Non-Children's Poetry by Sergey Mikhalkov: From Strict Formality to Sensible Rigorism

Abstract

Sergei Mikhalkov's lyrics are traditionally viewed from the standpoint of the manifestation of nominative children's themes, the problems of a child growing up, and the latter's comprehension of various facets of life. However, this is not entirely true, because the work of S.V. Mikhalkov also includes a more complex thematic facet – the theme of war. In 2023, the collection “War Poems” was published, which contains texts written during the Great Patriotic War, when S.V. Mikhalkov was a war writer-correspondent for the newspaper “For the Glory of the Motherland”, the publication “Stalinsky Falcon” and other periodicals. For the poet, the main task was probably to raise the spirit of soldiers, concretize military events, describe exploits, and condemn cowardice and betrayal. Sergei Mikhalkov boldly, and most importantly, openly examines the truth of life, focused on the years 1941–1945. The relevance of the poems in the collection for today is extremely high. The modern reader can learn a lot from the aptly spoken phrases of Sergei Mikhalkov, see effectively and experience such a terrible experience in Russia, and the whole world. The research methodology is focused on hermeneutic principles and options for receptive reading of texts. It seems that “War Poems” by Sergei Mikhalkov is not only a superficial drawing of attention to one’s own figure, but an appeal to soldiers, officers, home front workers, captured, mothers, wives, and children of soldiers. A special place in the collection is occupied by the image of the people who survived such a terrible and merciless situation. The author believes that victory will be achieved at any cost, so as not to interfere with the soldiers. The realities of the poems raised the spirit of the defenders of the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War; the texts effectively influence the modern reader, regardless of age. Sergei Mikhalkov's military lyrics are simple, accessible, sometimes free from serious semantic content, but they are sincere, sensual, and natural. Thus, this article makes an attempt to touch upon a little-studied layer of Sergei Mikhalkov’s legacy, as well as to understand the specifics of the poet’s understanding of a difficult situation – war, and specifically turn to the analysis of lyrical forms. It is advisable to use the material as part of the study of courses on the history of Russian literature of the twentieth century, the work of Sergei Mikhalkov.