant fisherman, who somehow ended up in an educational institution as a 20-year-old “boob”, Lomonosov in his further activities at the same time acts as a physicist, chemist, geologist, poet, speaker, philologist, historian, even publicist. To implement Peter's ideas, gigantic forces were found in Lomonosov. There is extremely scant information about the first years of Lomonosov’s life. He was born on November 8, 1711, in the village of Denisovka, Arkhangelsk province, Kholmogory district, into a fairly wealthy peasant family. His father was engaged in fishing and often made large sea trips. Lomonosov's mother, who died very early, was the daughter of a deacon. The father, according to his son, was a kind man by nature, but “raised in extreme ignorance.” Of Lomonosov’s two stepmothers, the second was “evil and envious.” The best moments in Lomonosov's childhood were, apparently, his trips to the sea with his father, which left an indelible mark on his soul. The frequent dangers of swimming strengthened the young man’s physical strength and enriched his mind with various observations. The influence of the nature of the Russian north is easy to see not only in Lomonosov’s language, but also in his scientific interests: “issues of the northern lights, cold and heat, sea travel, sea ice, reflection of marine life on land - all this goes far deeper, into first impressions young Pomor "... He was surrounded by legends about the great deeds of Peter the Great, of which quite a few have been preserved in the north. Lomonosov learned to read from his mother and received a desire to read; later, apparently, she was supported by the Pomors-Old Believers. Early, apparently, the consciousness of the need for “science”, knowledge, arose in Lomonosov. For him, the “gates of learning” are the books he obtained from somewhere: “Grammar” by Smotritsky, “Arithmetic” by Magnitsky, “Poetic Psalter” by Simeon of Polotsk. Lomonosov left for Moscow with his father’s knowledge; one of the local peasants even vouched for the payment of taxes for him; but, apparently, his father let him go only for a short time, which is why he was later listed as “on the run.” Lomonosov joined the “Spassk Schools”, that is, the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in 1731 and stayed there for about 5 years. From a letter from Lomonosov that has reached us to I.I. Shuvalov can see what physical hardships, what mental struggle Lomonosov had to endure during his stay at the academy. Scientifically, it brought him considerable benefit: he not only acquired a taste for scientific pursuits in general, but studied the Latin language, became familiar with the “science” of that time in general, albeit in the usual scholastic form of various “piitik”, “rhetoric” of that time. and "philosophies". Another happy fact of Lomonosov’s early life was the challenge from the Academy of Sciences of 12 capable students from the Spassky Schools. In 1736, three of them, including Lomonosov, were sent by the Academy of Sciences to Germany to study mathematics, physics, philosophy, chemistry and metallurgy. Lomonosov spent five years abroad: about 3 years in Marburg, under the leadership of the famous Wolf, and about a year in Freiberg, with Hennel; He spent about a year moving around; by the way, he was in Holland. From Germany, Lomonosov brought back not only extensive knowledge in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and mining, but to a large extent also a general formulation of his entire worldview. At Wolf's lectures, Lomonosov could develop his views in the field of the then so-called natural law, in matters relating to the state. In June 1741, Lomonosov returned to Russia and was soon appointed to the Academy as an adjunct of chemistry. In 1745, he applied for permission to give public lectures in Russian; in 1746 - about the recruitment of students from seminaries, about the multiplication of translated books, about the practical application of natural sciences. At the same time, Lomonosov intensively conducted his studies in the field of physics and chemistry, publishing a long series of scientific treatises in Latin. In 1749, at a ceremonial meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Lomonosov pronounced “A Word of Commendation to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna,” which was a great success; from this time on, Lomonosov began to enjoy great attention at the Court. He becomes close to Elizabeth's favorite I.I. Shuvalov, which creates a lot of envious people for him, led by Schumacher. With a close relationship with Shuvalov, Schumacher’s machinations are no longer scary for Lomonosov; He also gains great influence in the Academy. Under the influence of Lomonosov, the opening of Moscow University took place in 1755, for which he drew up the initial project, based on the “institutions, laws, rituals and customs” of foreign universities. Scientists, Lomonosov argues, are needed “for Siberia, for mining, factories, preservation of the people, architecture, justice, correction of morals, merchants, unity of pure faith, agriculture and weather forecasting, military affairs, travel to the north and communication with the orient.” " At the same time, Lomonosov’s classes in the Geographical Department are underway; under the influence of his essay: “On the northern route to the East Indies by the Siberian Ocean,” an expedition to Siberia was prepared in 1764... Among these tireless labors, Lomonosov died on April 4, 1765. Shortly before his death, Empress Catherine visited Lomonosov, “with what to give favored the new Highest assurance of his true love and care for the sciences and arts in the fatherland” (“St. Petersburg Gazette”, 1764). At the end of his life, Lomonosov was elected an honorary member of the Stockholm and Bologna Academies of Sciences. - Lomonosov married abroad, in 1740, in Marburg, to Elisabeth Zilch. Lomonosov's family life was apparently quite calm. Of the children after Lomonosov, only daughter Elena remained, who married Konstantinov, the son of a Bryansk priest. Her descendants, like those of Lomonosov’s sister, still exist in the Arkhangelsk province. Lomonosov is buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Already Pushkin emphasized the extraordinary diversity of Lomonosov's works. “Lomonosov embraced all branches of education. The thirst for science was the strongest passion of this soul, filled with passions. Historian, rhetorician, mechanic, chemist, mineralogist, artist and poet, he experienced everything and penetrated everything.” The difficulty of Lomonosov’s position was that he, like Peter the Great, had to do ten things at once - “give lectures”, and “do new experiments” (in physics and chemistry), and “give public speeches and dissertations”, and “to compose various poems and projects (inscriptions) for solemn expressions of joy (for illuminations and fireworks)”, and “to compose rules of eloquence”, and “the history of one’s fatherland” - and all this in addition “to set for a period.”
Even people who were close to science and education, his closest comrades at the academy, even his immediate deputies in the academic department did not understand or appreciate Lomonosov’s works. They started talking about Lomonosov only 90 years after his death and started talking for the first time at Moscow University, when they had to remember that Lomonosov was its founder... Proper attention was paid to Lomonosov’s works only in 1900, when it was 150 years since the founding of the first Russian chemical laboratory, which was created, was again Lomonosov" ("Lomonosov Collection"). Lomonosov tried to turn his “science”, first of all, and most of all, into serving the living needs and needs of the “Russian world” and the “Russian people”. Lomonosov argued, for example, “that we have no natural Russians, no pharmacists, and there are few doctors, as well as skilled mechanics, mountain people, lawyers and other scientists, lower than the professors themselves in the Academy itself and in other places”; it is necessary to “recruit students from seminarians”, “to send natural Russian students to foreign lands to complete their studies”, to admit everyone to education without distinction of class, to take care of the multiplication of translated books. “In all European states,” he writes, “it is allowed for people of all ranks to study in academies, not excluding the children of townspeople and peasants, although there are already a great many learned people there. And here in Russia, at the very beginning of science, this source is already locked by the regulations under paragraph 24, where it is prohibited to admit those on a capitation salary to the university. As if forty altyn was such a great and heavy sum for the treasury that it would be a pity to lose it to acquire a natural scientist of Russia.” To what extent Lomonosov generally stood with his “science” on the basis of reality, to what extent the famous writer, who came from the people, “sincerely loved his people and wished them happiness, understanding what it consisted of” - this is shown by his numerous articles on issues of a purely social nature, a whole series of projects that have survived only partially, mostly in fragments, in draft papers, sometimes not at all surviving and known only from random mentions. These are: “Discourse on the reproduction and preservation of the Russian people”, “On the extermination of idleness”, “On the correction of morals and the enlightenment of more people”, “On the correction of agriculture”, “On the correction and reproduction of crafts and arts”, “On the best benefits merchants", "On better state economy", "On the preservation of military art during long-term peace." The surviving treatise “On the Reproduction and Preservation of the Russian People” reveals the full breadth of Lomonosov’s understanding of social issues. He proves that in order to increase the number of people born (“for the most abundant fertility of those giving birth”) it is necessary: 1) to eliminate marriages between persons of inappropriate years; 2) abolish forced marriage, forced marriage; 3) repeal the law prohibiting marriage more than three times; 4) cancel the tonsure of young widowed priests and deacons as monks, and prohibit the laity from accepting monasticism until the age of 45-50. To preserve those born, it is necessary: 5) to establish “almshouses” to receive illegitimate children, 6) to fight diseases of newborns; 7) eliminate the harmful custom of baptizing infants in cold water; 8) fight the intemperance of the Russian people and promote by all means a more reasonable way of life that does not have too harmful an impact on human health; 9) fight disease by providing adequate medical care; 10) fight, if possible, with the causes of death from pestilence, fire, drowning, freezing, etc. (I.K. Sukhoplyuev “Lomonosov’s views on population policy,” in “Lomonosov Collection”), Lomonosov proves that the great Our fast falls “at the most unhealthy time of the year, because the cruel nature of the north is not taken into account here.” He talks about the complete absence of doctors in Russian villages, “from which the mortality rate especially increases,” about “frequent and great fires,” about “fights among the people, robberies, drunkenness,” about the oppression of schismatics, about conscription, from which Russian people flee for border. The treatise shows, as rightly noted, “how well Lomonosov knew Russian life, in what clear images it rose before us.” In the works of the brilliant peasant, Russian literature immediately rose to the height of broad, conscious service to Russian society and the Russian people.
A scientist-encyclopedist, a reformer of Russian versification and one of the greatest poets of Russian literature of the 18th century ("Peter the Great of Russian literature" - in the words of V. G. Belinsky), a talented artist, educator and public figure who managed to raise Russian science to an unprecedentedly high level, - these are the main services of Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov to Russia, and these services are extremely significant; few of his predecessors and followers can boast of such outstanding achievements, and this despite the fact that Lomonosov’s life cannot be called long; he lived for a little more than half a century.
The life story of Lomonosov became widely known, “how the Arkhangelsk man, by his own and God’s will, became intelligent and great” (N. Nekrasov). It is only necessary to note that this man, who began studying at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy at the age of twenty, continued to remain a student all his life, greedily striving for new knowledge in various branches of science, he also sought to express himself in art, first of all - in verbal art.
While studying abroad, Lomonosov composed “Ode to the victory over the Turks and Tatars and to the capture of Khotin in 1739,” in which he embodied his understanding of what Russian verse should be and accompanied it with a theoretical justification for the need to introduce syllabic-tonic versification as the most fully corresponding to the “natural property of our language” entitled “Letter on the rules of Russian poetry,” developing the innovative ideas of V. K. Trediakovsky about the reform of Russian versification, expressed by him in his work “A New and Brief Method for Composing Russian Poems” (1735). Perhaps Lomonosov’s theoretical research would not have been received as it deserved, but his poetic activity became the best proof that the syllabic-tonic system of versification is in fact the most natural form of poetic creativity for the Russian language, most fully expressing the nature of this language .
Lomonosov brought his theoretical principles to life in works, the genre nature of which fully corresponds to the era of classicism that dominated the literature and art of Russia in the 18th century. His favorite genre was the ode, in which the poet managed to achieve significant heights thanks to his ability to fill the traditional form with living, close and understandable poetic content to his contemporaries. According to the accepted tradition, Lomonosov’s odes glorified the most significant events of contemporary history; they were dedicated to the “first persons” of the state, for which they used appropriate vocabulary, appeal to mythology, extensive historical excursions, comparisons and exquisite rhymes, a special “odic stanza” consisting of ten poems with a special way of rhyming. It should be said that Lomonosov primarily “used” his odes to attract the attention of those in power to issues of education, science and culture, to help their development and prosperity. He did a lot to strengthen the authority of the Russian Academy of Sciences; it was largely thanks to his efforts that a university was opened in Moscow in 1755, which over time became one of the largest educational institutions in Europe. And to achieve all this, Lomonosov actively used poetic activity.
In addition to great achievements in the ode genre, Lomonosov created tragedies ("Tamira and Selim", 1750; "Demophon", 1752), in which, using imitative material traditional for classicism, he tried to resolve the most pressing issues of our time, he began work over the heroic poem "Peter the Great" (the first two songs were created in 1760-61), in which he glorified the historical figure who was for him a model of service to his country and its people. A special place in Lomonosov's poetic work is occupied by satirical poems, in which he caustically, with great success, ridicules the negative aspects of his contemporary reality. True, such “success” sometimes had to be paid quite dearly: the poem “Hymn to the Beard” caused enormous discontent among the church authorities and even persecution of the author by the Synod. Lomonosov was also the first in Russian poetry to turn to the theme of the monument (a free translation of Horace's ode included in Rhetoric), which later became one of the central themes of Russian poetry.
In fact, Lomonosov's poetry became for the literature of the 18th century an example of citizenship, poetic skill, skillful use of traditional poetic forms in combination with an innovative approach to what would later be called the unity of form and content. Those transformations that Lomonosov carried out “in word and deed” became fertile ground for the subsequent development of Russian literature, and his inspired poetic lines forever remained in the history of Russian literature and culture as brilliant examples of using the capabilities of the Russian language in poetic creativity.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov is a very interesting and versatile personality. This is one of the first Russian scientists about whom the whole world started talking. His contribution to the development of science is quite difficult to overestimate. If you set a goal to list all the achievements of this outstanding person, then there will not be enough pages. The life and work of Lomonosov is replete with various events that have become significant not only for Russian, but also for world science and culture. Founder of the most famous university in the country, teacher, physicist, astronomer, chemist, geologist: this is how we can briefly characterize the iconic person in our history. In this article we will try to consider the most significant moments in his life, as well as reveal Lomonosov’s personality.
Mikhail Lomonosov was born in 1711, on November 19, in the village of Mishaninskaya. Now this is the outskirts of the Arkhangelsk region. Residents of this region are very proud that a man was born on this land who changed the minds of many people with his discoveries and achievements.
Vasily Dorofeevich, who was Mikhail’s father, was a native of the Pomors. These are the people who managed to avoid serfdom. His mother's name was Elena Ivanovna. She was the daughter of the churchyard mallow baker. It is worth noting that the Lomonosov family was among the wealthy. The men especially loved to go fishing, as they had fishing vessels. Mikhail Lomonosov's creativity began to manifest itself in his childhood years, when he was learning to read and write.
The boy loved to read and spent all his free time with books. Fellow villagers happily gave the contents of their library to Lomonosov. It is worth noting that after reading the book, he always gave it away. Some became a starting point for him. He especially liked Magnitsky's Arithmetic, as well as Smotritsky's Grammar. We can say that Lomonosov’s work gradually began to sparkle with new colors. The boy’s cherished dream was to continue his studies and gain new knowledge.
Mikhail's childhood proceeded calmly until a tragedy occurred: his mother died. At this time the boy had just turned nine years old. His father married another woman, with whom Mikhail’s relationship did not work out right away. Some time later, the stepmother died, and then the father brought a third woman into the house. The latter was the most envious and angry towards the boy. His home became a stranger to him, and staying there became real hard labor. From this moment the era of creativity of M.V. Lomonosov begins.
The young guy always helped his father in the fields, because he did not want to return home to his second stepmother. Soon dad decided to marry his son, but Mikhail was categorically against this event. Citing illness, he persuaded his father to postpone the wedding, and he himself came up with an escape plan. The life and work of M. V. Lomonosov is eventful, but the trip to Moscow is the most famous and defining.
In 1730, along with a caravan, the future outstanding scientist left his native place and went alone to the largest city in the country. He chose Moscow for personal reasons, and he was right. This event can be called an escape, since no one even knew about the possibility of such an act. Mikhail Lomonosov managed to take with him some clothes and his favorite books. He was able to catch up with the caravan only a few days later, and then they moved together. After three weeks of an exhausting journey, Mikhail arrived at his destination, and from here Lomonosov’s work originates.
As you already understand, Mikhail was far from being an ordinary person; he could adapt to any situation and come out of it with honor. In 1731, he managed to enter the oldest educational institution - the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. Lomonosov pretended to be the son of a nobleman; he had to forge some documents in order to be able to study.
At the age of 20, a young man came from a small village to the largest city and immediately found a home. This was probably the most difficult period in his life. A miserable existence, constant letters of reproach from his father, and ridicule from classmates could not break the thirst for knowledge of an outstanding person.
Many books and articles have been written about the biography and work of Lomonosov. At the Academy, he was an exemplary student, studied competently, and never gave anyone a reason to doubt his attitude. The management of the educational institution became interested in such a student, and, as a result, Mikhail managed to master the program of several classes at once in a year.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov is a truly outstanding person who achieved everything through his work and diligence. As the best student, he was sent to study abroad in Germany. In total, he spent five years outside Russia, three of which he spent at the University of Marburg. The encyclopedist Christian von Wolf had a significant influence on Lomonosov's work. There Mikhail became acquainted with different languages, including German, French and Italian.
In addition, he mastered a whole list of sciences: from physics to aerometry. Lomonosov sincerely loved to study, which was expressed in all his actions and deeds. As soon as he had money, he immediately bought a huge number of books and spent all his free time reading them. He lived for a year in Freiburg, where he studied chemistry thoroughly. For another year, Mikhail wandered around Europe, trying to return to his homeland, and he achieved his goal.
Speaking about the peculiarities of Lomonosov’s creativity, we can note his desire to be ahead of his time. It is worth saying that he did this successfully. The founder of the whole science of colored glass is our outstanding scientist. In 1748, he opened a chemical laboratory, which became the first in Russia. There he conducted countless experiments, including using glass.
The experiments were bound to yield results sooner or later, which is exactly what happened. Thus, Mikhail Vasilyevich was able to develop the technology of colored glass. Using this development in industrial cooking, he could create products from this material. Simultaneously with the great discovery, the greatest scientist worked on creating his own theory of light. The work of Mikhail Lomonosov is quite multifaceted, because he studied a huge number of sciences during his life, and even founded some on his own.
One of the scientist’s main passions was astronomy. Experimentally, Lomonosov managed to create several dozen special optical devices. He used them to observe space. As other prominent people later noted, Mikhail Vasilyevich was able to be far ahead of his time, and became the first Russian opto-mechanic.
May 26, 1761 is a landmark date for astronomy as a science. That day, while observing space, Lomonosov made another discovery. He was not the first to notice the glare of light around Venus, but only Mikhail Vasilyevich correctly interpreted this phenomenon. Lomonosov argued that the planet was surrounded by an air shell, and the accuracy of his conclusion shocked scientists of that time and beyond.
Mikhail Vasilyevich gave his first public lecture in 1742. He was then thirty-one years old, and he was already considered a teacher of the highest category. Lomonosov’s work cannot be considered in isolation from the context of Russia’s first university. Probably the most significant contribution to history took place in 1755, when Moscow State University was opened. Currently, the educational institution annually accepts students from all cities of the planet. This university is considered the most prestigious in the country, and it was founded by the hero of our story.
A person with enormous talent in the fields of science also wrote works? It's hard to believe, but it's a fact. Considering the life and work of Lomonosov, one never ceases to be amazed at his abilities and aspirations for knowledge. Mikhail Vasilyevich was best at writing odes, some of which were published. Also, the writer Lomonosov has two tragedies to his credit, as well as a huge number of different poems for all occasions.
Lomonosov's creativity in literature reached its peak when he wrote odes to significant events, such as the accession to the throne of Catherine II. There was something unusual in his works, although, as a poet, Mikhail Vasilyevich never received world fame. The combination of scholarship and naturalism added some zest to the works that could not be found in other poets.
Lomonosov's creativity did not soften his harsh temperament. Contemporaries claimed that Mikhail Vasilyevich had enormous physical strength and could easily beat any objectionable person. There was even one case where assault led to a trial and short imprisonment. Only one situation is known, but knowing the character of the scientist, we can assume that there were many of them.
The most famous story that happened to him was recorded on Vasilyevsky Island. At night, Lomonosov was walking calmly until he was attacked by three drunken sailors. A fight broke out, as a result of which two ran away, and Mikhail Vasilyevich knocked the third to the ground and asked several questions. During the conversation, it was found out that the sailors wanted to rob a man, but they attacked the wrong person. Lomonosov took all the sailor's clothes and went home.
As you know, while a student, Lomonosov lived abroad for some time, namely in Germany. In the city of Marburg, twelve of the best students moved into apartments rented out by Elisabeth-Christina Zilch. After living there for some time, Lomonosov met the owner’s daughter, Elizaveta. The age difference between them was almost nine years, but this did not stop them from getting married.
At the end of 1739, Elizabeth was already carrying a child from Mikhail Vasilyevich. Soon a daughter, Catherine, was born, but according to the law she was considered illegitimate. We have already said that Lomonosov really wanted to return to Russia. When he succeeded, Elizabeth was pregnant again. A son was born, who was named Ivan.
A series of events occurred as a result of which Elizabeth was able to find Mikhail Vasilyevich in Russia. He did not deny the fact of marriage. The couple moved to St. Petersburg, where they lived happily. However, this did not last long; another tragedy occurred in the family. In 1743, Catherine, the first daughter of Mikhail Vasilyevich and Elizabeth, died.
Lomonosov's creativity is so multifaceted that a whole book could be written. In this article we tried to touch on the most complex and interesting topics. Many people still consider Lomonosov the greatest scientist, and not without reason.
