The theme of the work is Akhmatova's last rose. "the conclusion of a never-before-seen cycle"

Maria Alekseevna Shcherbatova: “Pray when you feel sad”

Lermontov was also tormented by this separation. But over time, he found new solace. There is rather scant and scattered information about Princess Maria Alekseevna Shcherbatova. Meanwhile, the poet dedicated the poems “Prayer”, “M. A. Shcherbatova”, “Why”.

Her name also entered the history of Lermontov’s duel with Edmond de Barant, which led to the poet’s second exile to the Caucasus. Pointing out that in the winter of 1839 Lermontov was “very interested in Prince. Shcherbatova,” Shan-Girey writes: “The too obvious preference shown to a lucky opponent at the ball blew up Barant<...>and a meeting was scheduled for tomorrow.” N. M. Smirnov also says in “Memorable Notes”: “... he [Lermontov] fell in love with the widow Princess Shcherbatova<...>after which the son of the French ambassador Baron Barant was trailing. Rivalry in love and gossip quarreled Lermontov with Barant... They fought...”

Maria Alekseevna Shcherbatova was the daughter of the Ukrainian landowner A.P. Shterich. For the first time, the names of Lermontov and Shcherbatova were mentioned together in letters from S. N. Karamzina to E. N. Meshcherskaya dated August 1, 1839. Soon Lermontov began visiting Shcherbatova in her grandmother’s St. Petersburg house and at the dacha in Pavlovsk. Rarely reading his works in secular drawing rooms, the poet undoubtedly made an exception for Maria Alekseevna. Once, after reading the poem “The Demon,” Shcherbatova said to Lermontov: “I like your Demon: I would like to sink to the bottom of the sea with him and fly beyond the clouds.”

According to the memoirs of A.O. Smirnova, Maria Alekseevna always tried to help the poet overcome his mental torment. But, most often unable to calm him down, she told Lermontov to pray when he was sad. He promised and wrote these verses to her:

In a difficult moment of life

Is there sadness in my heart:

One wonderful prayer

I repeat it by heart.

The poem was highly appreciated by Belinsky, who quoted it in full in the article “Poems by M.Yu. Lermontov" (1841). The critic, responding to those who denied the merits of the poem “Both Boring and Sad,” wrote: “... from the same spirit of the poet, from which came such bleak, heart-chilling sounds of the human heart, from the same spirit came this prayerful, an unctuous melody of hope, reconciliation and bliss in living life.”

By the way, A.O. Smirnova writes that Maria Alekseevna felt unhappy with Serafima Ivanovna Shterich (her grandmother), who hated Lermontov and absolutely wanted Maltsev to marry her. Shcherbatova's life was complicated by the gossip that was associated with her bad marriage and the will of the late husband, Prince Shcherbatov. According to him, having lost little son, she lost almost her entire fortune, which passed back to the Shcherbatov family. Echoes of secular gossip and gossip on this topic were preserved in the memoirs of contemporaries, so the poet, admiring Shcherbatova’s persistent character and independence, wrote about her:

Like a native tribe,

Doesn’t ask strangers for support

And in proud peace

Endures ridicule and evil...

After Lermontov’s duel with Barant, Maria Alekseevna hurried to Moscow on February 22, but later, when she arrived at her son’s grave, she saw the poet. This meeting of theirs is known from the words of duty officer P.G. Gorozhansky, a former student of the cadet school. It was he who allowed Lermontov to leave the guardhouse, risking being punished for it.

In May 1840, Lermontov and Shcherbatova saw each other in Moscow, where A.I. visited her. Turgenev, who wrote in his diary on May 10, 1840: “Laughs through tears. Loves Lermontov."

Shcherbatova actually loved him very much. But did he reciprocate her feelings? It is quite difficult to answer this question unambiguously. Of course, Lermontov was infatuated with Shcherbatova, visited her at home, openly courted her, meeting with mutual friends, at social balls and evenings. But few letters from Lermontov have survived, and the memories of his contemporaries are scant.

Only the poem “M.A.” allows one to think about Lermontov’s reciprocal feeling. Shcherbatova." About him M.N. Longinov, a distant relative of the poet, wrote this: “Who does not remember the inspired portrait of the woman he dearly loved”:

Like the nights of Ukraine,

In the twinkling of the stars that never set,

Filled with secrets

The words of her lips are fragrant

Lermontov created an unusually attractive external and internal appearance of the heroine. Blonde with blue eyes, she possesses exactly those features that are love lyrics first half of the 19th century V. associated with the bearer " heavenly soul”, contrasted with “black-eyed beauty” with its “unkind cunning.”

However, the poet's feeling did not last. Despite the love of the young widow, by 1841 he stopped communicating with her.

p.princess. Born Shterich. Daughter of the Ukrainian landowner Alexei Petrovich Shterich. In 1837 she married Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Shcherbatov (1810–1838), headquarters captain of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment. On March 9, 1838, he died suddenly. And on February 20 of this year, Shcherbatova gave birth to a son, Mikhail, heir to his father’s enormous fortune.

M.A. Shcherbatova lived in St. Petersburg with her son and grandmother, Serafima Ivanovna Shterich (1778–1848), visited the Karamzins and there in the fall of 1839 she met L. Soon L. began to visit her house on Fontanka, met her sister Polixena, a musically gifted a girl (she was given composition lessons in 1838 by M.I. Glinka, a close friend of her uncle, Evgeniy Petrovich Shterich, who died young in 1833). L. also went with the Karamzins to Shch’s dacha in Pavlovsk. He read “The Demon” from the Karamzins and Shch. A.O. Smirnova recalled how the poem “Prayer” appeared. “Mashenka (M.A. Shcherbatova - Monk Lazar.) told him to pray when he was sad. He<…>promised and wrote these poems to her”: “In a difficult moment of life...”. This poem was loved by many, it was sold, people memorized it, and wrote music. It really has a real prayerful feel to it. Shch. was very pious and had a good effect on the poet. In his message to her (“On secular chains…”), in 1840, he writes:

bq(..In hope of God

She keeps her childhood faith... .

p. At the beginning of 1840, a duel between L. and Barant took place. No one in society knew exactly the reasons for their quarrel, but both of them were always in front of the world, which saw love story. This is what M.A. wrote in his diary in those days. Korf: “The other day there was a duel here, quite remarkable in terms of the participants. A few years ago, the young and pretty Shtericheva<…>got married<…>but less than a year later he died, and the young widow was left alone with her son, who was born a few days after his father’s death. After the mourning period had passed, she naturally began to appear in society, and just as naturally, there were immediately suitors for her hand, and simply young people who courted her. Among the first (i.e., contenders for her hand! - Mon. Lazar.) was the hussar officer Lermontov - perhaps the best of our current poets; among the latter is the son of the French ambassador Barante, who recently arrived here to be appointed secretary of the local mission. But this flighty Frenchman at the same time was dragging around the wife of our consul in Hamburg, Bacheracht, who had been living here for more than a year - a famous coquette (see the essay about her above - mon. Lazarus.). In a fit of jealousy, she somehow managed to quarrel between Barant and Lermontov, and the matter ended in a challenge.”

Shch. left for Moscow on February 22, 1840, four days after the duel, and returned to St. Petersburg only in the fall to go abroad. In the poem “Why” Lermontov predicted this for her:

bq(..I'm sad because I love you,

And I know: your blooming youth

The insidious persecution will not spare rumors.

For every bright day or sweet moment

You will pay fate with tears and melancholy... .

p. She was in Moscow when her son died (this happened on March 1, 1840). With his death, the fortune returned to the Shcherbatov family. The boy's three aunts (father's sisters) were declared heirs. Shch. was allocated a fourth part of the estate, but she ceded it to the Shcherbatov princesses for forty-five thousand rubles, thus completely freeing herself from this family.

L., as Shan-Girey and Longinov testify, was “strongly interested” and “tenderly loved” Princess Shch., and, as many thought, wanted to marry her. Shcherbatova’s grandmother, who didn’t like L., also thought so - she wanted I.S. to marry her granddaughter. Maltsov ( see essay about him above). Maybe L. would have gotten married if it weren’t for his love for V.A. Bakhmeteva (Lopukhina).

In May 1840, L. was in Moscow; whether he saw Shch. is unknown. A.I. Turgenev was with L. at Gogol's birthday dinner. The next day, Turgenev was alone with Princess Shch., “Laughing through his tears. Loves Lermontov,” he wrote in his diary. L. went to the Caucasus.

L.’s poem dedicated to her, “On Secular Chains...”, was published in the magazine “ Domestic notes"(No. 2 for 1842). Future life Shch turned out quite happily. In 1843 after returning from abroad, she married her cousin, General I.S. Lutkovsky. Her portrait, published for the first time by B.M. Eikhenbaum in the academic collected works of L. (1835–1837), is in fact a portrait of another Shcherbatova, Anna Mikhailovna, née Khilkova. This fact was published by S. Boyko in 2004.

Lit.: 1) Smirnov N.M. From memorable notes // M.Yu. Lermontov in the memoirs of his contemporaries. - M.: Khud. lit., 1989. - P. 292; 2) Gershtein E.G. The fate of Lermontov. - 2nd ed., rev. and additional - M.: Khud. lit., 1986. - P. 13; 3) Lermontov M.Yu. Letter to Turgenev A.I. November 18, 1839 / Publ. N. Pakhomova // M.Yu. Lermontov / USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute of Lit. (Pushk. house); Ed. P.I. Lebedev-Polyansky; (chief editor), I.S. Zilberstein, S.A. Makashin. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1941–1948. Book 2. - 1948. - pp. 26–30. - (LN; T. 45/46); 4) Smirnova-Rosset A.O. Autobiography. (Unpublished materials). - M.: Publishing house. "Mir", 1931. P. 247; 5) Pakhomov N. Letter from Lermontov to A.I. Turgenev // LN, T. 45–46. M.Yu. Lermontov. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1948. - P. 28–29; 6) Maisky F.F. Lermontov and Karamzins // M.Yu. Lermontov. Sat. Art. and materials. - Stavropol: Stavropol book. publishing house, 1960. - P. 154, 161–162; 7) Manuilov V.A. Lermontov in St. Petersburg. - L.: Lenizdat, 1964. - P. 270–272; 8) Shan-Girey A.P. M.Yu. Lermontov // M.Yu. Lermontov in the memoirs of his contemporaries. - M.: Khud. lit., 1989. - P. 33–55; 9) Korf M.A. From the diary // M.Yu. Lermontov in the memoirs of his contemporaries. - M.: Khud. lit., 1989. - P. 298–299; 10) Manuilov V.A. Lermontov and Karamzins // M.Yu. Lermontov: Research and materials. - L.: “Science” Leningrad. department, 1979. - pp. 323, 330–331, 361–364, 368–369; 11) Damianidi M.F., Ryabov E.N. Unknown letters from Princess M.A. Shcherbatova // Consent, 1991. No. 6. - P. 199–213; 12) Boyko S. Once again about M.A. Shcherbatova // Tarkhansky Bulletin. Vol. 17. M., 2004. - pp. 21–25.

Mon. Lazar (Afanasiev)

“among the merciless light...”

Maria Alekseevna Shcherbatova (1820-1879) was the daughter of the Ukrainian landowner A.P. Shterich. After the death of her mother, she lived in the house of her grandmother S.I. Shterich in St. Petersburg. In 1837, young Maria married a hussar officer, Prince A.M. Shcherbatova. However, a year after the wedding, her husband fell ill and died - fortunately for the young woman, as her relative wrote, because Shcherbatov turned out to be " bad person", "angry and dissolute."

Lermontov met a young widow in 1839 in the Karamzin salon. Blonde with blue eyes, she was, according to M.I. Glinka, “a prominent, stately and extremely fascinating woman.” According to the testimony of Lermontov’s second cousin A.P. Shan-Girey, the poet was “strongly interested in the prince. Shcherbatova”, which, according to his admission, was such “that neither can be said in a fairy tale nor described with a pen.” Maria Alekseevna liked Lermontov's poetry. After reading the poem “Demon,” she told the author: “I like your Demon: I would like to sink to the bottom of the sea with him and fly beyond the clouds.”

A.O. Smirnova recalled that once in her presence Lermontov complained to Maria Alekseevna that he was sad. Shcherbatova asked if he ever prays? He said that he had forgotten all his prayers. “Have you really forgotten all your prayers,” exclaimed Princess Shcherbatova, “it can’t be!” Alexandra Osipovna told the princess: “Teach him to at least read the Virgin Mary.” Shcherbatova immediately read Lermontov’s Theotokos. By the end of the evening, the poet wrote the poem “Prayer” (“In a difficult moment of life...”), which he presented to her. M.A. The poem “Why” is also dedicated to Shcherbatova:
I'm sad because I love you
And I know: your blooming youth
The insidious persecution will not spare rumors.
For every bright day or sweet moment
You will pay fate with tears and melancholy.
I'm sad... because you're having fun.

Maria Alekseevna faced many trials. Her name went down in the history of Lermontov’s duel with the Frenchman E. de Barant, which led to the poet’s second exile to the Caucasus. A.P. Shan-Girey wrote that “the too obvious preference shown to the lucky rival at the ball blew up Barant... and a meeting was scheduled for tomorrow.” N.M. Smirnov also said in “Memorable Notes” that Lermontov “fell in love with the widow Princess Shcherbatova..., who was being followed by the son of the French ambassador Baron Barant. Rivalry in love and gossip quarreled Lermontov with Barant... They fought..."

A few days after the duel, Maria Alekseevna left for Moscow. But later, having briefly returned to St. Petersburg, she saw Lermontov. P.G. Gorozhansky, former comrade a poet at the cadet school, recalled: “When Lermontov was in the guardhouse for a duel with de Barant, I had to take guard duty. Lermontov was then in love with the prince. Shch(erbatov), because of whom he fought. He warned me that he needed to have an explanation with the lady about this duel and to do this, leave the guardhouse for half an hour. Necessary precautions have been taken. Lermontov returned minute by minute, and he barely had time to undress when one of the commanding officers came to the guardhouse to inquire if everything was all right. I knew who Lermontov was seeing, and I can vouch that it was not de Barant, but Lermontov, who enjoyed the lady’s favor.”

Contrary to rumor, Maria Alekseevna did not admit that she was the culprit in this duel. In March 1840 she wrote to A.D. Bludova: “You know, my dear, there is no greater shame for a woman than base speculation about her from those who know her. But if a woman is too proud, she often prefers to bow her head to vile slander, rather than honor these people who slander her by presenting them with proof of her purity... I am happy that they did not hurt each other, I would rather be condemned by everyone, but still know that both fools will remain with their parents. I know what such a loss means.” Shcherbatova's loss was her two-year-old son, who died two weeks after this unfortunate duel.

In May 1840, Lermontov, heading to the Caucasus, apparently met Maria Alekseevna in Moscow last time. On May 10, A.N. visited her. Turgenev, who wrote in his diary: “I visited the prince. Shcherbatova. Laughs through tears. Loves Lermontov." A few months later she went abroad; when she returned, the poet was no longer alive. Lyrical portrait of M.A. The poet created Shcherbatova in verse.

M.A. SHCHERBATOVA

On secular chains,
At the glitter of a tiresome ball
Blooming steppes
She exchanged Ukraine,

But the native south
There is a sign on it
Among the icy
Among the merciless light.

Like the nights of Ukraine,
In the twinkling of never-setting stars,
Filled with secrets
The words of her fragrant lips,

Transparent and blue
Like the sky of those countries, her eyes,
Like the desert wind
And her caresses tenderly and burnt.

And the ripening plum
Blush on fluffy cheeks,
And the sun ebbs
They play in golden curls.

And, following strictly
For example, the sad motherland,
In hope of God
She keeps her childhood faith.

Like a native tribe,
Doesn’t ask strangers for support
And in proud peace
Endures ridicule and evil.

From a daring gaze
Passions will not burst into flames in her,
Will not fall in love soon
But he won’t stop loving you for nothing.

M.Yu. Lermontov, 1840

Kutyavin V.N. “Portrait of M.Yu. Lermontov". Oil on cardboard, 1988

(excerpt from a book)

V.V. Corona

It is impossible to say with complete certainty which Rose is the very first in poetic world Akhmatova, therefore we will be guided by the author’s dating of the works.

Roses were first mentioned in 1910 in the cycle “Deception”, in the first and fourth parts of this work. At the beginning of the first part it is said about “spring” Roses:

This morning is drunk with the spring sun,

And on the terrace the smell of roses is more noticeable...

Oh, the heart loves sweetly and blindly!

and at the end of the fourth - about “autumn”:

Light autumn snow

Lay down on the croquet court.

The candles in the living room will be lit,

During the day their flicker is softer,

They will bring a whole bouquet

Roses from the greenhouse.

This “flowery” framing of the lyrical plot - the blind love of a young girl and subsequent disappointment - immediately allows us to conclude that the Rose in the world of the lyrical heroine is a Flower, traditionally symbolizing Love. Answering Gasparov’s question: “Which sensual coloring predominates in this image: color or smell?”, we can say: initially - smell. The lyrical heroine senses the “first roses” by the smell, which becomes “more and more audible.”

Roses seem to bloom in her world all year round(in the summer - in the garden, in the winter - in the greenhouse), and therefore accompany the main events of life. It is noteworthy that they are mentioned before meeting a lover, as one of the implicit attributes of the lyrical situation.

Three years later they turn into an obvious attribute of a love date:

Forgive me, cheerful boy,

That I brought you death -

For roses from the round platform,

For your stupid letters,

Because, daring and dark,

He turned dull with love.

"High vaults of the church...", 1913.

Remembering the deceased - a “boy” who was in love with her in the past - the lyrical heroine names among the signs of his love “roses from the round platform” and “stupid letters”.

Both works are brought together not only by the mention of Roses, but also by the peculiar similarity of the plot, which undergoes a role inversion. Lyrical heroes as if they change places. If the Deception series is about a young girl who falls “blindly” in love, then suffers severe disappointment, writes a letter and almost dies:

I wrote the words

What I didn’t dare say for a long time.

My head hurts,

My body feels strangely numb.

Deception, 1910 -

then in the work “High Vaults of the Church...” the lyrical heroine herself acts as such a “deceiver”, and writes letters and the “boy” dies. The transformation of the Rose from a framing device into one of the main symbols of love additionally endows this image with “deadly” symbolism.

A year later, a similar situation repeats itself:

Gray-eyed was a tall boy,

Six months younger than me.

He brought me white roses

Muscat white roses,

And he asked me meekly: “Can I

Should I sit with you on the rocks?"

I laughed: “What do I need roses for?

Only the injections hurt!" - "Well, -

He replied, “Then what should I do?”

If so, I fell in love with you."

Near the sea, 1914.

This passage describes an episode that seemed to precede the suicide of the “cheerful boy” and probably served as one of its reasons. The lyrical heroine, as one might guess, rejected “roses from the round platform,” just as she now refuses to accept “nutmeg white roses” as a gift.

At the same time, two more “sensual” signs of Rose are indicated - White color and “causticity,” the ability to inflict painful injections. For the young lyrical heroine, a rose is not only a conventional symbol of love, but also an object in which she feels both smell and color, and tactilely - also “causticity”. The latter is probably one of the reasons for refusing a closer relationship with the “boy” who is in love with her.

To summarize, we can say that the symbolism of the image of Rose in early work Akhmatova is quite traditional.

Last roses

It is no less difficult to say which Roses are the “last” in Akhmatova’s poetic world. These include Roses, mentioned in this capacity by the author himself, regardless of the real chronology, and those that are found in latest works. Chronologically, the first mention in the text of “the last roses” refers to the period of early creativity:

And into a secret friendship with the tall one,

Like a young eagle with dark eyes,

I’m like in a pre-autumn flower garden,

She walked in with a light gait.

There were the last roses

And the transparent month swayed

On gray, thick clouds...

These are already known to us “autumn” Roses, probably from the same “greenhouse”, which this time is called a “flower garden”. If our guess is correct, then the very first time the “last roses” appear simultaneously with the first ones is back in the “Deception” cycle.

IN new situation an episode is described that seems to precede the appearance of “a whole bouquet of roses.” The lyrical heroine is just entering “the flower garden” (“into secret friendship”). Let us remember that “blinding love” (aka the Guide) “leads faithfully and secretly.” The expression “secret friendship” in this context is the author’s euphemism for the concept of “blind love”. Further development the situation is known - the lyrical heroine will “see the light”, the Roses in the “flower garden of her soul” will be cut and turned into a “bouquet”. The secret will become clear.

The basis for such a forecast is the typical Akhmatova principle of development of the lyrical plot. Initially, as a rule, it describes the last act of the drama, and then, returning to the same plot, details the previous episodes. The calendar chronology of events occurring in the poetic world does not coincide with the logic of their development. On this basis, we interpret the entry of the lyrical heroine into the “flower garden” with the “last roses” as an episode preceding their removal from the “greenhouse”.

The last rose

Morozova and I should bow to each other,

To dance with Herod's daughter-in-law,

Fly away from Dido's fire with smoke,

To go to the fire with Zhanna again.

God! You see I'm tired

Resurrect, and die, and live.

Take everything, but this scarlet rose

Let me feel fresh again.

Taking into account the symbolism of the image of Rose in early works, the meaning of the later one seems obvious: the lyrical heroine asks the Lord to give her the opportunity to “feel again” the feeling of Love.

This is how you can understand the content of this work, limiting yourself to the textual context and the early intratextual one. " Historical background", on which this request is stated, is not directly related to the image of Rose, and the new signs of her sensual coloring - scarlet and freshness - do not look like significant differences. “Scarlet” in Akhmatova’s poetic world is the color of Fire, and “fresh” is a non-specific epithet that characterizes the quality of the pristine nature of any object that is especially valued by the author (freshness of feelings, freshness of wind, freshness of snow, etc.).

But is The Last Rose “the last”? Chronologically, the most recent is a completely different one - “The Fifth Rose”. Based on the author's logic of plot development, we can assume that the image of Rose is most fully revealed in this work. He will be considered as the Last (very last) Rose of Anna Akhmatova.

Fifth rose

Were you called Soleil or Tea?

And what else could you be,

But it became so extraordinary

That I can't forget you.

You shone with a ghostly light,

Reminiscent of the Garden of Eden,

To be a Petrarchan sonnet

It could, and the best of the sonatas.

And we will wet our lips in you,

And bless my house,

You were like love... But however,

It's not about love at all.

To Schubert's "Hungarian Divertissement".

This piece is typical author's definition new concept. The core of the defined concept is “My Rose”, and its shell is a list of seven objects indicating various shades intratextual meanings. Reconstructing these objects according to a set of features reminiscent of Rose, we obtain the following list:

"My Rose" (this)

Sun ("You were called Soleil...")

Garden of Eden (reminds me)

Poems (could be a "Petrarccan sonnet")

Music (could be "best of sonatas")

Wine ("And we will wet our lips in you...)

Blesser (“And you bless my house...”)

Love ("You were like love...")

The objects listed by the author indicate the possible forms of Rose’s existence in the world of the lyrical heroine or the forms of her incarnation. The first of these forms (in order of listing) is the Sun, as evidenced by the “French” name of the Rose - Soleil. This is, as it were, a “real” name that reveals the existential essence of the object. When translated into a commonly understood language, it loses its meaning and is therefore duplicated in the original language. Taking into account Rose's first name, we can say that she is the earthly embodiment of Heavenly Fire.

You will write about us obliquely.
I.B.

Morozova and I bow down,
To dance with Herod's stepdaughter,
Fly away from Dido's fire with smoke,
To go to the fire with Zhanna again.
God! You see I'm tired
Resurrect, and die, and live.
Take everything, but this scarlet rose
Let me feel fresh again.
1962

In June 1962, Joseph Alexandrovich, on Akhmatova’s 73rd birthday, Brodsky wrote two poems: “The roosters will crow and crow...” (from which she took the epigraph “You will write about us obliquely” for the poem “The Last Rose”) and “Behind the Churches , gardens, theaters..."

Roses were first mentioned in 1910, in the “Deception” cycle, in the first and fourth parts of this work. At the beginning of the first part it talks about “spring” roses. The rose in the world of the lyrical heroine is a flower that traditionally symbolizes love.

Three years later they turn into an obvious attribute of a love date:

Forgive me, cheerful boy,
That I brought you death -
For roses from the round platform,
For your stupid letters,
Because, daring and dark,
He turned dull with love.
“High vaults of the church...”, 1913

Remembering the deceased “boy” who was in love with her in the past, the lyrical heroine names among the signs of his love “roses from the round platform” and “stupid letters”.

Both works are brought together not only by the mention of Roses, but also by the peculiar similarity of the plot, which undergoes a role inversion. The lyrical characters seem to change places. If the Deception series is about a young girl who falls “blindly” in love, then suffers severe disappointment, writes a letter and almost dies:

I wrote the words
What I didn’t dare say for a long time.
My head hurts,
My body feels strangely numb.
Deception, 1910

then in the work “High Vaults of the Church...” the lyrical heroine herself acts as such a “deceiver”, and the “boy” writes letters and dies.

The transformation of the Rose from a framing device into one of the main symbols of love additionally endows this image with “deadly” symbolism.

A year later, a similar situation repeats itself:

Gray-eyed was a tall boy,
Six months younger than me.
He brought me white roses
Muscat white roses,
And he asked me meekly: “Can I
Should I sit on the rocks with you?”
I laughed: “What do I need roses for?
They just hurt!” - "What, -
He replied, “Then what should I do?”
If so, I fell in love with you.”
Near the sea, 1914

Chronologically, the first mention in the text of “the last roses” refers to the period of early creativity:

And into a secret friendship with the tall one,
Like a dark-eyed young eagle
I’m like in a pre-autumn flower garden,
She walked in with a light gait.
There were the last roses
And the transparent month swayed
On gray, thick clouds...
1917

These are already known to us “autumn” roses, probably from the same “greenhouse”, which this time is called a “flower garden”. If our guess is correct, then the very first time the “last roses” appear simultaneously with the first ones is back in the “Deception” cycle.

Taking into account the symbolism of the image of Rose in the early works, the meaning of the later one seems obvious: the lyrical heroine asks the Lord to give her the opportunity to “feel again” the feeling of Love.