What do they read in a good nursery? Outline of a lesson on fiction (middle group) on the topic: Integrated lesson on reading fiction by M. Basina “The Amazing Rope”

Tatiana Rudishina

What do they read in a good nursery?

"Children's reading for the heart and mind."
Look after six years

“Intelligence”, “tradition”, “calmness”, “constancy”, “trust”, “joy”, “ good taste", "integrity", "good children's", "spiritual generosity" - association words that arise when mentioning the magazine " Children's reading for the heart and mind."

Six years ago (Insert in “PS” No. 2–1998), our newspaper published an interview with the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Vladimir Ruvimovich Fidel. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then by the standards of the newspaper and magazine market of modern Russia. Children's magazines were born and died, editors-in-chief changed, and with them the entire concept of the publication. And the magazine “Children's Reading for Heart and Mind” is alive and remains true to the style originally found. The headings are familiar - “A heartfelt word”, “Reading with the whole family”, “Once upon a time there was a fairy tale”, “Miracles in a sieve” - and many others.

I won’t hide that at one time, when I first saw this magazine, I thought that it would not be in demand in our library: the texts are more and more classics, and the entire back room is already full of them. But! An amazing thing: being nearby, varying degrees of fame classic texts, illustrated by the artist A.I. Chernykh, acquired novelty and freshness, and were perceived differently. And now, six years later, tired of intrusive advertising and the all-pervasive “pop”, the parent (and the librarian too!) wants a magazine without vulgarity.

"Which beautiful language", "I learned a lot of new beautiful words", "They don't say that now" - this is how children's readers describe the merits of the magazine. At the same time, there are no outright archaisms or antique stylization in it. However, many stories can be confusing modern child. Let's take, for example, T. Alexandrova's story “The Christmas Tree.” Everything is unclear from the very beginning. The first sentence sounds strange: Can you imagine cutting down Christmas trees this year? What, it wasn’t possible before? Who allows or forbids cutting down Christmas trees? Forester? Government? This, of course, is correct, Christmas trees should be spared and protected, it is better to buy an artificial one, it’s a symbol. But something is wrong here! Further - more. Why children have a nanny is understandable, but why is the nanny’s name so strange – Matreshenka. Ah, well, now it’s clear - this is about the old way of life. The master's mother was a cook. And everyone is dressed somehow strangely in the pictures. But why can’t you cut down trees?

The conversation went something like this a short story
(No. 12–2003). It's a pity that the year of writing the story is not put at the end. So many opportunities for a librarian! And Kosarev, who returned the Christmas tree to Soviet children, kind words let's remember.

And behind this story (what a surprise!) “Rozhdestvenskaya” by Alexander Bashlachev. Yes, yes, the same rock legend from Cherepovets, with acoustic guitar, poet by the grace of God:

The wind twists the lanterns
On the Fontanka River.
Sleep, children... Until dawn
A good angel is with you.

Begins witchcraft
Brownie is a prankster.
Tomorrow will be Christmas
Tomorrow will be a holiday.

A gentle snow will fall
To the hole-tear.
It will be good
That will make me laugh.

I read it and couldn’t believe my eyes:

Everyone will find something
In mittens and a hat.
And the neighbor Vaska the cat
It will hide the scratches.

Ringing foil, like silver.
Pink bows.
Get rid of the paper! Away with the pen!
Boring dictations.

What an amazingly traditional poet from the world of a kind nursery. Rebels don't grow up in a nursery like this. Although it depends on how you look at it. And the Silver Age? These verses are almost from there...

Flashing in the mirrors
Gossamer dresses.
A good needle loves
Good records.

Let's have fun sharing
Tangerine slices.
It will be joyful to circle
Christmas tree ballerina.

They'll fly out of your hand
Piano keys.
And the bubbles will dance
In my mother's glass.

Ragged rock musician, where are you?

It will be good
There will be a lot of laughter.
Sleep children. I went.
Good riddance to anxiety...

Yeah, that's where he showed up. Good riddance to alarm!

An amazing magazine, in it Agnia Barto and Oleg Grigoriev, Natalya Abramtseva and Boris Emelyanov, Vladimir Krupin and Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, so different, unknown to some, long forgotten by others.

The cycle in nature is recorded under the heading “All Year Round”, November gives way to December, and so New Year. Naturally, Vitaly Bianchi “watches” the change of seasons. Why “naturally”? If you grew up outside of lessons extracurricular reading, then most likely they passed by the naturalist writer.

And how many stories “for the heart” - “Lilliputians” by Yu. Ermolaev, “The Amazing Rope” by M. Basina, “The Shot” by Yu. Koval, “Dashing Squadrons Were Walking” by R. Pogodin. And “for the mind” - “Conversation with Towers” ​​by E. Osetrova, “Count L.N. Tolstoy” by M. Shevlyakov. However, everything in the magazine is for both the heart and the mind. Remember Marshak's wish? Let your mind be kind and your heart be smart. The editors of the magazine are of the same opinion.

To say that “Children’s Reading for the Heart and Mind” is in great demand in our library is a lie. This is not Mickey Mouse or Barbie. But the magazine has its own regular reader. The first and most regular readers of the magazine were large family clergyman of one of the small restored Moscow parish churches. As my mother said, their family is attracted to the magazine not so much by the publications on religious themes(there are not very many of them, but they exist - biblical retellings by S. Lagerlöf, hagiographic stories by V. Nikiforov-Volgin), as well as good taste and internal neatness. “Children's reading” is not scary to give to children of any age.

By the way, about age. Primary school? Preschoolers? Adults? Don't try to stick the tag on. The magazine is truly family-friendly. Children read about kittens and a hedgehog. Older guys get into the atmosphere Russia XIX century, together with Alexei Arsenyev and Ivan Bunin, they go to the gymnasium exams. Judge for yourself what kind of reader David Samoilov saw before him:

Winter city,
Wonderful city
Snow like apple trees
Petals.
Like wings
Lebedinykh
Cautious
Splashing.

Janitors,
Like beekeepers
They watch the snow swarm.
And snowy nature
Get in the mood.

Landscape sketches, favorite “adult” authors Silver Age– Balmont, Severyanin, Bryusov... And the “Iron Age” is represented by Levitansky, Kim, Rubtsov. Here is modern children's literature: Sergei Georgiev, Marina Boroditskaya, Sergei Sedov. Have you received Donald Bisset for a long time as a kit or did you just see it on sale? Have you already forgotten? “The Forgotten Birthday” was forgotten. Don't worry, he's here too!

Small format, color cover, good printing and... black and white illustrations. So favorably different from all others. How is that black and white photography. Not out of poverty, but for the sake of style.

For some reason I remembered the lines from Bulat Okudzhava: ...for all eternity we are all now in an embrace against the backdrop of Pushkin! And the bird flies away...

All the way from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo, the architect Vasily Stasov was immersed in his thoughts. From time to time he cast an absent-minded glance at the monotonous swampy plain covered with snow, along which the twenty-five miles of road connecting the capital and Tsarskoye Selo ran, and again thought about his own.

He, a young architect who had built a lot in Moscow, was given the first order from the St. Petersburg authorities. It was necessary to draw up a project for the interior renovation of the palace wing in Tsarskoe Selo. And this is the occasion. In this wing it was decided to place the newly opened educational institution- Lyceum.

Stasov recalled the rumors that were circulating in St. Petersburg society about the Lyceum, or Lyceum. No one really knew how to pronounce this word - in French or in Greek.

There were different rumors. Some said that the emperor planned to raise his younger brothers, fourteen-year-old Nicholas and twelve-year-old Mikhail, “socially,” together with his offspring noble families. Therefore, he ordered that a “special Lyceum” be located in Tsarskoye Selo, for the elite. Others (mostly ladies) believed that the emperor, “loving tender childhood” and who did not have his own children, wanted to see “innocent and cheerful youths” near him, and he ordered a Lyceum to be arranged for them in his summer palace. Still others, without any sentimentality, believed that all this was due to freethinking. All these are the malicious undertakings of the seminarian Speransky, who from the sextons made his way to the secretaries of state, ingratiated himself into the trust of the sovereign and is inciting him to carry out dangerous and harmful reforms.

But no matter what is interpreted in metropolitan society, and at the beginning of 1811 the Decree of the Senate on the founding of the Lyceum was published. And so he, the architect Stasov, was asked to immediately go to Tsarskoye Selo, inspect the building intended for the Lyceum and decide how in the best possible way adapt it to the needs of the future educational institution.

Near Pulkova village the road went uphill. The horse harnessed to the covered sleigh ran more slowly. We drove another mile from our heels, and in the distance, as if painted on the gray sky, the black silhouettes of huge branchy trees and the gilded domes of the church of the Great Palace appeared. Along the cleared road the sleigh drove into a straight, wide street. Cheerful houses with gardens and state-owned stone buildings flashed by. We passed a snow-covered park and the bulk of the new Alexander Palace - the creation of the architect Quarenghi.

In winter, Tsarskoe Selo was deserted and quiet, not like in the summer, when the tsar and his court moved here from the capital. Then the quiet green town became, to be sure, “Petersburg in miniature.”

The new outbuilding, which Stasov had come to inspect, stood near the palace like a cut-off piece. It was huge, but narrow. Its austere bulk with sparse decorations seemed to emphasize the intricate luxury of the Grand Palace. The outbuilding was built by the architect Ilya Neelov under Catherine II.

Catherine could not stand her snub-nosed mad son Pavel. She secretly dreamed of bypassing him and placing her eldest grandson, Alexander, on the throne. She kept both him and Pavel’s younger children with her. She ordered the construction of this “palace” for them, connected by a covered gallery with her own palace.

Now the outbuilding was empty. Step by step Vasily Stasov walked around all four floors of it. In the first and fourth rooms the ceilings are low and the windows are small. In the second the ceilings are much higher, and in the third they are quite high. Vast rooms, state halls... The walls are covered with blue, crimson, green damask. The furniture (it was also transferred to the Lyceum “for the first installation”) is mostly antique. Much has dried out, faded, become dilapidated...

View of the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace and park. Lithograph by A. Martynov. Around 1820. Fragment.

Footsteps echoed loudly in the deserted palace chambers, where fifty “merry youths” were now to be housed. This is where they should live, study, and relax. Classrooms, library, gym, dining room. There are fifty bedrooms alone - each pupil has his own.

Significant changes lay ahead, and there was little time left. Everything should be ready by the fall when classes start.

Returning to St. Petersburg, without delay, Stasov submitted to his superiors “Inventory of alterations and amendments of Tsarsko-Selo former palace their Imperial Highnesses the Grand Dukes, for the placement of the Lyceum there.”

Soon the Ministry of Public Education entered into a contract with contractor Ivan Probkin for construction work. Contractor Probkin brought skilled men to the future Lyceum: masons, plasterers, painters, stove makers, carpenters - and work began to boil.

By the beginning of October 1811, everything in the Lyceum was ready to receive students. The inside of the building has been rebuilt and refinished. Old furniture was put in order, some new furniture was made and purchased. Uniforms were sewn for students, professors, and ministers; books and teaching aids were purchased.

The first floor of the former palace wing housed economic management Lyceum, apartments of the inspector and tutors; on the second floor there is a dressing room, a dining room, a pantry, a hospital with a pharmacy, a small conference room, an office; on the third floor - big hall, classrooms, physics room, newspaper room, in the gallery - library; on the fourth floor there are pupils' bedrooms.

Grand Palace and Lyceum. Lithograph by A. Ton. 1822

The fourth floor, according to Stasov's design, underwent the most thorough alteration. It was not easy to squeeze fifty bedrooms into one floor. To do this, the pre-existing internal walls were dismantled and the doors were sealed. In their place, six transverse main walls with arched passages were erected. The arches formed a through corridor. And on both sides of the corridor fifty-two tiny bedroom rooms with plastered plank walls appeared. These partition walls divided the windows in half so that most bedrooms had half a window. To keep the room air clean, the partitions did not reach the ceiling. For the same purpose, the ceiling of the entire floor was raised by one arshin. Each room was led from the corridor by a small door painted yellow. oil paint"under the oak." At the top of each door - “to communicate air and light” - there was a window with an iron mesh. The floors were planks, not parquet. Above each door hung a black board with the room number and the name of the student.

Lyceum Museum. Corridor of the fourth floor and bedrooms of lyceum students. Photo.

Lyceum tutors and some professors moved in advance to Tsarskoye Selo into apartments specially designated for them.

The director was given a two-story stone house across the alley opposite the Lyceum.

Two stone buildings on Pevchesky Lane, next to the director’s house, were also transferred to the Lyceum. There was a kitchen, laundry, bathhouse, and cellars.

While awaiting the arrival of the students, the lyceum kitchen was already in charge of the cook Ivan Verigin and the caretaker of the kitchen and food supplies, the “major’s daughter” Sofia Skaloy.

The wardrobe was put in order by the wardrobe maid - “the wife of a retired court walker” - Nadezhda Matveeva.

Information card of the Russian language lesson with home-schooled K. Angelika
Topic: " Amazing rope» M. Basina Purpose: to introduce the content of the story “The Amazing Rope”
improve the skills of correct expressive fluent meaningful reading
correct perception imaginative thinking, coherent literate speech, long-term memory, attention;
Bring up careful attitude to animals.
Equipment: presentation, textbook, flashcards
Stages Teacher activity Student activity Result.
I. PPN Greetings, check readiness
The bell has already rung
So the lesson has begun
We sat down at our desks together
We need to work now. Getting ready to work in lesson II. Main part 1. Introduction to the topic. Psychological attitude
Breathing and speech gymnastics
Blow on a leaf.
A fly flew near my ear: w-w-w.
A wasp flew near the nose: ssss.
A mosquito flew and rang: z-z-z. Exhales air through lips extended forward with a tube
Repeats after the teacher 2. Updating knowledge. Repetition of learned material
- Today in class we will repeat and remember everything we learned about autumn from the section “Glorious Autumn”.
Autumn, autumn, beauty
What did you bring us?
Think about it, don't rush
And tell me the signs.
Examines illustrations, describes them, names signs of autumn and autumn signs 3. Work on new material. Introduction to the topic of the lesson.
Forecasting by title

"Basket of Ideas"

Teacher reading a story
Vocabulary work
CANAL - an artificial channel filled with water
OVERALLS - special clothing for work
SUSHAK – wide cloth belt
Checking primary perception -Angelica, and now we will begin to study a new section, which is called “What is good...”. Let's get acquainted with M. Basina's story “The Amazing Rope”. Why do you think the story is called “The Amazing Rope”, what will be surprising about this rope? We have an unusual guest in our lesson today, and you can guess who he is by guessing the riddle:
I drink milk from a bowl,
I love eating Whiskas
I really love sour cream.
When I grow up I’ll become a cat.
-Yes, of course, a kitten came to visit us.
-Come on, let’s put our ideas in a basket, and after reading the story, we’ll find out who was right.
-Tell me, who is this work about?

What happened on the channel?
-Why was the kitten in danger?
-Why did people’s faces frown?
-What did the boy come up with?
-Who had the correct forecast?
He listens to the teacher, thinks about what is amazing about the rope, then guesses the riddle and names the guest.
Kitty
Selects from different cards with words a card with the word “kitten”, sticks it on the drawing of a basket
Listens to the teacher’s explanations, looks at the pictures from the presentation
Looks at an illustration, answers questions, or points to the correct answer.
5. Physical exercise.
Musical and dance physical exercise “Kitten” Perform movements to the music, repeating the movements of the teacher 6. Consolidation.
-Practicing reading skills
(reading from cards)
-Test questions -Our guest Kitten wants to ask you questions, try to find the correct answer.

Reads from a card
Listens to the question, from 3 answer options, chooses the correct one 7. Generalization
8. Homework-Who came to visit today for class?
-Who did we read about today?
-Did you like the story about the kitten?
-Read the passage, describe the illustration. Answer.
write down III. Bottom line.

The bell will ring soon
And the lesson will end!
So let's go, Angelica,
Let's sum it up now!
If you think that the lesson was successful and you good mood, then choose a funny bear. If you are experiencing difficulties, are very tired and have Bad mood, then choose a sad bear. The student chooses a bear that matches her mood at the end of the lesson.

Integrated Reading Lesson fiction M. Basina “Amazing rope” according to the program T.N. Doronova “Worlds of childhood: constructing possibilities.

Educator: Guys, your moms and dads read a lot of fairy tales and stories from children's calendar. Please tell me, who remembers what stories your parents read to you at home from the “Children's Calendar”. Have your parents read Marianna Basina’s story “The Amazing Rope” to you?

(Children's answers)

I also read this story and really liked it. I want to read you this story about the amazing rope again, look at the pictures for this story.

Guys, please grab some pillows and sit comfortably in front of the screen. (children sit down)

I'm reading a story from a children's calendar. Conversation with children.

Guys, who is this story about?

What happened on the channel?

Why was the kitten in danger?

Why did people's faces frown?

What did the boy come up with to save the kitten?

What is surprising about this rope, what was the rope made of? From what things?

What happened to the kitten after he was rescued?

Well done guys......

Guys, your parents read another work from the children's calendar about a kitten, called “Naughty Tail.” I want to play with you.

Do you want to play? (children's answers)

To do this, find a cat and a stroller in our group. (Children bring a cat and a stroller)

Educator: Kitty, you and I want to play, and you want to play with us.

Kitty: -I want it!

Vosp: - Who do you want to go to?

Kitty: - To everyone!

Vosp: - Guys, let's count whoever has a cat will stand in the middle with the cat.

Miyau, miyau mousetrap,

Mich bashynda kyshlagan.(Children pass the cat to each other)

Bugen tychkan totmagan,

Totar ide yoklagan.

(Whoever has the cat left goes to the middle, shows the movements, the rest repeat after her)

O. Krieger “Naughty Ponytail”

I put the cat in the stroller forward bends

He closes his eyes. cover your eyes with your palms

Lies quietly, ironing,

Pretends to be asleep. bending to the sides

Only the tail can't sleep– Hands snake up and down

He moves all the time

Ponytail, ponytail, bye-bye Stroking hands

Go to sleep quickly. Hands behind the ears, bending to the sides.

Will bring up: Guys, the boy from the story “The Amazing Rope” took the kitten home with him. He got new friend. Do you want to have a new friend, a kitten (children’s answers).

Please come to the table, on the tables you have templates of a kitten and different types material. What material can a kitten be made from, you can touch, feel each material and decide who wants to make their friend from what material. (semolina, millet, plasticine, thread, cotton wool) What else do we need to make a kitten? (glue, brush, maple)In order to make our friend, a pet, you need to apply glue evenly over the entire template shape, pour semolina and millet onto the template, and carefully pour the excess into a container.

View of the Bolshoi, or Catherine, Palace from the park. Photo.

Pushkin slowly walked along the façade of the Grand Palace. Here it is - endlessly long, azure, with white columns, mirrored windows, lots of stucco decorations...

During the time of Elizabeth, the palace was even more magnificent. His countless ornaments sparkled with gold. Six poods, seventeen pounds and two spools of real red gold went into gilding it.

The lyceum students knew the history of the Grand Palace very well. In one letter, pupil Matyushkin said: “The Tsarskoye Selo Palace was built in 1744 by Count Rastrelli, it resembles the century Louis XIV, an age of taste and luxury, and despite the fact that time has destroyed the bright gilding with which the roofs, cornices, statues and other decorations were thickly covered, can still be considered the most magnificent palace in Europe. Remnants of this amazing luxury are still visible on some statues... When Empress Elizabeth arrived with her entire court and foreign ministers to inspect the completed palace, everyone, struck by its splendor, hastened to express their surprise to the empress; one French minister, the Marquis de la Chétardie, did not say a word. The Empress noticed his silence, wanted to know the reason for his indifference and received the answer that he did not find the main thing here - the case for this jewel.

The Great Palace was even more amazing inside than outside: marble, gold, precious stones, amber, mirrors, bronze, statues, paintings, tapestries, porcelain... The halls and rooms are one richer than the other...

Chesme Column. Photo.

But time passed and tastes changed. Intricate baroque - Rastrelli's favorite style (he built the Grand Palace in this style) - began to seem pretentious. It was replaced by classicism, imitation of ancient antiquity, a noble, strict, elegant and restrained style. And the new owner of Tsarskoye Selo - the hypocritical, cunning Catherine II, “Tartuffe in a crown and a skirt” - decided to show the whole world that she was keeping up with the times. The appearance of Tsarskoye Selo began to change. The blinding gilding disappeared from the façade of the Grand Palace, and a whole series chambers - rooms and hall - was rebuilt and decorated anew, already in classic style. This was done by the wonderful architect Cameron. The same one who built a light, transparent gallery next to the palace, like an ancient temple.

The vast gardens of Tsarskoye Selo have also changed. They were given an appearance of pleasant naturalness. Now, leaving the palace, one could admire not only the regular rows of front alleys, but also streams, meadows, hillocks, groves - natural and at the same time graceful nature. And here they erected various buildings, erected obelisks, columns - monuments of glory.

Here they are, these monuments...

In the middle of the lake, as if growing from its very waters, a pink marble column appeared, decorated with rostras - the bows of ships. At its top is a bronze Russian eagle. He breaks the crescent moon - the emblem of Turkey - with his claws. The column is called Chesmenskaya. In the Chesme Bay of the Aegean Sea, Russian warships destroyed a large Turkish fleet in a battle.

Moray column. Photo.

The Katul Obelisk, which stands in the meadow near the Grand Palace, also speaks of victories over Turkey. And the Morean Column. The inscription on it ends with the words: “... the Navarino fortress surrendered to Brigadier Hannibal. The Russian troops numbered six hundred people, who did not ask whether the enemy was numerous, but where he was. Six thousand Turks were captured."

Brigadier Ivan Abramovich Hannibal, the eldest son of “Arap Peter the Great,” Abram Petrovich Hannibal, was Alexander Pushkin’s great-uncle.

Pushkin knew what to write about. He will write the ode “Memories in Tsarskoe Selo”. He will start with the past, the monuments of which surround him here in the gardens of the Lyceum, and end with the present - the exploits of Russian soldiers in the recent war with Napoleon Bonaparte.

And let Galich not think that the heroism of his native people says nothing to his imagination and heart...

On December 22, 1814, an advertisement printed on a separate sheet was attached to the newspaper “St. Petersburg Gazette”. It said: “The Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum has the honor to notify that on the 4th and 8th of next January, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., there will be a public test of first-reception pupils, on the occasion of their transfer from junior to senior age.”

There were only a few days left before public exams, and the students of the Lyceum spent long hours in the “pass” and “long” exams. In these two large rooms on the third floor, usually standing behind desks, homework was prepared. Now here, under the supervision of the tutor on duty, they crammed Latin and algebra, repeated history, geography, logic and other subjects.

A public test... Exams in the presence of a large public... The mere thought of it became quite scary. Even the most careless ones repeated and taught something.

Pushkin was not so much worried about the exams as he was worried about the upcoming reading. Sometimes he was annoyed that he had listened to Galich and allowed himself to be persuaded.

“Memories in Tsarskoe Selo”... The poems were written and rewritten completely. He read them to his friends. Everyone was delighted. Everyone liked the description of the “full Elysium” - the northern paradise, the Tsarskoye Selo garden, and the huge palaces rushing to heaven - the Cameron Gallery, and the lake where the naiads “splash”, and the Chesme Column, and the Katul Obelisk...

But he was restless, gloomy, silent. But there is nothing to do. “If you called yourself a milk mushroom, get into the back,” as the nanny used to say.

On January 4, 1815, the public test at the Lyceum began. On this day they examined the law of God, logic, geography, history, German language and moral sciences.

On the second day of testing, January 8, they had to answer Latin language, mathematics, physics and Russian language. At the same time, Pushkin’s pupil was supposed to read his poem.

When on the morning of January 8, Pushkin and his comrades found themselves in the Lyceum assembly hall, where the examiners, led by Razumovsky, were sitting at a long table covered with a red cloth, and the invited public was seated in armchairs at a distance, he involuntarily remembered the opening day of the Lyceum. How large and solemn the hall seemed then, how arrogantly frightening the brilliant audience...

Nowadays everything is different. And the hall seemed smaller, and the audience was simpler. Professors from St. Petersburg, acquaintances and relatives of students, some dignitaries, curious residents of Tsarskoe Selo.

There is his father Sergei Lvovich. Here is Kuchelbecker’s mother Justina Yakovlevna, Bakunin’s mother, Myasoedov’s father, Komovsky’s father...

The king was not in the hall. He was far away, in Vienna, at the European Congress. As it was said, not without malice, in one Lyceum poem,

He currently works in Congress

(He sleeps behind a red cloth),

But for a long, long time he will not return home.

The absence of the Tsar did not bother Pushkin. He didn't even think about it. What worried him was that Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin, the famous Derzhavin, patriarch, had promised to attend the exam. Russian poets, whose poems he and Delvig knew by heart.

G. R. Derzhavin. Engraving from a portrait by Vasilievsky.

Pushkin later recalled: “When we found out that Derzhavin would be visiting us, we all became worried. Delvig went out onto the stairs to wait for him and kiss his hand, the hand that wrote “Waterfall.” Derzhavin has arrived. He entered the hallway, and Delvig heard him ask the doorman: where, brother, is the outhouse here? This prosaic question disappointed Delvig, who canceled his intention and returned to the hall... Derzhavin was very old. He was in a uniform and velvet boots. Our exam tired him very much. He sat with his head on his hand. His face was meaningless, his eyes were dull, his lips drooped; his portrait (where he is shown in a cap and robe) is very similar. He dozed off until the exam in Russian literature began. Here he perked up, his eyes sparkled; he was completely transformed. Of course, his poems were read, his poems were analyzed, his poems were constantly praised. He listened with extraordinary liveliness.”