Kaimo gyvenimas "sub specie aeternitatis": Kristijonas Donelaitis ir georgikų tradicija Europos literatūroje

LTStraipsnyje nagrinėjama Kristijono Donelaičio poema Metai kaip originali georgikų - atskiro žanro, išpopuliarėjusio Europos poezijoje XVIII a. viduryje - versija. Autorė lygina Donelaičio poemą su Jameso Thomsono Metais, atskleisdama pagrindinių georgikų motyvų (kaimo peizažai skirtingais metų laikais, kaimo darbai ir šventės, patriotiniai motyvai, didaktiniai intarpai ir kt.) pateikimo skirtumus. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Georgikos; Jamesas Thomsonas; Kaimo gyvenimas; Kristijonas Donelaitis; Vergilijus; Georgics; James Thomson; Kristijonas Donelaitis; Pastoral genre; Rural life; Virgil.

ENKristijonas Donelaitis’s poem The Seasons {Metai) follows the tradition of 18lh century descriptive poetry. During the epoch of Enlightenment, due to the changing attitudes towards nature and work, the pastoral genre loses its position in English, French and German literatures, while special interest is shown in the genre of georgics. These were imitations of the poem by Virgil, which praised country life and country toils in harmony with nature. Donelaitis was evidently acquainted with Virgil’s Georgics, but he also must have been familiar with the celebrated Seasons by James Thomson (1726-1730), as the very title of his poem shows. Thomson used many motifs of Virgil’s Georgics that were also interesting to the Lithuanian poet: descriptions of nature in different seasons, presentation of country toils, didactic passages, philosophical musings, interpolated short stories, and patriotic motifs. In The Seasons by Donelaitis all these motifs are interpreted originally. Thus, Thomson describes the nature of several parts of the world, including such exotic phenomena as tropical rains and polar nights, while Donelaitis concentrates on the nature of his own motherland. Thomson regards country toils “from the outside”, through the eyes of a country gentleman, but Donelaitis, being intimately acquainted with these toils, describes them in all their severity as a heavy burden rather than a pleasing pastime.The nature of didacticism of the English and Lithuanian poets is also different. Thomson is interested in the application of the ideas of Enlightenment in the life of a country gentleman with considerable income. Donelaitis addresses his didactic precepts to his closest neighbours, the peasants, in whom he inculcates simple moral rules of industry, sobriety, and benevolence. Thomson, like Virgil, interpolates his descriptions with several tales, which are not connected with each other, while Donelaitis describes one and the same neighbourhood, several peasants, their manners and practices in all four parts of the poem. Donelaitis describes with indignation the hard and painful toils of Lithuanian peasants, and this is the most important deviation from the ethos and aesthetics of the descriptive poem idealizing country life. Yet, Donelaitis is convinced that this hard life which peasants lead is morally righteous and verily valuable. This attitude makes it possible to say that The Seasons by Donelaitis may be viewed as a separate phase in the development of European descriptive poem. [From the publication]