Analysis of the poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Who Lives Well in Rus'"

In January 1866, the next issue of the Sovremennik magazine was published in St. Petersburg. It opened with lines that are now familiar to everyone:

In what year - calculate

In what land - guess...

These words seemed to promise to introduce the reader into an entertaining fairy-tale world, where a warbler bird speaking in human language and a magic tablecloth would appear... So N.A. began with a sly smile and ease. Nekrasov his story about the adventures of seven men who argued about “who lives happily and freely in Russia.”

He devoted many years to working on the poem, which the poet called his “favorite brainchild.” He set himself the goal of writing a “people's book”, useful, understandable to the people and truthful. “I decided,” said Nekrasov, “to present in a coherent story everything that I know about the people, everything that I happened to hear from their lips, and I started “Who Lives Well in Russia.” This will be an epic of peasant life.” But death interrupted this gigantic work; the work remained unfinished. However, uhThese words seemed to promise to introduce the reader into an entertaining fairy-tale world, where a warbler bird speaking human language and a magic tablecloth would appear... So, with a sly smile and ease, N. A. Nekrasov began his story about the adventures of seven men, who argued about “who lives happily and freely in Russia.”

Already in the “Prologue” a picture of peasant Rus' was visible, the figure of the main character of the work stood up - the Russian peasant, as he really was: in bast shoes, onuchakh, an army coat, unfed, having suffered grief.

Three years later, publication of the poem resumed, but each part was met with severe persecution by the tsarist censors, who believed that the poem was “notable for its extreme ugliness of content.” The last of the written chapters, “A Feast for the Whole World,” came under especially sharp attack. Unfortunately, Nekrasov was not destined to see either the publication of “The Feast” or a separate edition of the poem. Without abbreviations or distortions, the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was published only after the October Revolution.

The poem occupies a central place in Nekrasov’s poetry, is its ideological and artistic pinnacle, the result of the writer’s thoughts about the fate of the people, about their happiness and the paths that lead to it. These thoughts worried the poet throughout his life and ran like a red thread through all his poetic work.

By the 1860s, the Russian peasant became the main character of Nekrasov's poetry. “Peddlers”, “Orina, the soldier’s mother”, “ Railway", "Frost, Red Nose" - most important works poet on the way to the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

He devoted many years to working on the poem, which the poet called his “favorite brainchild.” He set himself the goal of writing a “people's book”, useful, understandable to the people and truthful. “I decided,” said Nekrasov, “to present in a coherent story everything that I know about the people, everything that I happened to hear from their lips, and I started “Who Lives Well in Russia.” This will be an epic of peasant life.” But death interrupted this gigantic work; the work remained unfinished. However, despite this, it retains ideological and artistic integrity.

Nekrasov revived the genre of folk epic in poetry. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a truly folk work: both in its ideological sound, and in the scale of the epic depiction of modern folk life, in posing the fundamental questions of the time, and in heroic pathos, and in the widespread use of poetic traditions of oral folk art, the closeness of the poetic language to living speech forms of everyday life and song lyricism.

At the same time, Nekrasov’s poem has features characteristic specifically of critical realism. Instead of one central character, the poem primarily depicts the folk environment as a whole, the living conditions of different social circles. The people's point of view on reality is expressed in the poem already in the very development of the theme, in the fact that all of Russia, all events are shown through the perception of wandering peasants, presented to the reader as if in their vision.

The events of the poem unfold in the first years after the reform of 1861 and the liberation of the peasants. The people, the peasantry, are the true positive heroes of the poem. Nekrasov pinned his hopes for the future on him, although he was aware of the weakness of the forces of peasant protest and the immaturity of the masses for revolutionary action.

In the poem, the author created the image of the peasant Savely, the “hero of the Holy Russian”, “the hero of the homespun”, who personifies the gigantic strength and fortitude of the people. Savely is endowed with traits legendary heroes folk epic. This image is associated by Nekrasov with central theme poems - the search for ways to people's happiness. It is no coincidence that Matryona Timofeevna says about Savely to wanderers: “He was also a lucky man.” Savely’s happiness lies in his love of freedom, in his understanding of the need for active struggle of the people, who can only achieve a “free” life in this way.

The poem contains many memorable images of peasants. Here is the smart old mayor Vlas, who has seen a lot in his lifetime, and Yakim Nagoy, a typical representative of the working agricultural peasantry. However, Yakim Naga portrays the poet as not at all like the downtrodden, dark peasant of the patriarchal village. With a deep consciousness of his dignity, he ardently defends the people's honor and makes a fiery speech in defense of the people.

An important role in the poem is occupied by the image of Yermil Girin - a pure and incorruptible “protector of the people”, who takes the side of the rebel peasants and ends up in prison.

In beautiful female image Matryona Timofeevna, the poet draws the typical features of a Russian peasant woman. Nekrasov wrote many moving poems about the harsh “female share,” but he had never written about a peasant woman so fully, with such warmth and love as is depicted in the poem Matryonushka.

Along with the peasant characters of the poem, who evoke love and sympathy, Nekrasov also depicts other types of peasants, mainly courtyards - lordly hangers-on, sycophants, obedient slaves and outright traitors. These images are drawn by the poet in the tones of satirical denunciation. The more clearly he saw the protest of the peasantry, the more he believed in the possibility of their liberation, the more irreconcilably he condemned slavish humiliation, servility and servility. Such are the “exemplary slave” Yakov in the poem, who ultimately realizes the humiliation of his position and resorts to pitiful and helpless, but in his slavish consciousness, terrible revenge - suicide in front of his tormentor; the “sensitive lackey” Ipat, who talks about his humiliations with disgusting relish; informer, “one of our own spy” Yegor Shutov; elder Gleb, seduced by the promises of the heir and agreed to destroy the will of the deceased landowner about the liberation of eight thousand peasants (“Peasant Sin”).

Showing the ignorance, rudeness, superstition, and backwardness of the Russian village of that time, Nekrasov emphasizes the temporary, historically transitory nature of dark sides peasant life.

The world poetically recreated in the poem is a world of sharp social contrasts, clashes, and acute contradictions in life.

In the “round”, “ruddy-faced”, “pot-bellied”, “mustachioed” landowner Obolte-Obolduev, whom the wanderers met, the poet reveals the emptiness and frivolity of a person who is not used to thinking seriously about life. Behind the guise of a good-natured man, behind the courteous courtesy and ostentatious cordiality of Obolt-Obolduev, the reader sees the arrogance and anger of the landowner, barely restrained disgust and hatred for the “muzhich”, for the peasants.

The image of the landowner-tyrant Prince Utyatin, nicknamed by the peasants the Last One, is marked with satire and grotesquery. A predatory look, “a nose with a beak like a hawk,” alcoholism and voluptuousness complement the disgusting appearance of a typical representative of the landowner environment, an inveterate serf owner and despot.

At first glance, the development of the plot of the poem should consist in resolving the dispute between the men: which of the persons they named lives happier - the landowner, the official, the priest, the merchant, the minister or the tsar. However, developing the action of the poem, Nekrasov goes beyond the plot framework set by the plot of the work. Seven peasants are no longer looking for happiness only among representatives of the ruling classes. Going to the fair, in the midst of the people, they ask themselves the question: “Isn’t he hiding there, who lives happily?” In "The Last One" they directly say that the purpose of their journey is to search for people's happiness, the best peasant share:

We are looking, Uncle Vlas,

Unflogged province,

Ungutted parish,

Izbytkova village!..

Having begun the narrative in a semi-fairy-tale humorous tone, the poet gradually deepens the meaning of the question of happiness and gives it an increasingly acute social resonance. The author's intentions are most clearly manifested in the censored part of the poem - “A feast for the whole world.” The story about Grisha Dobrosklonov that began here was to take a central place in the development of the theme of happiness and struggle. Here the poet speaks directly about that path, about that “path” that leads to the embodiment of national happiness. Grisha’s happiness lies in the conscious struggle for a happy future for the people, so that “every peasant can live freely and cheerfully throughout all holy Rus'.”

The image of Grisha is the final one in the series of “people's intercessors” depicted in Nekrasov’s poetry. The author emphasizes in Grisha his close proximity to the people, lively communication with the peasants, in whom he finds complete understanding and support; Grisha is depicted as an inspired dreamer-poet, composing his “good songs” for the people.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the highest example of the folk style of Nekrasov poetry. The folk-song and fairy-tale element of the poem gives it a bright national flavor and is directly related to Nekrasov’s faith in the great future of the people. The main theme of the poem - the search for happiness - goes back to folk tales, songs and other folklore sources, which talked about the search for a happy land, truth, wealth, treasure, etc. This theme expressed the most cherished thought of the masses, their desire for happiness, the age-old dream of the people about a just social system.

Nekrasov used in his poem almost the entire genre diversity of Russian folk poetry: fairy tales, epics, legends, riddles, proverbs, sayings, family songs, love songs, wedding songs, historical songs. Folk poetry provided the poet with rich material for judging peasant life, life, and the customs of the village.

The style of the poem is characterized by a wealth of emotional sounds, a variety of poetic intonation: the sly smile and leisurely narration in the “Prologue” is replaced in subsequent scenes by the ringing polyphony of a seething fair crowd, in “The Last One” - by satirical ridicule, in “The Peasant Woman” - by deep drama and lyrical emotion, and in “A Feast for the Whole World” - with heroic tension and revolutionary pathos.

The poet subtly feels and loves the beauty of the native Russian nature of the northern strip. The poet also uses the landscape to create an emotional tone, for a more complete and vivid characterization state of mind character.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” has a prominent place in Russian poetry. In it, the fearless truth of pictures of folk life appears in an aura of poetic fabulousness and the beauty of folk art, and the cry of protest and satire merged with the heroism of the revolutionary struggle. All this was expressed with great artistic force in the immortal work of N.A. Nekrasova.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the pinnacle work of N.A.’s creativity. Nekrasova. He nurtured the idea of ​​this work for a long time, working on the text of the poem for fourteen years (from 1863 to 1877). In criticism, it is customary to define the genre of a work as an epic poem. This work is not finished, however, despite the incompleteness of the plot, it embodies deep social meaning.

The poem consists of four chapters, united by a plot about how the men argued: who is happy in Rus'. Among the possible options for searching for the happy were the following: landowner, official, priest, merchant, boyar, minister and the tsar himself. However, the men refused to meet with some categories of “lucky” people, since in fact they (like the author) were interested in the question of people’s happiness. The location of the last three parts also remains not fully clarified in the author’s instructions.

The plot of the poem is in the form of a journey. This kind of construction helps to include different pictures. Already in the Prologue, the writer’s subtle irony about Russian reality is heard, expressed in the “telling” names of the villages (“Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutova, Znobishina, Gorelova, Neelova, Neurozhaika, etc.”).

The poem has strong conversational intonations. Its text is filled with dialogues, rhetorical questions and exclamations, anaphoric repetitions (“In what year - calculate, In what land - guess”, “How the red sun set, How the evening came...”), repetitions within lines (“Oh, shadows ! Shadows are black!"). The small landscape sketches presented in the poem are also made as stylizations of folklore: “The night has long since passed, The frequent stars have lit up in the high skies. The moon has surfaced, black shadows have cut the road to Zealous walkers.” Numerous inversions, constant epithets, personifications, mention of images from Russian folk tales (“Well! The goblin played a nice joke on us!”) and even riddles (“Without a body, but it lives, Without a tongue, it screams!” (echo)) - all these artistic details also give the poem a folkloric flavor.

ON THE. Nekrasov needs this artistic effect in order to emphasize that the main character of the work is the people. It is no coincidence that there are so many Russian folk names in the novel.

Men's dreams of happiness are simple, their requirements for the joys of life are real and ordinary: bread, vodka, cucumbers, kvass and hot tea.

In search of happiness, men turn to the bird: “Oh, you little birdie! Give us your wings, We’ll fly around the whole kingdom, We’ll look, we’ll explore, We’ll ask and we’ll find out: Who lives happily, at ease in Rus'?” This also shows adherence to the folk poetic tradition. In ancient times, the ability of birds to fly, to be carried long distance was regarded as having supernatural powers and a special closeness to God. In this regard, the men’s request to the bird to borrow its wings emphasizes the symbolic level of perception of the topic: is the kingdom organized fairly? Traditions folk tale embodies in the poem the image of a self-assembled tablecloth: “Hey, self-assembled tablecloth! Treat the men!

According to your desire, according to your command, everything will appear immediately.” The image of the road in the poem emphasizes the vast expanses of Russia, which once again emphasizes the immense expanses of Russia, which once again indicates the importance of the question raised by the author: how do the inhabitants of a huge, endowed natural resources countries?

Another genre of Russian folklore, to which N.A. Nekrasov addresses in the poem, there is a conspiracy: “You, I see, are a wise bird, Respect - cast a spell on us with old clothes!” Thus, the work also emphasizes the spiritual potential of the people, the bizarre interweaving of Christian and pagan principles in their worldview. The fairy-tale form helps the author to somewhat veil the severity of the things he understands. social problems. According to N.A. Nekrasov, controversial issues should be resolved “according to reason, in a divine way.”

Drawing before the reader a gallery of social types, N.A. Nekrasov starts with the priest. This is natural, because a church minister should, logically, understand the idea of ​​the divine world order and social justice better than anyone else. It is no coincidence that men ask the priest to answer “according to conscience, according to reason,” “in a divine way.”

It turns out that the priest simply carries his cross through life and does not consider himself happy: “Our roads are difficult, Our parish is large. The sick, the dying, the one born into the world do not choose time: In the harvest and in the haymaking, In the dead of autumn night, In winter, in severe frosts, And in the spring floods Go

Where is the name? The priest had a chance to see and hear everything, to support people in the most difficult moments of life: “There is no heart that can endure without some trembling the death rattle, the funeral sob, the orphan’s sadness.” The priest's story raises the problem of happiness from the social level of perception to the philosophical. I never dream of peace and honor for my butt. And the former wealth of the parishes is lost with the beginning of the disintegration of noble nests. The priest does not see any spiritual return from his mission (it’s also good that in this parish two-thirds of the population lives in Orthodoxy, while in others there are only schismatics). From his story we learn about the poverty of peasant life: “Our villages are poor, And in them there are sick peasants, And sad women, Nurses, water-maids, Slaves, pilgrims, And eternal workers, Lord, add strength to them! It’s hard to live on pennies with such labor!”

However, the peasant has a different view of the priest’s life: one of the men knows about this well: “for three years he lived with the priest as a worker and knows that he has porridge with butter and pie with filling.

N.A. has it. Nekrasov in the work and original poetic discoveries in the field of figurative and expressive means of language (“...rainy clouds, Like milk cows, Walk across the skies”, “The earth is not dressed in green bright velvet And, like a dead man without a shroud, lies under the cloudy sky Sad and naga").

A fair in the rich trading village of Kuzminskoye sheds light on folk life in Rus'. There is dirt everywhere. One detail is noteworthy: “The house with the inscription: school, 11 standing, packed tightly. A hut with one window, with a picture of a paramedic Bleeding.” Nobody cares about public education and healthcare in the state. ON THE. Nekrasov paints a colorfully dressed peasant crowd. It seems like this picture should put you in a festive mood. However, through this atmosphere of elegance and apparent prosperity, a dark peasant self-awareness clearly peeks through. The feisty Old Believer angrily threatens the people with hunger, seeing fashionable outfits, since, in her opinion, red calicoes are dyed with dog’s blood. Complaining about the lack of education of men, N.A. Nekrasov exclaims with hope: “Eh! eh! Will the time come, When (come, the desired one!..) They will make it clear to the peasant, That a portrait is rose for a portrait, That a book is a rose for a book? When will a man carry not Blucher and not my stupid lord - Belinsky and Gogol From the market?

The fair fun ends in drunkenness and fights. From the stories of women, the reader learns that many of them feel sick at home, as if they were in hard labor. On the one hand, the author is offended to look at this endless drunkenness, but on the other hand, he understands that it is better for the men to drink and forget themselves between hours of hard work than to understand where the fruits of their work go: “And as soon as the work is over, look, they are standing three shareholders: God, king and master!

From the story about Yakima Nagy, we learn about the fate of people who are trying to defend their rights: “Yakim, a wretched old man, once lived in St. Petersburg, but ended up in prison: He decided to compete with a merchant! Like a stripped piece of velcro, he returned to his homeland and took up his plow.” Saving paintings, Yakim lost money during the fire: preserving spirituality, art is higher for him than everyday life.

As the plot of the poem develops, the reader learns about social inequality and social prejudices, which N.A. Nekrasov is mercilessly castigated and ridiculed. “Prince Peremetyev had me as a favorite slave. The wife is a beloved slave, And the daughter, together with the young lady, learned French, And all sorts of languages, She was allowed to sit down in the presence of the princess...”

The yard servant declares.

The funniest thing about his monologue is that he believes that he has an honorable disease - gout. Even illnesses in Russia are divided by class: men suffer from hoarseness and hernia, and the privileged classes suffer from gout. The disease is considered a noble disease because in order to get it, you need to drink expensive wines: “Champagne, Burgon, Tokay, Wengen You have to drink for thirty years...”. The poet writes with admiration about the feat of the peasant Yermil Girin, who ran the orphan mill. The mill was put up for auction. Yermil began to bargain for it with the merchant Altynnikov himself. Girin did not have enough money; the peasants in the market square lent him money. Having returned the money, Yermil discovered that he still had a ruble. Then the man gave it to the blind: he didn’t need someone else’s. Ermil’s impeccable honesty becomes a worthy response to the trust that the people showed in him by collecting money for him: “They put on a hat full of Tselkoviks, foreheads, Burnt, beaten, tattered Peasant banknotes. He took it sweetly - he didn’t disdain And a copper nickel. He would have become disdainful when he came across another copper hryvnia worth more than a hundred rubles!”

Yermil worked as a clerk in an office and willingly helped peasants write petitions. For this he was elected mayor. He worked regularly: “At seven years old I didn’t squeeze a worldly penny under my fingernail, At seven years I didn’t touch the right one, I didn’t let the guilty one go, I didn’t bend my soul...”.

His only sin was that he shielded his younger brother Mitri from recruiting. Yes, then his conscience tormented him. At first Yermil wanted to hang himself, then he asked him to judge him. They imposed a fine on him: “Fine money for the recruit, a small part for Vlasyevna, a part for the world for wine...”. Finally, a gray-haired priest enters the story about Ermil Girin, who emphasizes that the honor that Girin had was bought not by fear and money, but by “strict truth, intelligence and kindness!” This is how the image of the people's intercessor emerges in the poem - an honest and decent person. However, in the end it turns out that Yermil, after a popular riot, is in prison. Surnames play an important meaningful function in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”: Girin sounds weighty and reliable, but the names of landowners (Obrubkov, Obolt-Obolduev) indicate their limitations and inability to support the Russian people.

The landowner in Rus', too, as it turns out, does not feel happy. When Obolt-Obolduev talks about his “family tree,” we learn that the feats that his ancestors performed can hardly be called such. One of them received a certificate for entertaining the empress on the day of the royal name day. And Prince Shchepin with Vaska Gusev In general, they were criminals: they tried to set fire to Moscow and rob the treasury. N.A. Nekrasov also describes that part of the life of the landowners, which constitutes the former beauty of the landowners' houses with greenhouses, Chinese gazebos and English parks, traditions. hound hunting. However, all the ego is a thing of the past: “Oh, you crazy hunt! All the landowners will forget, But you, original Russian Fun! You will not be forgotten forever and ever! We are not sad about ourselves, We are sorry that you, Mother Rus', willingly lost your knightly, warlike, majestic appearance!”

Obolt-Obolduev yearns for the time of serfdom, remembering how voluntary gifts were brought to him and his family in addition to the corvee. ON THE. Nekrasov shows that the landowners found themselves in a difficult situation: they were accustomed to living on the labor of others and did not know how to do anything.

Obolt-Obolduev talks about this in his confession: “Work hard! Who did you think of reading such a sermon? I am not a peasant lapatnik - I am, by God’s grace, a Russian nobleman! Russia is not a foreigner, We have delicate feelings, We are instilled with pride! We have noble classes They don’t learn to work. Our official is inferior And he won’t sweep the floors, He won’t heat the stove... I’ll tell you, without bragging, I’ve been living almost forever in the village for forty years, And I can’t tell a barley ear from a rye ear, And they sing to me: “Work.” !”

The chapter “Peasant Woman” is devoted to the position of the Russian woman. This is a cross-cutting theme in the work of N.A. Nekrasov, which indicates her importance in the writer’s worldview. main character- Matrena Timofeevna (a dignified woman of about thirty-eight). Drawing her portrait, the author admires the beauty of the Russian peasant woman: “Beautiful; gray hair, large, stern eyes, rich eyelashes, stern and dark.” When asked by men about happiness, the woman at first refuses to answer at all, saying that there is labor suffering going on. However, the men agree to help her reap rye, and Timofeevna still decides to tell about herself. Before her marriage, her life was happy, although it was spent in labor (she had to get up early, bring breakfast to her father, feed ducklings, pick mushrooms and berries). The chapter is interspersed with folk songs. During her marriage, Matryona endured beatings and barbs from her husband’s relatives.

The whole life of a peasant woman is spent in hard work, in an attempt to divide her time between work and children: “Week after week, in one order, they walked, Every year, then the children: there is no time Neither to think nor to grieve, God willing to cope with the work Yes, cross your forehead You will eat - when will remain From the elders and from the children, You will fall asleep when you are sick...” Monotony, the inability to even think calmly about one’s life, the need to constantly spend it in endless labor - this is the lot of the Russian woman of the lower classes in Russia.

Soon Matryona lost her parents and child. Submitting to her father-in-law in everything, Timofeevna lives, essentially, for the sake of her children. The story she told about how some wanderer ordered on fasting days not to feed milk to infants smells of terrifying darkness and dense superstition. I remember here the wanderer Feklusha from the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" with its stupid fables. From this comparison, a general picture of the morals existing in Russia emerges. The scene described in the poem when, during a hungry year, a woman is killed with stakes just because she put on a clean shirt at Christmas, eloquently testifies to darkness and ignorance. By folk signs, this leads to crop failure.

Once Timofeevna accepted punishment with rods for her son, who did not save a sheep from a she-wolf. Describing this story, N.A. Nekrasov writes with admiration about the strength and selflessness of maternal love. Timofeevna is a typical Russian woman with a “downcast head” and an angry heart. Emphasizing the strength of character of the heroine, N.A. Nekrasov also shows her in moments of weakness: Matryona is like Alyonushka from the famous painting by artist V.M. Vasnetsova goes to the river, sits on a gray pebble of a broom bush and sobs. Another way out for a woman is to pray.

The description of the difficult life of a peasant woman lifts the curtain on the general picture of people's life in Russia. Hunger, need, recruitment, lack of education and lack of qualified medical care - these are the conditions in which the Russian peasantry finds itself. It is no coincidence that crying and tears are the most frequently used motifs in the poem.

The inserted plot is a fragment of the chapter entitled “Savely, the hero of the Holy Russian” about how the rebellious workers buried the owner. Then Savely suffered penal servitude and a settlement; only in old age was he able to return to his native place.

In the chapter “The Last One,” old Vlas talks about his landowner, who constantly scolded the peasants, not realizing that they were no longer working on the lord’s land, but on their own land. The master issues absurd orders, which make everyone laugh. It doesn’t take long for people to realize that the master has gone crazy. One day the man Agap could not stand it and scolded the master himself. They decided in the presence of the landowner “to punish Agap for his unprecedented insolence.” However, in reality, this punishment turns into a farce: the steward Klim takes Agap to the stable, gives him a glass of wine and orders him to scream and moan so that the master can hear: “How four men carried Him out of the stable, dead drunk, So the master even took pity: “It’s his own fault, Agapushka.” !”

He said kindly." This scene eloquently indicates that the time of noble rule has irrevocably passed. The same idea is emphasized by the scene of the death of the old prince at the end of the chapter: “The amazed peasants looked at each other... crossed themselves... Sighed... Never had such a friendly sigh, Deep, deep, been emitted by the poor Village of Vakhlaki of the Illiterate province...”.

The chapter “A feast for the whole world” was subject to serious censorship edits. In front of it there is a dedication to S.P. Botkin, a famous doctor who treated N.A. Nekrasova.

The most striking episode of the chapter is the fragment “About the exemplary slave - Yakov the Faithful.” It poses the problem of servility. “People of servile rank - Real dogs sometimes: The more severe the punishment, the dearer the gentlemen are to them,” writes N.A. Nekrasov. The poet convincingly shows that some peasants even like the feeling of servility. They have a slave psychology so firmly developed that they even like humiliation: “Yakov had only joy: to groom, protect, please the Master.”

The landowner, in response to Yakov’s concerns, paid with black ingratitude. He didn’t even allow his nephew Grisha to marry his beloved girl and sent him into conscription. Yakov was offended and took the master to the Devil's Ravine, but did not commit reprisals, but hanged himself in front of the owner. The legless master lay in the ravine all night, seeing the crows pecking at the body of the dead Yakov. A hunter found him in the morning. Returning home, the master realized what a sin he had committed.

Another important image in the poem is the image of the people's intercessor Grisha Dobrosklonov. Only he smiled in the poem to experience happiness. Grisha is still young, but “at the age of fifteen, Gregory already knew firmly that he would live for the happiness of his wretched and dark native corner.” The song “Rus”, composed by the young poet, is a genuine call for a revolutionary reorganization of the world: “The army is rising - Innumerable, the Power in it will be indestructible!” Thus, N.A. Nekrasov, as a poet-citizen, convincingly shows that happiness lies in serving other people, in fighting for the people's cause. “I don’t need either silver or gold, but God grant, so that my fellow countrymen and every peasant may live freely and cheerfully throughout all holy Rus'!” - exclaims the hero. In the image of G. Dobrosklonov N.A. Nekrasov embodied collective image revolutionary, young man, capable of devoting his life to the fight for a bright future for Russia.

Before moving directly to the analysis of “Who Lives Well in Rus',” we will briefly consider the history of the creation of the poem and general information. Nikolai Nekrasov wrote the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”. The fact is that in 1861 it was finally abolished serfdom- Many have been waiting for this reform for a long time, but after its introduction, unforeseen problems began to arise in society. Nekrasov expressed one of them this way, to paraphrase a little: yes, people became free, but did they become happy?

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” talks about how life went after the reform. Most literary scholars agree that this work- the pinnacle of Nekrasov’s creativity. It may seem that the poem is funny in places, somewhat fabulous, simple and naive, but this is far from the case. The poem should be read carefully and deep conclusions drawn. Now let’s move on to the analysis of “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

Theme of the poem and issues

What is the plot of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”? “Pillar road”, and on it there are men - seven people. And they began to argue about who would have the sweetest life in Rus'. However, the answer is not so easy to find, so they decide to go on a journey. This is how the main theme of the poem is determined - Nekrasov widely reveals the life of Russian peasants and other people. Many issues are covered, because the men have to make acquaintances with all sorts of people - they meet: a priest, a landowner, a beggar, a drunkard, a merchant and many others.

Nekrasov invites the reader to learn about both the fair and the prison, to see how hard the poor man works and how the gentleman lives in grand style, to attend a merry wedding and celebrate the holiday. And all this can be comprehended by drawing conclusions. But this is not the main thing when we analyze “Who lives well in Rus'.” Let us briefly discuss the point why it is impossible to say unambiguously who main character this work.

Who is the main character of the poem

It seems that everything is simple - seven men who argue and wander, trying to find the one happy person. In fact, they are the main characters. But, for example, the image of Grisha Dobrosklonov is clearly highlighted, because it is this character, according to Nekrasov’s plan, who reflects the one who in the future will enlighten Russia and save the people. However, it is still impossible not to mention the image of the people themselves - this is also the main image and character in the work.

For example, reading “Drunken Night” and “Feast for the Whole World” one can see the unity of people as a nation when there is a fair, haymaking or mass celebrations. When analyzing “Who Lives Well in Rus',” it can be noted that individual personality traits are not inherent in the seven men, which clearly indicates Nekrasov’s plan. Their description is very short, it’s impossible to highlight your character from a single character. In addition, men strive for the same goals and even reason more often at the same time.

Happiness in the poem becomes main theme, and each character understands it differently. A priest or a landowner strives to get rich and receive honor, a peasant has a different happiness... But it is important to understand that some heroes believe that there is no need to have their own personal happiness, because it is inseparable from the happiness of the entire people. What other problems does Nekrasov raise in the poem? He talks about drunkenness, moral decline, sin, the interaction of old and new orders, love of freedom, rebellion. Let us separately mention the problem of women in Rus'.

The abolition of serfdom in 1861 caused a wave of controversy in Russian society. ON THE. Nekrasov also responded to the debates “for” and “against” the reform with his poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” which tells about the fate of the peasantry in the new Russia.

The history of the poem

Nekrasov conceived the poem back in the 1850s, when he wanted to tell about everything he knew about the life of a simple Russian backgammon - about the life of the peasantry. The poet began working thoroughly on the work in 1863. Death prevented Nekrasov from finishing the poem; 4 parts and a prologue were published.

For a long time, researchers of the writer’s work could not decide in what sequence the chapters of the poem should be printed, since Nekrasov did not have time to indicate their order. K. Chukovsky, having thoroughly studied the author’s personal notes, allowed for such an order as is known to the modern reader.

Genre of the work

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” belongs to various genres - travel poem, Russian Odyssey, protocol of the All-Russian peasantry. The author gave his own definition of the genre of the work, in my opinion, the most accurate - epic poem.

The epic reflects the existence of an entire people in crucial moment its existence - wars, epidemics, etc. Nekrasov shows events through the eyes of the people, using the means of the folk language to give greater expressiveness.

There are many heroes in the poem; they do not hold together individual chapters, but logically connect the plot into one whole.

Problems of the poem

The narrative about the life of the Russian peasantry covers a wide scale of biography. Men in search of happiness travel around Russia in search of happiness, meet various people: a priest, a landowner, beggars, drunken jokers. Celebrations, fairs, rural festivities, hard work, death and birth - nothing escaped the poet’s gaze.

The main character of the poem is not defined. Seven traveling peasants, Grisha Dobrosklonov stands out most among the other heroes. However, the main character of the work is the people.

The poem reflects numerous problems of the Russian people. This is the problem of happiness, the problem of drunkenness and moral decay, sinfulness, freedom, rebellion and tolerance, the collision of old and new, the difficult fate of Russian women.

Happiness is understood by the characters in different ways. The most important thing for the author is the embodiment of happiness in the understanding of Grisha Dobrosklonov. This is where the main idea of ​​the poem arises - true happiness is real only for a person who thinks about the good of the people.

Analysis poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" by N.A. Nekrasova for those who take the Unified State Examination in Russian language and literature.

The ideological and artistic originality of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (1865-1877).

1. The problematic of the work is based on correlation folklore images and specific historical realities.

The problem of national happiness is the ideological center of the work.

The images of seven wandering men are a symbolic image of Russia moving from its place (the work is not finished).

2. The poem reflected the contradictions of Russian reality in the post-reform period: a) Class contradictions (chapter “Landowner”, “Last One”), b) Contradictions in the peasant consciousness (on the one hand, the people are great workers, on the other, the drunken, ignorant masses), c) Contradictions between the high spirituality of the people and the ignorance, inertia, illiteracy, and downtroddenness of the peasants (Nekrasov’s dream of the time when a peasant “will carry Belinsky and Gogol from the market”), d) Contradictions between the strength, rebellious spirit of the people and humility, long-suffering, obedience (images of Savely - the Holy Russian hero and Jacob the faithful, exemplary slave).

The reflection of revolutionary democratic ideas in the poem is associated with the image of the author and people's defender (Grisha Dobrosklonov). The author’s position differs in many ways from the position of the people (see previous paragraph). The image of Grisha Dobrosklonov was based on N. A. Dobrolyubov.

3. The reflection of the evolution of national consciousness is associated with the images of seven men who are gradually approaching the truth of Grisha Dobrosklonov from the truth of the priest, Ermila Girin, Matryona Timofeevna, Savely. Nekrasov does not claim that the peasants accepted this truth, but this was not the author’s task.

4. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - a work of critical realism:

a) Historicism (reflection of the contradictions in the life of peasants in post-reform Russia (see above),

b) Depiction of typical characters in typical circumstances (collective image of seven men, typical images of a priest, landowner, peasants),

c) The original features of Nekrasov’s realism are the use of folklore traditions, in which he was a follower of Lermontov and Ostrovsky.

5. Genre originality:

Nekrasov used the traditions of the folk epic, which allowed a number of researchers to interpret the genre “Who Lives Well in Rus'” as an epic (Prologue, the journey of men across Rus', a generalized folk view of the world - seven men).

The poem is characterized by the abundant use of folklore genres: a) Fairy tale(Prologue), b) Epics (traditions) - Savely, the hero of the Holy Russian, c) Song - ritual (wedding, harvest, lament songs) and labor, d) Parable (Woman's parable), e) Legend (About two great sinners ), f) Proverbs, sayings, riddles.

1. Genre originality of the poem.

2. Composition of the poem.

3. Problems of the poem.

4. System of characters in the poem.

5. The role of folklore in the poem.

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is Nekrasov’s final work. Conceived in 1863, the poem was never completed; death prevented it. The genre of the work - and researchers usually call it an epic poem or an epic poem - is quite unusual for the 19th century. The tradition of large epic works, closely connected with the life of the people and their creativity, was interrupted long ago. We are interested in two questions: how are the genre properties of the epic expressed and what are the reasons for its appearance?

The epic nature of the poem is manifested in the composition, and in the unhurried movement of the plot, and in the spatial breadth of the depicted world, and in the large number of characters inhabiting the poem, and in the enormous temporal and historical extent, and, most importantly, in the fact that in the poem Nekrasov was able to escape from his of lyrical subjectivity, the people themselves become the narrator and observer here.

Even the unfinished nature of the poem, unintentional of course, seems to be part of the plan. Prologue, exposing main idea- to find a happy one, sets such a long-term events that the poem can grow as if on its own, adding new parts and chapters, united by the refrain: “Who lives cheerfully, / at ease in Rus'?” The very first words: “In what year - count, / In what land guess...” - set the scale of the place - this is all of Rus', and the scale of time - not only the present (the definition of men as “temporarily obligated” gives a time reference - soon after peasant reform), but also the recent past, which is remembered by the priest, and the landowner, and Matryona Timofeevna, and even more distantly - the youth of Savely, and even further - the folk songs from “A Feast for the Whole World” do not have a specific temporal timing.

The question that the heroes are arguing about is also epic, because it is a central issue for the people's consciousness of happiness and sorrow, truth and falsehood. It is being decided by the whole world: the poem has many voices, and each voice has its own story, its own truth, which can only be found together.

The poem consists of four large, fairly autonomous parts. The sequence of parts still remains a question (Nekrasov’s authorial will is unknown to us; the poem was not completed). In our publishing practice, there are two options - either “Prologue and the first part”, “Peasant woman”, “Last child”, “Feast for the whole world”, or after “Prologue and first part” “Last child” is placed, then “Peasant woman” and in at the very end of “A Feast for the Whole World.” Each option has its own advantages. “The Last One” and “A Feast for the Whole World” are more closely connected than the others, they have a single place of action and common heroes. The other sequence is more meaningful. Nekrasov's poem is structured in such a way that the external plot has no meaning for it. of great importance. Actually, there is no general plot. “Prologue” offers a plot motivation - the search for a happy one, and then only the motive of the road, the endless journey of seven men, unites the narrative. In the first part, even individual chapters are quite independent, in “The Peasant Woman” the plot is connected with the events of the life of Matryona Timofeevna, in “The Last One” it presents the story of the clash between peasants and the landowner, in “A Feast for the Whole World” there is no plot as such at all. All the more important is the internal plot that unites the epic - the consistent movement of people's thought, aware of its life and destiny, its truth and ideals, a contradictory and complex movement that can never be completed. Gradual deepening into folk life, appearing in the first part in external crowds and polyphony, in the second – in a dramatic collision unfolding before our eyes, in “The Peasant Woman” – in an exceptional, heroic female character, and although the heroine talks about herself (and this speaks of a very high degree self-awareness), but this is a story not only about her private fate, but about the general female lot. This is the voice of the people themselves, it sounds in the songs, of which there are so many in “Peasant Woman”. And finally, the last part, which consists entirely of songs in which the past, present and future of the people are comprehended and in which they appear before us in their deep, essential meaning.

The character system in the epic is complex. The most characteristic thing about it is its large number. In the chapters of the first part “Rural Fair”, “Drunken Night”, “Happy” we see a huge number of people. Nekrasov said that he collected the poem “word by word,” and these “words” became the voices-stories of the people’s crowd. The construction of the character system is also connected with the conflict of the poem. If the original plan, which can be reconstructed from the dispute between the peasants in the “Prologue,” presupposed the peasants’ opposition to the entire social pyramid from the official to the tsar, then changing it (the turn to depicting the life of the people) determined another conflict - the world of the peasants and the world most directly associated with peasant life - landowner. The landowners in the poem are represented quite diversely. The first of them is Obolt-Obolduev, whose story paints a general picture of landowner life in the past and present and whose image connects many possible landowner types (he is both a keeper of patriarchal foundations, and a lyricist praising the estate idyll, and a despot-serf owner). The conflict between the worlds is presented most sharply in “The Last One.” The paradoxical anecdotal plot of the acted “comedy” also corresponds to the sharply grotesque image of the landowner. Prince Utyatin is an escheat, half-dead, hateful creature; his unseeing, dead eye, which “turns like a wheel” (a repeated image several times), grotesquely embodies the image of dead life.

The peasant world is by no means homogeneous. The main division is built on the moral confrontation of those who seek the truth, like the seven men who take a vow “... the matter is controversial / According to reason, according to God, / According to the honor of the story,” those who defend the people’s honor and dignity, like Yakim Naked (“... we are great people / In work and in revelry”), who allows us to understand that happiness is not in “peace, wealth, honor” (the original formula), but in strict truth (the fate of Ermila Girin), who turns out to be heroes both in their rebellion and in their repentance, like Savely - those who express the moral strength of the entire peasant world, and those who are separated from this world, from the lackey in "Happy" to the traitor Gleb the headman in the legend "About two great sinners."

Grisha Dobrosklonov occupies a special place among the heroes of the poem. The son of a poor sexton, an intellectual commoner, he is depicted as a man who knows what happiness is and is happy because he has found his way. “For all the suffering, Russian / Peasantry, I pray!” - says Savely, and Grisha, continuing the theme of life for everyone, creates a song about “the lot of the people, their happiness.” Grisha’s songs in “A Feast for the Whole World” naturally complete the song plot, simultaneously creating an image of the passage of time: “Bitter times - bitter songs” - the past, “Both old and new” - the present, “Good times - good songs” - the future.

The significance of folklore for the poem is enormous. Free and flexible poetic meter, independence from rhyme made it possible to convey living folk speech, rich in sayings and proverbs, aphorisms, and comparisons. An interesting technique is the use of riddles in which Nekrasov appreciates their figurative power: “Spring has come - the snow has had its effect! / He is humble for the time being: / He flies - he is silent, he lies - he is silent, / When he dies, then he roars. / Water – everywhere you look!” But the main role in the poem is played by the genres of folk poetry - a fairy tale (a magic tablecloth, a talking warbler), lamentations and, most importantly, songs, which increasingly strengthen their role towards the end of the poem. A Feast for the Whole World can be called a folk opera.