Passerby, you look like me. Analysis of Tsvetaeva’s poem “You look like me”: a brief description of the work

You're coming, looking like me,
Eyes looking down.
I lowered them too!
Passerby, stop!

Read - night blindness
And picking a bouquet of poppies,
That my name was Marina
And how old was I?

Don't think that there is a grave here,
That I will appear, threatening...
I loved myself too much
Laugh when you shouldn't!

And the blood rushed to the skin,
And my curls curled...
I was there too, a passerby!
Passerby, stop!

Pluck yourself a wild stem
And a berry after him, -
Cemetery strawberries
It doesn't get any bigger or sweeter.

But just don't stand there sullenly,
He lowered his head onto his chest.
Think about me easily
It's easy to forget about me.

How the beam illuminates you!
You're covered in gold dust...
- And don’t let it bother you
My voice is from underground.

The poem “You’re coming, you look like me...” (1913) is one of the most famous in Tsvetaeva’s early work. The poetess often surprised her readers with her original views. This time the young girl imagined herself long dead and addressing a random visitor to her grave.

Tsvetaeva calls on a passerby to stop and reflect on her death. She doesn't want to be mourned or pitied. She considers her death an inevitable event to which all people are subject. Describing her appearance during life, the poetess reminds the passerby that they once looked alike. The grave should not evoke a feeling of fear or danger in him. Tsvetaeva wants the visitor to forget about the grave ashes and imagine her alive and cheerful. She believes that the death of a person should not be a grief for the living. An easy and carefree attitude towards death is the best memory and tribute for the dead.

Tsvetaeva believed in an afterlife. The poem reflected her belief that after death a person will be able to look at his final refuge and somehow influence the attitude of living people towards him. The poetess wanted the cemetery to be associated not with a gloomy and sad place. In her mind own grave should be surrounded by berries and herbs that can please the eyes of visitors. This will distract them from the feeling of irrevocable loss. The dead will be perceived as souls who have passed on to another world. In the last lines, the poetess uses a vivid image of the setting sun, showering the passerby with “gold dust.” It emphasizes the feeling of peace and tranquility that reigns in the cemetery.

Tsvetaeva believed that a person will continue to live as long as his memory is preserved. Physical death does not lead to spiritual death. The transition from one world to another should be perceived easily and painlessly.

Many years later, the poetess voluntarily gave up her life. By that time she had experienced many disappointments and losses and was unlikely to share her earlier views. Nevertheless, suicide became a conscious and deliberate step. Having lost all hope for earthly life, Tsvetaeva decided that it was time to check the existence of the afterlife. The poetess's posthumous recognition largely justified her hopes for immortality.

The analysis of Tsvetaeva’s poem “You’re coming, you look like me” has important when studying the work of this poetess, who left a bright mark on Russian literature. In her works, themes of mysticism and philosophy occupy a special place. The author had a heightened perception of life and death, and this theme was reflected in her most famous works. Marina Ivanovna often thought about her death or the loss of people close and familiar to her, so the idea of ​​her own death received a very dramatic and at the same time bright sound in her works.

Introduction

The analysis of Tsvetaeva’s poem “You Come, You Look Like Me” should begin with a mention of the date of its writing. It was created in early period her creativity, when romantic mood dominated her worldview. This also affected the content of the verse in question. First, the poetess addresses all those who will live after her death. The collective image of all these people is an unknown passerby who accidentally passes by her grave.

Marina Ivanovna immediately emphasizes the similarities between herself and this stranger, drawing attention to the fact that she, too, once lived a serene life, without thinking about anything. She points out that she, too, once looked down in thought and calls on this person unknown to her to stop at the grave and think about her.

Description of the grave

An analysis of Tsvetaeva’s poem “You’re coming, you look like me” proves the poetess’s specific perception of the end of her life path. From the further text the reader learns that the gloomy perception of death was alien to her. On the contrary, she emphasizes that flowers should grow on her grave - night blindness, stalks of wild grass and strawberries.

Such a picture of a cemetery immediately evokes sad but bright thoughts about death. The poetess deliberately creates such an image of the cemetery, wanting to emphasize that there is nothing terrible, gloomy or frightening in death. On the contrary, she is very optimistic and encourages the unknown passerby to treat everything he sees freely and easily - the way she once treated life and her destiny.

Conversation with a passerby

The analysis of Tsvetaeva’s poem “You Come, You Look Like Me” focuses on the dialogue between the poetess and a stranger. However, it would be more accurate to say that the verse itself is an extended monologue of the poetess about life and death. The reader learns about the behavior and reaction of the unknown from the short remarks of the poetess, who calls not to be afraid of the grave or death, but, on the contrary, to think about it easily and without sadness. The heroine of the poem immediately takes on a friendly tone, wanting to win over the passerby.

Judging by the further continuation of the conversation, she succeeds. The stranger stops and ponders over the grave. First of all, Marina Ivanovna encourages him to pick some flowers, eat strawberries and read the inscription about the life of the one who lies in the grave near which he stopped.

Story about life

In Tsvetaeva’s poem “You Come, You Look Like Me,” an important place is occupied by the story of the life of the deceased. The author depicts her fate in just a few sentences. According to the author, the deceased woman was cheerful, had a carefree character, and loved to laugh. These character traits are reminiscent of Marina Ivanovna herself. She emphasizes that the deceased woman was a rebel by nature, as she loved to laugh where it was impossible. Therefore, the author urges the passerby not to be sad over the grave, as is customary, but to smile and simply think something good about the deceased.

The image of the heroine and the passerby

The main theme of the poem “You Come, You Look Like Me” by Tsvetaeva is a discussion about life and death. An important role in revealing this idea is played by the disclosure of the image. dead woman, with which the poetess associates herself. Her appearance remains undisclosed; the reader only learns some details, which nevertheless allow him to understand her better. Marina Ivanovna only mentions the curls that grew unruly around her face, as if emphasizing her obstinate and stubborn disposition. In addition, the description of a smile is of particular importance in the work, which gives a light and relaxed tone to the entire verse.

The idea of ​​Tsvetaeva’s poem “You Come, You Look Like Me” is revealed closer to the end. It is in the last quatrain that the author shows his attitude towards the memory of descendants. From the final part of the verse it is clear that she does not expect recognition, fame or honor. She just wants to be remembered sometimes as a woman who lived her life easily and freely. She clearly does not want her name to be respected; she likes to have some unknown person remember her at her grave kind words. That is why the image of an unfamiliar passerby is described in very light colors. The author emphasizes that it is flooded sunlight, despite stopping at the grave. So, the poem in question is one of the most famous works of the poetess, in which the theme of mysticism became decisive.

“You’re coming, you look like me...” Marina Tsvetaeva

You're coming, looking like me,
Eyes looking down.
I lowered them too!
Passerby, stop!

Read - night blindness
And picking a bouquet of poppies, -
That my name was Marina
And how old was I?

Don't think that this is a grave,
That I will appear, threatening...
I loved myself too much
Laugh when you shouldn't!

And the blood rushed to the skin,
And my curls curled...
I was there too, a passerby!
Passerby, stop!

Pluck yourself a wild stem
And a berry after him, -
Cemetery strawberries
It doesn't get any bigger or sweeter.

But just don't stand there sullenly,
He lowered his head onto his chest.
Think about me easily
It's easy to forget about me.

How the beam illuminates you!
You're covered in gold dust...
- And don’t let it bother you
My voice is from underground.

Marina Tsvetaeva is rightfully considered one of the brightest and most original Russian poets of the first half of the 20th century. Her name is inextricably linked with such a concept as the female worldview in literature, imaginative, subtle, romantic and unpredictable.

One of the most famous works Marina Tsvetaeva’s poem “You’re coming, you look like me...”, written in 1913. It is original both in form and content, since it is a monologue of a deceased poetess. Mentally moving forward several decades, Marina Tsvetaeva tried to imagine what her final resting place would be. In her mind, this is an old cemetery where the most delicious and juicy strawberries in the world grow, as well as the wildflowers that the poetess loved so much. Her work is addressed to descendants, or more precisely, to an unknown person who wanders among the graves, peering with curiosity at the half-erased inscriptions on the monuments. Marina Tsvetaeva, who believed in afterlife, assumes that she will be able to watch this uninvited guest and sadly envy the fact that he, like herself once, walks along the old cemetery alleys, enjoying the peace and quiet of this amazing place, covered in myths and legends.

“Don’t think that there is a grave here, that I will appear threatening,” the poetess addresses the unknown interlocutor, as if urging him to feel free and at ease in the graveyard. After all, her guest is alive, so he must enjoy every minute of his stay on earth, receiving joy and pleasure from it. “I loved it too much, laughing when you shouldn’t,” Tsvetaeva notes, emphasizing that she never recognized conventions and preferred to live as her heart told her. At the same time, the poetess speaks about herself exclusively in the past tense, claiming that she, too, “was” and experienced a wide variety of feelings, ranging from love to hatred. She was alive!

Philosophical questions of life and death have never been alien to Marina Tsvetaeva. She believed that life should be lived in such a way that it was bright and rich. And death is not a reason for sadness, because a person does not disappear, but only passes into another world, which remains a mystery to those who are alive. Therefore, the poetess asks her guest: “But just don’t stand gloomily with your head hanging on your chest.” In her concept, death is as natural and inevitable as life itself. And if a person leaves, then this is quite natural. Therefore, one should not indulge in sadness. After all, those who died will live as long as someone remembers them. And this, according to Tsvetaeva, is much more important than any other aspects of human existence.

Ironizing herself, the poetess turns to the stranger with the words “And don’t let my voice from underground confuse you.” In this short phrase there is also a slight regret that life is not endless, admiration for the future generation, and humility before the inevitability of death. However, in the poem “You go, you look like me..” there is not a single hint of fear that life will end sooner or later. On the contrary, this work is filled with light and joy, lightness and inexplicable charm.

This is exactly how Marina Tsvetaeva treated death with ease and grace. Apparently, this is why she was able to decide to die on her own after she considered that no one needed her work. And the suicide of the poetess in Yelabuga, which is an act of good will, can be regarded as liberation from the unbearable burden that is life, and finding eternal peace in the other world, where there is no cruelty, betrayal and indifference.

The poem “You walk, you look like me” was written by Marina Tsvetaeva back in 1913, but now, after more than a century has passed, these lines in many ways look prophetic, without losing their mysterious mysticism.

In the world of the dead

A superficial analysis reveals a narrative in which someone wanders among the graves and he becomes the object of attention of a mysterious heroine named Marina. She, being in the world of the dead, sees her resemblance to a person and wants to attract his attention:

Passerby, stop!

How did the stranger attract Marina’s attention? Similarity, because he walks with his eyes down, as the heroine loved to do. After the first call to stop, the passer-by stops and an appeal to him begins, something of a confession. Marina urges the passerby not to be afraid to laugh, just as she was not afraid:

I loved myself too much
Laugh when you shouldn't!

Dead Man's Voice

An exhausted soul rises to communicate, she is tired of loneliness and wants to talk, even if it is an ordinary passerby. Marina wants to get closer through simple advice to taste the cemetery strawberries, because this dialogue is dear to her, this is the cry of a soul chained in chains.

At the end of the conversation (more like a monologue), the heroine tries to save the stranger from sad thoughts in the future, because it’s not every day that someone turns to you at a cemetery:

Think about me easily
It's easy to forget about me.

Life and death

What is unknown below is life above, sprinkled with gold dust as a sign of the divine beginning of existence.

Already in 1913, when Tsvetaeva was full of life and plans, the poetess wrote lines about the afterlife. She, too, was a passerby, looking down, first in Russia, then in Europe, then again and for the last time in Russia.

The poem “You go, you look like me” is an appeal to the living, so that they appreciate this life here and now, not looking down too often and allowing themselves to laugh occasionally even when they cannot.

P.S. Why are cemetery strawberries really the largest and sweetest? Perhaps because she has very attentive owners who want only the best berries to decorate their graves.

You're coming, looking like me,
Eyes looking down.
I lowered them too!
Passerby, stop!

Read - night blindness
And picking a bouquet of poppies,
That my name was Marina
And how old was I?

Don't think that this is a grave,
That I will appear, threatening...
I loved myself too much
Laugh when you shouldn't!

And the blood rushed to the skin,
And my curls curled...
I was a passerby too!
Passerby, stop!