“Village Languishing in Ignorance...”: Woman’s fate in the lyrics of S. A. Esenin during the World War I

Abstract

As its witness and participant, S. A. Esenin responded to the World War I with works written in 1914-1915. As the “singer of the village”, the poet sincerely worried about peasants who were close to him and went to the front. Most of Esenin’s works about the World War I reflect the village life and changes in the usual peasant way of life, especially the unfortunate fate of the peasant woman, to whom the poems “The Patterns” (<1914>) and “The Mother’s Prayer” (<1914>) are dedicated. Esenin shows the bride’s grief and tells the story of the lonely mother commemorating her breadwinner son. Other works inspired by war events also present female images: in the little poem “Rus” (1914), Esenin describes militia, departure of men, women waiting for and receiving news from the front and faith in victory as moments in the life of peasant women inseparable from village realities. When repeatedly describing the sendoff of men from villages, Esenin not only emphasizes the crying of women anticipating troubles but also mentions outdoor festivities of recruits with playful girls, referring to his personal experience (“Through the Village by the Crooked Path...”, 1914). However, the main result of war for the poet is the death of soldiers; therefore, the images of peasant women in his works of the World War I are associated mainly with tears, suffering and commemoration.