The most famous work of A.T. Twardowski was the poem "Vasily Terkin", beloved by the Russian people since the time of the Second World War. This is already proved by the fact that in 1995 a monument was erected in the writer’s homeland, in the center of Smolensk. Like living, they are talking, cast from bronze, Alexander Trifonovich and his famous hero with an accordion in his hands. These sculptures are a symbol of memory of a strong Russian character, able to survive everything for the sake of saving the Motherland.
Genre features of the work
In literature, it is customary to attribute “Vasily Terkin” to poems. However, the writer himself was not so categorical in this matter.
First, you need to pay attention to the subtitle "Book about a fighter" made by the author. This is already suggesting some kind of unconventional work. Indeed, the content lacks as such a plot connectedness of the chapters, there is no climax, and the question of completeness is rather controversial. The main reason is that the work "Vasily Terkin" was written in chapters, which became an instant response to events at the front.
Secondly, Twardowski’s notes are preserved, where he speaks about the genre: "... the chronicle is not a chronicle, the chronicle is not a chronicle ...". This is confirmed by the fact that the basis of the work was real events, beaten by the author.
Thus, this is a unique book, which is an encyclopedia of the life of the people in the terrible war years for them. And the main thing in it is that the writer was able to masterfully depict the 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 primarily to the ordinary soldier who fought in the trenches. This determined its composition: independent chapters (in the post-war publication the author left 29, including 5 “author's” chapters) with a separate plot. “Without a beginning, without an end, without a special plot” - this is how Twardovsky defined the features of the “Book about a Soldier”. This approach was explained quite simply: in wartime it was not possible to fully read the poem "Vasily Terkin." The chapters, which were united by the image of the protagonist, who always turned out to be in the center of events, spoke about some important moment of 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, which appears either as a joker and a merry fellow, then as a jack of all trades and a skilled harmonist, then as a courageous and loyal fighter. Twardowski does not give a detailed description of the appearance of the hero: his features are as realistic as possible and characteristic of most people. There is no clear indication of his place of residence, although it can be understood from the author's retreat that Tvardovsky and Terkin are countrymen. This approach deprives the hero of individuality and gives the image a generalized character. That is why each reader found familiar features in Terkin and took him for his own.
The hero, a former land worker, sees war as an important job. It is shown either on a halt, now in a peasant's hut, now swimming across a river, then discussing a well-deserved reward, sometimes playing an accordion ... It doesn’t matter what situation a lot of people who have experienced (the connection of the surname with the word "grated") for their life Vasily Terkin have faced. An analysis of his actions and behavior shows that even in such difficult conditions, he maintains a love of life and the best
human qualities, and he believes in victory in his comrades. The rhyme “Vasily-Russia”, which is used several times in the text and emphasizes the truly folk features of the created image, is also interesting.
War image
The author also had a special approach to describing the scene of the poem “Vasily Terkin”. Text analysis shows that there are practically no specific geographical names and an accurate chronology of events. Although it is quite definitely indicated the type of troops - infantry, since it was she who happened to experience more of all the hardships of front-line life.
An important role is played by the description of individual details and objects of a soldier’s life, which add up to one lively and large-scale picture of the war with the Nazis. Moreover, quite often the image of Terkin is associated with a warrior-hero of all "companies and times."
The image of the author
The important person in the poem is not only Vasily Terkin. An analysis of the chapters “From the Author” allows us to introduce the narrator and at the same time the intermediary between the hero and the readers.
This is a man who himself experienced the full hardships of the war (A.T. Tvardovsky from the first days went to the front as a correspondent). In his thoughts, the characterization of the hero is given (in the first place the psychological aspect) and a popular assessment of the terrible events. The latter is especially important, especially since the front-line soldiers became the addressee of the poem (L. Ozerov described it as an assistant book in the war) and those who remained in the rear. The appearance of new chapters was eagerly awaited, and some of their parts were memorized.
The language and style of the poem "Vasily Terkin"
The theme of war is usually revealed through the use of sublime vocabulary. Twardowski departs from this tradition and writes a poem about an ordinary soldier, a man from the people in an easy, simple language. This gives the whole story and the image of the hero a natural and warmth. The author skillfully combines colloquial, sometimes even vernacular, and literary speech, resorts to turns and means of expressiveness of oral creativity, paraphrases small genres of folklore. These are numerous sayings and jokes (“your hut is on the edge now”), words with a diminutive meaning (son, falcon), constant epithets (“Godina is bitter”), expressions such as “the clear falcon has fluttered,” “praise and praise”.
Another feature is the abundance of dialogues in which there are many short incomplete sentences. They easily recreate pictures of everyday soldier life and make heroes 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 works of A.T. Twardowski, but also in all the literature of the war period. The author managed to show in her the heroic path of an ordinary fighter, which was Vasily Terkin. An analysis of the fighting events by their direct participant makes the story believable. Three parts of the poem tell about the decisive stages of the war: retreat, turning point and victorious procession to Berlin.
The action of the work ends simultaneously with victory, since its main task is to tell about the incredible courage of the Soviet people during the war against fascism - A.T. Twardowski fully complied.