Life is good for anyone in Rus'. Analysis of the chapters “Pop”, “Rural Fair”, “Drunken Night”

10.04.2019

Written in blank verse and stylized as ancient legends, the poem tells about the long journey through the lands of Mother Rus' of seven travelers who asked the question “who can live well in Rus'.” Nekrasov wrote his work in the second half of the 19th century, as a response to the reforms of Alexander II, who abolished serfdom. The journey of the wanderers was supposed to end in St. Petersburg, but due to the illness and sudden death of the writer, the poem remained unfinished.

A brief retelling of the plot of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

A long time ago, seven men from adjacent villages met on a country road. These were poor people who did not become happier with the abolition of serfdom in Rus'. A dispute ensued between the travelers - who lives well in their native lands? The conversation turned out to be so heated that the men walked 30 miles together and didn’t notice.

We stopped for the night, added vodka and a fire to the journey, got into a fight, but never got the truth. Apparently fate itself united these people - the men went to long haul to search happy person. We met a lot of people and listened to dozens of stories. The people of Rus' are strong and patient, but happiness seems to pass them by...

List and brief description of the characters in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Seven male travelers:

Novel - there is no information about it in the poem, there is no characterization;
Demyan is the most “educated” of the travelers, he can read syllables;
Luka is a stupid, bearded man;
Ivan Gubin and his brother
Metropolitan Gubin - drunkards, knowledgeable about horses;
Old Pakhom is a beekeeper, a smart old guy;
Prov is a gloomy man with a strong build.

Matryona Timofeevna - Matryona’s life is difficult, she lost her parents early, survived the death of her son. She bravely faces the machinations of fate, but she certainly cannot be considered one of the lucky ones.
Bogatyr Savely - Matryona also told the travelers about the sad fate of Savely.
The priest is a priest with a difficult service in a village church.
Ermil Girin is a young, smart, kind and hardworking peasant. He was a burgomaster, but he made a mistake and could not come to terms with it.
Obold Obolduev is a landowner who really lacks serfdom.
Prince Utyatin is an old prince who did not recognize the abolition of serfdom.
Grisha Dobrosklonov is the 15-year-old son of a clerk, an intelligent and kind fellow, living in poverty, forced to constantly starve.

Brief summary of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by chapters

PART I

Prologue

We met seven men - Demyan, Roman, Luka, Mitrodor, Ivan, Pakhom and Prov - from adjacent villages in Terpigorevo district with “talking” names: Dyryaevo, Razutovo, Zaplatovo, Znobishino, Neelovo, Gorelovo, Neurozhaiko.

The men started a dispute about “who lives better: the priest, the official, the landowner, the tsar.” They argued the whole way together, reached the forest and got into a fight. And then they caught the chick. His mother, a bird, in order to “ransom” her baby, told the men where the self-assembled tablecloth was hidden and bewitched their clothes so that they would never fray. The travelers unrolled the tablecloth, ate and drank, and promised each other that they would not return home until they found someone who was living well in Rus'. Thus began their long journey...

Chapter 1. Pop

The travelers walked for a long time along the birch trees. On the way they came across poor peasants and other “small” people. It was stupid to ask them about happiness - where does it come from?!

Finally, the disputants met the priest. Luke asked him if his life was sweet. The priest considered it a sinful thing to complain about life and simply told how and with what he exists. For him, happiness is “peace, wealth and honor.” But from the clergyman’s story, the seven men concluded that all three named values were absolutely unattainable for their new acquaintance. There is nothing good about living as a priest in Rus'.

Chapter 2. Rural fair

As they continue their journey, the men encounter many deserted villages. It turns out that in one village, the richest one, there is a fair. The travelers decide to wander there and look for the happy villagers. But they don’t find anything good - only dirt, poverty and endless drinking.

Chapter 3. Drunken night

Along the hundred-voice road, the men come across drunken and talkative people. One of them, Yakin Goly, tells them his story: how he saved popular prints from a burning house and lost all his savings. Then the travelers stop to rest and again “join” the crowd to look for the lucky Russians.

Chapter 4. Happy

The wanderers resorted to a little trick. They started shouting to the people that if the “lucky” one came up to them, they would treat him with vodka for nothing. People immediately line up. And everyone is happy, as if by choice: the soldier is glad that he returned barely alive from hellish service, the grandmother is delighted with the turnip harvest, and so on. So a whole bucket of vodka was distributed, but the happy one was not found.

One of the guys in the queue told the story of Ermila Girina, who may be the lucky one. Ermila managed to rise to the ruling rank, he is respected and loved by all the common people. But where is he? “Lucky” is in prison, and the priest promised to tell him why, but the thief was caught in the crowd and everyone rushed to the screams.

Chapter 5. Landowner

Next on the path of the seekers happy people met the landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev. And he told casual acquaintances about his fate. How well he lived under serfdom and how hard it was without it. At the end of the story, the landowner burst into tears.

PART II

Last One

The men celebrated the new day on the banks of the Volga River. A huge meadow with mown hay stretched out in front of them. Three boats moored to the shore, and in them was a family of nobles. The oldest of them was fawned on by everyone around him, including the peasants freed from serfdom.

It turned out that this was not easy. Prince Utyatin, or the Last One (nickname), when he learned that the serfs were being freed, promised to deprive his sons of their inheritance, since they did not defend the ideals of the landowners. The boyar children persuaded the peasants to play along with them and soon announced to the priest that everything had returned to normal. The peasants were promised a lot of lordly land for the performance. The old man died, the peasants were left with nothing.

PART III

Peasant woman

The wanderers visit the governor Matryona Korchagina, who is 38 years old, but she calls herself an old woman. The woman tells them her difficult fate. She was happy for a long time and only when she lived as a girl with her father and mother. Then she got married, her husband went to work, and she stayed with his family to live. I served everyone, but only regretted it old grandfather Savely. Matryonin’s first-born was eaten by pigs, then there were more children, and they even managed to beg her husband to come home from military service. Summing up her speech, Matryona admitted to the travelers that the concept of “female happiness” simply does not exist in Rus'.

PART IV

Feast for the whole world

There is a feast for the entire village of Vakhlacheno. Here: Klim Yakovlich, Vlas the headman and young seminary students Savvushka and Grisha, who sing good songs. Stories are told again at the table, for example, about the faithful servant Yakov. He served the master and loved him, endured everything until he gave his nephew to military service. The slave started drinking, and when he got over it, he returned to the master and after a while took cruel revenge. Gradually, conversations turn to sad, bloody stories, people begin to sing sad songs.

But the day will come when Rus' will sing only good songs and there will be no need to look for the happy - everyone will be happy. The first bricks for this day have been laid and they are two seminarians at a common table. Grisha, son of a clerk, from the very youth decided to devote himself to the fight for the happiness of the people. He loves his native village as deeply as his mother. And walks around native land with a song on my lips. His plans and dreams will come true, a difficult but noble life awaits this boy. It’s a pity that the travelers don’t hear Grisha singing about Rus'; then they wouldn’t have gone further, but would have gone home, because they would have realized that they had found the one they were going to look for.

This is how Nekrasov’s poem ended, but even from its unfinished chapters it becomes clear to the reader how difficult it was for the people after the reforms in Rus'.

The history of the creation of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

The plot of the poem was conceived by the author in the 1850s, and the final point was set by him in 1877. Nekrasov worked closely on this work for almost 15 years and, unfortunately, death did not allow him to complete his work. The editors and publishers received the manuscript in disjointed form, since the writer did not have time to put it together in the required order. Known to contemporaries a version of the poem was prepared for publication by K. Chukovsky, relying on Nekrasov’s notes, diaries and drafts.

In Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” there is a very precise and touching image the priest whom the main characters meet. They ask him how he lives in Rus', and the priest begins his story.

The reader knows little about the priest’s appearance: only a huge hat, which he takes off when he makes the sign of the cross, and a stern face. He talks about his life willingly and with heaviness, because his life is very difficult. He runs a large church, where many peasants come to pray and ask the priest for God’s help. In addition to the church, the priest is also called to the house, and regardless of weather conditions and time of day, he works both at night and during the day. The priest experiences hardships of the people who turn to him, he takes their pain onto his soul, sincerely sympathizes and suffers because he is sometimes unable to help. It is especially difficult for him to attend the funeral of the family breadwinner, because the whole family is left without means of living.

Due to the fact that rich landowners have left the city and are unlikely to return, the church is experiencing better times, the priest receives very little money, but what he receives is very conscientious and even shameful for him. He would be glad to work for free, but he needs to live for something, that’s why he takes money from the hands of even poor peasants.

But what depresses the priest most of all is that the peasants treat priests poorly, joke about their daughters and wives, and make up sayings like “When you meet a priest, it’s not good.” Among other things, the peasants compose vulgar and mocking songs about priests and laugh at them in every possible way.

The priest is very patient, courageous and stoic about his life, he understands that the cross he bears is heavy, but he will carry it until he dies, because he is a servant of God, helping the peasants, this is his purpose.

It’s a pity that in today’s life there are few such people; for some reason everyone is used to complaining about life, forgetting that somewhere far away there are countries where people’s lives are ten times worse. I believe that it is necessary to approach every difficulty in life with full combat readiness, to try in every possible way to overcome the difficulty and rise above it, as the priest from the poem does.

Why is life good for the priest and why is it bad?

Essay about Pop (Who lives well in Rus')

Question about happy life and about people who have been wondering “it’s good to live in Rus'” for generations over the years. Heroes Nekrasov's poem“Who can live well in Rus'?” in different historical eras were understood differently. The work, written in the nineteenth century, remains relevant today. A person strives to be independent of the circumstances that surround him. Everyone has their own concept of a “good life”. For some, “living well” means having an unlimited amount of money, for others – the happiness of loved ones, for others – a peaceful sky above your head. And let everyone have their own happiness, but it is not possible without love.

Love for your loved one, your family, the place where you were born.

Who helps ordinary peasants from Nekrasov’s poem, looking for happiness, answer the question about a good life in Rus', and those who directly live next to him.

It is the priest that the seven peasants meet first on their way. This is quite symbolic. In those distant times, the rural priest was considered the spiritual father of every born child, a person who blesses for good deeds, who escorts the dying person to the kingdom of heaven.

From the poem it is clear that the clergyman is a rural priest with a fairly large parish. The peasants are convinced that he is the one who will life is better It's good in Rus'. From the narration of the priest himself, it turns out that they are greatly mistaken.

The service of a priest is difficult; in any weather, he must go to the person who asks him for help: “Go wherever you are called!” He worries about people, tries to help them with the word of God.

At the same time, there is no due respect for him. People laugh at him, try to avoid him (a bad omen), so life is very difficult for him.

His income directly depends on his parishioners, mostly poor peasants. He lives on whatever they give him. His family does not have much wealth, nor do the peasants themselves who turned to him. But he cannot help but take money from the poor; then he himself will die of hunger. There are no rich people in his parish; the landowners have left for the cities.

The priest, who has heard the confession of other people more than once, in the poem seems to be confessing himself, only not before God, but before ordinary Russian peasants.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the poet conceived the confession of a priest. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” - last piece N.A. Nekrasova. He wrote it as a very sick man, well aware that his days were numbered and his illness would not go away. With his poem he sums up his spiritual quest. For the poet, happiness is serving his people, freedom from censorship, and the prosperity of Russia.

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, to his happiness, 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, and 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 his fill of rye bread, because in his 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 on the square there was an even more wonderful sight: 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.
Meanwhile, the priest 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 way 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, 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 those feasting are two seminarians, Savvushka and Grisha, kind 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 above 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 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 full version“Who lives well in Rus'.”

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The work of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is dedicated to the deep problems of the Russian people. The heroes of his story, ordinary peasants, go on a journey in search of a person to whom life does not bring happiness. So who can live well in Rus'? A summary of the chapters and an annotation to the poem will help you understand the main idea of the work.

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The idea and history of the creation of the poem

Nekrasov’s main idea was to create a poem for the people, in which they could recognize themselves not only in the general idea, but also in the little things, everyday life, behavior, see their strengths and weaknesses, and find their place in life.

The author succeeded in his idea. Nekrasov collected for years required material, planning his work entitled “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” much more voluminous than the one that came out at the end. As many as eight full-fledged chapters were planned, each of which was supposed to be a separate work with a complete structure and idea. The only thing unifying link- seven ordinary Russian peasants, men who travel around the country in search of the truth.

In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” four parts, the order and completeness of which is a source of controversy for many scholars. Nevertheless, the work looks holistic and leads to a logical end - one of the characters finds the very recipe for Russian happiness. It is believed that Nekrasov completed the ending of the poem, already knowing about his imminent death. Wanting to bring the poem to completion, he moved the end of the second part to the end of the work.

It is believed that the author began to write “Who can live well in Rus'?” around 1863 - shortly after. Two years later, Nekrasov completed the first part and marked the manuscript with this date. The subsequent ones were ready by 72, 73, 76 years of the 19th century, respectively.

Important! The work began to be published in 1866. This process turned out to be long and lasted four years. The poem was difficult to accept by critics, the highest authorities of that time brought down a lot of criticism on it, the author, along with his work, was persecuted. Despite this, “Who can live well in Rus'?” was published and well received by ordinary people.

Abstract to the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?”: it consists of the first part, which contains a prologue introducing the reader to the main acting characters, five chapters and excerpts from the second (“Last One” of 3 chapters) and the third part (“Peasant Woman” of 7 chapters). The poem ends with the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” and an epilogue.

Prologue

“Who can live well in Rus'?” begins with a prologue, the summary of which is as follows: meet seven main characters- ordinary Russian men from the people who came from the Terpigorev district.

Each one comes from their own village, the name of which, for example, was Dyryaevo or Neelovo. Having met, the men begin to actively argue with each other about who will truly live well in Rus'. This phrase will be the leitmotif of the work, its main plot.

Each offers a variant of the class that is now thriving. These were:

butts;
landowners;
officials;
merchants;
boyars and ministers;
tsar.

Guys argue so much it's getting out of control a fight starts- the peasants forget what they were going to do and go in a direction unknown to anyone. In the end, they wander into the wilderness, decide not to go anywhere else until the morning and wait out the night in a clearing.

Because of the noise, the chick falls out of the nest, one of the wanderers catches it and dreams that if it had wings, it would fly around all of Rus'. Others add that you can do without wings, if only you had something to drink and a good snack, then you can travel until you are old.

Attention! The bird - the mother of the chick, in exchange for her child, tells the men where it is possible find the treasure- a self-assembled tablecloth, but warns that you cannot ask for more than a bucket of alcohol per day - otherwise there will be trouble. The men actually find the treasure, after which they promise each other not to leave each other until they find the answer to the question of who should live well in this state.

First part. Chapter 1

The first chapter tells about the meeting of the men with the priest. They walked for a long time, and they met ordinary people - beggars, peasants, soldiers. The disputants did not even try to talk with those, because they knew from themselves that the common people had no happiness. Having met the priest's cart, the wanderers block the path and talk about the dispute, asking the main question, who lives well in Rus', asking, Are the priests happy?.

Pop responds as follows:

A person has happiness only if his life combines three features - peace, honor and wealth.
He explains that priests have no peace, starting from how troublesome it is for them to get the rank and ending with the fact that every day they listen to the cries of dozens of people, which does not add peace to life.
Lots of money now It's hard for priests to make money, since the nobles, who previously performed rituals in their native villages, now do it in the capital, and the clergy have to live off the peasants alone, from whom there is a meager income.
People don’t indulge priests with respect either, they make fun of them, avoid them, there is no way from anyone good words hear.

After the priest’s speech, the men shyly hide their eyes and understand that the life of priests in the world is not at all sweet. When the clergyman leaves, the debaters attack the one who suggested that the priests have a good life. Things would have come to a fight, but the priest appeared on the road again.

Chapter 2

The men walk along the roads for a long time, and almost no one meets them; they can ask who can live well in Rus'. In the end they find out that in the village of Kuzminskoye rich fair, since the village is not poor. There are two churches, a closed school and even a not very clean hotel where you can stay. It's no joke, there is a paramedic in the village.

The most important thing is that there are as many as 11 taverns here who do not have time to pour drinks for the merry people. All peasants drink a lot. There is an upset grandfather standing at the shoe shop, who promised to bring boots to his granddaughter, but drank the money away. The master Pavlusha Veretennikov appears and pays for the purchase.

Books are also sold at the fair, but people are interested in the most mediocre books; neither Gogol nor Belinsky are in demand or interesting to the common people, despite the fact that these writers defend interests ordinary people . At the end, the heroes get so drunk that they fall to the ground, watching as the church “shakes.”

Chapter 3

In this chapter, the debaters again find Pavel Veretennikov, who actually collects folklore, stories and expressions of the Russian people. Pavel tells the peasants around him that they drink too much alcohol, and for them a drunken night is happiness.

Yakim Golyy objects to this, arguing that a simple the peasant drinks a lot not from own desire, and because he works hard, he is constantly haunted by grief. Yakim tells his story to those around him - having bought his son pictures, Yakim loved them no less, so when the fire happened, he was the first to take these pictures out of the hut. In the end, the money he had saved throughout his life was gone.

After listening to this, the men sit down to eat. Afterwards, one of them remains to watch the bucket of vodka, and the rest again head into the crowd to find a person who considers himself happy in this world.

Chapter 4

Men walk the streets and promise to treat the happiest person among the people with vodka in order to find out who lives well in Rus', but only deeply unhappy people who want to drink to console themselves. Those who want to brag about something good find that their petty happiness does not answer the main question. For example, a Belarusian is happy about what they are doing here Rye bread, from which he does not have pain in his stomach, so he is happy.

As a result, the bucket of vodka runs out, and the debaters understand that they will not find the truth this way, but one of those who came says to look for Ermila Girin. We respect Ermil very much in the village, the peasants say that it is very good man. They even tell the story that when Girin wanted to buy a mill, but there was no money for a deposit, he raised a whole thousand in loans from the common people and managed to deposit the money.

A week later, Yermil gave away everything he had borrowed, and until the evening he asked those around him who else to approach and give the last remaining ruble.

Girin earned such trust by the fact that, while serving as a clerk for the prince, he did not take money from anyone, but on the contrary, he helped ordinary people, therefore, when they were going to elect a burgomaster, they chose him, Yermil justified the appointment. At the same time, the priest says that he is unhappy, since he is already in prison, and he does not have time to tell why, since a thief is discovered in the company.

Chapter 5

Next, the travelers meet a landowner, who, in response to the question of who can live well in Rus', tells them about his noble roots - the founder of his family, the Tatar Oboldui, was skinned by a bear for the laughter of the empress, who in return presented many expensive gifts.

The landowner complains that the peasants were taken away, so no more than the law on its lands, forests are cut down, drinking establishments are multiplying - the people do what they want, and as a result they become poor. He goes on to say that he was not used to working since childhood, but here he has to do it because the serfs were taken away.

Contritely, the landowner leaves, and the men feel sorry for him, thinking that on the one hand, after the abolition of serfdom, the peasants suffered, and on the other, the landowners, that this whip lashed all classes.

Part 2. The last one - summary

This part of the poem talks about the extravagant Prince Utyatin, who, upon learning that serfdom had been abolished, fell ill with a heart attack and promised to disinherit his sons. Those, frightened by such a fate, persuaded the men to play along with the old father, bribing them with a promise to donate the meadows to the village.

Important! Characteristics of Prince Utyatin: a selfish person who loves to feel power, therefore he is ready to force others to do completely meaningless things. He feels complete impunity and thinks that this is where the future of Russia lies.

Some peasants willingly played along with the lord’s request, while others, for example Agap Petrov, could not come to terms with the fact that they had to bow before someone in the wild. Finding yourself in a situation in which it is impossible to achieve the truth, Agap Petrov dies from pangs of conscience and mental anguish.

At the end of the chapter, Prince Utyatin rejoices at the return of serfdom, speaks of its correctness at his own feast, which is attended by seven travelers, and at the end calmly dies in the boat. At the same time, no one is giving the meadows to the peasants, and the trial on this issue is not over to this day, as the men found out.

Part 3. Peasant woman

This part of the poem is dedicated to the search for female happiness, but ends with the fact that there is no happiness and such happiness will never be found. The wanderers meet the peasant woman Matryona - a beautiful, stately woman of 38 years old. Wherein Matryona is deeply unhappy, considers himself an old woman. She has a difficult fate; she had joy only in childhood. After the girl got married, her husband left to work, leaving his pregnant wife in her husband’s large family.

The peasant woman had to feed her husband's parents, who only mocked her and did not help her. Even after giving birth, they were not allowed to take the child with them, since the woman did not work enough with him. The baby was looked after by an elderly grandfather, the only one who treated Matryona normally, but due to his age, he did not take care of the baby; he was eaten by pigs.

Matryona also gave birth to children afterwards, but she could not forget her first son. The peasant woman forgave the old man who had gone to the monastery out of grief and took him home, where he soon died. She herself, pregnant, came to the governor’s wife, asked to return my husband due to the difficult situation. Since Matryona gave birth right in the waiting room, the governor’s wife helped the woman, which is why people began to call her happy, which in fact was far from the case.

In the end, the wanderers, having not found female happiness and having not received an answer to their question - who can live well in Rus', moved on.

Part 4. A feast for the whole world - the conclusion of the poem

It happens in the same village. The main characters have gathered at a feast and are having fun, telling different stories to find out which of the people in Rus' will live well. The conversation turned to Yakov, a peasant who revered the master very much, but did not forgive him when he gave his nephew as a soldier. As a result, Yakov took his owner into the forest and hanged himself, but he could not get out because his legs did not work. What follows is a long debate about who is more sinful in this situation.

Men share different stories about the sins of peasants and landowners, deciding who is more honest and righteous. The crowd as a whole is quite unhappy, including the men - the main characters, only the young seminarian Grisha wants to devote himself to serving the people and their well-being. He loves his mother very much and is ready to pour it out on the village.

Grisha walks and sings that a glorious path awaits ahead, a resounding name in history, he is inspired by this, and is not even afraid of the expected outcome - Siberia and death from consumption. The debaters do not notice Grisha, but in vain, because this the only happy person in the poem, having understood this, they could find the answer to their question - who can live well in Russia.

When finishing the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?”, the author wanted to finish his work differently, however near death forced add optimism and hope at the end of the poem, to give “light at the end of the road” to the Russian people.

N.A. Nekrasov, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - summary

Retelling plan

1. A dispute between men about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.”
2. Meeting with the priest.
3. A drunken night after the fair.
4. History of Yakima Nagogo.
5. Searching for a happy person among men. A story about Ermil Girin.
6. The men meet the landowner Obolt-Obolduev.
7. Searching for a happy man among women. The story of Matryona Timofeevna.
8 Meeting with an eccentric landowner.
9. The parable about the exemplary slave - Jacob the faithful.
10. A story about two great sinners - Ataman Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. The story of the "peasant sin".
11. Thoughts of Grisha Dobrosklonov.
12. Grisha Dobrosklonov - “people's defender.”

Retelling

Part I

Prologue

The poem begins with the fact that seven men met on a pillar path and argued about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” “Roman said: to the landowner, Demyan said: to the official, Luka said: to the priest. To the fat-bellied merchant! - said the Gubin brothers, Ivan and Mitrodor. Old man Pakhom strained and said, looking at the ground: to the noble boyar, to the sovereign’s minister. And Prov said: to the king.” They argued all day and didn’t even notice how night had fallen. The men looked around, realized that they had gone far from home, and decided to rest before heading back. As soon as they had time to settle down under a tree and drink vodka, their argument began with renewed vigor, it even came to a fight. But then the men saw that a small chick had crawled up to the fire and had fallen out of the nest. Pakhom caught it, but then a warbler appeared and began to ask the men to let her chick go, and for this she told them where the self-assembled tablecloth was hidden. The men found a tablecloth, had dinner and decided that they would not return home until they found out “who lives happily and at ease in Rus'.”

Chapter I. Pop

The next day the men set off on their journey. At first they met only peasants, beggars and soldiers, but the men did not ask them “how is it for them - is it easy or difficult to live in Rus'.” Finally, in the evening, they met a priest. The men explained to him that they had a concern that “kept us out of our homes, made us estranged from work, kept us away from food”: “Is the priest’s life sweet? How are you living freely and happily, honest father?” And the priest begins his story.

It turns out that there is no peace, no wealth, no honor in his life. There is no peace, because in a large district “the sick, the dying, the one born into the world does not choose time: for harvesting and haymaking, in the dead of autumn night, in winter, in severe frosts and in spring floods.” And the priest must always go to fulfill his duty. But the most difficult thing, the priest admits, is to watch how a person dies and how his relatives cry over him. There is no priest and no honor, because the people call him “the foal breed”; meeting a priest on the road is considered a bad omen; they make up “jokey tales, obscene songs, and all sorts of blasphemy” about the priest, and they make a lot of jokes about the priest’s family. And it’s hard to get rich as a butt. If in former times, before the abolition of serfdom, there were many landowners' estates, in which weddings and christenings were constantly celebrated, now only poor peasants remain who cannot generously pay the priest for his work. The priest himself says that his “soul will turn over” to take money from the poor, but then he will have nothing to feed his family. With these words the priest leaves the men.

Chapter 2. Rural fair

The men continued their journey and ended up in the village of Kuzminskoye, at the fair, and decided to look for a happy one here. “The wanderers went to the shops: they admired the handkerchiefs, Ivanovo calicoes, harnesses, new shoes, a product of the Kimryaks.” At the shoe shop they meet old man Vavila, who admires the goat shoes, but does not buy them: he promised his little granddaughter to buy shoes, and other family members - various gifts, but drank all the money. Now he is ashamed to appear in front of his granddaughter. The gathered people listen to him, but cannot help, because no one has extra money. But there was one person, Pavel Veretennikov, who bought boots for Vavila. The old man was so emotional that he ran away, forgetting to even thank Veretennikov, “but the other peasants were so comforted, so happy, as if he had given each one a ruble.” The wanderers go to a booth where they watch a comedy with Petrushka.

Chapter 3. Drunken night

Evening comes, and the travelers leave the “turbulent village”. They walk along the road, and everywhere they meet drunken people who are returning home after the fair. From all sides, drunken conversations, songs, complaints about hard life, screams of those fighting.

At the road pillar, travelers meet Pavel Veretennikov, around whom peasants have gathered. Veretennikov writes down in his little book the songs and proverbs that the peasants sing to him. “Russian peasants are smart,” says Veretennikov, “the only thing that’s not good is that they drink until they become stupefied, they fall into ditches and ditches—it’s a shame to see!” After these words, a man approaches him, who explains that the peasants drink because of a hard life: “There is no measure for Russian hops. Have you measured our grief? Is there a limit to the work? Wine brings down the peasant, but grief does not bring down? Is work not going well? And the peasants drink to forget themselves, to drown their grief in a glass of vodka. But then the man adds: “For our family, we have a non-drinking family!” They don’t drink, and they also struggle, it would be better if they drank, they’re stupid, but that’s their conscience.” When Veretennikov asked what his name was, the man replied: “Yakim Nagoy lives in the village of Bosovo, he works until he’s dead, drinks until he’s half to death!..”, and the rest of the men began to tell Veretennikov the story of Yakim Nagoy. He once lived in St. Petersburg, but he was sent to prison after he decided to compete with a merchant. He was stripped to the last thread, and so he returned to his homeland, where he took up the plow. Since then, he has been “roasting on the strip under the sun” for thirty years. He bought pictures for his son, which he hung around the hut, and he himself loved to look at them. But then one day there was a fire. Yakim, instead of saving the money he had accumulated throughout his life, saved the pictures, which he then hung in the new hut.

Chapter 4. Happy

People who called themselves happy began to gather under the linden tree. A sexton came, whose happiness consisted “not in sables, not in gold,” but “in complacency.” A pockmarked old woman came. She was happy that she had a large turnip. Then the soldier came, happy because “he was in twenty battles and not killed.” The mason began to say that his happiness lies in the hammer with which he earns money. But then another mason approached. He advised not to brag about his strength, otherwise grief might come out of it, as happened to him in his youth: the contractor began to praise him for his strength, but one day he put so many bricks on his stretcher that the man could not bear such a burden and after that he became completely ill. A servant, a servant, also came to the travelers. He stated that his happiness lies in the fact that he has a disease that only noble people suffer from. Various other people came to boast of their happiness, and in the end the wanderers pronounced their verdict on peasant happiness: “Eh, peasant happiness! Leaky, with patches, hunchbacked, with calluses, go home!”

But then a man approached them and advised them to ask Ermila Girin about happiness. When the travelers asked who this Ermila was, the man told them. Ermila worked at a mill that did not belong to anyone, but the court decided to sell it. An auction was held, in which Ermila began to compete with the merchant Altynnikov. In the end, Ermila won, only they immediately demanded money from him for the mill, and Ermila did not have that kind of money with her. He asked to give him half an hour, ran to the square and turned to the people with a request to help him. Ermila was a man respected by the people, so every peasant gave him as much money as he could. Yermila bought the mill, and a week later he came back to the square and gave back all the money he had lent. And everyone took as much money as they lent him, no one misappropriated anything extra, there was even one more ruble left. Those gathered began to ask why Ermila Girin was held in such esteem. The narrator said that in his youth Ermila was a clerk in the gendarmerie corps and helped every peasant who turned to him with advice and deeds and did not take a penny for it. Then, when a new prince arrived in the estate and dispersed the gendarme office, the peasants asked him to elect Yermila as mayor of the volost, since they trusted him in everything.

But then the priest interrupted the narrator and said that he was not telling the whole truth about Yermila, that he also had a sin: instead of his younger brother, Yermila, he recruited the only son of the old woman, who was her breadwinner and support. Since then, his conscience haunted him, and one day he almost hanged himself, but instead demanded to be tried as a criminal in front of all the people. The peasants began to ask the prince to take the old woman’s son from the recruits, otherwise Yermila would hang himself from conscience. In the end, their son was returned to the old woman, and Ermila’s brother was sent as a recruit. But Ermila’s conscience still tormented him, so he abandoned his position and began working at the mill. During a riot in the estate, Yermila ended up in prison... Then the cry of a footman, who was flogged for theft, was heard, and the priest did not have time to tell the story to the end.

Chapter 5. Landowner

The next morning we met the landowner Obolt-Obolduev and decided to ask if he lived happily. The landowner began to tell him that he was “of an eminent family”; his ancestors were known three hundred years ago. This landowner lived in the old days “like Christ in his bosom,” he had honor, respect, a lot of land, several times a month he organized holidays that “any Frenchman” could envy, and went hunting. The landowner kept the peasants strict: “Whoever I want, I will have mercy on, and whomever I want, I will execute. The law is my desire! The fist is my police! But then he added that “he punished with love,” that the peasants loved him, they celebrated Easter together. But the travelers only laughed at his words: “He knocked them down with a stake, or are you going to pray in the manor’s house?..” Then the landowner began to sigh that such a carefree life had passed after the abolition of serfdom. Now the peasants no longer work on the landowners' lands, and the fields have fallen into disrepair. Instead of a hunting horn, the sound of an ax is heard in the forests. Where previously there were manor houses, drinking establishments are now being built. After these words, the landowner began to cry. And the travelers thought: “The great chain has broken, it has broken and it has sprung: one end is hitting the master, the other is hitting the peasant!”

Peasant woman
Prologue

The travelers decided to look for a happy man among women. In one village they were advised to find Matryona Timofeevna and ask her around. The men set off and soon reached the village of Klin, in which lived “Matryona Timofeevna, a dignified woman, broad and dense, about thirty-eight years old. Beautiful: gray hair, large, stern eyes, rich eyelashes, stern and dark. She’s wearing a white shirt, a short sundress, and a sickle over her shoulder.” The men turned to her: “Tell me in divine terms: what is your happiness?” And Matryona Timofeevna began to tell.

Chapter 1. Before marriage

As a girl, Matryona Timofeevna lived happily in a large family where everyone loved her. No one woke her up early; they allowed her to sleep and gain strength. From the age of five she was taken out into the fields, she followed the cows, brought breakfast to her father, then she learned how to harvest hay, and so she got used to work. After work, she and her friends sat at the spinning wheel, sang songs, and went dancing on holidays. Matryona was hiding from the guys; she didn’t want to end up in captivity as a girl. But still she found a groom, Philip, from distant lands. He began to woo her. Matryona did not agree at first, but she liked the guy. Matryona Timofeevna admitted: “While we were bargaining, it must have been, so I think, then there was happiness. And it’s unlikely ever again!” She married Philip.

Chapter 2. Songs

Matryona Timofeevna sings a song about how the groom’s relatives attack the daughter-in-law when she arrives in new house. Nobody likes her, everyone forces her to work, and if she doesn’t like the work, they can beat her. The same thing happened with new family Matryona Timofeevna: “The family was huge, grumpy. I ended up in hell from my maiden will!” Only in her husband could she find support, and it sometimes happened that he beat her. Matryona Timofeevna started singing about a husband who beats his wife, and his relatives do not want to stand up for her, but only order them to beat her even more.

Soon Matryona's son Demushka was born, and now it was easier for her to endure the reproaches of her father-in-law and mother-in-law. But trouble happened to her again. The master's manager began to pester her, and she did not know where to escape from him. Only grandfather Savely helped Matryona cope with all her troubles, only he loved her in her new family.

Chapter 3. Savely, the Holy Russian hero

“With a huge gray mane, tea, twenty years uncut, with a huge beard, the grandfather looked like a bear,” “grandfather had an arched back,” “he was already a hundred years old, according to fairy tales.” “Grandfather lived in a special room, he didn’t like families, he didn’t let them into his corner; and she was angry, barking, his own son called him “branded, a convict.” When the father-in-law began to get very angry with Matryona, she and her son went to Savely and worked there, and Demushka played with his grandfather.

One day Savely told her the story of his life. He lived with other peasants in impenetrable swampy forests, where neither the landowner nor the police could reach. But one day the landowner ordered them to come to him and sent the police after them. The peasants had to obey. The landowner demanded quitrent from them, and when the men began to say that they had nothing, he ordered them to be flogged. Again the peasants had to obey, and they gave the landowner their money. Now every year the landowner came to collect rent from them. But the landowner died, and his heir sent a German manager to the estate. At first, the German lived calmly and became friends with the peasants. Then he began to order them to work. Before the men even had time to come to their senses, they had cut a road from their village to the city. Now you could easily visit them. The German brought his wife and children to the village and began to rob the peasants even more viciously than the previous landowner had robbed. The peasants tolerated him for eighteen years. During this time, the German managed to build a factory. Then he ordered to dig a well. He did not like the work and began to scold the peasants. And Savely and his comrades buried him in a hole dug for a well. For this he was sent to hard labor, where he spent twenty years. Then he returned to his homeland and built a house. The men asked Matryona Timofeevna to continue talking about her life as a woman.

Chapter 4. Demushka

Matryona Timofeevna took her son to work. But the mother-in-law told her to leave it to grandfather Savely, since you won’t earn much with a child. And so she gave Demushka to her grandfather, and she went to work. When I returned home in the evening, it turned out that Savely dozed off in the sun, did not look after the baby, and he was trampled by pigs. Matryona “rolled around like a ball”, “coiled like a worm, called, woke up Demushka - but it was too late to call.” The gendarmes arrived and began to interrogate, “Did you not kill the child in agreement with the peasant Savely?” Then a doctor came to autopsy the child's corpse. Matryona began to ask him not to do this, sent curses on everyone, and everyone decided that she had lost her mind.

At night Matryona came to her son’s tomb and saw Savely there. At first she shouted at him, blaming him for Dema’s death, but then the two of them began to pray.

Chapter 5. She-Wolf

After Demushka’s death, Matryona Timofeevna did not talk to anyone, she could not see Savelia, she did not work. And Savely went to repentance at the Sand Monastery. Then Matryona and her husband went to her parents and got to work. Soon she had more children. So four years passed. Matryona’s parents died, and she went to cry at her son’s grave. He sees that the grave has been tidied up, there is an icon on it, and Savely is lying on the ground. They talked, Matryona forgave the old man and told him about her grief. Soon Savely died and was buried next to Dema.

Another four years passed. Matryona came to terms with her life, worked for the whole family, but did not harm her children. A praying mantis came to their village and began to teach them how to live correctly, in a divine way. She forbade fast days breastfeed children. But Matryona did not listen to her; she decided that it would be better for God to punish her than for her to leave her children hungry. So grief came to her. When her son Fedot was eight years old, his father-in-law gave him to be a shepherdess. One day the boy did not take care of the sheep, and one of them was stolen by a she-wolf. For this, the village elder wanted to flog him. But Matryona threw herself at the landowner’s feet, and he decided to punish his mother instead of his son. Matryona was flogged. In the evening she came to see how her son slept. And the next morning she did not show herself to her husband’s relatives, but went to the river, where she began to cry and call for protection from her parents.

Chapter 6. Difficult year

Two new troubles came to the village: first came a lean year, then a recruitment drive. The mother-in-law began to scold Matryona for causing trouble by wearing a clean shirt on Christmas. And then they wanted to send her husband as a recruit. Matryona didn’t know where to go. She herself did not eat, she gave everything to her husband’s family, and they also scolded her and looked angrily at her children, since they had extra mouths to feed. So Matryona had to “send the children around the world” so that they would ask strangers for money. Finally, her husband was taken away, and pregnant Matryona was left all alone.

Chapter 7. Governor's wife

Her husband was recruited at the wrong time, but no one wanted to help him return home. Matryona, who last days I was carrying my child to term and went to seek help from the governor. She left home at night without telling anyone. I arrived in the city in the early morning. The doorman at the governor's palace told her to try to come in two hours, then maybe the governor would receive her. On the square, Matryona saw a monument to Susanin, and it reminded her of Savely. When the carriage drove up to the palace and the governor’s wife got out, Matryona threw herself at her feet with pleas for intercession. Then she felt bad. Long road and fatigue took their toll on her health, and she gave birth to a son. The governor's wife helped her, baptized the baby herself and gave him a name. Then she helped save Matryona’s husband from being recruited. Matryona brought her husband home, and his family bowed at her feet and apologized to her.

Chapter 8. The Woman's Parable

Since then they nicknamed Matryona Timofeevna the governor. She began to live as before, worked, raised children. One of her sons has already been recruited. Matryona Timofeevna said to the travelers: “It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women”: “The keys to women’s happiness, from our free will, are abandoned, lost to God himself!”

Last One

The travelers went to the banks of the Volga and saw peasants working in haymaking. “We haven’t worked for a long time, let’s mow!” - the wanderers asked the local women. After work they sat down to a haystack to rest. Suddenly they see: three boats are floating along the river, in which music is playing, beautiful ladies, two mustachioed gentlemen, children and an old man are sitting. As soon as the peasants saw them, they immediately began to work even harder.

The old landowner went ashore and walked around the entire hayfield. “The peasants bowed low, the mayor fussed before the landowner, like a demon before matins.” And the landowner scolded them for their work and ordered them to dry out the already harvested hay, which was already dry. The travelers were surprised why the old landowner behaved this way with the peasants, because they are now free people and are not under his authority. Old Vlas began to tell them.

“Our landowner is special, his wealth is exorbitant, his rank is important, his family is noble, he has been a weirdo and a fool all his life.” But then serfdom was abolished, but he didn’t believe it, decided that he was being deceived, even argued with the governor about this, and by the evening he had a stroke. His sons were afraid that he might disinherit them, and they agreed with the peasants to live as before, as if the landowner were still their master. Some peasants happily agreed to continue serving the landowner, but many could not agree. For example, Vlas, who was then the mayor, did not know how he would have to carry out the “stupid orders” of the old man. Then another peasant asked to be made mayor, and “the old order went.” And the peasants gathered together and laughed at the master’s stupid orders. For example, he ordered a seventy-year-old widow to be married to a six-year-old boy so that he would support her and build her a new house. He ordered the cows not to moo when they passed the manor's house, because they woke up the landowner.

But then there was a peasant Agap who did not want to obey the master and even reproached other peasants for obedience. One day he was walking with a log, and a gentleman met him. The landowner realized that the log was from his forest and began to scold Agap for theft. But the peasant could not stand it and began to laugh at the landowner. The old man was struck again, they thought that he would now die, but instead he issued a decree to punish Agap for disobedience. Young landowners, their wives, the new mayor and Vlas went to Agap all day, persuaded Agap to pretend, and gave him wine to drink all night. The next morning they locked him in the stable and told him to scream as if he was being beaten, but in fact he was sitting and drinking vodka. The landowner believed it, and he even felt sorry for the peasant. Only Agap, after so much vodka, died in the evening.

The wanderers went to look at the old landowner. And he sits surrounded by sons, daughters-in-law, peasants and has dinner. He began to ask whether the peasants would soon collect the master's hay. The new mayor began to assure him that the hay would be removed in two days, then he declared that the men would not escape the master, that he was their father and god. The landowner liked this speech, but suddenly he heard that one of the peasants in the crowd laughed, and ordered to find and punish the culprit. The mayor went, and he himself thought about what to do. He began to ask the wanderers to have one of them confess: they are not from here, the master cannot do anything to them. But the travelers did not agree. Then the mayor's godfather, a cunning woman, fell at the master's feet, began to lament, saying that it was her only stupid son who laughed, and begged the master not to scold him. The master took pity. Then he fell asleep and died in his sleep.

Feast for the whole world

Introduction

The peasants organized a holiday, to which the entire estate came, they wanted to celebrate their newfound freedom. The peasants sang songs.

I. Bitter times - bitter songs

Cheerful. The song says that the master took the cow from the peasant, the zemstvo court took the chickens, the tsar took his sons as recruits, and the master took his daughters to himself. “It is glorious to live in holy Rus'!”

Corvee. The poor peasant of Kalinushka has wounds all over his back from beatings, he has nothing to wear, nothing to eat. Everything he earns has to be given to the master. The only joy in life is to go to a tavern and get drunk.

After this song, the peasants began to tell each other how hard it was under corvee. One recalled how their mistress Gertrude Alexandrovna ordered them to be beaten mercilessly. And the peasant Vikenty told the following parable.

About an exemplary slave - Yakov the faithful. Once upon a time there lived a landowner who was very stingy; he even drove away his daughter when she got married. This master had a faithful servant, Yakov, who loved him more life his own, he did everything to please the master. Yakov never asked his master for anything, but his nephew grew up and wanted to get married. Only the master also liked the bride, so he did not allow Yakov’s nephew to marry, but gave him as a recruit. Yakov decided to take revenge on his master, only his revenge was as servile as his life. The master's legs hurt and he could not walk. Yakov took him into a dense forest and hanged himself in front of his eyes. The master spent the whole night in the ravine, and the next morning hunters found him. He did not recover from what he saw: “You, master, will be an exemplary slave, faithful Yakov, remembered until the day of judgment!”

II. Wanderers and pilgrims

There are different kinds of pilgrims in the world. Some of them only hide behind the name of God in order to profit at the expense of others, since it is customary to receive pilgrims in any home and feed them. Therefore, they most often choose rich houses where they can eat well and steal something. But there are also real pilgrims who carry the word of God to peasant house. Such people go to the poorest house so that God’s mercy may come to them too. Such pilgrims include Ionushka, who wrote the story “About Two Great Sinners.”

About two great sinners. Ataman Kudeyar was a robber and during his life he killed and robbed many people. But his conscience tormented him, so much so that he could neither eat nor sleep, but only remembered his victims. He disbanded the whole gang and went to pray at the Holy Sepulcher. He wanders, prays, repents, but it doesn’t get any easier for him. The sinner returned to his homeland and began to live under a century-old oak tree. One day he hears a voice that tells him to cut down an oak tree with the same knife with which he used to kill people, then all his sins will be forgiven. The elder worked for several years, but could not cut down the oak tree. Once he met Pan Glukhovskoy, about whom they said that he was cruel and evil person. When the master asked what the elder was doing, the sinner said that he wanted to atone for his sins. Pan began to laugh and said that his conscience did not torment him at all, even though he had ruined many lives. “A miracle happened to the hermit: he felt furious anger, rushed to Pan Glukhovsky, and plunged a knife into his heart! As soon as the bloody gentleman fell with his head on the saddle, a huge tree collapsed, the echo shook the whole forest.” So Kudeyar prayed for his sins.

III. Both old and new

“Great is the noble sin,” the peasants began to say after Jonah’s story. But the peasant Ignatius Prokhorov objected: “He is great, but he will not be against the sin of the peasant.” And he told the following story.

Peasant sin. For his courage and bravery, the widower admiral received eight thousand souls from the empress. When the time came for the admiral to die, he called the headman to him and handed him a casket containing free food for all the peasants. After his death, a distant relative came and, promising the headman mountains of gold and freedom, begged him for that casket. So eight thousand peasants remained in lordly bondage, and the headman committed the most serious sin: he betrayed his comrades. “So this is the peasant’s sin! Indeed, a terrible sin! - the men decided. Then they sang the song “Hungry” and again started talking about the sin of the landowners and peasants. And so Grisha Dobrosklonov, the son of the sexton, said: “The snake will give birth to baby snakes, and the fortress is the sins of the landowner, the sin of the unfortunate Jacob, the sin of Gleb gave birth! There is no support - there is no landowner who brings a zealous slave to a noose, there is no support - there is no yard servant taking revenge on his villain by suicide, there is no support - there will be no new Gleb in Rus'! Everyone liked the boy’s speech, they began to wish him wealth and an intelligent wife, but Grisha replied that he did not need wealth, but so that “every peasant could live freely, cheerfully throughout all holy Rus'.”

IV. Good time- good songs

In the morning the travelers fell asleep. Grisha and his brother took their father home, and they sang songs along the way. When the brothers put their father to bed, Grisha went for a walk around the village. Grisha studies at the seminary, where he is poorly fed, so he is thin. But he doesn't think about himself at all. All his thoughts are occupied only native village and peasant happiness. “Fate had prepared for him a glorious path, a great name as a people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.” Grisha is happy that he can be an intercessor and take care of ordinary people, about his homeland. Seven men finally found someone happy, but they didn’t even know about this happiness.

Life is good for anyone in Rus'. Analysis of the chapters “Pop”, “Rural Fair”, “Drunken Night”

A brief retelling of the plot of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

List and brief description of the characters in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Brief summary of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by chapters

PART I

Prologue

Chapter 1. Pop

Chapter 2. Rural fair

Chapter 3. Drunken night

Chapter 4. Happy

Chapter 5. Landowner

PART II

Last One

PART III

Peasant woman

PART IV

Feast for the whole world

The history of the creation of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Essay about Pop (Who lives well in Rus')

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Popular topics today

Main characters

Other characters

Part 1

Prologue

Chapter 1. Pop

Chapter 2. Rural fair

Chapter 3. Drunken night

Chapter 4. Happy

Chapter 5. Landowner

Part 2

Last One

Part 3

Peasant woman

Part 4

Feast for the whole world

Conclusion

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

Retelling rating

The idea and history of the creation of the poem

Prologue

First part. Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Part 2. The last one - summary

Part 3. Peasant woman

Part 4. A feast for the whole world - the conclusion of the poem