Listening to the horrors of war size. Analysis of the poem by N.A. Nekrasov “Hearing the horrors of war...” methodological development on literature on the topic
“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: 23.
Among our hypocritical deeds
And all sorts of vulgarity and prose
I've spied the only ones in the world
Holy, sincere tears.
N. A. Nekrasov
The lyrics of N. A. Nekrasov are imbued with amazing, deep warmth and tenderness. His poems, often sad, with their melodiousness are reminiscent of folk songs telling about the life of a simple person, about his joys and sorrows, happiness and suffering. Many of the poet’s works are not limited to the framework of his time; their themes are in demand to this day. These include the poem “Listen to the horrors of war...”. Centuries and years replace each other, but human psychology remains unchanged. This poem was written 150 years ago, but humanity never heeded what the poet was talking about. Nekrasov created this work, being impressed by the events of the Crimean War and the defense of Sevastopol.
Listening to the horrors of war,
With every new battle casualty...
The poet uses the outdated word “heed,” which means “to perceive with both hearing and sight.” This word amazes with its capacity. It simultaneously absorbs the lexical meaning of the verbs “hear” and “see”. This reveals the amazing sensitivity of the poet, who sees the very essence of the event.
Yes, war, even the most sacred, is always terrible, always brings with it death and destruction, and brings grief to every home. War is suffering, not only for those who fight and die, but also for the people close to them. The wife and friend are grieving, but nothing compares to the grief of a mother who has lost her son.
Alas! The wife will be consoled,
And the best friend will forget his friend,
But somewhere there is one soul -
She will remember it to the grave! The poet calls the mother’s sincere, hard-won tears “saints,” contrasting them with “hypocritical” “vulgarity” and the prosaic affairs of everyday life. Everything in the world passes, only maternal memory is eternal.
The comparison of a woman mourning her child with the image of a weeping willow has deep folk roots:
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... After all, the willow, popularly called the weeping willow, personifies the symbol of eternal sadness and sorrow.
The expression “bloody field” used by the author is also figurative. “Niva” - grain field, combined with the word “bloody”, takes on the opposite meaning to the original one. In people's minds, bread is always the source of life. In the poem, the field that gave birth to death appears before your eyes - a field strewn with corpses.
The poem “Hearing the Horrors of War...” is distinguished by a unique compositional structure: it is not divided into stanzas, which creates the impression of a text written “in one breath,” in the unity of feelings and thoughts. It is also important that the poem is presented in the first person, which is perceived as a quiet narration, filled with sadness, when the narrator addresses himself directly to everyone listening to him.
And, probably, everyone who reads this lyrical poem is imbued with the thought of the cruel senselessness of wars, which rob people of the most precious thing in life.
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov himself was not in the war. Against his father's wishes, he abandoned his military career.The writer expressed his thoughts and attitude to life on the literary battlefield. The feelings that eyewitness accounts evoked in him were reflected in his personal works.
These works did not describe the battlefield, but no less reflected the suffering of the people. And the poem, “Hearing the Horrors of War,” is written in such a way that it will remain relevant for any time, no matter how many years have passed since its writing.
The history of writing the poem
To this day, the question remains open in what code the work was written. Most writers tend to attribute it to 1855. But many believe that this is 1856, in which it immediately saw the light in the Sovremennik magazine.At this time, the Crimean War was going on and many representatives of the Russian nobility took part in it. So there was a young talented author, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, on the front line. Despite the horrors and hardships of the siege, while commanding a battery, he found time to write his stories.
While in Sevastopol for quite a long time, from November 1854 to August 1855, young Lev Nikolaevich managed to write three stories about his impressions. He combined them into one cycle “Sevastopol Stories”. These stories were quickly published in Sovremennik and had unprecedented success. We can say that Tolstoy consecrated and showed all the horrors as a war correspondent. But the correspondent is not devoid of literary talent.
Of course, it was not only the impressions from “Sevastopol Stories” that helped give birth to a small but such a powerful work as “Hearing the Horrors of War.”
Nikolai Alekseevich had his own opinion about the soldier’s fate. His father was a military man. He himself spent his childhood close to peasant families and knew that soldiers were constantly taken from their estates for service. By law, men were required to repay their debt to their fatherland for 25 years. After all, Russia constantly took part in military campaigns. And not everyone returned home.
When Nekrasov wrote his review of Leo Tolstoy’s third story, “Sevastopol in August 1855,” he put it this way: “And how many tears will be shed and are already shed over poor Volodya! Poor, poor old women, lost in the unknown corners of vast Rus', unfortunate mothers of heroes who died in the glorious defense!..”
So, under the influence of the tense military situation, this poem appeared.
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
Of its drooping branches...
Analysis of the poem
Nekrasov wrote this verse in the first person. The narrator seems to be addressing the readers as friends, simply and clearly. Condemning the war, he involuntarily calls for empathy for everyone affected by this topic. And a special place is given to mothers.As a rule, the poet puts the main idea of a poem in its title. When there is no title, it is customary in literature to name a verse by its first line.
Very often, poets deliberately do not give their works titles, as if leaving the reader the opportunity to make their own choice. In this case, the first line is universal, and it is impossible to more accurately and quickly immerse the reader in a short story about the horrors of war. This is probably why Nikolai Alekseevich did not give the poem a title.
The verse touches the heart from the first word. “Hearing” means sensing in all possible ways: hearing, sight, thoughts, penetration into the very essence. “The horrors of war” - every new victim is someone’s life. The life of a Russian hero and defender.
Not only the combat crews suffer from losses, everyone who knew the deceased hero suffers. Comrades in arms for whom military brotherhood was a matter of honor. The hero’s loved ones suffer: wife, children, other relatives.
It is no coincidence that the poet puts an ellipsis after the fourth line. The narrator seems to offer to continue the list of possible relatives and friends, including the hero himself.
This is real philosophical reflection. The writer does not blame anyone for the fact that over time people will forget about the grief that befell them - this is how people work.
✔ Comrade warrior himself looks death in the face every day.
✔ A friend who did not serve will be sad, but everyday vanity will erase the portrait of a former comrade in his memory.
✔ The wife, of course, will grieve in her own way. Probably remembering the time that once united them into a family. But everyday worries about the house and children will gradually blur the image of your loved one.
✔
Children may not remember their father at all, but they may be proud of him.
And against the background of these blurred sorrows, the poet vividly draws an unrevealed image of a soul that will remember everything until the grave. The narrator does not yet say who he is talking about, but everything becomes clear to the reader.
The author chooses words that cannot leave anyone indifferent. “Holy, sincere tears” - the tears with which mothers mourn their sons permeate the entire narrative with deep sorrow. These tears are not put on public display. The writer “spied” them. The mother will never recover from the grief that befell her, “just as a weeping willow cannot raise its drooping branches.” Such a folklore comparison easily reveals the poet’s intention. Russians always associate willow with sadness, despair, melancholy, and dejection. And Nekrasov, as a Russian person, took this comparison very successfully.
The author uses an extremely unusual metaphor at the end of the work: “bloody field.” Usually the word “niva” is associated with creation and rebirth. After all, a field is fertile land, carefully cultivated by a grain grower. Niva is a large field that allows a person to feed. And the bloody field is also a huge field, only its image is not creative, but destructive. A field strewn not with bread, but with corpses - this is what the narrator draws in the reader’s imagination.
The main idea of the work
The main idea is a protest against war, a protest against death and human grief. This is a call for peace and humanism.
That is why the poem written more than 160 years ago remains relevant. We all sympathize with relatives who have lost their loved ones in any hostilities.
No matter how sacred the war is, it brings grief and tears, and the bitterest tears are the tears of a mother, for whom her hero son remains just a child. It is the one that gives life, as no one understands its value.
Through sympathy for the mother, there should be a desire to act against military action, violence, tyranny, terror.
The life of a poem in our time
Many talented composers were inspired by the heartfelt poems of “Hearing the Horrors of War,” and at different times created songs and romances. One of the first was the Russian composer Caesar Antonovich Cui.Poems that are strong in content are written in such a way that they have a special melodiousness. This is facilitated by iambic tetrameter and the alternation of masculine and feminine rhymes.
Some philharmonic choirs like to perform this work.
To make sure that a verse lives a full life, just turn to the Internet. “Hearing the Horrors of War” is read by children, youth, adults, pensioners, ordinary readers and folk artists.
This verse can often be heard in concert programs dedicated to Victory Day or in memory of heroes. As a rule, it is read in a quiet, soulful voice, against the backdrop of calm lyrical music.
And each such reading is a tribute to the talent of the great poet, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, who created a masterpiece that can touch the most subtle strings of the human soul.
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.
