Nikolai Nekrasovsky lives well in Rus'. Analysis of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (Nekrasov) Nekrasov Who Lives Well in Rus' Read

Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” tells about the journey of seven peasants across Russia in search of a happy person. The work was written in the late 60s to mid 70s. XIX century, after the reforms of Alexander II and the abolition of serfdom. It tells about a post-reform society in which not only many old vices have not disappeared, but many new ones have appeared. According to the plan of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, the wanderers were supposed to reach St. Petersburg at the end of the journey, but due to the illness and imminent death of the author, the poem remained unfinished.

The work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is written in blank verse and stylized as Russian folk tales. We invite you to read online a summary of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by Nekrasov, chapter by chapter, prepared by the editors of our portal.

Main characters

Novel, Demyan, Luke, Gubin brothers Ivan and Mitrodor, Groin, Prov- seven peasants who went to look for a happy man.

Other characters

Ermil Girin- the first “candidate” for the title of lucky man, an honest mayor, very respected by the peasants.

Matryona Korchagina(Governor's wife) - a peasant woman, known in her village as a “lucky woman”.

Savely- grandfather of Matryona Korchagina’s husband. A hundred year old man.

Prince Utyatin(The Last One) is an old landowner, a tyrant, to whom his family, in agreement with the peasants, does not talk about the abolition of serfdom.

Vlas- peasant, mayor of a village that once belonged to Utyatin.

Grisha Dobrosklonov- seminarian, son of a clerk, dreaming of the liberation of the Russian people; the prototype was the revolutionary democrat N. Dobrolyubov.

Part 1

Prologue

Seven men converge on the “pillar path”: Roman, Demyan, Luka, the Gubin brothers (Ivan and Mitrodor), old man Pakhom and Prov. The district from which they come is called by the author Terpigorev, and the “adjacent villages” from which the men come are called Zaplatovo, Dyryaevo, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neelovo and Neurozhaiko, thus used in the poem artistic technique"talking" names.

The men got together and argued:
Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?

Each of them insists on his own. One shouts that life is most free for the landowner, another that for the official, the third for the priest, “the fat-bellied merchant,” “the noble boyar, the sovereign’s minister,” or the tsar.

From the outside it seems as if the men found a treasure on the road and are now dividing it among themselves. The men have already forgotten what business they left the house for (one was going to baptize a child, the other was going to the market...), and they go to God knows where until night falls. Only here do the men stop and, “blaming the trouble on the devil,” sit down to rest and continue the argument. Soon it comes to a fight.

Roman is pushing Pakhomushka,
Demyan pushes Luka.

The fight alarmed the whole forest, an echo woke up, animals and birds became worried, a cow mooed, a cuckoo croaked, jackdaws squeaked, the fox, who had been eavesdropping on the men, decided to run away.

And then there’s the warbler
Tiny chick with fright
Fell from the nest.

When the fight is over, the men pay attention to this chick and catch it. It’s easier for a bird than for a man, says Pakhom. If he had wings, he would fly all over Rus' to find out who lives best in it. “We wouldn’t even need wings,” the others add, they would just have some bread and “a bucket of vodka,” as well as cucumbers, kvass and tea. Then they would measure all of “Mother Rus' with their feet.”

While the men are interpreting this, a warbler flies up to them and asks them to let her chick go free. For him she will give a royal ransom: everything the men want.

The men agree, and the warbler shows them a place in the forest where a box with a self-assembled tablecloth is buried. Then she enchants their clothes so that they do not wear out, so that their bast shoes do not break, their foot wraps do not rot, and louses do not breed on their bodies, and flies away “with her birth chick.” In parting, the chiffchaff warns the peasant: they can ask for as much food from the self-assembled tablecloth as they want, but you can’t ask for more than a bucket of vodka a day:

And once and twice - it will be fulfilled
At your request,
And the third time there will be trouble!

The peasants rush into the forest, where they actually find a self-assembled tablecloth. Delighted, they throw a feast and make a vow: not to return home until they find out for sure “who lives happily and at ease in Rus'?”

This is how their journey begins.

Chapter 1. Pop

A wide path lined with birch trees stretches far away. On it, the men come across mostly “small people” - peasants, artisans, beggars, soldiers. Travelers don’t even ask them anything: what kind of happiness is there? Towards evening, the men meet the priest. The men block his path and bow low. In response to the priest’s silent question: what do they want?, Luka talks about the dispute that started and asks: “Is the priest’s life sweet?”

The priest thinks for a long time, and then answers that, since it is a sin to grumble against God, he will simply describe his life to the men, and they will figure out for themselves whether it is good.

Happiness, according to the priest, lies in three things: “peace, wealth, honor.” The priest knows no peace: his rank is earned by hard work, and then an equally difficult service begins; the cries of orphans, the cries of widows and the groans of the dying contribute little to peace of mind.

The situation is no better with honor: the priest serves as an object for witticisms common people, obscene tales, jokes and fables are written about him, which do not spare not only himself, but also his wife and children.

The last thing that remains is wealth, but even here everything has changed long ago. Yes, there were times when the nobles honored the priest, played magnificent weddings and came to their estates to die - that was the job of the priests, but now “the landowners have scattered across distant foreign lands.” So it turns out that the priest is content with rare copper nickels:

The peasant himself needs
And I would be glad to give it, but there’s nothing...

Having finished his speech, the priest leaves, and the disputants attack Luke with reproaches. They unanimously accuse him of stupidity, of the fact that it was only at first glance that the priest’s housing seemed comfortable to him, but he could not figure it out deeper.

What did you take? stubborn head!

The men would probably have beaten Luka, but then, fortunately for him, at the bend of the road, “the priest’s stern face” appears once again...

Chapter 2. Rural fair

The men continue their journey, and their road goes through empty villages. Finally they meet the rider and ask him where the villagers have gone.

We went to the village of Kuzminskoye,
Today there is a fair...

Then the wanderers decide to also go to the fair - what if it is there that the one “who lives happily” is hiding?

Kuzminskoye is a rich, albeit dirty village. It has two churches, a school (closed), a dirty hotel and even a paramedic. That’s why the fair is rich, but most of all there are taverns, “eleven taverns,” and they don’t have time to pour a drink for everyone:

Oh, Orthodox thirst,
How great are you!

There are a lot of drunk people around. A man scolds a broken ax, and Vavil’s grandfather, who promised to bring shoes for his granddaughter, but drank away all the money, is sad next to him. The people feel sorry for him, but no one can help - they themselves have no money. Fortunately, a “master” happens, Pavlusha Veretennikov, and he buys shoes for Vavila’s granddaughter.

Ofeni (booksellers) also sell at the fair, but the most low-quality books, as well as thicker portraits of generals, are in demand. And no one knows whether the time will come when a man:

Belinsky and Gogol
Will it come from the market?

By evening everyone gets so drunk that even the church with its bell tower seems to be shaking, and the men leave the village.

Chapter 3. Drunken night

It's a quiet night. The men walk along the “hundred-voice” road and hear snatches of other people’s conversations. They talk about officials, about bribes: “And we give fifty dollars to the clerk: We have made a request,” women’s songs are heard asking them to “love.” One drunk guy buries his clothes in the ground, assuring everyone that he is “burying his mother.” At the road sign, the wanderers again meet Pavel Veretennikov. He talks with peasants, writes down their songs and sayings. Having written down enough, Veretennikov blames the peasants for drinking a lot - “it’s a shame to see!” They object to him: the peasant drinks mainly out of grief, and it is a sin to condemn or envy him.

The objector's name is Yakim Goly. Pavlusha also writes down his story in a book. Even in his youth, Yakim bought popular prints for his son and he loved looking at them just as much as the child. When there was a fire in the hut, the first thing he did was rush to tear pictures from the walls, and so all his savings, thirty-five rubles, were burned. Now he gets 11 rubles for a melted lump.

Having heard enough stories, the wanderers sit down to refresh themselves, then one of them, Roman, remains at the guard’s bucket of vodka, and the rest again mix with the crowd in search of the happy one.

Chapter 4. Happy

Wanderers walk in the crowd and call for the happy one to appear. If such a one appears and tells them about his happiness, then he will be treated to vodka.

Sober people laugh at such speeches, but a considerable queue of drunk people forms. The sexton comes first. His happiness, in his words, is “in complacency” and in the “kosushechka” that the men pour out. The sexton is driven away, and an old woman appears who, on a small ridge, “up to a thousand turnips were born.” The next to try his luck is a soldier with medals, “he’s barely alive, but he wants a drink.” His happiness is that no matter how much he was tortured in the service, he still remained alive. A stonecutter with a huge hammer also comes, a peasant who overstrained himself in the service but still made it home barely alive, a yard man with a “noble” disease - gout. The latter boasts that for forty years he stood at the table of His Serene Highness, licking plates and finishing glasses of foreign wine. The men drive him away too, because they have simple wine, “not for your lips!”

The queue for travelers is not getting smaller. The Belarusian peasant is happy that here he eats to his fill rye bread, because in their homeland they baked bread only with chaff, and this caused terrible cramps in the stomach. A man with a folded cheekbone, a hunter, is happy that he survived the fight with the bear, while the rest of his comrades were killed by the bears. Even beggars come: they are happy that there is alms to feed them.

Finally, the bucket is empty, and the wanderers realize that they will not find happiness this way.

Hey, man's happiness!
Leaky, with patches,
Humpbacked with calluses,
Go home!

Here one of the people who approached them advises them to “ask Ermila Girin,” because if he doesn’t turn out to be happy, then there’s nothing to look for. Ermila is a simple man who has earned the great love of the people. The wanderers are told the following story: Ermila once had a mill, but they decided to sell it for debts. The bidding began; the merchant Altynnikov really wanted to buy the mill. Ermila was able to beat his price, but the problem was that he didn’t have the money with him to make a deposit. Then he asked for an hour's delay and ran to the market square to ask the people for money.

And a miracle happened: Yermil received the money. Very soon he had the thousand he needed to buy out the mill. And a week later there was an even more wonderful sight on the square: Yermil was “calculating the people”, he distributed the money to everyone and honestly. There was only one extra ruble left, and Yermil kept asking until sunset whose it was.

The wanderers are perplexed: by what witchcraft did Yermil gain such trust from the people. They are told that this is not witchcraft, but the truth. Girin served as a clerk in an office and never took a penny from anyone, but helped with advice. The old prince soon died, and the new one ordered the peasants to elect a burgomaster. Unanimously, “six thousand souls, the whole estate,” Yermila shouted - although young, he loves the truth!

Only once did Yermil “betray his soul” when he did not recruit his younger brother, Mitri, replacing him with the son of Nenila Vlasyevna. But after this act, Yermil’s conscience tormented him so much that he soon tried to hang himself. Mitri was handed over as a recruit, and Nenila’s son was returned to her. Yermil, for a long time, was not himself, “he resigned from his position,” but instead rented a mill and became “more loved by the people than before.”

But here the priest intervenes in the conversation: all this is true, but going to Yermil Girin is useless. He is sitting in prison. The priest begins to tell how it happened - the village of Stolbnyaki rebelled and the authorities decided to call Yermil - his people will listen.

The story is interrupted by shouts: they caught the thief and flogged him. The thief turns out to be the same footman with the “noble illness”, and after the flogging he runs away as if he had completely forgotten about his illness.
The priest, meanwhile, says goodbye, promising to finish telling the story the next time they meet.

Chapter 5. Landowner

On their further journey, the men meet the landowner Gavrila Afanasich Obolt-Obolduev. The landowner is frightened at first, suspecting them to be robbers, but, having figured out what the matter is, he laughs and begins to tell his story. Mine noble family it comes from the Tatar Oboldui, who was skinned by a bear for the amusement of the empress. She gave the Tatar cloth for this. Such were the noble ancestors of the landowner...

The law is my desire!
The fist is my police!

However, not all strictness; the landowner admits that he “attracted hearts more with affection”! All the servants loved him, gave him gifts, and he was like a father to them. But everything changed: the peasants and land were taken away from the landowner. The sound of an ax can be heard from the forests, everyone is being destroyed, drinking houses are springing up instead of estates, because now no one needs a letter at all. And they shout to the landowners:

Wake up, sleepy landowner!
Get up! - study! work!..

But how can a landowner, who has been accustomed to something completely different since childhood, work? They didn’t learn anything, and “thought they’d live like this forever,” but it turned out differently.

The landowner began to cry, and the good-natured peasants almost cried with him, thinking:

The great chain has broken,
Torn and splintered:
One end for the master,
Others don't care!..

Part 2

Last One

The next day, the men go to the banks of the Volga, to a huge hay meadow. They had barely started talking with the locals when music began and three boats moored to the shore. They are a noble family: two gentlemen with their wives, little barchat, servants and a gray-haired old gentleman. The old man inspects the mowing, and everyone bows to him almost to the ground. In one place he stops and orders the dry haystack to be swept away: the hay is still damp. The absurd order is immediately carried out.

The wanderers marvel:
Grandfather!
What a wonderful old man?

It turns out that the old man - Prince Utyatin (the peasants call him the Last One) - having learned about the abolition of serfdom, “beguiled” and fell ill with a stroke. It was announced to his sons that they had betrayed the landowner ideals, were unable to defend them, and if so, they would be left without an inheritance. The sons got scared and persuaded the peasants to fool the landowner a little, with the idea that after his death they would give the village flood meadows. The old man was told that the tsar ordered the serfs to be returned to the landowners, the prince was delighted and stood up. So this comedy continues to this day. Some peasants are even happy about this, for example, the courtyard Ipat:

Ipat said: “Have fun!
And I am the Utyatin princes
Serf - and that’s the whole story!”

But Agap Petrov cannot come to terms with the fact that even in freedom someone will push him around. One day he told the master everything directly, and he had a stroke. Having woken up, he ordered Agap to be flogged, and the peasants, so as not to reveal the deception, took him to the stable, where they placed a bottle of wine in front of him: drink and shout louder! Agap died that same night: it was hard for him to bow down...

The wanderers attend the feast of the Last One, where he gives a speech about the benefits of serfdom, and then lies down in a boat and falls asleep in eternal sleep while listening to songs. The village of Vakhlaki sighs with sincere relief, but no one is giving them the meadows - the trial continues to this day.

Part 3

Peasant woman

“Not everything is between men
Find the happy one
Let’s feel the women!”

With these words, the wanderers go to Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna, the governor, a beautiful woman 38 years old, who, however, already calls herself an old woman. She talks about her life. Then I was only happy, as I was growing up in my parents’ house. But girlhood quickly flew by, and now Matryona is already being wooed. Her betrothed is Philip, handsome, ruddy and strong. He loves his wife (according to her, he only beat him once), but soon he goes to work, and leaves her with his large, but alien to Matryona, family.

Matryona works for her older sister-in-law, her strict mother-in-law, and her father-in-law. She had no joy in her life until her eldest son, Demushka, was born.

In the whole family, only the old grandfather Savely, the “hero of the Holy Russian”, who is living out his life after twenty years of hard labor, feels sorry for Matryona. He ended up in hard labor for the murder of a German manager who did not give the men a single free minute. Savely told Matryona a lot about his life, about “Russian heroism.”

The mother-in-law forbids Matryona to take Demushka into the field: she doesn’t work with him much. The grandfather looks after the child, but one day he falls asleep and the child is eaten by pigs. After some time, Matryona meets Savely at the grave of Demushka, who has gone to repentance at the Sand Monastery. She forgives him and takes him home, where the old man soon dies.

Matryona had other children, but she could not forget Demushka. One of them, the shepherdess Fedot, once wanted to be whipped for a sheep carried away by a wolf, but Matryona took the punishment upon herself. When she was pregnant with Liodorushka, she had to go to the city and ask for the return of her husband, who had been taken into the army. Matryona gave birth right in the waiting room, and the governor’s wife, Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying, helped her. Since then, Matryona “has been glorified as a lucky woman and nicknamed the governor’s wife.” But what kind of happiness is that?

This is what Matryonushka says to the wanderers and adds: they will never find a happy woman among women, the keys to female happiness are lost, and even God does not know where to find them.

Part 4

Feast for the whole world

There is a feast in the village of Vakhlachina. Everyone gathered here: the wanderers, Klim Yakovlich, and Vlas the elder. Among the feasting are two seminarians, Savvushka and Grisha, good, simple guys. They, at the request of the people, sing a “funny” song, then it’s their turn for different stories. There is a story about an “exemplary slave - Yakov the faithful,” who followed his master all his life, fulfilled all his whims and rejoiced even in the master’s beatings. Only when the master gave his nephew as a soldier did Yakov start drinking, but soon returned to the master. And yet Yakov did not forgive him, and was able to take revenge on Polivanov: he took him, with his legs swollen, into the forest, and there he hanged himself on a pine tree over the master.

A dispute ensues about who is the most sinful. God's wanderer Jonah tells the story of “two sinners,” about the robber Kudeyar. The Lord awakened his conscience and imposed a penance on him: cut down a huge oak tree in the forest, then his sins will be forgiven. But the oak fell only when Kudeyar sprinkled it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky. Ignatius Prokhorov objects to Jonah: the peasant’s sin is still greater, and tells a story about the headman. He hid the last will of his master, who decided to set his peasants free before his death. But the headman, seduced by money, tore up his freedom.

The crowd is depressed. Songs are sung: “Hungry”, “Soldier’s”. But the time will come in Rus' for good songs. This is confirmed by two seminarian brothers, Savva and Grisha. Seminarian Grisha, the son of a sexton, has known for sure since the age of fifteen that he wants to devote his life to the people’s happiness. Love for his mother merges in his heart with love for all Vakhlachin. Grisha walks along his land and sings a song about Rus':

You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless
Mother Rus'!

And his plans will not be lost: fate is preparing for Grisha “a glorious path, a great name people's defender, consumption and Siberia." In the meantime, Grisha sings, and it’s a pity that the wanderers can’t hear him, because then they would understand that they have already found a happy person and could return home.

Conclusion

This ends the unfinished chapters of the poem by Nekrasov. However, even from the surviving parts, the reader is presented with a large-scale picture of post-reform Rus', which with pain is learning to live in a new way. The range of problems raised by the author in the poem is very wide: the problems of widespread drunkenness, ruining the Russian people (no wonder a bucket of vodka is offered as a reward to the happy one!) problems of women, ineradicable slave psychology (revealed in the example of Yakov, Ipat) and the main problem people's happiness. Most of these problems, unfortunately, to one degree or another remain relevant today, which is why the work is very popular, and a number of quotes from it have entered everyday speech. Compositional technique The journey of the main characters brings the poem closer to an adventure novel, making it easy to read and with great interest.

A brief retelling of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” conveys only the most basic content of the poem; for a more accurate idea of ​​the work, we recommend that you read the full version of “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

Test on the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

After reading summary you can test your knowledge by taking this test.

Retelling rating

Average rating: 4.3. Total ratings received: 14502.

Who can live well in Rus'? This question still worries many people, and this fact explains the increased attention to Nekrasov’s legendary poem. The author managed to raise a topic that has become eternal in Russia - the topic of asceticism, voluntary self-denial in the name of saving the fatherland. It is service high goal makes a Russian person happy, as the writer proved with the example of Grisha Dobrosklonov.

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is one of Nekrasov’s last works. When he wrote it, he was already seriously ill: he was struck by cancer. That's why it's not finished. It was collected bit by bit by the poet’s close friends and arranged the fragments in random order, barely catching the confused logic of the creator, broken by a fatal illness and endless pain. He was dying in agony and yet was able to answer the question posed at the very beginning: Who lives well in Rus'? He himself turned out to be lucky in a broad sense, because he faithfully and selflessly served the interests of the people. This service supported him in the fight against his fatal illness. Thus, the history of the poem began in the first half of the 60s of the 19th century, around 1863 ( serfdom canceled in 1861), and the first part was ready in 1865.

The book was published in fragments. The prologue was published in the January issue of Sovremennik in 1866. Later other chapters were published. All this time, the work attracted the attention of censors and was mercilessly criticized. In the 70s, the author wrote the main parts of the poem: “The Last One,” “The Peasant Woman,” “A Feast for the Whole World.” He planned to write much more, but due to the rapid development of the disease he was unable to and settled on “The Feast...”, where he expressed his main idea regarding the future of Russia. He believed that such holy people as Dobrosklonov would be able to help his homeland, mired in poverty and injustice. Despite the fierce attacks of reviewers, he found the strength to stand for a just cause to the end.

Genre, kind, direction

N.A. Nekrasov called his creation “the epic of modern peasant life” and was precise in his formulation: the genre of the work is “Who can live well in Rus'?” - epic poem. That is, at the heart of the book, not one type of literature coexists, but two: lyricism and epic:

1. Epic component. There was a turning point in the history of the development of Russian society in the 1860s, when people learned to live in new conditions after the abolition of serfdom and other fundamental transformations of their usual way of life. This one is heavy historical period and the writer described it, reflecting the realities of that time without embellishment or falsehood. In addition, the poem has a clear linear plot and many original characters, which indicates the scale of the work, comparable only to a novel ( epic genre). The book also incorporates folklore elements of heroic songs telling about the military campaigns of heroes against enemy camps. All this - birth characteristics epic
2. Lyrical component. The work is written in verse - this is the main property of lyrics as a genre. The book also contains space for author's digressions and typically poetic symbols, means artistic expression, features of the heroes’ confession.

The direction within which the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was written is realism. However, the author significantly expanded its boundaries, adding fantastic and folklore elements (prologue, beginning, symbolism of numbers, fragments and heroes from folk legends). The poet chose the form of travel for his plan, as a metaphor for the search for truth and happiness that each of us carries out. Many researchers of Nekrasov’s work compare the plot structure with the structure of a folk epic.

Composition

The laws of the genre determined the composition and plot of the poem. Nekrasov finished writing the book in terrible agony, but still did not have time to finish it. This explains the chaotic composition and many branches from the plot, because the works were shaped and restored from drafts by his friends. In the last months of his life, he himself was unable to clearly adhere to the original concept of creation. Thus, the composition “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” is comparable only to folk epic, is unique. It was developed as a result of the creative development of world literature, and not the direct borrowing of some well-known example.

1. Exposition (Prologue). The meeting of seven men - the heroes of the poem: “On a pillared path / Seven men came together.”
2. The plot is the characters' oath not to return home until they find the answer to their question.
3. The main part consists of many autonomous parts: the reader meets a soldier, happy that he was not killed, a slave, proud of his privilege to eat from the master's bowls, a grandmother, whose garden yielded turnips to her delight... While the search for happiness stands still, depicts the slow but steady growth of national self-awareness, which the author wanted to show even more than the declared happiness in Rus'. From random episodes, a general picture of Rus' emerges: poor, drunk, but not hopeless, striving for a better life. In addition, the poem has several large and independent inserted episodes, some of which are even included in autonomous chapters (“The Last One,” “The Peasant Woman”).
4. Climax. The writer calls Grisha Dobrosklonov, a fighter for people's happiness, a happy person in Rus'.
5. Denouement. A serious illness prevented the author from completing his great plan. Even those chapters that he managed to write were sorted and designated by his proxies after his death. You must understand that the poem is not finished, it was written by a very sick person, therefore this work- the most complex and confusing of all literary heritage Nekrasova.
6. The final chapter is called “A Feast for the Whole World.” All night long the peasants sing about the old and new times. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings kind and hopeful songs.

What is the poem about?

Seven men met on the road and argued about who would live well in Rus'? The essence of the poem is that they looked for the answer to this question on the way, talking with representatives of different classes. The revelation of each of them is a separate story. So, the heroes went for a walk in order to resolve the dispute, but they only quarreled and started a fight. In the night forest, during a fight, a bird's chick fell from its nest, and one of the men picked it up. The interlocutors sat down by the fire and began to dream of also acquiring wings and everything necessary for their journey in search of the truth. The warbler bird turns out to be magical and, as a ransom for her chick, tells people how to find a self-assembled tablecloth that will provide them with food and clothing. They find her and feast, and during the feast they vow to find the answer to their question together, but until then not to see any of their relatives and not to return home.

On the road they meet a priest, a peasant woman, the showroom Petrushka, beggars, an overextended worker and a paralyzed former servant, an honest man Ermila Girin, the landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, the insane Last-Utyatin and his family, the servant Yakov the faithful, God's wanderer Jonah Lyapushkin , but none of them were happy people. Each of them is associated with a story of suffering and misadventures full of genuine tragedy. The goal of the journey is achieved only when the wanderers stumbled upon seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, who is happy with his selfless service to his homeland. With good songs, he instills hope in the people, and this is where the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” ends. Nekrasov wanted to continue the story, but did not have time, but he gave his heroes a chance to gain faith in the future of Russia.

The main characters and their characteristics

About the heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” we can say with confidence that they represent a complete system of images that organizes and structures the text. For example, the work emphasizes the unity of the seven wanderers. They do not show individuality or character; they express common features of national self-awareness for all. These characters- a single whole, their dialogues, in fact, are collective speech, which originates from oral folk art. This feature makes Nekrasov’s poem similar to the Russian folklore tradition.

1. Seven wanderers represent former serfs “from adjacent villages - Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutova, Znobishina, Gorelova, Neelova, Neurozhaika and also.” They all put forward their versions of who should live well in Rus': a landowner, an official, a priest, a merchant, a noble boyar, a sovereign minister or a tsar. Their character is characterized by persistence: they all demonstrate a reluctance to take someone else's side. Strength, courage and the desire for truth are what unites them. They are passionate and easily angered, but their easygoing nature compensates for these shortcomings. Kindness and responsiveness make them pleasant interlocutors, even despite some meticulousness. Their character is harsh and harsh, but life did not spoil them with luxury: the former serfs always bent their backs working for the master, and after the reform no one bothered to provide them with a proper home. So they wandered around Rus' in search of truth and justice. The search itself characterizes them as serious, thoughtful and thorough people. The symbolic number “7” means a hint of luck that awaited them at the end of the journey.
2. Main character– Grisha Dobrosklonov, seminarian, son of a sexton. By nature he is a dreamer, a romantic, loves to compose songs and make people happy. In them he talks about the fate of Russia, about its misfortunes, and at the same time about its mighty strength, which will one day come out and crush injustice. Although he is an idealist, his character is strong, as are his convictions to devote his life to the service of truth. The character feels a calling to be the people's leader and singer of Rus'. He is happy to sacrifice himself to a high idea and help his homeland. However, the author hints that something is waiting for him. hard lot: prisons, exile, hard labor. The authorities do not want to hear the voice of the people, they will try to silence them, and then Grisha will be doomed to torment. But Nekrasov makes it clear with all his might that happiness is a state of spiritual euphoria, and you can only know it by being inspired by a lofty idea.
3. Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina – main character, a peasant woman whom her neighbors call lucky because she begged the military leader’s wife for her husband (he, the only breadwinner of the family, was supposed to be recruited for 25 years). However, the woman's life story reveals not luck or fortune, but grief and humiliation. She experienced the loss of her only child, the anger of her mother-in-law, and everyday, exhausting work. Her fate is described in detail in an essay on our website, be sure to check it out.
4. Savely Korchagin- grandfather of Matryona’s husband, a real Russian hero. At one time, he killed a German manager who mercilessly mocked the peasants entrusted to him. For this, a strong and proud man paid with decades of hard labor. Upon his return, he was no longer good for anything; the years of imprisonment trampled his body, but did not break his will, because, as before, he stood up for justice. The hero always said about the Russian peasant: “And it bends, but does not break.” However, without knowing it, the grandfather turns out to be the executioner of his own great-grandson. He did not look after the child, and the pigs ate him.
5. Ermil Girin- a man of exceptional honesty, mayor in the estate of Prince Yurlov. When he needed to buy the mill, he stood in the square and asked people to chip in to help him. After the hero got back on his feet, he returned all the borrowed money to the people. For this he earned respect and honor. But he is unhappy, because he paid for his authority with freedom: after a peasant revolt, suspicion fell on him about his organization, and he was imprisoned.
6. Landowners in the poem“Who lives well in Rus'” are presented in abundance. The author depicts them objectively and even gives some images positive character. For example, governor Elena Alexandrovna, who helped Matryona, appears as a people's benefactor. Also, with a touch of compassion, the writer portrays Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, who also treated the peasants tolerably, even organized holidays for them, and with the abolition of serfdom, he lost ground under his feet: he was too accustomed to the old order. In contrast to these characters, the image of the Last-Duckling and his treacherous, calculating family was created. The relatives of the old cruel serf owner decided to deceive him and persuaded him former slaves participate in the performance in exchange for profitable territories. However, when the old man died, the rich heirs brazenly deceived the common people and drove him away with nothing. The apogee of noble insignificance is the landowner Polivanov, who beats his faithful servant and gives his son as a recruit for trying to marry his beloved girl. Thus, the writer is far from denigrating the nobility everywhere; he is trying to show both sides of the coin.
7. Serf Yakov- an indicative figure of a serf peasant, an antagonist of the hero Savely. Jacob absorbed the entire slavish essence of the oppressed class, overwhelmed by lawlessness and ignorance. When the master beats him and even sends his son to certain death, the servant humbly and resignedly endures the insult. His revenge was consistent with this humility: he hanged himself in the forest right in front of the master, who was crippled and could not get home without his help.
8. Jonah Lyapushkin- God's wanderer who told the men several stories about the life of people in Rus'. It tells about the epiphany of Ataman Kudeyara, who decided to atone for his sins by killing for good, and about the cunning of Gleb the elder, who violated the will of the late master and did not release the serfs on his orders.
9. Pop- a representative of the clergy who complains about the difficult life of a priest. The constant encounter with grief and poverty saddens the heart, not to mention the popular jokes addressed to his rank.

The characters in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” are diverse and allow us to paint a picture of the morals and life of that time.

Subject

• The main theme of the work is freedom- rests on the problem that the Russian peasant did not know what to do with it, and how to adapt to new realities. The national character is also “problematic”: people-thinkers, people-seekers of truth still drink, live in oblivion and empty talk. They are not able to squeeze slaves out of themselves until their poverty acquires at least the modest dignity of poverty, until they stop living in drunken illusions, until they realize their strength and pride, trampled upon by centuries of humiliating state of affairs that were sold, lost and bought.
• Happiness theme. The poet believes that a person can get the highest satisfaction from life only by helping other people. The real value of being is to feel needed by society, to bring goodness, love and justice into the world. Selfless and selfless service to a good cause fills every moment with sublime meaning, an idea, without which time loses its color, becomes dull from inaction or selfishness. Grisha Dobrosklonov is happy not because of his wealth or his position in the world, but because he is leading Russia and his people to a bright future.
• Homeland theme. Although Rus' appears in the eyes of readers as a poor and tortured, but still a beautiful country with a great future and a heroic past. Nekrasov feels sorry for his homeland, devoting himself entirely to its correction and improvement. For him, his homeland is the people, the people are his muse. All these concepts are closely intertwined in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The author's patriotism is especially clearly expressed at the end of the book, when the wanderers find a lucky man who lives in the interests of society. In a strong and patient Russian woman, in the justice and honor of a heroic peasant, in sincere kindness folk singer the creator sees the true appearance of his power, full of dignity and spirituality.
• Theme of labor. Useful activity elevates Nekrasov's poor heroes above the vanity and depravity of the nobility. It is idleness that destroys the Russian master, turning him into a self-satisfied and arrogant nonentity. But the common people have skills and true virtue that are really important for society, without them there will be no Russia, but the country will manage without noble tyrants, revelers and greedy seekers of wealth. So the writer comes to the conclusion that the value of each citizen is determined only by his contribution to the common cause - the prosperity of the homeland.
• Mystical motive. Fantastic elements appear already in the Prologue and immerse the reader in the fabulous atmosphere of the epic, where it is necessary to follow the development of the idea, and not the realism of the circumstances. Seven eagle owls on seven trees - magic number 7, which promises good luck. A raven praying to the devil is another mask of the devil, because the raven symbolizes death, grave decay and infernal forces. He is opposed by a good force in the form of a warbler bird, which equips the men for the journey. A self-assembled tablecloth is a poetic symbol of happiness and contentment. "Wide path" - symbol open final poems and the basis of the plot, because on both sides of the road travelers are presented with a multifaceted and authentic panorama of Russian life. The image of an unknown fish in unknown seas, which has absorbed “the keys to female happiness,” is symbolic. The crying she-wolf with bloody nipples also clearly demonstrates the difficult fate of the Russian peasant woman. One of the most bright images reform is a “great chain”, which, having broken, “split one end to the master, the other to the peasant!” The seven wanderers are a symbol of the entire people of Russia, restless, waiting for change and seeking happiness.

Issues

• In the epic poem Nekrasov touched upon large number acute and topical issues of the time. Main problem in “Who can live well in Rus'?” - the problem of happiness, both socially and philosophically. She is connected with social issue the abolition of serfdom, which greatly changed (and not for the better) the traditional way of life of all segments of the population. It would seem that this is freedom, what else do people need? Isn't this happiness? However, in reality, it turned out that the people, who, due to long slavery, do not know how to live independently, found themselves thrown to the mercy of fate. A priest, a landowner, a peasant woman, Grisha Dobrosklonov and seven men are real Russian characters and destinies. The author described them based on his rich experience of communicating with people from the common people. The problems of the work are also taken from life: disorder and confusion after the reform to abolish serfdom really affected all classes. No one organized jobs or at least land plots for yesterday's slaves, no one provided the landowner with competent instructions and laws regulating his new relations with workers.
• The problem of alcoholism. The wanderers come to an unpleasant conclusion: life in Rus' is so difficult that without drunkenness the peasant will completely die. He needs oblivion and fog in order to somehow pull the burden of a hopeless existence and hard labor.
• Problem social inequality. The landowners have been torturing the peasants with impunity for years, and Savelia has had her whole life ruined for killing such an oppressor. For deception, nothing will happen to the relatives of the Last One, and their servants will again be left with nothing.
• The philosophical problem of searching for truth, which each of us encounters, is allegorically expressed in the journey of seven wanderers who understand that without this discovery their lives become worthless.

Idea of ​​the work

A road fight between men is not an everyday quarrel, but an eternal, great dispute, in which all layers of Russian society of that time figure to one degree or another. All its main representatives (priest, landowner, merchant, official, tsar) are summoned to the peasant court. For the first time, men can and have the right to judge. For all the years of slavery and poverty, they are not looking for retribution, but for an answer: how to live? This expresses the meaning of Nekrasov’s poem “Who can live well in Rus'?” - growth of national self-awareness on the ruins of the old system. The author’s point of view is expressed by Grisha Dobrosklonov in his songs: “And fate, the companion of the Slav’s days, lightened your burden! You are still a slave in the family, but the mother of a free son!..” Despite the negative consequences of the reform of 1861, the creator believes that behind it lies a happy future for his homeland. At the beginning of change it is always difficult, but this work will be rewarded a hundredfold.

The most an important condition further prosperity is to overcome internal slavery:

Enough! Finished with past settlement,
The settlement with the master has been completed!
The Russian people are gathering strength
And learns to be a citizen

Even though the poem is not finished, main idea Voiced by Nekrasov. Already the first of the songs in “A Feast for the Whole World” gives an answer to the question posed in the title: “The share of the people, their happiness, light and freedom, above all!”

End

In the finale, the author expresses his point of view on the changes that have occurred in Russia in connection with the abolition of serfdom and, finally, sums up the results of the search: Grisha Dobrosklonov is recognized as the lucky one. It is he who is the bearer of Nekrasov’s opinion, and in his songs Nikolai Alekseevich’s true attitude to what he described is hidden. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” ends with a feast for the whole world in the literal sense of the word: this is the name of the last chapter, where the characters celebrate and rejoice at the happy completion of the search.

Conclusion

In Rus', it is good for Nekrasov’s hero Grisha Dobrosklonov, since he serves people, and, therefore, lives with meaning. Grisha is a fighter for truth, a prototype of a revolutionary. The conclusion that can be drawn based on the work is simple: the lucky one has been found, Rus' is embarking on the path of reform, the people are reaching through thorns to the title of citizen. The great meaning of the poem lies in this bright omen. It has been teaching people altruism and the ability to serve high ideals, rather than vulgar and passing cults, for centuries. From the point of view of literary excellence, the book is also of great importance: it is truly a folk epic, reflecting a controversial, complex, and at the same time the most important historical era.

Of course, the poem would not be so valuable if it only taught lessons in history and literature. She gives life lessons, and this is her most important property. The moral of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is that it is necessary to work for the good of your homeland, not to scold it, but to help it with deeds, because it is easier to push around with a word, but not everyone can and really wants to change something. This is happiness - to be in your place, to be needed not only by yourself, but also by the people. Only together can we achieve significant results, only together can we overcome the problems and hardships of this overcoming. Grisha Dobrosklonov tried to unite and unite people with his songs so that they would face change shoulder to shoulder. This is its holy purpose, and everyone has it; it is important not to be lazy to go out on the road and look for it, as the seven wanderers did.

Criticism

The reviewers were attentive to Nekrasov’s work, because he himself was an important person in literary circles and had enormous authority. Entire monographs were devoted to his phenomenal civic lyrics. detailed analysis creative methodology and ideological and thematic originality of his poetry. For example, here is how the writer S.A. spoke about his style. Andreevsky:

He brought out the anapest abandoned on Olympus from oblivion and for many years made this rather heavy, but flexible meter as common as the airy and melodious iambic remained from the time of Pushkin to Nekrasov. This rhythm, favored by the poet, reminiscent of the rotational movement of a barrel organ, allowed him to stay on the boundaries of poetry and prose, joke around with the crowd, speak smoothly and vulgarly, insert a funny and cruel joke, express bitter truths and imperceptibly, slowing down the beat, with more solemn words, move into floridity.

Korney Chukovsky spoke with inspiration about Nikolai Alekseevich’s thorough preparation for work, citing this example of writing as a standard:

Nekrasov himself constantly “visited Russian huts,” thanks to which both soldier’s and peasant speech became thoroughly known to him from childhood: not only from books, but also in practice, he studied the common language and from a young age became a great expert folk poetic images, folk forms thinking, folk aesthetics.

The poet's death came as a surprise and a blow to many of his friends and colleagues. As you know, F.M. spoke at his funeral. Dostoevsky with a heartfelt speech inspired by impressions from a poem he recently read. In particular, among other things, he said:

He, indeed, was highly original and, indeed, came with a “new word.”

First of all, his poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” became a “new word”. No one before him had understood so deeply the peasant, simple, everyday grief. His colleague in his speech noted that Nekrasov was dear to him precisely because he bowed “to the people’s truth with all his being, which he testified to in his the best creatures" However, Fyodor Mikhailovich did not support his radical views on the reorganization of Russia, however, like many thinkers of that time. Therefore, criticism reacted to the publication violently, and in some cases aggressively. In this situation, the honor of his friend was defended by the famous reviewer, master of words Vissarion Belinsky:

N. Nekrasov in his last work remained true to his idea: to arouse the sympathy of the upper classes of society for the common people, their needs and wants.

Quite caustically, recalling, apparently, professional disagreements, I. S. Turgenev spoke about the work:

Nekrasov's poems, collected into one focus, are burned.

The liberal writer was not a supporter of his former editor and openly expressed his doubts about his talent as an artist:

In the white thread stitched, seasoned with all sorts of absurdities, painfully hatched fabrications of the mournful muse of Mr. Nekrasov - there is not even a penny of her poetry.”

He truly was a man of very high nobility of soul and a man of great intelligence. And as a poet he is, of course, superior to all poets.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 5

✪ Who lives well in Rus'. Nikolay Nekrasov

✪ N.A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (content analysis) | Lecture No. 62

✪ 018. Nekrasov N.A. Poem Who Lives Well in Rus'

✪ Open lesson with Dmitry Bykov. "Misunderstood Nekrasov"

✪ Lyrics N.A. Nekrasova. Poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (analysis of the test part) | Lecture No. 63

Subtitles

History of creation

N. A. Nekrasov began work on the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” in the first half of the 60s of the 19th century. The mention of exiled Poles in the first part, in the chapter “Landowner,” suggests that work on the poem began no earlier than 1863. But sketches of the work could have appeared earlier, since Nekrasov had been collecting material for a long time. The manuscript of the first part of the poem is marked 1865, however, it is possible that this is the date of completion of work on this part.

Soon after finishing work on the first part, the prologue of the poem was published in the January issue of Sovremennik magazine for 1866. Printing lasted for four years and was accompanied, like all of Nekrasov’s publishing activities, by censorship persecution.

The writer began to continue working on the poem only in the 1870s, writing three more parts of the work: “The Last One” (1872), “The Peasant Woman” (1873), and “A Feast for the Whole World” (1876). The poet did not intend to limit himself to the written chapters; three or four more parts were planned. However, a developing illness interfered with the author's plans. Nekrasov, feeling the approach of death, tried to give some “completeness” to the last part, “A feast for the whole world.”

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was published in the following sequence: “Prologue. Part one", "Last One", "Peasant Woman".

Plot and structure of the poem

It was assumed that the poem would have 7 or 8 parts, but the author managed to write only 4, which, perhaps, did not follow one another.

The poem is written in iambic trimeter.

Part one

The only part that does not have a title. It was written shortly after the abolition of serfdom (). Judging by the first quatrain of the poem, we can say that Nekrasov initially tried to anonymously characterize all the problems of Rus' at that time.

Prologue

In what year - calculate
In what land - guess
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together.

They got into an argument:

Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?

They offered 6 possible answers to this question:

• Novel: to the landowner;
• Demyan: official;
• Gubin brothers - Ivan and Mitrodor: to the merchant;
• Pakhom (old man): minister, boyar;

The peasants decide not to return home until they find the correct answer. In the prologue, they also find a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed them, and they set off.

Chapter I. Pop

Chapter II. Rural fair.

Chapter III. Drunken night.

Chapter IV. Happy.

Chapter V. Landowner.

The last one (from the second part)

At the height of haymaking, wanderers come to the Volga. Here they witness a strange scene: a noble family sails to the shore in three boats. The mowers, who had just sat down to rest, immediately jumped up to show the old master their zeal. It turns out that the peasants of the village of Vakhlachina help the heirs hide the abolition of serfdom from the crazy landowner Utyatin. For this, the relatives of the last one, Utyatin, promise the men floodplain meadows. But after the long-awaited death of the Last One, the heirs forget their promises, and the whole peasant performance turns out to be in vain.

Peasant woman (from the third part)

In this part, the wanderers decide to continue their search for someone who can “live cheerfully and at ease in Rus'” among women. In the village of Nagotin, the women told the men that there was a “governor” in Klin Matryona Timofeevna: “kinder and smoother - there is no woman.” There, seven men find this woman and convince her to tell her story, at the end of which she reassures the men of her happiness and of women’s happiness in Rus' in general:

The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will
Abandoned, lost
From God himself!..

• Prologue
• Chapter I. Before marriage
• Chapter II. Songs
• Chapter III. Savely, hero, Holy Russian
• Chapter IV. Dyomushka
• Chapter V. She-Wolf
• Chapter VI. Difficult year
• Chapter VII. Governor's wife
• Chapter VIII. The Old Woman's Parable

A feast for the whole world (from the fourth part)

This part is a logical continuation of the second part (“The Last One”). It describes the feast that the men threw after the death of the old man Last. The adventures of the wanderers do not end in this part, but at the end one of the feasters - Grisha Dobrosklonov, the son of a priest, the next morning after the feast, walking along the river bank, finds what the secret of Russian happiness is, and expresses it in short song“Rus”, by the way, was used by V.I. Lenin in the article “ Main task our days." The work ends with the words:

If only our wanderers could
Under my own roof,
If only they could know,
What happened to Grisha.
He heard in his chest
Immense forces
Delighted his ears
Blessed sounds
Radiant sounds
Noble hymn -
He sang the incarnation
People's happiness!..

Such an unexpected ending arose because the author was aware of his imminent death, and, wanting to finish the work, logically completed the poem in the fourth part, although at the beginning N.A. Nekrasov conceived 8 parts.

List of heroes

Temporarily obliged peasants who went to look for those who live happily and freely in Rus':

Ivan and Metropolitan Gubin,

Old man Pakhom,

Peasants and serfs:

• Artyom Demin,
• Yakim Nagoy,
• Sidor,
• Egorka Shutov,
• Klim Lavin,
• Vlas,
• Agap Petrov,
• Ipat is a sensitive serf,
• Yakov is a faithful servant,
• Gleb,
• Proshka,
• Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina,
• Savely Korchagin,
• Ermil Girin.

Landowners:

• Obolt-Obolduev,
• Prince Utyatin (the last one),
• Vogel (Little information on this landowner)
• Shalashnikov.

Other heroes

• Elena Alexandrovna - the governor's wife who delivered Matryona,
• Altynnikov - merchant, possible buyer of Ermila Girin's mill,
• Grisha Dobrosklonov.

Centuries change, but the name of the poet N. Nekrasov - this knight of the spirit - remains unforgettable. In his work, Nekrasov revealed many aspects of Russian life, spoke about the grief of the peasants, and made one feel that under the yoke of need and darkness, heroic forces that had not yet developed were hidden.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the core work of N.A. Nekrasov. It is about peasant truth, about “old” and “new”, about “slaves” and “free”, about “rebellion” and “patience”.

What is the history of the creation of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”? The 60s of the 19th century are characterized by increased political reaction. Nekrasov had to defend the Sovremennik magazine and the course that the publication followed. The struggle for the purity of the chosen direction required the activation of Nekrasov’s muse. One of the main lines that Nekrasov adhered to, and which met the tasks of that time, was popular, peasant. The work on the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the main tribute to the peasant theme.

The creative tasks that Nekrasov faced when creating the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” should be considered in the focus of literary and social life of the 60-70s. XIX century. After all, the poem was created not in one year, but more than ten years, and the moods that possessed Nekrasov in the early 60s changed, just as life itself changed. The writing of the poem began in 1863. By that time, Emperor Alexander II had already signed a manifesto on the abolition of serfdom.

Work on the poem was preceded by years of collecting creative material bit by bit. The author decided not just to write a work of art, but a work accessible and understandable to ordinary people, a kind of “ folk book", which shows with utmost completeness an entire era in the life of the people.

What is genre originality poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”? Literary experts identify this work by Nekrasov as an “epic poem.” This definition goes back to the opinion of Nekrasov’s contemporaries. An epic is a major work of fiction of an epic nature. The genre of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a lyric-epic work. It combines epic principles with lyrical and dramatic ones. The dramatic element generally permeates many of Nekrasov’s works; the poet’s passion for drama is reflected in his poetic work.

The compositional form of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is quite unique. Composition is the construction, arrangement of all elements work of art. Compositionally, the poem is structured according to the laws of classical epic: it is a collection of relatively autonomous parts and chapters. The unifying motif is the road motif: seven men (seven is the most mysterious and magical number) trying to find an answer to a question that is essentially philosophical: who can live well in Rus'? Nekrasov does not lead us to a certain climax in the poem, does not push us towards the final event and does not intensify the action. His task, as a major epic artist, is to reflect aspects of Russian life, to draw the image of the people, to show the diversity of people's roads, directions, paths. This creative work of Nekrasov is a large lyric-epic form. There are many characters involved and many storylines unfold.

The main idea of ​​the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is that the people deserve happiness and it makes sense to fight for happiness. The poet was sure of this, and with his entire work he presented evidence of this. The happiness of one individual is not enough, this is not a solution to the problem. The poem calls for thoughts about the embodiment of happiness for the whole people, about a “Feast for the whole world.”

The poem begins with a “Prologue”, in which the author tells how seven men from different villages met on a highway. A dispute arose between them about who life is better in Rus'. Each of those arguing expressed his opinion, and no one wanted to give in. As a result, the debaters decided to go on a journey to find out first-hand who lives in Rus' and how they live and to find out which of them was right in this dispute. From the warbler bird, the wanderers learned where the magic self-assembled tablecloth was located, which would feed and water them in long journey. Having found a self-assembled tablecloth and convinced of its magical abilities, seven men set off on a long journey.

In the chapters of the first part of the poem, seven wanderers met people from different classes on their way: priests, peasants country fair, the landowner and asked them the question - how happy are they? Neither the priest nor the landowner thought that their life was full of happiness. They complained that after the abolition of serfdom, their life worsened. Fun reigned at the rural fair, but when the wanderers began to find out from the people leaving after the fair how happy each of them was, it turned out that only a few of them could be called truly happy.

In the chapters of the second part, united by the title “The Last One,” the wanderers meet the peasants of the village of Bolshie Vakhlaki, living in a rather strange situation. Despite the abolition of serfdom, they portrayed serfs in the presence of the landowner, as in the old days. The old landowner was sensitive to the reform of 1861 and his sons, fearing to be left without an inheritance, persuaded the peasants to play serfs until the old man died. At the end of this part of the poem it is said that after the death of the old prince, his heirs deceived the peasants and started a lawsuit with them, not wanting to give up valuable meadows.

After communicating with the Vakhlak men, the travelers decided to look for happy people among women. In the chapters from the third part of the poem, under the general title “Peasant Woman,” they met with a resident of the village of Klin, Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, who was popularly nicknamed “the governor’s wife.” Matryona Timofeevna told them without concealment her entire long-suffering life. At the end of her story, Matryona advised wanderers not to look for happy people among Russian women, telling them a parable that the keys to women's happiness are lost, and no one is able to find them.

The wandering of seven men, seeking happiness throughout Rus', continues, and they end up at a feast thrown by the residents of the village of Valakhchina. This part of the poem was called “A Feast for the Whole World.” At this feast, seven wanderers come to the realization that the question for which they went on a campaign across Rus' occupies not only them, but the entire Russian people.

IN last chapter The author of the poem gives the floor to the younger generation. One of the participants in the folk feast, the son of the parish sexton, Grigory Dobrosklonov, unable to sleep after heated arguments, goes to wander around his native expanses and the song “Rus” is born in his head, which became ideological ending poems:

"You and the wretched one,
You are also abundant
You're downtrodden
You are omnipotent
Mother Rus'!

Returning home and telling his brother this song, Grigory tries to fall asleep, but his imagination continues to work and is born new song. If the seven wanderers had been able to find out what this new song was about, they could have returned home with a light heart, for the goal of the journey would have been achieved, since Grisha’s new song was about the embodiment of people’s happiness.

Regarding the issues of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” we can say the following: two levels of issues (conflict) emerge in the poem – socio-historical (the results of the peasant reform) – the conflict grows in the first part and persists in the second, and deep, philosophical (salt national character), which appears in the second and dominates the third part. Problems raised by Nekrasov in the poem
(the chains of slavery have been removed, but whether the peasant’s lot has been eased, whether the oppression of the peasants has stopped, whether the contradictions in society have been eliminated, whether the people are happy) - will not be resolved for a long period.

When analyzing N.A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” it is important to say that the main poetic meter of this work is unrhymed iambic trimeter. Moreover, at the end of the line after the stressed syllable there are two unstressed syllables (dactylic clause). In some places in the work, Nekrasov also uses iambic tetrameter. This choice of poetic size was determined by the need to present the text in a folklore style, but while preserving the classical literary canons of that time. Included in the poem folk songs, as well as songs by Grigory Dobrosklonov, are written using three-syllable meters.

Nekrasov strove to ensure that the language of the poem was understandable to ordinary Russian people. Therefore, he refused to use the vocabulary of classical poetry of that time, saturating the work with words of common speech: “village”, “breveshko”, “idle dance”, “fairground” and many others. This made it possible to make the poem understandable to any peasant.

In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Nekrasov uses numerous means of artistic expression. These include such epithets as “red sun”, “black shadows”, “poor people”, “free heart”, “calm conscience”, “indestructible force”. There are also comparisons in the poem: “jumped out as if disheveled”, “yellow eyes burn like... fourteen candles!”, “like the men fell asleep like those killed,” “rainy clouds like milk cows.”

Metaphors found in the poem: “the earth lies”, “spring... friendly”, “the warbler is crying”, “a stormy village”, “the boyars are cypress-bearing”.

Metonymy - “the whole road became silent”, “the crowded square became silent”, “When a man... Belinsky and Gogol are carried away from the market.”

In the poem there was a place for such means of artistic expression as irony: “... a tale about a holy fool: he hiccups, I think!” and sarcasm: “The proud pig: itched about the master’s porch!”

There are also stylistic figures in the poem. These include appeals: “Well, uncle!”, “Wait!”, “Come, what you desire!..”, “Oh people, Russian people!” and exclamations: “Choo! horse snoring!”, “At least not this bread!”, “Eh! Eh!”, “At least swallow a feather!”

Folklore expressions - at the fair, apparently and invisibly.

The language of the poem is peculiar, decorated with sayings, sayings, dialects, “common” words: “mlada-mladashenka”, “tselkovenky”, “honk”.

I remember the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” because, despite the difficult times in which it was created and which it describes, a positive, life-affirming beginning is visible in it. The people deserve happiness - this is the main theorem proven by Nekrasov. The poem helps people understand, become better, fight for their happiness. Nekrasov is a thinker, a person with a unique social instinct. He touched the depths folk life, pulled out from its depths a scattering of original Russian characters. Nekrasov was able to show the fullness of human experiences. He sought to comprehend the full depth of human existence.

Nekrasov solved his creative problems in an unconventional way. His work is imbued with the ideas of humanism.

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov

Who can live well in Rus'?

PART ONE

In what year - calculate
Guess what land?
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together:
Seven temporarily obliged,
A tightened province,
Terpigoreva County,
Empty parish,
From adjacent villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
There is also a poor harvest,
They came together and argued:
Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?

Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
Luke said: ass.
To the fat-bellied merchant! -
The Gubin brothers said,
Ivan and Metrodor.
Old man Pakhom pushed
And he said, looking at the ground:
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister.
And Prov said: to the king...

The guy's a bull: he'll get in trouble
What a whim in the head -
Stake her from there
You can’t knock them out: they resist,
Everyone stands on their own!
Is this the kind of argument they started?
What do passers-by think?
You know, the kids found the treasure
And they share among themselves...
Each one in his own way
Left the house before noon:
That path led to the forge,
He went to the village of Ivankovo
Call Father Prokofy
Baptize the child.
Groin honeycomb
Carried to the market in Velikoye,
And the two Gubina brothers
So easy with a halter
Catch a stubborn horse
They went to their own herd.
It's high time for everyone
Return on your own way -
They are walking side by side!
They walk as if they are being chased
Behind them are gray wolves,
What's further is quick.
They go - they reproach!
They scream - they won’t come to their senses!
But time doesn’t wait.

They didn’t notice the dispute
As the red sun set,
How evening came.
I'd probably kiss you all night
So they went - where, not knowing,
If only they met a woman,
Gnarled Durandiha,
She didn’t shout: “Reverends!
Where are you looking at night?
Have you decided to go?..”

She asked, she laughed,
Whipped, witch, gelding
And she rode off at a gallop...

“Where?..” - they looked at each other
Our men are here
They stand, silent, looking down...
The night has long since passed,
The stars lit up frequently
In the high skies
The moon has surfaced, the shadows are black
The road was cut
Zealous walkers.
Oh shadows! black shadows!
Who won't you catch up with?
Who won't you overtake?
Only you, black shadows,
You can't catch it - you can't hug it!

To the forest, to the path-path
Pakhom looked, remained silent,
I looked - my mind scattered
And finally he said:

"Well! goblin nice joke
He played a joke on us!
No way, after all, we are almost
We've gone thirty versts!
Now tossing and turning home -
We're tired - we won't get there,
Let's sit down - there's nothing to do.
Let's rest until the sun!..”

Blaming the trouble on the devil,
Under the forest along the path
The men sat down.
They lit a fire, formed a formation,
Two people ran for vodka,
And the others as long as
The glass was made
The birch bark has been touched.
The vodka arrived soon.
The snack has arrived -
The men are feasting!

They drank three kosushki,
We ate and argued
Again: who has fun living?
Free in Rus'?
Roman shouts: to the landowner,
Demyan shouts: to the official,
Luka shouts: ass;
Kupchina fat-bellied, -
The Gubin brothers are shouting,
Ivan and Mitrodor;
Pakhom shouts: to the brightest
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister,
And Prov shouts: to the king!

It took more than before
Perky men,
They swear obscenely,
No wonder they grab it
In each other's hair...

Look - they've already grabbed it!
Roman is pushing Pakhomushka,
Demyan pushes Luka.
And the two Gubina brothers
They iron the hefty Provo, -
And everyone shouts his own!

A booming echo woke up,
Let's go for a walk,
Let's go scream and shout
As if to tease
Stubborn men.
To the king! - heard to the right
To the left responds:
Ass! ass! ass!
The whole forest was in commotion
With flying birds
Swift-footed beasts
And creeping reptiles, -
And a groan, and a roar, and a roar!

First of all, little gray bunny
From a nearby bush
Suddenly he jumped out, as if disheveled,
And he ran away!
Small jackdaws follow him
Birch trees were raised at the top
A nasty, sharp squeak.
And then there’s the warbler
Tiny chick with fright
Fell from the nest;
The warbler chirps and cries,
Where is the chick? – he won’t find it!
Then the old cuckoo
I woke up and thought
Someone to cuckoo;
Accepted ten times
Yes, I got lost every time
And started again...
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo!
The bread will begin to spike,
You'll choke on an ear of corn -
You won't cuckoo!
Seven eagle owls flew together,
Admiring the carnage
From seven big trees,
They're laughing, night owls!
And their eyes are yellow
They burn like burning wax
Fourteen candles!
And the raven, a smart bird,
Arrived, sitting on a tree
Right by the fire.
Sits and prays to the devil,
To be slapped to death
Which one!
Cow with a bell
That I got lost in the evening
From the herd, I heard a little
Human voices -
She came to the fire and stared
Eyes on the men
I listened to crazy speeches
And I began, my dear,
Moo, moo, moo!

The stupid cow moos
Small jackdaws squeak.
The boys are screaming,
And the echo echoes everyone.
He has only one concern -
Teasing honest people
Scare the boys and women!
Nobody saw him
And everyone has heard,
Without a body - but it lives,
Without a tongue - screams!

Owl - Zamoskvoretskaya
The princess is immediately mooing,
Flies over the peasants
Crashing on the ground,
About the bushes with the wing...

The fox herself is cunning,
Out of womanish curiosity,
Snuck up on the men
I listened, I listened
And she walked away, thinking:
“And the devil won’t understand them!”
Indeed: the debaters themselves
They hardly knew, they remembered -
What are they making noise about...

Having bruised my sides quite a bit
To each other, we came to our senses
Finally, the peasants
They drank from a puddle,
Washed, freshened up,
Sleep began to tilt them...
Meanwhile, the tiny chick,
Little by little, half a seedling,
Flying low,
I got close to the fire.

Pakhomushka caught him,
He brought it to the fire and looked at it
And he said: “Little bird,
And the marigold is awesome!
I breathe and you'll roll off your palm,
If I sneeze, you'll roll into the fire,
If I click, you'll roll around dead
But you, little bird,
Stronger than a man!
The wings will soon get stronger,
Bye bye! wherever you want
That's where you'll fly!
Oh, you little birdie!
Give us your wings
We'll fly around the whole kingdom,
Let's see, let's explore,
Let's ask around and find out:
Who lives happily?
Is it at ease in Rus'?

“You wouldn’t even need wings,
If only we had some bread
Half a pound a day, -
And so we would Mother Rus'
They tried it on with their feet!” -
Said the gloomy Prov.

“Yes, a bucket of vodka,” -
They added eagerly
Before vodka, the Gubin brothers,
Ivan and Metrodor.

“Yes, in the morning there would be cucumbers
Ten of salty ones,” -
The men were joking.
“And at noon it would be a jug
Cold kvass."

“And in the evening, have a cup of tea
Have some hot tea..."

While they were chatting,
The warbler whirled and whirled
Above them: listened to everything
And she sat down by the fire.
Chiviknula, jumped up
And in a human voice
Pahomu says:

“Let the chick go free!
For a chick for a small one
I will give a large ransom."

- What will you give? -
“I’ll give you some bread
Half a pound a day
I'll give you a bucket of vodka,
I'll give you some cucumbers in the morning,
And at noon, sour kvass,
And in the evening, tea!”

- And where, little birdie, -
The Gubin brothers asked,
You will find wine and bread
Are you like seven men? -

“If you find it, you will find it yourself.
And I, little birdie,
I'll tell you how to find it."

- Tell! -
"Walk through the forest,
Against pillar thirty
Just a mile away:
Come to the clearing,
They are standing in that clearing
Two old pine trees
Under these pine trees
The box is buried.
Get her, -
That magic box:
It contains a self-assembled tablecloth,
Whenever you wish,
He will feed you and give you something to drink!
Just say quietly:
"Hey! self-assembled tablecloth!
Treat the men!”
According to your wishes,
At my command,
Everything will appear immediately.
Now let the chick go!”
Womb - then ask,
And you can ask for vodka
Exactly a bucket a day.
If you ask more,
And once and twice - it will be fulfilled
At your request,
And the third time there will be trouble!
And the warbler flew away
With your birth chick,
And the men in single file
We reached for the road
Look for pillar thirty.
Found it! - They walk silently
Straightforward, straight forward
Through the dense forest,
Every step counts.
And how they measured the mile,
We saw a clearing -
They are standing in that clearing
Two old pine trees...
The peasants dug around
Got that box
Opened and found
That tablecloth is self-assembled!
They found it and cried out at once:
“Hey, self-assembled tablecloth!
Treat the men!”
Lo and behold, the tablecloth unfolded,
Where did they come from?
Two hefty arms
They put a bucket of wine,
They piled up a mountain of bread
And they hid again.
“Why are there no cucumbers?”
“Why is there no hot tea?”
“Why is there no cold kvass?”
Everything appeared suddenly...
The peasants got loose
They sat down by the tablecloth.
There's a feast here!
Kissing for joy
They promise each other
Don't fight in vain,
But the matter is really controversial
According to reason, according to God,
On the honor of the story -
Don't toss and turn in the houses,
Don't see your wives
Not with the little guys
Not with old people,
As long as the matter is moot
No solution will be found
Until they find out
No matter what for certain:
Who lives happily?
Free in Rus'?
Having made such a vow,
In the morning like dead
The men fell asleep...