Poems about the war, few can leave anyone indifferent. Especially soulful are the verses whose authorship belongs to front-line poets.
Julia Drunina is just such a poet. She was a young sixteen-year-old girl was called up to the front and all these four terrible years she brought the victory closer together with millions of other Soviet citizens.
The poetess knew firsthand what war is, because she saw blood, suffering, fear and death with her own eyes. The military poetry of Julia Drunina is distinguished by truthfulness, simplicity and lyricism.
In her works, she fondly recalls her comrades who fell on the battlefields. Verses by Drunina are easy to remember, and it seems that the author leads the story on your behalf too. That is why her poetry is so close and understandable to everyone.
Introducing the 10 most famous poems about the war of Julia Drunina.
10. Ballad about the landing
“Ballad of the landing” - This is a tragic story about three fourteen-year-old paratroopers who, while transferring them to the rear, were unable to open their parachute. The death of these yesterday’s schoolgirls is described in simple terms, without unnecessary pathos, which helps convey the feeling of the ordinaryness of death during the war.
The combination of honesty and lyricism makes the poem so painfully piercing. Reading this simple and terrible story of yesterday’s schoolgirls, who had a difficult test, you involuntarily begin to empathize with the heroines, as if you are next to them.
9. Combat
The plot of the poem “Combat”probably one of the most dramatic for Drunina. The poetess wrote it in 1943, being under the vivid impression of the seen scenes.
It describes a short episode of front-line life - two soldiers, succumbing to the fear of death, deserted from the battlefield. At the same moment, the battalion commander without hesitation makes only two shots. Two soldiers who received bullets in the back serve dead. After some time, the battalion commander writes to two unfortunate mothers that their sons died the death of the brave ...
The author does not condemn at all either the battalion commander who killed his subordinates for cowardice, nor the people who trembled in the face of imminent death.
A person who did not live in such terrible conditions is not able to fully understand the horror of war, therefore the author calls not to judge the heroes of the work by a measure of peacetime.
8. I do not come from childhood ...
In the poem “I do not come from childhood ...” the author ponders what indelible mark in the life of man is left by the war. The poetess, having passed this difficult path, being a very young girl, appreciates the life and just silence of a lot more people who have never faced mortal threats.
The war brought up in Drunina many of the most valuable qualities that remained with her until the very last day.
7. Farewell
"Parting" devoted to a rather sensitive topic. In Soviet times, it was not customary to talk about a war from this angle.
The verse begins with a description of the solemn funeral of a valiant officer who went through the whole war and died in peacetime. The orchestra plays a gloomy melody. There is genuine sorrow on the faces of those gathered.
The face of the inconsolable widow swollen over tears is described. And at that moment she saw a woman nearby, a photograph of which her husband had kept all his life. She was his frontline love, but, after the victory, she still could not find the strength to destroy the family of her lover and become his legal wife.
Grief united these two women who at this mournful moment do not feel hatred towards each other, but yearn for their dear and beloved person.
6. Two in the evening
Poem “Two evenings” It was written in 1952. Seven years have passed since the victory of 1945, however, the memory of the terrible years of the war is still fresh in the memory of the young poetess.
The war split the lives of many people into “before” and “after”, and this contradiction between the realities of war and peaceful life formed the basis of the poem.
The poetess skillfully reproduces the picture of the present to create a contrast between that past life and the present. Today she is in a dress, light cheerful, and her gentleman, looking at this fragile attractive woman, cannot believe that she went through the whole war, slept in the trenches and walked in tarpaulin boots.
And once during the war, her co-workers just as well could not have imagined that this brave, war-scorched girl, in peacetime, could wear a dress and high-heeled shoes.
5. Army laws are close to me
In the poem “Army laws are close to me” the poetess, as it were, explains the reason for her straightforwardness and seemingly unjustified harshness.
The habit of going ahead, not making intrigues, not putting up with meanness and injustice in it was raised by the war.
Front-line realities left no room for coquetry and craftiness in the girl’s soul. She used to be truthful and direct, and remained true to her principles to the end.
4. Bandages
Poem “Bandages” it was written after the end of hostilities, and it refers to the other side of the realities of war. Here, the author talks about mercy, humanity, eternal values that do not lose relevance even in the most difficult conditions for a person.
The lyrical heroine, on behalf of whom the story is being conducted, serves as a nurse in a field hospital. She makes dressings for wounded soldiers, and according to the standard, she must do this quickly, economically spending medicines and her time.
But a compassionate girl does not find the strength to blindly follow the established rules, since according to them she would have to quickly tear off a dried up bandage, inflicting infernal pain on a wounded soldier.
The heart of a nurse cannot but respond to the tears that appear in the eyes of strong men, exhausted by the unbearable conditions of war, hardships, wounds.
The heroine does not want to inflict additional suffering on them, so she gently soaks the dried bandages with peroxide, which the senior medical staff disapproves of.
But, despite their comments, she did the same, not finding the strength to look indifferent at fear in the eyes of patients.
3. At seventeen
In the poem “At seventeen” Julia Drunina is sad about her lost youth, which had years of terrible trials.
Yesterday’s schoolgirls, the same as she was in 1941, dreamed of loving and being loved, wearing beautiful dresses and high-heeled shoes, going on dates and kissing under the moon with their lovers. Instead, they got cold trenches, tarpaulin boots, funerals, blood, and fear of death.
Now, after many years, the poetess with some envy looks at a new generation of girls, charming, well-groomed, not aware of the horrors of war.
2. You will be back ...
Poem "Will you come back…" - one of the most soulful touching poems about the war of Yulia Drunina.
It is dated 1969. Here, the poetess not only shows the reader the tragic picture of the death of a young girl, but also tries to reflect on eternal topics - loss, memory and eternal friendship.
Drunina talks about the promise she once made to her dying friend. She vowed not to forget this girl, having resurrected her in her work.
The poetess fulfilled this promise - the poem was created many years after the war. This means that the memory of valiant heroes does not die while they are glorified by future generations.
1. Zinka
Poem “Zinka” filled not with fictional, but with the real pain experienced by the loss of a young girl, friend and comrade Zina Samsonova. Here, the war seems to have something in common with a peaceful life.
Lying down “On the frozen, rotten earth”, Zinka is yearning. This cheerful girl recalls her house, its aromas, sounds in the yard, but most importantly, she yearns for her mother. She no longer has a loved one.
Zinka seems to foresee an imminent demise, and wants, at least in her thoughts to be not only a fighter, but also a young girl, her mother’s only and beloved daughter.
But ... an order sounds. And this light-haired girl is eager to attack. Now, the author of the verse stands over the lifeless body of his fighting girlfriend, not knowing how to write to her old mother, that her daughter will never return to her home.