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HISTORY OF CREATION The poem “Anchar” is one of the most significant works of the poet. Work on its creation began by the author in late August - early September 1828. The place where the work was written is Malinniki, Tver estate of the Wulfs. The work was completed on November 9, 1828, published in the almanac “Northern Flowers” (late 1831, approximately December 24)
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The poem “Anchar” is entirely devoted to depicting the world of evil. This is the most severe poem in Pushkin's work. Here the poet decided to bring together all the features of evil and give them a generalized character. Let us turn to the title of the poem, because the semantic load of the title is very great.
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(Anchar is a poison tree; a tropical South Asian tree with poisonous sap, which was used to lubricate arrowheads with which eastern warriors hit their enemies) What does this name tell us?
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Composition The poem is divided into two parts. The first part describes the poisonous tree. The second part tells about an omnipotent ruler who sent his slave to death. You can title them as follows: (“Evil in nature” and “Evil in society”)
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The poem “Anchar” is structured according to the following principle: - the beginning of the work, - the main conflict (contradiction), the development of the action - this is the second compositional part (it begins with the conjunction “But”) - a fleeting denouement (it begins with the adversative conjunction “A”)
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Part 1 of the poem. Stanza 1 After reading the first quatrain, you should highlight the numeral “one” in the last verse. The first thing we learn about the anchar is that he is alone. The first word is “desert”. The poet takes us to an empty world and prepares the theme of loneliness (“stands alone”). The desert receives a number of sharply negative characteristics: “stunted”, “stingy”. These epithets have a sign of animation. Epithets that give the desert the character of a living and human-like creature, seem to endow it with human properties, including will and activity. This makes us perceive the desert in the first lines of the poem as an evil being that has an evil will and is an active creator of the evil around it. Conclusion: The first stanza of the poem “Anchar” led us into the dark world of universal evil. Pushkin resorts to close-up, thereby emphasizing the significance of the image.
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Stanza 2 Dry, hot soil is dead soil. Pushkin creates an image of a world of evil, a space of anti-world, in which the usual features of the world are destroyed and replaced by monstrously distorted ones. The earth here is “soil”: a synonym that has the same meaning, but is devoid of all the folklore and poetic associations associated with the word “earth”. The second stanza is devoted to the characteristics of the anchar, his relationship to Nature. Nature gives birth to anchar, as if refuting its sterility. But this is an unnatural birth - “in the day of wrath.” “The nature of the thirsty steppes...” (note that the epithet “thirsty” refers to the epithets symbolizing sterility in the first stanza - “stunted”, “stingy”, “red-hot”). On the day of wrath, anchar is born. The gifts that a mother bestows on her child are unnatural: And she gave poison to the dead green branches and the roots.
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And in the anchar itself, the unnaturalness, the violation of the usual and correct order of things is constantly emphasized. The expression “dead greenery” contains an oxymoron, i.e. an epithet that contradicts the essence of the word being defined (such as sweet bitterness, ringing silence). Oxymoron (ancient Greek οξύμωρον - “sharp stupidity”) is a stylistic figure or stylistic error - a combination of words with the opposite meaning (that is, a combination of incompatible things). The word “green” contains the concept of freshness, coolness, spring - life. The combination “dead greenery” is perceived by the reader as a monstrous violation of the norms of nature. The entire poem should be perceived in this spirit. In Pushkin, nature is always kind to man, in harmony with his best feelings. That is why the nature whose image is created in the poem “Anchar” seems monstrously distorted.
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Stanza 3 Verbs Communicative “caplet” “freezes” “melting” CONVEY THE MOVEMENT OF DEADLY POISON, THE Gloomy MOVEMENT OF DEATH.
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The technique of gradation enhances the impression of the destructiveness of the “tree of death.” What is gradation? (Gradation (from Latin gradatio - gradual elevation) is a stylistic figure consisting in the consistent intensification or, conversely, weakening of comparisons, images, epithets, metaphors)
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All living things avoid touching the anchar. Even a bird does not fly to him, And a tiger does not come: only a black whirlwind runs onto the tree of death - And rushes away, already pernicious.
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“Pernicious” This word from high Slavic vocabulary has two roots - decay (destruction, death, destruction) and create (create). In the dictionary of the Church Slavonic language by Peter Alekseev (1819), the word “pernicious” has the following meaning: “deadly, poisonous, harmful”, for example: “pernicious air”, i.e. pestilence. A pestilence is a plague epidemic. Pushkin, of course, knew the dictionary of Pyotr Alekseev and the meaning of the words “noxious air.” Of course, a real tree called “anchar”, which grows in Indonesia and actually has poisonous resin, is not such a terrible spreader of death, and certainly not capable of causing an epidemic, but Pushkin, who knew all this, creates a non-botanical description of one poisonous tree , but a generalized artistic picture of evil in nature.
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Stanza 5 Rain appears, which should be perceived as a happy deliverance from the pangs of thirst. But in the perverted space of evil, rain also becomes a source of death: And if a cloud waters, wandering, its dense leaf, from its branches is already poisonous, the rain flows into the flammable sand.
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Key images of the first part. The desert is stunted and stingy The soil is hot with heat The steppes are thirsty The greenery is dead The black whirlwind, pernicious The rain is poisonous The day of wrath The sand is flammable The terrible sentinel, alone in the entire universe, the tree of death
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Part 2 “But the man Sent the man to the anchar with an imperious gaze...” From the beginning of the sixth stanza, an ideological and compositional turning point occurs in the poem: until now we have been talking about evil in nature, about the evil that exists in the very order of the world. Now begins the story of the evil created by man. The conjunction “but” sharply divides the intonation of the poem into two parts.
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The image of a slave The metaphor of “obediently flowing on the way” conveys the weak-willedness of the slave. It flows like a river, unable to change its course. The image of the slave is revealed in its human essence: And sweat flowed down the pale brow in cold streams... The author sympathizes with the slave. This is evident in the verbs describing his condition (brought - and weakened, and lay down - and died), as well as in the general epithet: “poor slave.” The expressive picture: “And sweat flowed down the pale brow in cold streams” creates the image of a suffering person, a victim of the despotic will of the prince. The verbs emphasize the predetermined fate of the slave. “brought”, “weakened”, “lay down”, “died” Pushkin gives the slave compassion and sympathy, since the slave is a victim of autocracy and tyranny. Before his dedication and self-denial, the power and glory of the “invincible ruler” pales. This is how Pushkin’s humanism manifests itself, condemning despotism, inhumane to the fate of ordinary subjects. However, one cannot help but notice that it is the slave’s obedience, his humility, his readiness, sacrificing his life, to fulfill the will of the despot (after all, the prince would still have taken his life, regardless of whether he submitted or expressed protest!) objectively serve the cause of despotism . A slave is not only a victim, but also a distributor of evil. Pushkin emphasizes this, characterizing the slave and the arrows with the same words, with the help of which the prince sent death to foreign countries: the slave “obediently set off on his way,” the prince sent out “obedient arrows.” The obedience of a slave turns him not only into a victim, but also into an accomplice of evil.
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The image of the ruler The image of the ruler is given in a very generalized and symbolic way. This is a symbol of tyranny and autocracy in general. Pushkin correlates the terrible evil of nature - anchar and the terrible evil of human life - despotism. But autocracy, unlike anchar, is an active evil. That's why it's scary. This evil sows destruction around itself, gaining ever new influence: And the king imbued His obedient arrows with that poison, and with them he sent death to his neighbors in foreign lands. It is interesting that even the repetition of the same root words (“obediently flowed on the path” - “obedient arrows”) emphasizes that everything living and dead submits and serves the “invincible ruler.”
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Antithesis The poem traces the antithesis “master - slave”. It is supported by expressive epithets: “imperious gaze” - “obedient”, “poor slave” - “invincible ruler”. The verbs also emphasize this opposition: “sent” - “flowed.” The actions of the prince receive the same expression: “sent” - “sent out”, “obediently” - “obedient (arrows)”. The result is equally the same: “the poor slave died” - “and he sent death with them.”
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Anaphora In this poem, Pushkin also uses the compositional device of unity of principle (anaphora), repeating and intensifying the emotional tension: “He brought mortal resin... He brought it - and weakened and lay down...”
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The last stanza, beginning with the adversative conjunction “A,” tells us about the period when the slave is no longer alive. Why did the king need resin? Fill the “obedient arrows” intended for neighbors with poison.
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What is the poem “Anchar” about? This poem is about the unrighteous world order, about the role of man in it. This work is about the tragic, irreconcilable relationship between an invincible ruler and a poor, powerless slave. In his work, Pushkin addresses a theme that runs like a red thread through all of his work: the theme of freedom and tyranny.
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The main idea of the poem. The main idea of the poem is Pushkin’s active protest against the unlimited power of one person over another. The tragedy is that both the bearer (prince, king) and the subjects (disenfranchised slaves) find this power natural and legitimate.
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Ideological meaning. The ideological meaning of this great creation of Pushkin is an image of the autocracy’s destructive power for society, a call for its destruction.
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Theme of the poem. The main theme of the poem is universal evil, viewed from both a philosophical and a universal human point of view.
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In the creative heritage of A.S. Pushkin, the poem “Anchar” stands out in a special way. The French writer Prosper Merimee wrote: “This poem had the misfortune of being accepted by the censorship as a revolutionary dithyramb.”
Plan for analysis of A.S. Pushkin’s poem “Anchar”
1. History of the creation of the work
2. Composition (construction of a work of art)
3. Theme, main idea and idea of the poem
4. Characteristics of the lyrical hero
5. Techniques for revealing images
6. Genre of the work
7. Meter and rhythm of the poem
8. My attitude to the work
1. The poem “Anchar” is one of the most significant works of the poet. Work on its creation began by the author in late August - early September 1828. The place where the work was written is Malinniki, the Tver estate of the Wulfs. The work was completed on November 9, 1828, published in the almanac “Northern Flowers” (late 1831, approximately December 24).
It can be assumed that the date - November 9, 1828 - was intentionally put by the author in the draft manuscript. For the poet, the poem “Anchar” was significant and it was important for him to tie it to a specific historical period. Pushkin's psychological state while working on the work was not the best. He was under the watchful eye of censorship. The poet wanted to go abroad, then to the Caucasus. But he did not receive permission for these trips. Alexander Sergeevich’s position was further complicated by the fact that in the case of the poem “Andrei Chenier”, secret surveillance was established over him by a resolution of the State Council.
In the literary community, there are disputes about what prompted the poet to write a poem in the style of an oriental legend. Most likely, the impetus for writing was his reading in Russian periodicals of a note by the doctor of the Dutch East India Company F.P. Fourche about an ominous tree, the tree of poison. It is believed that Pushkin, a keen connoisseur of “sound images”, was fascinated by the unusual word “anchar” and remembered the very fact of the existence of the fatal, all-terrifying tree.
Also at the origins of the creation of the poem lies the fact that “Anchar” is a poetic response to the reproaches of Katenin, who implicitly condemned Pushkin’s work “Stanzas”, finding in it motives of loyalty to the tsar.
2. The poem “Anchar” is constructed according to the following principle:
- the plot of the work,
- the main conflict (contradiction), the development of the action - this is the second compositional part (it begins with the conjunction “But”)
- a fleeting denouement (it begins with the adversative conjunction “A”)
The poem has only nine stanzas. In the beginning (the first five stanzas), the author introduces us to the anchar. Anchar is the name of an Indian tree whose sap contains deadly poison. Easterners told many legends about him.
The last stanza, beginning with the adversative conjunction “A,” tells us about the period when the slave is no longer alive. Why did the king need resin? Fill the “obedient arrows” intended for neighbors with poison.
3. What is the poem “Anchar” about? This poem is about the unrighteous world order, about the role of man in it.
This work is about the tragic, irreconcilable relationship between an invincible ruler and a poor, powerless slave. In his work, Pushkin addresses a theme that runs like a red thread through all of his work: the theme of freedom and tyranny.
At the beginning of the poem, the author introduces the concept of “anchar”, this is a “tree of poison”. The poison present in the tree permeates everything from roots to leaves. Any living creature that approaches the terrible tree dies. Neither beast nor bird approaches it, knowing its harmful properties. And the highest being on earth, man, sends another man to the tree for deadly resin.
The main idea of the poem is Pushkin’s active protest against the unlimited power of one person over another. The tragedy is that both the bearer (prince, king) and the subjects (disenfranchised slaves) find this power natural and legitimate.
The main theme of the poem is universal evil, viewed from both a philosophical and a universal human point of view. Evil is the scourge of humanity. The symbol of evil is anchar - “tree of death.” The philosophical problem of life and death correlates with the anchar.
4. Lyrical hero is “a conventional literary concept that covers the entire range of works created by the poet.” One should not equate the personality of the poet with the lyrical hero.
The thoughts and feelings of the lyrical hero change throughout the narrative. First, the lyrical hero tells us about the Anchar tree, which brings death to all living things. He talks quite calmly, as calmly as one can talk about death. But an ominous chill and menacing intonations are present in his story. Further the degree increases. The lyrical hero says that animals do not approach the scary tree. And the person whom nature has endowed with higher intelligence (!) sends another person to him. Sends you to certain death. In the story of the lyrical hero one can feel a hidden, disguised hatred of what is happening.
5. Techniques for revealing images (using the example of a landscape)
The main task is to understand how the landscape contributes to revealing the intent of the poem. The landscape is ascetic and expressive. The landscape in the poem carries a negative load; it is the personification of death. Everything that is before our eyes is saturated with tragedy.
Paths and figures (linguistic means of figuratively revealing the ideological content of a work and the author’s assessment):
Epithets: “In the desert, stunted and stingy”, “Flammable sand”, “Black whirlwind”
Metaphors: “Nature gave birth... gave water” “A whirlwind will come... rushes away”
Antithesis (opposition): “lord” - “slave”
Old Slavonicisms and archaisms: “cold” “evening”, “whirlwind”, “obedient”
6. Genre
“Anchar” is a work of philosophical orientation. The genre of the poem is a lyric-epic plot poem. The narrative is stylized as a parable, an ancient legend.
7. Meter and rhythm
The meter of the poem “Anchar” is iambic tetrameter.
When analyzing the poem “Anchar”, one cannot help but pay attention to its rhythmic originality. In the first five stanzas, which define anchar, there is a similar arrangement of stress. Each line has three stresses, the sixth syllable is unstressed. Due to this, the rhythmic pattern is intonationally homogeneous. This kind of homogeneity is entirely justified. The properties of the anchor are being listed. The only exceptions are four-stress and two-stress lines.
Four-beat: “It stands - alone in the whole universe”, “And the tiger does not come - only a black whirlwind”, “The rain flows into the flammable sand.”
Two-beat: “And it freezes in the evening”
“But a man is a man...” - the word “man” repeated twice emphasizes the tension of the situation. The lyrical hero is shocked, indignation is felt in his voice. Here Pushkin combines all means of sound expressiveness: repetition of words, repetition of sounds, dominance of the sound “a” (“Sent to the anchar with an imperious look”). The beginning of the second part is rhythmically supported. The sixth stanza, beginning with the conjunction “but,” is two-stressed.
As for showing the story of a slave, this also has its own intonation and rhythmic pattern. The narration is told in three-beat lines. When the tragic denouement comes - “And the poor slave died at his feet”, a four-beat line follows, and then a two-beat line.
Conclusion: the combination of all details, elements, right down to the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables, gives originality to the rhythm, and determines the artistic value, strength and weight of the work.
8. I liked the poem “Anchar” for its power, clearly written poetic images, unusual comparisons, and unique approach to revealing the topic.
It would seem that Pushkin told us just a parable, but this parable is a dormant volcano.
Pushkin is a singer of freedom, he always guards human rights.
The poem was written in 1828. After returning from exile in 1826, Pushkin hoped for some time that his dreams of free creativity would now come true. But the king and his servants do not leave the poet alone. Secret agents monitor the poet's every move, and his works are subject to severe censorship. In 1828, a case was brought against the poet on charges of creating the anti-government work “Andrei Chenier” and the godless poem “Gabriiliad”. Apparently, these circumstances of his personal life served as the reason for the creation of the allegorical poem “Anchar”.
Genre traditionally defined as a lyrical poem, but the eventful plot allows us to call it a ballad.
The basis plot In this work, Pushkin provided semi-legendary information about the existence of the poisonous Anchar tree on the island of Java. Travelers said that this tree poisons the surrounding air, and its sap is lethal. The leaders of local tribes sent those sentenced to death to collect poisonous anchar resin, which was used to poison arrows.
In his poem, Pushkin creates a very vivid and expressive image of a deadly poisonous tree, symbolizing absolute evil:
Not even a bird flies to him,
And the tiger does not come: only a black whirlwind
He will run to the tree of death -
And rushes away, already pernicious.
The king, who needed poison for his arrows, sent his servant to this tree. He fulfilled the order, paying for it with his life.
In "Anchar" it rises subject the destruction of unlimited power. Pushkin compares the evil of nature and the evil of the ruler, who sends a person to the tree that brings death. All living things avoid touching the anchar; he is “one in the whole universe.” The king violates the law of nature.
Composition. The poem is divided into two parts. The first describes a poisonous tree. The second tells about an all-powerful ruler who sent his slave to death. When depicting the anchar, Pushkin uses epithets aimed at revealing its main quality - destructiveness for all living things. The images of the king and the servant are contrasting: in the first, the poet emphasizes his omnipotence and ruthlessness, in the second - humility. At the same time, the images of the anchar and the king, on the contrary, are compared: both of them bring death.
The ideological meaning of this poem is the destructiveness of unlimited power for society.
Freedom theme was one of the main themes in the work of the Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. And if the early works contain a call for freedom, chanting it, full of solemnly pompous turns of phrase, then later, having survived two exiles, the poet begins to talk about it more restrainedly - allegorically (allegorically).
Poem "Anchar", created in 1828, is based on the ancient legend of the “poison tree” growing in the desert. But under the pen of the great poet, the legend develops into a harsh denunciation of the autocratic despotism reigning in Russia. The originality of the poem “Anchar” is that the poet’s idea is not expressed on behalf of the author, but lies in the plot itself. “Anchar” seems to philosophically summarize the tragedy of Pushkin’s contemporary.
The work is based on antithesis: it consists of two parts, opposed to each other - a description of the natural world and a description of human society. In the first, the reader sees a lifeless landscape:
In the desert, stunted and stingy,
On the ground, hot in the heat...
On this barren soil, only a lonely anchar could grow, alien to everything and threatening everything. The poet gives an explanation for this: its nature "in the day of wrath she gave birth". All living things avoid the pestilent breath of the anchar: “and the bird does not fly, and the tiger does not come”- the instinct of self-preservation affects. Even "black whirlwind", touching the anchar, it becomes deadly, and the rain flowing from its branches turns into poison. And the anchar himself, "like a formidable sentinel", stands on the border of the desert, not allowing anyone to approach it (it is no coincidence that in the first versions there was another stanza, which dealt with attempts to bring living beings closer to the anchor).
The second part reveals the human world: now we are talking about human relationships. The lord, the prince, at his own request, can send only "with an imperious look" another person, a slave, to certain death. And all in order to assert their own power over their neighbors, dooming them to slavery and death.
The slave understood perfectly well that he was sent to certain death, but still “I obediently set off on my way”, and the ruler understood that he was sending to death another person who was born as free as himself. In a small lyrical work, Pushkin managed to reveal the essence of not natural, but social relations between people. He condemned a society ruled by inhumane laws: it is social relations that turn one person into a ruler who acts to the detriment of another person absolutely consciously, and another into an obedient slave. Thus, in them everything human, given by nature, is distorted.
And although "poor slave", of course, evokes sympathy from the author, but he is absolutely devoid of will, he even faces death in silence (although in the drafts there was an option when "and he lay down, uttering cries"). In the final version, he is voiceless even in his dying despair. And Pushkin’s ruler is endowed with the epithet "invincible". Why? The answer is quite obvious: as long as there are dumb slaves in society, unquestioningly obeying any order (even "imperious gaze"), the ruler will remain invincible.
This denunciation of the inhumanity of despotism is emphasized by the perfection of the artistic form of the poem “Anchar”. The key words are "I", "poisonous", "mortal resin". Antithesis "lord" - "slave" reinforced with expressive epithets: "imperious look" - "obediently", "poor slave" - "invincible lord". It is noteworthy that even his arrows become "obedient", that is, devoid of active action (and at first they were "disastrous", "quick-witted").
The verbs emphasize power and coercion: sent - flowed. Anaphora and gradation increase emotional tension:
He brought mortal resin...
He brought it - and weakened and lay down...
In general, the poem sounds very solemn thanks to Old Slavonicisms ( tree, thirsty, whirlwind, cold, brow), which have already become archaisms, as well as inversions - "in the desert stunted and stingy", “its leaf is dense”, "green dead branches". Surprisingly, but traditional for Pushkin iambic tetrameter sounds in this poem almost like Homer's hexameter.
In Anchar, Pushkin embodied his ideas about good and evil, tyranny and slavery. Image of a poisonous tree from a legend the poet expands to a generalized symbol of universal evil.
- “The Captain’s Daughter”, a summary of the chapters of Pushkin’s story
- "Boris Godunov", analysis of the tragedy of Alexander Pushkin
“Anchar” by Pushkin is one of the poet’s most powerful poems. It protests against the absolute power of one person over another. Pushkin created in it a completely new circle of images for Russian poetry, which he adopted from the East.
History of creation
Pushkin wrote the poem “Anchar” in 1828, three years after the Decembrist uprising. Shortly before Alexander Sergeevich, the famous poet P. Katenin created an entire poem with the “tree of life,” which was a symbol of royal mercy. Perhaps, as a contrast to this flattering work, “Anchar” was composed. It was published in the almanac “Northern Flowers” in 1832. At the same time, the poet had to explain to the chief of gendarmes A.H. Benckendorff about the too suspicious topic, and nevertheless the count allowed the freedom-loving work to be published.
Composition
The work consists of nine stanzas. Pushkin's "Anchar" is built on opposition. The first five stanzas describe the sultry nature of the desert and the deadly tree, menacing to all living things. It was born on the day of wrath. Everything in it is filled with poison: the dead greenery of the branches, the roots, the trunk with flowing drops, which harden into transparent resin in the evening. Anchar stands on the meager and stunted soil, completely alone. No one dares to approach him except the black whirlwind. He will run for a moment and will already rush on, carrying away the corrupting forces.
The second part, consisting of four stanzas, talks about human relationships with absolute, corrupting, ignorant power and the silent obedience of the slave.
With all the fantastic surroundings, one can read here the state of people in Nikolaev Russia. A serf is afraid of his master, who can beat him to death, a soldier is afraid of an officer with spitzrutens and receives a lethal dose of blows, an official is afraid of the head of the chancellery, courtiers are afraid of the emperor’s mere glance. Fear permeates the entire vast country. He deprives the common man of his dignity and shows him a place on the margins. But at the same time, the one in whose hands is the deadly power is also deprived of his dignity. Receiving pleasure from her, the owner becomes a slave to his black soul.
So Pushkin’s Tsar in “Anchar” only needed a menacing look to send his subject to certain death.
Theme, idea of the poem
This is a typical eastern myth. Unsteady mirages are born from it. There is no such tree in nature and cannot exist.
It permeated everything through the trunk, branches and roots entirely. Even if it rains, it will irrigate the combustible sand with poison. A bird does not fly to Pushkin’s anchor, so terrible for all living things, and a formidable tiger does not go. Only a black whirlwind reaches him, and immediately rushes away, becoming pernicious. But! What will not come true if the deity wants!
Without saying a word, only showing the man the way with his gaze, the ruler sent a dumb slave to the anchar. He obediently set off on the road, realizing that he was going to his death. Having carried out the order, he weakened and quietly lay down at the feet of the all-powerful ruler. He died next to his master. He is invincible who, for the sake of victory over strangers, does not spare his own. This is the secret of the despot. The prince who imbued the arrows with poison did not die, because evil triumphs in the world, and such a tree would not exist if there were no evil in the world. The poem “Anchar” by Pushkin, which we are analyzing, reveals the social relations of people: despotism and inhumanity on the one hand, silent submission on the other.
Characters and their characteristics
The poor weak-willed slave evokes sympathy. But how many beatings, pain and humiliation he apparently endured, turning from a free, proud man into a submissive and silent one. This is how despots “re-educate” people by mocking and torturing them.
And what about the lord? He knew perfectly well that this man would not survive, but he calmly waited for his return, not doubting for a minute that he would not run away anywhere. And where to run in a hot, waterless desert? Only death awaits everywhere. Likewise, in the Russian Empire, a serf has nowhere to hide.
Techniques for revealing images
Continuing the analysis of Pushkin’s “Anchar”, we must talk about the author’s perfection as an artist. A lone anchar appears visibly and brightly before us - a deadly tree that stands like a “formidable sentinel” on the border of the desert and rain-thirsty steppes scorched by the heat. We see frozen golden resin on its bark, and leaves on its branches withered from poison. The tree becomes a metaphor for all the evil that exists in the world.
Only a black whirlwind sweeps over him.
Swift, it is depicted in the imagination as the funnel of a hurricane.
All the evil in the world, collected in the poisonous tree, begins to spread everywhere at great speed. At first it is only a whirlwind, then rain, which becomes poisonous, and later - arrows that bring death to everything.
That is, “poisonous” and “poison” become the keywords for the entire work. And the epithets: “stunted and stingy” desert, “dead” green branches, “black” whirlwind add a gloomy flavor.
The despot fills obedient arrows with poison and begins to sow evil. So it spreads to all the limits available to it. The idea of world evil excites the poet, and his impartial, detached story only strengthens the impression he creates.
Genre of the work
Most likely, the work “Anchar” can be called a philosophical parable, since history has not preserved reliable information about such a tree.
The Russians assumed that it grew in Java, but these were only vague speculations, which the poet brilliantly played with.
Meter and rhythm
The rhythm of the poem is given by repetitions of a semantic nature (the juice is flowing, the man is on his way, sweat is flowing) and anaphora (the roots are filled with poison, the branches are dead green). The poem is written in iambic tetrameter. If you read it slowly, observing semantic caesuras, then in sound it approaches a hexameter.
The plan of Pushkin’s “Anchara” is given in the text of the article. Anyone can use it, adding only their personal impression. The poem is deeply tragic. It touches on the problems of world evil, which will later determine the themes of the works of L. Tolstoy, F. Dostoevsky, M. Lermontov, F. Tyutchev. The humanism of Russian writers and poets called on readers to fight evil in all its forms and manifestations.