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ლექსები
ლექსები, ბედი ქართლისა
- GenresPoetry
92 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1968
About the author
Nikoloz Baratashvili
6 books8 followers Nikoloz "Tato" Baratashvili was a Georgian poet. He was one of the first Georgians to marry a modern nationalism with European Romanticism and to introduce "Europeanism" into Georgian literature. Despite his early death and a tiny literary heritage of fewer than forty short lyrics, one extended poem, and a few private letters, Baratashvili is considered to be the high point of Georgian Romanticism. He was referred as the "Georgian Byron".
Nikoloz Baratashvili, affectionately known as Tato, was born in Tiflis (Tbilisi), Georgia's capital, which was then a principal city of Russian Transcaucasia. His father, Prince Meliton Baratashvili (1795–1860), was an impoverished nobleman working for the Russian administration. His mother, Ephemia Orbeliani (1801–1849), was a sister of the Georgian poet and general Prince Grigol Orbeliani and a scion of the penultimate Georgian king Erekle II. Baratashvili graduated, in 1835, from a Tiflis gymnasium for nobility, where he was tutored by Solomon Dodashvili, a Georgian patriot and liberal philosopher. The tragic quality of Baratashvili's poetry was determined by his traumatic personal life as well as the contemporary political situation in his homeland. The failure of the 1832 anti-Russian conspiracy of Georgian nobles, with which Baratashvili was a schoolboy sympathizer, forced many conspirators to see the independent past as irremediably lost and to reconcile themselves with the Russian autocracy, transforming their laments for the lost past and the fall of the native dynasty into Romanticist poetry. Shortage of money prevented Baratashvili from continuing his studies in Russian universities, while an early physical injury – his lameness – did not allow him to enter military service as he wished. Eventually, Baratashvili had to enter the Russian bureaucratic service and serve as an ordinary clerk in the disease-ridden Azerbaijani town of Ganja. The love of his life, Princess Ekaterine Chavchavadze, rejected him and married David Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia.
Baratashvili died of malaria in Ganja, unmourned and unpublished, at the age of 27. Baratashvili's influence was long delayed, but as the next generation of Georgian literati rediscovered his lyrics, he was posthumously published, between 1861 and 1876, and idolized. Baratashvili's reinterment from Ganja to Tbilisi in 1893 turned into a national celebration. Since 1938, his remains have lain in the Mtatsminda Pantheon in Tbilisi.
A key insight into the weltanschauung of Baratashvili can be found in his historical poem Fate of Georgia (1839), an inspiring and articulate lament for Georgia's latest misfortunates. This poem, written by Baratashvili at the age of 22, is based on a real historical event: the 1795 ruining of Tbilisi by the Persian ruler Mohammad Khan Qajar, which forced the disappointed Georgian king Erekle II to relegate his country's security onto the Russian Empire. However, national problems considered in this work are viewed with a modern approach; the poem considers not only Georgia's past, but also its future in the aftermath of the failed revolt of 1832. In this poem, Baratashvili reproduces the debate of Erekle II with his chancellor, Solomon Lionidze, who opposes the union with Russia and thinks that this will result in the loss of Georgia's national identity. Lionidze's wife asks her husband, in a lament that became familiar to all literate Georgians: "What pleasure does the tender nightingale receive from honor if it is in a cage?" The sympathies of the poet and reader both fall on Solomon’s side, but the objectively rational decision of the king prevails.
During his short creative life (1833–45) Baratashvili developed difficult concepts of art and ideas. In the words of the British scholar Donald Rayfield, Baratashvili "evolved a language all his own, obscure but sonorous, laconically modern, sometimes splendidly medieval, with pseudo-archaisms." In his earlier poem Dusk on Mtatsminda (1833–36) the
Nikoloz Baratashvili, affectionately known as Tato, was born in Tiflis (Tbilisi), Georgia's capital, which was then a principal city of Russian Transcaucasia. His father, Prince Meliton Baratashvili (1795–1860), was an impoverished nobleman working for the Russian administration. His mother, Ephemia Orbeliani (1801–1849), was a sister of the Georgian poet and general Prince Grigol Orbeliani and a scion of the penultimate Georgian king Erekle II. Baratashvili graduated, in 1835, from a Tiflis gymnasium for nobility, where he was tutored by Solomon Dodashvili, a Georgian patriot and liberal philosopher. The tragic quality of Baratashvili's poetry was determined by his traumatic personal life as well as the contemporary political situation in his homeland. The failure of the 1832 anti-Russian conspiracy of Georgian nobles, with which Baratashvili was a schoolboy sympathizer, forced many conspirators to see the independent past as irremediably lost and to reconcile themselves with the Russian autocracy, transforming their laments for the lost past and the fall of the native dynasty into Romanticist poetry. Shortage of money prevented Baratashvili from continuing his studies in Russian universities, while an early physical injury – his lameness – did not allow him to enter military service as he wished. Eventually, Baratashvili had to enter the Russian bureaucratic service and serve as an ordinary clerk in the disease-ridden Azerbaijani town of Ganja. The love of his life, Princess Ekaterine Chavchavadze, rejected him and married David Dadiani, Prince of Mingrelia.
Baratashvili died of malaria in Ganja, unmourned and unpublished, at the age of 27. Baratashvili's influence was long delayed, but as the next generation of Georgian literati rediscovered his lyrics, he was posthumously published, between 1861 and 1876, and idolized. Baratashvili's reinterment from Ganja to Tbilisi in 1893 turned into a national celebration. Since 1938, his remains have lain in the Mtatsminda Pantheon in Tbilisi.
A key insight into the weltanschauung of Baratashvili can be found in his historical poem Fate of Georgia (1839), an inspiring and articulate lament for Georgia's latest misfortunates. This poem, written by Baratashvili at the age of 22, is based on a real historical event: the 1795 ruining of Tbilisi by the Persian ruler Mohammad Khan Qajar, which forced the disappointed Georgian king Erekle II to relegate his country's security onto the Russian Empire. However, national problems considered in this work are viewed with a modern approach; the poem considers not only Georgia's past, but also its future in the aftermath of the failed revolt of 1832. In this poem, Baratashvili reproduces the debate of Erekle II with his chancellor, Solomon Lionidze, who opposes the union with Russia and thinks that this will result in the loss of Georgia's national identity. Lionidze's wife asks her husband, in a lament that became familiar to all literate Georgians: "What pleasure does the tender nightingale receive from honor if it is in a cage?" The sympathies of the poet and reader both fall on Solomon’s side, but the objectively rational decision of the king prevails.
During his short creative life (1833–45) Baratashvili developed difficult concepts of art and ideas. In the words of the British scholar Donald Rayfield, Baratashvili "evolved a language all his own, obscure but sonorous, laconically modern, sometimes splendidly medieval, with pseudo-archaisms." In his earlier poem Dusk on Mtatsminda (1833–36) the
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May 1, 2025
ქვევით ძველი რევიუა
ნიკოლოზ ბარათაშვილი ვფიქრობ შოთას მერე ყველაზე გამორჩეული და შთამაგონებელი ქართველი პოეტია.
ბევრს ვფიქრობ იმაზე თუ საერთოდ რა არის პოეზია, ან რა ხდის პოეზიად სიტყვებს. ასეთ დიდ ავტორებს რაც გამოარჩევს ჩემი აზრით გულწრფელობაა და სწორედ გულწრფელობა ხდის სიტყვებს პოეზიად და პოეზიას შთამაგონებელს.
ჰიპნოზის წარმატებით გამოსვლის ერთერთი წესია რომ შენი თავის უნდა გჯეროდეს და თუ გულწრფელი იქნება ადამიანი, აღარ იქნება არანაირი ძალისხმევა საჭირო, რომ შენი თავის გჯეროდეს, რადგან გულწრფელობა უკვე ამას გულისხმობს.
ბარათაშვილი საოცრად გულწრფელი და საოცრად შთამაგონებელია.
მისი ლექსები თითქოს კონვენციურია, მაგრამ დარწმუნებით ვერ იტყვი. არ ეტყობა რომ რაიმე წესებს ემორჩილებოდეს, და ეს კონვენციაც თითქოს გულწრფელობით, თავისთავად გამოსდის. ეს გამოარჩევს მას სხვა პოეტებისგან, ეს გულწრფელობა ხდის მას ინდივიდად.
ყველა ლექსი მომეწონა და განცდა დამიტოვა თითქოს ბოლომდე ვერ ვიგრძენი. რამოდენიმე ლექსი რამოდენიმეჯერ წავიკითხე მაგრამ დაუკმაყოფილებლობის განცდა მაინც მქონდა. კიდევ წავიკითხავ.
ბედი ქართლისა ვფიქრობ მთლიანად ერეკლეს მიმართ თანაგრძნობისათვის არის შექმნილი და ზედმეტად აქცევენ ბარათაშვილის ამ ლექსს ყურადღებას. ვფიქრობ ეს ლექსიც გულწრფელი თანაგრძნობის გამოხატულებაა მეფე ერეკლეს მიმართ. ანუ ვგულისხმობ რომ ბევრი გარჩევა არ უნდა დავიწყოთ ასეთი ზწეშმარიტი პოეტის უგულწრფელესი თანაგრძნობისა, როგორც რაღაც ისტორიული მტკიცებულება.
კახეთში წავიკითხე ბედი ქართლისა, ალავერდი და იყალთოც მოვინახულე. ალბათ სულ ბარათაშვილის დამსახურება არაა და ამ ყველაფერმა ერთად გამოიწვია ჩემში თურქულის სწავლის დიდი სურვილი.
კარგი იქნებოდა ჩემი ლექსების არა გერმანულად ან ინგლისურად თარგმნა, არამედ ზუსტადაც რომ თურქულად და აზერბაიჯანულად, რომ კავკასია შეიცვალოს. ჰეგელს ჰქონდა კავკასიის დიდი იმედი და იქნებ ეს გვიშლის ხელს რომ გამოვფხიზლდეთ, გარეშემო ბნელი მყინვარებ. კავკასიას კი არა ევროპას ვესაუბრებით ხელოვნებით. ევროპა ისედაც გამოფხიზლებულია ნაწილობრივდა მგონი აჯობებს მეზობელი ხალხი ეზიაროს ქართულ ხელოვნებას.
მართლა გენიალურია ბარათაშვილი. 27 წლის მოკვდა, 27იანელია. ხშირად მალე კვდებიან პოეტები. ეხლა მეც 27 წლის ვარ, იმედია წელს არ მოვკვდები და თურქულის სწავლას მოვასწრებ.
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