The battle is holy and right,
For the sake of life on earth.
A. T. Tvardovsky
Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky wrote an outstanding work about the war - the poem “Vasily Terkin”. The book was very much loved by almost everyone who read it, and this is no coincidence: after all, no one had ever written about the Great Patriotic War like this before Tvardovsky.
Many outstanding commanders published their books in which they talked about plans for grandiose battles, about the movements of armies, about the intricacies of the art of war. The military leaders knew and saw what they wrote about, and they had every right to cover this particular side of the war.
But there was another life, a soldier’s, about which you need to know no less than about strategy and tactics. It is very important to understand the problems, experiences and joys of the rank and file. It is probably difficult to imagine the life of a simple soldier for a person who did not take part in the war. Tvardovsky tells us about it very truthfully, without embellishment, without holding back anything. The writer himself was at the front and learned about everything first-hand.
Tvardovsky understood that the victory over Germany consisted of feats accomplished by ordinary people, ordinary soldiers, such as main character his poems - Vasily Terkin.
Who was Vasily Terkin? A simple fighter, the kind you can often meet in war. He had a sense of humor, because
In a one-minute war
Can't live without a joke
Jokes of the most unwise.
Tvardovsky himself says about him:
Terkin - who is he?
Let's be honest:
Just a guy being himself.
He's ordinary.
However, the guy is good.
A guy like that
Every company always has
And in every platoon.
In the chapter “Terkin - Terkin” we meet another fighter with the same surname and the same name, and he is also a hero.
Terkin speaks about himself in the plural, thereby showing that he is collective image:
And more than once on the usual path,
Along the roads, in the dust of columns,
I was partially distracted
And partially destroyed...
The first exploit of Terkin that we learn about is his escape from German captivity. In those days, he could have been shot for not committing suicide. This is exactly what the country's leadership called on all prisoners in Germany. But what is the fault of a person who ends up among the enemies? He didn't do it of his own free will.
I think that because of this country’s attitude towards those captured (by the way, many were taken because of the miscalculations of the leaders, especially in the first months of the war), the unfortunate people switched to
side of the fascists. But Terkin was not afraid, he fled from there to again defend his homeland from the enemy.
Despite this, he felt guilty:
I went into any house,
As if to blame for something
In front of her. What could he do?
Yes, indeed, he couldn’t do anything, that’s just the way things were.
We see that often in war, soldiers feel guilty because someone died. When one of the platoons remained on the enemy bank during the crossing, the other soldiers avoided talking about it:
And the guys are silent about him
In the fighting family circle,
As if they were to blame for something,
Who's on the left bank?
The soldiers no longer hoped to see their comrades alive, they mentally said goodbye to them, and suddenly the watchmen saw some point in the distance. Of course, they discuss what they saw, express different opinions, but do not even dare to think that someone could swim from that shore alive.
But the fact of the matter is that Terkin again committed heroic deed- got to my people ice water, which “even the fish are cold.” By this, he saved the life not only of himself, but also of the entire platoon, for which people were sent.
Terkin acted very courageously; not everyone would dare to do this. The soldier asked the colonel for a second glass of vodka: “It’s two ends.”
Terkin cannot leave his friends in the dark, so he swims back to the other side to make them happy successful outcome of your journey. And the danger for him is not only the cold, but also “the guns are firing in pitch darkness,” because
The battle is holy and right,
Mortal combat is not for glory -
For the sake of life on earth.
Protecting life on earth is the main job of a soldier, and sometimes you have to sacrifice for this own life, health. In war you cannot do without injuries, and Terkin did not escape this either.
He ended up in the Germans’ “cellar” to check whether the cannon was firing from there. The German sitting there fired and hit Terkin in the shoulder. Terkin spent a terrible day, “deafened by a heavy roar,” losing blood. They hit him with their own guns, and to die from your own is even more terrible than from your enemies.
Only a day later they found him, bleeding, “with a sallow face.” Needless to say, Terkin could well not have gone there, because no one forced him to go to the enemy alone.
Terkin’s attitude towards the award is interesting:
- No, guys, I'm not proud,
Without thinking into the distance,
So I’ll say: why do I need an order?
I agree to a medal.
Everywhere and always there are people who strive for high rewards; this is the main goal of their life. Of course, there were enough of these during the war. Many went out of their way just to receive the order. Moreover, usually these are people who do not particularly like to risk their lives, but rather sit at headquarters, curry favor with their superiors.
As we understand from the words of the hero himself, he even needs the medal not for boasting, but as a memory of the war, and he deserved it:
Provide, since I am worthy.
And you all must understand:
The simplest thing is -
The man came from the war.
In my opinion, refusing an order is also a kind of feat.
Terkin had a terrible fight with a German:
So they came together, grappled closely,
What about clips, disks,
Machine guns - to hell, away!
If only a knife could help.
They fight one on one, “like on an ancient battlefield.” Tvardovsky understood perfectly well that such a fight is completely different, here everyone relies only on their own strength, it is like a return to the origins of martial art.
The outcome of any battle depends not only on the physical strength of the opponents; ultimately, all feelings and emotions decide. And in hand-to-hand combat, this dependence of the outcome of the fight on feelings is even more pronounced. At the beginning of the chapter “The Duel,” the author shows the physical superiority of the German, “fed with free goods.” But Terkin was angry that someone dared to show up in Russian houses, demand food for themselves, and restore “their own order” in the country. And Terkin was even more spurred on by the fact that the German swung his helmet at him:
Oh, there you are! Fight with a helmet?
Aren't they vile people?
And this action of the German decided everything; the outcome of the fight was clear. Terkin took the “tongue” - the prey of the night. He accomplished the feat again, winning a terrible fight.
Perhaps the creepiest place in “The Book of a Fighter” is the chapter “Death and the Warrior.” It tells how death came to our hero, who “lay unchosen.” Death tried to persuade him to surrender to it, but Terkin courageously refused, although it cost him a lot of effort. Death does not want to let his prey go so easily and does not leave the wounded man. Finally, when Terkin began to give in little by little, he asked Death a question:
I'm not the worst and I'm not the best
That I will die in the war.
But at the end of it, listen,
Will you give me a day off?
From these words of the soldier, we understand that it is not even life that is most dear to him, he is ready to part with it, but he needs to see the victory of the Russians, he did not doubt it at all even at the very beginning of the war. Participation in the war against fascism, this most terrible and greatest event of the 20th century, is the main work of his life.
Real fighters, such as Terkin, are not afraid of death, are not afraid of risk. They simply fight and perform exploits without thinking about the reward - the exploits of man in war.
Composition
Fiction period of the Great Patriotic War has a number characteristic features. Its main features are patriotic pathos and a focus on universal accessibility. The most successful example of such a work is considered to be the poem “Vasily Terkin” by Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky. Its first chapters were published in the front-line press in 1942. The author aptly called his work “a book about a fighter, without beginning or end.” Each subsequent chapter of the poem was a description of one military episode.
The artistic task that Tvardovsky set for himself was very difficult, because the outcome of the war in 1942 was far from obvious. The main character of the poem is soldier Vasily Terkin. It is not for nothing that his last name is consonant with the word “rub”: Terkin is an experienced soldier, a participant in the war with Finland. He participated in the Great Patriotic War from the first days: “in service from June, into battle from July.” Terkin is the embodiment of the Russian character. He doesn't stand out in any significant way mental abilities, nor appearance. However, the soldiers consider him their boyfriend and are glad that he ended up in their company. Terkin has no doubt about the final victory. In the chapter “Two Soldiers”, when asked by the old man whether he will be able to beat the enemy, Terkin replies: “We will, father.” The main character traits of Vasily Terkin can be considered modesty and simplicity. He is convinced that true heroism does not lie in the beauty of the pose. The hero thinks that in his place every Russian soldier would have done the same thing. It is also necessary to pay attention to Terkin’s attitude towards death, which is not indifferent in combat conditions:
No, comrade, evil and proud,
As the law tells a fighter,
Meet death face to face
And at least spit in her face,
If everything has come to an end.
Often the hero of the poem has to face death. However, cheerfulness and natural humor help him cope with fear, defeating death itself. Terkin habitually risks his own life. For example, he crosses a river in icy water and establishes communications, ensuring a favorable outcome of the attack. The frozen Terkin is receiving medical assistance, and he jokes:
They rubbed and rubbed...
Suddenly he says, as in a dream:
- Doctor, doctor, is it possible?
Should I warm myself from the inside?
The poem "Vasily Terkin" can rightfully be considered one of the truly folk works. It is interesting that many of her lines migrated into oral folk speech or became popular poetic aphorisms. A number of examples can be given: “Combat to the death is not for the sake of glory, but for the sake of life on earth”, “forty souls - one soul”, “crossing, crossing - left bank, right bank” and many others. Vasily Terkin is a jack of all trades. In the harsh conditions of war, he did not lose his taste for peaceful work: he knows how to repair a watch and sharpen an old saw. In addition, Terkin is a master of playing the harmonica; he entertains his comrades in arms and selflessly gives them moments of joy.
Who is he - Vasily Terkin?
In a word, Terkin, the one who
A dashing soldier in war,
At a party, a guest is not superfluous,
At work - anywhere.
The prototype of Vasily Terkin was the entire people who fought the fascists. Today we can say with confidence that this poem by Tvardovsky remains one of the most beloved works about World War II.
Fiction during the Great Patriotic War has a number of characteristic features. Its main features are patriotic pathos and a focus on universal accessibility. The most successful example of this work of art Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky's poem "Vasily Terkin" is rightfully considered.
The first chapters of the poem "Vasily Terkin" were published in the front-line press in 1942. The author aptly called his work “a book about a fighter, without beginning, without end.” Each subsequent chapter of the poem was a description of one front-line episode. The artistic task that Tvardovsky set for himself was very difficult, because the outcome of the war in 1942 was far from obvious.
The main character of the poem is soldier Vasily Terkin. It is not for nothing that his last name is consonant with the word “rub”: Terkin is an experienced soldier, a participant in the war with Finland. He participated in the Great Patriotic War from the first days: “in service from June, into battle from July.” Terkin is the embodiment of the Russian character. He is not distinguished by either significant mental abilities or external perfection:
Let's be honest:
Just a guy himself
He is ordinary:
However, the soldiers consider Terkin to be their guy and are glad that he ended up in their company. Terkin has no doubt about the final victory. In the chapter “Two Soldiers”, when asked by the old man whether he will be able to beat the enemy, Terkin replies: “We will, father.” The main character traits of Vasily Terkin can be considered modesty and simplicity. He is convinced that true heroism does not lie in the beauty of the pose. Terkin thinks that in his place every Russian soldier would have done the same thing. It is also necessary to pay attention to Terkin’s attitude towards death, which is not indifferent in combat conditions:
No, comrade, evil and proud,
As the law tells a fighter,
Meet death face to face
And at least spit in her face,
If everything has come to an end.
Often the hero of the poem has to face death. However, cheerfulness and natural humor help him cope with fear, thus defeating death itself. Terkin habitually risks his own life. For example, he crosses a river in icy water and establishes communications, ensuring a favorable outcome of the battle.
When the frozen Terkin receives medical assistance, he jokes:
They rubbed and rubbed...
Suddenly he says, as in a dream:
---Doctor, doctor, is it possible?
Should I warm myself from the inside?
Terkin is ready to swim back, thereby showing remarkable will and courage.
The poem "Vasily Terkin" can be considered one of the truly folk works. It is interesting that many lines from this work migrated into oral folk speech or became popular poetic aphorisms. A number of examples can be given: “Combat to the death is not for the sake of glory - for the sake of life on earth”, “forty souls - one soul”, “crossing, crossing - left bank, right bank” and many others.
Vasily Terkin is a jack of all trades. In harsh war conditions, he did not lose his taste for peaceful work: he knows how to repair a watch and sharpen an old saw. In addition, Terkin is a master of playing the harmonica; he entertains his comrades in arms and selflessly gives them moments of joy. Who is he - Vasily Terkin?
In a word, Terkin, the one who
A dashing soldier in war,
At a party, a guest is not superfluous,
At work - anywhere.
The entire fighting people became the prototype of Vasily Terkin. Today we can say with confidence that the poem “Vasily Terkin” remains one of the most beloved works about the Second World War.
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When you pronounce this name, the image of a gallant soldier immediately appears in your imagination, and your lips spread into a smile. Vasily Terkin is Mr. Pitkin or the good soldier Schweik on our soil. But Terkin was not only cheerful, he was brave, courageous, persistent.Alexander Tvardovsky wrote his “Book for a Soldier”, understanding how a soldier needs a joke at a rest stop, support in battle. This is what his poem “Vasily Terkin” became. The image of Terkin appeared as if from funny comics and gradually acquired seriousness, absorbed humor, simplicity, and talent of the people who defended their fatherland. Tvardovsky writes the truth about the war, and this truth is understood by a simple Russian soldier who stands two steps away from death:
And how submissive you are suddenly
You lie on your earthly chest,
Shielding myself from black death
Only with your own back.
Vasily Terkin, “a boy of twenty less than a year old“, he wants to stay alive, return home, come to his village for a party as a hero, but in war it’s like in war: either you’re joking, then “now you’re finished, now you’re no longer there.” This is how the hero talks about death simply. But while he is alive, he is a “strong guy.” A simple soldier, he can do anything: set up a saw, repair a watch, and fry eggs. He knows how to play the accordion, so much so that everyone starts dancing, and the tankers, saddened by the death of their commander, lose heart and give him the commander’s accordion. Terkin is the person you can trust with the memory of a friend.
He forgets about himself, he doesn’t care about difficulties. And he doesn’t even dream of a special award:
So I’ll say: why do I need an order?
I agree to a medal.
Terkin is a real soldier, a wonderful comrade. This image was close to every soldier; it seemed that everyone had encountered this image at some point. A merry fellow like Terkin was in every company, platoon, and battalion. Without such people, our people would not have won the war. Because what won during the Great Patriotic War was not so much strength as spirit, daring, the fortitude of people, their patriotism and love for their native fatherland.
T. Tvardovsky wrote an outstanding work about the war - the poem “Vasily Terkin”.
Tvardovsky’s literary hero rightfully deserved to have a monument erected to him. After all, along with him, the monument is also received by millions of those who in one way or another resembled Vasily, who loved their country and did not spare their blood, who found a way out of a difficult situation and knew how to brighten up the difficulties at the front with a joke, who loved to play or listen to music at a rest stop.
Who was Vasily Terkin? A simple fighter, the kind you can often meet in war. Tvardovsky himself says about him:
Terkin - who is he?
Let's be honest:
Just a guy being himself.
He's ordinary.
The work of Alexander Trifonovich is written in easy, figurative, folk language. His poems are memorable on their own. The author suggests:
In short, a book from the middle
And let's begin. And it will go there.
This makes the characters closer and more understandable. The poet did not attribute many heroic deeds to Terkin. One downed plane and a taken tongue is enough. Sometimes he is cold or hungry, there is no news from his relatives, he is wounded.
But he does not lose heart. Lives and enjoys life. Today this quality is so lacking in many people. Terkin cannot but delight with his love of life. After all, he
In the kitchen - from a place, from a place - into battle.
Smokes, eats and drinks with gusto
Any position.
He can swim across an icy river, dragging, straining, his tongue. But here is a forced stop, “and it’s frosty - you can’t stand or sit down...”. And Terkin started playing someone else’s accordion.
And from that old accordion,
That I was left an orphan
Somehow it suddenly became warmer
On the front road.
Terkin is the soul of the soldier's company. It’s not for nothing that his comrades love to listen to his sometimes humorous or sometimes very serious stories. Here they lie in the swamps, where the “wet” infantry even dreams of “even death, but on dry land.” And Terkin grins and begins a long argument. He says that as long as a soldier feels the elbow of his comrade, he is strong. Behind him is a battalion, a regiment, a division. Or even the front. Why, all of Russia!
He had such talent. Such a talent that, lying in the dampness, his comrades laughed, they felt better.
In the chapter “Terkin - Terkin” we meet another fighter with the same surname and the same name, and he is also a hero. One could meet many such heroes on the roads of war.
However, the guy is good.
A guy like that
Every company always has
And in every platoon.
Real fighters, such as Terkin, are not afraid of death, are not afraid of risk. They fight for their homeland and perform feats, not thinking about the reward, but “for the sake of life on earth.”
Vasily Terkin became one of the favorites literary heroes many readers. In the image of Terkin, Tvardovsky portrays the best traits of the Russian character - courage, perseverance, resourcefulness, optimism and great devotion to his native land.
Our dear mother earth,
In days of trouble and in days of victory
There is no one brighter and more beautiful than you,
And there is nothing more desirable to the heart...
The feat of a soldier in war is shown by the writer as everyday and hard military work and battle.
And the hero who accomplishes the feat is an ordinary, simple soldier:
A man of simple origin,
That in battle he is no stranger to danger...
Sometimes serious, sometimes funny,
...He comes - a saint and a sinner...
This year we will celebrate fifty-five years of the victory of our people in the Great Patriotic War. Nowadays, we know the truth about the incalculable losses that our people suffered in the war, often completely in vain, we know about the causes, goals and course of the war. But among this bitter truth, a simple Russian soldier Vasily Terkin will take his place.
The main character of the poem is a collective, generalized image that embodies the entire warring people. Almost nothing is said about the specific personality of Vasily Terkin. It is only known that he is in his twenties - closer to thirty, and that he, like the author, comes from the Smolensk region, that “he fought in Karelian - beyond the Sestra River.”
Terkin is a great lover of life, “a hunter to live until he is ninety years old,” he joined the ranks from the reserve, serves in the infantry, in the troops “closest to the earth, to the cold, to fire and death.” For him, war is an ordinary job that needs to be done correctly, skillfully, not for the sake of glory, but “for the sake of life on earth.”
Terkin - who is he?
Let's be honest:
Just a guy himself
He's ordinary...
Not tall, not that small,
But a hero is a hero...
Tvardovsky shows through ordinariness and averageness. Typicality of Terkin, because he is the embodiment of the mass of soldiers who bore all the hardships of the war. However, Terkin's image is devoid of schematism. This is a cheerful, full-blooded hero, with his own special character.
He is a cheerful fellow, a jokester at a rest stop, a lover of hearty food, he is not averse to amusing his comrades by playing the accordion (“Harmon”), helping the elderly (“Two Soldiers”), or chopping wood for a soldier (“Before the Battle”).
This is a cheerful, good-natured, broad Russian nature, with a generous heart, combining such primordial Russian qualities as sincerity and nobility, sharpness and wisdom, determination and courage.
Vasily Terkin is a heroic image. Without hesitation, he swims across to the other side in November to report that the platoon that has crossed has gained a foothold on the other side (“Crossing”), occupies an enemy bunker and holds it until his own troops arrive (“Terkin is wounded”), and shoots down an enemy plane (“Who shot?”), taking the place of the killed lieutenant, rouses the soldiers to attack and is the first to break into the village (“On the offensive”), encourages and inspires the exhausted soldiers during the battle for the unknown “settlement of Borki”, “Where the war paved the way , / / Where the water was knee-deep for the infantry, the mud was pile-deep (“Battle in the Swamp”).
In the “Duel” chapter, which is the culmination of the entire poem, Terkin enters into hand-to-hand combat with a German who is physically stronger:
Tervin knew that in this fight
He is weaker: not the same grub.
But Terkin’s morale and confidence in victory are stronger, so he emerges victorious:
And then,
Taking anger and pain into a fist,
An unloaded grenade
The German's terkin - with the left - smack!
The German groaned and went limp...
This chapter echoes epic epic, and the fight itself grows into a symbolic generalization “Man-people”. Terkin, symbolizing Russia, confronts a strong and formidable enemy, symbolizing Nazi Germany:
Like on an ancient battlefield,
Chest on chest, like shield on shield, -
Instead of thousands, two fight,
As if the fight would solve everything.
But it should be noted that the image of Terkin is deliberately devoid of a romantic aura by the author. as if even lowered. This is achieved through the introduction of colloquial vocabulary, vernacular (“he cracked a German between the eyes”, “threw him into a sled”, “gave bream”, Terkin a German with his left - “smack”, etc.)
Thus, the author seeks to emphasize that the main character is not only a generalized image-symbol, but also a personality, individuality, that for him war is work, hard, dirty, but necessary, inevitable, not for glory, not for orders and medals, not for promotion.
And only in the final stanza does the author allow himself to rise to a large-scale, solemn-sounding generalization:
A terrible battle is going on, bloody,
Mortal combat is not for glory,
For the sake of life on earth.
In the dispute between the two forces, goodness, love and life itself won. These lines are heard repeatedly in the poem, they are a kind of refrain emphasizing main topic works: an unprecedented feat of a Russian soldier.
We encounter the same technique of generalization and individualization in the chapter “Terkin - Terkin”. Vasily meets his namesake Ivan. Ivan differs from Vasily only in his hair color (he is red), his front-line profession (armor-piercer), but otherwise both heroes are similar. The dispute between them is decided by the foreman:
What don't you understand here?
Don't you understand?
According to the regulations of each company
Terkin will be given his own.
Tvardovsky’s poem is often called an encyclopedia of military reality during the Great Patriotic War” (by analogy with Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”). Indeed, the book about the fighter is written extremely truthfully. The truth of war, no matter how bitter it is, hits straight into the soul.