"The Grass Has Ripened" by Dmitry Darin, summary

This book is a profound poetry collection, published in 2008. The text seamlessly blends heartfelt confessional lyrics with grand historical poems, transforming the lyrical hero’s personal yearning for a vanishing rural Russia into a chronicle of national suffering. The collection is divided into poem cycles and large dramatic canvases.

Confessional and war lyrics

The lyrical section of the text begins with a reflection on the fate of his native land. The hero mourns his fading, impoverished village. The ramshackle huts, abandoned churches on the hillsides, and unkempt fields evoke a searing pain. Nature sympathizes with the author. Weeping willows, yellowing maples, and white birches become silent witnesses to human tragedies. The autumnal decay of nature is closely intertwined with the hero’s lost youth. He recalls the passing years, the coldness of his beloved, and the deception of his friends. The lyrical subject attempts to drown out the painful wounds of his soul with vodka in smoky taverns. The tavern frenzy accompanied by the ringing of an accordion offers only brief oblivion.

The war poems dramatically shift their initial tone. The hero recalls the memory of nameless soldiers dying in the trenches of the Great Patriotic War. Bitter lines are sung about penal battalion soldiers who marched through minefields to Berlin. The author recalls the defenders of Stalingrad lying in the bloody snow of Mamayev Kurgan. The text boldly mentions Stalin’s camps, where those convicted under Article 58 felled the Siberian taiga. The lyrics also touch on the pain of recent local wars. Soldiers return alive, but their souls are petrified by the horror they endured. The image of white cranes permeates these poems, symbolizing a farewell to the fallen soldiers.

The historical poem "Renunciation"

Dramatic poems fill the second half of the book. The action of the poem "Abdication" revolves around the collapse of the monarchy. Events begin in the dead of night in 1918 in Yekaterinburg. The guards of the Ipatiev House angrily discuss the captured royal family. The plot then shifts to Petrograd in the spring of 1917. Deputies Rodzianko, Guchkov, and Shulgin panic and discuss the growing soldiers’ revolt. The capital is completely engulfed in anarchy, and the mob mercilessly kills officers. Politicians decide to save the country through the voluntary abdication of Nicholas II.

In Pskov, General Ruzsky sternly persuades the Tsar to sacrifice the crown. He reminds the monarch of the defeat in the war with Japan, the fall of Port Arthur, and the destructive influence of Rasputin. The Tsar takes the betrayal of his inner circle hard. He recalls the biblical Job and is unwilling to hand over power to a faceless mass. The monarch nevertheless yields to save the army. Nicholas signs the manifesto in pencil, handing over the throne to his brother Mikhail. The poem returns to the July night of 1918. Yakov Yurovsky calmly distributes revolvers to the Ural Chekists. The executioners descend into the basement and coldly execute the Romanovs.

The historical poem "Perekop"

The text "Perekop" describes the bloody chaos of the Civil War. In the autumn of 1919, prisoners meet at Nestor Makhno’s headquarters. They are the Red commander Marchenko and the White captain Gvozdev. They argue bitterly about the future of the disintegrating country. Marchenko staunchly defends the power of the proletariat. Gvozdev accuses the Bolsheviks of selling out the Motherland. Makhno despises both. The anarchist accuses the White officers of defending the oppression of the landowners and the Reds of mass terror. That night, the prisoners manage to escape. Marchenko bites through the ropes around Gvozdev’s wrists, but they part ways as implacable enemies.

In the summer of 1920, a shell-shocked Gvozdev lies in a White Army hospital. He falls passionately in love with a nurse, Tatyana. Soon, the Bolsheviks capture the city. Commissar Yakobson orders the execution of captured officers and nurses, driving nails into their shoulders instead of shoulder straps. In the fall, Red commanders Mikhail Frunze and Vasily Blucher plan an assault on the Crimean Isthmus. The Bolsheviks send detachments of anarchists across the icy Sivash Bay. After successfully breaking through the defenses, the Red forces treacherously encircle and exterminate their former Makhnovist allies.

The remnants of General Wrangel’s White Army leave Simferopol. The officers board the steamship "Kherson." Lieutenant Rassadov shoots himself in the temple right on the pier, refusing to live in exile. Gvozdev refuses to swim overseas. He jumps into the icy water and returns to the shore to find Tatyana, who has survived. In winter, the Cheka announces a registration of former tsarist officers. Gvozdev believes the promised mercy and goes to the assembly point. The Reds deceive the unarmed people. Commander Marchenko recognizes Gvozdev in a crowd of prisoners but coldly orders his former savior to be shot.

The historical poem "The Streltsy"

The events of the poem "The Streltsy" take place in the spring and summer of 1698. Dissatisfied with their meager service and the dominance of foreigners, the Streltsy gather in Velikiye Luki. They decide to march on Moscow, overthrow Peter the Great, and restore the throne to Tsarevna Sophia. Sophia languishes under guard in the Novodevichy Convent. The young Tsar visits his sister before leaving for abroad. Peter harshly threatens her with execution for any attempt at treason.

The Streltsy regiments openly revolt. The conspirator Maslov reads a forged letter to the troops in Sophia’s name. The rebels demand the destruction of the German Quarter and the boyars. Terrible panic breaks out in Moscow. Merchants in the shopping arcades abandon their shops in terror. Government troops under the command of Shein and Gordon block the rebels’ path near the Resurrection Monastery. Colonel Kragge’s artillery fires into the densely packed Streltsy ranks. The dying rebel Tuma asks his comrade to tear up the princess’s dangerous letter.

Peter the Great urgently returns from Vienna. He is enraged by the cowardice of the boyars’ investigation. The Tsar forces the elite to shave their beards and wear tight caftans, breaking with centuries-old Russian customs. At a riotous feast, the monarch interrogates a hysterical fool. The man boldly calls the Tsar the Antichrist and defends the rebels. Peter orders the madman’s head cut off and displayed on a pole. In the gloomy dungeons of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, horrific tortures take place. Executioners break the bones of surviving Streltsy soldiers on the rack. The Tsar tries in vain to extract the names of the noble traitors.

On a September day, a monstrous mass execution takes place at Lobnoye Mesto. Red Square is filled with the weeping wives and children of the Streltsy. Peter the Great personally takes up the axe. He forces pale boyars to hold the heads of the condemned on the block. Death mows down hundreds of rebels, their blood soaking the platform. Tsarevna Sophia is forcibly tonsured as a nun. With an iron fist, Peter crushes the old, rebellious Rus’ for the sake of joining enlightened Europe.

The Tale of the Battle of the Don

The book concludes with the dynamic "Tale of the Battle on the Don." The text, in short, crisp lines, depicts the morning of the Battle of Kulikovo. The fog is clearing over the Don. The Russian armies stand opposite the countless forces of the tsarist Mamai. Prince Dmitry Donskoy surrenders his armor and banner to the boyar Brenk, and fearlessly stands among the common soldiers. Monk Peresvet enters into mortal combat with the Tatar giant Chelubey. Both warriors clash with spears and fall dead.

A bloody, brutal battle begins. The Horde relentlessly presses the vanguard. Russian soldiers fall under a hail of arrows and the swing of yataghans. Mamai is already celebrating certain victory. However, in a dense oak grove, the ambush regiment of Voivode Bobrok is hidden. At the most difficult hour, fresh cavalry descends on the Tatar flanks. The enemy throws down their arms and flees. After the battle, the wounded Prince Dmitry is found under a felled tree. Rus’ throws off the foreign yoke, but the author persistently reminds us of the need to always preserve the internal unity of the nation.