THE DREAM OF HAYDUK: LERMONTOV – ISAHAKYAN – AL. BLOK – 2019-1

A Literary Sketch

Summary

Azat K. Yeghiazaryan

Key words – Isahakyan, Lermontov, Al. Blok, Armenian poetry, Russian poetry, translation, loos translation, free adaptation, romanticism, death, dream.

The article studies the three developments of the same poetic plot,that is, the death of a soldier or freedom fighter in the battlefield. In his time Lermontov wrote his famous poem “The Dream” , that tells about how a dying soldier in Daghestan sees a dream about his homeland and the woman , who thinks about him. Later the poem was shifted into Armenian by Isahakyan , but here the concrete details were changed by Armenian realities. In his work an Armenian freedom fighter,i.e. a fighter for the liberation of Armenia is dying. He died in his motherland – in the valley of Salno. He sees another dream, that is, the liberated Armenia. In those dreams the national colourfulness of two poems is clearly perceived. Later the shift done by Ishakyan was translated into Russian by Alexander Blok , who highly valued Isahakyan’s literary activity. Actually the poetic plot of Lermontov came back to Russia in the form of interpretation done by Isahakyan. But this wasn’t strangely enough perceived both by Blok and literary critics.

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