Artistic means listening to the horrors of war. Analysis of the poem “Hearing the Horrors of War” by Nekrasov. Municipal educational institution
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is a poet of amazingly soulful lyricism, deep warmth and tenderness. His poems, often sad and melodic, resemble folk songs telling about the life of a common man, his sufferings and sorrows. The poem “Hearing the Horrors of War...”, dedicated to the Crimean War of 1853-1856, sounds strikingly modern. Years and decades pass, centuries replace each other, and the world of people is surprisingly constant in its delusions. Wars do not stop on earth; they have become bloodier and more terrible than those seen by poets and writers of the 19th century.
From the very first line one can hear the artist’s uncompromising attitude towards war - a senseless massacre that can and should be avoided:
Listening to the horrors of war,
With every new battle casualty...
Knowing and understanding perfectly well the reason for this terrible phenomenon, people do not want to stop it. And “holy, sincere tears” are shed by the completely innocent, defenseless and weak. Probably, the world has gone crazy if it doesn’t learn anything, but continues to pay a terrible price with young people who have not yet lived, who have not had time to enjoy life, boys going to death, who have not even had time to leave a significant memory of themselves. Reading N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Hearing the horrors of war...”, you are amazed at its universality. The work is strikingly timely, it reminds the living of the eternal value of life; it seems that only mothers who give life understand its sacred purpose. And the madmen who drag new generations into wars do not want to understand anything. They don't hear the voice of reason. To how many Russian mothers is this poem close and understandable:
I've spied the only ones in 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...
A small poem of only 17 lines amazes with the depth of humanism contained in it. The poet’s language is laconic and simple, there are no detailed or complex metaphors, only precise epithets emphasizing the artist’s intention: deeds are “hypocritical”, since they do not lead to the end of wars, only tears are “sincere”, and they are “only” sincere, everything else is a lie . The poet’s conclusion is scary that both his friend and his wife will forget - he also ranks them among the “hypocritical” world.
The poem ends with a comparison, in folklore style, of mothers with a drooping weeping willow. The use of a folklore image gives the work a generalizing meaning: it is not about just the Crimean War - it is about all of them, after which mothers and nature itself weep:
Don't lift the weeping willow
Of its drooping branches...
The poem is written in the first person; this form allows the author to address readers as close people who well understand what the poet wants to tell them. This is a message from far away in our turbulent and difficult times.
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
I've spied the only ones in 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...
Analysis of the poem “Hearing the Horrors of War” by Nekrasov
Russian poets of the 19th century did not often address the topic of military disasters. Throughout its history, Russia has been forced to wage constant wars. The main losses were borne by the peasant population, so the ruling class was not too concerned about the people's grief. Nekrasov was one of the first to turn in his work to the suffering of the common people. He could not ignore the troubles caused by wars. A striking example was the poem “Hearing the Horrors of War...” (1855).
Nekrasov claims that any war brings great grief. He understands that this is inevitable. The friends of the victims, their wives and children are suffering. But the poet is ready to come to terms with such losses. He doesn’t even feel sorry for “the hero himself.” He considers the most terrible thing to be the inconsolable grief of mothers. No victory can be justified by the loss of one's own son. Nekrasov believes that only maternal tears are the most “holy, sincere.” Even the closest person will someday be able to forget about the deceased and start a new life. But the mother will always remember who she carried under her heart.
Any woman is, first of all, a mother. Her goal and meaning of existence becomes the birth of a child. Thus, it supports life on the entire planet. This is the basic human law. People themselves strive for self-destruction. Death in war is unnatural, so a loving mother will never come to terms with it.
Nekrasov was one of the first in Russian poetry to raise the question of the need for war. In his time, it was customary to glorify the victories of the Russian army. The experiences applied only to those people who accomplished a posthumous feat. The poet drew public attention to the evil that war brings to soldiers’ mothers. Even nationwide rejoicing over the victory will not be able to drown out the mother’s grief.
The time of creation of the poem is of particular importance. One could understand the sacrifices made during the Patriotic War of 1812, when all of Russia was under threat. But during this period there was the Crimean War, which was unpopular among the people. Even the soldiers themselves did not understand why they were dying.
The topic raised by Nekrasov received great development in subsequent years. Famous poets and writers often turned to her. It is still relevant today. Universal peace on Earth has never been achieved. Wars do not stop and continue to cause suffering to millions of mothers.
“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...
Analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “Hearing the horrors of war...”
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.
“Hearing the horrors of war” Nekrasov
« Listening to the horrors of war » analysis of the work - theme, idea, genre, plot, composition, characters, issues and other issues are discussed in this article.
History of creation
The poem “Hearing the horrors of war” was written in 1855 and published in the magazine “Contemporary” No. 2 for 1856. The thoughts expressed in the poem were inspired by the Crimean War of 1853-1856 to the author. Nekrasov was influenced by L. Tolstoy’s “Sevastopol Stories,” published in 1855. Tolstoy read individual chapters of the stories “Sevastopol in August 1855” and “Sevastopol in May” to Nekrasov before appearing in print. The poem polemicizes with Tolstoy’s thoughts that relatives quickly forget about the dead.
The poem was circulated in lists and copied into albums. Many composers of the 19th and 20th centuries set it to music.
Literary direction, genre
The poem by the realistic poet Nekrasov, “Hearing the Horrors of War,” belongs to the genre of elegy. These are philosophical thoughts about the fate of a woman-mother who lost a child in war, about the uselessness and horror of war as a social phenomenon, about the ability of people to forget their loved ones.
Theme, main idea and composition
The poem consists of 17 stanzas (three quatrains and one pentaverse). In the first two stanzas, the last stanza is a riddle.
In the first stanza, Nekrasov shows his attitude towards war (it is terrible, it cannot be ignored, but only heeded). From the point of view of the lyrical hero, it is not the friend of the murdered man, not his wife, or even himself who causes pity. Who? This is the first riddle.
In the second stanza, the lyrical hero states with regret that it is common for a person (wife, friend) to forget loved ones. But there is a soul that will remember until the grave. What kind of soul is this? This is the second riddle.
In the third stanza, the holiness and sincerity of the tears of this soul are contrasted with the hypocrisy, vulgarity and prose of earthly existence.
At the very beginning of the last stanza, the mystery of this remembering soul is revealed - the mystery of tears: “Those are the tears of poor mothers.” It is unnatural to forget the death of a child, just as it is unnatural for a tree with drooping branches to raise them. It is no coincidence that Nekrasov compares his mother to a weeping willow. Even the name of the tree brings him closer to his yearning mother. There's a play on words here crying(inconstant sign of the participle) and weeping(constant sign of an adjective). Nekrasov chooses the second because his mother’s tears are inexhaustible.
The theme of the poem is the grief of mothers who lost their sons in the war.
The main idea: death in war is senseless and inhumane, it is not worth the grief that it brings to the mothers of warriors. More deeply, war is eternal, it is a creation of the human mind, which neglects the value of human life. Only a mother who gives life is able to sincerely mourn her as the greatest value.
Paths and images
The epithets in the poem have a clear positive or negative connotation: hypocritical deeds - saints, sincere tears, poor mothers.
Metaphors bloody field(battlefield), to the grave(to death) won't forget close to folklore.
Nekrasov compares a mother who is unable to forget her child with a weeping willow that is not destined to raise its branches. This folklore comparison, close to artistic parallelism, allows us to achieve a high degree of generalization, making the problem of maternal grief universal. Philosophical thought moves from the fate of the mother to the fate of the homeland, from the death of a person to the historical laws of existence.
War destroys the natural order of things, forcing mothers to experience the death of their children. Thus, war turns all people, regardless of gender and age, into victims of a worldwide eternal battle and brings death.
Such philosophical subtext makes the poem relevant at all times.
The number in the poem is of great importance for understanding the essence of the poem: hero, wife, friend- But mothers. Community is opposed to individuality.
For Nekrasov, every word in poetry is important. He carefully builds rows of synonyms, contrasting them: will forget, be consoled(about his wife and friend) and - will remember until the grave, do not forget(about mothers).
At the beginning of the poem, a peculiar rhythm is created by repetitions I'm sorry, which, combined with negation, require a conclusion - the second part of the poem.
Meter and rhyme
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter with pyrrhic tetrameters. The rhyme of the first stanza is circular, the second and third are cross. The rhyme scheme of the last stanza is aaBBBa. Male rhyme alternates with female rhyme. Such variety in rhyme and pattern, as well as the uneven rhythm, creates a special melodiousness of the poem, bringing it closer to living speech.