Your face is so familiar to me as a key image. Alexander Alexandrovich Blok. “Your face is so familiar to me... Analysis of Blok’s poem “Your face is so familiar to me...”

Your face is so familiar to me
It was as if you lived with me.
Away, on the street and at home
I see your thin profile.
Your steps ring behind me,
Wherever I go, you are there
Isn't it you with a light foot
Do you follow me at night?
Aren't you the one slipping past?
As soon as I look in the door,
Half-airy and invisible,
Like a dream?
I often wonder if it's you
Among the graveyard, behind the threshing floor,
I sat silently at the grave
In your cotton handkerchief?
I was approaching - you were sitting,
I approached - you moved away,
She went down to the river and sang...
To your voice the bells
They responded with the evening bell...
And I cried and timidly waited...
But behind the evening chime
Your sweet voice faded...
Another moment - no answer,
A scarf flashes across the river...
But I sadly know that somewhere
I'll see you again.

Analysis of the poem “Your face is so familiar to me” by Blok

Throughout his entire life, Blok’s one and only Muse was his wife, L. Mendeleeva. Their relationship has always been very difficult. The girl did not understand the mystically minded poet and married him more out of pity. The marriage turned out to be unhappy. Mendeleeva left Blok, then returned again. Both had numerous affairs on the side. If the cycle “Poems about a Beautiful Lady” was entirely dedicated to Mendeleeva, then the recipients of Blok’s further love lyrics have not yet been precisely established. In 1908, the poet wrote the poem “Your face is so familiar to me...”, leaving behind another mystery.

The main distinguishing feature of the work is its simplicity and sincerity. Blok broke with mysticism long ago. His poems became more accessible and soulful.

The lyrical hero addresses an unknown woman who seems to be familiar to him. He constantly feels her presence, tries to spot her among passers-by, hears the sound of her steps and voice. The most accurate description of Blok himself is “half-airy and invisible.”

According to one version, this is L. Mendeleev. Blok started many affairs, but only to satisfy natural needs. From the very beginning he treated his wife as a deity. Even after many years, the image of the Beautiful Lady hovered in his imagination. L. Mendeleeva turned out to be too “earthly,” but Blok still believed that the Eternal Femininity lived in her, which would someday manifest itself.

There is an opinion that Blok depicted death in the image of a stranger. The early fascination with mysticism could not be in vain. The poet was a very nervous and impressionable person, finding secret (usually bad) omens in everything. The suicide attempt and the bloody events of 1905 greatly influenced Blok. He may well have been afraid of imminent death. It is characteristic that in the work the stranger appears before the lyrical hero sitting on a grave, and “the bells responded” to her voice.

Blok leaves the most important question for the finale. Throughout the entire work, he addressed the unknown with positive intonations: “with a light foot”, “like ... a dream”, “sweet voice”. One gets the feeling that the lyrical hero longs to finally meet her (“and I cried and timidly waited”). But, anticipating an inevitable meeting, he says: “I know sadly.” The bitterness from such an anticipated event seems rather strange. Most likely, the poet really means his supposed death, which, although terrible for every person, eliminates all earthly suffering.

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok

Your face is so familiar to me
It was as if you lived with me.
Away, on the street and at home
I see your thin profile.

Your steps ring behind me,
Wherever I go, you are there
Isn't it you with a light foot
Do you follow me at night?
Aren't you the one slipping past?
As soon as I look in the door,
Half-airy and invisible,
Like a dream?
I often wonder if it's you
Among the graveyard, behind the threshing floor,
I sat silently at the grave
In your cotton handkerchief?
I was approaching - you were sitting,
I approached - you moved away,
She went down to the river and sang...
To your voice the bells
They responded with the evening bell...
And I cried and timidly waited...
But behind the evening chime
Your sweet voice faded...
Another moment - no answer,
A scarf flashes across the river...
But I sadly know that somewhere
I'll see you again.

Lyubov Mendeleeva

However, in Blok’s creative heritage there are works that are addressed to the mysterious stranger. Among them is the poem “Your face is so familiar to me...”, written in 1908.

Despite the fact that by this time many other women had appeared in Blok’s life, none of them is the heroine of this work. Researchers of the poet’s work are inclined to believe that the author created a literary image of death, endowing it with the features of a living woman. Addressing her, Blok notes that the face of this stranger is very familiar to him. “It was as if you lived with me,” the author emphasizes, drawing attention to the “thin profile” of her heroine and her light gait. The poet admits that he is inseparable from this person, she is always there. “Aren’t you the one who follows me with a light foot at night?” asks Blok, although he himself knows the answer to his question very well.

The poet is not destined to see the one who is always nearby, but he not only feels her presence, but can even describe what this uninvited guest looks like. She appears to the author as a rather young person in a simple chintz scarf, whom he once met in a cemetery. This girl “sat silently on the grave,” and then got up and left - “went down to the river and sang.” However, her voice reminded the poet of the ringing of bells, and this association, in turn, gave rise to an invisible connection between the world of the living and the dead, which, as the poet himself was already convinced, really exists despite all materialistic worldviews.

Blok knows very well that the image of the death girl was not accidentally born in his imagination. If we take into account the fact that the poet had the gift of foresight, then it is not at all difficult to draw a parallel between this poem and tragic events 1909, when Blok lost his father and adopted son. Anticipating this, the author notes: “But I sadly know that somewhere else we will meet you.” And he is not deceived in his expectations. It is noteworthy that exactly 13 years after writing this poem (a very symbolic date!) Blok himself will personally meet with death. However, we are not given the opportunity to know exactly in what image she appeared before the poet and whether she met his expectations in terms of the fact that all these years she was a kind of shadow of this extraordinary person.

“Your face is so familiar to me...” Alexander Blok

Your face is so familiar to me
It was as if you lived with me.
Away, on the street and at home
I see your thin profile.
Your steps ring behind me,
Wherever I go, you are there
Isn't it you with a light foot
Do you follow me at night?
Aren't you the one slipping past?
As soon as I look in the door,
Half-airy and invisible,
Like a dream?
I often wonder if it's you
Among the graveyard, behind the threshing floor,
I sat silently at the grave
In your cotton handkerchief?
I was approaching - you were sitting,
I approached - you moved away,
She went down to the river and sang...
To your voice the bells
They responded with the evening bell...
And I cried and timidly waited...
But behind the evening chime
Your sweet voice faded...
Another moment - no answer,
A scarf flashes across the river...
But I sadly know that somewhere
I'll see you again.

Analysis of Blok’s poem “Your face is so familiar to me...”

Alexander Blok’s only muse was his wife Lyubov Mendeleeva, whose marriage did not work out for a number of reasons. Nevertheless, it was to this woman that the poet dedicated the vast majority of his lyric poems. However, in Blok’s creative heritage there are works that are addressed to the mysterious stranger. Among them is the poem “Your face is so familiar to me...”, written in 1908.

The poet is not destined to see the one who is always nearby, but he not only feels her presence, but can even describe what this uninvited guest looks like. She appears to the author as a rather young person in a simple chintz scarf, whom he once met in a cemetery. This girl “sat silently on the grave,” and then got up and left—“went down to the river and sang.” However, her voice reminded the poet of the ringing of bells, and this association, in turn, gave rise to an invisible connection between the world of the living and the dead, which, as the poet himself was already convinced, really exists despite all materialistic worldviews.

Blok knows very well that the image of the death girl was not accidentally born in his imagination. If we take into account the fact that the poet had the gift of foresight, then it is not at all difficult to draw a parallel between this poem and the tragic events of 1909, when Blok lost his father and adopted son. Anticipating this, the author notes: “But I sadly know that somewhere else we will meet you.” And he is not deceived in his expectations. It is noteworthy that exactly 13 years after writing this poem (a very symbolic date!) Blok himself will personally meet with death. However, we are not given the opportunity to know exactly in what image she appeared before the poet and whether she met his expectations in terms of the fact that all these years she was a kind of shadow of this extraordinary person.