In the illustration for the poem “The Poet”, the Soviet graphic artist Nikolay Vasilyevich Ilyin depicted Mikhail Lermontov from the right to the left of the spread. The minimalistic composition with a black rectangular frame borders the poet’s half-length black silhouette.
The military uniform and the Caucasian landscape hint at the period of the poet’s second exile to the Caucasus. He is wearing a uniform cap and a coat with an unbuttoned collar. A cape covering his shoulders flutters in the wind.
The poet gazes into the distance straight ahead of him, his demeanor radiates strength and determination. The perspective on the left of the poet’s figure of the poet shows a black silhouette of a mountain, with a thin black crescent above it. Behind the poet’s back, the artist depicted an uneven black cloud. The work was purchased from the artist’s son in 1978.
The poem “Poet” was written by Mikhail Lermontov in 1838. In 1839, it was published in the third section of the second issue of the “Otechestvennye Zapiski” magazine. In this poem, Lermontov reflects on the state of Russian poetry in the post-Pushkin period. So this work can be regarded as Lermontov’s statement expressed in the literary form.
The poem is based on a detailed comparison. Lermontov compares the poet to a dagger, which used to serve its owner truly but now is only a useless and discarded toy. This juxtaposition of a lyrical speaker and a dagger is also present in another Mikhail Lermontov’s poem called “The Dagger”.
The two poems differed in tone. “The Dagger” sets an affirming tone (the hero promises to maintain his inner strength like his “comrade, cold to hand and shining”), while “The Poet” has a more cynical coloring:
The military uniform and the Caucasian landscape hint at the period of the poet’s second exile to the Caucasus. He is wearing a uniform cap and a coat with an unbuttoned collar. A cape covering his shoulders flutters in the wind.
The poet gazes into the distance straight ahead of him, his demeanor radiates strength and determination. The perspective on the left of the poet’s figure of the poet shows a black silhouette of a mountain, with a thin black crescent above it. Behind the poet’s back, the artist depicted an uneven black cloud. The work was purchased from the artist’s son in 1978.
The poem “Poet” was written by Mikhail Lermontov in 1838. In 1839, it was published in the third section of the second issue of the “Otechestvennye Zapiski” magazine. In this poem, Lermontov reflects on the state of Russian poetry in the post-Pushkin period. So this work can be regarded as Lermontov’s statement expressed in the literary form.
The poem is based on a detailed comparison. Lermontov compares the poet to a dagger, which used to serve its owner truly but now is only a useless and discarded toy. This juxtaposition of a lyrical speaker and a dagger is also present in another Mikhail Lermontov’s poem called “The Dagger”.
The two poems differed in tone. “The Dagger” sets an affirming tone (the hero promises to maintain his inner strength like his “comrade, cold to hand and shining”), while “The Poet” has a more cynical coloring:
