"Vasily Tyorkin (The Book About a Fighter)" is a poem so popular and understandable to any Russian person that it’s impossible not to be moved by it. Simple enlisted soldier Tyorkin—lively, seasoned—is an epic, condensed image of the Russian soldier of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. Through flexible poetic lines, Tvardovsky managed to convey to the reader the richness of the hero’s nature. Pictures filled with immense tragedy are interspersed with heartfelt lyrical asides or sly, kind-hearted humor. “What freedom, what wonderful dash, what accuracy and precision in everything—and what an extraordinary soldierly language! Not a trace of vulgarity, no idle boastfulness, not a single false, ready-made—i.e., literally ‘bad taste’—word!” (Bunin). “Tyorkin in the other world” is a sharp satirical, almost grotesque fairy-tale poem. It’s not about the fallen, but about the living—with dead souls.