In a deeply truthful, humorous, classically clear in its poetic form poem "Vasily Terkin" (1941-1945) A. T. Tvardovsky created an immortal image of a Soviet fighter. Endowed with soulful lyricism and "a deeper secrecy under a more superficial, visible at first glance" the work became the personification of patriotism and the spirit of the nation. The 1976 edition is historically the first academic edition of a work of modern literature - with a study of the history of the text, summing up options, with the inclusion of new materials from the poet's archive.