Boris Bogatkov, front-line poet: biography, creativity

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

Boris Bogatkov is a Soviet poet known for his front-line poems. He earned the title of hero of the Great Patriotic War posthumously - he died in the war. In Novosibirsk, where the poet spent most of his life, a street, school No. 3, and a library are named after him. And in 1977, a monument was erected to Bogatkov. Now let's talk in more detail about the life and work of the poet, who did not live up to his 21st birthday just a few months.

Boris Bogatkov: biography

The poet was born on October 3, 1922 in the small village of Balakhta, which is located near Achinsk (Krasnoyarsk Territory). His mother, Maria Evgenievna, worked as a mathematics teacher at school, and his father, Andrei Mikhailovich, was in the party service and very often went on business trips.

In the Bogatkov family, Boris was the only child, and his parents devoted all their free time to him. It is not surprising that the boy learned to read early, and from childhood he became interested in literature. However, such an idyllic atmosphere in the family did not last long.

In 1931, Boris's mother fell ill. Soon she was admitted to the hospital, from where shedidn't come back. Shortly before her death, she wrote a letter to her son, asking him not to cry for her and grow up a worthy person.

Moving to Novosibirsk

After the death of the dearest person, Boris Andreevich Bogatkov was taken in by his mother's colleague Tatyana Evgenievna Zykova. However, the woman and her family lived in Novosibirsk at that time, so Boris had to move. Here he settled on Oktyabrskaya Street, at house number 3, and was immediately enrolled in the 2nd grade of school number 3. Bogatkov studied secondary, but adored history and literature, becoming more and more fond of poetry over the years. Mayakovsky was his favorite writer. Imitating his idol, he began to write poetry at the age of 10. Gradually, his works began to be published in wall newspapers, on the pages of Pionerskaya Pravda.

In 1933, Boris was accepted as a pioneer. He was very active in school life and had many friends among his peers.

Teen years

Boris Bogatkov had very tender feelings for Tatyana Evgenievna because she took him in and raised him as her own son. However, he missed his dead mother very much.

In his teenage years, the future writer became interested in sports - he went in for swimming and skiing, went to football, attended an athletics club. During these years, friends and acquaintances described him as a young man of high stature and athletic build. Boris was distinguished by his firmness of character, courage and willpower. Like many front-line poets, he was not indifferent to the people around him. Could stand up for the weak orfight a bully. In addition, he followed what was happening in the country. By the age of 16, he had his own opinion regarding the development of literature, science, and poetry. He liked to argue about a person's place in public life.

Youth

Boris Bogatkov maintained a good relationship with his father. Very often the boy went to his parent in Achinsk, where he was transferred due to official needs.

After graduating from school, Boris entered the road technical school, while continuing to attend classes at night school. Nevertheless, he did not leave poetry, in his free evenings he studied in a circle of young writers and poets. In addition, after graduating from night school, he entered the literary institute, combining it with a technical school.

In 1938, the poet wrote the first major work - "The Thought of the Red Flag".

And in 1940, under the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, a poetry council was organized, led by Antokolsky, and Bogatkov was admitted to it. By this time, the writer began to actively publish in Siberian Lights and Achinskaya Gazeta.

The work of the young poet interested Alexei Tolstoy, who made Boris his fellow.

Start of war

The Great Patriotic War began. Arriving at the draft board, Boris Andreevich Bogatkov asked to be sent to his flight school. The young man dreamed of air battles with the Nazis, but he was assigned to the ranks of aviation technicians. This was a serious blow for him and was reflected in his work. So he wroteafter that in one of his poems: “So, I will be at the airfield, / I will not be at the front, but in the rear?”

But Boris did not accept his fate and volunteered to go to the front as part of the infantry. However, already in the fall, the poet received a severe concussion and was demobilized to Novosibirsk.

Here he settled with his foster mother in a small log cabin. During the recovery period after the injury, he actively wrote. Military themes sounded in his works, he called on the people to work and fight against the invaders.

Bogatkov starts collaborating with "Windows TASS", the newspaper "Krasnoyarskaya Zvezda", Boris' poems and songs appear in issues of the satirical program "Fire on the Enemy".

Soldier song

The poems of Boris Bogatkov by this time are already becoming widely known among the soldiers. So, once the poet, walking along one of the Novosibirsk streets, witnessed such an incident. Soldiers were walking from the exercises, and then the commander commanded: "Sing." And in response it was heard: “At the native Trans-Ural factory / Strongly made, the Nazis are afraid …”

These were the words of a song about a guards machine gun, the author of which was Bogatkov. The soldiers passed by, no one, of course, knew the author of the work. Nevertheless, for the writer himself, this event became very joyful.

To the front again

Like other front-line poets, Boris wanted to be on the battlefield, and not sit in the rear. And in 1942, despite the strictest prohibitions of doctors, the poet went to the front as part of the Siberian Volunteer Division.

Before leaving, Boris writesa letter to a fellow soldier friend that he was very glad to finally return to the front. And also says goodbye to Tatyana Evgenievna, who, with tears in her eyes, sees off her adopted son, who assured her that nothing terrible will happen to him.

Boris Bogatkov ends up on the Western Front. His division is gradually reaching the approaches to Smolensk. Here the Gnezdilovsky Heights, well fortified by the Germans, blocked the way for the Siberians. It was one of the most important fascist fortifications, as it covered the communications of the German army.

Bogatkov's regiment was sent to storm the Gnezdilovsky heights. The poet was a sergeant and commanded a detachment. Several times his soldiers tried to storm, but the attack choked under the enemy's machine-gun fire.

Then Bogatkov got up from the trench and went on the attack, singing the song he wrote: “We left the factories, we came from the collective farm fields …” Other soldiers began to rise to their feet after their commander, picking up the song. Despite huge losses, the Siberian division managed to break through the German fortifications.

Death

Bogatkov was among the first to burst into the enemy's trenches, the battle broke out, and the poet was killed by machine gun fire in the back. The battle ended with the capture of the Gnezdilovsky Heights. The soldiers carried the body of their commander on an overcoat and laid it under a birch. Those who were lucky enough to survive the battle came here for the last time to say goodbye. So on August 11, 1943, the poet died.

Boris Andreyevich Bogatkov: "Agenda"

"Agenda" - probably the most famous poem of the writer,which is included in the curriculum. The work was written in 1941, at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. In it, the poet describes the state in which a person goes to war, walking around a peaceful city. At the same time, there is neither sadness nor sorrow in the poem. It is all permeated with joy and inspiration. Actually, this is how Bogatkov perceived the departure to the front.