The poem “Twelve” was written by A.A. Blok in 1918 and inspired by revolutionary events. Already in the winter landscape of the poem, the contrast of black and white is emphasized, the rebellious element of the wind conveys the atmosphere of social change. The line in the first chapter of the work sounds ambiguous: “A man cannot stand on his feet.” In the context of the poem, it can be interpreted both literally (the wind knocks the traveler off his feet, the ice under the snow is slippery and treacherous) and symbolically: in the new era, everything has become unsteady, the supports of life have been lost.

The perception of revolutionary contrasts by ordinary people is shown by the example of the image of an old woman who is worried that such a huge scrap was found for the poster, but there is no fabric for foot wraps for the children. The bourgeoisie is freezing at the crossroads, the priest is sad, the lady in karakul falls on the ice, the writer with long hair talks about the death of Russia, and the tramp wants to know what lies ahead.

The central image of the second chapter is the image of freedom without a cross. The poet shows the anarchic mood of the soldiers of the revolution, ready to “shoot... at Holy Rus'.” The chopped syntax of the poem, the abundance of dialogues and remarks successfully convey fragmentary sketches from the life of that time.

In the third chapter you can hear folklore motives, characteristic of soldiers' songs. They transmit and popular perception era: for the “sweet life” one must also “lay down one’s head.”

In the fourth and fifth chapters, the image of the slutty, fat-faced Katka, who used to walk with the officer, and now with the soldiers, becomes central. In the sixth chapter, the Red Army soldiers kill Katka: human life in a revolutionary era it becomes a bargaining chip. In the seventh chapter, twelve soldiers again march in revolutionary steps with guns in search of enemies. “Only the poor murderer can’t see his face at all,” writes A.A. Block. This image of an impersonal person echoes the image of the main character in the story by E.I. Zamyatin "Dragon". There, the soldier of the revolution, ready to shoot the bourgeois face without hesitation, also loses his human face. It’s as if he disappears into the fog, and instead of him, only the form remains (boots, overcoat, cap), an empty form, free of content. It soon turns out that Petrukha, who killed Katka, once loved her, and he killed the girl in the heat of the moment, out of jealousy. Thus, purely personal problems and actions are sometimes disguised as revolutionary impulses. But no one condemns Petrukha: “Now is not such a time.” The revolutionary era of permissiveness, as convincingly shows

A.A. The block leaves an imprint on people's souls. In the whirlwind of revolutionary events without a cross, the lines between good and evil, justified cruelty and criminal acts are sometimes blurred. The unsightly image of the insurgent nakedness at the end of the seventh chapter of the poem is drawn as a kind of warning: “Lock the floors, Today there will be robberies! Unlock the cellars - the bastard is on the loose today!”

In the ninth chapter, the bourgeoisie at the crossroads is compared to a hungry dog. Deprived of wealth and privilege, an entire class Russian society found himself at a crossroads.

The blizzard is gradually intensifying. The rhythm of the poem is constantly changing, reflecting the changeable nature of the era described in it. Through the propaganda slogans of the first years of Soviet power, the author’s sad thoughts are clearly audible: “...And they walk without the name of the saint, All twelve - into the distance.” We are ready for anything, we don’t regret anything...” Religious motives are clearly heard in the poem. The twelve soldiers of the revolution are likened to the twelve apostles. The red flag in the last chapter is called bloody. It is he who is carried by Jesus Christ, who is “And invisible behind the blizzard, And unharmed by a bullet.” Christ in Blok’s poem appears not in a crown of thorns, but in a white crown of roses. He did not abandon the sinful fighters of the revolution; he cannot be killed or destroyed by tearing down the crosses. Twelve soldiers pave a new historical path for Russia. And Christ still leads it. Thus, depicting revolutionary events in their rebellious, contradictory and largely tragic atmosphere, A.A. Blok still blesses Russia on its new path and hopes that the new wreath of roses will bring her happiness and prosperity.

Blok greeted the revolution with enthusiasm and rapture. A person close to the poet wrote: “He walked young, cheerful, cheerful, with shining eyes.” Among the very few representatives of the artistic and scientific intelligentsia at that time, the poet immediately announced...

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok, who glorified patriotic feelings and sentiments with his poetry, created the most delightful image of a Beautiful Lady, received great recognition during his lifetime and had great success among the fairer sex, who...

A. A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve” was created in 1918. The poem was born as an inspired impulse, harmoniously whole, but many of the images turn out to be unclear to the poet himself, which only proves the complexity and depth of the work. The poem was published in the newspaper...

Russia is destined to experience torment, humiliation, division; but she will emerge from these humiliations new and - in a new way - great. A. Blok Alexander Blok's poem "The Twelve" was written in the first winter after the October Revolution. The country is gradually...

Analysis of A. Blok's poem "The Twelve"

The poem was written by Alexander Blok at the beginning of 1918. It reflected the author’s position in relation to October revolution 1917.

“The Twelve” is a poem about revolutionary Petrograd, a poem about blood, about dirt, about crime, about the fall of man. This is in one sense. And in the other - about the revolution, about the fact that through people stained with blood the good news of human liberation comes to the world.

The snowstorm of the revolution begins from the very first lines of the poem; and from its very first lines black sky and white snow are, as it were, symbols of the duality that is happening in the world, that is happening in every soul.

Black evening

White snow.

Wind, wind!

A man can't stand on his feet...

Thus, two internal motives pass through the entire poem, intertwined. Black evening - blood, dirt, crime; white snow - ta new truth, which goes into the world through the same people. And if the poet had limited himself to only one topic, had painted only the “black” shell of the revolution or only its “white” essence, he would have been enthusiastically received in one or another of those camps into which Russia has now split. But a poet, a true poet, is equally far from both bright praise and dark blasphemy; it gives a dual, intertwined truth in one picture. The contrast of the two colors emphasizes the uncompromising confrontation between the warring forces.

The chaos of events, the chaos of a blizzard, the chaos of an indignant element, through which one can see fragments of rushing faces, positions, actions, absurd in their fragmentation, but connected by a common flight through the wind and snow. The poet paints a picture of revolutionary Petrograd. There is also a huge poster “All Power Constituent Assembly!”, and “the cheerless comrade priest”, and the old woman who “won’t understand what this means, what is such a poster, such a huge scrap” for, and the “lady in karakul” mourning Russia, and the angrily hissing “writer, vitiia” ... And all this is so petty, so far from the great things that are happening in the world, so wretched that “malice” against it all can be considered “holy malice”:

Anger, sad anger

It's boiling in my chest...

Black anger, holy anger...

Comrade! Look

Both!

And against this background, under the looming black sky, under the falling white snow, “twelve people walk...” The poet does not wax poetic about them at all. Against. “There’s a cigarette in my teeth, I’ll take my cap, I’d like an ace of diamonds on my back!” And their former comrade Vanka - “in a soldier’s overcoat, with a stupid face” - flies with fat-faced Katka in a reckless car, “an electric flashlight on the shafts...”

And this “Red Guard” Petrukha, who had already raised a knife on Katya (“On your neck, Katya, the scar has not healed from the knife. Under your chest, Katya, that scratch is fresh!”), this Petrukha, who has already killed the officer (“not he left the knife!”), this comrade of his, threatening a possible rival with violence: “Well, Vanka, son of a bitch, bourgeois, mine, try it, kiss!” And this fat-faced Katya herself, who “ate chocolate Mignon, went for a walk with the cadets, now went with the soldier...” And these comrades Petrukha, without hesitation, shooting Vanka and Katka racing on a reckless driver: “One more time! Cock the trigger! Fuck-gobble!”

Katka's death is not forgiven to Petrukha. “Oh, bitter grief, boring boredom, mortal!” And let not repentance, but new anger lie on his soul - “I’ll slash with a knife, slash!” You fly, bourgeois, like a sparrow! I’ll drink your blood for the sweetheart, the black-browed one!” But the oppression cannot be removed from the soul: “God rest the soul of your servant... It’s boring!”

Black is not forgiven, black is not justified - it is covered by that highest truth that is in the consciousness of the twelve. They feel the strength and scope of that world vortex of which they are grains of sand. They sense and understand what the “writer, vita”, and the philistine in karakul, and the “comrade priest”, and the entire spiritually fallen “intelligentsia” viciously deny. And for the truth, “our guys went to serve in the Red Guard and lay down their violent heads!” For this truth they kill and die.

Encouraging each other, the twelve do not resort to daydreaming; they seek consolation only in the inevitability of even greater hardships (“It will be harder for us, dear comrade!”). The readiness for any torment is their moral strength, which gives the author the right to call their very malice holy.

... And they go without the name of a saint

All twelve - into the distance.

Ready for anything

No regrets...

But what instills in them determination and irrevocability, readiness for anything and lack of pity? What if there is no hope or faith? The heroes of “The Twelve” are supported on their painful path not by a dream of the future, but by a continuous feeling of the enemy: “The restless enemy does not sleep!”, “The restless enemy is close,” “Their steel rifles against the invisible enemy...”, “Here the fierce one will wake up.” enemy..."Who is this enemy?

Not a “bourgeois” - he is pitiful, he gets revenge only along the way, when it comes to hand: “...you fly, bourgeois, like a sparrow! I’ll drink your blood for the sweetheart, the black-browed one.”

And not even " old world”, embodied in the image of a “mangy dog”, for whom Blok’s heroes feel something like disgusting contempt: “Get off, you scabby, I’ll tickle you with a bayonet!” The old world is like a mangy dog, if you fail, I’ll beat you!”

No, in the “fierce enemy” there is clearly something universal, commensurate with the scale of revolutionary violence: “... we will fan the world fire, the world fire is in the blood...”, “A bullet into Holy Russia!..” For twelve, a continuous feeling of the powerful the enemy is justified by their distrust and armament, their attitude to life. What motivates these people continuously requires an enemy and will constantly call him out of oblivion as needed. That is why, towards the end of the poem, anxiety and fear for the future only grow!

This is the main sign of the “new world” into which, as was commonly believed, Blok’s heroes were entering: general and continuous armament against everything and everyone, readiness to meet the enemy in any “back street” and fight with him until complete destruction.. And no hint of that “fair, clean, cheerful and wonderful life” that Blok called the natural goal of the revolution.

In the article "Intellectuals and Revolution" Blok wrote that a revolution is a national element unleashed. “She is akin to nature. Woe to those who think that in the revolution they will find the fulfillment of only their dreams, no matter how lofty and noble they may be. A revolution, like a menacing whirlwind, like a snowstorm, always brings something new and unexpected; she cruelly deceives many; she easily cripples the worthy in her whirlpool; she often brings the unworthy to land unharmed; but this is its particularity, it does not change either the general direction of the flow, or the menacing and deafening roar that the flow emits. This hum is always about the great.”

The image of Christ organically grows out of the structure of the poem, the interaction of epic and lyrical motifs and becomes a symbol of the tragic transformation of the “Russian structure of the soul” in the revolutionary era and its way of the cross after October.

The twelve apostles of the new world do not see Christ (he is “invisible behind the blizzard”), they call out to him, asking him to show himself, but he does not appear, and in irritation they shoot where his shadow appears.

Shots are heard and the blizzard responds to them with laughter. Laughter swirls around in this poem by Blok like a blizzard, blowing up snowdrifts, throwing aside everyone who prevents the Red Guards from marching with a “sovereign step,” laughter is heard over the corpse of Katka and over the grief-stricken Petrukha.

In “The Twelve,” the poet and the elements come together one on one and face to face for the first time. Everything gets in the way in these scenes: “holy malice” and “black malice”, “black evening” and “white snow”, Katka’s blood and Petrukha’s tears, the printed step of the Red Guards and the “gentle tread” of Christ. The street was filled with screams, the bickering of twelve, the cries of an old woman, the howl of a homeless dog. Blizzard hoots after twelve. But the hero walks ahead in silence. The Red Guards are with rifles, he is “wearing a white crown of roses.” The snow over which this “ghost” of Blok moves is dazzlingly clear. There are no traces of blood on him, although a “bloody flag” flutters over the hero himself.

Incompatibility, incompatibility - and at the same time a fatal connection.

Blok introduces the complexity and inconsistency of his own attitude towards Christ into the poem. For official criticism, the heroes of the poem are undoubtedly “apostles of the new faith” and “people of the future”; for Blok, there was too much old and familiar in these people, which partly explains the appearance of the “former” Christ ahead of the twelve.

The question remained unresolved: who are they really the bearers of the new, in whom their endless anger towards the world itself is “holy” and fruitful, or is this just another variation of the “Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless”, which must inevitably end in the damned “eternal peace” ", attested by the figure of Christ? The possibility of this and many other interpretations lies in the very artistic nature poems.

Many things are incomprehensible to us not because our concepts are weak; but because these things are not included in the range of our concepts
Kozma Prutkov

Blok's poem "The Twelve" is one of the most mysterious works of the twentieth century. More than one generation of both literary critics and ordinary admirers of his talent has generated various, sometimes extremely contradictory and inconsistent interpretations of this work. However, no one has yet given a sufficiently objective and most relevant point of view to the author’s thoughts. But now, in the 21st century, when the poem is again at the peak of relevance, the time has come to try to understand what Blok really wanted to tell us.

In this note I will not talk about the interpretation of ordinary small parts, creating the color of the work, only about central images, creating the semantic load of A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve”.

At first glance, the central action of the work is the ordinary revelry of Vanka and Katka and the murder of the latter. What is this, the biography of a simple prodigal girl? And why throughout the entire poem do the apostles of the twentieth century constantly turn their gaze to this story? A suspicion creeps in that the poem is not so much about a “simple Russian woman” and her finding “such an end,” but rather about the fate of the country. In relation to Katka, Blok uses the epithet “fat-faced”, in relation to Rus' - “fat-assed”. It is clear that these epithets are related to each other because they have the same root. It is logical to assume that the images they characterize are also connected. Let's see how this relationship manifests itself in the poem and in life.

Let's turn to history. You won’t have to search for long - here in front of us is one of the most famous rulers of Russia - Catherine II. This woman became famous for her huge number of favorites and her gigantic contribution to the strengthening of serfdom. Regarding the first, we can say that the empress did not stand on ceremony in choosing men and at times preferred not to look at the classes:

Fornicated with the officers -
Get lost, get lost!
I went for a walk with the cadets -
Did you go for a walk with the soldier?

Eh, eh, sin!
It will be easier for the soul!

The Empress can be considered as a symbol of Russian statehood, and then the behavior of Blok’s Katya can be considered as an allegorical description foreign policy countries. If we accept the interpretation of the image of Katka as the personification of the state system, then the lines

Wore gray leggings
Minion ate chocolate...

can be explained as a description of the state of this system. Neither leg warmers nor Mignon chocolate are products of Russian industry. At the beginning of the twentieth century, as now, most goods for the use of the wealthy minority were imported from abroad. Those. the state economy was not sustainable, because could not provide all its citizens with domestic products. But moreover, the state’s unpretentiousness in choosing world allies (like Empress Catherine = Blok’s Katka in choosing partners) is due precisely to the fact that the Russian economy and the well-being of its citizens depended on the goodwill of its allies to export their goods.

This system of organization was brought to Russia by Peter I. “I will cut beards,” the king said then, meaning the beginning of radical transformations, and here you go:

Katya is on your neck,
The scar did not heal from the knife.

So, behind the image of Katka lies the image of the Russian state management system, whose representatives in the 18th century got away with beards and a scratch on the neck, and in the 20th century they paid with their heads:

Where is Katka? - Dead, dead!
Shot in the head!

Regarding the second (the first was: rampant favoritism), it should be noted that Catherine II brutally suppressed the peasant class. It was she who issued in 1767 the most inhumane decree in the entire history of serfdom. This decree declared any complaint from a peasant against a landowner to be a grave state crime. Landowners had the right to do whatever they wanted with their serfs - they could torture them, send them to hard labor, and trade people like cattle. Those. The empress's policy was aimed at developing deep into the very same serfdom, which at the beginning of the twentieth century could not be dealt with peacefully, as a result of which 12 appeared, and Katka (the state) was killed.

It is precisely this Holy, “fat-assed” Rus', with its rotten statehood, its shabby order and dilapidated huts, with its unpretentiousness in choosing world allies, that twelve are going to fire.

But why a saint? Such an epithet, in my opinion, cannot be explained by the fact that: “... in him Blok became equal to Dostoevsky - in the spiritual, prophetic vision that in this world vice and abomination are adjacent to holiness and purity.” Such an opinion only confuses the picture and hides what Blok put forward

Now about the reflection in the poem of the main global problem, which can no longer be passed over in silence. Let's turn to the bourgeois standing at the crossroads and the pathetic dog behind him.

The bourgeois stands like a hungry dog,
It stands silent, like a question.
And the old world is like a rootless dog,
Stands behind him with his tail between his legs.

In my opinion, in this place everything is most transparent - Blok himself, realizing how important it is for everyone to understand this part, gave the key to understanding: the dog, the personification of the old world, is trying to hide behind the symbol of capitalism Soviet era- bourgeois. The crossroads quite clearly hints at the cross, the symbol of Christianity, “truth”. The bourgeoisie firmly relies on this “truth” and the old dog stands on it (“the old world” - Europe). It is important to note that the bourgeois is none other than the main enemy of the “twelve” (judging by the socialist ideology of that time), however, he not only does not run away from them, but is not even afraid, seeing the advance of a merciless and incomprehensible force for the old world . Why? Here, the time has come to explain one point from Christian teaching, on which I will rely in constructing further reasoning.

***digression from the topic ***

The modern Church of Christ proclaims sacred not only the books of the New Testament, but also the Old Testament. Together they make up the Bible, now recognized as “God-breathed teaching.” One of the books of the Old Testament, namely “Deuteronomy” by the “prophet” Isaiah, contains the following “prophecies”:
« Don't lend money to your brother (in the context of a fellow Jew) no silver, no bread, no anything else that can be given at interest; to a foreigner (i.e. not a Jew) give at interest, so that the Lord your God will bless you in everything that is done with your hands on the land where you are going to possess it. , — Deuteronomy 23:19, 20. « And you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. », — Deuteronomy 28:12. « Then the sons of foreigners (i.e. subsequent generations of non-Jews, whose ancestors entered into obviously unpayable debts to the Jews) They will build your walls and their kings will serve you; For in my anger I struck you down, but in my good pleasure I will be merciful to you. And your gates will be opened, they will not be shut day or night, so that the wealth of the nations may be brought to you and their kings may be brought in. For the nations and kingdoms that do not want to serve you will perish, and such nations will be completely destroyed », — Isaiah 60:10 - 12.

The hierarchy of Russian Orthodoxy insists on the sacredness of this abomination, and the canon of the New Testament, censored and edited even before the Council of Nicea (325 AD), proclaims it in the name of Christ, without any reason, until the end of time as God's good providence:
« Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law, until all is fulfilled. », — Matthew 5:17, 18.

Thus, the Bible openly proclaims the policy of world usurious enslavement based on loan interest, in modern world clearly presented by the credit and financial system. Implementation of this policy the best way possible in countries with Christian religion and the capitalist structure of society and is carried out by a really existing government that directs the course of the global historical process in the desired direction with the help of both structural management (i.e. henchmen of the “unofficial” government - the official government), and invisible to the majority, with the help of structureless management . Let me explain the last one - in early XIX century, a new teaching was formed, serving the same people as the Christian one and pursuing the same goals, also hiding behind noble theses - the teaching of Karl Marx. It was this teaching that guided revolutionaries in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century.

So, the bourgeois does not run away from the “new” power in the person of 12 because this power was given to these people by themselves. It still relies on Christianity and main symbol of this Christianity - Jesus, will lead the supporters of the “new” teaching raised on the “old” soil. Both Jesus and the bourgeois are invulnerable to the twelve, because the “apostles” of the twentieth century, due to the limitations of their horizons and abilities, cannot realize and comprehend how these people control them.

...They walk into the distance with a mighty step...
-Who else is there? Come out!
This is the wind with a red flag
Played out ahead...

Note that 12 felt the presence of a certain force that, of its own free will, directed their movement. As can be seen further from the text of the poem, the “apostles” of the twentieth century are making attempts to identify this leadership, overcome it and even destroy it (i.e., free their will from someone else’s power). These attempts lead to nothing - this leader is invulnerable to them, because he is incomprehensible. And the leader is the same as 2000 years ago, having changed his appearance and therefore not recognized, and carrying the same doctrine, which found expression in other images, and therefore not noticed.

Only a poor dog is hungry
Waddles behind...
The old world is like a mangy dog

The old dog smelled the scent of the former essence and rushed after the familiar evil. However, 12 cannot properly understand the meaning of the presence of this dog, and sincerely believing in the novelty of their truth, they are trying to drive away the old world, as they think, the bearer of past disastrous errors that have nothing in common with the new teaching. But it’s difficult to deceive a dog’s nose when it smells its owner:

In a white corolla of roses
Jesus Christ is ahead.

Don't blame everything on Jesus Christ. Historically real personality by the name of Jesus, his descendants do not bear responsibility for the unscrupulous cult. However, it is he who goes ahead of the twelve, because his image has become a symbol of the slave construction of the world, a symbol of Christian teaching and, as a result, the personification of the protege “hiding” the face of the bourgeois.

In the poem “The Twelve,” Blok, with the help of symbols, showed us the true background of not only the revolution of 1917, but also Christian teaching, capitalist and monarchical Russian government system, as well as the anarchy of demonstrative politicians. He was not understood by his compatriots, since his symbolic language, like the figurative language of Pushkin, far exceeded the concepts of his contemporaries. Even after almost a century, the poem “The Twelve” is not understood objectively by everyone. However, it is necessary to understand what Blok allegorically revealed to us with his work, namely

As the historian Klyuchevsky said: “ History is not a teacher, but an overseer. She doesn't teach anything, but severely punishes for not knowing the lessons." Blok’s poem “The Twelve” can serve each of us good lesson, having mastered which we could objectively evaluate our modern world and determine where the real truth, and where under various masks the lie exposed by the poet is hidden, so as not to pay for mistakes that high, bloody price that our ancestors have already paid. It is the will of everyone, which view to adhere to, however, once an incorrect decision is made, it can tragically affect the fate of everyone, as Klyuchevsky warned about this and A. Blok tried to prevent it.

Blok wrote his mysterious poem in 1918, immediately after a series of revolutionary events in Russia. She was awarded this epithet because she demonstrates the author’s attitude to the change of power, but it is not known what exactly it is. Some argue that “The Twelve” is an ode dedicated to change, while others believe that the work is condemnatory and is a kind of requiem for the country. It’s up to you to decide who is right, but we will only tell you everything about the book that will help you understand the poet and his plan.

Blok once walked around revolutionary Petrograd, and, as he himself put it, “listened to the music of the revolution.” He wanted to translate this feeling into words, inspired by the atmosphere of rebellion and triumph of the new government. The history of the creation of the poem “12” went at the same pace as the history of Russia, but until the very moment of writing, the author did not have an unambiguous attitude towards change. It did not work out during the process of working on the book, which he wrote quickly, being under a fresh impression. When asked: “Is this a satire on the revolution or a glory to it?” - he couldn’t answer, because he didn’t know. The creator has not yet decided what he thinks about this. He described an impression, not a reasoning, an intuitive impulse, and not a sober analysis of the situation. It may also be that the poet did not want to destroy the intrigue created by the work and did not explain what was hidden behind the symbolic images.

The creation process is known to have taken only a few days, and the final revision lasted about a month. The poet felt a phenomenal creative upsurge, feeling that something brilliant, unexpected, and fundamentally new had flown out from under his pen. The poem “The Twelve” was published in the newspaper of the left Socialist Revolutionaries “Znamya Truda”, and two months later it was published in book format. According to Blok, for several months after writing the final poems he physically picked up the noise “from the collapse of the old world.” It was this, coupled with the sound of broken glass, the roar of gun shots and the crackling of street fires, that made up the music of the revolution, which absorbed and shocked the author. Later, he would become disillusioned with the new government, go into exile, but write that he did not repent of his creation and did not renounce it, because then the joy of change was an element, and not a political game (he wrote about this in the collection “Later Articles”).

Meaning of the name

The poem is named “12” in honor of the detachment that carried out revolutionary trials in the alleys of Petrograd. Judging by the memoirs of John Reed and other journalists who witnessed the coup, the detachments of Red Army soldiers patrolling the streets really consisted of a dozen people. In Blok’s drafts it is clear that he connected the name not only with the realities of the capital engulfed in flames, but also with Nekrasov’s poem about Ataman Kudeyar and his twelve robbers. The poet was inspired by the continuity of generations of freedom fighters: the heroes of Nekrasov’s work also administered justice as best they could, but their impulse was just. For too long these workers were in a slave position to those on whom they were now taking revenge.

Of course there is also symbolic meaning titles. The poem is called that because Blok put religious allusions into it. It was the twelve apostles who surrounded Christ. Time passed, and then in Russia, the third Rome, Jesus reappeared “in a white crown of roses” surrounded by a dozen disciples. Thus, the author draws a parallel between two events in history, connecting them with a single holy meaning for humanity. He, like many then, thought that it would begin with our country world revolution, which will destroy the old world of slaves and masters and establish the kingdom of God on earth.

The block depersonalized its heroes and made them into a monolith consisting of 12 people. Each of them individually means nothing, but together they are the force of a revolutionary element, a symbolic unification of the masses of people who have risen in one formation in the name of freedom. Thus, the poet shows the unity of the impulse that gripped the country and guesses the future of Soviet ideology, where the collectivization of the spirit became the basis.

Composition

The poem “12” consists of twelve chapters, each of which draws a separate fragment of the mosaic, where we guess the features of a disfigured winter Petrograd, burning with blood, banners and conflagrations.

Exposition embodied in the first chapter, where the author immerses the reader in the atmosphere of that time, so that the subsequent murder would not surprise anyone. Curses and reproaches are heard all around the new regime, all the inhabitants of the old, destroyed world are perplexed and predict death for Russia at the hands of the Bolsheviks. A patrol of Red Army soldiers immediately appears, intimidating everything in its path.
The beginning occurs in the second chapter, where the heroes remember Vanka (former friend, traitor) and Katka (the girl of one of the twelve, who also betrayed him). They condemn the actions of the couple, mentioning their unworthy relationship. Now their power gives them every right take revenge on the offenders.
What happens next action development. The reader learns the history of these people, their difficult and bitter lot. Now their thirst for revenge is justified.
Climax occurs in the sixth chapter, where the squad stumbles upon Vanka and Katka and opens fire to kill. Katka dies, Vanka escapes.
Denouement lasts for all subsequent chapters. The reader sees internal conflict Katka's former boyfriend and his choice in favor of serving the revolution.
Epilogue can be considered the twelfth chapter, where it turns out that Jesus Christ is leading the murderers.

What is the poem about?

First chapter. It's freezing outside, passers-by barely trudge along frozen roads, slipping and falling. On a rope that stretches from one building to another, there is a poster with the revolutionary slogan: “All power to the Constituent Assembly!” The old woman wonders why so much material was wasted - it would be useful for making children's clothes. He grumbles and complains that “the Bolsheviks will drive him into a coffin.” A long-haired man scolds someone as “traitors”, says that “Russia perished”, it is quite possible that the author meant the writer. For such speeches, the narrator immediately calls him a bourgeois - a representative of the privileged class, an oppressor of honest people. A lady in karakul, in a conversation with another, complains that they “cryed, cried”, slipped and falls. The wind carries the words of the prostitutes: at their meeting they decided “ten for the time, twenty-five for the night... And don’t take less from anyone!..” A tramp walks along a deserted street. The chapter ends with the poet revealing the essence of what is happening in the poem “12”: “Anger, sad anger Seething in the chest... Black anger, holy anger... Comrade! Keep your eyes open!”
Second chapter. Twelve people are having a noisy conversation about how Vanka and Katka are sitting in a tavern, calling Vanka “bourgeois.” They remember that before “he was ours, but he became a soldier.” All these people - with a cigar in their teeth, a crushed cap, an ace of diamonds on their back (prison tattoo) - are dysfunctional, depressed by the burden of living in poverty, and therefore they are angry. They challenge the old “fat-assed” Rus' - the village, where the peasants still cling to their rickety huts and do not risk going against the authorities. They hate such flabby and submissive Rus'.
Third chapter. Here we talk about the bitter soldier's fate of twelve fighters. All of them served on the bleak front of the First World War. They blame the bourgeoisie who sent them to fight for their troubles. Now, to spite them, they are fueling the world fire of revolution.
Chapter four. Twelve heroes continue to patrol the streets. And then a carriage rushes by, where Vanka and Katka are sitting. Vanka in a soldier’s overcoat, “twirling his black mustache.”
Fifth chapter. This is Vanka’s monologue, which reminds her friend of her status as a kept woman. Under Katka’s chest, the scar from a stab wound has not yet healed; she used to “walk around in lace underwear,” “fornicate with officers,” and was even involved in the murder of one of them. The soldiers see her as a traitor. She always turned her nose up at the poor, sold her love to the nobility, and now it was her turn to pay for her easy life.
Chapter six. Twelve Red Guards attack the couple and shoot because Vanka was walking with a “stranger girl.” Vanka runs for his life, Katka falls dead in the snow.
Seventh chapter. Twelve move on, not attaching any importance to what happened. Only Petrukha, who killed Katka (his ex-girlfriend), became gloomy and sad. His comrades console him, but he remembers: “I loved this girl.” The others admonish him, demand that he “keep control over himself,” and remind him that “now is not the time to babysit you.” Petrukha makes a strong-willed effort and “he throws up his head, he’s cheerful again.”
The eighth chapter is a song full of sadness and melancholy about how Petrukha and others like him will take revenge “for the sweetheart” of the bourgeoisie. They blame them for destroying the girls with their lust, killing their dignity, leaving only a corrupt body.
Ninth chapter. There are no more policemen, no noise can be heard, and the bourgeoisie at the intersection “has his nose hidden in his collar,” and nearby “a lousy dog is huddling with its coarse fur, its tail between its legs.” The author compares these images, because now the former master of life has become homeless and useless to anyone. His time has passed, he, like the dog, is living out his last days.
Chapter ten. A snowstorm begins, and you can't see anything. Petrukha remembers God on this occasion, but his comrades laughed at him: “What did the Golden Iconostasis save you from?” They remind him that Petrukha is now a murderer, and he should not remember God.
The eleventh chapter is devoted to the characteristics of the detachment, which embodies the features of the entire proletariat: “And they walk without the name of the saint, All twelve - into the distance. We’re ready for anything, we don’t regret anything.”
Twelve walk through the blizzard, noticing someone, threaten with violence, start shooting: “And only the echo responds in the houses.” Their detachment is led by Christ: “So they walk with a sovereign step - Behind is a hungry dog, Ahead - with a bloody flag, And unknown behind the blizzard, And unharmed by a bullet, With a gentle tread above the blizzard, A scattering of snow pearls, In a white corolla of roses - Ahead - Jesus Christ " This is how the poet divides reality into past, present and future. The past is a hungry dog, that same insatiable bourgeois who was led into a dead end by greed. The present is turmoil and lynching of aggressive insurgent works. The future is a just and merciful world, which is marked by revolution.

The main characters and their characteristics

There are not many heroes in the work that can be talked about, but all of them, of course, are symbolic images. Blok embodied much more in them than characters. IN characters eras, classes, elements are displayed, and not real characters.

Twelve- a detachment of Red Army soldiers who patrol the streets. This main character poems. All its components are former soldiers, representatives of the poorest families, where parents, like children, disappeared from morning to evening in factories as cheap labor. Blok demonstratively depersonalizes them in order to give their totality a symbolic subtext. They are not people, but a revolutionary force, an element that has engulfed all of Russia. This is rage bursting from the chests of the people at those who for centuries have trampled them into poverty and ignorance. They are so poor and blind that they are completely devoid of individuality and are accustomed to keeping in line. First, collective life in the corners (parts of the room fenced off with rags), then the same uniform for everyone for mechanical work in a factory, then a soldier’s uniform and endless, routine barracks life, and now a “torn coat”, “cigarette in teeth”, “crumpled cap” , "black belts". Nobody considered them to be individuals, so they did not become one. Their marginal behavior is a mark like the ace of diamonds on their back. It was given to them from birth by those who used their slave position for their own enrichment. But now this mark has played against those who put it. “Golotba” rose up and rebelled against the oppressors, and their anger was similar to that heavenly judgment seat that descended on the sinful earth, which the apostles predicted.
Jesus Christ. The key to understanding this image is the phrase: “World fire in the blood, God bless!” For Blok, the destruction of a decrepit, rotten world is a beneficial act. At one time, Jesus was also a revolutionary, he also went against the old world, so he is the leader of the martyrs for the fate of humanity, fighters for the transition to a better life, fighters against the “Caesars” and their greedy retinue. People rose up to make things better, just as Christ came into the world to change it.
Petrukha- one of the Twelve, the one who lost Katka’s love and took revenge on her for it. Using his example, the author shows the transitional stage between a man of the past and a man of the future. The hero has not yet fully decided; there are still remnants of yesterday in him. He has not forgotten how to believe in God, is not used to killing, has not completely joined the team, so the detachment reproaches him for being soft. He also cannot drown out his tender feeling and is grieving the death of his beloved. However, Blok describes how easy it is to force someone from common people to become a faceless mechanism of someone else's system. As soon as his comrades ridicule or scold him, he immediately adapts to them, because in this unity he gains the strength that made the revolution.
Vanka – ex-friend Red Army soldiers who went over to the side of the tsar's minions. This is the image of a modern Judas Bloc, who sold his friends, becoming a gendarme and a servant of the hated government. He, like the greedy traitor from the Gospel, escaped punishment for sin by cowardly running away and leaving Katya to be torn to pieces by the crowd. The author again reproduces this historical injustice, drawing parallels between his text and biblical traditions. Judas again escapes his retribution, but not for long, because Christ himself condescended to administer his judgment.
Katka- former girlfriend of one of the twelve - Petrukha. While the groom risked himself at the front, she became a kept woman of wealthy gentlemen, and in hard times she did not disdain even a simple gendarme. The poem speaks disparagingly about her: “she walked around in lace underwear,” “fornicated with officers,” “Mignon ate chocolate.” This description is very similar to thieves’ songs like “Gopstop” (“you wore squirrel fur coats, crocodile skin, laid everything for the colonels...”). The image of Katka is the archetypal embodiment of the harlot, at whom Jesus suggested throwing stones only to those who are not sinners. He saved the girl with his intervention, but in the poem “The Twelve” no one rescued the victim. This is due to a peculiar logic: there is no place for it in the new realities. Women corrupted and destroyed by lustful rich people remain in the old time, in the new, when everyone is equal, this will no longer happen. The death of a girl means not only new stage in the development of society, but also the purification of her soul and body. With her blood she washed away the shame, and since Christ is here, she certainly has a chance to be reborn to a renewed and blameless life.
Bourgeois- a man wrapped in the collar of his own coat and predicting the death of Russia. This is an image of the old time, which collapsed under the onslaught of the new. We see that the rich man is weak because he is lonely and abandoned, because his ill-gotten wealth was lost in the “robbery of the loot.” Now he can only complain about fate, the people have turned against him and yesterday’s way of life, when he was at the forefront.
The image of a bourgeois is associated with like a stray dog, they are now soul mates. The owner of life found himself next to an old, shabby dog, both of them are relics of the past. They have nowhere to go, their refuge has been destroyed. They can only drag out their few days in desolation and joyless barking. The dog whines and howls as vainly as the long-haired man reviles the new government. Here Blok ironically plays on the proverb “the dog barks, the caravan moves on.” The revolution can no longer be stopped by verbal research.
Old woman- the heroine from the first chapter, who laments the waste of fabric on banners. She is a symbol of the commercialism and limitations of the old era. New people do not mind rags for an idea; spirit is more important to them, not matter. The ladies are also ridiculed, who also only chirp, feel sorry for themselves, but do nothing.

Subject

The subject matter of the work is very diverse and atypical for the author. Blok is an idealist. After the events of 1917, a turning point came in his work. Real life turns out to be more cruel and rough than his ideal ideas about it. Due to a painful collision with reality, he began to work in a new way, the works already expressed the anguish in his receptive consciousness, and not the abstract ideals of his youth.

Theme of revolution. The revolution in the poet's understanding is a destructive element (images of wind, blizzard). Representatives of the old world rush about and do not know peace, finding themselves superfluous in the new world. A typical comparison is between a “bourgeois” and a bald stray dog. The storm deprived these people of shelter, name, position, they were scattered like snow flakes. The anarchic nature of the actions of the twelve and their ideology emphasizes the spontaneity, unbridled and uncontrollable energy of the social movement of the October Revolution.
Anti-clerical orientation(refrain “Eh, eh, without a cross!”). Christianity in the poem is part of a degenerate culture that is subject to destruction. The heroes ridicule the traditions and dogmas of the old faith, outraged by the commandments. But in the finale, twelve people walk “without the name of a saint,” and Jesus Christ leads them. The contradiction has been explained in different ways. Firstly, Blok, according to many researchers, meant the Antichrist in order to show how people were mistaken, how they are moving away from the truth, mistaking infernal power for a mission (this is just one interpretation of the image of Christ). By denying faith, the people denied themselves. However, the author, no matter how he felt about it, could not turn a blind eye to the widespread and demonstrative atheism. Secondly, a version has already been voiced that Christ is perceived by the people separately from the hypocritical church, which supported the tsarist regime. His teachings were distorted and used against people. And now he has come into the world again to make it finally fair.
Change of moral guidelines. The poem seriously discusses a meeting of prostitutes who decide to set uniform prices for customer service. Discussed, but not condemned. For Russian literature, this topic is generally taboo, and even more so its justification. However new era dictates its own rules, and the first of them is honesty. The shackles of censorship have been lifted, we can and should talk about what worries people.
Theme of revenge. It is revealed in the actions of the detachment, which recalls old scores with Vanka and Katka. The reprisal was dictated by personal motives of jealousy and resentment. While the heroes treacherously adapted to the regime, the Red Army soldiers endured poverty and injustice. The time has come for the old world to pay off these bills; the people rebelled and could not build a just state without righteous retribution.
The theme of ignorance. It can be traced at the level of stylistics of the poem, which incorporates criminal songs, street slang and even particles of folklore.

Problems

The tragedy of Blok’s worldview in that period is a consequence of his insight. The poet becomes hateful and disgusted with the vulgar, soulless life of the crowd of ordinary people, who are always and everywhere in the majority. He sees salvation from it in the destructive elements that destroyed the peaceful sleep of “fat-assed” Rus' and set it in motion. That is why the issues in the poem “The Twelve” so dramatically reflected the social cataclysms of that time.

Amoralism(the murder of Katka, the indifference of the twelve to the murder, the ubiquitous weapon and the threat of its use). The heroes are hostile to generally accepted traditional morality; they deliberately go against it. What does Blok mean by the murder of Katya? There are two interpretations: 1. Katka symbolizes the vice that the twelve, led by Christ, are eradicating in her person. 2. Katka’s death is a symbol of the first blood of an innocent victim, a gloomy prophecy of a bloody civil war where thousands of civilians will suffer.
Death of the old world(lady in karakul, bourgeois, Vanka). All of these characters are being viciously persecuted and have now switched places with the formerly oppressed class. Grandma is a symbol of the old world, which has outlived its usefulness. At the same time, many critics believe that this image symbolizes common sense, which revolutionaries do not recognize in their desire to throw slogans.
The Problem of Nihilism and destruction moral principles. Gradually, Blok’s internal catastrophe finds theoretical justification in the philosophy of Nietzsche, which was carried away by many symbolists. The German thinker argued that civilization develops cyclically, just like culture. The dilapidated, degenerate system will be replaced by destruction and the complete negation of all previous values and all old foundations. The barbarian hordes will destroy all moral and moral principles of the past era, created and imposed on people by it, but thereby “clearing the way” for the emergence of a new culture and a new civilization.
Poverty and desolation of the country. Depleted by cataclysms, Rus' is empty, like a snow-covered street. There is destruction, cold and terrifying restlessness of the people all around. Change is symbolized by a blizzard, the descriptions of which already give you chills. But the blizzard is also a symbol of purity, a global process and the painful cleansing of the country from filth.

The meaning and idea of the poem

The poem “12” is the deepest interpretation of reality. The work reflects real events which Blok witnessed (the harsh winter of 1918, fires in the streets, Red Guards who patrolled the streets, Speaking those times with characteristic jargon and abbreviations). the main idea The poem “The Twelve” is that the author expressed his views on history, the essence of civilization and culture in the language of symbols. The revolutionary message is that the poet embodied the impressions of an eyewitness to the revolution, which determined the history of Russia. But what these impressions are is more difficult to say. Their emotional coloring is determined by the ending, which can be interpreted in different ways. The analysis of the text depends on this interpretation. Read Blok’s own opinion under the heading “criticism.”

The meaning of the ending of the poem “12” is ambiguous; there are two main interpretations:

At the head of the procession is Jesus Christ, as the first revolutionary who went against tradition. Just like Christianity new era requires sacrifices, so the Twelve took on the mission of inquisitors or Prince Vladimir, who baptized Rus' with blood and sword. The world cannot be changed without violence, as the history of the introduction of religion shows, for example. Therefore, the new apostles (of which there were also 12, this is another proof: a reference to the Bible) take on the cross to change the world for the better.
At the head of the procession is the Antichrist, as the last harbinger of the apocalypse, who leads people to spiritual and physical destruction. Revolution is the collapse of the world, it leads to a fratricidal war and complete decline in a prosperous country. Twelve is a symbol of the destructive power of revolution, which destroys everything in its path. A man in a crowd loses face, becomes a blind weapon like a rifle, which is used the mighty of the world this in order to place his elite on a pedestal.

The final

The Red Army soldiers quenched their sadness in an act of vengeance, Petrukha cast aside doubts and stopped grieving. The twelve move on, and their procession knows no time: “And the blizzard casts dust in their eyes all day and night long...”. An attached mangy dog can barely keep up with them - a symbol of the old world already familiar to us. The Red Army soldiers try to scare him with bayonets so that he will get rid of their procession. This is also symbolic: new people are driving away the old world.

Suddenly the heroes notice a mysterious silhouette in the darkness. They open fire on the unknown vision, trying to figure out what it is. They do not know that He is not afraid of shots and blows. “So they walk with a sovereign step - behind is a hungry dog, in front with a bloody flag<…>Jesus Christ".

Criticism

The poem caused a huge resonance in society, forever depriving the poet of the understanding and support of many friends. The old regime intellectuals did not understand it, nor did the supporters of the new government. She convinced some that Blok was a traitor and a hypocrite, others that he did not understand the true spirit of the revolution and mixed it with dirt. In a word, he remained misunderstood even in emigration, when he clearly upset his relations with the Bolsheviks.

The illustrator of the poem “12,” Yuri Annenkov, was one of the first to speak about the work in some detail:

In 1917-18, Blok was undoubtedly captured spontaneous side revolution. “World fire” seemed to him a goal, not a stage. The world fire was not even a symbol of destruction for Blok: it was a “world orchestra people's soul" Street lynchings seemed to him more justifiable than legal proceedings. “Hurricane, constant companion of revolutions.” And again, and always - Music. "Music" with capital letters. “Those who are filled with music will hear the sigh of the universal soul, if not today, then tomorrow,” said Blok back in 1909

The poet himself confirmed this guess. He denies accusations of conformism and sycophancy, speaking of an inspired impulse that found completion in the scandalous work. He was offended that even his colleagues and friends did not understand him. He writes about this in his memoirs already in exile.

In January 1918, I surrendered to the elements for the last time, no less blindly than in January nine hundred seventh or March nine hundred fourteen. That is why I do not renounce what was written then, because it was written in accordance with the elements, for example, during and after the end of “The Twelve”, for several days I felt physically, with my ears, a great noise around me - a continuous noise (probably the noise from the collapse of the old world) . Therefore, those who see political poems in the Twelve are either very blind to art, or are sitting up to their ears in political mud, or are possessed by great malice - be they enemies or friends of my poem

Of course, the poet was not sure that he did not repent of what he had written. From abroad, he followed what was happening in Russia and was depressed by its condition, which worsened day by day. Red terror Civil War, the reaction that began after the revolution could not please him. In despair, he recalled his inspired impulse, but the music in his soul died down. That is why, before his death, he begs his wife to burn all copies of the poem “The Twelve.” So he renounced his famous and tragic hymn to the October Revolution.

He had reasons to be upset during his lifetime. At one of the rallies against the Red Terror and political repression, people chanted the insult at him: “Traitor!” There were also his old friends, Anna Akhmatova, Olga Sudeikina, Arthur Lurie, who did not stand up for his honor. Further - more: the same Akhmatova, and with her the poet Sologub, demonstratively refuse to participate in the event where his poem is mentioned in the program. Gumilyov reacted even more radically, claiming that Blok, having written “12,” “crucified Christ a second time and shot the sovereign once again.” He especially criticized (a detailed essay was written) that the image of Christ was defamed by such proximity. The author responded calmly and mysteriously:

I don't like the ending of The Twelve either. I wish this ending had been different. When I finished, I myself was surprised: why Christ? But the more I looked, the more clearly I saw Christ. And then I wrote down to myself: unfortunately, Christ.

Warnings rained down on him from all sides. The friendlier Andrei Bely also addressed his friend with a message:

I read You with trepidation. “Scythians” (poems) are huge and epoch-making, like the Kulikovo Field”... In my opinion, you are too carelessly playing other notes. Remember - they will “never” “forgive” you... I don’t sympathize with some of your feuilletons in the “Banner of Labor”: but I am amazed at your courage and courage... Be wise: combine courage with caution.

These words turned out to be prophetic: the poetess Zinaida Gippius, in her address to Blok, exclaims that she will never forgive his betrayal. Bunin did not forgive either, giving a devastating review, outlining a detailed interpretation of not only the book, but also the actions of its author:

Blok went over to the Bolsheviks, became Lunacharsky’s personal secretary, after which he wrote the brochure “The Intelligentsia and the Revolution” and began to demand: “Listen, listen to the music of the revolution!” and composed “The Twelve,” writing in his diary for posterity a very pathetic fiction: as if he composed “The Twelve” as if in a trance, “all the time hearing some noises - the noises of the fall of the old world.”

Unflattering characterizations of the poem and even direct threats against Blok were also heard from politicians. The head of the White Army, Admiral Kolchak, promised to hang the author of “The Twelve” after the victory. But the Bolsheviks were in no hurry to praise the book. Commissioner for theater affairs forbade the poet’s wife to read the work aloud, arguing: “They praise what we, old socialists, fear most.” The government's reaction did not end there. In 1919, the creator was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and released only at his personal request. influential official Lunacharsky. Then the muse turned away from him, he no longer heard the music and stopped writing poetry.

Only a few understood and accepted the position of the creator, for example, Meyerhold, Academician S. F. Oldenburg, Remizov and Yesenin. In their opinion, Blok’s new work was not understood, since all readers were accustomed to the poet’s exceptionally serious work. This is how reviewer Viktor Shklovsky explained this idea:

Twelve” is an ironic thing. It is not even written in a ditty style, it is done in a “thieves’” style. The style of a street couplet like Savoyar’s (the work of a famous chansonnier of that time)

The opinion of critics is confirmed by the fact that the author personally brought his wife to the concerts of the joker Savoyarov, who performed everything, be it a song or a poem, in the ragged style of a tramp. Using his example, he showed her how to read his work out loud.

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“Twelve” by A.A. Blok

The title of the poem reproduces the key New Testament motif (the twelve apostles of Christ. The number of the main characters, the Red Guards, predetermined the composition of the work (twelve chapters). According to Blok’s note on the manuscript (“And he was with the robber. There lived twelve robbers”), this number also goes back to the poem “ Who lives well in Rus'" by N. A. Nekrasov. The appearance of a collective, of a kind, in the poem. collective image The twelve (personified, only Petrukha is especially shown, only one more Bolshevik is briefly mentioned: “Andryukha, help!”) Red Guards is natural: Blok wanted to depict the collective, in the words of L. Tolstoy, “swarm” consciousness and collective will, which replaced the individual principle . Blok proceeded from the fact that it was the Russian intelligentsia that was capable of understanding and accepting the revolution. In response to the questionnaire “Can the intelligentsia work with the Bolsheviks?” Blok wrote on January 14, 1918: “The intelligentsia has always been revolutionary. The Bolshevik decrees are symbols of the intelligentsia.” In this regard, Blok contrasted the intelligentsia with the bourgeoisie: “The bourgeois has definite soil under his feet, like a pig has manure: family, capital, official position, order, rank, God on the icon, the king on the throne. Take it out and everything goes upside down.”

This position predetermined satirical image bourgeoisie and the “passing world” in the first chapter of the poem. First, an “old woman” appears, who “is killed and cries” and at the sight of the poster “All power to the Constituent Assembly!” “He won’t understand what it means, / What is such a poster for, / Such a huge flap? / There would be so many foot wraps for the guys, / And everyone is undressed, barefoot...” This is the philistine view of an outside witness to the events. Next appears “The Bourgeois at the Crossroads,” who “hid his nose in his collar.” We find a striking coincidence with this satirical image from M. Tsvetaeva, who did not welcome the revolution at all, in the same 1918 essay “October in a Carriage”: “So this remains with me, the first vision of the bourgeoisie in Russia: ears hiding in hats, souls hiding in fur coats<...>skin vision." Then “Writer - Vitia” appears: “Long hair / And says in a low voice: / - Traitors! / - Russia is lost!” The fourth hero is “nowadays sad, / Comrade Pop.” The fifth - “The Lady in Karakul”, is also depicted in a satirical vein: “She slipped / And - bam she stretched out!” Finally, prostitutes appear, in whom Bolshevik criticism saw a parody of the revolution:

And we had a meeting...

In this building... ...Discussed - Resolved:

For a while - ten, at night - twenty-five...

And don’t take less from anyone...

Let's go to sleep...

The responses of the five participants in this conversation are separated from each other by periods.

After the prostitutes, another character will appear - “The Tramp”, who “slouches” restlessly. It can be assumed that the “tramp” is identified with the “man” from the “prologue” to the poem: “Black evening. / White snow. / Wind, wind! / A man does not stand on his feet,” which, in turn, goes back to the Man from “The Life of a Man” by Leonid Andreev. So, if we add five prostitutes to the seven designated heroes, we get another symbolic number. In the second chapter of the poem, twelve Red Guards are contrasted with twelve shadow characters from the “old” world. From the dialogue of twelve Red Guards in the second chapter, readers learn about Vanka, who “is now rich himself... / Vanka was ours, but he became a soldier!”, “son of a bitch, bourgeois,” and about Katka walking with him: “And Vanka is with Katka - in the tavern.., / - She has kerenki in her stocking!

The portrait of Katya is drawn in especially detail: “You threw your face back, / Your teeth shine with pearls... / Oh, you, Katya, my Katya, / Thick-faced... / On your neck, Katya, / The scar from the knife has not healed. / Under your chest, Katya, / That scratch is fresh!”

In the fifth chapter, Petrukha’s “voice” is heard. It was he, Petrukha, who killed the officer with whom Katka had previously “fornicated”: “She wore gray leggings, / She ate Mignon chocolate, / She went for a walk with the cadets - / Now she went with the soldier? / Eh, eh, sin! / It will be easier for the soul!”

As can be seen from the letter to the illustrator of “The Twelve” Yu. P. Annenkov, Blok was concerned about Katka’s appearance. He emphasized: “Katka is a healthy, thick-faced, passionate, snub-nosed Russian girl; fresh, simple, kind - swears great, sheds tears over novels, kisses desperately<...>. “Fat face” is very important (healthy and clean even to childishness).”

The sixth chapter depicts the Red Guards chasing Vanka and Katka: “Where is Katka? - Dead, dead! / Shot in the head!” Petrukha, the “poor murderer,” whose “face can’t be seen at all” and his hands are covered in blood, mourns his and Katka’s ruined soul: “— Oh, dear comrades, / I loved this girl... / Black, drunken nights / With this spent with a girl..."

But the other Red Guards pull him back, the “bitch,” and together they go on a robbery spree: “Lock the floors, / Today there will be robberies! / Unlock the cellars - / There’s a bastard on the loose today!”

In the article “Intellectuals and Revolution,” Blok called the people the recently awakened “Ivanushka the Fool”: “What were you thinking? That the revolution is an idyll?<...>That people are good boys? That hundreds of swindlers, provocateurs, Black Hundreds, people who love to warm their hands, will not try to grab what is bad? And, finally, how will the age-old dispute between the “black” and “white” bones be resolved so “bloodless” and so “painlessly?” This is how the subtext of the conflict is drawn love triangle between Petka, Katka and Vanka.

At the end of the poem in a blizzard, in a blizzard (cf. the motif from Pushkin’s “ The captain's daughter") “they are walking without the name of the saint...” (“We are ready for anything, / We regret nothing...”) twelve Red Guards. Behind them trudges a “hungry dog,” personifying the “old world,” and in front is Christ: “...with a bloody flag, / And invisible behind the blizzard, / And unharmed by a bullet, / With a gentle tread above the blizzard, / A scattering of pearls in the snow, / In a white corolla of roses - / Ahead is Jesus Christ.”

Blok himself wondered: why Christ? But he could not help himself: he saw Christ. Diary entry: “Did I “praise”? (Bolsheviks - Ed.). I just stated a fact: if you look closely at the pillars of the snowstorm along this path, you will see “Jesus Christ.” But sometimes I myself deeply hate this feminine image.” But the combination of Katka’s shed blood and the figure of Christ is organic for Blok of the “Twelve” era. The key to the poem is the idea of polyphony, incorporating the most diverse “voices” of the era - from songs to the language of posters.

However, Blok soon becomes disillusioned with the revolution and begins to look at his poem differently. In his “Note on the Twelve,” he highlighted the period of time “from the beginning of 1918, approximately until the end of the October Revolution (3-7 months).” Conveying the feeling of enchantment (Tsvetaev’s word) of that time, the poet wrote: “... in January 1918, I surrendered to the elements for the last time no less blindly than in January 1907 or March 1914.” Although now, in April 1920, he “could not<...>I wish I could write what I wrote then,” but it is impossible to renounce “The Twelve,” because the poem was written “in accordance with the elements...”.

Nevertheless, in his dying delirium, Blok demanded from L. D. Mendeleeva a promise to burn every single copy of the poem “The Twelve.”