Works of Alexander Pushkin

The cycle of articles “Compositions of Alexander Pushkin”, published in the journal “Domestic Notes” from 1843 to 1846, appeared as a peculiar answer of Belinsky to “very careless in all respects” posthumous publication of the eight -volume collected works of the great poet. This cycle is a fundamental work covering the history of the development of Russian literature, from the first original works of Lomonosov to a detailed analysis of Pushkin"s work.
In order to move on to the work of the “Sun of Russian Poetry”, Belinsky first had to “see the course and development of Russian poetry from its very beginning”: having thrown a bridge from one era to another, to analyze the work of Pushkin’s predecessors - Derzhavin, Karamzin, Dmitrieva, Krylova, Ozerov, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Gnedich, Merzlyakov, Vyazemsky.
In his critical review of Pushkin’s works, Belinsky strictly adhered to the chronological order: “Pushkin from all the poets preceding him differs precisely in that according to his works, one can follow the constant development of him not only as a poet, but at the same time as a person and character . The poems written by him in the same year are already very different, both in content and form, from poems written in the following. ”
In the articles, the author conducts a thorough analysis of Pushkin’s lyrical works, poems “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, “Caucasian captive”, “Bakhchisarai fountain”, “Brothers robbers”, “Gypsies”, “Poltava”, “Count Nulin”, “ Evgeny Onegin ”,“ Boris Godunov ”, the“ Little Tragedies ”cycle, the novels“ Arap of Peter the Great ”,“ Tale of Belkin ”,“ Peak Lady ”,“ Captain"s daughter ”,“ Dubrovsky ”, as well as fairy tales and other works. Analyzing Pushkin’s work, Belinsky leads readers to the idea that Alexander Sergeyevich is a genuine folk poet. Thanks to the truthful image of life, he embodies in his works all the signs of nationality and, in the expression of critic, becomes “the first poet-artist”, designed to “give Russia poetry as art, as art”.
Along with this, in his work, Belinsky gives answers to a number of the most important theoretical questions of literature, reflects on the essence of the pathos of a work of art, is asked by the problems of realism and nationality, and also shares his view of Russian criticism