Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin is a real Genius, who, however, achieved success in the literary field, already being an adult, an accomplished person. With his impudent sincerity, he knew how to conquer and destroy peace. Amazing honesty elevated him to the pinnacle of fame, and then just as quickly "thrown" the poet from Olympus.

A poor and humble nobleman, he honestly and sincerely served, as A.S. would later say. Pushkin in The Captain's Daughter, "honestly, to whom you swear allegiance." Derzhavin went through the difficult path of a simple soldier, having, however, achieved both recognition and an officer's rank without anyone's help. He participates in the suppression of the Pugachev uprising, and this brings him fame.

The intelligent officer, who had previously published entire collections of ambiguous poems written in an unusual language for that time, remained unnoticed as a writer until, subdued by the openness of Empress Catherine II, her deeds for the good of Russia, he creates a daring ode "Felitsa".

The names of the heroes were not chosen by chance: the young poet borrowed them from an instructive fairy tale, personally composed by the Empress for her grandson. This allusion will later lay the foundation for a whole cycle of odes dedicated to Felitsa, but it is with that one, the first and perhaps the most important in the poet's work, that a colossal breakthrough in the field of poetic art is connected.

As you know, G.R. Derzhavin lived at a time when the greatest figures in literature, the "Parnassian titans", adhered to the strict framework of classicism. Only in the second half of the 18th century did M. Lomonosov, A. Maikov, M. Kheraskov, and other writers begin to depart from these traditions, but they did not do so on such a grand scale, with such ease that Derzhavin succeeded.

He owns the expression "funny Russian syllable." Indeed, he will announce “the virtues of Felitsa” in the genre of an ode - in a high style, resorting to the help of high spiritual matter. And at the same time, the poet will tear apart the usual canons, as if tearing a piece of paper.

The theme of the ode is socio-political. Derzhavin, who participated in the suppression of the uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev, learned firsthand what a "senseless and merciless" Russian revolt is; he saw with his own eyes and felt with what aversion the people were disposed towards the Russian nobility. But the poet did not call for the liberation of the peasantry - he understood that Russia would choke in blood, especially the nobles, as yesterday's slaves would begin to take revenge on their oppressors. That is why Derzhavin sees salvation in enlightened absolutism, where there is strict and strict observance of laws, a government in which there will be no arbitrariness of the authorities. This is the only way to protect the Empire from new rebellions, from new senseless victims. The poet finds the image of such a ruler in Catherine II. The ode "Felitsa" is not the creation of a haze of the God-chosen empress, but a lively and sincere enthusiastic response to the activities of the empress.

On the one hand, this work is plotless, since the action does not develop in it. And at the same time, there is a certain swiftness, instantaneity in it: thus, with an abundance of images of feelings, images of events are found in it; the poet in chronological order describes the amusements of Catherine's courtiers, however, as well as the life of the Empress.

The composition of the ode is inconsistent; it creates a central image, the embodiment of which is the "god-like princess", and develops throughout the story, is considered from all sides. At the same time, the antithesis technique is used: the virtues of Felitsa are opposed to the idleness and meanness of her “murz”.

"Felitsa" is written in iambic tetrameter with the replacement of iambic stops with pyrrhic. Derzhavin refers to the classic odic ten-line stanza with complex rhyme (first cross, then in pairs, then ring); the poet alternates male and female rhymes.

The expressive means of the ode are distinguished by a stunning variety of imagination. The main poetic device is the antithesis mentioned above, as well as allusions - to Count Orlov, P. Panin, etc. Derzhavin refers to the sublime style, and therefore in the ode a huge place is given to Church Slavonic words. “Felitsa” is not rich in metaphors (“fry in ice baths”), but it is replete with epithets (“sweet-voiced harp”, “safir wings”, “despicable liar”), comparisons (“meek angel”, comparison of the empress with the feeder, “like a wolf of sheep , you don’t crush people”), hyperbole (typical of the poetic mood of the ode as a whole). Among the stylistic figures, inversion and gradation stand out especially (“pleasant, sweet, useful”). The reception of irony, turning into sarcasm, stands apart. They appear in stanzas where the lyrical hero describes his own amusements, pointing out that he, the hero, is depraved, but "the whole world is like that." This remark makes it possible to emphasize the greatness and virtue of the empress, whose subjects are unworthy to serve her.

In this ode, for the first time, a mixture of styles occurs: in a solemn work, features of a "low" style - sarcasm - are suddenly revealed. In addition, this is the first ode in the history of Russian literature, where the image of the author is so clearly manifested, where his personal opinion is expressed. Derzhavin portrays himself as lyrical hero, unworthy of the honor to serve an enlightened empress, who shuns high titles, magnificent festivities, amusements unworthy of a noble person, luxury; Felice is not characterized by cruelty and injustice. The poet portrays the empress as a God-fearing ruler who is interested in the well-being of her people - it is not without reason that the ode appears in comparison with an angel sent down to earth to rule the Russian state.

The impudent, individual, bright praise, which Gavriil Romanovich himself defined as a "mixed ode", was enthusiastically received by the empress. Derzhavin's innovation made it possible to discard the strict framework of classicism that was inaccessible to a wide range of readers. The originality of the work, its richest and most attractive language, will in the future receive the widest circulation; the trend will be developed in the work of first V. Zhukovsky, and then the main "reformer" of the Russian literary language A.S. Pushkin. Thus, Derzhavin's "Felitsa" anticipates the emergence of a romantic trend in Russian literature.

Sometimes the maturation of Derzhavin's talent should be considered the end of the 1770s, when the first odes appeared in the capital's press, marked by the maturity of skill, depth of thought and feeling. They didn't get the credit they deserved. In 1783, the ode "Felitsa" was published in the journal founded by Princess Dashkova. The ode received the highest approval, and the road to literary and political activity in the name of the interests of the noble empire. Gavrila Romanovich did not expect that one of his odes, written in a simple and unconstrained manner, would draw general attention to its author. In the ode "Felitsa" we see the ideal of an enlightened ruler, the mother of the people, whom he would like to see in the person of the empress. The success of the ode was a matter of chance. Close friends of Derzhavin begged the poet for a manuscript, made several copies and distributed it among the reading community. “Everyone who can read Russian has found herself in her hands.” People who were intelligent and open liked the ode. The author writes in the first person:

And I, waking up until noon,

I smoke tobacco and drink coffee;

Transforming everyday life into a holiday

I circle my thoughts in chimeras...

But it is in this manner of writing that he describes modern society, its shortcomings. His ode was rated by the nobles as "sedition", they recognized themselves in it. In addition to the high poetic merits of the ode, the fact that Derzhavin, in a semi-joking manner, expressed a number of topical reproaches of the highest nobility and at the same time raised several serious questions before the empress herself, and the main one among them: “But where does your throne shine in the world ? In the ode "Felitsa" the vices of the nobles close to Catherine are vividly shown:

We do not walk the paths of light,

We run debauchery for dreams.

Between the lazy and the grouch,

Between vanity and a prophet

Did someone find it by chance

The path of virtue is straight.

The royal court tries to “tame” Derzhavin, but then it turns out that it was not for the sake of generosity and not for the sake of a diamond snuffbox with chervonets that he dedicated “Felitsa” to Catherine. He fought with her for "orphans and widows." Under his pen, the fantastic “princess of the Kirghiz-Kaisak horde” turned into the ideal of an enlightened ruler, the mother of the people, whom he would like to see in the person of the empress. He's writing:

Only you will not offend,

Don't offend anyone

You see foolishness through your fingers,

Only evil cannot be tolerated alone;

You correct misdeeds with indulgence,

Like a wolf of sheep, you don't crush people,

You know exactly the price of them.

He asks her for advice:

Give, Felitsa, guidance:

How magnificently and truthfully to live,

How to tame passions excitement

And be happy in the world?

In the ode "Felitsa", for the first time, the distinctive property of Derzhavin the poet appeared - the ability to "tell the truth to kings with a smile." At the heart of Derzhavin's adherence to principles and citizenship lay not some philosophical doctrine, not a political platform thought out in detail, but an elementary, accessible to everyone following the obvious moral principles inherent in people by nature, but in the vast majority of cases trampled by the people themselves.

"Felitsa" (its original full name: "Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisat princess Felitsa, written by some Murza, who has long lived in Moscow, and who lives on business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic 1782") was written with a setting for the usual laudatory ode. In its external form, it even seems to be a step back from "Poems for the birth ..."; it is written in ten-line iambic stanzas traditional for the solemn ode ("Poems for the birth .. are not divided into stanzas at all.) However, in fact, "Felitsa" is an artistic synthesis of an even broader order.
The name of Catherine Felice (from the Latin felicitas - happiness) was suggested by one of her own literary works- a fairy tale written for her little grandson, the future Alexander I, and shortly before that published in a very limited number of copies. The Kyiv prince Khlor is visited by the Kirghiz Khan, who, in order to check the rumor about the exceptional abilities of the boy, orders him to find a rare flower - "a rose without thorns". On the way, Murza Lentyag invites the prince to him, trying to divert him from too difficult an enterprise by the temptations of luxury. However, with the help of the Khan's daughter Felitsa, who gives her son Reason as a guide to Chlor, Chlor reaches a steep rocky mountain; having climbed with great difficulty to its top, he finds there the sought-for "rose without thorns", i.e. virtue. Using this simple allegory, Derzhavin begins his ode:

godlike princess
Kirghiz-Kaisatsky hordes,
Whose wisdom is incomparable
Discovered the right tracks
Tsarevich young Chlor
Climb that high mountain
Where a rose without thorns grows.
Where virtue dwells!
She captivates my spirit and mind;
Let me find her advice.

So conventionally allegorical images of a children's fairy tale are travesty replaced by traditional images of the canonical beginning of the ode - the ascent to Parnassus, the appeal to the muses. The very portrait of Felitsa - Catherine - is given in a completely new manner, which differs sharply from the traditionally laudatory odes. Instead of the solemnly heavy, long-stamped and therefore little expressive image of the "earth goddess", the poet, with great enthusiasm and hitherto unprecedented poetic skill, portrayed Catherine in the face of an active, intelligent and simple "Kyrgyz-Kaisatskaya princess":

Not imitating your Murzas,
Often you walk
And the food is the simplest
Happens at your table;
Don't value your peace
Reading, writing before laying
And all from your pen
You shed blessings on mortals,
Like you don't play cards
Like me, from morning to morning.

A similar opposition to the "virtuous" image of Felitsa and the contrasting image of the vicious "Murza" is then carried out through the entire poem. This determines the exceptional, hitherto unheard-of genre originality of Felitsa. The laudatory ode in honor of the empress turns out to be at the same time a political satire - a pamphlet against a number of people in her inner circle. Even sharper than in "Poems for the Birth of a Porphyrogenic Child in the North", here the singer's posture changes in relation to the subject of his chanting. Lomonosov signed his odes to the empresses - "the most loyal slave." Derzhavin's attitude to Ekaterina Felitsa, whom he traditionally endows at times with "god-like" attributes, with all respect, is not without, at the same time, as we see, a certain playful shortness, almost familiarity.
The image opposed to Felitsa is characteristically doubled throughout the ode. In satirical places, this is a kind of collective image, which includes the vicious features of all the Catherine nobles ridiculed here by the poet; to a certain extent, Derzhavin, who is generally prone to auto-irony, introduces himself into this circle. In lofty pathetic places, this is the lyrical author's "I", again endowed with specific autobiographical features: Murza is, in fact, the real descendant of Murza Bagrim, the poet Derzhavin. The appearance in "Felitsa" of the author's "I", the living, concrete personality of the poet, was a fact of great artistic, historical and literary significance. Lomonosov's laudatory odes also sometimes begin in the first person:

Do I see Pind under my feet?
I hear pure sisters music.
I burn with Permesian heat,
I flow hastily to their face.

However, the “I” that is being referred to here is not the individual personality of the author, but a certain conventional image of an abstract “singer” in general, an image that acts as an invariable attribute of any ode of any poet. We encounter a similar phenomenon in satires - also a widespread and significant genre of poetry of the 18th century. The difference in this respect between odes and satyrs lies only in the fact that in odes the singer all the time plays on one single string - "sacred delight", while in satires one single, but indignantly accusatory string also sounds. The love songs of the Sumarokov school were just as "one-stringed" - a genre that, from the point of view of contemporaries, was generally considered semi-legal and, in any case, doubtful.
In Derzhavin's "Felitsa", instead of this conditional "I", the true living personality of the poet appears in all the concreteness of his individual being, in all the real diversity of his feelings and experiences, with a complex, "multi-stringed" attitude to reality. The poet here is not only delighted, but also angry; praises and at the same time blasphemes, denounces, slyly ironizes, and it is extremely important that this for the first time declaring itself in the odic poetry of the 18th century. individual personality bears in itself the undoubted features of the nationality.
Pushkin spoke of Krylov's fables, that they reflect a certain " distinguishing feature in our morals there is a cheerful cunning of the mind, mockery and a picturesque way of expressing ourselves. "From under the conditionally "Tatar" guise of "Murza", for the first time this feature appears in Derzhavin's ode to Felitsa. These glimpses of the nationality are also reflected in the language of "Felitsa". In accordance with the new character of this work is its "funny Russian style", as Derzhavin himself defines it, - borrowing its content from real everyday life, light, simple, playfully colloquial speech, directly opposite to the magnificently decorated, deliberately elevated style of Lomonosov's ode.
Odami continues to traditionally call his poems and Derzhavin, theoretically connecting them with an antique model that is obligatory for classicism - the odes of Horace. But in fact he makes them a true genre revolution. In the poetics of Russian classicism there were no verses "in general". Poetry was divided into sharply demarcated, in no case mixed with each other, isolated and closed poetic types: ode, elegy, satire, etc. Derzhavin, starting with "Poems for the birth of a porphyry child in the north" and, in particular, from "Felitsa", completely breaks the boundaries of the traditional genre categories of classicism, merges ode and satire into one organic whole, in his other works, like "On the death of Prince Meshchersky", - an ode and elegy.
In contrast to the monotonous genres of classicism, the poet creates complex and full-life, polyphonic genre formations, anticipating not only the "variegated chapters" of Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" or the highly complex genre of his own "The Bronze Horseman", but also the tone of many of Mayakovsky's works.
"Felitsa" was a colossal success when it appeared ("everyone who could read Russian found herself in her hands," a contemporary testifies) and generally became one of the most popular works of Russian literature of the 18th century. This tremendous success clearly proves that Derzhavin's ode, which made a kind of revolution in relation to Lomonosov's poetics, fully corresponded to the main literary trends of the era.
In "Felice" are united two opposite beginnings of Derzhavin's poetry- positive, affirming, and revealing, - critical. The chanting of the wise monarchine - Felitsa - is one of the central themes of Derzhavin's work, to which both contemporaries and later critics have appropriated the nickname "Felitsa Singer". "Felitsa" was followed by the poems "Thanks to Felitsa", "The Image of Felitsa", and finally, the ode "Vision of Murza" (begun in 1783, completed in 1790) almost as famous as "Felitsa".

godlike princess
Kirghiz-Kaisatsky hordes!
Whose wisdom is incomparable
Discovered the right tracks
Tsarevich young Chlor
Climb that high mountain
Where a rose without thorns grows
Where virtue dwells,
She captivates my spirit and mind,
Let me find her advice.

Come on Felicia! instruction:
How magnificently and truthfully to live,
How to tame passions excitement
And be happy in the world?
Your voice excites me
Your son is escorting me;
But I am weak to follow them.
Reeling with the hustle and bustle of life,
Today I rule myself
And tomorrow I'm a slave to whims.

Not imitating your Murzas,
Often you walk
And the food is the simplest
Happens at your table;
Don't value your peace
Reading, writing before laying
And all from your pen
Bliss you pour out on mortals;
Like you don't play cards
Like me, from morning to morning.

Don't like masquerades too much
And you won't even set foot in the clob;
Keeping customs, rituals,
Don't be quixotic with yourself;
You can't saddle a Parnassian horse,
You don’t enter the assembly to the spirits,
You do not go from the throne to the East;
But meekness walking the path,
Benevolent soul,
Useful days spend the current.

And I, sleeping until noon,
I smoke tobacco and drink coffee;
Transforming everyday life into a holiday
I circle my thought in chimeras:
Then I steal captivity from the Persians,
I turn arrows to the Turks;
That, having dreamed that I am a sultan,
I frighten the universe with a look;
Then suddenly, seduced by the outfit,
I'm going to the tailor on the caftan.

Or in a feast I'm rich,
Where they give me a holiday
Where the table shines with silver and gold,
Where thousands of different dishes:
There is a glorious Westphalian ham,
There are links of Astrakhan fish,
There are pilaf and pies,
I drink champagne waffles;
And I forget everything in the world
Among wines, sweets and aroma.

Or in the midst of a beautiful grove
In the gazebo, where the fountain is noisy,
At the sound of a sweet-voiced harp,
Where the breeze barely breathes
Where everything represents luxury to me,
To the pleasures of thought catches,
Tomit and revitalizes the blood;
Lying on a velvet sofa
A young girl's feelings of tenderness,
I pour love into her heart.

Or a magnificent train
In an English carriage, golden,
With a dog, a jester or a friend,
Or with some beauty
I walk under the swings;
I stop in taverns to drink honey;
Or somehow bored me
According to my inclination to change,
With a hat on one side,
I'm flying on a fast runner.

Or music and singers
Organ and bagpipes suddenly
Or fist fighters
And dance amuse my spirit;
Or, about all matters care
Leaving, I go hunting
And amuse myself with the barking of dogs;
Or over the Neva banks
I amuse myself at night with horns
And rowing daring rowers.

Or, sitting at home, I'll show you
Playing fools with my wife;
Then I get along with her on the dovecote,
Sometimes we frolic in blindfolds;
Then I have fun in a pile with her,
I look for it in my head;
Then I like to rummage through books,
I enlighten my mind and heart,
I read Polkan and Bova;
Behind the Bible, yawning, I sleep.

Such, Felitsa, I am depraved!
But the whole world looks like me.
Who, no matter how wise,
But every man is a lie.
We do not walk the paths of light,
We run debauchery for dreams.
Between the lazy and the grouch,
Between vanity and vice
Did someone find it by chance
The path of virtue is straight.

Found - but lzya eh not be mistaken
We, weak mortals, in this way,
Where does the mind itself stumble
And he must follow the passions;
Where are the ignorant scientists to us,
How is the haze of travelers, darken their eyelids?
Everywhere temptation and flattery lives,
Pasha depresses all luxury.-
Where does virtue live?
Where does a rose without thorns grow?

You alone are only decent,
Princess! create light from darkness;
Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously,
Strengthen their integrity with a union;
Out of disagreement, agreement
And from ferocious passions happiness
You can only create.
So the helmsman, floating through the show,
Catching the roaring wind under sail,
Knows how to steer a ship.

Only you will not offend,
Don't offend anyone
You see foolishness through your fingers,
Only evil cannot be tolerated alone;
You correct misdeeds with indulgence,
Like a wolf of sheep, you don't crush people,
You know exactly the price of them.
They are subject to the will of kings, -
But God is more just,
Living in their laws.

You think sensibly about merits,
You honor the worthy
You don't call him a prophet
Who can only weave rhymes,
And what is this crazy fun
Caliphs good honor and glory.
You condescend to the lyre way:
Poetry is kind to you
Pleasant, sweet, useful,
Like summer lemonade.

There are rumors about your actions
That you are not at all proud;
Kind in business and in jokes,
Pleasant in friendship and firm;
What are you indifferent to misfortunes,
And in glory so generous
What renounced and be reputed to be wise.
They also say it's easy
What seems to be always possible
You and tell the truth.

Also unheard of
Worthy of you alone
What if you boldly people
About everything, both awake and at hand,
And let you know and think,
And you don't forbid yourself
And the truth and fiction to speak;
As if to the most crocodiles,
Your all graces to zoila,
You always tend to forgive.

Aspire to tears of pleasant rivers
From the depths of my soul.
O! as long as people are happy
There must be their own destiny,
Where is the meek angel, the peaceful angel,
Hidden in porphyry lordship,
A scepter was sent down from heaven to carry!
There you can whisper in conversations
And, without fear of execution, at dinners
Do not drink for the health of kings.

There with the name of Felitsa you can
Scrape the typo in the line,
Or a portrait carelessly
Drop her on the ground.

They are not fried in ice baths,
Do not click in the mustache of the nobles;
Princes don't cackle with hens,
Lovers in reality they do not laugh
And they don't stain their faces with soot.

You know, Felitsa! right
And men and kings;
When you enlighten morals,
You don't fool people like that;
In your rest from work
You write teachings in fairy tales
And Chlorine in the alphabet you repeat:
"Don't do anything wrong
And the evil satyr himself
You will make a despicable liar."

You are ashamed to be known as that great
To be terrible, unloved;
Bear decently wild
Animals to tear and their blood to pour.
Without extreme distress in a fever
That lancet needs funds,
Who could do without them?
And is it nice to be that tyrant,
Great in atrocity Tamerlane,
Who is great in goodness, like God?

Felitsa glory, glory to God,
Who pacified the battles;
Which is orphaned and wretched
Covered, clothed and fed;
Who with a radiant eye
Jesters, cowards, ungrateful
And gives his light to the righteous;
Equally enlightens all mortals,
The sick rests, heals,
Doing good only for good.

who gave freedom
Jump into foreign areas
Allowed his people
Look for silver and gold;
Who allows water
And the forest does not prohibit cutting;
Orders and weave, and spin, and sew;
Untying the mind and hands,
Commands to love trades, science
And find happiness at home;

Whose law, right hand
They give both mercy and judgment.-
Tell me, wise Felitsa!
Where is the rogue different from the honest?
Where does old age not roam the world?
Does he find bread for himself?
Where revenge does not drive anyone?
Where do conscience and truth dwell?
Where do virtues shine?
Is it your throne!

But where does your throne shine in the world?
Where, heavenly branch, do you bloom?
In Baghdad? Smyrna? Cashmere? -
Listen, wherever you live, -
Accepting my praises to you,
Don't think that hats or beshmetya
For them I wished from you.
Feel the goodness
Such is the wealth of the soul,
Which Croesus did not collect.

I ask the great prophet
Let me touch the dust of your feet,
Yes, your sweetest current words
And enjoy the sight!
Heavenly I ask for strength,
Yes, their outstretched safir wings,
Invisibly you are kept
From all diseases, evils and boredom;
Yes, your deeds in the offspring sounds,
Like stars in the sky, they will shine.

Analysis of Derzhavin's poem "Felitsa"

In 1781, The Tale of Tsarevich Chlorus appeared in print, which Empress Catherine II composed for her grandson, the future Emperor Alexander I. This instructive work influenced not only little Alexander Pavlovich, but also Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin (1743–1816). It inspired the poet to create an ode to the empress, which he called “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz princess Felitsa, written by a Tatar murza who has long settled in Moscow, and who lives on their business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic 1782.

The poem was first published in 1783 in the journal Interlocutor. The poet did not leave a signature under the work, but like the entire text of the ode, the title is full of hints. For example, the “Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess” refers to Catherine II, who was the mistress of the Kyrgyz lands. And under the Murza is the poet himself, who considered himself a descendant of the Tatar prince Bagrim.

The ode contains many allusions to various events, people and statements related to the reign of Catherine II. Take, for example, the name given by its author. Felitsa is the heroine of The Tale of Prince Chlorine. Like the empress, she has a husband who prevents her from carrying out her good intentions. In addition, Felitsa, according to Derzhavin, is the ancient Roman goddess of bliss, and it was with this word that many contemporaries characterized the reign of Catherine II, who favored the sciences, arts and adhered to rather free views on the social structure.

These and other numerous virtues of the empress are praised by Gavriil Romanovich. In the first stanzas of the ode, the poet walks through the environment of the empress. The author allegorically describes the unworthy behavior of the courtiers, speaking as if about himself:
With a hat on one side,
I'm flying on a fast runner.

In this passage we are talking about Count Alexei Orlov, who wants fast races.

Another fragment speaks of the idle Prince Potemkin, hovering in the clouds:
And I, sleeping until noon,
I smoke tobacco and drink coffee;
Transforming everyday life into a holiday
I circle my thought in chimeras.

Against the background of these playboys, the figure of the wise, active and fair empress acquires an aura of virtue. The author rewards her with the epithets “generous”, “amiable in deeds and jokes”, “pleasant in friendship”, “wise”, metaphors “branch of heaven”, “meek angel”, etc.

The poet mentions the political successes of Catherine II. Using the metaphor "Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously", he points to the establishment of the province in 1775 and the annexation of new territories to Russian Empire. The author compares the reign of the empress with the reign of her predecessors:
There are no clownish weddings,
They are not fried in ice baths,
Do not click in the mustache of the nobles ...

Here the poet alludes to the reign of Anna Ioannovna and Peter I.

Admires Gavriil Romanovich and the modesty of the queen. In the lines:
You are ashamed to be known as that great
To be terrible, unloved ...

indicates the renunciation of Catherine II from the titles "Great" and "Wise", which were offered to her by Senate nobles in 1767.

As an artist, the poet is especially captivated by the empress's attitude to freedom of expression. The author is fascinated by the queen’s love for lyrics (“Poetry is kind to you, Pleasant, sweet, useful ...”), approved by her ability to think and speak as you like, travel, organize enterprises, etc.

Catherine II herself highly appreciated the skill of the poet. The ode "Felitsa" fell in love with her so much that the empress gave Derzhavin a richly decorated snuffbox, and she herself sent it to her close associates. Contemporaries also reacted very favorably to the poem. Many reviews noted not only the truthfulness and lack of flattery in the lines of the ode, but also its elegant composition and poetic style. As the Russian philologist J.K. Grot wrote in his commentary, this ode gave rise to a new style. "Felitsa" is devoid of grandiloquent expressions, does not contain an enumeration of the gods, as was previously customary.

Indeed, the language of the ode is simple but refined. The author uses epithets, metaphors, pictorial comparisons (“like stars in the sky”). The composition is strict but harmonious. Each stanza consists of ten lines. First comes a quatrain with a cross-rhyme of the form abab, then a couplet cc, after which a quatrain with a ring rhyme of the form deed. The size is iambic tetrameter.

Although the poem contains quite outdated expressions for today, and many hints may be incomprehensible, it is easy to read even now.

"Felitsa" Derzhavin G.R.

History of creation. Ode "Felitsa" (1782), the first poem that made the name of Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin famous. It became a vivid example of a new style in Russian poetry. The subtitle of the poem specifies: “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa, written by Tatarsky Murza, who has long settled in Moscow, and who lives on business in St. Petersburg. Translated from Arabic. This work received its unusual name from the name of the heroine of the “Tales of Tsarevich Chlorine”, the author of which was Catherine II herself. This name, which in Latin means happiness, is also named in Derzhavin's ode, which glorifies the empress and satirically characterizes her surroundings.

It is known that at first Derzhavin did not want to publish this poem and even hid the authorship, fearing the revenge of the influential nobles, satirically depicted in it. But in 1783 it received wide use and with the assistance of Princess Dashkova, close to the Empress, was published in the journal Interlocutor of Lovers of the Russian Word, in which Catherine II herself collaborated. Subsequently, Derzhavin recalled that this poem so touched the empress that Dashkova found her in tears. Catherine II wanted to know who wrote the poem in which she was depicted so accurately. In gratitude to the author, she sent him a golden snuffbox with five hundred chervonets and an expressive inscription on the package: "From Orenburg from the Kirghiz Princess to Murza Derzhavin." From that day on, Derzhavin gained literary fame, which no Russian poet had known before.

Main themes and ideas. The poem "Felitsa", written as a playful sketch of the life of the Empress and her entourage, at the same time raises a very important issues. On the one hand, in the ode "Felitsa" a completely traditional image of a "god-like princess" is created, which embodies the poet's idea of ​​the ideal of an enlightened monarch. Clearly idealizing the real Catherine II, Derzhavin at the same time believes in the image he painted:

Give, Felitsa, guidance:
How magnificently and truthfully to live,
How to tame passions excitement
And be happy in the world?

On the other hand, in the poet's verses, the thought sounds not only about the wisdom of power, but also about the negligence of performers who are concerned about their own benefit:

Everywhere temptation and flattery lives,
Luxury oppresses all pashas.
Where does virtue live?
Where does a rose without thorns grow?

In itself, this idea was not new, but behind the images of the nobles drawn in the ode, the features clearly appeared real people:

I circle my thought in chimeras:
Then I steal captivity from the Persians,
I turn arrows to the Turks;
That, having dreamed that I am a sultan,
I frighten the universe with a look;
Then suddenly, he was seduced by the outfit.
I'm going to the tailor on the caftan.

In these images, the poet's contemporaries easily recognized the favorite of the Empress Potemkin, her close associates Alexei Orlov, Panin, Naryshkin. Drawing their vividly satirical portraits, Derzhavin showed great courage - after all, any of the nobles offended by him could do away with the author for this. Only the favorable attitude of Catherine saved Derzhavin.

But even to the empress, he dares to give advice: to follow the law, which is subject to both kings and their subjects:

You alone are only decent,
Princess, create light from darkness;
Dividing Chaos into spheres harmoniously,
Strengthen their integrity with a union;
From disagreement to agreement
And from ferocious passions happiness
You can only create.

This favorite thought of Derzhavin sounded bold, and it was expressed in simple and understandable language.

The poem ends with the traditional praise of the Empress and wishing her all the best:

Heavenly I ask for strength,
Yes, stretching their sapphire wings,
Invisibly you are kept
From all diseases, evils and boredom;
Yes, your deeds in the offspring sounds,
Like stars in the sky, they will shine.

Artistic originality. Classicism forbade combining a high ode and satire belonging to low genres in one work. But Derzhavin does not even just combine them in characterizing different people depicted in the ode, he does something completely unprecedented for that time. Violating the traditions of the laudatory ode genre, Derzhavin widely introduces colloquial vocabulary and even vernacular into it, but most importantly, he does not draw a ceremonial portrait of the empress, but depicts her human appearance. That is why everyday scenes, a still life turn out to be in the ode;

Not imitating your Murzas,
Often you walk
And the food is the simplest
It happens at your table.

The “God-like” Felitsa, like other characters in his ode, is also shown in everyday life (“Not cherishing your peace, / You read, you write under a veil ...”). At the same time, such details do not reduce her image, but make her more real, humane, as if accurately written off from nature. Reading the poem "Felitsa", you are convinced that Derzhavin really managed to introduce into poetry boldly taken from life or created by the imagination individual characters real people shown against the backdrop of a colorfully depicted everyday environment. This makes his poems vivid, memorable and understandable.

Thus, in Felitsa, Derzhavin acted as a bold innovator, combining the style of a laudatory ode with the individualization of characters and satire, introducing elements of low styles into the high genre of the ode. Subsequently, the poet himself defined the genre of "Felitsa" as a mixed ode. Derzhavin argued that, in contrast to the traditional ode for classicism, where statesmen, military leaders were praised, solemn events were sung, in a "mixed ode" "a poet can talk about everything." Destroying the genre canons of classicism, with this poem he opens the way for a new poetry - "poetry of the real ™", which received a brilliant development in Pushkin's work.

The value of the work. Derzhavin himself subsequently noted that one of his main merits was that he "dared to proclaim Felitsa's virtues in a funny Russian syllable." As rightly pointed out by the researcher of the poet V.F. Khodasevich, Derzhavin was proud "not that he had discovered the virtues of Catherine, but that he was the first to speak in a "funny Russian style." He understood that his ode was the first artistic embodiment of Russian life, that it was the germ of our novel. And, perhaps, - Khodasevich develops his thought, - had "old Derzhavin" lived at least until the first chapter of Onegin, he would have heard echoes of his ode in it.