Analysis of the poem “Winter Night in the Village” by Nikitin. Analysis of Nikitin’s poem “Winter night in the village Winter night in the village analysis
(Illustration: Gennady Tselishchev)
Analysis of the poem "Winter Night in the Village"
Ivan Savvich Nikitin is one of the best masters of poetic description of the Russian landscape. Distinctive feature his descriptions are simplicity and truthfulness. Unlike the poets of “pure art,” he writes exactly what he sees, without many epithets and metaphors. His images are easy to understand; you can easily imagine what he talks about in his poems.
The poem “Winter Night in the Village,” written in the winter of 1953, is a vivid example of how Nikitin created his bright, memorable verbal pictures of Russian nature. Already from the title it is easy for the reader to understand what will be discussed.
Conventionally, the poem can be divided into three parts. The first is a description of a rural winter landscape. This landscape is very beautiful: the moon shines, sparkles White snow, the temple is bathed in rays of moonlight. It seems that the story will continue in the same positive vein, but the closer the gaze becomes to the ground, the more detailed the picture becomes, the more sad details we notice. The entire village is covered with snow, it seems to the author empty and lonely, it is immersed in absolute silence, because almost everyone is sleeping after a hard day of work.
In the second part of the poem Nikitin from general plan goes to the particular. Together with the lyrical hero, we look into the window of the hut, where a sick old woman suffers from insomnia due to heavy thoughts. She ponders the fate of the orphans left in her care. What will happen to them if she dies? Will they find their place in life, will they not go down the wrong path? It’s hard for her, it hurts, it’s bad.
This is one of the features of the author’s lyrics: his description of nature is inextricably linked with peasant life, with the life of ordinary people. He worries about them, understands their joys and sorrows, and also understands their closeness to God, their hope in him. We see the image of the temple in the part where nature is described. The old woman prays for the prosperous life of her orphans; in the hut there is a red corner with icons.
In the final part of the work, Ivan Savvich Nikitin again returns to the description of nature. As if echoing the old woman’s concern, the silence over the village briefly dissipates: a dashing songster rushed across the field and disappeared into the distance. Nothing can disturb the calm of a winter night for long; all sounds are absorbed by an endless blanket of snow. The hut with its inhabitants seems tiny if you look at the world from a height on which the cross of God’s temple shines under the moonlight.
But that’s the beauty of I.S.’s work. Nikitina. Knowing how to picturesquely draw a large-scale winter landscape, the poet does not forget about the details and worries about the fate of people who have to survive day after day in this landscape, offering prayers to God, but relying for the most part solely on themselves.
“Winter Night in the Village” Ivan Nikitin
Cheerfully shines
A month over the village;
White snow sparkles
Blue light.Moon's rays
God's temple is doused;
Cross under the clouds
Like a candle, it burns.Empty, lonely
Sleepy village;
Blizzards deep
The huts have driftedSilence is silent
In the empty streets,
And you can't hear the barking
Watchdogs.Praying to God
The peasant people are sleeping,
Forgetting the worry
And hard work.Only in one hut
The light is on:
Poor old lady
She's lying there sick.Thinks and wonders
About my orphans:
Who will caress them?
How she will die.Poor kids
How long until trouble!
Both are young
There is no reason in them;How they start to stagger
Through other people's yards -
Is it difficult to contact
With an evil man!..And here's the road
It's not good:
They will forget God
They will lose their shame.Lord have mercy
Poor orphan!
Give them reason and strength,
May you be their stronghold!..And in a copper lamp
The fire is burning
Lighting up pale
The face of holy icons,And the old lady's features,
Full of worries
And in the corner of the hut
Slumbering orphans.Here's a sleepless rooster
Somewhere he shouted;
Calm midnight
The long hour has come.And God knows when
Songbook dashing
Suddenly rushed into the field
With a daring troika,And in the frosty distance
Drowned quietly
And the melody of sadness,
And melancholy is rampant.
Analysis of Nikitin’s poem “Winter Night in the Village”
Nikitin has rightfully earned the title of one of the most remarkable masters of Russian landscape. In the poem “Winter Night in the Village,” dated December 1853, he describes pictures of his native land with amazing warmth and insight. The work is distinguished by its clarity of expression, simplicity, accessibility, and realism. This is due to the creative position of the poet. He was sure that all the beauty lies in simplicity and truth. Nikitin's landscape lyrics bear little resemblance to the poems created by representatives of “pure art” (Tyutchev, Fet, Annensky). For Ivan Savvich, nature is closely connected with man, his rest or work, which can be seen in “Winter Night in the Village.”
The work can be divided into three parts. First, the poet presents the reader with a picture of a village at night - the moon is shining, the snow is glistening, there is silence all around, you can’t even hear a dog barking. Next, Nikitin moves from the general plan to the private one. The scene changes. The author's attention is focused on the hut where the sick grandmother lies. Sleep does not come to her. The old woman's thoughts are occupied with the future fate of the orphans in her care. She is afraid that orphans might take a wrong path and get involved with bad people. The third part of the poem is again a small landscape sketch, which in a unique way rounds out the composition. The rural sleepy calm is disturbed first by the midnight crow of a rooster, then by the passage of a “dashing songster” in a troika. At the end of the work, everything falls into place - the village is once again enveloped in silence.
Religious motifs play an important role in the poem. In Nikitin’s view, traditional Rus', folk Rus', is necessarily Orthodox Rus'. In “Winter Night in the Village,” the poet mentions a temple whose cross under the clouds looks like a candle. Peasant people go to sleep only after prayer. The old woman also turns to the Lord. She asks God to give the children reason and strength, to be their stronghold. Naturally, in the grandmother’s hut there is a red corner. Nikitin also draws the attention of readers to it, talking about the lamp, whose fire illuminates “the face of the holy icons.”
“Winter Night in the Village” is a landmark work in the poet’s work. It is here that a tradition important for Ivan Savvich’s lyricism is laid: to write poetic short stories, including descriptions of folk life and plot. Nikitin is often called the successor of Koltsov, who glorified the life and work of ordinary peasants.
The poem “Winter Night in the Village” was written in 1853 by Ivan Nikitin. It was precisely for his good poetry and beautiful words, epithets and comparisons in poetry that Nikita was nicknamed the master of Russian landscape. After all, the writer perfectly describes the beauty of nature around a person.
Throughout the entire work, Nikitin’s poem describes beautiful nature, the sky, the sun and other values that you need to be able to protect and store. The work is written in Russian, it is understandable and accessible in all respects. The verse is divided into three parts. The first part describes the nature that spreads around the village.
The village is white, as everything is covered with white, sparkling snow. There is peace and quiet all around. It is night, and the moon shines, illuminating everything around. It's so quiet that you can't even hear the dogs barking. The second part seems to change the direction of the story. An old woman lies in a hut, where it is quiet and warm. But sleep does not come to her. Because she thinks too much. At that moment, she worries about her orphans, who are on her conscience and upbringing. He is afraid that in life they will communicate with bad people, and they themselves will become the same. The third part tells about the disturbance of the calm of the night in the village - but only for a moment. And then - silence again.
Analysis 2
The writer Nikitin is known for his ability to write works that touch the reader to the core, forcing him to return to these works again and again. This is because in his works one can often see detailed descriptions of the environment, nature, and the beauty of the world contemplated by the heroes, which is what makes the works so exciting. An excellent example is the work “Winter Night in the Country”.
The work begins its narrative with a description of the village itself, a description of its beauty, attractions, simple, rustic, but at the same time wonderful atmosphere. A wonderful play of contrasts, creating images of nature that the reader can easily perceive. With the help of descriptions of nature in the work, the author emphasizes the beauty of Russian landscapes. Not complicated, but at the same time beautiful and mesmerizing views. The author glorifies it, making it a kind of ideal in the work, the highest standard, which is the measure of everything beautiful in landscapes.
Next, the author begins to describe village life, the time of year in which the work takes place. He talks about the simplicity and comfort of village life. Emphasizing that everything seems to be in its place, out of the way, always at hand, etc. He also talks about the time of year that occurs in the work, namely winter. Glorifying this time of year, the author emphasizes a certain beauty and magic of the landscapes of this time of year.
Afterwards, from the story we meet an old woman whose days have come to an end, and she is living her last winter night. With this story, the author is trying to show the reader that life is by no means durable, and that it is necessary sometimes to think about what will happen next, and what will remain after you, what mark you will leave in history. His idea, which he tries to convey to the reader, is that any life is finite, and death is an inevitable outcome for any living creature. Winter, in turn, is the personification of this very finitude of life. At this time of year, everything begins to calm down, die, and retire, it would seem that everything around dies at this time of year, but this fact makes it even more mysterious and fabulous.
I believe that this is exactly what the author Nikitin tried to convey to the reader in his work “Winter Night in the Village.”
Option 3
One of Nikitin's most famous poems is Winter Night in the Village. The work corresponds to its content and is like a journey through a village night, which includes both general landscapes and the history of individual characters. If we compare a poem with something, it is similar to such cinematic episodes when the operator first suggests a camera fly over some space and then zooms in on someone’s house, where a hero or a number of heroes are located, about whom the story is then told.
In general, it is necessary to note the high cinematography and richness of this poetic sketch. The composition is superbly constructed, harmony is maintained between small and large details, which flow into each other, complement each other and thereby create a general feeling of completeness, fullness, and integrity.
The narrative begins with a description of a sleeping village, which is suggested through images of nature, religion and people. Above the entire village there is a “candle” of the church cross, which “burns” thanks to the rays of the Moon. People sleep peacefully, just like dogs, after a hard day's work.
There is only one window left, behind which the reader discovers a worried old woman, full of heavy thoughts. A sick old woman ponders the future fate of her orphans, who without her will remain completely alone and can become prey to poverty, bad people and various adversities.
This image is filled with melancholy and it is almost impossible to look at it without compassion. The reader certainly empathizes with the hopelessness of this situation, and indeed with the hardships of human existence in general. The downward path is drawn quite clearly in the old woman’s mind, and here a person is revealed who deeply understands this world, reflects on the most significant: “They will forget God, they will lose shame” - these are the most significant losses about which the sick old woman grieves.
Indeed, in this world of sorrows and suffering, poverty or need is not as terrible as the loss of true humanity. Having taken the wrong path, a person forced by circumstances completely loses what is most valuable and thereby loses himself; this is genuine fear, which an experienced and wise old woman understands. That is why her melancholy is so great, which she tries to drive away with fervent prayer, and this prayer is echoed by the copper lamp that illuminates the images and the house.
In conclusion, the poet offers the image of two screams that interrupt the silence, melancholy thoughts. The crow of the rooster, which announces midnight, and the cry of the songwriter, who drives across the field in a drawn sleigh. After this there is silence, an all-consuming silence.
These screams seem to dissolve and drive away the “chant of sadness,” but in reality they are only an absurd attempt to overcome the heaviness of existence. They personify the cry of human existence, which is aware of its own temporality, frailty and insignificance. Also, perhaps, the songbook seems to echo this sad song of the old woman, continuing the rampant melancholy that is spread throughout the world.
I. Nikitin's landscape lyrics are not similar to the creations of his contemporaries. It amazes with its simplicity and realism. Nature in the poems of Ivan Savvich is closely connected with peasant life. Proof of this feature is the work “Winter Night in the Village”.
In the analyzed poem, two themes can be distinguished: the beauty of winter nature and the story of an old woman who has a presentiment of her imminent death. The author shows the charm of rural winter, and with it affirms the value of family and caring for loved ones, the importance of faith in God. To reveal themes and realize ideas, I. Nikitin synthesizes the genres of elegy and plot lyrics.
The work begins with a landscape sketch filled with a cheerful mood. The pictures that emerge in the reader’s imagination are quite banal: the glow of the moon over the village and the sparkle of pure snow, huts covered in a blizzard and silence.
In the second stanza the author's attention switches to the temple. He is completely bathed in moonlight, it seems that he is embraced by God's grace. In the following stanzas we read: “Praying to God, the peasant people sleep.” These landscape details should be taken as autobiographical. I. Nikitin’s father sold candles, so as a child the poet was often among the parishioners. He knew that religion occupied an important place in the life of the Russian people. A rural landscape without this component would be incomplete.
After recreating winter nature, the poet begins a story about the disaster occurring in one of the huts. There the old woman awaits death. Her heart is restless, because her grandchildren will remain orphans, and no one will caress them. The woman understands perfectly well that the children will go looking for help in other people’s yards, and it’s easy to meet an evil person there. What worries her most is that her grandchildren will choose a bad path and forget God. The only thing that remains for the old woman is to pray to the Lord so that he will become a support for her orphans.
In the description of the tragic paintings, the author mentions a lamp and icons, once again emphasizing the religiosity of the people. The poet does not tell how the described episode ends, how the fates of the orphan grandchildren develop, but conclusions can be drawn after reading the last quatrains. In them, the “dashing songwriter” rushes into the field, taking with him a sad melody.
I. Nikitin’s poem “Winter Night in the Village” can be divided into semantic parts: a description of winter nature and a story about an old woman. These parts are contrasting in mood. The reader does not expect that after a cheerful landscape sketch there will be a story about sad events. The contrast allows you to fully feel what the old woman is experiencing. Formally, the poem is divided into quatrains. The author uses cross rhyme. The poems are written in iambic meter.
I. Nikitin uses artistic means not to decorate the text, but to realize the idea and convey the emotional context of the poem. The work contains metaphors - “sleepy village”, “both youngsters, no sense in them”, epithets - “blue light”, “hard work”, “poor old woman”, “evil man”; comparison - “a cross under the clouds, like a candle burning.” Particular attention is drawn to linguistic units characteristic of colloquial speech and folklore: “thinks and wonders”, “wonderful”.
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