Lesson of literary reading "M. Maeterlinck

Lesson Objectives:

continue reading and analyzing a dramatic work;
to expand children's ideas about the world around them through an enchanting genre;
learn to see the beauty in the ordinary,
expand ideas about your inner world, its diversity,
contribute to the education of the moral qualities of the individual, the desire to show kindness, care, learn to understand and appreciate maternal love;
contribute to the revision of values human life on the example of the beatitudes and joys that surround a person;
promote education communication culture, the development of the ability to listen and hear others, to conduct a dialogue in the audience;
develop the ability to think, express your opinion, improve the skills of working with a book.

Equipment:

ON THE. Churakov. Literary reading: Textbook for grade 4: In 5 parts. Part 3
Workbook students.
Cards with the names of the Beatitudes. Magnetic board.
Cards with the names of Joys (for the stand).
A stand with students' drawings for the work.
The book "M. Maeterlinck. "Blue bird".
Audio recording by G. Gladkov “Farewell, fairy tale!”.
Quote from the work of M. Maeterlinck "The Blue Bird" on the board.

Forms of organization of cognitive activity of students:

frontal,
individual,
group.

Methods and techniques:

creating a situation of success,
methods of verbal and visual transmission of information,
practical work,
partial search method,
ensuring the gradual perception of educational material,
problem method.

During the classes
I STAGE.
Organizational.

Stage tasks: preparing students for work (motivation); creating a positive emotional atmosphere.

Today, together with the heroes of the work of M. Maeterlinck, we will continue our journey through the magical land for the Blue Bird, and I hope that today's lesson will bring us the joy of communicating with each other.

II STAGE.
Updating of basic knowledge.

Stage tasks: actualization of knowledge necessary for the assimilation of new knowledge.

“First, we need to remember something and put it in our memory. So:

- Which of the characters in the story goes on an unusual journey and why? (Tiltil and Mitil, for the Blue Bird, which the fairy Berilune needs to cure her granddaughter)

Who are they going on this journey with? (With them Bread, Milk, Water, Sugar, Fire, Cat, Dog, Soul of Light)

- How were the companions of our heroes divided: who is their friend, who is the enemy, and who can let you down at any moment? (Friends - Dog, Soul of Light, enemies - Cat, and Bread and Sugar can fail at any moment). – The illustrations from the book and some of your drawings will help you remember where our heroes have already been and what they learned from these visits. (The teacher brings to the attention of the students some illustrations from a specially brought book and draws the attention of the children to their drawings on the stand)

Page 35

The Land of Memories, where the heroes saw their grandparents. Understood that our loved ones, who are dear to us, but they are no longer with us, they have left us forever, they live as long as we think about them and remember them. Grandpa warns that the Blue Bird may not be able to bear the hustle and bustle of earthly life and be frightened or shed. After all, in a magical land, everything is seen differently.
Page 36 (Night Palace.)

Night is forced to give the keys to man, since he has the right to reveal the Secrets of Nature;

She is powerless before those whose path is illuminated by the Soul of Light;

The Blue Bird hides in one of the caves of the Night Palace so as not to be caught by a random person. If she is found, it will not be so easy to distinguish her from the moonbirds among which she hides. This requires special vision.

Tiltil cannot distinguish it, although the Soul of Light tries to help him. He has not yet passed all the tests that fell on him along the way. He has not yet learned to look at the world around him with his inner vision, he has not yet learned to understand the essence of things.

STAGE III .
Formulation of the topic and purpose.

Stage tasks: ensuring that students understand the purpose of educational and cognitive activity, work on a new part of the work.

So, we put the main events and thoughts in a certain sequence. We can go further.

1. Introductory conversation before reading.

What is the name of the new part? (Gardens of Beatitudes) Let's think about the name.

– How do you explain what “GARDEN” is? (In our understanding, a garden is a piece of land on which trees grow, flowers are planted, a lot of greenery, it is easy to breathe, you can take a walk and take a break from the hustle and bustle).

– How do you understand the word “BLESS”? (Ozhegov's Dictionary: “Bliss is complete and imperturbable happiness, pleasure.” We can say a little simpler: bliss is the greatest pleasure, pleasure).

Question for those who looked at home in this chapter: – What Beatitudes are mentioned in it?(Children who look at the head of the house list the Beatitudes. They can do this according to the notes in the notebook)

The fattest bliss,
Bliss to be rich
Bliss to drink when you no longer feel thirsty,
There is bliss when you no longer feel hungry,
Bliss Know Nothing
Bliss Remember Nothing
The Bliss of Doing Nothing
Bliss Sleep More Than Needed
The Bliss of Understanding Nothing
Bliss To Be Unbearable
Bliss to be Healthy, Bliss to Breathe Air,
Bliss to Love Parents, Bliss of the Blue Sky,
Bliss of the Forest, Bliss of Sunny Days,
Bliss of Spring, Bliss of the Setting Sun,
Bliss to See the Lighting Stars,
Bliss of the Rain, Bliss of the Winter Hearth,
Bliss to Run Through the Dew Barefoot,
The Bliss of Your Home

Now let's get to know them better.

2. Reading the text in faces: pp. 58-65.

Assignment: while we are working on the chapter, keep these words in mind, return to them with your eyes and mentally, so that later you can answer one of the textbook questions as completely as possible.

Distribution of roles:

Soul of Light
Tiltil
The Fattest Bliss
Bliss (Chief)
Author p.58-60 p.61-62 p.63-65

During the reading, I reserve the right to interrupt you, ask a question, make a clarification ...

So we're off to the Gardens of Bliss...

3. Conversation after reading

Did anything surprise you about this part? ( free speech)

Task: divide the Bliss into groups.

While we are talking with the class about what we read, three students will be given the task of distributing the Beatitudes into groups. ( Students are given the names of the Beatitudes printed on sheets, they distribute them into groups, attach them to a magnetic board).

Conversation with the class.

Let's talk about what we read:

“Why is it useless to look for the Blue Bird near Fat Blisses?”

– Read again, how does the Obese Bliss say about it? (pp. 59-60)

What conclusion can we draw from this? (Fat Bliss treats the Blue Bird as a food product. They do not want to move, search, make discoveries. The meaning of their life is to satisfy the simplest needs - food, drink and sleep. And this just makes little difference between a person and representatives animal kingdom).

– And can you now say why the Blue Bird can only be with those Beatitudes that endure the light of a diamond? (The Bliss that pleases the eye, pleases the soul, and not the stomach, endures the light of the diamond.

The Bliss which reveal to man the beauty of the surrounding world: the blue of the sky, the transparency of the air, the greenery of the forest, the beauty of sunset and dawn, stars, rain…)

- And what are these Bliss? Do you remember? ( Children, either from memory or from the pages of a textbook, recall the names of these Beatitudes)

– How to understand that near the place where the Beatitudes live, there is a cave of Misfortunes? What Bliss threatens to get there?

(From good to bad is one step. Since Fat Bliss prefers everything in excess, any excess ends in trouble. If you overeat, you will end up in the hospital ... It is Fat Bliss that threatens to get there)

- One more no less complex issue: Why does the author show some devil? ( If necessary, you can reread this episode on page 64)

Tiltil
Bliss
Soul of Light
Author

- And what Beatitudes made what impression on you? (free speech)

Checking the division of Beatitudes into groups. ( The purpose of the task is to see the different opinions of children. Understand what Bliss is closer to them. Indeed, in such work they reveal and analyze themselves).

4. Continuation and completion of reading the chapter: pp. 65-67.

Question for those who looked at the chapter before:

– What else, besides the Beatitudes, do our heroes meet? (With Joy)

– What is “JOY”? (Ozhegov Dictionary: “Joy is a cheerful feeling, a feeling of great spiritual satisfaction”)

Distribution of roles:

Tiltil
Soul of Light
Bliss
Mother's love

- So, we are going to meet the Joys ... ( Sounds like a musical recording

G. Gladkova “Farewell, fairy tale! Then there is the reading.)

STAGE IV. Generalization and systematization of knowledge.

- What joys did we learn from the work?

Great Joy To Be Righteous,
The joy of being kind
Joy of Finished Labor,
Joy of Thinking
Joy to understand
Joy to Contemplate the Beautiful,
Great Joy to Love,

Joy of Maternal Love (Joy Unique, Joy of Your Mother) (The teacher places the names of the Joys on the stand.)

- What do these joys give a person? - Do they endure the light of a diamond? Why? (They endure the light of the diamond, as they reveal to man the riches of his own soul)

– And what unites Bliss and Joy with the Blue Bird? (All the Bliss and Joys that endure the light of the diamond are related to the Blue Bird in that they are not easy for a person.

It is much easier to be captured by Fat Bliss: you just need to relax, let yourself go, not strain in your worries. And to learn to notice TRANSPARENT, invisible to the eye, spiritual joys and bliss - OH, HOW NOT SIMPLE! To do this, one must have both willpower and special vision, which can only come from a kind and loving heart)

V STAGE.
Reflection. Stage tasks: holistic understanding, generalization of the information received, development

own attitude to the material studied, the identification of the not yet known, the analysis of one's own mental operations.

Now we can summarize what we have read:

- How can you understand the words that I drew your attention to at the beginning of the lesson? Reread them. (Children speak out, the teacher summarizes):

The whole world of nature and human relations is diverse, rich and beautiful. It is necessary not only to know about it, but also to make efforts to see this wealth and beauty, and then with a good heart to carry it to others, help, forgive, bring joy, so that not only you, but also others feel good. And when everyone is well, the soul is calm, bright, rests and rejoices. So each of us enjoys the day off after the working week - Sunday.

If every person did as we now say, then every day would be joyful and bright.

How to understand that children KNOW many Bliss, but NOT RECOGNIZE them; SEE every day motherly love, but DO NOT KNOW HOW DISCERN her? (Teacher summarizes children's answers):

Can see blue sky and not to realize that this is a blue sky - that is, to glance over the beauty instead of feeling and experiencing this beauty with the heart;

The same is with maternal love: children constantly feel it on themselves, but it is expressed not in words, but in constant maternal care, to which children are so accustomed that they stop noticing it.

It is in this that something amazing lies: all this surrounds us on earth, but we do not recognize these spiritual Bliss.

Or do we not want to know? After all, not everyone wants to strain to discover, explore. It is not simple! This needs to be learned! Possibly for the rest of your life!)

- Concluding the work, I would like to ask you only one question:

What value can we take away from the content of today's lesson?

(The teacher evaluates the work of students in the lesson.)

VI STAGE.
Information about homework, instructions for its implementation.

1 option.

The play " Blue bird”Written at a time when G. Maeterlinck from a symbolist to a“ theater of death ”came to a different vision of the world - a romantic one. And the meaning of the play is to show mankind the philosophical meaning of being, the beauty of today's life and its greatness. The heroes of Maeterlinck, the little children of the forester Tiltil and Mytil, set off on a journey in search of the Blue Bird, which should give them health and happiness. What makes them go in search, although they do not know exactly where to go? The fairy will be able to awaken in them both kindness and the desire to know the world. After all, they must definitely learn to see what is "not in sight."

And then it turns out that the whole world around, all objects have their own soul, their attitude towards people. Then the children go in search not by themselves, but in a circle of friends and enemies. Just as every person always walks in life. Their journey lies the Land of Remembrance and the Palace of Night, the gardens of Bliss and the Realm of the Future. Children learn that they should pray for the dead, because "praying means remembering." The sacrament of death is as great as the sacrament of birth. And above all this is the old Time, which is impossible to let someone into the Earth sooner or later. And each carries with it some kind of action - good or bad. This is precisely the meaning of his birth - bringing something to the world. Wherever the children were, everywhere they saw birds that seemed blue, but none were that blue bird. And only when the children returned home again, the most similar turtledove, which belonged to Tyltil, turned out to be the most similar. And it is no coincidence that the journey itself ends in the very forester's hut from where they set off. Only now she seems different, better, because the children returned differently.

So the main thing is the readiness to go on a campaign for the truth, the desire for change, the desire for the ideal. This, according to Maeterlinck, is the meaning of life to understand why you came into the world, which is the meaning that you live, because life is eternal.

Maurice Maeterlinck was the man who created the symbolist "theater".

Now we can talk about the search for happiness by the heroes of The Blue Bird. It is clear that this extravaganza was preceded by a complex creative and spiritual path, if to replace him, where the Unknown leads everything, i.e. invisible and unknown fatal forces whose intentions are secret, unknown. After all, it was Death, to which all the faces that only waited listened.

And so the reader and the theater are offered a work in which there is no sense of predictability, the characters of which do not wait, but act and change, first of all, their own spiritual world. Through then most actors are symbols of the spiritual activity of man, as such, the creative principle.

Thus, the Soul of Light goes in search of the Blue Bird of happiness of a family that no one would call prosperous, accompanied by the Souls of Fire, Water, Sugar and two creatures that have been accompanying a person on his path for a long time. The souls of children are not primitive and have learned a lot. The magic diamond helps children on their way. And that path is the most dangerous that a person goes through. This is the way of self-education. One by one the pictures change. From the impoverished woodcutter's hut we find ourselves in the luxurious chambers of the fairy, just to meet with the assets of the original people - fire, water, bread, sugar, the first native animals. First, as one should have expected, on the path of self-knowledge, we turn to our memories ... A terrible demonstration of the maternal fate of the poor for me completely removes the idyllic mood of the picture: seven dead children, one after another, go to the end.

Deepening further leads little people to horrors and dark impulses of the human psyche. The Bluebirds caught here cannot stand the light. The "forest" of personality did not go far from the "forest" of nature, which tried to condemn a person whom, nevertheless, he was unable to defeat. The opening of the cemetery's Diamond assures the boy and girl that there is no death.

Nevertheless, the light can also be eclipsed - there are different blessings behind the essence, and if the masks are torn off, they look like monsters. And only the joys of understanding, seeing, not being afraid, just like Mother's Love, are true. The most tragic symbols are probably in the blue palace, where they are waiting for life, everything is in it in advance, unborn children ...

And so we return to the woodcutter's hut, without finding the Blue Bird. And something similar was already only at the beginning of his wanderings. He will give it to a neighbor girl, but he will not keep the Bird of Happiness.

Maybe because happiness cannot be chosen or received as a gift. You have to follow him. In vain, Tiltil addresses the audience: We ask you very much: if one of you finds him, then let him bring it to us, we need it in order to become happy in the future ...

Option 2.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Maeterlinck went beyond symbolism and became one of the creators of the Belgian progressive romantic and realistic drama.1 In 1908, the writer created one of his central works, The Blue Bird. This extravaganza, which tells about the journey of the woodcutter's children, accompanied by the souls of objects and phenomena, in search of a bird that can bring happiness to people, is filled with symbols and allegories.

Before proceeding directly to the analysis of the symbols in Maeterlinck's play, one should pay attention to the Russian translation of its title. We know the extravaganza as the "Blue Bird", however, just from the point of view of the symbolism of color, such a name is incorrect. Here is what Alexander Blok writes about this: “It is not at all pedantry on my part to find fault with the word blue and convey the French word Bleu with the word blue; in French, bleu means both blue and blue, just like Blau in German; but the point is that behind Maeterlinck's fairy tale play lies a long literary tradition. Maeterlinck was very much concerned with the German Novalis; he translated it and, as it were, rediscovered it for the French, his name is closely connected with symbolism; Maeterlinck is one of those to whom we owe the establishment of a close literary connection between the early romantics of the beginning of the century and the symbolists of the end of the century. Novalis is an early romantic, one of those few in whom the beginning of romanticism can be observed in its pure form, not complicated by later stratifications; he has not yet departed from his original path - and his main work is an unfinished novel about blue flower. It is a well-established custom among us to call this magical fabulous flower blue and not blue, so there is no reason to call Maeterlinck's bird blue and not blue. By calling it blue, we break with tradition; but after all, every word is traditional, it is ambiguous, symbolic, it has deep roots; the last secrets of our consciousness lie precisely in the roots of language; therefore, we, artists, need to be careful about the word; it is easy to tear apart the ear of a sensitive reader or a theatrical spectator, immediately imposing on him a number of false associations. Let's be true to the word blue throughout the text of the play; because the flower is blue, the sky is blue, the moonlight is blue, the magical realm - (blue or azure - in Turgenev) and the haze in which the whole Maeterlinck fairy tale and every fairy tale that speaks of the unattainable is wrapped - blue, not blue.

To begin with, it should be said that the play contains not only symbolic images, but also allegorical ones, which should not be confused. In the abstract, I will talk about both the first and the second.

We observe the first symbolic detail in the tale at the very beginning, even before the children woke up. The strength of the light mysteriously changes in the room: “The scene is immersed in darkness for some time, then gradually increasing light begins to break through the cracks in the shutters. The lamp on the table lights up by itself. This action symbolizes the concept of "seeing in the true light." In the light in which Tiltil and Mitil will see the world after the diamond on the cap turns. In the light in which any person can see the world, looking at it with a pure heart. In this scene, the familiar contradiction between blindness and sight comes out, passes from a deep philosophical subtext into a dramatic plot. It is this motif that runs through the whole work and is central. In this regard, the opinion of I. D. Shkunaeva is interesting. She writes that in Maeterlinck's play there are two various types transformations. One of them, close to fabulous, is the return of phenomena to themselves. Tiltil's magic diamond does not change the surrounding world, but brings the sign and essence into line. To do this, you only need to “open your eyes”, because the sign undoubtedly expresses the essence, it is easily read by sighted eyes. The transformation of people, phenomena and objects is a consequence of Tiltil's open view of the world. Widespread folk expressions that have retained all their metaphorical figurativeness - "to see in the true light" and "to look at the world with open eyes" - became the basis of the dramatic action of this play. However, what is required in order for the eyes to really open and the world to appear as it is, and not as it seems to poor eyesight? Let's pay attention to the mechanism of action of the magic diamond. And here we find a symbol: the traditional touch magic wand to the subject became in Maeterlinck the touch of a diamond on the “special bump” on Tyltil’s head. The consciousness of the hero changes - and then the world around him is transformed according to the laws of a fairy tale.3 "A big diamond, it returns vision."

Also, the central symbols of the play can be called the images of the children themselves and their poor relatives. They were typical representatives of the Belgian, and indeed of European society. At the beginning of the play, in the fairy palace, Tiltil and Mitil dress up as characters from fairy tales popular among the people. It is precisely because of their commonness as a guarantee of universality that they turned out to be a symbol of humanity. Immediately it is necessary to say why Maeterlinck chose children as the main characters. Researcher L.G. Andreev believes that it could not be an accident that the children had to go in search of the blue bird, to seek happiness in the meaning of life. How can one not recall the simplicity praised by Maeterlinck, those advantages of a naive, direct worldview, about which he wrote many times, Tyltil and Mitil for Maeterlinck are not only children who have experienced extraordinary adventures, but also the key with which you can open the gates truths and gates of heaven.4

Other characters of the extravaganza are also symbolic. Among all, it is worth highlighting the cat. Tiletta symbolizes evil, betrayal, hypocrisy. An insidious and dangerous enemy for children - such is her unexpected essence, her mysterious idea. The cat is friends with the Night: both of them guard the secrets of life. She is short with death; her old friends are Misfortunes. It is she who, in secret from the soul of Light, leads children into the forest to be torn to pieces by trees and animals. And here's what is important: children do not see the Cat in the "true light", they do not see it the way they see their other companions. Mytil loves Tiletta and protects her from Tilo's attacks. The cat is the only traveler whose soul, free under the rays of the diamond, did not fit in with its visible appearance. Bread, Fire, Milk, Sugar, Water and the Dog did not contain anything alien, they were direct proof of the identity of appearance and essence. The idea did not contradict the phenomenon, it only revealed and developed its invisible (“silent”) possibilities. So Bread symbolizes cowardice, conciliation. It has negative petty-bourgeois qualities. Sugar is sweet, the compliments made by him do not come from a pure heart, his manner of communicating is theatrical. Perhaps it symbolizes people from high society, close to power, trying in every possible way to please the rulers, just to "sit" in a good position. However, both Bread and Sugar have positive traits. They selflessly accompany children. Moreover, Bread also carries a cage, and Sugar breaks off his candy fingers and gives them to Mytyl, who so rarely eats sweets in ordinary life. The dog embodies exclusively positive aspects of character. He is devoted, ready to go to his death, saving children. However, the owners do not fully understand this. They constantly make remarks to the dog, drive away even when he tries to tell them the truth about the betrayal of the cat. And in the forest, Tyltil even agreed to the offer of trees to tie Tilo.

Worth paying Special attention on the central character of the play - the Soul of Light. Note that in The Blue Bird among the travelers there is only one Soul of Light - an allegorical image. But the Soul of Light is an exception. This is not just a companion of children, it is their "leader"; it in her figure personifies the symbol of light - the guide of the blind. The remaining allegorical characters of the play are encountered by children on their way to the Blue Bird: each of them in a naively naked form carries his own morality - or rather, his part of the general morality - each presents his own special concrete lesson. Meetings with these characters form the stages of spiritual and spiritual education of children: Night and Time, Bliss, the most obese of which symbolize wealth, property, greed, and Joy, symbolizing the everyday life of ordinary honest people, Ghosts and Diseases teach Tiltil and Mitil either in the form of a direct verbal edification, either by his own silent example, or by creating instructive situations for children from which a worldly lesson can be learned. Its task is to unwind the tangle of events passing from one time to another, changing space. But the role of a guide is also to inspire hope, not to let faith fade away.

Special mention should be made of the role of time in extravaganza, of its symbolism. Face to face, we meet with him in one of the last pictures of the extravaganza, however, even earlier it kept reminding us of itself. However, not only in the distant Kingdom of the Future, but also in the first scene of the play - in the lumberjack's hut - personified time already appears before us: "beautiful ladies" dancing to the sounds of lovely music are the "free" and "visible" hours of Tyltil's Life .

Sleep and dreaming are the external, objective, and internal, subjective time of the "journey" of children. In a dream, with the help of memory and imagination, the quality of time as a special category of reality is symbolically recreated - the unity and continuity of its flow. The fact that the present contains both the past and the future, and that its "composition" is the composition" of the personality itself, Maeterlinck writes a lot in his philosophical studies of the beginning of the century. The dialectical interconnection of the three sides of time is carried out in the bodily, mental and spiritual being of a person: Meterliik seeks to prove this idea both on the pages of his philosophical prose and with the help of the poetic images and symbols of the Blue Bird.6

Finally, it should be said about the main symbol of the extravaganza - about the Blue Bird itself. The play says that the heroes need the blue bird "in order to become happy in the future"... Here the symbol of the bird intersects with the image of time, with the Kingdom of the future. Alexander Blok expresses an interesting version of why the bird has become a symbol of happiness. “The bird always flies away, you can’t catch it. What else flies like a bird? Happiness flies. The bird is a symbol of happiness; and happiness, as you know, has long been out of the question; adults talk about business, about arranging life on a positive basis; but they never talk about happiness, miracles, and similar things; it is even rather indecent; because happiness flies like a bird; and it is unpleasant for adults to chase the constantly flying Bird and try to pour salt on its tail. Another matter - to the child; children can play with it; Seriousness and decency are not asked of them, after all.”7 One can immediately conclude that children also symbolize hope for future happiness. Although they did not find the bird during the journey, and the turtledove flew away at the end, they do not despair and are going to continue searching for the blue bird, that is, happiness.

The heroes of the philosophical play-tale "The Blue Bird" are images-symbols that embody the forces that dominate the earth. This is a person, plants, animals, the elements of Light, Fire and Water, Soul, Bread, Milk, Hours - all that the human world consists of. It turns out that a person lives on earth, not noticing anyone and nothing around, except for people like himself. It seems to her that only he is endowed with a soul, and all the secrets of the world are solved by him. But it's not. With the help of a magic stone that opens true vision, Tiltil and Mitil, the heroes of the play, see the world as it really is - spiritualized, beautiful (and sometimes scary), full of secrets still unknown to mankind. In this world, the past, present and future are close and interpenetrate each other: Tiltil and Mitil meet both their long-dead relatives and their unborn brother. It turns out that a person is responsible not only for himself, but also for all his ancestors and descendants, because his whole family is a single whole, one endless line.

The playwright makes children his heroes, because their consciousness is still flexible, they are most receptive to the secrets of the world, close to nature. They know how to sincerely love and rejoice, they have not yet been touched by the misfortune and vices that appear in the play in the images of Fat Beatitudes (for example, the Bliss of Being Rich, the Bliss of Doing Nothing, etc.)

The cosmogonic created by Maeterlinck unites all the forces and laws of the earth: from night terrors and wars to the brightest essence of the earth - Maternal love, Justice, Joy to Understand; children get to their ancestors and descendants, to the underworld of the Night and to the tops of the world, meet the Souls of plants and animals. They learn that there are a large number of forces in the world that help them, or vice versa - offended by people and seeking revenge on them (such as the souls of those trees and animals that a person destroys).

Maeterlinck gives an optimistic picture of the future in the play: those children who are waiting for their birth in the Kingdom of the Future will soon bring beautiful machines, flowers and fruits to the earth, overcome diseases, injustice and even death itself. However, even those who live on earth have a very important task: Tiltil and Mitil must find the Blue Bird - the bird of happiness - and bring it to earth. For this they know the world. But this world and the souls that inhabit it are within the people themselves. The action of the play begins and ends in the children's home. The journey into themselves took place in a dream, but, waking up, Tiltil and Mitil do not forget everything that happened to them, and now they look at the world around them in a new way: as the Soul of Light foresaw, their view of things has changed, and now it seems to them that only they woke up, and the rest of the people are sleeping, not seeing all the beauty and grace of the world.

“Inspires” in the play the world, the world surrounding a person, Maeterlinck shows that people need to “wake up”, look around and see all the beauty of the earth, the value of human love and kindness, the need to live in peace with their neighbors on earth and to know the world without destroying his.

It is impossible to see light, good and eternal in the Blue Bird. This is not here, you can not try to look. Positioning the story, likening it to a fairy tale, is too cruel to children. The answer to this statement is very simple - in the book, death awaits the heroes on every corner, and the heroes themselves, by their actions, do things that make their hair stand on end. Everything can be justified by childish naivety and an easy view of the world, but for some reason there is absolutely no desire to do so. It is worth reading a little, as you can see the destructive impact of the plot.

At first glance, the reader is faced with the most ordinary children, whose imagination can lead them far from the understanding of adults. Playing with eating cakes is still normal, having unusual dreams is possible at any age, but Maeterlinck is fantastic, giving children the same dreams, where each of them sees the dream of the other, and together they make an amazing journey in search of a blue bird, needed as a medicine . It is not necessary to consider the blue bird like some kind of allegory, as well as other characters that travel with the main characters. Let bread remain bread, milk remain milk, the rest will also remain themselves: dog, light, sugar, fire, cat and water. The choice of such assistants is taken directly without any attempt to bind them to any state of affairs. If he was, then the solution had to be reported somewhere, but otherwise you can rack your brains over other books where the author does not go so deep into his fantasies.

The book is full of death. Why are all the assistants of the main characters doomed at the beginning of the journey, when they become aware of the sad news of their death immediately upon completion of the mission. Why this does not threaten the main characters, who are no different, is incomprehensible. And so it turned out that someone helps the children move forward, fueled by altruism, while others do not want to complete the search as soon as possible, trying to delay their inevitable end as far in time as possible. The feeling of death is intensified at the moment when the protagonist the boy - so masculine, and in the book a whiny effeminate creature - begins to look behind different doors, without fear releasing wars, diseases and other misfortunes out, wanting to find what he needs by any means. What Maeterlinck wanted to say here is also unclear. He thus showed human indiscretion, tied to excessive curiosity, capable of destroying the world? Why not. Without such a human trait, people would never have reached the heights to which they eventually soared, ahead of their brethren in the animal world.

It is also difficult to understand the author's intention due to the lack of a final version from him personally. This book is a free retelling by Leonid Yakhnin, which is why, of course, there are no author's digressions in the book, but only the impression of one outside observer, for whom the whole story is as distant as for all other readers who are forced to get acquainted with just such an interpretation of events. Of course, the book loses in many ways, but there is simply no other way out. The trouble with all plays is always the same - you have to think about the actions of the characters on your own, because the very format of the narrative gives a lot of room for imagination, skipping motives and actions moving the plot, doomed to forever get stuck in words, not being able to find a different form of understanding everything and everything. Any reader can always, after reading this version of The Blue Bird, take a pen, plenty of white paper, and retell the story on their own, sharing their own thoughts. Who knows, maybe it will turn out better than Yakhnin's. Everyone has such a right. It is quite another matter whether it is necessary at all.

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Biography

Maurice Maeterlinck was born on August 29, 1862 in Ghent, the son of a wealthy lawyer. Since childhood, he was interested in literature and poetry, but his parents insisted on a legal education. Having received a law degree in 1885, Maurice goes to Paris to improve his law. Six months spent in Paris, he devotes entirely to literature.

Returning to Ghent, Maeterlinck works as a lawyer and continues his studies in literature. He began to publish in Parisian publications, receiving laudatory reviews from critics. The play-tale "Princess Malene" was considered a masterpiece by the influential French critic Mirbeau, and he compared its author with Shakespeare. Inspired by praise, Maeterlinck leaves the practice of law and devotes himself entirely to literature.

Prone to metaphor and symbolism, Maeterlinck writes mostly fairy tales and plays, where the characters speak little, in short, meaningful phrases, where much remains in the subtext. He is especially good at plays for puppets - unlike live actors, puppets can play a symbol, convey the archetype of his characters.

In 1895, Maurice met Georgette Leblanc, an actress and singer, who becomes his companion, secretary and impresario, protects him from strangers. In 1896 they leave for Paris. During these years, Maeterlinck wrote metaphysical essays and treatises, which were included in the collections Treasure of the Humble, Wisdom and Fate, and The Life of Bees, which draws an analogy between the activity of a bee and human behavior.

The playwright's most popular play, The Blue Bird, was first staged by Stanislavsky in Moscow in 1908; subsequently, she was successfully presented on the stages of London, New York, Paris, gaining popularity not only for her fabulous fantasy, but also for her allegoricalness.

In 1911, Maeterlinck was awarded the Nobel Prize "for his many-sided literary activity, especially for dramatic works, marked by a wealth of imagination and poetic fantasy."

During the First World War, Maeterlinck tried to enlist in the Belgian Civil Guard, but was not accepted due to his age. During this time, his relationship with Leblanc soured, and they separated after the war. In 1919 he married Rene Daon, an actress who played in The Blue Bird.

In the last years of his life, Maeterlinck wrote more articles than plays; from 1927 to 1942, 12 volumes of his writings were published, the most interesting of which is The Life of Termites, an allegorical condemnation of communism and totalitarianism.

Maeterlinck died on May 6 (according to some sources - May 5), 1949 from a heart attack.

Symbolism

Symbolism (fr. Symbolisme) is one of the largest trends in art (in literature, music and painting), which arose in France in the 1870s and 80s. and the most developed turn of XIX and XX centuries, primarily in France itself, Belgium and Russia. The Symbolists radically changed not only different kinds art, but also the attitude towards it. Their experimental nature, desire for innovation, cosmopolitanism and a wide range of influences have become a model for most contemporary art movements. Symbolists used symbolism, understatement, hints, mystery, mystery.

The term "symbolism" in art was first coined by the French poet Jean Moréas in the manifesto of the same name - "Le Symbolisme" - published on September 18, 1886 in the newspaper "Le Figaro". By that time, there was another, already stable term "decadentism", which was scornfully called the new forms in the poetry of their criticism. "Symbolism" was the first theoretical attempt by the decadents themselves, so no sharp distinctions, let alone aesthetic confrontation, were established between decadence and symbolism. However, it should be noted that in Russia in the 1890s, after the first Russian decadent writings, these terms began to be contrasted: they saw ideals and spirituality in symbolism and, accordingly, manifested it in this way, and in decadence - lack of will, immorality and passion only for external form. In their works, the Symbolists tried to reflect the life of every soul - full of experiences, obscure, vague moods, subtle feelings, fleeting impressions. Symbolist poets were innovators of poetic verse, filling it with new, vivid and expressive images, and sometimes, trying to achieve an original form, they went into a play of words and sounds considered senseless by their critics. Roughly speaking, we can say that symbolism distinguishes between two worlds: the world of things and the world of ideas. The symbol becomes symbol connecting these worlds in the sense it generates. Every symbol has two sides - the signified and the signifier. This second side is turned to the unreal world. Art is the key to the mystery.

The concept and image of the Mystery, the mysterious, the mystical, is manifested both in romanticism and in symbolism. However, romanticism, as a rule, proceeds from the fact that “the knowledge of the world is the knowledge of oneself, for man is the greatest mystery, the source of analogies for the Universe” (Novalis). Symbolists have a different understanding of the world: in their opinion, true Being, “true-existing” or Mystery, is an absolute, objective principle, to which both Beauty and the world Spirit belong. Unlike other trends in art that use elements of their characteristic symbolism, symbolism considers the expression of "unattainable", sometimes mystical, Ideas, images of Eternity and Beauty, the goal and content of its art, and the symbol, fixed in the element of artistic speech and based in its image into a polysemantic poetic word - the main, and sometimes the only possible artistic means.

The most striking change introduced by symbolism concerns the form of the artistic embodiment of its poetics. In the context of symbolism, a work of any kind of art begins to play precisely with poetic meanings, poetry becomes a form of thinking. Prose and drama begin to sound like poetry, the visual arts paint its images, and with music, the connection of poetry becomes simply all-encompassing. Poetic images-symbols, as if rising above reality, giving a poetic associative array, are embodied by symbolist poets in a sound-written, musical form, and the sound of the poem itself is no less, if not more important for expressing the meaning of a symbol. Summarizing, we can say that the method of symbolism involves the embodiment of the main ideas of the work in the many-valued and many-sided associative aesthetics of symbols, i.e. such images, the meaning of which is comprehensible through their direct expression by a unit of artistic (poetic, musical, pictorial, dramatic) speech, as well as through its certain properties (the sound of a poetic word, the color scheme of a pictorial image, the interval and rhythmic features of a musical motive, timbre colors etc.). The main content of a symbolic work is the eternal Ideas expressed in the figurativeness of symbols, i.e. generalized ideas about a person and his life, the highest Meaning, comprehended only in a symbol, as well as Beauty embodied in it.

Analysis of the play "The Blue Bird".

Maeterlinck is the most prominent representative of Belgian symbolism. By the beginning of the 20th century, Maeterlinck went beyond symbolism and became one of the creators of the Belgian progressive romantic and realistic drama. 1 In 1908, the writer creates one of his central works - "The Blue Bird". This extravaganza, which tells about the journey of the woodcutter's children, accompanied by the souls of objects and phenomena, in search of a bird that can bring happiness to people, is filled with symbols and allegories.

Maeterlinck is one of those to whom we owe the establishment of a close literary connection between the early romantics of the beginning of the century and the symbolists of the end of the century.

To begin with, it should be said that the play contains not only symbolic images, but also allegorical ones, which should not be confused.

We observe the first symbolic detail in the tale at the very beginning, even before the children woke up. The strength of the light mysteriously changes in the room: “The scene is immersed in darkness for some time, then gradually increasing light begins to break through the cracks in the shutters. The lamp on the table lights up by itself. This action symbolizes the concept of "seeing in the true light." In the light in which Tiltil and Mitil will see the world after the diamond on the cap turns. In the light in which any person can see the world, looking at it with a pure heart. In this scene, the familiar contradiction between blindness and sight comes out, passes from a deep philosophical subtext into a dramatic plot. It is this motif that runs through the whole work and is central. In this regard, the opinion of I. D. Shkunaeva is interesting. She writes that there are two different types of transformations in Maeterlinck's play. One of them, close to fabulous, is the return of phenomena to themselves. Tiltil's magic diamond does not change the surrounding world, but brings the sign and essence into line. To do this, you only need to “open your eyes”, because the sign undoubtedly expresses the essence, it is easily read by sighted eyes. The transformation of people, phenomena and objects is a consequence of Tiltil's open view of the world. Widespread folk expressions that have retained all their metaphorical figurativeness - "to see in the true light" and "to look at the world with open eyes" - became the basis of the dramatic action of this play.

However, what is required in order for the eyes to really open and the world to appear as it is, and not as it seems to poor eyesight?

Let's pay attention to the mechanism of action of the magic diamond. And here we find a symbol: the traditional touch of a magic wand on an object became in Maeterlinck the touch of a diamond on the "special bump" on Tyltil's head. . The consciousness of the hero changes - and then the world around him is transformed according to the laws of a fairy tale. 2 "Big diamond, it brings back sight."

Also, the central symbols of the play can be called the images of the children themselves and their poor relatives. They were typical representatives of the Belgian, and indeed of European society. At the beginning of the play, in the fairy palace, Tiltil and Mitil dress up as characters from fairy tales popular among the people. It is precisely because of their commonness as a guarantee of universality that they turned out to be a symbol of humanity. Immediately it is necessary to say why Maeterlinck chose children as the main characters. Researcher L. G. Andreev believes that it could not be an accident that the children had to go in search of the blue bird, to seek happiness in the meaning of life. How can one not recall the simplicity praised by Maeterlinck, those advantages of a naive, direct worldview, about which he wrote many times, Tyltil and Mitil for Maeterlinck are not only children who have experienced extraordinary adventures, but also the key with which you can open the gates truth and the gates of heaven. 3

It is worth paying special attention to the central character of the play - the Soul of Light. Note that in The Blue Bird among the travelers there is only one Soul of Light - an allegorical image. But the Soul of Light is an exception. This is not just a companion of children, it is their "leader"; it in her figure personifies the symbol of light - the guide of the blind. The remaining allegorical characters of the play are encountered by children on their way to the Blue Bird: each of them in a naively naked form carries his own morality - or rather, his part of the general morality - each presents his own special concrete lesson. Meetings with these characters form the stages of spiritual and spiritual education of children: Night and Time, Bliss, the most obese of which symbolize wealth, property, greed, and Joy, symbolizing the everyday life of ordinary honest people, Ghosts and Diseases teach Tiltil and Mitil either in the form of a direct verbal edification, either by their own silent example, or by creating instructive situations for children from which a life lesson can be learned. 4 The Soul of Light moves the inner action of the play, as, obeying the fairy, it leads the children from stage to stage of their path. Its task is to unwind the tangle of events passing from one time to another, changing space. But the role of a guide is also to inspire hope, not to let faith fade away.

Description

Maeterlinck is the most prominent representative of Belgian symbolism. By the beginning of the 20th century, Maeterlinck went beyond symbolism and became one of the creators of the Belgian progressive romantic and realistic drama.1 In 1908, the writer created one of his central works, The Blue Bird. This extravaganza, which tells about the journey of the woodcutter's children, accompanied by the souls of objects and phenomena, in search of a bird that can bring happiness to people, is filled with symbols and allegories.

The famous play by the Belgian symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck is called The Blue Bird. The key theme of this work is a rather multifaceted concept of "happiness". The symbol of happiness in this play is the mythical Blue Bird.

Analysis of the work

It is rather a generalized image of happiness that all people are looking for, and not specific definition this feeling. No wonder the writer chose the form of a fairy tale for such a work, it is in this way that one can reveal main theme from a symbolic, mysterious side.

A fairy tale will help even a child to realize what happiness is. But this play will also be interesting for adults - the allegories and symbols make you think about the important moral and spiritual issues that Maeterlinck raises in his work.

This seemingly fantastic story tells about important problems in the life of every person, Maeterlinck tries to reveal the true and false in a person's life in a significant way. And he tries to show this through children, whose souls are still pure, and whose thoughts are kind and open-minded.

This is important point to analyze the play - after all, children are considered innocent and naive, they are most drawn to something good and bright. And it is children who are able to immediately comprehend and feel the true meaning of life and its riddle.

Heroes' search for happiness

Two main characters - Teltil and Metil - go in search of happiness, the Blue Bird. She lives in the Palace of the Night, but it is remarkable that she can only exist in the sun. This suggests that it is impossible to meet her ... But the essence of the play is not in this, but in what the children had to endure and discover when they went in search of a bird.

They learn about the true values of life, their long and adventurous journey teaches them to distinguish between true and false in life. The symbolism created by Maeterlinck, in the subtlest way, reveals the vices of a person, and what leads him to virtue.

Teltil and Metil find out that they exist different types Pleasures - to do nothing, to be rich or the pleasure of loving parents, to see the stars, to be kind and fair ... They will recognize the very difference between selfish pleasures and happiness.

And it becomes clear that the main goal of the search for children was not illusory happiness, but life values that lead a person to true happiness and help to realize it. On their way, they meet the Soul of Light, which helps to overcome many obstacles, but not only saves them, but teaches children important moral lessons.

And the most important lesson for both children and adults is the understanding of the essence of evil, which is personified in the play by the Palace of Night. In this case, the Night is not only evil, it is, first of all, the inability of many people to distinguish evil from good.

On the way to happiness, children acquire the knowledge that helps a person to form the meaning of life for himself. And only then can one feel true happiness, which is completely individual for each person.