Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov
Listening to the horrors of war,
With every new casualty of the battle
I feel sorry for not my friend, not my wife,
I'm sorry not for the hero himself...
Alas! the wife will be comforted,
And the best friend will forget the friend;
But somewhere there is one soul -
She will remember it to the grave!
Among our hypocritical deeds
And all sorts of vulgarity and prose
Some of them I looked into the world
Holy, sincere tears -
Those are the tears of poor mothers!
They will not forget their children,
Those who died in the bloody field,
How not to pick up a weeping willow
Its drooping branches...
Historically, Russia has constantly taken part in various military campaigns throughout its history. However, the honor of the fatherland was defended not so much by eminent commanders as by ordinary peasants. Even after the abolition of serfdom, the period of military service was 25 years. This meant that a young guy, drafted as a soldier, returned home as an old man. If, of course, he managed to survive in a mortal battle with yet another external enemy of the Russian state.
Nikolai Nekrasov was born after Russia defeated the French in 1812. However, even from his family estate, peasants were constantly taken away for military service. Many of them never returned home, remaining lying in the Caucasian steppes. From childhood, the poet saw how much grief the news brought to families that a father, son or brother had died in another war. However, the future poet understood that time heals, and almost everyone soon comes to terms with such a loss, except mothers, for whom the death of their own child is one of the most terrible and bitter trials.
In 1855, impressed by another trip to Nikolai’s native estate, Nekrasov wrote the poem “Hearing the Horrors of War...”, in which he tried to morally support all mothers who, by the will of fate, lost their sons. Discussing the topic of life and death, the poet writes that “with each new victim of battle, I feel sorry not for my friend, not for my wife, but not for the hero himself.”
The author emphasizes that no matter how deep the mental wound is, sooner or later it will heal. The widow will find solace in everyday troubles, the children will grow up with the thought that their father did not give his life for his homeland in vain. However, the mothers of the fallen soldiers will never be able to cope with their all-consuming grief and come to terms with such a loss. “She won’t forget until the grave!” the poet notes, emphasizing that the tears of a mother who lost her son in the war are “holy” and “sincere.” Such women will never recover from the blow they received from fate, “just as a weeping willow will not raise its drooping branches.”
Despite the fact that this poem was written a century and a half ago, it has not lost its relevance today. It is unlikely that Nekrasov could have imagined that even in the 21st century Russia would still be at war. However, he knew for sure that the only people who would always remember the fallen soldiers were their old mothers, for whom their sons would always remain the best.
Historically, Russia has constantly taken part in various military campaigns throughout its history. However, the honor of the fatherland was defended not so much by eminent commanders as by ordinary peasants. Even after the abolition of serfdom, the period of military service was 25 years. This meant that a young guy, drafted as a soldier, returned home as an old man. If, of course, he managed to survive in a mortal battle with yet another external enemy of the Russian state.
Nikolai Nekrasov was born after Russia defeated the French in 1812. However, even from his family estate, peasants were constantly taken away for military service. Many of them never returned home, remaining lying in the Caucasian steppes. From childhood, the poet saw how much grief the news brought to families that a father, son or brother had died in another war. However, the future poet understood that time heals, and almost everyone soon comes to terms with such a loss, except mothers, for whom the death of their own child is one of the most terrible and bitter trials.
Despite the fact that this poem was written a century and a half ago, it has not lost its relevance today. It is unlikely that Nekrasov could have imagined that even in the 21st century Russia would still be at war. However, he knew for sure that the only people who would always remember the fallen soldiers were their old mothers, for whom their sons would always remain the best.
Source: http://pishi-stihi.ru/
“Hearing the horrors of war...” Nikolai Nekrasov
Listening to the horrors of war,
With every new casualty of the battle
I feel sorry for not my friend, not my wife,
I'm sorry not for the hero himself...
Alas! the wife will be comforted,
And the best friend will forget the friend;
But somewhere there is one soul -
She will remember it to the grave!
Among our hypocritical deeds
And all sorts of vulgarity and prose
Some of them I looked into the world
Holy, sincere tears -
Those are the tears of poor mothers!
They will not forget their children,
Those who died in the bloody field,
How not to pick up a weeping willow
Its drooping branches...
Yakov Smolensky
Date of birth: February 28, 1920 - March 09, 1995
People's Artist of the RSFSR (1988).
Actor, reader, professor, full member of the Academy of Humanities. An interuniversity reading competition at the Shchukin Theater School is named after him, participation in which opened the way to the theater world for many aspiring talented artists. After graduating from school, he entered the Faculty of Philology of Leningrad State University, from which he did not have the opportunity to graduate - the Great Patriotic War began. From his third year, Smolensky volunteered for the front, was seriously wounded, then - hospital, blockade, evacuation to Omsk, where the Vakhtangov Theater was located at that time. There he entered the Shchukin School, after which he became an actor at the Yevgeny Vakhtangov Theater, where he worked for more than 10 years. It was then that Yakov Mikhailovich began performing on the literary stage. 50 years of work at the Moscow State Philharmonic have given lovers of the art of reading a great variety of programs by Yakov Smolensky.
“Hearing the Horrors of War” is a poem that will never “grow old.” There are no descriptions of the battle, but the psychological characteristics of the rear amaze the reader. Schoolchildren study it in 8th grade. We invite you to learn more about the poem using a brief analysis of “Hearing the Horrors of War” according to plan.
Brief Analysis
History of creation- the work was written in the last years of the Crimean War under the impression of “Sevastopol Stories” by L. N. Tolstoy. Researchers cite different dates for the creation of the poems: 1855 and 1856.
Theme of the poem– maternal love and grief of a mother for her son killed in the war.
Composition– N. Nekrasov’s poem can be conditionally divided into two semantic parts: a discussion about the friend and wife of the heroes who died in the war and a story about a mother’s tears. The text of the work is not divided into stanzas.
Genre- elegy.
Poetic size– iambic tetrameter, the poem presents all types of rhyme.
Metaphors – “She will remember it to the grave”(about the soul) "bloody field".
Epithets – "hypocritical deeds", “holy, sincere tears”, “poor mothers”, “weeping willow”.
Comparisons – “They can’t forget their children... just as a weeping willow can’t lift up its drooping branches.”
History of creation
The history of the creation of the analyzed work is connected with the Crimean War, although Nekrasov himself was not a participant in it. L.N. Tolstoy was in the service. The young writer, impressed by the bloody events, wrote “Sevastopol Stories,” which were published in 1855. Some chapters of L. Tolstoy’s works were read to Nekrasov even before publication. Stories that truthfully depict the war impressed the poet. Soon the poems “Hearing the Horrors of War” appeared from his pen.
But not only this fact prompted the creation of the work. Nikolai Alekseevich's father was a landowner and military man. Its peasants were often taken into service and not all the soldiers returned home, because at that time Russia took part in many bloody battles. Thus, Nekrasov knew from childhood what maternal grief was.
Subject
The work reveals a military theme, but the author describes not bloody battles, but behind the scenes of the battles. At the center of the poem are several images: the hero-soldier, his wife, friend and mother. The lyrical hero talks about them, so the lines are written in the first person. Knowing the history of the work, it can be argued that the lyrical hero merges with the author.
In the first verses, the lyrical hero admits that, imagining the horrors of bloody events, he does not feel sorry for those who died in the war, nor for their friends or wives. He argues his position by saying that his friend and wife quickly forget the deceased. The lyrical hero contrasts them with the “soul”, which will preserve the memory of the soldier until death. This is the soul of the mother.
The lyrical hero is deeply struck by his mother’s tears, because they are sincere. You won't find such tears in the world anymore. They once again confirm that mothers never forget the children whom the war took from them. In the last lines, the mother is compared to a weeping willow.
In the context of this topic, an eternal idea is realized. The author claims that there is no love stronger and more sincere than maternal love.
Nikolai Alekseevich so subtly revealed the problems of maternal love and the essence of bloody events that the work left a mark not only in literature, but also in music: many composers of the 19th-20th centuries turned to it.
Composition
The composition of the poem is simple. It can be conditionally distinguished into two semantic parts: a discussion about the friend and wife of the heroes who died in the war and a story about a mother’s tears. The text of the work is not divided into stanzas.
Genre
The genre of the work is elegy, as the author speaks with bitterness and disappointment about the friend and wife of the deceased, and pities his mother. The poetic meter is iambic tetrameter. N. Nekrasov used all types of rhyme: cross ABAB, parallel AABB and ring ABBA.
Means of expression
In the text of the work, the author uses means of expression. There are not very many of them, but these are the main tools for revealing the topic and implementing the idea. Also, with the help of them, the image of the lyrical hero is created, his feelings and emotions are reproduced.
Dominate the poem epithets: ““hypocritical deeds”, “holy, sincere tears”, “poor mothers”, “weeping willow”. Metaphors They give expressiveness to feelings and emotions: “she will remember until the grave” (about the soul), “bloody field”. In the last lines used comparison, which allows the author to draw a parallel between man and nature: “they cannot forget their children... just as a weeping willow cannot lift up its drooping branches.”
In some stanzas the emotional background is created using alliteration radios for example, for example, grief is emphasized by words with the consonant “s”: “holy, sincere tears.”
Poem test
Rating Analysis
Average rating: 4.7. Total ratings received: 21.