Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” immerses us into the world of peasant life in Russia. Nekrasov’s work on this work occurred after the peasant reform of one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. This can be seen from the first lines of the “Prologue”, where the wanderers are called “temporarily obliged” - this is the name given to the peasants who emerged from serfdom after the reform.
In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” we see diverse images of Russian peasants, learn about their views on life, find out what kind of life they live and what problems exist in the life of the Russian people. Nekrasov's depiction of the peasantry is closely connected with the problem of searching for a happy person - the purpose of the journey of seven men across Rus'. This journey allows us to get acquainted with all the unsightly sides of Russian life.
Savely is rightfully considered one of the main images of the poem, with whom the reader becomes acquainted in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World.” Saveliy's life story is very difficult, like that of all peasants of the post-reform era. But this hero is distinguished by a special freedom-loving spirit, inflexibility in the face of the hardships of peasant life. He bravely endures all the bullying of the master, who wants to force his subjects to pay him tribute by flogging. But all patience comes to an end.
This is what happened with Savely, who, unable to bear the tricks of the German Vogel, seems to accidentally push him towards a hole dug by the peasants. Savely, of course, is serving his sentence: twenty years of hard labor and twenty years of settlements. But do not break him - the hero of the Holy Russian: “branded, but not a slave”! He returns home to his son's family. The author draws Savely in the traditions of Russian folklore:
With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years without a haircut,
With a huge beard
Grandfather looked like a bear...
The old man lives separately from his relatives, because he sees that he is needed in the family, while he gave money... He only treats Matryona Timofeevna with love. But the hero’s soul opened up and blossomed when his daughter-in-law Matryona brought him his grandson Dyomushka.
Savely began to look at the world completely differently, he thawed at the sight of the boy, and with all his heart he became attached to the child. But even here, evil fate trips him up. Star Saveliy - fell asleep while babysitting Dyoma. The boy was torn to death by hungry pigs... Savely's soul is torn from pain! He takes the blame upon himself and repents of everything to Matryona Timofeevna, telling her how much he loved the boy.
Saveliy will spend the rest of his long hundred-seven-year life atonement for his sin in monasteries. Thus, Nekrasov shows in the image of Savely a deep commitment to faith in God, combined with a huge reserve of patience of the Russian people. Matryona forgives his grandfather and understands how Savely’s soul is tormented. And this forgiveness also has a deep meaning, revealing the character of the Russian peasant.
Here is another image of a Russian peasant, about whom the author says: “lucky too.” Savely appears in the poem as a folk philosopher; he reflects on whether the people should endure a powerless and oppressed state. Savely combines kindness, simplicity, sympathy for the oppressed and hatred for the oppressors of the peasants.
N.A. Nekrasov in the image of Savely showed a people gradually beginning to realize their rights and a force to be reckoned with.
Matryona Timofeevna told the walkers about the fate of Savelia. He was her husband's grandfather. She often sought help from him and asked for advice. He was already a hundred years old, he lived separately in his upper room, because he did not like his family. In solitude he prayed and read the calendar. Huge, like a bear, hunched over, with a huge gray mane. At first Matryona was afraid of him. And his relatives teased him about being branded and a convict. But he was kind to his son’s daughter-in-law and became a nanny for her first-born. Matryona ironically called him lucky.
Savely was a serf of the landowner Shalashnikov in the village of Korega, which was lost among impenetrable forests. That is why the life of the peasants there was relatively free. The master excellently tore down the peasants who were withholding the rent from him, since due to the lack of roads it was difficult to reach them. But after his death it got even worse. The heir sent manager Vogel, who turned the life of the peasants into real hard labor. The crafty German convinced the men to work off their debts. And in their innocence they drained the swamps and paved the road. And so the master's hand reached out to them.
For eighteen years they endured the German, who with his death grip let almost everyone around the world. One day, while digging a well, Savely carefully pushed Vogel towards the hole, and the others helped. And they responded to the German’s cries with “nine shovels,” burying him alive. For this he received twenty years of hard labor and the same amount of imprisonment. Even there he worked a lot and managed to save money to build an upper room. But his relatives loved him while they had money, then they began to spit in his eyes.
Why does Nekrasov call this cold-blooded killer a Holy Russian hero? Saveliy, possessing truly heroic physical strength and spiritual strength, is for him the intercessor of the people. Savely himself says that the Russian peasant is a hero in his patience. But he has a glimmering thought that “the men have axes for their adversaries, but they are silent for the time being.” And he chuckles to himself in his beard: “Branded, but not a slave.” For him, both not to endure and to endure are all the same thing, that is an abyss. He speaks with condemnation of the obedience of today's men, who died in his day, the lost Aniki warriors, who are only capable of fighting with old men and women. All their strength in small things was lost under rods and sticks. But his wise folk philosophy led to rebellion.
Even after hard labor, Savely retained his unbroken spirit. Only the death of Demushka, who died through his fault, broke the man who had endured hard labor. He will spend his last days in the monastery and in wanderings. This is how the theme of people's long-suffering was expressed in the fate of Savely.
Essay Savely in the poem Who Lives Well in Rus'
Nekrasov set himself a huge task - to show exactly how the abolition of serfdom affected the right to life. ordinary people. To do this, he creates seven peasants who walk all over Rus' and ask people if they are living well. Grandfather Savely becomes one of the respondents.
Outwardly, Savely looks like a huge bear, he has a large gray “mane”, broad shoulders and great height, he is a Russian hero. From Savely’s story, the reader understands that he is not only a hero outwardly, he is also a hero internally, in character. He is a very persistent, resilient and filled with life wisdom person. A man who experienced many sorrows and many joys.
In his youth, Savely lived far in the forest, where the hand of evil landowners had not yet reached. But one day a German manager was appointed to the settlement. Initially, the manager did not even demand money from the peasants, the tribute required by law, but forced them to cut down the forest for it. The narrow-minded peasants did not immediately understand what was happening, but when they cut down all the trees, a road was built into their wilderness. It was then that the German manager came with his entire family to live in the wilderness. Only now the peasants could not boast of a simple life: the Germans were fleecing them. A Russian hero is capable of enduring a lot for a long time, Savely argues during this period of his life, but something needs to be changed. And he decides to rebel against the manager, whom all the peasants are burying in the ground. Here it appears great will our hero, which is even stronger than his boundless Russian patience.
For such insolence he is sent to hard labor for 20 years, and after that for another 20 years he works in the settlements, saving money. Not every person is capable of plowing for 40 years for one goal - to return home and help his family with money. This is worthy of respect.
Upon returning home, the worker is greeted very cordially, he builds a hut for his family and everyone loves him. But as soon as the money runs out, they start laughing at him, which greatly offends Savely; he does not understand what he did to deserve such treatment.
The end of the grandfather’s life ends in the monastery, where he atones for the sins he committed: it was his fault that his grandson died. Savely is the image of a true Russian hero, capable of enduring a lot, but ready to rush into the fight for the freedom of his neighbors. The author calls him “lucky” with irony, and this is true: he is unhappy for the rest of his life.
Several interesting essays
- Essay description of the painting Morning on the Kulikovo Field by Bubnov
As you know, the history of mankind is a history of wars. In almost every era, people fight with each other and the reasons for this can be very diverse.
It was an early, summer, sunny morning. Having woken up, the girl stretched a little in bed, and getting up, went to dressing table. In the mirror she saw an exact copy of herself - her reflection
The chapter “Peasant Woman” was created by Nekrasov on the eve of the second democratic upsurge, when true knowledge of the people’s environment, the essence folk character became especially necessary. What conclusions did the long-term study of Nekrasov’s folk life lead to?
Never before in any of the chapters of the epic “To Whom in Rus'...” has the author so inspiredly affirmed the idea that inexhaustible sources of moral beauty, perseverance, heroic power and love of freedom lurk in the people’s environment. The latter is revealed with particular force in the central episode of the chapter “Peasant Woman,” the story about Savely, the Holy Russian hero. It is completely natural that it is in the chapter characterizing the life of the peasantry, narrated by a peasant woman and closely connected with folk art, a semi-fictional (and so concretely real!) image of the “homespun hero” appears, Savelya - one of the best and most dramatic creations of Nekrasov’s genius.
From Matryona’s very first words about Savely, a feeling of his heroic power is born. The huge, “With a huge gray mane, / With a huge beard,” the hundred-year-old man not only “looked like a bear,” but his strength seemed “more terrible than an elk.” The epic, broadly generalizing meaning of the image of Savely is emphasized in the title of the chapter - “Savely, the hero of the Holy Russian.” What are the origins of the birth of this image and what place does it occupy in the development ideological plan poems?
The impulses that stimulated the work of Nekrasov’s creative imagination are very diverse. It is possible that the idea of introducing the image of a peasant hero into the chapter “Peasant Woman” was prompted by Fedosov’s laments. Thus, in the lament “About the Killed by Thunder and Lightning,” the image of Elijah the Prophet is depicted, who asks God for permission to shoot a fiery arrow into the white chest of a mighty peasant. Words of the poem:
What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet
It rattles and rolls around
On a chariot of fire...
The hero endures everything! —
an undoubted echo of Fedosov's cry.
But Nekrasov came not so much from the book as from life. As it was found out in one of the most interesting studies, the concept of the chapter about Savely is acutely journalistic. The events described in the chapter “Savely, the hero of the Holy Russian” unfold in the northwestern part of the Kostroma region, as evidenced by the names: Korezhina, Bui, Sand Monastery, Kostroma. It turns out that the choice of the location, so to speak, “Kostroma topography,” is not accidental in the poem. Arriving in the city (“Governor’s Lady”), Matryona stops in surprise in front of the monument to Susanin:
It is forged from copper,
Exactly like Savely’s grandfather,
A man on the square.
- Whose monument? - “Susanina.”
The fact that Savely is compared with Susanin has been noted many times in the literature, but scientific research has shown that the internal connection between the image of Savely and Susanin is much deeper and more complex than it seemed. It is in it that the secret of the birth of the image is hidden.
The Kostroma “signs” of the chapter have a special meaning. The fact is that Ivan Susanin was born in the same place, in the village of Derevenki, Buysky district. He died, according to legend, about forty kilometers from Bui, in the swamps near the village of Yusupov.
As is known, Susanin’s patriotic feat was interpreted in a monarchical spirit; love for the Tsar and willingness to give his life for him were declared to be traits expressing the very essence of the Russian peasantry. In 1851, a monument to Susanin was erected in Kostroma (sculptor V.I. Demut-Malinovsky). At the foot of a six-meter column, topped with a bust of Mikhail Romanov, is the kneeling figure of Ivan Susanin. When visiting Kostroma, Nekrasov saw this monument more than once.
With the plot of the chapter “Savely, the hero of the Holy Russians,” the action of which is concentrated in a remote bearish corner, deep in the Kostroma forests and swamps, the poet declares that even in the most remote side a man wakes up. This is also evidenced by the image of Savely - an epically generalized image of the Russian peasantry rising to fight.
In his poem, Nekrasov gives an unusually deep analysis of the characteristics of the peasant movement of his era, peasant Rus' in its strengths and weaknesses. The author of the epic draws attention to the heroic power of the “homespun hero” (Russian peasant), the seemingly difficult patience with it and the spontaneous nature of his rebellion. The Russian man is patient. Korezhin silently tolerates Shalashnikov’s teasing. This ability to restrain growing anger and rise above beatings and torture testifies to inner strength and pride (“These were proud people!”)
Whatever you do, son of a dog,
But you can’t knock out your whole soul...
In this patience there is not obedience and slavish blood, but common sense and fortitude.
A kind of competition in strength and stamina takes place between the Korezhinites and Shalashnikov, and Shalashnikov’s brute strength is not able to defeat the inner tenacity of the men, the strength of their spirit: “You are a fool, Shalashnikov!” - the Korezhin residents mockingly say, making fun of the master. However
Peasant patience
Enduringly, and with time
There is an end for him too
peasant "axes lie for the time being." Ordinary natures submit to evil, but the people's environment constantly puts forward people who stand up to fight it. These people begin to understand that excessive patience often develops into a habit and gives birth to the psychology of a slave. “To endure the abyss...” Savely formulates this thought, having taken the path of protest.
The Russian peasant is patient, but once he has made his decision, he is no longer afraid of obstacles. Pushed to the limit by the bullying of the “German manager,” the patient Korezhin residents, silently agreeing to settle accounts with the hated Vogel, show amazing determination and unanimity in actions. The initiative belongs to Savely. It was he who was the first to lightly push Khristyan Khristianych towards the pit with his shoulder. And this slight push, a spark, is enough for the flames of the people’s anger to flare up and begin to work in unison to the remark “Pump it up!” nine shovels...
Affirming the moral right of the people to fight, to deal with their oppressors, admiring the strength and determination of the Korezhinites, Nekrasov, however, also shows the doom of such outbursts of peasant anger. Savely and his comrades
To the land of the German Vogel
Khristyan Khristianych
Buried him alive.
Tavern... a prison in Bui-gorod,
...Twenty years of strict hard labor,
The settlement has been around for twenty years.”
By killing Vogel, the Korezhinites aroused against themselves the action of the force behind Vogel, the terrible force of the autocratic landowner state, which even heroes cannot cope with if they are alone. Old man Savely reflects:
Where have you gone, strength?
What were you useful for?
- Under rods, under sticks
Left for little things!
That’s why the Holy Russian hero likes to repeat: “To not endure is an abyss...” Yes, spontaneous and scattered peasant revolts will not lead to Izbytkovo village. Nekrasov knows this and yet speaks with enormous poetic inspiration about the power and love of freedom, about the enormous potential power of the Russian peasant’s anger.
Savely’s story contains the words:
Then... I escaped from hard labor...
The image of a peasant - a rebel, a people's avenger for centuries-old grievances - was originally conceived even more sharply. The manuscripts contain an episode that tells how Saveliy, having escaped from hard labor for the third time, “had a fair walk in freedom.” Wandering in the taiga in winter, he comes across a hut in which some hated officials were staying, and, carrying out his revenge, Savely burns his enemies.
It is generally accepted that consideration of censorship forced Nekrasov to refuse to introduce this episode into his poem. But I would like to note something else. There is something eerie in the painted picture, casting an ominous glare, an ominous shadow on the appearance of Savely, contrary to Nekrasov’s concept of folk character. The Russian peasant is more complacent than cruel; thoughtful and deliberate cruelty is not characteristic of him. Yes, driven to the limit, in a fit of righteous anger, the Korezhinites bury Vogel in the ground. But psychological drawing here is different. The shovels of the Korezhin residents work under the influence of a spontaneous impulse, they carry out the will of the collective, although each of the participants in the massacre is internally embarrassed by the cruelty of this just (after all, they endured it for “eighteen” years!) will:
We didn't look at each other
In the eyes...
They came to their senses and “looked at each other” only when the deed was done. It seems that it was not a look at censorship, but an artistic flair that forced the poet to refuse to introduce into the final text of the poem the fragment “And the doors are covered with stones...”, which contradicts the humane foundations of the hero’s nature.
There is no force capable of breaking Savely. “Twenty years of strict hard labor, / Twenty years of settlement” only strengthened his natural love of freedom, expressed in the words: “Branded, but not a slave!” Having become a hundred-year-old man, all his thoughts are chained to the past, he reflects on the fate of the peasantry, “about the bitter lot of the plowman,” about the ways of struggle, and even in the monastery where he went, blaming himself for the death of Demushka, he prays “for all the suffering Russian peasantry.” True, at the end of his life Savely sometimes comes to bitter and bleak conclusions.
Be patient, long-suffering one!
We can't find the truth,
He says to Matryona, and mentally addresses the peasants with the words:
No matter how you fight, you fools,
What is written in the family
This cannot be avoided!
But fatalism and religiosity, so characteristic of the ideology of the patriarchal Russian peasantry, live in Savelia next to the unabated long life anger and contempt for those who are not capable of fighting:
Oh you Aniki warriors!
With old people, with women
All you have to do is fight!
The image of Savely is correlated in the poem not only with Ivan Susanin, but also with the images of the Russian epic epic. He is a Holy Russian hero. This poetic parallel affirms the heroism of the people and faith in their inescapable powers. It has long been established that in Saveliy’s characterization of the peasant (Do you think, Matryonushka, the peasant is not a hero?...) one can hear the echo of the epic about Svyatogor and earthly cravings. Svyatogor the hero feels immense strength within himself.
If only I could find the traction
That would lift the whole earth! —
he says. But, having tried to lift the saddle bag with earthly traction,
And Svyatogor sunk into the ground up to his knees,
And not tears, but blood flows down the white face...
In the poem:
For now there is a terrible craving
He raised it,
Yes, he went into the ground up to his chest
With effort! By his face
Not tears - blood flows.
The image of Svyatogor helps to express the idea of the strength and weakness of the Russian peasantry, of its powerful but still dormant forces and the unawakened, unformed state of its social consciousness. To the observation The comparison of the Russian peasant with Svyatogor is present in the poem as Savely’s reasoning. Saveliy, whose consciousness is characterized not by drowsiness, but by intense, many years of painful work of thought, the result of which was contempt for Anika warriors who were not capable of fighting, the consciousness that a convict brand was better than spiritual slavery. Therefore, the figurative parallel of Svyatogor - the Russian peasant cannot in any way be extended to Savely himself, also a Svyatorussky hero, but of a different, not dormant, but active force.
Essay on the topic: Savely. Work: Who lives well in Rus'
Savely - “the hero of the Holy Russian”, “With a huge gray mane, Tea has not been cut for twenty years, With a huge beard, Grandfather looked like a bear.” He was definitely similar in strength to a bear; in his youth he hunted it with his bare hands.
S. spent almost his entire life in Siberia in hard labor for burying a cruel German manager alive in the ground. S.’s native village was located in the wilderness. Therefore, the peasants lived in it relatively freely: “The zemstvo police did not come to us for a year.” But they resignedly endured the atrocities of their landowner. It is in patience, according to the author, that the heroism of the Russian people lies, but there is a limit to this patience. S. was sentenced to 20 years, and after an escape attempt, another 20 were added. But all this did not break the Russian hero. He believed that “Branded, but not a slave!” Returning home and living with his son’s family, S. behaved independently and independently: “He didn’t like families, he didn’t let them into his corner.” But S. treated his grandson’s wife, Matryona, and her son Demushka well. An accident made him responsible for the death of his beloved great-grandson (due to S. Demushka’s oversight, pigs killed him). In inconsolable grief, S. goes to repentance in a monastery, where he remains to pray for the entire destitute Russian people. At the end of his life, he pronounces a terrible sentence on the Russian peasantry: “There are three roads for men: Tavern, prison and penal servitude, And for women in Rus' there are three nooses... Climb into any one.”
The reader recognizes one of the main characters of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - Savely - when he is already an old man who has lived a long and difficult life. The poet paints a colorful portrait of this amazing old man:
With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years uncut,
With a huge beard
Grandfather looked like a bear
Especially, like from the forest,
He bent over and went out.
Savely's life turned out to be very difficult; fate did not spoil him. In his old age, Savely lived with the family of his son, Matryona Timofeevna’s father-in-law. It is noteworthy that grandfather Savely does not like his family. Obviously, all members of the household do not have the best qualities, but the honest and sincere old man feels this very well. In his own family, Savely is called “branded, convict.” And he himself, not at all offended by this, says: “Branded, but not a slave.
It’s interesting to observe how Savely is not averse to making fun of his family members:
And they will annoy him greatly -
He jokes: “Look at this
Matchmakers are coming to us!” Unmarried
Cinderella - to the window:
but instead of matchmakers - beggars!
From a tin button
Grandfather sculpted a two-kopeck coin,
Tossed on the floor -
Father-in-law got caught!
Not drunk from the pub -
The beaten man trudged in!
What does this relationship between the old man and his family indicate? First of all, it is striking that Savely differs both from his son and from all his relatives. His son does not possess any exceptional qualities, does not disdain drunkenness, and is almost completely devoid of kindness and nobility. And Savely, on the contrary, is kind, smart, and outstanding. He shuns his household; apparently, he is disgusted by the pettiness, envy, and malice characteristic of his relatives. Old man Savely is the only one in his husband’s family who was kind to Matryona. The old man does not hide all the hardships that befell him:
“Oh, the share of Holy Russian
Homemade hero!
He's been bullied all his life.
Time will change its mind
About death - hellish torment
In the other world they are waiting.”
Old man Savely is very freedom-loving. It combines qualities such as physical and mental strength. Savely is a real Russian hero who does not recognize any pressure over himself. In his youth, Savely had remarkable strength; no one could compete with him. In addition, life was different before, the peasants were not burdened with the difficult responsibility of paying dues and working off corvée. As Savely himself says:
We did not rule the corvee,
We didn't pay rent
And so, when it comes to reason,
We'll send you once every three years.
In such circumstances, the character of young Savely was strengthened. No one put pressure on her, no one made her feel like a slave. Moreover, nature itself was on the side of the peasants:
There are dense forests all around,
There are swampy swamps all around,
No horse can come to us,
Can't go on foot!
Nature itself protected the peasants from the invasion of the master, the police and other troublemakers. Therefore, the peasants could live and work peacefully, without feeling someone else’s power over them.
When reading these lines, fairy-tale motifs come to mind, because in fairy tales and legends people were absolutely free, they were in charge of their own lives.
The old man talks about how the peasants dealt with bears:
We were only worried
Bears... yes with bears
We managed it easily.
With a knife and a spear
I myself am scarier than the elk,
Along protected paths
I go: “My forest!” - I scream.
Savely, like a real fairy-tale hero, lays claim to the forest surrounding him. It is the forest - with its untrodden paths and mighty trees - that is the real element of the hero Savely. In the forest, the hero is not afraid of anything; he is the real master of the silent kingdom around him. That is why in old age he leaves his family and goes into the forest.
The unity of the hero Savely and the nature surrounding him seems undeniable. Nature helps Savely become stronger. Even in old age, when years and adversity have bent the old man’s back, remarkable strength is still felt in him.
Savely tells how in his youth his fellow villagers managed to deceive the master and hide their existing wealth from him. And even though they had to endure a lot for this, no one could blame people for cowardice and lack of will. The peasants were able to convince the landowners of their absolute poverty, so they managed to avoid complete ruin and enslavement.
Savely is a very proud person. This is felt in everything: in his attitude to life, in his steadfastness and courage with which he defends his own. When he talks about his youth, he remembers how only people weak in spirit surrendered to the master. Of course, he himself was not one of those people:
Shalashnikov tore excellently,
And he received not so much great income:
Weak people gave up
And the strong for the patrimony
They stood well.
I also endured
He remained silent and thought:
“Whatever you do, son of a dog,
But you can’t knock out your whole soul,
Leave something behind!”
Old man Savely bitterly says that now there is practically no self-respect left in people. Now cowardice, animal fear for oneself and one’s well-being and lack of desire to fight prevail:
These were proud people!
And now give me a slap -
Police officer, landowner
They're taking their last penny!
Savely's young years were spent in an atmosphere of freedom. But peasant freedom did not last long. The master died, and his heir sent a German, who at first behaved quietly and unnoticed. The German gradually became friends with the entire local population and gradually observed peasant life.
Gradually he gained the trust of the peasants and ordered them to drain the swamp, then cut down the forest. In a word, the peasants came to their senses only when a magnificent road appeared along which their godforsaken place could be easily reached.
And then came hard labor
To the Korezh peasant -
ruined the threads
Free life is over, now the peasants have fully felt all the hardships of a forced existence. Old man Savely speaks about people's long-suffering, explaining it by the courage and spiritual strength of people. Only truly strong and courageous people can be so patient as to endure such bullying, and so generous as not to forgive such an attitude towards themselves.
That's why we endured
That we are heroes.
This is Russian heroism.
Do you think, Matryonushka,
A man is not a hero"?
And his life is not a military one,
And death is not written for him
In battle - what a hero!
Nekrasov finds amazing comparisons when talking about people's patience and courage. He uses folk epic when talking about heroes:
Hands are twisted in chains,
Feet forged with iron,
Back...dense forests
We walked along it - we broke down.
What about the breasts? Elijah the prophet
It rattles and rolls around
On a chariot of fire...
The hero endures everything!
Old man Savely tells how the peasants endured the arbitrariness of the German manager for eighteen years. Their whole life was now at the mercy of this cruel man. People had to work tirelessly. And the manager was always dissatisfied with the results of the work and demanded more. Constant bullying from the Germans causes strong indignation in the souls of the peasants. And one day another round of bullying forced people to commit a crime. They kill the German manager. When reading these lines, the thought of supreme justice comes to mind. The peasants had already felt completely powerless and weak-willed. Everything they held dear was taken from them. But you can’t mock a person with complete impunity. Sooner or later you will have to pay for your actions.
But, of course, the murder of the manager did not go unpunished:
Bui-city, There I learned to read and write,
So far they have decided on us.
The solution has been reached: hard labor
And whip first...
The life of Savely, the Holy Russian hero, after hard labor was very difficult. He spent twenty years in captivity, only to be released closer to old age. Savely's whole life is very tragic, and in his old age he turns out to be the unwitting culprit in the death of his little grandson. This incident once again proves that, despite all his strength, Savely cannot withstand hostile circumstances. He is just a toy in the hands of fate.
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Saveliy is a Holy Russian hero (based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”)
The reader recognizes one of the main characters of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - Savely - when he is already an old man who has lived a long and difficult life. The poet paints a colorful portrait of this amazing old man:
With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years uncut,
With a huge beard
Grandfather looked like a bear
Especially, like from the forest,
He bent over and went out.
Savely's life turned out to be very difficult; fate did not spoil him. In his old age, Savely lived with the family of his son, Matryona Timofeevna’s father-in-law. It is noteworthy that grandfather Savely does not like his family. Obviously, all members of the household do not have the best qualities, but the honest and sincere old man feels this very well. In his own family, Savely is called “branded, convict.” And he himself, not at all offended by this, says: “Branded, but not a slave!..”.
What does this relationship between the old man and his family indicate? First of all, it is striking that Savely differs both from his son and from all his relatives. He shuns his household; apparently, he is disgusted by the pettiness, envy, and malice characteristic of his relatives. Old man Savely is the only one in his husband’s family who was kind to Matryona.
In his youth, Savely had remarkable strength; no one could compete with him. In addition, life was different before, the peasants were not burdened with the difficult responsibility of paying dues and working off corvée.
Savely is a proud man. This is felt in everything: in his attitude to life, in his steadfastness and courage with which he defends his own. When he talks about his youth, he remembers how only people weak in spirit surrendered to the master. Of course, he himself was not one of those people:
Shalashnikov tore excellently,
Not so great
Income received:
Weak people gave up
And the strong for the patrimony
They stood well.
I also endured
He remained silent and thought:
“No matter how you take it, son of a dog,
But you can’t knock out your whole soul,
Leave something behind!”
Savely's young years were spent in an atmosphere of freedom. Gradually he gained the trust of the peasants and ordered them to drain the swamp, then cut down the forest. In a word, the peasants came to their senses only when a magnificent road appeared along which their godforsaken place could be easily reached.
And then came hard labor
To the Korezh peasant -
Ruined to the bone!
Free life is over, now the peasants have fully felt all the hardships of a forced existence. Old man Savely speaks about people's long-suffering, explaining it by the courage and spiritual strength of people. Only truly strong and courageous people can be so patient as to endure such bullying, and so generous as not to forgive such an attitude towards themselves.
That's why we endured
That we are heroes.
This is Russian heroism.
Do you think, Matryonushka,
Is the man not a hero?
Old man Savely talks about how the peasants endured the arbitrariness of the German manager for eighteen years. Their whole life was now at the mercy of this cruel man. People had to work tirelessly. And the manager was always dissatisfied with the results of the work and demanded more. Constant bullying from the Germans causes strong indignation in the souls of the peasants. And one day another round of bullying forced people to commit a crime. They kill the German manager.
The life of Savely, the Holy Russian hero, after hard labor was not easy. He spent twenty years in captivity, only to be released closer to old age. This incident once again proves that, despite all his strength, Savely cannot withstand hostile circumstances. He is just a toy in the hands of fate.
The image of Matryona Timofeevna (based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”)
The image of a simple Russian peasant woman Matryona Timofeevna is surprisingly bright and realistic. In this image, N. A. Nekrasov combined all the features and qualities characteristic of Russian peasant women. And the fate of Matryona Timofeevna is in many ways similar to the fate of other women.
Matrena Timofeevna was born into a large peasant family. All her life Matryona Timofeevna remembers this carefree time, when she was surrounded by the love and care of her parents. But peasant children grow up very quickly. Therefore, as soon as the girl grew up, she began to help her parents in everything.
Matryona Timofeevna recalls her youth. She was pretty, hardworking, active. It's no surprise that guys were staring at her. And then the betrothed appeared, to whom the parents gave Matryona Timofeevna in marriage.
Someone else's side
Not sprinkled with sugar
Not drizzled with honey!
It's cold there, it's hungry there,
There's a well-groomed daughter there
Violent winds will blow around,
The shaggy dogs bark,
And people will laugh!
In these lines one can clearly read the sadness of the mother, who perfectly understands all the hardships of life that will befall her married daughter. In someone else's family, no one will show concern for her, and the husband himself will never stand up for his wife.
Relationships with father-in-law, mother-in-law and sisters-in-law were not easy, new family Matryona had to work a lot, and at the same time no one said a kind word to her. The birth of a child is the event that turns her whole life upside down.
The peasant woman's joy at the birth of her son did not last long. Working in the field requires a lot of effort and time, and then there’s a baby in your arms. At first, Matryona Timofeevna took the child with her to the field. But then her mother-in-law began to reproach her, because it is impossible to work with a child with complete dedication. And poor Matryona had to leave the baby with grandfather Savely. One day the old man neglected to pay attention and the child died.
The death of a child is a terrible tragedy. But peasants have to put up with the fact that very often their children die. However, this is Matryona’s first child, so his death was too difficult for her. And then there’s another problem - the police, a doctor and a police officer come to the village, accusing Matryona of killing a child in collusion with the former convict Grandfather Savely. Matryona Timofeevna begs not to perform an autopsy in order to bury the child without desecration of the body. But no one listens to the peasant woman. She almost goes crazy from everything that happened.
All the hardships of a hard peasant life, the death of a child, still cannot break Matryona Timofeevna. Time passes and she has children every year. And she continues to live, raise her children, do hard work.
Love for children is the most important thing a peasant woman has, so Matryona Timofeevna is ready to do anything to protect her beloved children. This is evidenced by the episode when they wanted to punish her son Fedot for an offense. Matryona throws herself at the feet of a passing landowner so that he can help save the boy from punishment. And the landowner ordered:
Helping a minor
Out of youth, out of stupidity
Forgive... but the woman is impudent
Approximately punish!
Why did Matryona Timofeevna suffer punishment? For his boundless love for his children, for his willingness to sacrifice himself for the sake of others.
The readiness for self-sacrifice is also manifested in the way Matryona rushes to seek salvation for her husband from conscription. She manages to get to the place and ask for help from the governor’s wife, who really helps Philip free himself from recruitment.
Indeed, a peasant woman cannot be called happy. All the difficulties and difficult trials that befall her can break and lead a person to death not only spiritually, but also physically.
The image of Matryona Timofeevna is surprisingly harmonious. The woman appears at the same time strong, resilient, patient and tender, loving, caring. She has to independently cope with the difficulties and troubles that befall her family; Matryona Timofeevna does not see help from anyone.
The life of Matryona Timofeevna is a constant struggle for survival, and she manages to emerge victorious from this struggle.
“People's Defender” Grisha Dobrosklonov (based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”)
Grisha Dobrosklonov is fundamentally different from others characters poems. If the life of the peasant woman Matryona Timofeevna, Yakim Nagogo, Savely, Ermil Girin and many others is shown in submission to fate and prevailing circumstances, then Grisha has a completely different attitude towards life. The poem shows Grisha's childhood and tells about his father and mother. His life was more than hard, his father was lazy and poor:
Poorer than seedy
The last peasant
Tryphon lived. Two closets:
One with a smoking stove,
Another fathom is summer,
And all this is short-lived;
No cow, no horse...
Grisha's mother died early, she was destroyed by constant sorrows and worries about her daily bread.
Gregory does not agree to submit to fate and lead the same sad and wretched life that is typical of most people around him. Grisha chooses a different path for himself, becomes people's defender. He is not afraid that his life will not be easy:
Fate had in store for him
The path is glorious, the name is loud
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia.
Since childhood, Grisha lived among poor, unhappy, despised and helpless people. He absorbed all the people's troubles with his mother's milk, so he does not want and cannot live for the sake of his selfish interests. He is very smart, has strong character. And he raises himself to a new level, does not allow himself to remain indifferent to the people’s disasters. Gregory's reflections on the fate of the people testify to the liveliest compassion that makes Grisha choose such a difficult path for himself.
In the soul of Grisha Dobrosklonov, confidence is gradually maturing that his homeland will not perish, despite all the suffering and sorrows that befell it:
In moments of despondency, O Motherland!
My thoughts fly forward.
You are still destined to suffer a lot,
But you won't die, I know.
Gregory’s reflections, which “poured out in song,” reveal him to be a very literate and educated person. He is knowledgeable about political problems Russia, and the fate of the common people is inseparable from these problems and difficulties. Historically, Russia “was a deeply unhappy country, depressed, slavishly lawless.” The shameful seal of serfdom turned the common people into powerless creatures, and all the problems caused by this cannot be discounted. The consequences of the Tatar-Mongol yoke also had a significant impact on the formation national character. The Russian man combines slavish submission to fate, and this is the main cause of all his troubles.
The image of Grigory Dobrosklonov is closely connected with revolutionary democratic ideas that began to appear in society in the middle of the 19th century. Nekrasov created his hero, focusing on the fate of N. A. Dobrolyubov. Grigory Dobrosklonov is a type of commoner revolutionary.
He was born into the family of a poor sexton, and from childhood he felt all the disasters characteristic of the life of the common people.
Grigory received an education, and besides, being an intelligent and enthusiastic person, he cannot remain indifferent to the current situation in the country. Grigory understands perfectly well that for Russia there is now only one way out - radical changes social order. The common people can no longer be the same dumb community of slaves that meekly tolerates all the antics of their masters:
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.
The ending of the poem shows that people's happiness is possible. And even if it is still far from the moment when an ordinary person can call himself happy. But time will pass– and everything will change. And far from it last role Grigory Dobrosklonov and his ideas will play a role in this.
The problem of national happiness in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” completes Nekrasov’s work. He wrote it in the seventies, but death prevented him from finishing the poem.
And already in the first stanza of the “Prologue” the main problem of the poem is posed - the problem of national happiness. Seven peasants from Zaplatov, Neelov, Dyryavino, Znobishin and other villages (whose names speak for themselves) started a dispute about whether happiness is possible for ordinary peasant people? They express their assumptions and come to the conclusion that a landowner, an official, a priest, a minister of sovereigns and a tsar can be happy in Rus'. But none of the wanderers imagines either a peasant, or a soldier, or an artisan as a possible lucky person. And it is no coincidence that Nekrasov’s wanderers do not mention the happiness of the “liberated peasant.” Let us remember how Nekrasov himself spoke about the reform of 1861: “The people have been liberated, but are the people happy?”
The peasants stubbornly want to find a “lucky man” in Rus' and are looking for the truth about independent happiness, envying the free-flying chick: “But you, dear bird, are stronger than a man.” Despite the fact that they are full of worries and troubles, they do not complain about their fate and are unpretentious in their desires: they would only like “bread, cucumbers, and a jar of cold kvass.”
In addition to wanderers seeking happiness, the poem introduces us to other prominent representatives of the common people. One of them is Yakim Nagoy, for whom happiness lies in working, merging with mother earth, and getting a decent harvest. Using the example of how Yakim saves expensive pictures during a fire, and his wife saves icons, we see how spiritual values are more valuable to the common people than material well-being, which Yakim has completely forgotten about. Another man who knows the value of both happiness and misfortune is former miller Ermil Girin. This man has everything he needs to be happy, living according to the laws of popular truth. He does not accept a life built on self-interest and lies, he fights for goodness and truth. His happiness lies in the happiness of the peasants, in the people's trust, which is interpreted as a miracle.
In the chapter “Happy”, wanderers walk among the festive crowd of people and look for the happy ones, promising to give them vodka. A variety of people approach them: a sexton, for whom happiness lies in faith, in “compassion”; and an old woman, happy that her turnip harvest was good; and a soldier who survived dangerous battles, starvation and injury. A stonecutter, a yard man, the poor, and the beggars, who interpret happiness in their own way and in most cases are disingenuous in order to get vodka, approach the wanderers. In the poem, happiness is spoken not only by people from the lower classes, but also by those who lived richly, but for some reason went broke and experienced poverty and troubles: landowners, officials and others. It is in this chapter that a turn in the plot of the poem occurs: wanderers go to look for the happy among the people, among the crowd.
According to the people, Matryona Timofeevna is another happy one. This simple Russian woman endured many trials, but did not break, she survived. This is her happiness. Matryona Timofeevna is a woman of great intelligence and heart, selfless, strong-willed and decisive. But Matryona Timofeevna herself does not consider herself happy. She explains this by the fact that Russian women, even in the post-reform era, remained oppressed and without rights:
The keys to female happiness,
From our will
Abandoned, lost
From God himself!
Yes, they are unlikely to be found...
But, perhaps, the most important voice praising people’s happiness is the voice of Grisha Dobrosklonov. From his songs it is clear that happiness can only be achieved through honest and righteous labor and struggle. Already the first of Grisha’s songs gives an answer to the question posed in the title of the poem:
Share of the people
His happiness
Light and freedom
First of all.
Grisha himself is the son of a sexton and a farmhand; he and his brother experienced hunger and poverty firsthand and survived thanks to the kindness of the people. Grisha managed to preserve the love that filled his heart and determined his path.
So, by his own example, Grisha calls on all wanderers and the rest of the people to live according to their conscience, work honestly and fight for their happiness at all costs.
Saveliy - the Holy Russian hero and Matryona Timofeevna - the embodiment of the author’s dream about the spiritual forces of the people (based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”)
In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Nekrasov is looking for an answer to a question that has long troubled humanity. The work presents the happiness of the priest, the landowner, and local people.
But most often Nekrasov reflects on the happiness of the people and dreams that sooner or later the people will perk up and gather strength to actively fight against the existing system for their freedom and a decent life.
The images of peasants presented in the poem confirm the writer’s hopes and meet his aspirations. And one of the main figures of the poem, standing out for its extraordinary physical strength and spiritual power, is Savely, the Holy Russian hero:
It’s a sin to remain silent about grandfather,
He was also lucky... -
This is what Matryona Timofeevna says about Savely.
We learn about Savelia from the chapter “Peasant Woman,” which says that this man grew up in a remote region near the Korezh River. The name itself - Korezhsky region - attracted the writer as a symbol of hardy labor and possessing enormous power a heroic people, of which Saveliy is a prominent representative. The word “korezhit” means “to bend”, “to break”, “to work”, and therefore Korezhina is a land of persistent and hardworking people.
Savely’s appearance personifies the mighty forest element: “With a huge gray mane, uncut for twenty years, with a huge beard, my grandfather looked like a bear...”
Nekrasov shows the complex path along which Savely’s rebellious sentiments grew: from silent patience to open resistance. Prison and Siberian hard labor did not break Savely and did not destroy his self-esteem. “Branded, but not a slave,” he says about himself. He went through all the trials that befell him, but was able to preserve himself. Savely treats his resigned fellow villagers with contempt and calls for a mass uprising for final reprisal against the oppressors, but his thoughts are not without contradictions. It is no coincidence that he is compared with Svyatogor, the strongest, but also the most motionless hero epic epic. At the same time, the image of Savely is very contradictory. On the one hand, he called for struggle, on the other, for patience:
Be patient, multi-branched one!
Be patient, long-suffering one!
We can't find the truth!
Saveliy advises Matryona Timofeevna. These words sound despair, hopelessness, and disbelief in the possibility of changing the bitter fate of the peasant. In the image of Matryona Timofeevna, Nekrasov embodied the best character traits of Russian peasant women. Matryona's highly moral qualities are harmoniously combined with her external beauty.
With her restrained and strict beauty, filled with self-esteem, Matryona represents the type of stately Slavic woman revealed by Nekrasov in the poem “Frost, Red Nose.” The story of her life confirms that Matryona’s character was formed in the conditions of latrine farming, when most of the male population went to the cities. On the shoulders of a woman fell not only the entire burden of peasant labor, but also a huge measure of responsibility for the fate of the family, for raising children.
From the chapter “Before Marriage” we learn about Matryona’s youth, and from the chapter “Songs” we learn about the difficult fate of the heroine after marriage. Matryona's songs are popular, so her personal fate reflects the typical fate of a peasant woman, ceasing to be her own. Short joys were replaced by frequent and severe misfortunes that could break even strong man. But Matryona persevered and found the spiritual and physical strength to fight for her happiness. Her beloved first-born Demushka dies, she saves her second son Fedotushka from terrible punishment at the cost of severe trials, she had to put in a lot of effort to achieve the release of her husband - and we see that no obstacles stop her, she is ready to fight for her happiness on her own to the last . The image of Matryona Timofeevna was created in such a way that she seemed to have been through all the vicissitudes that a Russian woman could experience. The voice of Matryona Timofeevna is the voice of the entire Russian people, all Russian women who had the same difficult fate.
Images of the poor peasantry in the poem by N. A. Nekrasov (Travelers, Ermil Girin, Yakim Nagoy)
The theme of the peasantry, the common people, is characteristic of advanced Russian literature of the 19th century V. We find wonderful images of peasants in the works of Radishchev, Pushkin, Turgenev, Gogol and other classics.
In working on his fundamental poem, Nekrasov also relies on his own poetic experience. After all, the peasant theme occupies a huge place in his work.
Already in his first poems, the poet acts as an exposer of the despotism of the landowners and a defender of the powerless and disadvantaged people.
Despite the fact that Nekrasov wrote the poem after the reform of 1861, it contains sentiments characteristic of the era of serfdom. Nekrasov does not deprive the poem of new rebellious motives: his peasants are far from meek and humble “peasants” - in their images the poet typified protesting-active features and conveyed inexhaustible possibilities internal struggle, ready to break out at any moment. At the same time, Nekrasov’s peasants are characterized by such qualities as spiritual kindness, honesty, justice, love of nature and a general lyrical perception of life.
Already in the “Prologue” we meet peasant men who have gathered from different villages (whose names speak for themselves) in order to set off on a long and difficult journey in search of national happiness.
Despite the troubles, hunger and poverty, the peasants are full of strength, optimism and are romantically inclined to find people who “live cheerfully, freely in Rus'”, satisfied with their lives. After all, the Russian man is stubborn and stubborn in achieving his goal, especially “whims”, dreams, in search of truth and beauty.
In the chapter " drunken night"The image of Yakim Nagogo appears in all its glory - the bearer characteristic features working peasantry. He appears before the reader as the son of the mother of the damp earth, as a symbol labor fundamentals peasant life. This is emphasized by his portrait characteristics: “The chest is sunken, like a depressed belly,” “at the eyes, at the mouth there are bends, like cracks in dried earth,” “the neck is brown, like a layer cut off by a plow,” “the arm is tree bark, and the hair - sand". And his death will be like the earth:
And death will come to Yakimushka -
As the lump of earth falls off,
What's stuck on the plow...
In the fate of Yakima we see the sad fate of the oppressed peasant masses: for decades he has been walking for a plow, “roasting on a strip under the sun, under a harrow he is saving himself from the frequent rain...”. He works himself to exhaustion, but is still poor and naked.
Yakim does not look like a downtrodden and ignorant peasant; he appears as an ambitious man, an active fighter and defender of peasant interests. In addition, Nekrasov demonstrates the broad and noble soul of his hero: during a fire, he saves his favorite pictures, and his wife saves icons, completely forgetting about monetary wealth, accumulated throughout life.
Another bright peasant image, presented by Nekrasov in the poem, is the image of Yermil Girin.
Yermil, like Yakim, is endowed with a keen sense of Christian conscience and honor. This hero of the poem is similar to a mythological hero, even his name is mythological - Ermilo. The story about him begins with a description of the hero's litigation with the merchant Altynnikov over the orphan mill. When at the end of the bargaining it turned out that “the deal was rubbish,” Yermil turned to the people for support and was not mistaken - the people helped raise money and buy the mill. Throughout his life, Yermil refutes the initial ideas of wanderers about the essence of human happiness. It seemed that he had everything he needed: peace of mind, money, and honor. But at a critical moment in his life, Yermil sacrifices this “happiness” for the sake of the people’s truth and ends up in prison. But he is happy because he gave his life to serve the downtrodden peasants. Yermil Girin has everything he needs for happiness, living according to the laws of people's truth. He does not accept a life built on self-interest and lies, he fights for goodness and truth. His happiness is in the happiness of the peasants:
Yes! there was only one man!
He had everything he needed
For happiness: and peace of mind,
And money and honor,
The honor is enviable, true.
Not bought with money,
Not with fear: with strict truth,
With intelligence and kindness!
With which hero does the author of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” pin his hopes for the future?
The theme of the people, their suffering, and the way out of this situation became the leading one in the work of N. A. Nekrasov. The author's hopes for a happy deliverance of the people from a difficult fate are connected with Grigory Dobrosklonov. His image stands apart from all the other people from the people - the characters in the poem. Nekrasov speaks with deep understanding and sympathy about the fate of the poor peasants, about the fate of Savely, the Holy Russian hero, about the fate of Matryona Timofeevna. But the lines telling about Grisha Dobrosklonov are imbued with special sympathy.
Gregory's childhood is not much different from the childhood of many representatives of the poor class. His family is poor, his father is lazy - his interests are focused only on heavy drinking, and not at all on the well-being of his wife and children.
Gregory's mother died early, unable to withstand the severity of the trials that befell her. WITH youth Gregory did not think about his own well-being and comfort, he was worried about the fate of the people. And he's not afraid to bring own life sacrifice just to become useful to people. From childhood, Gregory's life passed among the poorest and the most unfortunate people. His father’s drunkenness, like that of many around him, was, in principle, a consequence of this hopelessness. The poor man could not do anything for himself and his loved ones, so he often lost his last confidence in himself and his strengths and, in order to forget about his bitter lot, plunged into a state of continuous drunkenness.
Gregory has a remarkable mind; he could direct all his strength to create his own well-being. But selfish interests are alien to Dobrosklonov. He thinks least of all about himself, considering it impossible to build his own happiness when life around him is so difficult. In the chapter “A feast for the whole world” there is a song about two roads (“One is spacious, the road is rough”, “The other is a narrow road, honest”), from which Grisha had to choose one. And he chose:
Grisha was lured by the narrow one,
Winding path...
They walk along it
Only strong souls
Loving,
To fight, to work.
For the bypassed
For the oppressed...
Grigory Dobrosklonov is a bearer of revolutionary ideas. Dobrosklonov’s ideas will gradually help change the consciousness of ordinary people, awaken in them the desire to fight for their own happiness and well-being. Gregory is not afraid of the difficulties and dangers that will inevitably befall him. He himself will never become happy in the sense that is typical of most people. There will be no peace, comfortable and prosperous existence in his life. But Gregory is not afraid of this, he does not understand how he can take care of himself when there are so many disasters and misfortunes nearby:
Gregory already knew for sure
What will live for happiness
Wretched and dark
Native corner.
He is unlike any character in the poem; his way of thinking surprises and delights the reader. Grigory himself seems to be a completely unique person, possessing an extraordinary mind and talent, who knows first-hand all the misfortunes and difficulties of people. He sees in the people a force capable of reorganizing the world:
The army rises -
Countless!
The strength in her will affect
Indestructible!
The poet paints an image of such an amazing and wonderful person to show that changes in the country are possible. And even though now the men have come a hard way in vain - they failed to find a happy person among ordinary people:
If only our wanderers could be under their own roof. If only they could know what was happening to Grisha. But very little time will pass, and their fate will change. And the reader clearly feels the author’s hope for the best:
He heard the immense strength in his chest,
The sounds of grace delighted his ears,
The radiant sounds of the noble hymn -
He sang the embodiment of people's happiness!..
Peculiarities love lyrics Nekrasov (“Panaevsky cycle”)
Nekrasov does not and cannot have poems without the “boiling of human blood and tears” that he encounters everywhere.
This is indeed so, but one cannot help but assert that Nekrasov’s love lyrics reveal the poet from a new, unexpected, or rather, unusual side for the reader. Nekrasov, like every poet, has poems in which all the most intimate, most personal finds expression. This is written either “in a difficult moment of life,” or at a moment of supreme happiness - this is where the poet’s soul is revealed, where one can see another secret - love.
A restless heart beats
My eyes became foggy.
A sultry breath of passion
It came like a thunderstorm.
In Nekrasov, love appears in a complex interweaving of the beautiful, the sublime and the mundane. It’s not for nothing that his love lyrics are often compared to Pushkin’s. But in Pushkin the heroine is an object of lyrical feelings, she exists as a kind of beautiful ideal, devoid of specific features, but in Nekrasov “ lyrical heroine" is the “second person” of the poem, she always exists next to the hero - in his memories, in his dialogues with her - not just as an ideal, but as a living image.
This is especially noticeable in the elegy “Ah! what an exile, imprisoned!”, relating to the so-called “Panaevsky” cycle, inspired by memories of Nekrasov’s love for A. Ya. Panaeva. A contradictory and at the same time bright feeling is conveyed here: “jealous sadness” and the desire for happiness for the beloved woman, confidence in unquenchable mutual love and a sober awareness of the impossibility of returning lost happiness are intertwined in it.
Who will tell me?.. I’m silent, I’m hiding
my jealous sadness
And I wish her so much happiness,
So that there is no regret for the past!
She will come... and, as always, she is bashful,
Impatient and proud
He will lower his eyes silently.
Then... What will I say then?..
In this poem, the author paints a picture of the life lived by the heroes together, where they shared with each other both moments of happiness and harsh times. Thus, the poem is viewed from a double perspective - not one, but two destinies, two characters, two emotional worlds.
Thus, in the poem “Zina,” a sick person appears before the reader’s eyes. He can no longer hold back his groans, he is tormented by pain, and this pain continues endlessly. And next to it - loving woman. She has the hardest time of all, because it is better to suffer herself than to see how the closest and dearest person suffers, and to realize that nothing can be done to help him, there is no way to save him from this terrible pain and torment. Motivated by love and compassion, she does not close her eyes for “two hundred days, two hundred nights.” And the hero no longer hears his own groans, but how they reverberate in the heart of the woman he loves:
Night and day
In your heart
My moans respond.
And yet this darkness is not terrible, even death and illness are not terrible, since people are united by such pure, bright and sacrificial love.
Another masterpiece of Nekrasov’s love lyrics - “I don’t like your irony” - can simultaneously be attributed not only to love, but also to intellectual lyrics. Hero and heroine - cultured people, in their relationship there is not only love, but also irony and, most importantly, high level self-awareness. They both know and understand the fate of their love and are sad in advance.
The intimate situation reproduced by Nekrasov and the possible ways to resolve it are reminiscent of the relationship between the characters in Chernyshevsky’s “What is to be done?”
In Nekrasov’s love lyrics, love and suffering are closely intertwined, and joy and happiness are interspersed with tears, despair, and jealousy. These feelings are understandable at all times, and the poems excite and make us empathize even today. Attempts to analyze their feelings resonate in the hearts of readers, and even the painful jealousy and pain from separation from their love that they experience lyrical hero, makes you believe in the light of love.
“Who lives well in Rus'”: how did Nekrasov answer this question?
The epic poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a kind of final work in the work of N. A. Nekrasov. The poem is indicative of the extraordinary breadth of understanding of contemporary Russian reality.
The contradiction between the peasant world and the landowner world, lawlessness, arbitrariness of the authorities, the extremely low standard of living of the people, the oppression of their culture - all this prompted the poet to have difficult thoughts about the fate of Russia.
Peasant life is hard, and the poet, sparing no colors, shows rudeness, prejudices, drunkenness in peasant life. The situation of the people is depicted by the names of the places where the wanderers come from: Terpigorev county, Pustoporozhnaya volost, the villages of Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Znobishino, Neelovo...
Perhaps human happiness is found among well-fed gentlemen. And the first person they met was the church minister. When asked by the men what happiness is, he answered:
What do you think is happiness?
Peace, wealth, honor -
Isn't that right, dear friends?
But the priest was not truly happy, realizing that too often, not giving the common people rest, the church was a burden for them.
Maybe the “lucky” ones will be a landowner or an official, a merchant or a noble boyar, a minister, or at least a tsar?
But no, men understand that happiness has not only a material side. And wanderers are looking for happy ones among the people.
In the chapter “Happy”, one after another, the peasants come to the call, and the whole “crowded square” listens to them - all the people are already looking for the “happy” one.
Popular rumor leads wanderers to Matryona Timofeevna, the heroine of the poem, who embodies the fate of all Russian women, the best qualities of a female character:
dignified woman,
Wide and dense
Thirty-eight years old
Beautiful, gray hair,
The eyes are large, strict,
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark...
Telling travelers about her hard life, about the severity of serfdom, Matryona Timofeevna comes to the conclusion that no, she is unhappy...
Later, the wanderers meet Yakim Nagogo, a man of strong peasant character, who appears before the reader in the image of the son of mother earth:
The chest is sunken, as if depressed
Belly, eyes, mouth
Bends like cracks
On dry ground
And to Mother Earth myself
He looks like...
In the life of this man, a story happened at one time that proved that for him money in life is not the main thing. During the fire, he saves not his savings, but the pictures he bought for his son. This means that happiness was in them, or rather, in love for their child, their family.
Yermil Girin, one of the wanderers he met along the way, was also happy, but in his own way. He had money, honor, and peace of mind. But he sacrificed everything for the sake of truth, and he was sent to prison.
The author supports the peasants who cannot accept their existence. The poet is close not to the meek and submissive, but to the brave and strong, such as Savely, the “hero of the Holy Russian”, whose life speaks of the awakening consciousness of the peasants, of the protest of the peasant people against centuries-old oppression. Thus, as the plot develops in the poem, a detailed answer to the question of happiness is created. Happiness is peace, will, prosperity, freedom, and self-esteem - happiness has many faces.
This idea permeates the whole life of another, one might even say, the main character of the poem - Grigory Dobrosklonov. Grisha is perhaps the most happy man of those whom the wanderers met. He is still young, but he is already dreaming of national happiness, a fighter for justice is maturing in him, and he knows that his life in this field will be very difficult.
There is a lot of melancholy and sadness in the poem, a lot of human suffering and grief. But the result of the search for wanderers and the author along with them is encouraging - in order to be happy, you must be able to understand not only your life, but also the lives of other people. Nekrasov calls truly happy people those who give their lives to serve the people, their happiness, their future.
Love lyrics by N. A. Nekrasov
Nekrasov is the successor of Pushkin’s line in Russian poetry, predominantly realistic. In Nekrasov's lyrics there is a lyrical hero, but his unity is determined not by the range of themes and ideas associated with a certain type of personality, like Lermontov, but general principles relationship to reality.
And here Nekrasov emerges as an outstanding innovator who significantly enriched Russian lyric poetry and expanded the horizons of reality covered by lyrical images. The themes of Nekrasov's lyric poetry are varied. One thing remains unchanged for him compared to his predecessors: the theme of love.
The undoubted masterpiece of Nekrasov’s love lyrics is the poem “I don’t like your irony” (the poem is addressed to K. Ya. Panaeva, Nekrasov’s beloved).
This is an example of intellectual poetry, the hero and heroine are cultured people, their relationship contains irony and, most importantly, a high level of self-awareness. They know and understand the fate of their love and are sad in advance. The intimate situation reproduced by Nekrasov and the possible ways to resolve it are reminiscent of the relationship between the characters in Chernyshevsky’s “What is to be done?”
I don't like your irony.
Leave her outdated and not alive,
And you and I, who loved so dearly...
Nekrasov seemed to have taken a vacation from the struggle for “people's happiness” and stopped to reflect on the fate of his own love, his own happiness.
The fierce singer of grief and suffering was completely transformed, becoming surprisingly gentle, soft, and kind, as soon as it came to women and children.
Still shy and tender
Do you want to extend the date?
While rebelliousness is still boiling inside me
Jealous worries and dreams -
Don't rush the inevitable outcome!
These lines do not seem to belong to Nekrasov. This is how Tyutchev or Fet could write. However, here too Nekrasov is not an epigone. The named poets have surpassed various skills in understanding their inner life and the nature of love. Inner life was their battlefield, Nekrasov, in comparison with them, looks like an inexperienced youth. He is used to solving problems clearly. Having dedicated the lyre to his people, he knew where he was going, what he wanted to say, and he knew that he was right. He is just as categorical towards himself and his loved ones. In love, he is the same maximalist as in the arena of political struggle.
Nekrasov's lyrics arose on the fertile soil of the passions that controlled him and a sincere awareness of his moral imperfection. To a certain extent living soul It was his “guilts” that saved Nekrasov, which he often spoke about, turning to portraits of friends who “reproachfully looked from the walls” at him. His moral shortcomings gave him a living and immediate source of impetuous love and thirst for purification. The power of Nekrasov’s calls is psychologically explained by the fact that he acted in moments of sincere repentance. Who forced him to talk with such force about his moral failures, why did he have to expose himself from an unfavorable side? But obviously it was stronger than him. The poet felt that repentance evoked the best feelings of his soul, and gave himself entirely to his spiritual impulse.
We are boiling more intensely, full of the last thirst,
But there is a secret coldness and melancholy in the heart...
So in autumn the river is more turbulent,
But the raging waves are colder...
This is how Nekrasov describes his last feeling. This is not a philistine passion; only a true fighter was capable of such a gesture. In love, he does not recognize either half measures or compromise with himself.
The strength of feeling arouses enduring interest in Nekrasov’s lyrical poems - and these poems, along with poems, for a long time provided him with a primary place in Russian literature. His accusatory satires are now outdated, but from Nekrasov’s lyrical poems and poems one can compose a volume of highly artistic merit, the meaning of which will not die as long as the Russian language lives.
The theme of the greatness of the Russian people (poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Railroad”)
Alexey Nikolaevich Nekrasov dedicated his work to the common people. In his works, the poet reveals those problems that lay a heavy burden on the shoulders of the working people.
In the poem “The Railway” N.A. Nekrasov shows with anger and pain how the railway was built between St. Petersburg and Moscow. The railway was built by ordinary Russian people, many of whom lost not only their health, but also their very lives in such incredibly hard work. At the head of construction railway stood Arakcheev's former adjutant Count Kleinmichel, who was distinguished by extreme cruelty and contemptuous attitude towards people of the lower class.
Already in the epigraph to the poem, Nekrasov defined the theme of the work: the boy asks his father-general: “Dad! Who built this road? The poem is built in the form of a dialogue between a boy and a random fellow traveler, who reveals to the child the terrible truth about the construction of this railway.
The first part of the poem is lyrical, it is filled with love for the homeland, for the beauty of its unique nature, for its vast expanses, for its peace:
All is well under the moonlight.
Everywhere I recognize my native Rus'...
The second part contrasts sharply with the first. Horrible pictures of road construction emerge here. Fantastic techniques help the author to more deeply reveal the horror of what happened.
Chu! Menacing exclamations were heard!
Stomping and gnashing of teeth;
A shadow ran across the frosty glass...
What's there? Crowd of the dead!
Cruelty towards ordinary builders, absolute indifference to their fate is shown very clearly in the poem. This is confirmed by the lines of the poem in which people who died during construction talked about themselves:
We struggled under the heat, under the cold,
With an ever-bent back,
They lived in dugouts, fought hunger,
They were cold and wet and suffered from scurvy.
In the poem, Nekrasov paints a picture that hurts the heart of any kind and compassionate person. At the same time, the poet did not at all strive to evoke pity for the unfortunate road builders; his goal was to show the greatness and resilience of the Russian people. The fate of ordinary Russian people involved in construction was very, very difficult, but, nevertheless, each of them contributed to the common cause. Outside the windows of a cozy carriage, a series of emaciated faces pass, causing a shudder in the soul of a stunned child:
Bloodless lips, drooping eyelids,
Ulcers on skinny arms
Always standing in knee-deep water
The legs are swollen; tangles in hair;
Without the labor, strength, skill and patience of ordinary people, the development of civilization would be impossible. In this poem, the construction of the railway itself appears not only as real fact, but also as a symbol of another achievement of civilization, which is the merit of the working people. The words of the father general are hypocritical:
Your Slav, Anglo-Saxon and German
Do not create - destroy the master,
Barbarians! A wild bunch of drunkards!...
The final part of the poem is no less scary. The people receive their “deserved” reward. For suffering, humiliation, illness, and hard work, the contractor (“fat, stocky, red as copper”) gives the workers a barrel of wine and forgives the arrears. Unhappy people are already satisfied that their torment is over:
The Russian people have endured enough
He also took out this railway -
He will endure whatever God sends!
Will bear everything - and a wide, clear