Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov was born in October 1814. Throughout his life, in his works, he touched on the themes of loneliness, sadness, unrequited love, striving for an ideal, different world. The poem "Three Palm Trees" is no exception: the author opens the reader's eyes to the world, to questions that they do not want to ask out loud.

"Three palm trees" M. Yu. Lermontov wrote in 1838. The editors of the then successful journal Otechestvennye Zapiski published the poem a year later, in 1839.

In the poem, the poet uses the same images from the IX "Imitation of the Koran" by A. S. Pushkin, but the idea and essence of his work have a slightly different direction than Pushkin's motives. The author often argued with his ancestor and literary teacher. He referred to the same themes and images, but interpreted them differently, showing the change of orientations in Russian society.

Genre, direction and size

"Three Palms" is a lyrical ballad - it carries a deep philosophical meaning. The poet wrote it in the form of an oriental parable. Notes of romanticism are clearly traced, as the author strives for an impeccable world, for something ideal and remembers God. In addition, he depicts exotic conditions, which is also characteristic of romantic poets. Rebellion and its tragic end is a typical mood for this direction. The author himself indicated the genre of the tale, hinting at the folklore component of his work, because the plot was taken from an oriental legend.

Lermontov used a four-foot amphibrach, so, thanks to him, the author emotionally tuned readers to the oriental mood and tried to display his intonations. Mikhail Yuryevich uses the sextine rhyme with an adjacent rhyme.

Images and symbols

1. The main characters are palm trees, they have been living for more than one year in an empty, unsociable desert, leading a meek, calm, measured life. They believe that all the time allotted to them by fate was lived in vain, since there was not a single bright event in it, therefore palm trees are angry with God for an unfair attitude towards them. Trees, in their opinion, do not fulfill their purpose - they do not give shelter to travelers. And God heard their murmuring, sent them a caravan, where there were people, and horses, and camels. The heroines met them with dignity, rejoiced, but their desire, satisfied by the Lord, became the cause of their death. This image symbolizes a person who is always dissatisfied with his fate, always expects more from fate, but, in fact, does not know what he wants. He does not think about the consequences of realizing his dream, he does not know what lies behind the beautiful cover. And evil fate punishes him for it.
2. Caravan - a symbol of a dream come true, which was only a mirage, a deception, an illusion. Palm trees idealized him, attributed to him meekness and moderation of appetites, but people turned out to be just people: they cut down trees for their needs, not sparing their ancient trunks. So a person imagines God knows what, but in reality everything does not turn out the way he imagined. The dream takes on terrifying forms of reality, where there is no place for illusions.
3. Kite- a symbol of death, a carrion bird. It completes the picture of the rout that the caravan inflicted.
4. Stream- a symbol of a calm and peaceful life that trees did not appreciate.

Themes and mood

The poet touches upon several burning themes and problems.

1. The main theme is the unattainability of the ideal. No matter how much a person wants, his dream will always be just a dream, it cannot be otherwise. When a wish is fulfilled, it ceases to be a wish. At the heart of any ideal is self-deception.
2. Another main theme is the relationship between man and nature.. People are careless and cruel to the world around us, and no matter how much they want to, they will still consider themselves stronger than it, because nature is defenseless - it cannot take revenge, its fury is blind and random.
3. The author also mentions religious question. When the palm trees begin to get angry at their life to God, he fulfills their request, and makes it possible to live a bright night: they not only gave shelter to travelers, but also warmed them with their warmth. From this example, we can conclude that there is no need to grumble at higher powers, because their craft is unknown to us, and we do not have omniscience, unlike them.
4. Hence follows theme of humility because we should be grateful for what we have.

The basic idea

The poem is a philosophical reflection on the meaning and purpose human life. The purpose of life and its meaning are unknown to us, they remain a mystery that only higher powers can unravel. The author's idea is that it is not worth complaining about fate, it is necessary to carry your cross with dignity and directly, without calling for God's intervention in this process. Everything is going as it should be, everything is predetermined. Rebellion against fate is doomed, and this is also the main idea of ​​the poem.

The poet also raises the question of how to live life: quietly, calmly, helping people year after year, or brightly, but briefly? The palm trees, which had been murmuring against God for a long time, grew measuredly and meekly, but this did not suit them, and they began to complain about God's injustice towards them. Then God gives them the opportunity to live a bright life: travelers came to them, made fun, palm trees bowed their heads in front of them, and later they were broken and used for a fire. Alas, a rich, interesting fate requires sacrifice from a person, it cannot be otherwise.

Means of artistic expression

M. Yu. Lermontov does not limit himself in the means of artistic expression. So, he uses many epithets and metaphors that give the poem an emotional mood: “sonorous stream”, “luxurious leaves”, “proud palm trees”, “barren soil”, “terry head”; "sand spun like a column", "flaming chest".

Comparisons - people - "small children", the caravan "was moving, swaying like a shuttle in the sea." And thanks to personification, the poet does not make it possible to clearly see the lyrical hero, instead of them the reader watches three palm trees dissatisfied with life: “palm trees greet”, “leaves whisper”, tree trunks are “bodies”, leaves are “clothing”, palm trees “fell without life."

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Reading M. Yu. Lermontov's poem "Three Palm Trees", you involuntarily think: have I brought much benefit to the world, or maybe I belong to people who want to bask at the fire of someone else's misfortune? Lermontov created real masterpieces. For example, his landscape lyrics. How vividly he was able to convey the beauty of nature in all its colors, with all its moods! Many of the poet's works are filled with sadness, tragedy, and the author saw the reason for this tragedy in the unfair structure of the world. An example is his poem "Three Palms".
The poem "Three Palm Trees" surprises with its brilliance and power. It also made a great impression on the outstanding Russian critic V. G. Belinsky. “What imagery! - so you see everything in front of you, and once you see it, you will never forget it! A marvelous picture - everything shines with the brightness of oriental colors! What picturesqueness, musicality, strength and strength in every verse...”, he wrote.
In Syria, this poem by Lermontov has been translated into Arabic, and children in schools learn it by heart.

The action takes place against the backdrop of beautiful oriental nature.

Three palm trees
(Eastern legend)

In the sandy steppes of the Arabian land
Three proud palm trees grew high.
A spring between them from barren soil,
Murmuring, breaking through a cold wave,
Stored, under the shade of green leaves,
From sultry rays and flying sands.
And many years silently passed;
But a tired wanderer from a foreign land
Burning chest to the cold moisture
I have not yet bowed under the green booth,
And they began to dry from the sultry rays
Luxurious leaves and a sonorous stream.
And three palm trees began to grumble at God:
“Is that what we were born for, to wither here?
Without use in the desert we grew and bloomed,
Shaken by the whirlwind and the heat of burning,
No one's benevolent, not pleasing to the eye? ..
Yours is not right, oh heaven, a holy sentence!

Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov, real name Shverubovich (1875-1948) - the leading actor of the Stanislavsky troupe, one of the first People's Artists of the USSR (1936).
The Kazan Drama Theatre, one of the oldest in Russia, bears his name.
Thanks to the outstanding qualities of his voice and artistry, Kachalov left a noticeable mark in such a special kind of activity as the performance of works of poetry (Sergey Yesenin, Eduard Bagritsky, etc.) and prose (L. N. Tolstoy) in concerts, on the radio, in recordings on gramophone plates.

Eastern legend

On the sandy steppes of the Arabian land
Three proud palm trees grew high.
A spring between them from barren soil,
Murmuring, making his way through the cold water,
Kept under the shade of green leaves
From sultry rays and loose sands.

And many years silently passed;
But a tired wanderer from a foreign land
Burning chest to the icy moisture
I have not yet bowed under the green booth,
And they began to dry from the sultry rays
Luxurious leaves and a sonorous stream.

And three palm trees began to grumble at God:
“Is that what we were born for, to wither here?
Without use in the desert we grew and bloomed,
Shaken by the whirlwind and the heat of burning,
No one's benevolent, not pleasing to the eye? ..
Yours is not right, oh heaven, a holy sentence!

And just fell silent - in the distance blue
The golden sand was spinning like a pillar,
Bells were heard discordant sounds,
Packs covered with carpets were full of carpets,
And he walked, swaying like a shuttle in the sea,
Camel after camel, exploding sand.

Dangling, hung between hard humps
Patterned floors of camping tents;
Their swarthy hands sometimes raised,
And black eyes sparkled from there ...
And, the camp is thin to the bow of the inclination,
The Arab heated the black horse.

And the horse reared up at times,
And he jumped like a leopard struck by an arrow;
And white clothes beautiful folds
On the shoulders of the Faris curled in disarray;
And, with a cry and a whistle, rushing along the sand,
He threw and caught a spear at a gallop.

Here a caravan approaches the palm trees, noisily;
In the shadow of their cheerful camp spread.
Jugs, sounding, filled with water,
And, proudly nodding with a terry head,
Palm trees welcome unexpected guests,
And the cold stream generously waters them.

But as soon as dusk fell to the ground,
The ax pounded on the elastic roots,
And pets of centuries fell without life!
Their clothes were torn off by small children,
Their bodies were then chopped up,
And slowly burned them until the morning with fire.

When the fog rushed to the west,
The caravan continued on its way;
And after the sad on barren soil
Only gray and cold ashes could be seen.
And the sun burned the dry remnants,
And then they were blown away by the wind in the steppe.

And now everything is wild and empty around -
Leaves with a rattling key do not whisper;
In vain does he ask the Prophet for a shadow -
Only the hot sand carries it,
Yes, the kite is crested, the steppe is unsociable,
Prey torments and pinches over it.

About the poem by M. Yu. Lermontov "Three palm trees"

"Three Palms"- one of the best ballads of Lermontov, imbued with a deep philosophical meaning. The poet painted an unusual epic picture in the poem: there are sands all around, the hot sun is burning, there is heat in the air, there is no vegetation anywhere, except standing alone in the middle of the desert. three palms at the preserved oasis. However, palm trees in the desert are lonely. Their beauty is not visible to anyone and nobody needs it. They, as it seems to them, uselessly live in the bare desert, long and in vain wait for travelers whom they want to drink with icy streams and gently fan them with sheets, giving coolness and rest after a long and exhausting journey. Palm trees, dissatisfied with their fate, began to grumble at God. And God heeded their prayers and their murmurings. Suddenly, a rich caravan, which is picturesquely depicted by Lermontov, approached the palm trees. It would seem that the dream of three palm trees came true: people came to them, quenched their thirst, rested in the shade under the canopy of their leaves. But the travelers behaved like evil and ungrateful creatures. They cut down palm trees and burned them. With the death of the palm trees, the "rattling key", covered with hot sand, also disappeared. Now no one will give the travelers a drink, and they will have nowhere to rest after a difficult journey through the desert. That's the whole plot.

In this picture, Lermontov introduced a poignant personal thought, combining the epic image with its lyrical expression. People did not spare the beauties of nature and treated with contempt even the benefits that it brought to them and could bring in the future. It turns out that no one demanded participation from the palms, no one hoped for their sympathy. People often bring destruction to nature, even against their own interests. Between people and nature, which reveals beauty and wealth to them, deep internal ties are broken.

"Three palm trees", analysis of Lermontov's poem

The poem of the mature period "Three Palms" was written by M. Lermontov in 1838. It was first published in Otechestvennye Zapiski in 1839.

In a poem that is by genre ballad, the poet used a number of Pushkin's images from "Imitation of the Koran", the same poetic size and stanza. However, in terms of meaning, Lermontov's ballad is polemical in relation to Pushkin's poem. The author fills it with philosophical content, putting at the forefront the question of the meaning of human life.

The philosophical meaning of the poem has a clear religious connotation, and the whole poetic parable is saturated biblical symbolism. The number of palms symbolizes the three components of the human soul: mind, feelings and will. The spring acts as a symbol of the spirit that connects a person with the source of life - God. The oasis symbolizes paradise; it is no coincidence that the poet places the action of the ballad in "steppes of the Arabian land": it was there, according to legend, that the Garden of Eden was located. Epithet "proud" in relation to palm trees, it symbolizes human pride and the presence of original sin. "Dirty Hands" and "black eyes" Arabs, chaos and disorder ( "discordant sounds", "screaming and whistling", "exploding the sand") indicate evil spirits. The complete rupture of the human soul with God and its possession by evil spirits is expressed by the line: "Jugs sounding filled with water". The human soul perishes "ax" Moors, and the caravan follows the next victim to the west, the direction opposite to the place where God resides. Revealing the meaning of human life, Lermontov calls to be more attentive to his soul. Pride and rejection of humility, acceptance of what is predetermined by God can lead to tragic consequences - the destruction of both the soul and the body.

In the poem, Lermontov raises and relationship between man and nature: people do not appreciate what nature gives them. They seek to destroy it for the sake of momentary desires or profit, without thinking about the consequences. Condemning people for their consumerist attitude to the world around them, the poet warns that defenseless nature can still take revenge on offenders, and this revenge will be as ruthless and cruel as the actions of people who imagine themselves to be kings of nature.

The poem has ring composition based on receiving an antithesis life and death in the first and last stanzas. The first stanza vividly paints an idyllic picture of a magical oasis in the vast desert. In the last stanza, the oasis becomes "gray and cold" ashes, the stream carries hot sand, and the desert again becomes lifeless, promising the travelers inevitable death. With the help of such an organization of the poem, Lermontov emphasizes the whole tragedy of a person in a catastrophic situation.

Narrative in nature, the work has clear story line. The main characters of the poem are "Three Proud Palms". unwilling to live "useless" and dissatisfied with their fate, they begin to grumble at the Creator: “Your wrong, oh heaven, holy sentence!”. God heard their displeasure, and miraculously a rich caravan appeared near the palm trees. Its inhabitants quenched their thirst "cold water" from the stream, rested in the fertile shade of friendly palm trees, and in the evening they cut down the trees without regret: “The ax pounded on the elastic roots, / And the pets of centuries fell without life!”. Proud palm trees were punished for not being content with their lot, but for daring "murmur at God".

The ballad consists of 10 six-line stanzas written tetrameter amphibrach, three-syllable foot with stress on the second syllable. The poem is distinguished by an acute conflict of the plot, a clear composition, rhythmic organization of the verse, lyrical richness and vivid imagery. Lermontov unusually widely uses various means of expression: epithets (sonorous stream, luxurious leaves, proud palm trees, barren soil, terry head), metaphors (the sand spun like a column, a flaming chest), comparisons(people - "small children", caravan "walked, swaying like a shuttle in the sea"), personifications (the spring made its way, the leaves whisper with a thundering stream, the palm trees greet unexpected guests). Personifications allow you to see in images "proud palms" people who are dissatisfied with their lives. When describing the felling of palm trees, alliteration"r" sound.

In the poem "Three Palms" Lermontov managed to combine the vivid transmission of the beauty of oriental nature in all its colors and the most important philosophical questions that have been of concern to more than one generation.

Answers to questions on the poem Three Palms by Lermonotov

1. Why is the work of M. Yu. Lermontov "Three Palms" designated as an oriental legend and what confirms this genre in the text? What words and expressions convey the oriental flavor of the legend?

Lermontov’s work “Three Palms” is called an oriental legend, because, firstly, its plot really resembles classical oriental legends, and secondly, it shows the spectrum of narration and individual words on an oriental theme: sandy steppes, Arabian land, palm trees, loose sands, desert, carpets, packs, camel, camping tents, swarthy hands, black eyes, Arab, faris, caravan, Prophet.

2. Why do you think three palm trees died? Why were they unhappy? Whom did they grumble at?
3. How did the people from the arriving caravan behave? How does the story end? What did the poet want to say with his work?

2, 3. I think there are two reasons for the death of palm trees: 1) that they grumbled against God; 2) the disruption of internal ties between nature and people.

A person does not think at all about the harm he causes by his actions to nature.

Researchers define the genre of the poem "Three Palm Trees" as a ballad. Do you agree with this definition of the genre? What signs of a ballad do you find in it?

In the poem "Three Palm Trees", named by Lermontov in the subtitle "Eastern Legend", features of the ballad genre appear. This is the harsh masculinity of the plot, its acute conflict, laconism and capacity of the narrative, lyrical richness, clarity of compositional forms, rhythmic organization of the verse. Lermontov, in his later work, creates a ballad-allegory that allows him to pose significant philosophical and socio-historical problems. All these signs are present in the poem "Three palm trees".

 What is the main idea of ​​this piece? In what other poetic texts of Lermontov does it sound?

Lermontov's inner world is characterized by a feeling of an impending human catastrophe. In the ballad "Three Palms" we find similar situations.

(Eastern legend)

In the sandy steppes of the Arabian land
Three proud palm trees grew high.
A spring between them from barren soil,
Murmuring, breaking through a cold wave,
Kept under the shade of green leaves
From sultry rays and flying sands.

And many years passed silently ...
But a tired wanderer from a foreign land
Burning chest to the icy moisture
I have not yet bowed under the green booth,
And they began to dry from the sultry rays
Luxurious leaves and a sonorous stream.

And three palm trees began to grumble at God:
“Is that what we were born for, to wither here?
Without use in the desert we grew and bloomed,
Shaken by the whirlwind and the heat of burning,
No one's benevolent, not pleasing to the eye? ..
Yours is not right, oh heaven, a holy sentence!

And just fell silent - in the distance blue
The golden sand was spinning like a pillar,
Bells were heard discordant sounds,
Packs covered with carpets were full of carpets,
And he walked, swaying like a shuttle in the sea,
Camel after camel, exploding sand.

Dangling, hung between hard humps
Patterned floors of camping tents,
Their swarthy hands sometimes raised,
And black eyes sparkled from there ...
And, leaning towards the bow,
The Arab heated the black horse.

And the horse reared up at times,
And he jumped like a leopard struck by an arrow;
And white clothes beautiful folds
On the shoulders of the Faris curled in disarray;
And, with a cry and a whistle, rushing along the sand,
He threw and caught a spear at a gallop.

Here a caravan approaches the palm trees, noisily,
In the shadow of their cheerful camp spread out.
Jugs sounding filled with water,
And, proudly nodding with a terry head,
Palm trees welcome unexpected guests,
And the cold stream generously waters them.

But as soon as dusk fell to the ground,
The ax pounded on the elastic roots,
And pets of centuries fell without life!
Their clothes were torn off by little children,
Their bodies were then chopped up,
And slowly burned them until the morning with fire.

When the fog rushed to the west,
The caravan made its own way,
And after the sad on barren soil
Only gray and cold ashes could be seen.
And the sun burned the dry remnants,
And then they were blown away by the wind in the steppe.

And now everything is wild and empty around -
Leaves with a rattling key do not whisper.
In vain does he ask the prophet for a shadow -
Only hot sand brings it
Yes, the kite is crested, the steppe is unsociable,
Prey torments and pinches over it.

Analysis of Lermontov's poem "Three Palm Trees"

The poem "Three Palms" was created in 1838 and is a poetic parable, which has a deep philosophical meaning. The main characters of the story are three palm trees in the Arabian desert, where no human foot has yet set foot. A cold stream flowing among the sands turned the lifeless world into a magical oasis, "kept, under the shade of green leaves, from sultry rays and flying sands."

The idyllic picture painted by the poet has one significant flaw, which is that this piece of paradise is inaccessible to living beings. Therefore, proud palm trees turn to the Creator with a request that he help them fulfill their destiny - to become a refuge for a lonely traveler lost in a gloomy desert. From the words are heard, and soon a caravan of traders appears on the horizon, who are indifferent to the beauties of the green oasis. They do not care about the hopes and dreams of proud palm trees, which will soon be destined to die under blows of axes and become fuel for the fires of cruel guests. As a result, the blooming oasis turns into a pile of "gray ashes", the stream, having lost the protection of green palm leaves, dries up, and the desert takes on its original appearance, gloomy, lifeless and promising inevitable death to any traveler.

In the poem "Three Palm Trees" Mikhail Lermontov touches upon several topical issues at once. The first of these concerns the relationship between man and nature. The poet notes that people are cruel by nature and rarely appreciate what the world around them gives them. Moreover, they are inclined to destroy this fragile planet for their own benefit or a momentary whim, not thinking that nature, not endowed with the ability to defend itself, still knows how to take revenge on its offenders. And this revenge is no less cruel and ruthless than the actions of people who believe that the whole world belongs only to them.

The philosophical meaning of the poem "Three Palms" is of a pronounced religious nature and is based on the biblical idea of ​​the processes of the universe. Mikhail Lermontov is convinced that you can ask God for anything. However Will the petitioner be happy with what he gets? After all, if life goes on as usual, as it is destined from above, then there are reasons for this. An attempt to refuse humility and acceptance of what is determined by fate can lead to fatal consequences. And the theme of pride that the poet raises is close not only to him, but also to his generation - reckless, cruel and not aware that a person is just a puppet in someone's hands, and not a puppeteer.

The parallel that Mikhail Lermontov draws between the life of palm trees and people is obvious. Trying to fulfill our dreams and desires, each of us strives to speed up events and achieve the intended goal as soon as possible. However, few people think about the fact that the end result can bring not satisfaction, but deep disappointment, since the goal often turns out to be mythical and does not meet expectations at all. In turn, disappointment, which in the biblical interpretation is called despondency, is one of the greatest human sins, as it leads to self-destruction of both the soul and the body. This is a high price to pay for the pride and self-confidence that most people suffer from. Realizing this, Mikhail Lermontov tries, with the help of a parable poem, not only to understand the motives of his own actions, but also to protect others from the desire to get what is not intended for them. After all, dreams tend to come true, which often turns into a real disaster for those who put their desires much higher than their capabilities.