Excerpts from a poem by the right of memory. BUT

The author recalls how, in their distant youth, with a friend, they lived with a cherished plan to reach all the sciences. It seemed to friends that they had nothing to do with any obstacles, since the main thing in life is not to be a coward, not to lie, to love your land, to be faithful to the people. Young people imagined how they would later return to their homeland as magnificent Moscow guests, how their parents would be proud and the girls would die at the dances. No one could guess what fate had in store for them in the future. Now it seems to the author that those youthful dreams visited his "life ago" - he had to endure so much over the past years.

2. The son is not responsible for the father

These five words were spoken in the Kremlin hall by the "arbiter of earthly" destinies, I. Stalin. The author appeals to the younger generation, for whom it is already difficult to imagine what resonance this short phrase had in society. For the people of his, the author, generation, the questionnaire column about the origin had an "ominous" meaning. In Stalin's time, those who were not lucky with the count, substituted their foreheads "for an indelible mark" in order to always be at hand, "in case of a shortage of class enemies." The closest friends turned away and were afraid to say a word in defense of the “son of the enemy of the people”, who, in most cases, did not personally guilty of anything before the regime, but had to bear the punishment for the “sin” of his father. After Stalin's historic statement, one could thank the leader for forgiving his own father.

However, it didn’t occur to Stalin in time that such a “rehabilitated” son could well answer for the unjustly convicted father - the one who always worked in the sweat of his brow, and when he came home to dine, he laid his tired working hands on the table. There were no separate calluses on these hands - it was solid.

The author hears accusations of compassion in his address, in an attempt to look at things "from the kulak bell tower" and "pour water on the enemy's mill." The author is already tired of “hearing the echo of ancient years”, because neither the bell towers nor the mills of those have been in the world for a long time. On the other hand, the peasant himself, the “goofed assistant” of the Soviet government, did not reproach her for anything, but only glorified and thanked her for the “long-awaited land”. . The peasants, evicted from their homes, did not lose heart, and moved into the working class. Now this honorable path was open to them: after all, the son did not answer for his father. However, soon everything went back to normal. The country seemed to lack branded sons. Only war provided "the right to die and even a share of glory." It was only terrible to be missing or to be captured. Then it was necessary to proceed under the thunder of victory with a double stigma from captivity to captivity. It is unlikely that the Motherland became happier by gathering the army of her sons under the sky of Magadan. The Soviet people had a new god in the face of Stalin, who called “reject your father and your mother” ... This was especially true of the national outskirts, resettled peoples - the Crimean Tatars, etc. The author testifies that the father should just answer with his head for his son , and it is a pity that Stalin himself did not become the defendant either for his son or for his daughter.

3. About memory

The author believes that one should not forget the "Way of the Cross" of those who became "camp dust". However, this is constantly “ordered to forget and asked for kindness” in order not to embarrass the uninitiated with publicity. However, the author does not see the uninitiated around him: the whole country knew about the repressions, even if they did not personally touch a person, then for sure “in passing, in passing”. It is from the poet that he will subsequently be “punished”, he will be obliged to explain to the “inquisitive daughter-Komsomol member”, “why and whose guardianship attributed the unnamed century of bad memory to the forgotten article”. The new generation should also know the truth about the past, because "he who hides the past jealously is unlikely to be in harmony with the future." The author thinks that the incredible popularity of Stalin among the people, despite all his accomplishments, was explained, among other things, by the fact that we always applauded not only him. It seemed that Lenin was always there - the one who did not like applause. It is no coincidence that there was a saying among the people: "Now, if Lenin got up from the coffin, he looked at everything that had become." The author compares such judgments with the childish babble of irresponsible people. We ourselves are to blame for everything that happened, it is up to us to clear up the porridge we have brewed, "and Lenin will not judge us." If you really want to "return the former grace", the author advises to call the spirit of Stalin: "He was a god, he can get up." In addition, Stalin's "eternal life" continues in his Chinese successor (Mao Tse Tung).

The work is primarily remarkable in that it was a sincere attempt by a person of the older generation to comprehend the tragic pages of the country's history associated with the repressions of the 30s and Stalin's "personality cult". In his own destiny ("the son of the enemies of the people"), the author sees a reflection of the fate of millions of undeservedly humiliated people, he urges not to forget the people illegally exterminated in the camps. At the same time, the work is a typical example of the work of the so-called "sixties" and it reflects not only the themes and "social problems" characteristic of figures and - more broadly - the generation of the sixties, but also their inherent illusions, in particular, about the perversion of Lenin's ideas by Stalin , about the original fidelity of the "idea", about "returning to Lenin", and so on.

In genre and thematic terms, this is a lyrical and philosophical reflection, a “travel diary”, with a weakened plot. The protagonists of the poem are the vast Soviet country, its people, the rapid turn of their deeds and accomplishments. The text of the poem contains a playful confession of the author, a passenger on the Moscow-Vladivostok train. Three distances the artist sees: the immensity of the geographical expanses of Russia; historical distance as the continuity of generations and awareness of the inseparable connection of times and destinies, and finally, the bottomlessness of the moral storehouses of the soul of the lyrical hero.

The poem "By the Right of Memory" was originally conceived by the author as one of the "additional" chapters to the poem "Beyond the distance - the distance", acquired an independent character in the course of work. Although “By the Right of Memory” does not have a genre designation in the subtitle, and the poet himself, true to the concepts of literary modesty, sometimes called this work a poetic “cycle”, it is quite obvious that this is a lyric poem, the last major work of the author of Vasily Terkin. It was completed and prepared for publication by the poet himself two years before his death.

In the introduction, Tvardovsky declares that these are frank lines, a confession of the soul:

In the face of the past
You have no right to prevaricate, -
After all, these were paid
We pay the biggest ...

The composition of the poem is divided into three parts. In the first part, the poet recalls his youthful dreams and plans with a warm feeling, a little ironically.

And where, which of us will have to,
In what year, in what region
Behind the cock that hoarseness
Hear your youth.

These dreams are pure and lofty: to live and work for the good of the Motherland. And if necessary, then give his life for her. Beautiful youthful dreams. The poet recalls with slight bitterness that naive time and young people who could not even imagine how many difficult and severe trials fate was preparing for them:

We were ready to go
What could be easier:
Loving mother earth
So that for her into fire and water.
What if -
That and life to give ...
Only from myself now d-

add.
Which is easier, yes.
But what is more difficult?

The second chapter "The son is not responsible for the father" is the most tragic in the poem, and in all creativity. The illegally dispossessed Tvardovsky family was exiled to Siberia. Only Alexander Trifonovich remained in Russia due to the fact that he lived separately from his family in Smolensk. He could not alleviate the fate of the exiled. In fact, he abandoned his family. This tormented the poet all his life. This non-healing wound of Tvardovsky resulted in the poem "By the Right of Memory".

The end of your dashing adversity,
Stay strong, don't hide your face.
Thank the father of nations.
That he forgave you father.

A difficult time that philosophers cannot understand for fifty years later. And what can we say about a young man who firmly believes in official propaganda and ideology. The duality of the situation is reflected in the poem.

Yes, he knew without reservations,
Suddenly - how it will bake -
Any miscalculations heap
Transfer to someone's account:
On someone's enemy's distortion
That which proclaimed the covenant.
For someone's dizziness
From their predicted victories.

In the third chapter of the poem, Tvardovsky asserts the human right to memory. We have no right to forget anything. As long as we remember, our ancestors, their deeds and deeds are “alive”. Memory is the privilege of man, and he cannot voluntarily give up God's gift to please anyone. The poet claims:

Who hides the past jealously
He is unlikely to be in harmony with the future ...

This poem is a kind of repentance of Tvardovsky for his youthful deeds and mistakes. We all make mistakes in our youth, sometimes fatal ones, but this does not give rise to poems in us. For a great poet, even grief and tears pour out into brilliant verses.

And what are you doing now
Return the former grace,
So you call Stalin -
He was God
He can get up.

1. Before departure

The author recalls the events of his distant youth: together with a friend, they “either reading someone’s lines aloud, / then suddenly losing the connection of speeches,” cherished the thought “suddenly seize / To all sciences.” It seemed to them that all obstacles can be overcome, and the main thing in life is “not to lie. / Do not be a coward, be faithful to the people. / To love the native land-mother. Friends imagined how later they would return to their homeland as Moscow guests, how proud their parents would be of them, what effect they would have at the girls' dances. But they could not imagine how their fate would turn upside down, how much everything would change. Now it seems to the author that "life ago" was visited by their youthful dreams - they had to endure too much terrible things over the years.

2. The son is not responsible for the father

“The son is not responsible for the father” - these five words “dropped in the Kremlin hall / The one who was one for all of us / the arbiter of the earthly fate”, - Stalin. Bitter sarcasm sounds in the words of the author:

The author is trying to explain to the younger generation, which can hardly imagine what these words of the leader were for people who were "guilty without guilt." For people of the generation of the author, the graph about the origin in the questionnaire had an "ominous" meaning. Those whose profile was "spoiled", who were "unlucky with the count", in Stalin's time, substituted their foreheads "for an indelible mark" - "the son of an enemy of the people." This was necessary in order to "always be at hand - in case / Lack of class enemies." The closest friends turned away from such people, they were afraid to defend people who were not guilty of anything before the regime. The only fault of the “sons of the enemies of the people” was that they were the children of their fathers. After Stalin's significant statement, one could "thank / the father of peoples, / That he forgave your father / dear."

Stalin did not think in time that any of these unexpectedly "rehabilitated" sons could answer for the unjustly convicted father, who always worked honestly, coming home for dinner, putting his working hands on the table. On his hands “there were no separate calluses - / Solid. / Truly - a fist! The author is accused of compassion, in an attempt to look at things "from the kulak bell tower" and pour water "on the enemy's mill." But the author says that he is tired of "hearing the echo of ancient years: / Neither those mills nor the bell towers / Long ago there were no in the world." The “hollow-shouldered assistant” of the Soviet government, the peasant, himself did not reproach the new government for anything, but only thanked for the long-awaited “land”, believing that “the point is not in a small inflection, / When is the Great Fracture.” Each of the repressed firmly believed that the decision of the unjust court would be immediately canceled when Stalin personally "read his letter in the Kremlin." The peasants evicted from their native places passed into the class of workers - now this path was open to them, since "the son did not answer for his father." But very soon everything went on as before, as it seemed to someone that the country lacked "branded sons." And only "war provided the right to death and even a share of glory / In the ranks of the fighters of the native land." In the war, it was scary to go missing or be captured. In this case, it was necessary "from captivity to captivity - under the thunder of victory / With the stigma to proceed double." Soviet people, in the person of Stalin, found a new god who proclaimed his own commandments: “reject your father and mother”, “to the detriment of love for the father of nations / Any other love”, “betray your brother on the way / And secretly best friend”, “perjury in the name / And commit atrocities in the name of the leader”, “applaud all sentences, / Which cannot be comprehended.” This was especially true of the resettled peoples - the Crimean Tatars, etc. The author says that since the father should answer with his head for his son, Stalin himself should have answered for his son and daughter.

3. About memory

The author says that in no case should one forget the “Way of the Cross” of those who have become “camp dust”, despite the fact that they are constantly “affectionately” asked to forget about it, “so as not to inadvertently embarrass the uninitiated with that publicity.” But the author does not include himself among the "uninitiated", and in general he believes that there are no "uninitiated" in the country. Everyone has experienced persecution in one way or another. If it didn't affect someone personally, they heard "in passing, in passing, / Not by myself, / So through those who are by themselves." The poet believes that it is from him that he will subsequently be “punished”, that he is obliged to tell the “inquisitive daughter-Komsomol member”, “why and whose guardianship / He attributed to the closed article / The unnamed century / Bad memory of the case.” The new generation is obliged to know the truth about the past, since "he who hides the past jealously / he is unlikely to be in harmony with the future."

The author explains Stalin's incredible popularity among the people by the fact that “we are not always alone / We applauded that father. / It always seemed that he was nearby, having passed his earthly shift, / The one who did not like applause, ie Lenin. After all, it was no coincidence that the saying went among the people: “Now, if Lenin got up from the coffin, / He looked at everything that had become.” Such judgments are akin to the childish babble of irresponsible people, the author believes.

Each of the people is to blame for what was happening in the country. And if you really want to return the "former grace", the author advises to call the spirit of Stalin: "He was a god - / He can get up." And Stalin's "eternal life" continues in Mao Tse Tung, his Chinese successor.

An attempt to comprehend the tragic events in A. Tvardovsky's poem "By the Right of Memory"

Tvardovsky's poem "By the Right of Memory" is an attempt to comprehend the tragic events in the history of the motherland associated with Stalin's personality cult and the repressions of the 1930s. In December 1963, Tvardovsky wrote: "... it seems, for the first time in a long time, I felt the approach of a poetic theme , what is not expressed and what is in me, and therefore not only me, must be expressed. This is a living, necessary thought of my life (and where, if not only mine!):

The author reveals a different meaning of Stalin's saying. It made it possible to simply despise the closest family ties and the moral obligations that follow from this. In the monologue of the author of the poem, the process of blurring ties between close people, between word and deed, between what was proclaimed from the rostrum and the real state of affairs, in particular, when, after the above declaration, “the title of the son of an enemy of the people ... entered into rights” was accurately captured. Tvardovsky vigilantly grasped the confusion of concepts, the moral and mental confusion that reigned at the suggestion of the leader in society.

The poem was written in a bitter hour, it took a long time to reach the reader. But, having reached, it turned out to be just in time, added a touch to the overall picture of the “existing truth”. Tvardovsky is concerned about the issue of historical memory, because, as he wrote in the poem, "he who hides the past jealously, / He is unlikely to be in harmony with the future." It was the theme of memory that became the main theme in the poem. The poet not only exposed his mature memory, but also resolutely opposed the unconsciousness of the second half of the 1960s: in the Brezhnev era, much was done to forget about Stalin's crimes, so that knowledge about them was destroyed.

The writing

Closing the age lessons.
The thought comes by itself
To everyone with whom it was on the road
Treat the living and the dead.
A. Tvardovsky

The great events that took place in our country were reflected in the work of Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky both in the form of their direct depiction and in the form of individual experiences and reflections associated with it. In this sense, his work is extremely topical.
The largest post-war work of Tvardovsky was the poem "For the distance - the distance." In genre and thematic terms, this is a lyrical and philosophical reflection, a “travel diary”, with a weakened plot. The protagonists of the poem are the vast Soviet country, its people, the rapid reversal of their deeds and accomplishments. The text of the poem contains a playful confession of the author, a passenger on the Moscow-Vladivostok train. Three distances the artist sees: the immensity of the geographical expanses of Russia; historical distance as the continuity of generations and awareness of the inseparable connection of times and destinies, and finally, the bottomlessness of the moral storehouses of the soul of the lyrical hero. The poem “By the Right of Memory” was originally conceived by the author as one of the “additional” chapters to the poem “Beyond the distance - distance”, acquired an independent character in the course of work. Although “By the Right of Memory” does not have a genre designation in the subtitle, and the poet himself, true to the concepts of literary modesty, sometimes called this work a poetic “cycle”, it is quite obvious that this is a lyric poem, the last major work of the author of “Vasily Terkin”. It was completed and prepared for publication by the poet himself two years before his death. In the introduction, Tvardovsky declares that these are frank lines, a confession of the soul:

In the face of the past
You have no right to prevaricate, -
After all, these were paid
We pay the biggest ...

The composition of the poem is divided into three parts. In the first part, the poet recalls his youthful dreams and plans with a warm feeling, a little ironically.

And where, which of us will have to,
In what year, in what region
Behind the cock that hoarseness
Hear your youth.

We were ready to go
What could be easier:
Loving mother earth
So that for her into fire and water.
What if -
That and life to give ...
Let's just add on our own.
Which is easier, yes.
But what is more difficult?

The second chapter “The son is not responsible for the father” is the most tragic in the poem, and in all creativity. The illegally dispossessed Tvardovsky family was exiled to Siberia. Only Alexander Trifonovich remained in Russia due to the fact that he lived separately from his family in Smolensk. He could not alleviate the fate of the exiled. In fact, he abandoned his family. This tormented the poet all his life. This unhealed wound of Tvardovsky resulted in the poem “By the Right of Memory”.

The end of your dashing adversity,
Stay strong, don't hide your face.
Thank the father of nations.
That he forgave you father.

The poet seeks to comprehend the course of history. Understand what was the fault of the repressed peoples. Who allowed such a state of affairs, when one decided the fate of peoples. And everyone was guilty before him already in the fact that they were alive.
In the third chapter of the poem, Tvardovsky asserts the human right to memory. We have no right to forget anything. As long as we remember, our ancestors, their deeds and deeds are “alive”. Memory is the privilege of man, and he cannot voluntarily give up God's gift to please anyone. The poet claims:

Who hides the past jealously
He is unlikely to be in harmony with the future ...

And what are you doing now
Return the former grace,
So you call Stalin -
He was God
He can get up.

The famous poem by Alexander Tvardovsky "By the Right of Memory", a summary of which can be found in this article, is the last and final work of the poet. It is known that work on this poem lasted a long time, but he nurtured its idea in himself all his life, having gone through those trials that formed the basis of the plot.

History of creation

For the first time, the poem "By the Right of Memory", a summary of which is in this article, was published in the second issue of the well-known magazine "Znamya". In the same 1987, it was published in the third issue of the Novy Mir magazine. It is known that the poet began her work on the work in 1963, and it continued for six years. Then, in 1969, several fragments from the text were printed.

The poem also has a short preface written by Maria Tvardovskaya. It explained that such a period of writing the work is associated with the death of the poet's mother.

Tvardovsky's poem is written in the form of a confession. The narrative is lyrical, and everything the author writes about concerns the fate of the poet himself. In the work “By the Right of Memory”, a summary of which is in this article, there are no chapters that would have plot narratives. This is primarily a confessional work, and it is a kind of monologue of the author. The poet tells about what he experienced during the years of collectivization. Everything told by Tvardovsky was forgotten for many years, since it was impossible to talk about such topics.

The poem contains a monologue filled with bitterness and sorrow. The author writes about the fate of his father. He tells how the youth of the poet himself passed, who himself was constantly subject to persecution. The reader is well aware of the civil position of the author. The title of the work is not accidental. The right of memory is the personal pain of the poet Tvardovsky.

The theme of repentance

The life of the poet Tvardovsky himself is connected with those terrible and tragic years that the Russian people went through. He decided in the poem "By the Right of Memory", a summary of which is in the article, to show the terrible Stalinist repressions and the Khrushchev thaw.

The main theme of the poem is repentance. The author says that the problem of memory is gradually developing into the problem of the responsibility of the future generation. The master says: young people do not want to understand what happened in the past. The author believes that a person does not have the right to forget the terrible past of his country and his people. After all, if you forget everything, then tragic and terrible consequences are inevitable. The connection of generations finds a strong sound in the work of Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky.

Having survived the arrest of his father, the author shows how difficult it is to survive in society if the child has already been labeled "the son of an enemy of the people." And in order for life to proceed differently, it was necessary to abandon the father, that is, to betray the closest and dearest person. And this is the tragedy of the individual citizen and the whole generation. Hence such an ambivalent attitude towards Stalin: as a strong personality and a tyrant. The poet believes that the younger generation should know the harsh truth about the terrible time of the leader's reign. It is not surprising that the theme of repentance is the main one in the poem.

Tvardovsky, "By the Right of Memory": a summary of the chapters

In the first part of the poem by A. T. Tvardovsky (“Before Departure”), village guys are shown who are young, full of energy and making plans for the future. They want to serve for the good of their Motherland. But already in the second part (“The son is not responsible for the father”), a family is shown that was exiled to Siberia. It is already impossible to change something for the better in their life. A young village boy who believed in this country was stabbed in the back. And his cry - his cry of the soul - shows and describes Tvardovsky. "By the Right of Memory", which is summarized in this article, shows very important things. The reader sees how the lyrical hero wants to understand, understand and comprehend everything that happened to him and his family.

The third part of the poem is called "On Memory". In it, the author addresses his reader and asks never to forget the terrible pages of our history.

Analysis of the poem

The autobiographical poem "By the Right of Memory", a summary of which we are considering, is divided into three parts. The first is the bright and wonderful impressions of youth, when hopes are still being built. But the mood of the second part of the poem changes dramatically. The pain of the author himself, who has become an "enemy of the people", runs through the entire chapter. To get personal freedom, you need to give up relatives. But the hero of the work does not want to do this. He wants to intercede for his father. Creates its image. The description of a worker, a peasant with big hands, becomes key. The poet does not try to justify himself. He simply does not consider himself guilty for the fact that, even without participating in the atrocities of that time, he, like many others, remained silently on the sidelines. And the retribution for such behavior is enormous moral torment, which lasts for decades.

The third chapter is the result of the author's thoughts about his life, which he lived. Tvardovsky reflects on what he managed to do and how he survived all the difficulties that fell to his lot. The main idea of this part is the historical memory, which must always live. This will be an atonement for guilt and a kind of repentance.

Portal for the student. Self-training

1. Before departure

2. The son is not responsible for the father

3. About memory

An attempt to comprehend the tragic events in A. Tvardovsky's poem "By the Right of Memory"

History of creation

The theme of repentance

Tvardovsky, "By the Right of Memory": a summary of the chapters

Analysis of the poem

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