Year: 1820 Genre: poem

Main characters: old Prince Vladimir, his daughter Lyudmila, Prince Ruslan, the wizard Chernomor, Rogdai, Ratmir and the knights Farlaf.

The work “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was the author’s first major work; it was written in the period 1817-1819.
This work is filled with faith in love, courage, and how you need to fight for your happiness. Pushkin showed that no matter what, in the end good triumphs over evil.

The plot is that Prince Vladimir is celebrating the wedding of his daughter, but suddenly she is kidnapped. Now her fiancé Ruslan goes in search of her; he will face many trials, a long road and enemies. But in the end everything ends well.

Read a summary of the poem Ruslan and Lyudmila for children (Pushkin)

Prince Vladimir decided to organize a holiday by bringing together his sons, friends and other people. The reason for the celebration was the wedding of his only daughter, Lyuda. Everyone around is happy about this event, only a few knights stand aside dejectedly, as they envy Lyudmila’s groom.

After the end of the holiday, the prince gives his blessing to the young people and takes them to their chambers. Suddenly the weather worsened, wind and thunder suddenly appeared, and a voice began to be heard from the darkness. When the storm ended and Ruslan came to his senses, he discovered that his bride was missing. Vladimir, having learned about the disappearance of his daughter, sends knights to search for her, and says that whoever finds her first will marry her. Each of the knights is already dreaming of how to save the young beauty. Arriving at the road, they discovered that it divided and now everyone went their own way. Ruslan also went in search of a bride; on his way he came across a cave in which an old man lived. He told him that he had been waiting for a long time, and said that Ruslan would definitely find a bride, but before that he would go through many difficulties. Lyudmila was stolen by Chernomor and to save the girl, it is necessary to kill him. Ruslan sat with the old man until the morning, who told him the story of his life. While Ruslan listened to the old man, Rogdai thought about how he could get rid of Ruslan and save the girl. Rogdai, having gathered his strength, sets off to meet the enemy and on the way meets an old grandmother who showed the way.

Ruslan is looking for Lyudmila, but suddenly Rogdai appears in front of him with a spear. All this time, Lyudmila is in the Chernomor mansion; the most beautiful room was allocated for her, as well as many servants. A battle takes place between Ruslan and Rograd, as a result Ruslan wins.

Then Ruslan finds himself in the fields where the war once unfolded, with swords and bones of warriors lying around. Here he finds some weapons for himself and sets off further on his journey. Soon a hill appears in front of him, but in the end it turns out to be the head of a warrior. The head came to life and blew Ruslan into the field. After this, the guy attacks the warrior’s head, pierces his tongue, and then hits him on the head. Lyudmila is teasing the slaves at this time. Chernomor came up with a cunning plan: he turned into the girl’s lover, caught her and sent her to her chambers.

Finally Ruslan met with Chernomor. Their struggle lasted for several days, a struggle for life and death. Chernomor's weak point was his beard; after cutting it off, Ruslan emerges victorious. He goes to look for Lyudmila and accidentally finds her under an invisible hat. Ruslan and Lyudmila are very happy with each other and go home. On the way, Ruslan meets Ratmir, who is also happy, because he has found himself a girlfriend. They made peace with Ruslanov and parted as friends.

Naina told Farlaf how to get rid of Ruslan, and soon he kills him, and he leaves with Lyudmila. A new problem came to Kyiv, the Pechenegs gathered around the city. The old man, whom Ruslan met in the cave, revives the guy and gives him a ring that will help remove the spell from Lyudmila. Ruslan hurries to Kyiv, at this time enemies attack the city. Ruslan emerges victorious from the battle with Russian enemies. Going for his beloved, he meets Vladimir and Farlaf. Farlaf is very surprised to see Ruslan, and swears that he personally killed the guy. Ruslan, not paying attention to anything, runs to Lyudmila and resurrects her.

Picture or drawing of Ruslan and Lyudmila

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The main idea and essence of the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” is that with the help of love any evil can be defeated, so Ruslan overcame all obstacles, saving both Lyudmila and his native land.

The poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" begins with a dedication to the ladies, in which Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin expresses the hope that the poem will be read by them. This is followed by the fairytale opening “Near Lukomorye there is a green oak...”

wedding feast

Song 1 tells about this event. Let's begin the description of the brief content with it. The plot of the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" begins with a feast in Kyiv. The main characters appear here for the first time. Prince Vladimir the Sun, whose name is reminiscent of the famous Vladimir the Red Sun, married his youngest daughter Lyudmila to the brave Prince Ruslan. At the feast there were also three rivals of the young husband who had previously claimed Lyudmila’s hand - Rogdai, Farlaf and Ratmir.

Kidnapping of Lyudmila

Night fell and the newlyweds gathered to retire. But as soon as they lay down on the wedding bed, a mysterious voice was heard, and Lyudmila was kidnapped by an unknown sorcerer.

Having learned about what had happened, the prince-father invited the recent guests of the wedding feast. Vladimir was angry with Ruslan because he did not protect his daughter, and therefore vowed to give Lyudmila as a wife to someone who could save her. The young husband and three of his rivals went to look for the princess. At first they moved in one direction along the banks of the Dnieper, but by the end of the day they went in different directions.

Meeting with a hermit

Ruslan, left alone, soon came across a cave. An old hermit lived in it. He revealed to the hero that Lyudmila had been kidnapped by the formidable sorcerer - Chernomor, the ruler of the Midnight Mountains. Due to his old age, he could not take possession of Lyudmila by force, but still kept her captive. The elder also said that Ruslan would defeat the evil wizard, although it would not be easy.

The Hermit's Story

Even giving a very brief summary of the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila", it is worth mentioning some of the supporting characters. The hermit told Ruslan about his life. In his youth, he was a Finnish shepherd and passionately fell in love with his beautiful neighbor Naina. But she was too proud and rejected the simple shepherd. The ardent young man gathered a squad of brave fellows and for ten years gained the glory of a warrior in raids on neighboring countries. But when he returned to Naina with rich gifts, crowned with military glory, she again rejected him. Then he retired to the wilds of the forest, where he studied magic, dreaming of using it to win the heart of an unapproachable beauty.

So four decades passed. When he finally cast the spell and Naina appeared to him, he was horrified - she became old and ugly. Now Naina could answer him with love, but he no longer wanted that. Then she, offended, vowed to take revenge on her former admirer. It turned out that all these years Naina had also been studying the science of witchcraft, because, as the elder said, she already knows about his meeting with Ruslan, and he is in danger from an angry sorceress.

Rival plans

Rogdai, not forgiving Ruslan for his luck in love affairs, planned to kill him, but, turning back, he met only Farlaf, who was having lunch in the field. He was not distinguished by courage and, seeing that Rogdai mistook him for Ruslan, wanted to run away as quickly as possible. However, while jumping over a ravine, he fell from his horse. Rogdai took out his sword to deal with his hated rival, but saw that it was not Ruslan, turned around and left.

Naina's appearance

Not far away, Rogday met a hunchbacked old woman (in fact it was the sorceress Naina), who showed him the direction in which to look for Ruslan. Then Naina appeared to Farlaf, advising him to give up the search for Lyudmila and retire to his Kiev estate.

Lyudmila at Chernomor

And the following happened to Lyudmila. After Chernomor took her from the wedding bed to his castle, the girl came to her senses only in the morning, in a richly decorated room. The maids respectfully dressed her in a beautiful sundress, belted with pearls.

But Lyudmila was not pleased with the surrounding luxury. She missed Ruslan and her home. Chernomor had a beautiful large garden, fragrant with overseas flowers, where she could walk, and there she even had the idea of ​​committing suicide by throwing herself from the bridge between the rocks.

Everything about this place was magical - as soon as the girl sat down on the grass, lunch miraculously appeared in front of her. And with the onset of darkness, an unknown force transported Lyudmila back to the palace, where the maids prepared her bedchamber. When the princess was about to sleep, the door suddenly opened and Chernomor’s beard entered the room - a long row of slaves carried it in front of the sorcerer.

The sorcerer himself, a disgusting dwarf, appeared behind the beard. Lyudmila screamed in horror, threw the cap off his head and wanted to strike. From her scream, the blackamoor slaves were confused, and Chernomor wanted to run away, but got entangled in his own beard and fell to the ground.

And Ruslan continued on his way at this time. Suddenly a cry was heard from behind: “Stop!” Ruslan saw that Rogdai was approaching. They fought for a long time, but in the end Ruslan managed to throw his opponent off his horse and threw him into the Dnieper. According to rumors, Rogdai ended up with a mermaid, and his ghost wandered along the shore at night for a long time.

The Sorcerer's Secret

In the morning after the inglorious flight from Lyudmila, Chernomor met with Naina, who had arrived in the form of a flying kite. Turning into a woman, she proposed an alliance against Ruslan and the hermit. Chernomor willingly agreed, telling Naina the secret of his invincibility. It was possible to kill him only by cutting off his beard.

Song 3 of the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” tells about these events. In a brief summary of this part of the work, we will talk about the subsequent adventures of the heroes.

The disappearance of Lyudmila

After Naina flew away, Chernomor again visited the captive princess, but it turned out that she had disappeared. The sorcerer sent slaves to search for her. But where could Lyudmila really have gone? And she, starting to get dressed in the morning, saw Chernomor’s cap lying on the floor. Trying it on backwards, the girl discovered that she had become invisible. It turned out that the cap is actually an invisibility cap.

And Ruslan, after the victory over Rogdai, went forward and soon saw a field covered with the remains of the dead and weapons. There he picked up a replacement for his armor and shield, which had become unusable after the battle with his opponent. Only the hero did not find a new sword.

Monstrous Head

Having driven further, from a distance he noticed a mountain that seemed alive. Nearby, the hero was surprised to see a huge sleeping Head. Ruslan tickled her nose with a spear, and the Head sneezed so hard that she almost blew the hero off his horse. Angry at the man who woke her up, the Head began to blow on him with all her might, and Ruslan was carried away by the wind into the field. The hero gathered all his strength and rushed towards the Head, pierced its tongue with a spear and hit it on the cheek so that it rolled to the side. It turns out that there was a sword underneath it. Ruslan took it and wanted to cut off the head’s nose and ears, but she begged for mercy and told about herself.

Once upon a time it was the head of a valiant warrior. For his glory and courage, he was hated by his evil younger brother, Chernomor, who mastered witchcraft and had a magic beard that gave him invulnerability. One day, an insidious sorcerer told his older brother about a sword, which, as it is written in the books, is safely kept in a distant place. Chernomor convinced his brother that this sword would bring death to both of them, so they needed to get it by any means.

The glorious warrior believed his younger brother and set off on the road. Chernomor sat on his shoulder, showing the way. The sword was eventually found, and there was a dispute over who should own it. Chernomor played a trick, suggesting that the two of them lie down on the ground and listen - a ringing sound will be heard from it, and the first one to hear it will become the owner of the sword. The naive older brother agreed, but as soon as he lay down on the ground, Chernomor deprived him of his head. A lot of time passed, and the warrior’s body decayed, but with the help of magic, Chernomor made his head immortal and placed it to guard the wonderful sword.

After what was said, the Head asked Ruslan to take revenge on Chernomor. The sword was supposed to help with this.

Adventures of Ratmir

Ruslan's third opponent, Ratmir, rode south. Suddenly he came across a palace, along the wall of which a girl was walking, inviting travelers. When Ratmir arrived at the gate, he was met by a crowd of girls. They undressed him, took him to the bathhouse and fed him. Ratmir stayed with one of the girls for the night.

And Ruslan tirelessly moved north, looking for his beloved. On the way he came across warriors and monsters with whom he had to fight.

Lyudmila's deception

Lyudmila, meanwhile, walked unseen through the gardens and palaces of Chernomor. Sometimes she took off her magic hat, teasing the sorcerer's servants who were looking for her. But when they tried to catch her, she instantly disappeared. Chernomor, in anger and frustration, finally came up with a way to catch the girl. He turned into Ruslan, who had received a wound, and began plaintively calling the princess. Lyudmila, of course, rushed into his arms, but suddenly saw that in front of her was not a husband at all, but a hated kidnapper. The girl tried to escape, but Chernomor put her in a deep sleep. And at that moment the sound of a horn was heard nearby - it was Ruslan who had reached the lands of the villain.

Battle

Ruslan challenged Chernomor to a fight. Suddenly the sorcerer attacked the warrior from the air and began to beat him. Ruslan deftly knocked the wizard down and grabbed him by the beard. Trying to free himself, Chernomor rushed into the air. Ruslan hung on the magic beard and did not unhook.

Their flight continued for three days, and the sorcerer began to get tired. No matter how he tried to fool Ruslan with false speeches, he did not give in and forced himself to be taken to his wife. When Chernomor descended into his garden, Ruslan immediately cut off his witch's beard. But where is Lyudmila? The knight began to look for his beloved, crushing everything around him. By chance, he touched the magic hat on Lyudmila’s head and saw his wife sound asleep.

Taking his beloved in his arms and putting the sorcerer in his knapsack, Ruslan went back. Passing through familiar places, he met the Head again. She, having learned about the revenge, finally tried to express to her brother the anger that tormented her and died.

Soon Ruslan came across a secluded poor house near an unknown river. There the beauty was waiting for her husband. He turned out to be a fisherman, and when he landed on the shore, Ruslan recognized him as Ratmir. Although he was a Khazar khan, for the sake of love he refused great fame, wealth, and even twelve beautiful girls he met along the way. The men hugged and talked in a friendly manner; Ratmir no longer thought about Lyudmila.

Death of Ruslan

And the evil sorceress Naina found Farlaf, who lived in the wilderness, and took him with her to the valley, where the tired Ruslan slept next to Lyudmila. Tom had a bad dream in which Farlaf and Lyudmila appeared at Vladimir’s feast.

The real Farlaf rode up to Ruslan on a horse and pierced him with a sword three times, grabbed the sleeping Lyudmila and rode away. Ruslan spent the night unconscious, and in the morning, trying to get up, he fell dead.

Return to Kyiv

Farlaf brought Lyudmila to Kyiv. Her father met them and saw that his daughter was sleeping soundly. Farlaf swore that he himself had won it from the goblin from the Murom forests.

The people of Kiev constantly went to look at the sleeping princess. No matter how hard they tried to wake her up with loud sounds and music, nothing helped. Vladimir was sad. And the next morning a new misfortune happened - the city was besieged by the Pechenegs.

Ruslan's friend, the hermit-sorcerer, already knew about what had happened. With the help of witchcraft, he found himself near magical streams, one of which was with dead water, and the other with living water. The elder filled the jugs, read a witchcraft spell, was transported to Ruslan and revived him with miraculous waters. Saying goodbye forever, the wizard gave Ruslan a ring that would help wake up Lyudmila.

Happy ending of the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila"

Residents of Kyiv watched in horror as enemies besieged the city. The princely warriors were unable to drive out the Pechenegs. But the next day the people of Kiev were awakened by an incomprehensible noise - it was an unknown warrior hacking at foreigners. The defeated Pechenegs fled. Jubilant Kyiv met the hero who was Ruslan. He hurried to the prince's tower. Touching Lyudmila’s face with a magic ring, Ruslan woke her up. The happy Prince Vladimir ordered to re-celebrate the marriage of the heroes of the poem Ruslan and Lyudmila. Farlaf, who obeyed, was forgiven, and Chernomor, who had lost his witchcraft powers, was taken into the service of the prince.

Prince Vladimir the Sun feasts in the gridnitsa with his sons and a crowd of friends, celebrating the wedding of his youngest daughter Lyudmila with Prince Ruslan. The guslar Bayan sings in honor of the newlyweds. Only three guests do not rejoice at the happiness of Ruslan and Lyudmila, three knights do not listen to the prophetic singer. These are three rivals of Ruslan: the knight Rogdai, the braggart Farlaf and the Khazar khan Ratmir.

The feast is over and everyone leaves. The prince blesses the newlyweds, they are taken to the bedchamber, and the happy groom is already anticipating the delights of love. Suddenly thunder struck, light flashed, everything became dark, and in the ensuing silence a strange voice was heard and someone flew up and disappeared into the darkness. Ruslan, who has woken up, is looking for Lyudmila, but she is not there, she was “kidnapped by an unknown force.”

Struck by the terrible news of the disappearance of his daughter, the Grand Duke, angry with Ruslan, turns to the young knights with a call to go in search of Lyudmila and promises the one who finds and returns his daughter to give her as a wife as a reproach to Ruslan, and in addition - half the kingdom. Rogdai, Ratmir, Farlaf and Ruslan himself immediately volunteer to go look for Lyudmila and saddle their horses, promising the prince not to prolong the separation. They leave the palace and gallop along the banks of the Dnieper, and the old prince looks after them for a long time and his thoughts fly after them.

The knights ride together. Ruslan languishes with melancholy, Farlaf boasts of his future exploits in the name of Lyudmila, Ratmir dreams of her embrace, Rogdai is gloomy and silent. The day is approaching evening, the riders approach a crossroads and decide to part, each trusting his own fate. Ruslan, devoted to gloomy thoughts, is walking at a pace and suddenly sees in front of him a cave in which a fire glows. The knight enters the cave and sees in it an old man with a gray beard and clear eyes, reading an ancient book in front of a lamp. The elder greets Ruslan and says that he has been waiting for him for a long time. He calms the young man, informing him that he will be able to regain Lyudmila, who was kidnapped by the terrible wizard Chernomor, a longtime abductor of beauties, living in the northern mountains, where no one has ever been able to penetrate. But Ruslan is destined to find Chernomor’s home and defeat him in battle. The elder says that Ruslan’s future is in his own will. The delighted Ruslan falls at the old man’s feet and kisses his hand, but suddenly a sadness appears on his face again. The wise old man understands the reason for the young man’s sadness and calms him down, saying that Chernomor is a powerful wizard who can bring down the stars from the sky, but is powerless in the fight against inexorable time, and therefore his senile love is not scary for Lyudmila. The elder persuades Ruslan to go to bed, but Ruslan languishes in melancholy and is unable to sleep. He asks the elder to tell him who he is and how he came to this region. And the old man with a sad smile tells his wondrous story.

Born in the Finnish valleys, he was a peaceful and carefree shepherd in his homeland, but to his misfortune he fell in love with the beautiful, but hard-hearted and obstinate Naina. For six months he was yearning for love and finally opened up to Naina. But the proud beauty answered indifferently that she did not love the shepherd. Feeling disgusted with his usual life and activities, the young man decided to leave his native fields and set off with his faithful squad on a brave voyage in search of battles in order to earn the love of the proud Naina with the glory of war. He spent ten years in battles, but his heart, full of love for Naina, longed to return. And so he returned to throw rich trophies at the feet of the arrogant beauty in the hope of her love, but again the indifferent maiden refused the hero. But this test did not stop the lover. He decided to try his luck with the help of magical powers, learning powerful wisdom from the sorcerers living in his area, to whose will everything is subject. Having decided to attract Naina’s love with the help of witchcraft, he spent imperceptible years studying with sorcerers and finally comprehended the terrible secret of nature, learned the secret of spells. But evil fate pursued him. Naina, summoned by his witchcraft, appeared before him as a decrepit old woman, hunchbacked, gray-haired, with a shaking head. The horrified sorcerer learns from her that forty years have passed and today she turns seventy. To his horror, the sorcerer became convinced that his spells worked and Naina loved him. With trepidation, he listened to the love confessions of the gray-haired, ugly old woman, and to top it off, he learned that she had become a witch. The shocked Finn ran away, followed by the curses of the old witch, reproaching him for infidelity to his feelings.

Having fled from Naina, the Finn settled in this cave and lives there in complete solitude. Finn predicts that Naina will also hate Ruslan, but he will also be able to overcome this obstacle.

All night Ruslan listened to the old man's stories, and in the morning, with a soul full of hope, gratefully hugging him goodbye and parting with the blessing of the wizard, he sets out on the road in search of Lyudmila.

Meanwhile, Rogdai travels “between the forest deserts.” He cherishes a terrible thought - to kill Ruslan and thereby free his way to Lyudmila’s heart. He decisively turns his horse and gallops back.

Farlaf, having slept all morning, dined in the silence of the forest by the stream. Suddenly he noticed that a horseman was rushing straight towards him at full speed. Throwing away lunch, weapons, chain mail, the cowardly Farlaf jumps on his horse and runs away without looking back. The horseman rushes after him and calls on him to stop, threatening to “rip” his head off. Farlaf's horse jumps over the ditch, and Farlaf himself falls into the mud. Rogdai, who has flown up, is ready to defeat his opponent, but sees that it is not Ruslan, and rides away in frustration and anger.

Under the mountain he meets a barely alive old woman, who points to the north with her stick and says that there the knight will find his enemy. Rogdai leaves, and the old woman approaches Farlaf, who is lying in the mud and shaking with fear, and advises him to return home, not to expose himself to danger anymore, because Lyudmila will be his anyway. Having said this, the old woman disappeared, and Farlaf followed her advice.

Meanwhile, Ruslan strives for his beloved, wondering about her fate. One evening he was passing over the river and heard the buzz of an arrow, the ringing of chain mail and the neighing of a horse. Someone shouted for him to stop. Looking back, Ruslan saw a horseman rushing towards him with a raised spear. Ruslan recognized him and shuddered with anger...

At the same time, Lyudmila, carried away from her wedding bed by the gloomy Chernomor, woke up in the morning, overwhelmed with vague horror. She was lying in a luxurious bed under a canopy, everything was like in Sheherezada’s fairy tales. Beautiful maidens in light clothes approached her and bowed. One skillfully braided her hair and decorated it with a pearl crown, another put an azure sundress on her and shod her, the third gave her a pearl belt. The invisible singer sang funny songs all this time. But all this did not cheer Lyudmila’s soul. Left alone, Lyudmila goes to the window and sees only snowy plains and the tops of gloomy mountains, everything is empty and dead all around, only a whirlwind rushes with a sad whistle, shaking the forest visible on the horizon. In despair, Lyudmila runs to the door, which opens by itself in front of her, and Lyudmila goes out into an amazing garden in which palm trees, laurel, cedars, and oranges grow, reflected in the mirror of the lakes. There is a spring fragrance all around and the voice of a Chinese nightingale can be heard. In the garden there are fountains and beautiful sculptures that seem alive. But Lyudmila is sad, and nothing makes her happy. She sits down on the grass, and suddenly a tent unfolds above her, and a sumptuous lunch appears in front of her. Beautiful music delights her ears. Intending to reject the treat, Lyudmila began to eat. As soon as she got up, the tent disappeared by itself, and Lyudmila again found herself alone and wandered in the garden until the evening. Lyudmila feels like she is falling asleep, and suddenly an unknown force lifts her up and gently carries her through the air on her bed. The three maidens appeared again and, having laid Lyudmila to rest, disappeared. Lyudmila lies in bed in fear and waits for something terrible. Suddenly there was a noise, the palace lit up, and Lyudmila saw a long row of blackamoors carrying a gray beard on pillows in pairs, followed by a hunchbacked dwarf with a shaved head covered with a high cap. Lyudmila jumps up, grabs him by the cap, the dwarf gets scared, falls, gets entangled in his beard, and the araps, accompanied by Lyudmila's squeal, carry him away, leaving his hat behind.

Meanwhile, Ruslan, overtaken by the knight, fights with him in a fierce battle. He rips the enemy from the saddle, lifts him and throws him from the shore into the waves. This knight was none other than Rogdai, who found his death in the waters of the Dnieper.

A cold morning shines on the tops of the northern mountains. Chernomor lies in bed, and slaves comb his beard and oil his mustache. Suddenly a winged serpent flies into the window and turns into Naina. She greets Chernomor and informs him of the impending danger. Chernomor answers Naina that he is not afraid of the knight as long as his beard is intact. Naina, turning into a snake, flies away again, and Chernomor again goes to Lyudmila’s chambers, but cannot find her either in the palace or in the garden. Lyudmila has disappeared. Chernomor, in anger, sends slaves in search of the missing princess, threatening them with terrible punishments. Lyudmila didn’t run away anywhere, she just accidentally discovered the secret of the Black Sea invisibility cap and took advantage of its magical properties.

What about Ruslan? Having defeated Rogdai, he went further and found himself on the battlefield with armor and weapons scattered around and the yellowing bones of warriors. Ruslan sadly looks around the battlefield and finds armor for himself among the abandoned weapons, a steel spear, but cannot find a sword. Ruslan is driving along the steppe at night and notices a huge hill in the distance. Having approached closer, in the light of the moon he sees that this is not a hill, but a living head in a heroic helmet with feathers that tremble from her snoring. Ruslan tickled the nostrils of the head with a spear, it sneezed and woke up. The angry head threatens Ruslan, but, seeing that the knight is not afraid, he becomes angry and begins to blow on him with all his might. Unable to resist this whirlwind, Ruslan’s horse flies far into the field, and his head laughs at the knight. Enraged by her ridicule, Ruslan throws his spear and pierces his head with his tongue. Taking advantage of the confusion in her head, Ruslan rushes towards her and hits her in the cheek with a heavy mitten. The head shook, turned over and rolled. In the place where she stood, Ruslan sees a sword that suited him. He intends to cut off the head's nose and ears with this sword, but hears her groan and spares her. The defeated head tells Ruslan his story. She was once a brave giant knight, but

her misfortune was her younger dwarf brother, the evil Chernomor, who was jealous of his older brother. One day Chernomor revealed a secret he found in the black books, that behind the eastern mountains in a basement there was kept a sword that was dangerous for both brothers. Chernomor persuaded his brother to go in search of this sword and, when it was found, he took possession of it by deception and cut off his brother’s head, moved it to this desert region and doomed it to guard the sword forever. The head invites Ruslan to take the sword and take revenge on the treacherous Chernomor.

Khan Ratmir went south in search of Lyudmila and on the way he sees a castle on a rock, along the wall of which a singing maiden is walking in the moonlight. With her song she attracts the knight, he drives up, and is met under the wall by a crowd of red maidens who give the knight a luxurious reception.

And Ruslan spends this night close to his head, and in the morning he goes on further searches. Autumn passes and winter comes, but Ruslan stubbornly moves north, overcoming all obstacles.

Lyudmila, hidden from the eyes of the sorcerer by a magic hat, walks alone through the beautiful gardens and teases Chernomor's servants. But the insidious Chernomor, taking the guise of a wounded Ruslan, lures Lyudmila into the net. He is ready to pick the fruit of love, but the sound of a horn is heard and someone calls him. Putting an invisibility cap on Lyudmila, Chernomor flies towards the call.

Ruslan challenged the sorcerer to a fight, he is waiting for him. But the insidious wizard, having become invisible, hits the knight on the helmet. Having contrived, Ruslan grabs Chernomor by the beard, and the wizard takes off with him into the clouds. For two days he carried the knight through the air and finally asked for mercy and carried Ruslan to Lyudmila. On the ground, Ruslan cuts off his beard with a sword and ties it to his helmet. But, having entered the possessions of Chernomor, he does not see Lyudmila anywhere and in anger begins to destroy everything around him with his sword. With an accidental blow, he knocks the invisibility cap off Lyudmila’s head and finds a bride. But Lyudmila sleeps soundly. At this moment, Ruslan hears the voice of a Finn, who advises him to go to Kyiv, where Lyudmila will wake up. Having approached the head on the way back, Ruslan pleases her with a message about the victory over Chernomor.

On the bank of the river, Ruslan sees a poor fisherman and his beautiful young wife. He is surprised to recognize Ratmir in the fisherman. Ratmir says that he found his happiness and left the vain world. He says goodbye to Ruslan and wishes him happiness and love.

Meanwhile, Naina appears to Farlaf, who is waiting in the wings, and teaches him how to destroy Ruslan. Sneaking up to the sleeping Ruslan, Farlaf thrusts the sword into his chest three times and disappears with Lyudmila.

The murdered Ruslan lies in the field, and Farlaf with the sleeping Lyudmila strives for Kyiv. He enters the mansion with Lyudmila in his arms, but Lyudmila does not wake up, and all attempts to wake her are fruitless. And then a new disaster befalls Kyiv: it is surrounded by rebel Pechenegs.

While Farlaf is traveling to Kyiv, the Finn comes to Ruslan with living and dead water. Having resurrected the knight, he tells him what happened and gives him a magic ring that will remove the spell from Lyudmila. Encouraged, Ruslan rushes to Kyiv.

Meanwhile, the Pechenegs besiege the city, and at dawn a battle begins, which does not bring victory to anyone. And the next morning, among the hordes of Pechenegs, a horseman in shining armor suddenly appears. He strikes left and right and puts the Pechenegs to flight. It was Ruslan. Having entered Kyiv, he goes to the tower, where Vladimir and Farlaf were next to Lyudmila. seeing Ruslan, Farlaf falls to his knees, and Ruslan rushes to Lyudmila and, touching her face with the ring, awakens her. Happy Vladimir, Lyudmila and Ruslan forgive Farlaf, who confessed everything, and Chernomor, deprived of magical powers, is accepted into the palace.

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A poetic fairy-tale work by the outstanding Russian classic of Russian literature Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was written between 1818 and 1820. The author, impressed by the beauty, diversity and originality of Russian folklore (epics, legends, fairy tales and popular stories), creates a unique poetic work that has become a classic of world and Russian literature, distinguished by a grotesque, fantastic plot, the use of colloquial vocabulary and the presence of a certain amount of authorial irony.

According to some literary scholars, the poem was created as a parody of chivalric novels and poetic ballads in the romantic style of Zhukovsky, who was fashionable at that time (the basis was his popular ballad “The Twelve Maidens”), who, after the publication of the poem, presented Pushkin with his portrait with words of gratitude from a defeated teacher for a winning student.

History of creation

According to some sources, Pushkin conceived the idea of ​​writing this fabulous poetry with a “heroic spirit” during his lyceum studies. But he started working on it much later, already in 1818-1820. The poetic poem was created under the influence not only of exclusively Russian folklore, but also the motifs of the works of Voltaire and Ariosto are clearly felt here. The names for some characters (Ratmir, Farlaf, Ragdai) appeared after Pushkin read “The History of the Russian State.”

In this poetic work, the author skillfully combined antiquity, moments of Russian history and the time in which the poet lived. For example, his image of Ruslan is akin to the image of the legendary Russian heroes, he is just as brave and courageous, but Lyudmila, thanks to her certain carelessness, flirtatiousness and frivolity, on the contrary, is closer to the young ladies of Pushkin’s era. The most important thing for the poet was to show in the work the triumph of good over evil, the victory of the light principle over dark, gloomy forces. After the poem appeared in print in 1820, it almost immediately brought the poet well-deserved fame. Distinguished by its lightness, irony, sublimity, grace and freshness, it was a deeply original work, in which various genres, traditions and styles were skillfully mixed, immediately captivating the minds and hearts of readers of that time. Some critics condemned the use of deliberately common figures of speech in the poem; not everyone understood the author’s unusual technique and his unusual position as a storyteller.

Analysis of the work

Storyline

The poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” is divided into six parts (songs), it begins with lines where the author talks about who this work is dedicated to, and it is intended for beautiful girls, for whose sake this fairy tale was written. Then comes the well-known description of the magical country of Lukomorye, the green oak tree that grows there and the mythical creatures that live there.

First song begins with a story about a feast in the palace of the Kyiv prince Vladimir the Red Sun, dedicated to the wedding of his daughter, the beautiful Lyudmila, and the brave young hero Ruslan. There is also the legendary epic singer and storyteller Bayan, as well as Ruslan’s three rivals Ratmir, Ragdai and Farlaf, who are also in love with Lyudmila, they are angry with the newly-minted groom, full of envy and hatred towards him. Then a misfortune happens: the evil sorcerer and dwarf Chernomor kidnaps the bride and takes her to his enchanted castle. Ruslan and three rivals set out from Kyiv in search of her, in the hope that whoever finds the prince's daughter will receive her hand and heart. On the way, Ruslan meets Elder Finn, who tells him the story of his unhappy love for the girl Naina and shows him the way to the terrible sorcerer Chernomor.

Second part (song) talks about the adventures of Ruslan’s rivals, about his clash and victory over Ragday who attacked him, and also describes the details of Lyudmila’s stay in Chernomor’s castle, her acquaintance with him (Chernomor comes to her room, Lyudmila gets scared, squeals, grabs him by the cap and he runs away in horror).

In the third song describes a meeting of old friends: the wizard Chernomor and his friend the sorceress Naina, who comes to him and warns him that the heroes are coming to him for Lyudmila. Lyudmila finds a magic hat that makes her invisible and hides throughout the palace from the old and nasty sorcerer. Ruslan meets the giant head of a hero, defeats it and takes possession of a sword with which to kill Chernomor.

In the fourth song Radmir abandons the search for Lyudmila and remains in the castle with young beauties, and only one faithful warrior Ruslan stubbornly continues his journey, which becomes more and more dangerous, on the way he meets a witch, a giant and other enemies, they try to stop him, but he firmly goes to your goal. Chernomor tricks Lyudmila, wearing an invisibility cap, into a magic net and she falls asleep in it.

Fifth song tells the story of Ruslan's arrival at the wizard's palace, and of the difficult battle between the hero and the villainous dwarf, who carries Ruslan on his beard for three days and three nights, and finally surrenders. Ruslan captivates him, cuts off the magic beard, throws the sorcerer into a bag and goes to look for his bride, whom the vile dwarf hid well, putting an invisibility cap on her. Finally he finds her, but cannot wake her up, and in such a sleepy state he decides to take her to Kyiv. On the night road, Farlaf secretly attacks him, seriously wounds him and takes Lyudmila away.

In the sixth song Farlaf brings the girl to her father and tells everyone that it was he who found her, but he still cannot wake her up. Elder Finn saves and revives Ruslan with living water, he hurries to Kyiv, which was just attacked by the Pechenegs, bravely fights with them, removes the spell from Lyudmila and she wakes up. The main characters are happy, a feast is arranged for the whole world, the dwarf Chernomor, who has lost his magical power, is left in the palace, in general, good will dine on evil and justice will triumph.

The poem ends with a lengthy epilogue in which Pushkin tells readers that with his work he glorified the legends of deep antiquity, says that in the process of work he forgot about all grievances and forgave his enemies, in which friendship, which is of great importance to the author, helped him a lot .

Characteristics

The hero Ruslan, the groom of the prince's daughter Lyudmila, is the central character of Pushkin's poem. The description of the trials that befell him, which he endured with honor and great courage in the name of saving his beloved, forms the basis of the entire storyline. The author, inspired by the exploits of Russian epic heroes, portrays Ruslan not only as the savior of his beloved, but also as the defender of his native land from the raids of nomads.

Ruslan's appearance, described with special care, must fully convey his correspondence to the heroic image according to the author's intention: he has blond hair, symbolizing the purity of his plans and the nobility of his soul, his armor is always clean and shiny, as befits a knight in shining armor, always ready for battle. At the feast, Ruslan is completely absorbed in thoughts about his future marriage and ardent love for his bride, which does not allow him to notice the envious and evil glances of his rivals. Compared to them, he stands out for his purity and directness of thoughts, sincerity and sensuality. Also, the main character traits emerge during his journey to the Chernomor castle; he reveals himself as an honest, decent and generous person, a brave and courageous warrior, purposefully and stubbornly pursuing his goal, a faithful and devoted lover, ready to even die for his love.

In the image of Lyudmila, Pushkina showed a portrait of an ideal bride and lover, who faithfully and faithfully waits for her groom and is immensely sad in his absence. The princely daughter is depicted as a delicate, vulnerable nature, possessing special tenderness, sensitivity, elegance and modesty. At the same time, this does not prevent her from having a strong and rebellious character, which helps her resist the evil sorcerer Chernomor, gives her strength and courage not to submit to the vile kidnapper and faithfully wait for her savior Ruslan.

Features of compositional construction

The genre of the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” refers to novels and poems of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, gravitating toward creativity in a “national” spirit. It also reflects the influence on the author of such trends in literature as classicism, semanticism, and chivalric romance.

Following the example of all magical knightly poems, this work has a plot built according to a certain template: hero-knights are looking for their lovers, kidnapped by some mythical villain, overcome a series of tests for this, armed with certain talismans and magical weapons, and in the end they receive a hand and beauty's heart. The poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” is constructed in the same vein, but it is distinguished by amazing grace, freshness, subtle wit, brightness of colors and a light trail of epicureanism, characteristic of many works written by Pushkin during his studies at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. It is the author’s ironic attitude towards the content of the poem that cannot give this work a real “national” coloring. The main advantages of the poem can be called its light and beautiful form, playfulness and witty style, perkiness and cheerfulness of the general mood, a bright thread running through all the content.

Pushkin’s fairy-tale poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila,” cheerful, light and witty, became a new word in the established literary traditions of writing heroic ballads and poems; it was extremely popular among readers and caused a great resonance among literary critics. It is not without reason that Zhukovsky himself admitted his complete failure, and gave the branch of primacy to the young talent of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, who, thanks to this work, took a leading position in the ranks of Russian poets and became famous not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.

Emperor Vladimir is throwing a feast with his sons and close friends, as they have a great holiday coming up - the wedding of their daughter Lyudochka. Everyone rejoices at the wedding, except for the three knights. Since all three would like to be in the place of Ruslan’s groom.

The holiday ends. The Emperor gives the newlyweds a blessing and they are taken to their chambers. Out of nowhere, the wind rises, thunder rumbles, and a voice is heard through the darkness. After Ruslan comes to his senses, he discovers the absence of his young wife.

When the father finds out that his daughter has disappeared, he sends knights to search for her, and to the one who finds her, he promises her hand and heart, and half the kingdom as a gift. The knights are leaving.

Ratmir, one of the knights, is already anticipating the embrace of the rescued woman. Farlaf dreams of great deeds. Rogdai, as always, is very quiet. The knights arrive at a crossroads, and each decides to go in his own direction. Ruslan drove separately, in front of him he notices a cave in which he finds an old man. The old man says that he has been waiting for him for a long time. He informs the groom that he will be able to save the bride, and reports that she was kidnapped by Chernomor. But before salvation he has to go through quite a few difficulties; he must find where Chernomor lives and kill him.

At Ruslan’s request, the old man tells the story of his life. He once worked as a shepherd in the most beautiful fields of Finland. He was inexperienced in love. By an unfortunate coincidence, he fell in love with Naina. This girl did not reciprocate his feelings. After the refusal, he could not find consolation for a long time and left his native place. Having gathered a squad, he set off to seek adventure in sea battles. He failed to forget the insidious Naina, and he began to dream of coming home. After 10 years, having accumulated a sufficient amount of wealth, he dared to ask for this woman’s hand again, but this time he was refused. Without giving up hope, he learned witchcraft, but here too he failed, since Naina appeared before him in an elderly form. He did not even notice that while he was studying with the sages-sorcerers, forty years had passed, and his beloved turned seventy. The spell worked, but he no longer needed her so old. He found out that she was also a witch, and, stunned by this news, he ran away, and after that he heard the curses of his former lover.

That's how he ended up in this remote place, where he lives completely alone. The stories continued until the morning. Ruslan collected his things and, inspired, set off on the journey to find his beloved.

Meanwhile, Rogdai is plotting to kill Ruslan and free Lyudmila’s heart. Turning his stallion around, he gallops to meet Ruslan.

Farlaf had a difficult morning ahead of him. He woke up and tried to have breakfast in the silence of the forest. But, before he could finish his breakfast, he noticed a horseman rushing towards him. Having abandoned everything, he ran away. Rushing on his heels, the horseman threatened to cut off his head. He was chased by Rogdai, who thought that he had caught Ruslan, but, realizing that this was not his main opponent, he leaves.

Rogdai meets a decrepit old woman who shows him the way to his enemy. And the old woman helps Farlaf get up and sends him home, since he has nothing to do on such a terrible path and the fact that the beautiful Lyudmila will still become his wife. He does everything as the old woman said.

Ruslan, still inspired, was looking for his beloved, but in an instant he realized that he was being ordered to stop and saw Rogday swinging a spear at him.

At this time, the stolen Lyudmila wakes up in the Chernomor monastery, in a beautiful room on a charming bed. The maids come up to her to help her change clothes and braid her hair. And someone's beautiful voice sang charming songs to her. But this didn’t make Lyudmila feel any better; she went to the window and saw that she was very high, and only the tops of the snowy mountains were visible to her. Going out into the courtyard, she found herself at a beautiful garden. In sadness, she sits down on the ground to cry, but a set table appears in front of her, and a beautiful melody is in the air.

Lyudmila, without noticing it, is stuffing herself. Getting up from the ground, she noticed that the treats were gone. She was tired and something weightless carried her to her chambers. Lyudmila senses danger. And, suddenly, arabs appear in front of her, carrying someone’s gray beard in their hands. At the end she notices an old man. She screams and the dwarf gets scared, entangled in his own beard, and is immediately carried away by the servants.

Ruslan fights Rogdai tooth and nail. Ruslan wins, and the enemy finds his death in the river.

In the monastery of Chernomor, the servants comb their beard, a snake appears on the threshold, which in the blink of an eye turns into Naina. She warns Chernomor, but he is confident in his strength as long as his beard is in place. The snake flies away, and the bearded old man goes in search of Lyudmila in his domain, but does not find her again. She didn’t disappear anywhere, she just hid under the invisibility cap, which fell when Chernomor was frightened.

Ruslan finds himself on the battlefield, where swords and shields are scattered next to the bones of former warriors. He finds his equipment and continues on his way. Not far away he notices a hill. But, as it turns out a little later, this is not a hill, but a huge head of a warrior in a helmet. Ruslan woke up his head, and it, laughing, blew him away into the field.

Ruslan throws down his weapon and pierces the warrior's tongue.

The head lost control, and Ruslan hit it with all his might. The warrior’s head rolled to the side, and in its place Ruslan found a helmet.

He really wanted to finish off the head, but he spared it and moved on. The head told the story. For a long time she was a giant warrior, but she had an evil dwarf brother. The brother shared a secret that they could be killed using a special sword, but as soon as they found it, a careless relative cut off his head. Chernomor placed his head here to guard the sword.

The third knight, Khan Ratmir, saw a castle on the way, on the wall of which stood a beautiful maiden. As soon as he came closer, a huge crowd of equally beautiful girls greeted him luxuriously.

Ruslan spends the whole night with his head.

Lyudmila spends her time teasing the slaves. Chernomor is not stupid, he takes on the image of a wounded lover and catches a careless captive. The call of the horn is heard and Chernomor leaves Lyudmila alone.

They fought for two days and two nights, Chernomor weakened and asked for mercy. Having descended, Ruslan cuts off his beard and goes to meet the invisible bride. Accidentally touches the invisibility cap from Lyudmila's head and the lover hugs the bride. The old man from the cave explains that she will wake up in Kyiv on her native land.

On the way back, Ruslan meets Ratmir, who also found his happiness with a beautiful maiden. And wishing each other happiness, the former enemies disperse.

Naina teaches Farlaf how to kill Ruslan. Farlaf kills the sleeping Ruslan and leaves with Lyudmila. The people of Kiev are facing a new misfortune - there are crowds of Pechenegs around the city. The old man from the cave revives Ruslan with living and dead water, and he also gives Ruslan a ring that will help remove the spell from his beloved.

Ruslan immediately leaves for Kyiv. Enemies are pressing against the walls of the city, but there is no winner in this war. In the morning, a horseman emerges from the crowd of Pechenegs. Ruslan defeats all Russian enemies, throwing dead villains at the city walls.

Arriving at the place, he looks for his beloved in the mansion to awaken her, but meets Vladimir and Farlaf on the way. Farlav begins to repent that he killed Ruslan and took Lyudmila. Ruslan, blinded by the desire to see his beauty again, runs to Lyudmila and puts on the ring. Lyudmila wakes up.