Glorification of military feat in the poem by A.T. Tvardovsky “Vasily Terkin” (chapter “Duel”) - Essays, Abstracts, Reports

Already in the first chapter of his poem, Tvardovsky declares that one cannot live in war without a person like Terkin. What did the hero do to deserve the author's sympathy? Let's try to figure this out.

Vasily Terkin is a seasoned soldier. “Not the first shoes without repair” that he has to wear. However, the hero does not lose heart. While at a rest stop, he gathers a crowd of comrades around him and starts some kind of story. Most often cheerful.

B Alaguru looks into the mouth,

They catch the word greedily.

With his jokes, Terkin raises the general mood, makes you forget about all the hardships and smile. “It’s good that there is such a guy in the field,” states the author.

Terkin's image is typical. Tvardovsky himself says that “there are always such people in every company, and in every platoon,” and their role in the great victory is enormous. After all, it is “the spirit of the army” that “the outcome of the battle” depends, and the Terkins know how to raise this spirit.

Outwardly, the hero is unremarkable. He is an ordinary guy, not endowed with “excellent beauty,” but in war he is a “hero-hero.”

The image of Terkin is clearly revealed in the chapter “Re-rights”. Risking his own life, he swims across the icy river, thereby saving his comrades. In a critical situation, Terkin’s sense of humor does not fail. Having barely recovered from such a crossing, he jokes. The hero does not think about the fact that he has accomplished a real feat, does not boast of it.

Terkin’s behavior is worthy of admiration, described in the chapter “Terkin is wounded.” He holds the defense alone for 24 hours and almost loses his life. Using his last strength, talking to his “friends” who arrived in time, Terkin still manages to joke. In another episode, Terkin enters into a one-on-one duel with a German. Their strengths are unequal. But Terkin understands that he “cannot lose Russia, the old mother.” The hero is ready to face death face to face. He believes that “praying on your face is not good in war” and boldly shoots down a German plane with a rifle.

The hero performs his exploits “not for the sake of glory, but for the sake of life on earth.” He treats receiving the award with humor. She is not the main thing for him.

I don’t need it, brothers of the order,

I don't need fame

But I need, my Motherland is sick,

Native side!

This is how he motivates his truly heroic actions.

The accordion is a folk instrument, and its importance at the front can hardly be overestimated. The accordion unfolds—the Russian soul unfolds, and then the Russian man is ready for anything, ready to give his life for a piece of his native land. The accordion sings especially loudly in Terkin’s hands. He is irreplaceable here too. The “Memorable Motive” makes the fighters forget about the severe cold and the death of many comrades, and they all rush together into a dance, hot, passionate, Russian.

The author admires his hero not only at the front, but also in everyday life. Terkin has golden hands. He will easily fix any breakdown, eliminate the malfunction, and all this with jokes and humor. The ability to maintain presence of mind in any situation is Terkin’s most important trait. He infects the rest of the fighters with his optimism and love of life both when there is a battle in the swamp and in many other episodes.

And younger fighters

That this is the first time they are going like this,

At this hour everything is more expensive

One thing to know is that Terkin is here.

Terkin's love of life is amazing. He behaves confidently and boldly in conversation with Death.

I will cry, howl in pain,

Die in the field without a trace,

But of your own free will

I will never give up.

With these words, the hero defeats Death. Terkin calls himself “a great lover of life.”

The image of Terkin combines those national and universal human traits that the Russian people needed for victory. “A symbol of the victorious people,” wrote researcher Yu. Burtin ,— In Tvardovsky’s poem he became an ordinary person, an ordinary soldier. The poet made his life and military work, his experiences and thoughts understandable and close to us, his modest feat was glorified, and a living feeling of respect, gratitude and love was awakened for him.”

“Vasily Terkin” is a triumph of history, authentic and verified. The writer himself was a front-line writer, so he accurately described the events taking place during the Great Patriotic War. The action of this “combat” poem dates back to 1942. From the name alone it becomes clear that Vasily Terkin is a collective character, that there were thousands of such Terkins during the war, one in each company. Without them we would not have won; without them it would have been boring to defend.

Vasily Terkin is a character full of heroism. He is the embodiment of all Russian soldiers who guarded the border of their vast Motherland without fear. This is one of the key works of Alexander Tvardovsky, which immediately received popular recognition. Despite the fact that the hero of the poem is fictional, he personifies a soldier of the Great Patriotic War who went through the entire war and carried with him inexhaustible enthusiasm. But the main qualities of Tvardovsky’s hero are, of course, courage and bravery.

This is a person who never loses heart, can crack a joke even at the most difficult moments, and most importantly is not afraid of death, as evidenced by the chapters “The Crossing” and “Death and the Warrior.” His path is full of sad days and events, but as critics correctly note, this poem is rather optimistic, since one can feel faith in the final victory. Reading it for the first time, you might think that the central character is one person, one ordinary soldier. In fact, the central component is the people's spirit.

The generalized image of Terkin is not just the image of a joker and a merry fellow, but a real fighter who fought more than once, was surrounded more than once, and was one step away from death more than once. Terkin was even “partially exterminated,” but was reborn every time. As the poem says: “however, the warrior lives.” The war was difficult, the losses were great, but Vasily knew that the biggest drawback was a manifestation of despondency, unbelief and despair. Therefore, it behooves a soldier to be steadfast and confident.

These are the qualities needed on the battlefield. The author himself admires his hero, as if by chance praising him in every chapter. He has golden hands, he can play the accordion, and he can support his comrades in difficult times. In a word, Terkin is simply irreplaceable. He calls himself “a great lover of life.” When he returned to his company, the “new Terkin” was already there, only not Vasily, but Ivan. They started to argue, but the foreman said that each company “will be given its own Terkin.”

The main goal of the author, in my opinion, is to convey to the reader the humble exploits of his hero, both on the battlefield and in everyday life. The image of Terkin combines national and universal traits inherent in the Russian people. His life’s journey, even after many years, evokes respect and gratitude.

Vasily Terkin! 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 not quite twenty years 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 has become one of the favorite literary heroes of 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 poem “Vasily Terkin” is dated 1941-1945 - the difficult, terrible and heroic years of the struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders. In this work, Alexander Tvardovsky created the immortal image of a simple Soviet soldier, defender of the Fatherland, who became a kind of personification of deep patriotism and love for his Motherland.

History of creation

The poem began to be written in 1941. Selected excerpts were published in newspaper versions between 1942 and 1945. Also in 1942, the still unfinished work was published separately.

Oddly enough, work on the poem was started by Tvardovsky back in 1939. It was then that he already worked as a war correspondent and covered the progress of the Finnish military campaign in the newspaper “On Guard of the Motherland.” The name was coined in collaboration with members of the newspaper's editorial board. In 1940, a small brochure “Vasya Terkin at the Front” was published, which was considered a great reward among the soldiers.

The newspaper's readers liked the image of the Red Army soldier from the very beginning. Realizing this, Tvardovsky decided that this topic was promising and began to develop it.

From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, being at the front as a war correspondent, he found himself in the hottest battles. He gets surrounded with soldiers, gets out of it, retreats and goes on the attack, experiencing first-hand everything that he would like to write about.

In the spring of 1942, Tvardovsky arrived in Moscow, where he wrote the first chapters “From the Author” and “At a Rest”, and they were immediately published in the newspaper “Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda”.

Tvardovsky could not have imagined such an explosion of popularity even in his wildest dreams. The central publications “Pravda”, “Izvestia”, “Znamya” reprint excerpts from the poem. On the radio, texts are read by Orlov and Levitan. The artist Orest Vereisky creates illustrations that finally formulate the image of a fighter. Tvardovsky holds creative evenings in hospitals, and also meets with work teams in the rear, raising morale.

As always, what the common people liked did not receive the support of the party. Tvardovsky was criticized for pessimism, for not mentioning that the party is in charge of all accomplishments and achievements. In this regard, the author wanted to finish the poem in 1943, but grateful readers did not allow him to do this. Tvardovsky had to agree to censorship edits, in return he was awarded the Stalin Prize for his now immortal work. The poem was completed in March 1945 - it was then that the author wrote the chapter “In the Bath”.

Description of the work

The poem has 30 chapters, which can be roughly divided into 3 parts. In four chapters, Tvardovsky does not talk about the hero, but simply talks about the war, about how much ordinary Soviet men who stood up to defend their Motherland had to endure, and hints at the progress of work on the book. The role of these digressions cannot be downplayed - this is a dialogue between the author and the readers, which he conducts directly, even bypassing his hero.

There is no clear chronological sequence in the course of the story. Moreover, the author does not name specific battles and battles, however, individual battles and operations highlighted in the history of the Great Patriotic War are discernible in the poem: the retreat of Soviet troops, so common in 1941 and 1942, the battle of the Volga, and, of course, the capture Berlin.

There is no strict plot in the poem - and the author did not have the task of conveying the course of the war. The central chapter is “Crossing”. The main idea of ​​the work is clearly visible there - a military road. It is along this path that Terkin and his comrades move towards achieving their goal - complete victory over the Nazi invaders, and therefore, towards a new, better and free life.

Hero of the work

The main character is Vasily Terkin. A fictional character, cheerful, cheerful, straightforward, despite the difficult circumstances in which he lives during the war.

We observe Vasily in different situations - and everywhere we can note his positive qualities. Among his brothers-in-arms, he is the life of the party, a joker who always finds an opportunity to joke and make others laugh. When he goes on the attack, he is an example for other fighters, showing his qualities such as resourcefulness, courage, and endurance. When he rests after a fight, he can sing, he plays the accordion, but at the same time he can answer quite harshly and with humor. When soldiers meet civilians, Vasily is all charm and modesty.

Courage and dignity, shown in all, even the most hopeless situations, are the main features that distinguish the main character of the work and form his image.

All the other characters in the poem are abstract - they don’t even have names. The brothers-in-arms, the general, the old man and the old woman - they all just play along, helping to reveal the image of the main character - Vasily Terkin.

Analysis of the work

Since Vasily Terkin does not have a real prototype, we can safely say that this is a kind of collective image that was created by the author, based on his real observations of soldiers.

The work has one distinctive feature that sets it apart from similar works of that time - the absence of an ideological principle. The poem contains no praise for the party or Comrade Stalin personally. This, according to the author, “would destroy the idea and figurative structure of the poem.”

The work uses two poetic meters: tetrameter and trimeter trochee. The first dimension occurs much more often, the second - only in certain chapters. The language of the poem became a kind of Tvardovsky card. Some moments that look like sayings and lines from funny songs, as they say, “went among the people” and began to be used in everyday speech. For example, the phrase “No, guys, I’m not proud, I agree to a medal” or “Soldiers surrender cities, generals take them from them” are used by many today.

It was on people like the main character of this poem in verse that all the hardships of the war fell. And only their human qualities - fortitude, optimism, humor, the ability to laugh at others and at themselves, in time to defuse a tense situation to the limit - helped them not only win, but also survive in this terrible and merciless war.

The poem is still alive and loved by the people. In 2015, the Russian Reporter magazine conducted sociological research into hundreds of the most popular poems in Russia. Lines from “Vasily Terkin” took 28th place, which suggests that the memory of the events of 70 years ago and the feat of those heroes is still alive in our memory.