Pushkin “A Winter Evening” and Lermontov “The Sail”

Pushkin wrote the poem «Зимний вечер» in 1825 in the village of Mikhailovskoye while in exile (ссылка). His nanny, Arina Rodionovna, lived there too. In the poem a winter storm rages outside, while the hut is dark and sad. The poet speaks to his nanny: why are you sitting silent? He asks her to sing her good old songs. In this way the poet overcomes sadness and finds comfort in warm human closeness. The storm is personified (олицетворение): it howls like a beast and cries like a child — these comparisons let us hear the sound of the storm. Epithets («ветхая лачужка», «печальна и темна») create the mood. The lyric speaker is the poet himself; the poem expresses his love and comfort in solitude. Read it aloud with its rhythm.