The Language of “Overthrown Religion”: Tvardovsky about God

Abstract

Purpose. In the literature about A. T. Tvardovsky, the theme of the writer's religiosity was rarely touched upon. The memoirs of contemporaries retained contradictory facts, by which it is difficult to judge Tvardovsky’s true convictions. This article presents the results of the study of the language of the writer. His poetry served as the material, and “Workbooks” were also involved.
Results. Analysis of the poetic language showed that the life of the church, its language were familiar to a native of the Smolensk hinterland, as to every person of his time. Numerous references to various church realities are indicative – objects, buildings, people, sacraments, holidays. The subject of the research is the lexeme “God” and the peculiarities of its functioning in the poetic language of Tvardovsky, as well as, for comparison, in his documentary prose.
For the early Tvardovsky, the rejection of the “old world” and its beliefs for the sake of Marxist-Leninist ideology is relevant. One of the vivid evidence of this refusal is the reduction of the constants of the religious thinking of the Russian person to sayings, idioms, and mentioning God in vain. The most categorical atheistic statements are put into the mouths of the heroes of the poems, for example, Nikita Morgunok and Terkin. The word God in idiomatic expressions is usually desemantized. Leaders, political and cultural idols are most often compared with God.
Later, Tvardovsky significantly softens his atheistic positions, showing signs of spontaneous faith. He writes the penitential poem “By the Right of Memory”, becomes more careful and selective in expressions. Prose speech is enriched by a more conscious mention of God, mainly in contexts of supreme judgment, repentance and miraculous help. Tvardovsky opposes aggressive ideological policies that rudely try to replace one religion with another. In this process, he sees a metaphysical transition to the side of Evil.
Conclusion. Tvardovsky experienced a spiritual evolution from militant autheism to a spontaneous faith, in which he was most worried about the problems of Higher Judgment and repentance. The highest value for him continued to be a person.