The work of Alexander Tvardovsky is widely known in Russia and abroad. It was the poem “Vasily Terkin” that became his business card, brought enormous fame and recognition. The poem is studied in 8th grade; in preparation for literature lessons you will need detailed analysis works according to plan and Additional Information about the biography and history of Tvardovsky’s creation of “Vasily Terkin”. In “Vasily Terkin” the analysis is specific due to the autonomy of the chapters and the lack of a common plot, so we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the full analysis literary text in our article.
Brief Analysis
Year of writing – 1942-1945.
History of creation– Main character – completely fictional character, the author finished the story about him with the victory of the Russian army in the Great Patriotic War.
Subject- the feat of a simple soldier, the Russian character, the moral strength of the Russian person.
Composition– 30 chapters with a prologue and epilogue, autonomous, but united by a common goal and the image of the main character.
Genre- a poem, a lyric epic work, “a book about a fighter.”
Direction– realism.
History of creation
The main character of the poem - a fictional hero - was invented and named by the editorial board of the Leningrad newspaper “On Guard of the Motherland,” which included, in addition to the author himself, artists and poets. Vasily was supposed to become the main character of small feuilleton poems. However, the character became so popular that Alexander Tvardovsky decided to write a larger-scale work.
In 1942, the first chapters of the legendary poem were written and published. Until 1945, it was published in newspapers in parts; in 1942, the first edition of the poem, still incomplete, was published. Thus, Tvardovsky worked on the poem for three years. It turned out to be so popular that the news that work on it had been completed prompted many letters asking for a continuation of the story about Vasily Tyorkin.
Concept poem came to Tvardovsky during Russian-Finnish war in 1939, when he participated in combat events as a war correspondent. The Great Patriotic War, in which the author himself took part, became the impetus for writing a work in which real events are guessed: the battle on the Volga, the crossing of the Dnieper River, the capture of Berlin. In 1942, after participating in the hottest battles, the author returned to Moscow and began work on the poem.
Subject, which Tvardovsky chose is multifaceted and diverse; in his work everything is based on humor and optimism - just like in the real life of soldiers in military field conditions. Despite pressure from the authorities for the absence in the poem of references to the significance of the party, its contribution to victory and struggle, the writer did not include ideological aspects in the narrative. They, according to the author, were completely incompatible with the general tone of the work, its idea and goals. Despite the fact that censorship required editing of works, “Vasily Terkin” was republished by all well-known publications (“Znamya”, “Pravda”, “Izvestia”), and its popularity grew. Every schoolchild knew the lines from the poem by heart, it was recited on the radio, read to soldiers at the front, and publications were given as gifts as a sign of special military merit.
Subject
Topic Tvardovsky’s immortal poem can be described as follows: faith in victory, the strength of Russian character, the feat of a simple soldier. The poem tells about a simple guy who lives laughing, does not lose heart, believes in victory and holds on to life. His character, humor and exploits became a real legend for the soldiers at the front. People believed that Vasily - a real man, looked up to him, dreamed of seeing the hero and shaking his hand.
The writer achieved such a “living image” thanks to his front-line experience, artistic means and the power of his talent. The main idea of the work is to believe in victory, to continue to live and fight in any situation, even in the face of death (as Tyorkin does in one of the chapters).
Criticism and censorship were dissatisfied with what the poem taught the reader; it was necessary to emphasize the role of the party in defeating the enemy. But the general direction of the narrative, its style and character were alien to ideology, therefore Problems, raised in the poem, are devoid of partisanship and ideological overtones.
The main character becomes close and dear to the reader, he is a friend, a comrade in arms, a guy from a neighboring company, but not a charismatic leader, not a mentor, not a government servant. Due to controversy and pressure from censorship, Tvardovsky experienced a serious creative crisis in 1942-43, but was able to circumvent the prohibitions and realize the original idea of the work.
Composition
In the structure of the poem 30 chapters, prologue and epilogue. It is not subject to geographical or specific historical dates. The time of action - the Great Patriotic War, the place - front-line roads - it was this universality and generalization of the image of Tyorkin that made the work immortal. “War has no plot,” said the author of the poem himself.
It is this feature that is characteristic of the composition of the work - it brought together several stories, uniting them with the image of the main character. Another feature of the construction of a literary text is the dialogue between the author himself and his character - they are fellow soldiers, fellow countrymen. The author presents many important points in the form of arguments or conversations with his hero. Each chapter of the poem can be considered a separate poem - they are all complete and have a weak connection, relative autonomy. This is due to the fact that the poem was published in separate chapters, and the reader might not be familiar with the content of the previous parts.
Main characters
Genre
The genre of the work is defined as a poem. Essentially, this is more of a lyric epic work, since it contains many plot narratives, but also lyrical digressions tantamount to an epic beginning. The author himself calls the genre a “book about a fighter”, since it can fit within traditional structures and the components he failed. His story about the guy-shirt Vasily turned out to be too special and original to fall into the framework of a certain genre. The issues raised by the author are very large-scale to fit into the genre of a poem or story in verse.
“Vasily Terkin” is a wonderful poem by A.T. Tvardovsky. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War the poet was in the ranks Soviet army. He spent the entire war at the front, writing a large number of lyrical, epic, propaganda and satirical poems for Red Army newspapers. Born and raised in the difficult trials of war main character Tvardovsky's most popular poem is Vasily Terkin, a seasoned, brave, resilient Russian soldier. The poem about Terkin was written by Tvardovsky throughout the war.
The image of Vasily Terkin is the result of a huge number of life observations. He represents a generalized portrait, in the real and deeply human features of which hundreds and thousands of others like him are expressed. In order to give Terkin a universal, national character, Tvardovsky chose a person who, at first glance, did not stand out with any special qualities. The hero does not express love and devotion to the Motherland in pompous phrases. Often, where Terkin is silent, he speaks for him.
The battle is holy and right,
Mortal combat is not for glory -
For the sake of life on earth.
These lines contain the main motive of Tvardovsky’s poem. The author pronounces them in one of the chapters of the poem - “The Crossing”. In the merging of the author with the hero there is a deep artistic sense. Tvardovsky himself states:
And I’ll tell you, I won’t hide it,-
In this book, here and there,
What a hero should say
I speak personally myself.
I am responsible for everything around me,
And notice, if you didn’t notice,
Like Terkin, my hero,
Sometimes it speaks for me.
The poem has absorbed both grief and people's joy; it contains harsh, mournful lines, but even more filled with folk humor, full of great love for life. It seemed incredible that it was possible to write about the most cruel and difficult war in the history of nations so life-affirmingly, with such a bright philosophy of life, as Tvardovsky did in “Vasily Terkin.”
Remaining entirely grounded in reality, drawing with amazing generosity real life and the struggle of the people during the Great Patriotic War, in all its harsh guise, the poet always turns his gaze to the future. He remembers that “golden list of glory”, in which the descendants will include nameless heroes who gave their lives and hearts for victory.
The high lyrical principle coexists perfectly with the epic nature of the poem and its narrative character. Moreover, it literally permeates the poem. And the sincere lines about the battle, which is waged “not for the sake of glory - for the sake of life on earth,” and the wonderful passage about a woman seeing off a soldier to war, and Terkin’s conversation with death, and many other places in the poem express the innermost, most sincere thoughts of the author , both the hero and the reader. The epic and lyrical beginnings in “Vasily Terkin” are united and inseparable.
The language of the poem is simple and clear. Tvardovsky in his work relies on the best examples of Russian poetry. But at the same time the author used many elements of everyday folk speech- jokes, proverbs, jokes, sayings, proverbs. This material folk art Tvardovsky uses it, processing and modifying it, using it thoughtfully, in full accordance with the general literary intent.
Tvardovsky’s poem has been republished several times, has been translated into many languages and is eagerly read by both the older generation and young people.
1. History of creation
2. The meaning of the chapter title
3. Theme and idea of the chapter
4. Characteristics of a literary hero
5. Means of artistic expression
6. The universal significance of the entire poem
1.
Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky was one of a team of authors who created the poem “Vasya Terkin” during the Finnish campaign. In 1942, Tvardovsky decided to change the appearance of the main character, after which the poem was published.
2. and 3.
The title of the chapter - “About the Award” - exactly conveys its meaning: the importance of the award for the Soviet soldier, especially in the post-war period. The topic of fair remuneration worried many soldiers and officers. They rightly believed that not only their exploits, but also the fact that they had to look death in the eye every day should be rewarded. But the name also has a second meaning: the award is not just a medal or order. The reward is a return to the homeland, peaceful, happy life after feats of arms.
4.
“- 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."
From the first lines of the chapter, we see the hero’s modesty, and at the same time the pride and joy that he is involved in the successes of our army in battles with the Nazis. And this stanza also contains humor, built on the antitheses “I don’t need a reward, but I still need it” and “I am a hero - and at the same time a simple person.”
Terkin paints a picture of returning to the Smolensk region, his homeland. He dreams of living a simple life in the future, after the war. civil life, do ordinary things, have fun with everyone at the “party” (“Somewhere in the village council I’ll get to a party”).
But he really wants to be perceived as a victorious warrior, to be treated with respect and respect, to be listened to his stories about the war. He is a worldly reasonable person, and he likes when his opinion is listened to.
“And I would smoke a cigarette,
I would treat everyone around me.
And for any questions
I wouldn’t answer suddenly.”
With a medal on his chest, Terkin jokes, he will easily conquer the girl he is in love with.
But not everything is so rosy. The war is still going on, and his native Smolensk region is occupied by the enemy: “But the post office does not carry letters to your native Smolensk region.”
At the end of the chapter, the joyful picture of returning home is interrupted by a terrible reality:
“A terrible battle is going on, bloody,
Mortal combat is not for glory,
For the sake of life on earth."
5.
Of all artistic means For expressiveness, the author chooses those that are characteristic of oral folk art. Epithets, hyperboles, metaphors, personifications are practically absent (metaphor: “the girl is the color”). But there is lit O you (understatement, mitigation) - “The simplest thing is that a man came from the war”, “I told you that I’m not proud” and parallelism* “If only they would end the war, If only I came on vacation... So I came from the stop” , “You, friend, have wished for a lot, You have wished far into the distance.”
6.
The poem "Vasily Terkin" was important at that time historical moment when it was written, in the midst of the war. She described almost epic hero, and at the same time she talked about him in a very simple language, understandable to every Soviet soldier, so that many recognized themselves in Terkin, and felt and behaved like him, heroically, and at the same time modestly. This is the enormous patriotic significance of the poem, both in wartime and after the war.
* PARALLELISM (from the Greek parallelos - walking next to) - identical or similar arrangement of speech elements in adjacent parts of the text, creating a single poetic image.
The waves splash in the blue sea.
The stars shine in the blue sky.
A. S. Pushkin
Parallelism is especially characteristic of works of oral folk art (epics, songs, ditties, proverbs) and those close to them in their artistic features literary works(“Song about the merchant Kalashnikov” by M. Yu. Lermontov, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by N. A. Nekrasov, “Vasily Terkin” by A. T, Tvardovsky).
The most famous work A.T. Tvardovsky’s poem “Vasily Terkin” has become beloved by the Russian people since the Second World War. This is proven by the fact that in 1995, a monument was erected in the writer’s homeland, in the center of Smolensk. As if alive, Alexander Trifonovich cast from bronze and his famous hero with an accordion in his hands. These sculptures are a symbol of memory of the strong Russian character, capable of surviving anything to save the Motherland.
Genre features of the work
In literature, it is customary to classify “Vasily Terkin” as a poem. However, the writer himself was not so categorical on this issue.
Firstly, you need to pay attention to the subtitle “A book about a fighter” made by the author. This already suggests some unconventionality of the work. Indeed, in the content there is no plot connection of the chapters as such, there is no climax, and the question of completeness is quite controversial. main reason the fact that the work “Vasily Terkin” was written in chapters, which became an instant response to the events taking place at the front.
Secondly, Tvardovsky’s notes have been preserved, where he speaks out about the genre: “... a chronicle is not a chronicle, a chronicle is not a chronicle...”. This confirms the fact that the basis of the work was real events played out by the author.
Thus, this is a unique book, which is an encyclopedia of the life of the people during the terrible war years. And the main thing in it is that the writer managed to skillfully describe a hero who embodied the best features of the Russian character.
Composition and plot
The poem “Vasily Terkin” had a special purpose: it was written in 1942-45 and was addressed, first of all, to the ordinary soldier who fought in the trenches. This determined its composition: independent chapters(in the post-war edition the author left 29, including 5 “author’s” chapters) with a separate plot. “No beginning, no end, no special plot” - this is how Tvardovsky defined the features of “The Book about a Fighter.” This approach was explained quite simply: in wartime conditions it was not possible to fully read the poem “Vasily Terkin”. The chapters, which were united by the image of the main character, who always found himself in the center of events, told about some important moment in the soldier’s everyday life. This made the work valuable in terms of its scale and nationality.
Vasily Terkin: image analysis
The first chapters appear in 1942. In them, the image of an ordinary soldier appears, who appears either as a joker and a merry fellow, then as a jack of all trades and a skilled accordion player, or as a courageous and devoted fighter to his homeland. Tvardovsky does not give detailed hero: his features are as realistic as possible and characteristic of most people. There is no clear indication of his place of residence, although from the author’s digressions one can understand that Tvardovsky and Terkin are fellow countrymen. This approach deprives the hero of individuality and gives the image a generalized character. That is why every reader found familiar features in Terkin and accepted him as one of their own.
The hero, a former land worker, perceives the war as important work. He is shown either at a halt or at peasant hut, now swimming across the river, now talking about a well-deserved award, now playing the accordion... It doesn’t matter what situation Vasily Terkin, who experienced a lot (the connection of his surname with the word “grated”) found himself in during his life. An analysis of his actions and behavior shows that even in such difficult conditions he maintains a love of life and the best firmly believes in victory and in his comrades. The rhyme “Vasily-Russia” is also interesting, which is used several times in the text and emphasizes the truly folk features of the created image.
Image of war
The author also had a special approach to describing the setting of the poem “Vasily Terkin”. Analysis of the text shows that there are practically no specific geographical names and the exact chronology of events. Although the type of troops is quite definitely indicated - infantry, since it was they who had the opportunity to experience all the hardships of front-line life to a greater extent.
An important role is played by the description of individual details and objects of a soldier’s life, which add up to one living and large-scale picture of the war with the Nazis. At the same time, quite often the image of Terkin is associated with a warrior-hero of all “companies and times.”
Author's image
An important person in the poem is not only Vasily Terkin. Analysis of the chapters “From the Author” allows us to imagine the narrator and at the same time the mediator between the hero and the readers.
This is a man who himself experienced the full hardships of war (A.T. Tvardovsky went to the front as a correspondent from the first days). His reflections provide a description of the hero (the psychological aspect comes first) and a popular assessment of the terrible events. The latter is especially important, especially since the recipients of the poem were both front-line soldiers (L. Ozerov described it as a helper book in the war) and those who remained in the rear. The appearance of new chapters was eagerly awaited, and parts of them were memorized.
Language and style of the poem “Vasily Terkin”
The theme of war is usually revealed through the use of sublime vocabulary. Tvardovsky departs from this tradition and writes a poem about an ordinary soldier, a man of the people in an easy, simple language. This gives the whole narrative and the image of the hero naturalness and warmth. The author skillfully combines colloquial, sometimes even colloquial, and literary speech, resorts to revolutions and oral creativity, paraphrases small ones These are numerous sayings and jokes (“your hut is on edge these days”), words with a diminutive meaning (son, falcon), constant epithets(“bitter time”), expressions such as “a clear falcon started,” “grab-grab.”
Another feature is the abundance of dialogues, in which there are many short ones. They easily recreate pictures of everyday soldier’s life and make the characters simple and close to the reader.
A monumental work about the fate of the people
The poem became a decisive event not only in the work of A.T. Tvardovsky, but also in all literature of the war period. The author managed to show in it the heroic path of an ordinary soldier, like Vasily Terkin. Analysis of military events by a direct participant makes the story believable. Three parts of the poem tell about the decisive stages of the war: the retreat, the turning point and the victorious march to Berlin.
The action of the work ends simultaneously with victory, since its main task is to tell about incredible courage Soviet people during the war against fascism - A.T. Tvardovsky fully complied.
A. Tvardovsky's poem "Vasily Terkin" is called an encyclopedia of front-line life. The entire war, its various episodes are reflected in the poem. The image of the main character Vasily Terkin is also very capacious. This is a living, memorable image, and at the same time a generalized, collective image. The poem is structured in such a way that the character of the hero is revealed in a variety of circumstances: heroic, everyday, humorous, and tragic; each chapter adds something new to our knowledge about the main character, about the Russian character.
Terkin is not alone in the poem. It concentrates everything that every Russian warrior has: endurance, patience, ingenuity, courage... And each new episodic, seemingly insignificant character in the poem helps to better understand what a Russian soldier, the famous and mysterious “Russian miracle” is. Human".
Among the various episodes, pictures, and images that fill the “Book about a Soldier,” there is a story about a warrior who lost his pouch. The fighter, no longer a young man, bearded, lost his pouch. No matter how hard he searches, there is no pouch.
The fighter says: “It’s a shame.” So many troubles suddenly befallen me: I lost my family. OK. No, you're wearing a pouch! Lost somewhere, Grab-grab, no trace of him. I lost both my yard and my hut. Fine. And here is the pouch. If only years young, And not forty whole years... Lost native land, Everything in the world and a pouch.At first glance, this chapter seems to be a simple humorous everyday insert; it is even puzzling. A man has lost his family, yard, hut, native land - and says: “Well, okay.” But the loss of the pouch throws him off balance.
However, this story seems “humorous” only externally. She is rather tragic. Behind the story about the loss of a pouch, albeit a very important thing in a soldier’s life, there are other, much deeper losses and experiences.
The bearded man turns to Terkin with a complaint about his misfortune. And he in response tells him about how he once lost his hat when he was wounded and how great his loss was. However, the nurse who bandaged the wounded Terkin, although she was still “green,” understood perfectly how to calm the soldier: she gives him her hat, and does it with amazing compassion, gentleness, as if she were saying “bayushki-bayu.”
Now, in his own way, Terkin says the same “don’t worry” to the bearded man who has lost his pouch. He understands how to calm a fighter, because he knows the real reason for his anxiety and grief. The soldier has lost everything that was dear to him and what was the meaning of his life, but does not outwardly express his terrible pain. He endures the main loss courageously and delicately in his soul, without complaining or causing pain in the hearts of others. And to whom could he “carry his sorrow”? After all, the losses and grief of others, very many, were no less, the misfortune was common. But the soldier's cup of patience is full, heartache looks for a way out, and the more easily the soldier complains about the loss of his pouch. Behind the insignificance of this loss there is great sadness for great losses and real courage... That’s why the chapter is called not “Pouch”, not “About the loss of the pouch” (it’s not about the ill-fated pouch), but “About loss”. We know how much this man has lost, how much he suffers and how inexpressible this suffering is. The chapter could have been called differently - “On Fortitude”, “On Courage”.
Terkin understands the old soldier, he jokes and gives him his tobacco pouch. At the same time, he regrets that he doesn’t have an accordion with him, with her he could give a real lecture. Without a doubt, this would be a good “lecture”; it would help the soldier calm down and overcome grief.
But Terkin found a way out even without an accordion. He did everything as it should, as always, okay. And he said exactly the words that were needed. “Listen, brother,” adds Terkin, and the tone of these words is already different. The fighters probably became quiet at that moment because they felt that their favorite would speak to the point and about the most important thing. And they were right. Terkin simply, without pathos, speaks about the main thing, about what unites everyone:
There is no shame in losing your family - It was not your fault. It’s a shame to lose your head, but there’s a war going on. Losing a tobacco pouch with shag, If there is no one to do the sewing, - I don’t argue, is also bitter, It’s hard, but you can live, To survive a disaster, to hold tobacco in your fist, But Russia, the old mother, We can’t lose in any way.And we, following the author of “Vasily Terkin,” repeat the words spoken about Russian soldiers: “No, what an amazing people you guys are!” The people are patient, courageous, sensitive, wise, cheerful and amazing because they find a way out of such situations, overcome obstacles that seem impossible to overcome...
In the chapter “On Loss,” we again encounter the technique of lexical repetition, extremely characteristic of Tvardovsky, filled with psychological subtext, in which each time repeated words are supplemented with a new meaning. See, for example, a soldier's polylogue about who is better off in war - single or married:
- Single? That's for sure. You guessed it right. But believe me, I didn’t marry on purpose. Brother, I knew it! - What did you know! Who else would know better in advance, That the soldier will leave home, And the war will come home. That it will pass in a flood across the face of the living earth and force them to dig trenches in front of Moscow itself. What did you know!..In the first case, the words “I, brother, knew” were spoken by Terkin the joker, who had not yet deeply experienced the experience of war losses. Terkin utters these words after his story about a nurse from the medical battalion who gave him, the wounded man, her hat and with whom he hopes to meet and gallantly return the hat to her:
Allow me to present you with a piece of clothing when we meet Head...This lightened, slightly Don Juan tone in a conversation about the most precious things - family, children - evokes sharp rejection and correction on the part of the bearded soldier, who lost “both his yard and his hut,” and on the part of the author, who is worldly wiser and knows more about Terkin . Monologue-reproach “What did you know!” formally highlighted as direct speech and belongs to a bearded soldier, but the view as if from the outside (it is “from the outside” that one can say generally about a soldier in general: “... a soldier will leave home...”) and the nature of the vision, the generalization of the war convinces the fact that behind these words is the author. In the second case, the author’s exclamation-question “What did you know!” in tone it partially repeats (quotes) Terkin’s previous exclamation, it is also accompanied by an exclamation mark (here a questioning stern intonation already appears), but it is different in emotional content: the author’s words sound like an irritated bitter reproach to the “goofing around” Terkin. This irritation is caused by some of Terkin’s boasting, the excessiveness of the knowledge he has assumed. Not only Terkin, but no one “knew” whether there would be a war and what kind of war it would be. And finally, in the latter case“What did you know!..” retains the exclamation point, but an ellipsis is added, setting the intonation of bitter reflection. And, despite the exclamation mark, the final words sound quiet, mournful. Thus, the lexical and intonation repetition here (and at the same time the variation of the topic) sounds new each time, conveys different emotional content, a wide range of feelings: from jokes to grief. This versatility and depth of psychological experience are extremely characteristic of Tvardovsky: he always sees its various facets in a phenomenon, event and object.