The Bard.
Blok’s The Twelve.
Posting #8.
“Learn
where the light is
and
you will know where darkness is.”
Alexander Blok. Retribution.
Considering that Blok insists that his hero (that is,
he himself) “is
no longer walking alone, but as though together with someone new,” and
thereafter gives us to understand that this “someone” can be a rival, rather than a friend, we ought to analyze
this possibility. Being “someone new” and a rival leaving no tracks at that, we
can imagine that this is a mystical figure, to begin with, and that this
mystical figure must, for some reason, be benevolent. In such a case, there can
be only one explanation, which is that when the son [meaning the hero of the
poem Retribution, but in the final
analysis, Blok himself] removes his father’s ring from the corpse’s finger and
drops it inside the coffin –
“And
only having bent his knees
Right
over the chest of the dead man,
He
[the son/Blok] saw what kind of shadows
Had
cast themselves along that face…”
In other words, Blok wants to say that his father had
obviously been touched by some demonic power. Hence, although Blok singles out
“what kind of,” he, in fact, draws the reader’s attention to the shadows
themselves.
And indeed, this is how Bulgakov saw it, which is why
in chapter 29 of Master and Margarita,
The Fate of Master and Margarita is Determined, as the reader remembers, Matthew
Levi addresses Woland: “I come to you,
Spirit of Evil and Ruler of Shadows.”
Blok continues his poem. –
“…And
when from the unruly finger
The
ring slipped down into the hard coffin,
The
son crossed his father’s brow…”
Although the son did not take his father’s ring, did
not put it on his own finger, but dropped it inside the coffin, it is quite
possible that at least some part of the demonic force was transferred into the
son. Which is how we can explain the “anguish-rival,” as it is indeed possible
to imagine that side by side with him walked, without leaving any tracks, that
same demonic power that had ruled the life of his father.
Hence these words:
“Now
there is no one there to help!
Now
he is in the very heart of night!”
And especially, the following words:
“…Some
kind of vague ringing in the ears…”
Let me remind the reader that Bulgakov writes in Master and Margarita, at the end of
chapter 23, The Grand Ball at Satan’s:
“Without opening her eyes, Margarita took a
gulp, and a sweet stream ran through her veins, a ringing started in her ears.
It seemed to her that ear-splitting roosters were crowing, that somewhere
someone was playing a march. The groups of guests were now changing their
appearance. Both the tuxedoed men and the women were crumbling into dust.”
This is what must have been in store for the hero of Retribution. But it would not come to
pass. Help was on its way!
It is quite possible that it was a “friend.” After
all, Blok writes that the son made the sign of the cross over his dead father’s
brow. –
“The
son crossed his father’s brow,
Reading
the seal of wanderers on it,
Those
whom Fate chases around the world…
He
adjusted the arms, the icon, the candles,
Looked
at the raised shoulders,
And
left, saying ‘May God be with you.’”
The son’s Christian faith had overcome the demonic
power by its kindness and forgiveness. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain
what happens to the hero of Retribution.
“…But
in my hero’s thoughts
Reigns
almost incoherent raving…
He’s walking…(A trail is
forming in the snow
Of one, but there were two of
them…)
Someone comes to the hero’s assistance, whose human
strength is already about to leave him.
Margarita did not disintegrate into dust, because
unlike the other “guests,” together with Woland’s team, she had drunk the wine
originated by the blood of the snitch and spy Baron Meigel, who had ratted on
the great Russian poet of the 20th century N. S. Gumilev. [See my
chapter A Swallow’s Nest of Luminaries:
Mr. Lastochkin.]
In the case of A. Blok, in his poem Retribution, this “someone” walking
alongside the hero without leaving any tracks can be Jesus Christ Himself, like
in Gumilev’s Golden Knight, but not
appearing in any kind of vision, but only causing memories.
The hero of Retribution
was already practically dying from frost, from fatigue, from anguish, when
the course of his thoughts suddenly changed. Having forgiven his father, he
suddenly remembered his mother which once more reaffirms the spiritual
influence of Jesus Christ, often depicted as an infant in his mother’s arms.
Blok closes his poem on this optimistic note and
offers advice not only to his hero (that is, to himself), but to his readers as
well.
“When
you are hunted down and beaten…
Then
stop for a moment
To
listen to the silence of the night…
You’ll
find in your devastated soul
Once
more the image of your mother bending,
And
at this incomparable moment…
The
frost that had frozen your blood,
Your
cold love –
All
will flare up in a grateful heart…”
Blok finished writing his poem right before his death
in 1921 and he confessed that throughout his life the only being he ever loved
was the one who had given him life – his mother. Interestingly, many poems of
his are dedicated to her.
And if only you can find this love in your heart –
“…You
will then bless everything,
Realizing
that life is immeasurably greater
Than
quantum satis of Brand’s will,
And
the world is beautiful – as ever.”
Thus, anguish turns out to be not a rival, but a
friend.
“He’s
walking…(A trail is forming in the snow
Of one, but there were two of
them…)”
In a difficult time, the hero of Retribution remembers his mother. His anguish is conquered not by
some “game of bloody war,” like in False Dmitry’s case, but by maternal love.
Do note that the poetic part of the poem Retribution ends with the words:
“And
the world is beautiful – as ever.”
These words echo these words in the Prologue:
But
you, artist, have a firm belief
In
the beginnings and the ends. You must know
Where
Hell or Paradise are waiting for us.
You
are given an impartial measure
To
measure everything you see.
May
your gaze be firm and clear.
Wipe
off what is inconsequential,
And
you will see that the world is beautiful.
Learn
where the light is, and you will know where darkness is.”
The End.
I Will
Return With The New Chapter Alpha And
Omega.
***
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