The motif of a storm or thunderstorm has a stable range of meanings in Russian literature. One of them is related to the theme of retribution. God's wrath, the punishment for sin. Another-with all sorts of life disasters, human dramas, turning points in the fate of the characters. Often, the motif of the elements that have played out (storm, blizzard, flood) accompanies plot episodes that depict an explosion of human emotions, a riot in the soul of the characters, and social upheavals. This motif is not exclusively Turgenev's. However, the writer uses it quite widely, it is one of the" end-to-end " symbols in his work. Tending to the symbolic expression of artistic thought, Turgenev gives generally significant symbols individually colored content. The writer often connects the motif of thunderstorms with the theme of love. So, in the story "First Love" the traditional technique is used: a parallel is drawn between the picture of nature and the psychological state of the hero. The description of a distant thunderstorm is followed by the confession of a young man in love: "I looked at the silent sandy field, at the dark mass of the Neskuchny Garden, at the yellowish facades of distant buildings, which also seemed to tremble at each weak flash... I looked - and didn't page 9 I could not tear myself away; these silent flashes of lightning, these restrained glints, seemed to respond to the silent and secret impulses that also flared up in me. The morning began to break; the dawn came out in red spots. As the sun approached, the lightning grew paler and shorter: they shuddered less and less, and finally disappeared, submerged in the sobering and unquestionable light of the emerging day... And my lightning bolts disappeared in me. I felt very tired and quiet..." (Turgenev I. S. Poln. sobr. soch. i pis'mov: V 28 t. M.-L., 1960-1968. Vol. IX. pp. 28-29; further only volume and p.). Such a parallel establishes the kinship of two elements - natural and human (recall Lermontov: ... Read more