Lomonosov’s work played a decisive role in shaping the myth of Peter I, which developed in Russian literature. The article deals with the image of Peter I in the poet’s odes. The author reveals the verbal-conceptual leitmotifs that form this image, which embodies the idea of an enlightened monarch. It is argued that in the solemn odes of Lomonosov, a heroic abstract-ideal image of Emperor Peter I is created. In its development, the dominant motive is the continuity of power, which in most odes is associated with the image of Peter I as a wise politician. Lomonosov did not dedicate any of his odes to Peter, but created his image in almost every ode, persistently explaining to the Russian emperors the need to continue the work of Peter for the good of the Fatherland. Frequent in Lomonosov’s odes are the motives of Peter’s eternal life as a messenger of heaven and the arbiter of divine will, coupled with the motives of Peter’s immortality, his eternal life. These motifs involve in the odic texts the spatial figurativeness of the “cosmic” scale and cause the absence of portrait details and concretization. Among the basic motives is also the motive of the king’s military exploits.
For citation:
Yurchuk L.A. “He was god, he was your god, Russia”: The image of Peter I in the odes of M.V. Lomonosov, Ivanovo State University Bulletin, Series: Humani-ties, 2022, iss. 3, pp. 62—72.