Poet Sergei Orlov: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Poet Sergei Orlov never parted from his "small" homeland. Even when he studied at the University of Petrozavodsk and the tank school of Chelyabinsk, even when the diesel engine of his heavy KV tank was roaring, fighting for the liberation of our entire vast Motherland from the Nazis, the quiet but strict North, his Vologda region, bloomed in the poet’s soul. The poet Sergei Orlov lived here. The photo, of course, will not convey all the charm of this region.

Memory of the poet

Moreover, he did not forget his native Belozersk, working in Leningrad and Moscow. He often visited the northern forests and lakes, met people dear to his heart. It was from here that the Milky Way flew like stardust into his lines, it was here that he was at home.

And the native land will never forget its poet. Sergei Orlov and now with her all the time. Vologda residents not only remember and honor him, but also publish them, which is not so easy nowadays. Both in Vologda and Belozersk streets are named after the poet. Here, in Belozersk, there is a monument and a memorialmuseum, among the exhibits of which there are unique ones, Sergey Orlov repeatedly held them in his hands: books, manuscripts, drafts.

Defending his country, he almost burned himself in a tank, and then all his life he hid his face, disfigured by burns, growing a beard. And the Motherland defended the poet as best she could. She awarded him prizes, orders and medals. Sergey Orlov would surely have died in his deafeningly roaring and already burning tank. The medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" stopped a fragment flying into the chest, preventing it from reaching the heart. Maybe the poems also served as a shield. An extraordinary poet is Sergei Orlov, whose biography reads like a legend.

The start of the journey

The poet was born on August 22, 1921 in the village of Megra, Cherepovets region (now it is the Vologda region, Belozersky region). The village was already then large and cultured, with its own hut-reading room, with a first-aid post, a steam mill even provided electricity for the villagers. Today Megra is gone, in its place is a reservoir.

Father died early, a stepfather appeared, who in the 30s was sent to organize Siberian collective farms. Sergei Orlov also lived for several childhood years in Siberia, then returned to his native place with his family. The poet's mother taught literature and Russian in a rural school, and from her the boy's craving for literature passed.

First experiments

Sergey Orlov attended a literary studio, where, in addition to children, students of a pedagogical school were present. Sergei Orlov, whose poems were just beginning their journey fromheart depths, and there, one might say, shone. The newspaper "Belozersky Kolkhoznik" willingly published the schoolboy's poems, and then they made their way into the regional periodical press.

The fees received not only pleased - they amazed. On them, the young poet Sergei Sergeevich Orlov bought the first suit in his life - with a jacket! Now that was a success! Although - only the beginning. Because he soon became the winner at the All-Union competition of schoolchildren for the best poem. It was called "Pumpkin and three cucumbers." Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky not only responded warmly and cited the full text of the poem on the pages of the Pravda newspaper, but also included a fragment in his book From Two to Five.

Fighter battalion and heavy tank KV-1

Having finished ten classes in 1940, Sergei Orlov decided to become a historian and entered Petrozavodsk University, and already in June 1941 he began to fight as part of the people's militia, in the fighter battalion, which was formed by student volunteers.

Two months later, the poet was sent to the Chelyabinsk Tank School, where the first collection of his poems called "Front" was published in 1942. At the same time, Sergei Orlov arrived at the Volkhov Front.

The Mga railway station, where the 33rd Tank Regiment was deployed, and the Ladoga village of Dusevo, where Sergey Orlov's KV-1 heavy tank flattened the snow melting under the tracks, became the site of the first battle for the legendary poet-tankman.

He was buried in a ballearth…

The breaks between battles were filled with poems. The army newspaper "Lenin's Way" willingly published them. But on February 17, 1944, while liberating Novgorod, fellow soldiers miraculously pulled the platoon commander out of the burning tank. The medal prevented the fragment from reaching the heart, and his face was left disfigured by burns, which he hid for the rest of his life, growing a beard.

After the hospital, the poet was demobilized, and the young lieutenant returned home - to his native Belozersk. He got a job at the Belozersky section of the Volga-B altic Canal. And he survived one of the most difficult emotional dramas: the beloved girl refused the poet with a burnt face and an almost inactive hand.

Third speed

The fighter did not give up. He left for Leningrad and entered the university - for the second year of the philological faculty this time. He already knew how to create history himself. A poet-front-line soldier, fellow in every respect, Mikhail Dudin helped the tanker with a publishing house, and in 1946 Sergei Orlov became the author of the book "Third Speed".

There was still a war going on. The name suggests that the memory of the battles that have recently died down cannot be eliminated: it was at the third speed that the tanks went into battle, they didn’t even go, they flew! The lines of poetry were adequate to the war, topographically accurate, simple and, despite all the severity, warm intonation.

After the war, it was believed for a long time that literature about the war should be written purely in heroic, patriotic tones, certainly with pathos, but without tragedy. This could not be said about the book that he wroteSergei Orlov. Russia lost her best sons in the war, and the poet sang this requiem honestly. So honest that even the critics received the book warmly.

Union of Writers

Philology Sergei Orlov did not study for very long, he transferred to the Gorky Literary Institute and completed his studies there, in Moscow, on Tverskoy Boulevard until 1954.

Then he returned to Leningrad, participated in writers' congresses, and since 1958 he has already joined the board of the Writers' Union. He worked as the head of the poetry department of the Neva magazine, on the editorial board of another Leningrad magazine, Aurora.

He managed to make close friends between Vologda and Leningrad writers, with his assistance Vologda received a regional branch of the Union instead of a literary association.

Creativity boost

Sergey Orlov wrote books one after another: in 1948 - "The Campaign Continues", in 1952 - "Rainbow in the Steppe", in 1953 - "Town", in 1954 - "Poems". Four years later - "Voice of First Love", then "Selected 1938-1956". In 1963 - "One Love", and in 1965 - two books at once: "Constellation" and "Wheel". In 1966 - "Lyric", in 1969 - "Page" …

Together with Mikhail Dudin, the script for the film "Lark" was written - about the feat of tankers in German captivity. The poets of the USSR were strong in spirit!

In 1970, Sergei Orlov joined the secretariat of the Writers' Union and moved to Moscow. In 1974, a collection of poems"Loy alty" is awarded the State Prize. Later, the poet himself was elected to the committee for awarding the State and Lenin Prizes. The book "Bonfires" - the final one - was published a year after his death, in 1978. He could not see (or rather, he did not want to, he was ashamed) and the collection of his works. Although, in his position, he certainly could. But we saw. It appeared in the 80s.

Main topic

This poet was born of the war. She became a key event in her life. Sergei Orlov's poetic outlook was not limited to the military theme, but the poet carried this war on his shoulders throughout his entire career.

It was in the war that his strongest, most intimate lines were born, not only powerful in content, but also high in artistic level. Pathetics is characteristic of almost all "lieutenant" works of poets and writers of wartime, it is also in Orlov's poems, but does not dominate, but only supports other, more important features of the sound of his lyre.

Tankers don't like big words, - Sergey Orlov used to say so. That is why everyday life is endowed with the highest meaning in his poetry. The same principles worked in post-war poetry, where peaceful life flourished brightly. All the most everyday and seemingly ordinary phenomena are depicted by the poet as events of enormous, one might say, epic significance.

Native land - this is a special thematic series in all his post-war works, that same land of Belozersk - past, present and future, with a staircase to heaven, the one that is soselflessly loved the poet Sergei Orlov. The photo may not show the very highest poetic connection between nature and man, but the nature on it is beautiful. Undoubtedly. Perhaps the poet also saw this picture. Live only.