River Motif In Maironis Creation

River motif in Maironis creation.

Since ancient times the human relationship with nature was close. The human here looks for consolation, peace, feels safe. According to writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe: “Nature is the only book in which each page is worth it.” The water was particularly important since the emergence of mankind. The oldest civilizations were founded near big rivers because they there important for agriculture. The river played a variety of roles: in Lithuania during the war defensive, for shipping, trade, and since 20st century started to build a hydroelectric power plant. However, the river is not only necessary for agriculture use, to produce energy, but it is an important symbol in mythology, literature, folklore.

Lithuanian romanticism poet Jonas Mačiulis (Maironis) described nature in his work. Maironis idealized Lithuanian nature in his poems. Although there are no big mountains in the state, more mound and plains, Maironis described Lithuania as having a lot of high mountains in order to give nobility to landscape. “My homeland” is a verse, which exalts Lithuania’s past and nature. Already from the beginning raises the beauty of homeland: “Where Neman waves, / Between the mountains, the arches.” In this poem is mentioned the father of other Lithuanian small and big rivers Neman, which lead the history and culture of Lithuania. In XII XIV centuries, during the war with Crusaders, many castles were built on the mounds: Grodno, Kaunas, Dubno, Perlamo, Pervalko and more. At that time, he did a defensive function. Neman is also important part of economy because he is used for fishing, tourism, energy production. However, in this verse Neman is much more than this for a lyrical subject, he reminds the past: “There grandmother swung me/ With lemant.