THE MEANING OF THE TITLE OF THE POEM N.A. NEKRASOV “WHO LIVES WELL IN RUSSIA”

Nekrasov’s entire poem is a worldly gathering that is flaring up and gradually gaining strength. For Nekrasov, it is important that the peasantry not only thought about the meaning of life, but also went into difficult and long haul truth-seeking.

The Prologue sets up the action. Seven peasants argue about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” The men do not yet understand that the question of who is happier - the priest, the landowner, the merchant, the official or the tsar - reveals the limitations of their idea of ​​​​happiness, which comes down to material security. A meeting with a priest makes men think about a lot:

Well, here's Popov's vaunted life.

Starting from the chapter “Happy”, in the direction of searches happy person a turn is looming. By own initiative“lucky ones” from the lower classes begin to approach the wanderers. Stories are heard - confessions of courtyard people, clergy, soldiers, stonemasons, hunters. Of course, these “lucky ones” are such that the wanderers, seeing the empty bucket, exclaim with bitter irony:

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

But at the end of the chapter there is a story about a happy man - Ermil Girin. The story about him begins with a description of his litigation with the merchant Altynnikov. Yermil is conscientious. Let us remember how he paid off the peasants for the debt collected in the market square:

All day long Yermil walked around with his purse open, asking, Whose ruble is it? I didn’t find it.

Throughout his life, Yermil refutes the initial ideas of wanderers about the essence of human happiness. It would seem that he has “everything that is needed for happiness: 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. Gradually, the ideal of an ascetic, a fighter for the people's interests, is born in the minds of the peasants. In the part “The Landowner,” the wanderers treat the masters with obvious irony. They understand that noble “honor” is worth little.

No, you are not a noble to us, give us the word of a peasant.

Yesterday's "slaves" took on the solution of problems that since ancient times were considered a noble privilege. The nobility saw its historical destiny in caring about the fate of the Fatherland. And then suddenly the men took over this single mission from the nobility and became citizens of Russia:

The landowner, not without bitterness, said: “Put on your hats, sit down, gentlemen!”

In the last part of the poem appears new hero: Grisha Dob-rosklonov is a Russian intellectual who knows that people’s happiness can only be achieved as a result of a nationwide struggle for the “Unflogged province, Ungutted volost, Izbytkovo village.”

The army is rising - Innumerable, The strength in it will be indestructible!

The fifth chapter of the last part ends with words expressing ideological pathos of the entire work: “If only our wanderers could be under their own roof, // If only they could know what was happening to Grisha.” These lines seem to answer the question posed in the title of the poem. A happy person in Rus' is one who firmly knows that he must “live for the happiness of his wretched and dark native corner.”

The ideological meaning of stories about sinners (based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”)

It is not dull obedience—Friendly strength is needed. There are three chapters in the poem by N. A. Nekrasov: “About the exemplary slave - Yakov the Faithful”, “About two great sinners”, “Peasant sin” - united by the theme of sin. The author himself considered these parts of the work very important and vigorously objected to the censor’s banning of the story “About the exemplary slave - Yakov the Faithful.” This is what Nekrasov wrote to the head of the press department V.V. Grigoriev: “... made some sacrifices to the censor Lebedev, excluding a soldier and two songs, but I cannot throw out the story about Yakov, which he demanded under the threat of arresting the book - the poem will lose its meaning."

This chapter shows two images - Mr. Polivanov and his faithful servant Yakov. The landowner was “greedy, stingy... he was... cruel to the peasants...”. Despite this, Yakov “had only... joy: to groom, protect, please his master,” and without seeing any gratitude from the owner (“In the teeth of the exemplary slave, the faithful Yakov, I blew with my heel as I walked.” ). Yakov forgave his master everything:

People of servile rank

Real dogs sometimes:

The heavier the punishment,

That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.

The only thing he couldn’t stand was when the master gave his nephew as a recruit, seeing him as a rival. The author shows that the conflict that exists between the landowner and the peasant cannot be resolved peacefully:

No matter how much my uncle asked for his nephew,

The rival's master became a recruit.

The landowner's arbitrariness is so cruel that even Yakov, slavishly devoted to his master, having lost his human dignity, decides to take revenge. Revenge is cruel, terrible:

Yakov jumped onto a tall pine tree,

The reins at the top strengthened it,

He crossed himself, looked at the sun,

He put his head in a noose and lowered his legs!..

Yakov did not “dirty his hands with murder,” but committed suicide in front of the disarmed master. Such a protest made the landowner realize his sin:

The master returned home, lamenting:

“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!

The chapter “About Two Great Sinners” talks about two sinners: the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. Kudeyar was the leader of twelve robbers, together they “shed a lot of blood of honest Christians.” But “suddenly the Lord awakened the Conscience of the fierce robber.”

Hearing the pleas for forgiveness, God showed the way to salvation: with the knife with which he killed, cut off the centuries-old oak tree. Years later, Pan Glukhovsky meets Kudeyar at this oak tree. Having heard the old man's story,“Mr. grinned:

Rescue

I haven't had tea for a long time,

In the world I honor only a woman,

Gold, honor and wine.

You need to live, old man, in my opinion:

How many slaves do I destroy?

I torment, torture and hang,

I wish I could see how I sleep!

The hermit, overcome with anger, kills the master. What made the robber, who repented of his previous murders, take up the knife again? His anger was born of sympathy for the peasants of Pan Glukhovsky, who are forced to endure the bullying of their owner. The theme of cruel treatment of peasants is heard again. But the solution to this problem is different. Having killed the master, Kudeyar receives forgiveness:

Just now pan bloody

I fell my head on the saddle,

A huge tree collapsed,

The echo shook the whole forest.

A tree fell and a moose rolled over

The monk is off the burden of sins!..

The repentant sinner found his salvation by taking the path of intercession for the people.

The hero of the story “Peasant Sins” is the same: the master (“ammiral-widower”) and the peasant (his servant, Gleb). But here the master already committed a good deed before his death, signing a free document for all his peasants:

“From chain-links to freedom

Eight thousand souls are being released!”

But Gleb, seduced by the promises of an heir, “ruined” eight thousand souls of peasants: he allowed the will to be burned.

This chapter discusses the topic of peasant sin. Headman Gleb, for his own benefit, betrays his own fellow countrymen, dooming them to slavery:

For decades, until recently

Eight thousand souls were secured by the villain,

With family, with tribe; what a lot of people!

What a lot of people! Drop a stone into the water!

And this sin - the sin of betraying the interests of the people among the peasants themselves - turns out to be the most serious. The author shows that there will be no “freedom”, the people will “toil forever” as long as there are traitors among them and as long as the peasants tolerate them:

Oh man! Man! You are the most sinful of all

And for that you will suffer forever!

N. A. Nekrasov, trying to answer the question of how to throw off the chains of slavery and oppression, turns to Orthodox religion, attributing completely different features to Christian ethics than the official church. The author does not call to forgive enemies, to live in fear and obedience, but blesses the great anger of man, born of compassion and sympathy for the oppressed. Having examined the internal unity of all three chapters, one can see central problem poems: the peasants' path to freedom and happiness. These chapters contain the main idea, which the author wanted to convey to the reader: it is necessary to fight for freedom and rights.

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

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

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

Genre, genus, direction

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

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

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

Composition

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

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

What is the poem about?

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

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

The main characters and their characteristics

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

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

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

Subject

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

Issues

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

Idea of ​​the work

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

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

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

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

End

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

Conclusion

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

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

Criticism

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

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

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

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

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

He really was in highest degree original and, indeed, came with a “new word”.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The meaning of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is not clear. After all, the question is: who is happy? – raises others: what is happiness? Who deserves happiness? Where should you look for it? And “The Peasant Woman” does not so much close these questions as open them and lead to them. Without “The Peasant Woman,” everything is not clear either in the part “The Last One,” which was written before “The Peasant Woman,” or in the part “A Feast for the Whole World,” which was written after it.
In “The Peasant Woman,” the poet raised deep layers of the life of the people, their social existence, their ethics and their poetry, clarifying what the true potential of this life, its creativity. Working on heroic characters (Savely, Matryona Timofeevna), created on the basis folk poetry(song, epic), the poet strengthened his faith in the people.
This work became the guarantee of such faith and the condition for further work on actually modern material, which turned out to be a continuation of “The Last One” and formed the basis of the part called “A Feast for the Whole World” by the poet. “ Good time– good songs” – the final chapter of “The Feast”. If the previous one was called “Both the Old and the New,” then this one could be entitled “Both the Present and the Future.” It is the focus on the future that explains a lot in this chapter, which is not accidentally called “Songs,” because they contain its entire essence.
There is also a person here who writes and sings these songs - Grisha Dobrosklonov. Much in Russian history pushed Russian artists to create images like Grisha. This includes the “going to the people” of revolutionary intellectuals in the early 70s of the last century. These are also memories of the democratic figures of the first conscription, the so-called “sixties” - primarily about Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov. The image of Grisha is at the same time very real, and at the same time very generalized and even conventional. On the one hand, he is a man of a very specific way of life: the son of a poor sexton, a seminarian, a simple and kind guy, loving the village, the peasant, the people, wishing him happiness and ready to fight for it.
But Grisha is also a more generalized image of youth, forward-looking, hopeful and believing. It is all in the future, hence some of its uncertainty, only a tentativeness. That is why Nekrasov, obviously not only for censorship reasons, crossed out the poems already at the first stage of his work (although they were published in most post-revolutionary publications of the poet): Fate had prepared for him a glorious Path, a great name People's Defender, Consumption and Siberia.
The dying poet was in a hurry. The poem remained unfinished, but it was not left without a conclusion. The image of Grisha itself is not the answer to either the question of happiness or the question of a lucky person. The happiness of one person (whoever it is and no matter what is meant by it, even the struggle for universal happiness) is not yet a solution to the problem, since the poem leads to thoughts about the “embodiment of the people’s happiness,” about the happiness of everyone, about the “feast to the whole world."
“Who can live well in Rus'?” - the poet asked a great question in the poem and gave a great answer in her last song “Rus”
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless
Mother Rus'!
Saved in slavery
Free heart
Gold, gold
People's heart!
They stood up - unwounded,
They came out - uninvited,
Live by the grain
The mountains have been damaged! R
it rises - Uncountable,
The strength in her will affect
Indestructible!

Essay on literature on the topic: The meaning of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Other writings:

1. Nekrasov’s entire poem is a flaring up, gradually gaining strength, worldly gathering. For Nekrasov, it is important that the peasantry not only thought about the meaning of life, but also set out on a difficult and long path of truth-seeking. The “Prologue” begins the action. Seven peasants argue about “who lives Read More......
2. The very title of the poem sets us up for a truly all-Russian review of life, for the fact that this life will be examined truthfully and thoroughly, from top to bottom. It aims to find answers to the main questions of the time when the country was going through an era big changes: what is the source of folk Read More......
3. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the result of the author’s thoughts about the fate of the country and the people. Who can live well in Rus'? - the poem begins with this question. Its plot, like the plot folk tales, built as a journey of old peasants in search of a happy person. Read More......
4. The song “In the Middle of the Downworld...” calls for the fight for people's happiness, for light and freedom. But the point, naturally, is not simply a matter of declaring these ideological and thematic formulas and slogans. The meaning of the final verses of the poem really lies in the call to fight for the people's happiness, but the meaning of the whole Read More ......
5. Disputes about the composition of the work are still ongoing, but most scientists have come to the conclusion that it should be like this: “Prologue. Part One”, “Peasant Woman”, “Last One”, “Feast for the Whole World”. The arguments in favor of this particular arrangement of material are as follows. In the first part Read More......
6. Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov worked on his work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” for many years, giving it part of his soul. And throughout the entire period of creation of this work, the poet did not leave high ideas about a perfect life and a perfect person. Poem “To whom Read More ......
7. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the pinnacle of N. A. Nekrasov’s creativity. He himself called it “his favorite brainchild.” Nekrasov devoted many years of tireless work to his poem, putting into it all the information about the Russian people, accumulated, as the poet said, “according to Read More ......
8. Deserves special attention question about the first “Prologue”. The poem has several prologues: before the chapter “Pop”, before the parts “Peasant Woman” and “Feast for the Whole World”. The first “Prologue” is sharply different from the others. It poses a problem common to the entire poem “To whom Read More ......

The meaning of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Summary of the poem:

One day, seven men—recent serfs, but now temporarily bound “from adjacent villages—Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutova, Znobishina, Gorelova, Neyolova, Neurozhaika, etc.—come together on a highway.” Instead of going their own way, the men start an argument about who should Rus' lives fun and relaxed. Each of them judges in his own way who is the main lucky person in Rus': a landowner, an official, a priest, a merchant, a noble boyar, a minister of sovereigns or a tsar.

While arguing, they do not notice that they have taken a detour of thirty miles. Seeing that it is too late to return home, the men make a fire and continue the argument over vodka - which, of course, little by little develops into a fight. But a fight does not help resolve the issue that worries the men.

The solution is found unexpectedly: one of the men, Pakhom, catches a warbler chick, and in order to free the chick, the warbler tells the men where they can find a self-assembled tablecloth. Now the men are provided with bread, vodka, cucumbers, kvass, tea - in a word, everything they need for long journey. And besides, a self-assembled tablecloth will repair and wash their clothes! Having received all these benefits, the men make a vow to find out “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.”

The first possible “lucky person” they meet along the way turns out to be a priest. (The soldiers and beggars they met were not the ones to ask about happiness!) But the priest’s answer to the question of whether his life is sweet disappoints the men. They agree with the priest that happiness lies in peace, wealth and honor. But the priest does not possess any of these benefits. In the haymaking, in the harvest, in the dead of autumn night, in the bitter frost, he must go to where there are the sick, the dying and those being born. And every time his soul hurts at the sight of funeral sobs and orphan sadness - so much so that his hand does not rise to take copper coins - a pitiful reward for the demand. The landowners, who previously lived in family estates and got married here, baptized children, buried the dead, are now scattered not only throughout Rus', but also in distant foreign lands; there is no hope for their retribution. Well, the men themselves know how much respect the priest deserves: they feel embarrassed when the priest reproaches him for obscene songs and insults towards priests.

Realizing that the Russian priest is not one of the lucky ones, the men go to a holiday fair in the trading village of Kuzminskoye to ask people about happiness. In a rich and dirty village there are two churches, a tightly boarded up house with the sign “school”, a paramedic’s hut, and a dirty hotel. But most of all in the village there are drinking establishments, in each of which they barely have time to cope with thirsty people. Old man Vavila cannot buy goatskin shoes for his granddaughter because he drank himself to a penny. It’s good that Pavlusha Veretennikov, a lover of Russian songs, whom everyone calls “master” for some reason, buys him the treasured gift.

Male wanderers watch the farcical Petrushka, watch as the ladies stock up on books - but not Belinsky and Gogol, but portraits of unknown fat generals and works about “my lord stupid.” They also see how a busy trading day ends: widespread drunkenness, fights on the way home. However, the men are indignant at Pavlusha Veretennikov’s attempt to measure the peasant against the master’s standard. In their opinion, it is impossible for a sober person to live in Rus': he will not withstand either backbreaking labor or peasant misfortune; without drinking out of anger peasant soul It would rain bloody rain. These words are confirmed by Yakim Nagoy from the village of Bosovo - one of those who “work until they die and drink half to death.” Yakim believes that only pigs walk on the earth and never see the sky. During the fire, he himself did not save the money he had accumulated throughout his life, but the useless and beloved pictures hanging in the hut; he is sure that with the cessation of drunkenness, great sadness will come to Rus'.

Male wanderers do not lose hope of finding people who live well in Rus'. But even for the promise of giving free water to the lucky ones, they fail to find them. For the sake of free booze, both the overworked worker, the paralyzed former servant who spent forty years licking the master’s plates with the best French truffle, and even ragged beggars are ready to declare themselves lucky.

Finally, someone tells them the story of Yermil Girin, the mayor in the estate of Prince Yurlov, who earned universal respect for his justice and honesty. When Girin needed money to buy the mill, the men lent it to him without even requiring a receipt. But Yermil is now unhappy: after the peasant revolt, he is in prison.

The ruddy sixty-year-old landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev tells the wandering peasants about the misfortune that befell the nobles after the peasant reform. He remembers how in the old days everything made the master happy: villages, forests, fields, serf actors, musicians, hunters, who completely belonged to him. Obolt-Obolduev talks with emotion about how on the twelve holidays he invited his serfs to pray in the master's house - despite the fact that after this he had to drive the women away from the entire estate to wash the floors.

And although the men themselves know that life in serfdom was far from the idyll depicted by Obolduev, they still understand: the great chain of serfdom, having broken, simultaneously hit the master, who was immediately deprived of his usual lifestyle, and according to the man.

Desperate to find someone happy among the men, the wanderers decide to ask the women. The surrounding peasants remember that Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina lives in the village of Klin, whom everyone considers lucky. But Matryona herself thinks differently. In confirmation, she tells the wanderers the story of her life.

Before her marriage, Matryona lived in a teetotal and wealthy peasant family. She married a stove-maker from a foreign village, Philip Korchagin. But the only happy night for her was that night when the groom persuaded Matryona to marry him; then the usual hopeless life of a village woman began. True, her husband loved her and beat her only once, but soon he went to work in St. Petersburg, and Matryona was forced to endure insults in her father-in-law’s family. The only one who felt sorry for Matryona was grandfather Savely, who lived out his life in the family after hard labor, where he got caught for the murder of a hated German manager. Savely told Matryona what Russian heroism is: it is impossible to defeat a peasant, because he “bends, but does not break.”

The birth of Demushka's first child brightened Matryona's life. But soon her mother-in-law forbade her to take the child into the field, and the old grandfather Savely did not take care of the baby and fed him to pigs. In front of Matryona, the judges who came from the city performed an autopsy on her child. Matryona could not forget her first-born, although after that she had five sons. . One of them, the shepherd Fedot, once allowed a she-wolf to carry away a sheep. Matryona accepted the punishment assigned to her son. Then, being pregnant with her son Liodor, she was forced to go to the city to seek justice: her husband, bypassing the laws, was taken into the army. Matryona was then helped by the governor Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying.

By all peasant standards, Matryona Korchagina’s life can be considered happy. But about the invisible mental storm It is impossible to tell the story that passed through this woman - just like about unpaid mortal grievances, and about the blood of the firstborn. Matrena Timofeevna is convinced that a Russian peasant woman cannot be happy at all, because the keys to her happiness and free will are lost to God himself.

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

Here, near the village of Vakhlachina, wanderers listen to peasant songs - corvee songs, hunger songs, soldiers' songs, salt songs - and stories about serfdom. One of these stories is about a slave exemplary Jacob true. Yakov's only joy was pleasing his master, the small landowner Polivanov. Tyrant Polivanov, in gratitude, hit Yakov in the teeth with his heel, which aroused even greater love in the lackey’s soul. As Polivanov grew older, his legs became weak, and Yakov began to follow him like a child. But when Yakov’s nephew, Grisha, decided to marry the beautiful serf Arisha, Polivanov, out of jealousy, gave the guy as a recruit. Yakov started drinking, but soon returned to the master. And yet he managed to take revenge on Polivanov - the only way available to him, the lackey. Having taken the master into the forest, Yakov hanged himself right above him on a pine tree. Polivanov spent the night under the corpse of his faithful servant, driving away birds and wolves with groans of horror.

Another story - about two great sinners - is told to the men by God's wanderer Jonah Lyapushkin. The Lord awakened the conscience of the chieftain of the robbers Kudeyar. The robber atoned for his sins for a long time, but all of them were forgiven him only after he, in a surge of anger, killed the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.

The wandering men also listen to the story of another sinner - Gleb the headman, who for money hid the last will of the late widower admiral, who decided to free his peasants.

But not only wandering men think about people's happiness. The sexton’s son, seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, lives on Vakhlachin. In his heart, love for his late mother merged with love for all of Vakhlachina. For fifteen years Grisha knew for sure who he was ready to give his life to, for whom he was ready to die. He thinks of all the mysterious Rus' as a wretched, abundant, powerful and powerless mother, and expects that the indestructible force that he feels in his own soul will still be reflected in it. Such strong souls, like Grisha Dobrosklonov, the angel of mercy himself calls to an honest path. Fate is preparing for Grisha “a glorious path, a great name for the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.”

If the wandering men knew what was happening in the soul of Grisha Dobrosklonov, they would probably understand that they could already return to their native shelter, because the goal of their journey had been achieved.

Construction: Nekrasov assumed that the poem would have seven or eight parts, but managed to write only four, which, perhaps, did not follow one another. Part one is the only one without a title. Prologue: “In what year - count,
In what land - guess
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together..."

They got into an argument:

Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?

Further in the poem there are 6 answers to this question: to the landowner, official, priest, merchant, minister, tsar. The peasants decide not to return home until they find the correct answer. They find a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed them and set off.

The first part represents both in content and form something unified and integral. “The Peasant Woman” ideologically and partly the plot can be adjacent to the first part and can follow the part “The Last One”, being at the same time an independent poem within the poem. The “Last One” part is ideologically close to “The Feast...”, but also differs significantly from the last part both in content and form. Between these parts lies a gap of five years (1872-1877) - the time of activity of the revolutionary populists.

The researchers suggested that the correct sequence is:

"Prologue" and part one.

"The last one." From the second part. "A feast for the whole world." Chapter two.

"Peasant woman" From the third part.

Plot: Image of post-reform Russia. Nekrasov wrote the poem over the course of twenty years, collecting material for it “word by word.” The poem covers an unusually broad folk life. Nekrasov wanted to depict all social strata in it: from the peasant to the tsar. But, unfortunately, the poem was never finished - the death of the poet prevented it. The main problem, the main question of the work is already clearly visible in the title “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - this is the problem of happiness.

Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” begins with the question: “In what year - calculate, in what land - guess.” But it is not difficult to understand what period Nekrasov is talking about. The poet is referring to the reform of 1861, according to which the peasants were “freed”, and they, not having their own land, fell into even greater bondage.

The plot of the poem is based on a description of the journey across Rus' of seven temporarily obliged men. Men are looking for a happy person and on their way they meet the most different people, listen to stories about different human destinies. This is how the poem unfolds a broad picture of contemporary Russian life for Nekrasov.

Main characters:

Temporarily obliged peasants who went to look for who was living happily and at ease in Rus'

· Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin

· Old Man Pakhom

The author treats with undisguised sympathy those peasants who do not put up with their hungry, powerless existence. Unlike the world of exploiters and moral monsters, slaves like Yakov, Gleb, Sidor, Ipat, the best of the peasants in the poem retained true humanity, the ability to self-sacrifice, and spiritual nobility. These are Matryona Timofeevna, the hero Saveliy, Yakim Nagoy, Ermil Girin, Agap Petrov, headman Vlas, seven truth-seekers and others. Each of them has his own task in life, his own reason to “seek the truth,” but all of them together testify that peasant Rus' has already awakened and come to life. Truth seekers see such happiness for the Russian people:

I don't need any silver

Not gold, but God willing,

So that my fellow countrymen

And every peasant

Lived freely and cheerfully

All over holy Rus'!

In Yakima Nagom presents the unique character of the people's lover of truth, the peasant "righteous man." Yakim lives the same hardworking, beggarly life as the rest of the peasantry. But he has a rebellious disposition. Iakim is an honest worker with a great sense of self-worth. Yakim is smart, he understands perfectly why the peasant lives so wretchedly, so poorly. These words belong to him:

Every peasant

Soul, like a black cloud,

Angry, menacing - and it should be

Thunder will roar from there,

Bloody rains,

And it all ends with wine.

Ermil Girin is also noteworthy. A competent man, he served as a clerk and became famous throughout the region for his justice, intelligence and selfless devotion to the people. Yermil showed himself to be an exemplary headman when the people elected him to this position. However, Nekrasov does not make him an ideal righteous man. Yermil, feeling sorry for his younger brother, appoints Vlasyevna’s son as a recruit, and then, in a fit of repentance, almost commits suicide. Ermil's story ends sadly. He is jailed for his speech during the riot. The image of Yermil testifies to the spiritual forces hidden in the Russian people, the wealth of moral qualities of the peasantry.

But only in the chapter “Savely - the hero of the Holy Russian” does the peasant protest turn into a rebellion, ending with the murder of the oppressor. True, the reprisal against the German manager is still spontaneous, but such was the reality of serf society. Peasant revolts arose spontaneously as a response to the brutal oppression of peasants by landowners and managers of their estates.

It is not the meek and submissive who are close to the poet, but the rebellious and brave rebels, such as Savely, the “hero of the Holy Russian”, Yakim Nagoy, whose behavior speaks of the awakening of the consciousness of the peasantry, of its simmering protest against oppression.

Nekrasov wrote about the oppressed people of his country with anger and pain. But the poet was able to notice the “hidden spark” of the mighty internal forces, embedded in the people, and looked forward with hope and faith:

The army rises

Uncountable,

The strength in her will affect

Indestructible.

Peasant theme in the poem is inexhaustible, multifaceted, all figurative system The poem is dedicated to the theme of revealing peasant happiness. In this regard, we can recall the “happy” peasant woman Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna, nicknamed the “governor’s wife” for her special luck, and people of the serf rank, for example, the “exemplary slave Yakov the Faithful,” who managed to take revenge on his offending master, and the hard-working peasants from chapters of “The Last One,” who are forced to perform a comedy in front of the old Prince Utyatin, pretending that there was no abolition of serfdom, and many other images of the poem.

Meaning

The idea that runs through the entire poem is about the impossibility of living like this any longer, about the difficult peasant lot, about peasant ruin. This motif of the hungry life of the peasantry, who are “tormented by melancholy and misfortune,” sounds with particular force in the song called “Hungry” by Nekrasov. The poet does not soften the colors, showing poverty, harsh morals, religious prejudices and drunkenness in peasant life.

The position of the people is depicted with extreme clarity by the names of those places where the truth-seeking peasants come from: Terpigorev county, Pustoporozhnaya volost, the villages of Zaplatovo, Dyryavino, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neelovo. The poem very clearly depicts the joyless, powerless, hungry life of the people. “A peasant’s happiness,” the poet exclaims bitterly, “holey with patches, hunchbacked with calluses!” As before, the peasants are people who “didn’t eat their fill and slurped without salt.” The only thing that has changed is that “now the volost will tear them up instead of the master.”

The image of Grisha Dobrosklonov reveals the meaning of the entire poem. This is a fighter who opposes this way of life. His happiness is in freedom, in his own and in others. He will try to do everything so that the people of Rus' are no longer in captivity.