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 the service of a high goal that makes a Russian person happy, as the writer proved with the example of Grisha Dobrosklonov.

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

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

Genre, kind, 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 there coexists not just one type of literature, but two: lyricism and epic:

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

The direction within which the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was written is realism. However, the author significantly expanded its boundaries, adding fantastic and folklore elements (prologue, opening, 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. Plot structure Many researchers compare Nekrasov’s work 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'?” is comparable only to folk epic, is unique. It was developed as a result of the creative development of world literature, and not the direct borrowing of some well-known example.

  1. Exposition (Prologue). The meeting of seven men - the heroes of the poem: “On a pillared path / Seven men came together.”
  2. The plot is the characters' oath not to return home until they find the answer to their question.
  3. The main part consists of many autonomous parts: the reader gets acquainted with a soldier, happy that he was not killed, a slave, proud of his privilege to eat from the master's bowls, a grandmother, whose garden yielded turnips to her delight... While the search for happiness stands still, depicts the slow but steady growth of national self-awareness, which the author wanted to show even more than the declared happiness in Rus'. From random episodes emerges big picture Rus': poor, drunk, but not hopeless, striving for a better life. In addition, the poem contains several large and independent insert episodes, some of which are even included in autonomous chapters (“Last One”, “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 Nekrasov’s entire literary heritage.
  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.

    7. 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 turns out to be magical and, as a ransom for her chick, tells people how to find a self-assembled tablecloth that will provide them with food and clothing. They find her and feast, and during the feast they vow to find the answer to their question together, but until then not to see any of their relatives and not to return home.

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

    The main characters and their characteristics

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

    1. Seven wanderers represent former serfs “from adjacent villages - Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutov, 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 luck that awaited them at the end of the journey.
    2. Main character– Grisha Dobrosklonov, seminarian, son of a sexton. By nature he is a dreamer, a romantic, loves to compose songs and make people happy. In them he talks about the fate of Russia, about its misfortunes, and at the same time about its mighty strength, which will one day come out and crush injustice. Although he is an idealist, his character is strong, as are his convictions to devote his life to the service of truth. The character feels a calling to be the people's leader and singer of Rus'. He is happy to sacrifice himself to a high idea and help his homeland. However, the author hints that a difficult fate awaits him: prison, exile, hard labor. The authorities do not want to hear the voice of the people, they will try to silence them, and then Grisha will be doomed to torment. But Nekrasov makes it clear with all his might that happiness is a state of spiritual euphoria, and you can only know it by being inspired by a lofty idea.
    3. Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina – main character, a peasant woman whom her neighbors call lucky because she begged 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. Saveliy Korchagin- grandfather of Matryona’s husband, a real Russian hero. At one time, he killed a German manager who mercilessly mocked the peasants entrusted to him. For this, a strong and proud man paid with decades of hard labor. Upon his return, he was no longer good for anything; the years of imprisonment trampled his body, but did not break his will, because, as before, he stood up for justice. The hero always said about the Russian peasant: “And it bends, but does not break.” However, without knowing it, the grandfather turns out to be the executioner of his own great-grandson. He did not look after the child, and the pigs ate him.
    5. Ermil Girin- a man of exceptional honesty, mayor in the estate of Prince Yurlov. When he needed to buy the mill, he stood in the square and asked people to chip in to help him. After the hero got back on his feet, he returned all the borrowed money to the people. For this he earned respect and honor. But he is unhappy, because he paid for his authority with freedom: after a peasant revolt, suspicion fell on him about his organization, and he was imprisoned.
    6. Landowners in the poem“Who lives well in Rus'” are presented in abundance. The author depicts them objectively and even gives some images positive character. For example, governor Elena Alexandrovna, who helped Matryona, appears as a people's benefactor. Also, with a touch of compassion, the writer portrays Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, who also treated the peasants tolerably, even organized holidays for them, and with the abolition of serfdom, he lost ground under his feet: he was too accustomed to the old order. In contrast to these characters, the image of the Last-Duckling and his treacherous, calculating family was created. The relatives of the old, cruel serf owner decided to deceive him and persuaded the former slaves to 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. The national character is also “problematic”: people-thinkers, people-seekers of truth still drink, live in oblivion and empty talk. They are not able to squeeze slaves out of themselves until their poverty acquires at least the modest dignity of poverty, until they stop living in drunken illusions, until they realize their strength and pride, trampled upon by centuries of humiliating state of affairs that were sold, lost and bought.
  • Happiness theme. The poet believes that a person can get the highest satisfaction from life only by helping other people. The real value of being is to feel needed by society, 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 - the 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 good power in the form of a warbler bird that equips men for the journey. A self-assembled tablecloth is a poetic symbol of happiness and contentment. "Wide path" - symbol open final poems and the basis of the plot, because on both sides of the road travelers are presented with a multifaceted and authentic panorama of Russian life. The image of an unknown fish in unknown seas, which has absorbed “the keys to female happiness,” is symbolic. The crying she-wolf with bloody nipples also clearly demonstrates the difficult fate of the Russian peasant woman. One of the most striking images of the reform is the “great chain”, which, having broken, “split one end over the master, the other over 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.
  • The problem of 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 important condition for further prosperity is overcoming internal slavery:

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

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

End

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

Conclusion

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

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

Criticism

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

He brought out the anapest abandoned on Olympus from oblivion and 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 rotational movement barrel organ, allowed him to stay on the borders of poetry and prose, joke around with the crowd, speak smoothly and vulgarly, insert a funny and cruel joke, express bitter truths and imperceptibly, slowing down the beat, with more solemn words, move into floridity.

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

Nekrasov himself constantly “visited Russian huts,” thanks to which both soldier 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 connoisseur of folk poetic images and folk forms thinking, folk aesthetics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the white thread stitched, seasoned with all sorts of absurdities, painfully hatched fabrications of the mournful muse of Mr. Nekrasov - there is not even a penny of 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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In February 1861, serfdom was abolished in Russia. This progressive event greatly stirred up the peasants and caused a wave of new problems. Nekrasov described the main one in the poem “Elegy,” which contains the aphoristic line: “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?” In 1863, Nikolai Alekseevich began working on the poem “Who lives well in Rus'”, which addresses the problems of all segments of the country's population after the abolition of serfdom.

Despite the rather simple, folkloric style of narration, the work is quite difficult to understand correctly, since it touches on serious philosophical issues. Nekrasov has been looking for answers to many of them all his life. And the poem itself, which took 14 long years to create, was never completed. Of the planned eight parts, the author managed to write four, which do not follow one another. After the death of Nikolai Alekseevich, publishers were faced with a problem: in what sequence to publish parts of the poem. Today we are getting acquainted with the text of the work in the order proposed by Korney Chukovsky, who scrupulously worked with the writer’s archives.

Some of Nekrasov's contemporaries argued that the author had the idea for the poem back in the 50s, before the abolition of serfdom. Nikolai Alekseevich wanted to fit into one work everything he knew about the people and heard from many people. To some extent, he succeeded.

For the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” many genre definitions have been selected. Some critics claim that this is a “travel poem”, others refer to it as a “Russian Odyssey”. The author himself considered his work epic, because it depicts the life of the people at a turning point in history. Such a period could be a war, a revolution, or in our case, the abolition of serfdom.

The author tried to describe the events taking place through the eyes of ordinary people and using their vocabulary. As a rule, an epic does not have a main character. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” fully meets these criteria.

But the question about main character The poem has been raised more than once; it haunts literary critics to this day. If we approach it formally, then the main characters can be considered disputing men who went looking for happy people in Rus'. Perfect for this role and Grisha Dobrosklonov- people's educator and savior. It is quite possible to admit that the main character in the poem is the whole Russian people. This is clearly reflected in the mass scenes of festivities, fairs, and haymaking. Important decisions are made in Rus' by the whole world; even a sigh of relief after the death of the landowner escaped the peasants at the same time.

Plot The work is quite simple - seven men accidentally met on the road and started an argument on the topic: who lives well in Rus'? To solve it, the heroes go on a journey across the country. On the long journey, they meet a variety of people: merchants, beggars, drunkards, landowners, a priest, a wounded soldier, a prince. The debaters also had a chance to see many pictures from life: a prison, a fair, birth, death, weddings, holidays, auctions, elections of a burgomaster, etc.

The seven men are not described by Nekrasov in detail; their characters are practically not revealed. Wanderers go together towards one goal. But the supporting characters (the village headman, Savely, the slave Yakov and others) are drawn vividly, with many small details and nuances. This allows us to conclude that the author, represented by seven men, created a conventionally allegorical image of the people.

Problems that Nekrasov raised in his poem are very diverse and relate to the lives of different layers of society: greed, poverty, illiteracy, obscurantism, arrogance, moral degradation, drunkenness, arrogance, cruelty, sinfulness, the difficulty of moving to a new lifestyle, limitless patience and thirst for rebellion, oppression.

But the key problem of the work is the concept of happiness, which each character solves according to his own understanding. For rich people, such as priests and landowners, happiness is personal well-being. It is very important for a man to be able to escape from troubles and misfortunes: he was chased by a bear, but did not catch him, he was beaten severely at work, but was not beaten to death, etc.

But there are characters in the work who do not seek happiness only for themselves, they strive to make all people happy. Such heroes are Ermil Girin and Grisha Dobrosklonov. In Gregory’s mind, love for his mother grew into love for the whole country. In the guy's soul, the poor and unhappy mother became identified with an equally poor country. And seminarian Grisha considers the purpose of his life to be the education of the people. From the way Dobrosklonov understands happiness, the main idea of ​​the poem follows: this feeling can only be fully felt by that person who is ready to devote his life to the fight for the happiness of the people.

Main artistic medium poems can be considered oral folk art. The author makes extensive use of folklore in pictures of the life of peasants and in the description of the future protector of Rus' Grisha Dobrosklonov. Nekrasov uses folk vocabulary in the text of the poem in different ways: as direct stylization (the prologue is composed), the beginning of a fairy tale (a self-assembled tablecloth, the mythical number seven) or indirectly (lines from folk songs, references to various legends and epics).

The language of the work is stylized as folk song. The text contains a lot of dialectisms, numerous repetitions, diminutive suffixes in words, stable constructions in descriptions. Because of this, the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is perceived by many as folk art. In the mid-nineteenth century, folklore was studied not only from a scientific point of view, but also as a way of communication between the intelligentsia and the people.

Having analyzed in detail Nekrasov’s work “Who Lives Well in Rus',” it is easy to understand that even in its unfinished form it is literary heritage and is of great value. And today the poem arouses keen interest among literary critics and readers. Studying the historical characteristics of the Russian people, we can conclude that they have changed a little, but the essence of the problem has remained the same - the search for one’s happiness.

  • Images of landowners in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”

Nekrasov's poem, which became a true epic folk life, absorbed all the main themes of the poet’s work. The main idea of ​​this work, expressed in its title, gives the poem not only national, but also universal significance. Drawing the state of post-reform Russia, the poet emphasizes that in an atmosphere of change, stable, unchanging principles appear most clearly. Here is a theme that is closely related to the most important theme of the poet’s later lyrics: the chains of serfdom fell apart, but the suffering of the people remained, an indelible mark left by centuries of slavery remained:

The great chain broke, It broke and sprang apart: One end hit the master, The other hit the peasant!..

The reader learns that the life of the people remains difficult in the Prologue, where he meets the wanderers who will have to look for happiness. These are the “seven temporarily obliged”

The tightened provinces of Zaplatov, Dyryavina, Terpigoreva County, Razutov, Zlobishina, Empty Pozhnaya Volost, Gorelov, Neelova - From adjacent villages: Unharvest also...

The very names of these villages speak eloquently about the situation of the people in post-reform Russia. But this theme appears most clearly in the further course of the search for the happy one, who should embody the people's dream of happiness:

We are looking, Uncle Vlas, for an unworn province, an ungutted volost, an Izbytkov village!..

In the chapter “Happy”, the stories of the “happy” sound with bitter irony, which show the wretchedness and unbearable severity of the life of the people, when a person, beggar, sick, crippled, is happy only because he remained alive after all the suffering he endured. This is “peasant happiness” - “holey with patches, hunchbacked with calluses.” All subsequent meetings of peasant wanderers confirm the idea that the lot of the people remains difficult.

Especially it concerns female share- another favorite theme of Nekrasov’s work, which reappears with all its force in the part “Peasant Woman,” which tells about the fate of Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina. She, like many other Russian women, can sum it up bitterly:

It’s not a matter of looking for a happy woman among women!..

But the poet also sees the bright sides of people’s life, which are associated with the rich possibilities that lie within him. This is a working people, the creator of all the material and spiritual values ​​in which the country is rich:

We are a little bit of a working life - We ask God: Direct to a friend An honest deed is dear to the heart, Do it skillfully Away from the threshold, Give us strength! Coward and lazy!

This topic is closely related to the theme of heroism inherent in Russian national character. This is not only heroic strength, which is concentrated in the image of Savely, but the ability to stand up for the truth, for one’s happiness:

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

That is why the poet’s words about the age-old humility and long-suffering of the people, which is also distinctive feature national character:

That’s why we endured, Because we are heroes. This is Russian heroism.

Savely says so, but it is not for nothing that the poet shows him, and with him the whole people, not only in submission, but also when his patience comes to an end. Savely tells how, unable to withstand the abuse of the German Vogel, the peasants buried him alive in the ground:

And no matter how the German ruled, our axes lay - for the time being!

It is significant that, in accordance with the laws of the epic, the national motivation here coincides with the social one. The poet claims that the people experience similar antipathy towards representatives of the church, although these feelings are not entirely motivated. Calling priests “a foal breed,” men cannot answer why they treat them this way: “Not themselves... because of their parents,” is all they can say. This is also a feature of epic consciousness, epic experience, which cannot be explained by the everyday experience of one generation. It is national, primordial and goes back to the times of the forefathers.

But the hatred of the peasants for the oppressor landowners is quite clearly indicated. She clearly appears in the chapter “Landowner” and in the part “Last One”, where another important theme of Nekrasov’s creativity arises - satirical image enslavers and exploiters of the people. At the same time, the poet shows that the popular consciousness does not accept the position of the landowner Obolt-Obolduev, who yearns for the times when he had unlimited power:

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

With great doubt, the men listen to the story of how, after the abolition of serfdom, the peasants agreed to play “gum” for the old landowner Utyatin, portraying his serfs. For this, the landowner's heirs promise the peasants to give them the flood meadows after the death of the old master. But it turns out that even in this capacity, serfdom is destructive: unable to withstand the humiliation, the peasant Agap dies. After all, serfdom cripples not only physically, but also morally. With bitterness, Nekrasov shows people of “servile rank” existing among the people, whom the people themselves treat with great contempt. The poet experiences even greater pain when he talks about how people drown their grief in wine:

Every peasant has a Soul like a black cloud - Angry, menacing - and it would be necessary for Thunder to thunder from there, Bloody rains to fall, And everything ends in wine.

This idea runs through the entire chapter." drunken night“, it continues, but already here it is shown the emergence among the people of people who are able to soberly assess the situation of the people and try to find other ways to confront the hardships of life. After all, a sense of truth, justice, and a sense of dignity are also inherent in the people's consciousness. This idea is reflected in such vivid images of the poem as Yakim Nagoy and Ermil Girin. Along with them, the work includes themes of awakening national consciousness, his desire for truth, the ability to stand up for a common cause with the whole world (the scene of the purchase of a mill). The democratic poet saw that popular protest was limited and spontaneous, and faith in the Tsar-Father remained unchanged. Only the people's intercessor Grisha Dobrosklonov was given the opportunity to fully understand the roots of all the people's troubles: “Fortify everyone through the fault,” and therefore with the theme people's intercessors The final part of the poem is connected, summing up the development of its artistic idea.

But in the previous parts of the poem, the poet more than once says that the people have an inherent desire for truth and beauty, creative forces are alive in them, a powerful spirit that allows, no matter what, through their labor, to create everything that the Russian land is proud of: Material from the site

Saved in slavery, the heart is free - Gold, gold, the heart of the people!

Of course, Nekrasov sees that the protest ripening among the people is spontaneous and inconsistent, and its aesthetic needs are still limited to popular prints, which Yakim Nagoy values ​​so much. But the poet dreams of that time

When the people will not carry Blucher and my stupid lord, Belinsky and Gogol from the market.

It is not for nothing that the chapter “Rural Fair” is so important in the poem, in which, in an atmosphere of wide national holiday a theatrical spectacle arises - a folk performance, a bala-gan with its inexhaustible humor, reckless fun, and sometimes, angry ridicule of the oppressors of the people. This festive, joyful, free element of folk life is felt even more in the last chapter, “A Feast for the Whole World,” built entirely on a folk song basis. All this shows that the main ideological basis of the poem is the author’s belief that such a people are worthy of happiness, worthy of a better share that will be won for them:

In moments of despondency, O Motherland! My thoughts fly forward. You are still destined to suffer a lot, But you will not die, I know. Enough! The settlement with the past is over, the settlement with the gentleman is over! The Russian people are gathering strength and learning to be citizens.

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  • essay on the topic of who can live well in Rus'
  • ideological content: who can live well in Rus'?
  • ideological content of the poem: who lives well in Rus'

Nekrasov always dreamed that the Russian peasant would take at least the first step towards liberation: he would comprehend his fate, understand the reasons for his misfortunes, and think about the ways of liberation.

In this poem, the poet accomplishes the impossible, turning his dream into reality. That is why the poem turned out to be fabulous, very close to folklore.

The plot of the fairy tale poem is that seven men - temporarily obliged peasants - abandon their economic worries and affairs and, having agreed and argued with each other to their heart's content, set off across Rus' to look for the happy, or, as they themselves say, “who lives happily, at ease in Rus'."

First, their starting understanding of happiness is naive and primitive: at the beginning of the poem they understand happiness exclusively as wealth and contentment. Therefore, the first “suspects” are the landowner, the priest, even the tsar. On their way, they learn many destinies, get acquainted with the life stories of people of various classes and incomes, from the social bottom to the very top. Their idea of ​​happiness is gradually corrected, and the travelers themselves receive not only the necessary life experience, but also pleasure from their search.

In essence it is a fairy tale poem, in form it is a travel poem. Traveling not only in space (across Rus'), but also in spheres of life, from bottom to top.

Main Character Groups

    Peasants-truth-seekers, wanderers, thinking about their fate and looking for a happy life in Rus'.

    Peasant serfs, voluntary slaves, arousing contempt or pity. Among them are “an exemplary slave - Yakov the faithful,” the courtyard servant Ipat, Gleb the elder.

    The masters of life, the oppressors of the people, depicted with evil, and sometimes with sympathy.

    Among them are landowners, priests, etc. People's defenders who took the first steps towards the struggle for people's happiness. This is the robber Kudeyar, Savely the Holy Russian hero, Yakim Nagoy, Ermil Girin,

Matryona Timofeevna

This poem became Nekrasov's main book. He conceived and began it in 1863, shortly after the abolition of serfdom, and wrote until his death, almost 15 years, but never finished it.

Of the four large fragments, only “part one” was thought of by Nekrasov as finished, complete. The chapters “The Last One” and “A Feast for the Whole World,” which are interconnected both plot-wise and in terms of time of action, have the author’s notes “from the second part,” and “The Peasant Woman” has the subtitle “from the third part.” Almost nothing else is unclear. By looking at the parts, we must guess at the possible whole.

Today, the chapters are usually arranged in the order of the author’s work on them: “Part One” - “The Last One” - “The Peasant Woman” - “A Feast for the Whole World.” It is precisely this composition that is suggested by the logic of the changing ideas of truth-seeking peasants about a happy person, although Nekrasov never managed to arrange the parts and chapters in the order he needed.

Poem idea

The main idea of ​​the poem is that the reform of 1861 did not bring relief or happiness to either the “master” or the “peasant”:

The great chain has broken,

Torn and splintered:

One end - according to the master,

To others - man!..

For the priest, happiness lies in the serfdom past, when the church was supported by rich landowners, and the ruin of the landowners led to the impoverishment of the peasants and the decline of the clergy.

Two landowners Obolt-Obolduev (chapter V1 of the part) and Utyatin-Prince (chapter “The Last One”) yearn for the forever lost paradise of serf Rus', when noble happiness lay in idleness, luxury, gluttony, self-will and autocracy. The wealth of the “progressive” landowner is based on exactions from quitrent peasants, and the peace of the landowner is faith in the idyll of a single family of the serf-landowner (father) and peasants (children), where the father can punish in a fatherly way, and can also generously pardon. The happiness of Utyatin the Prince from the chapter “The Last One” lies in the satisfaction of his lust for power and in tyranny, vain pride in his origin. And now - wealth is lost, peace is lost (there are peasant robbers all around), no one favors the noble honor (strangers call the landowners “scoundrels”), and the landowner himself received a telling surname, which combines blockhead, fool and fool.

What is happiness in the eyes of the people? In the chapter “Happy”, those who like to drink a free glass talk about their happiness as the absence of misfortune (“Rural Fair”). The soldier is happy because in twenty battles “I was, not killed,” “I was beaten mercilessly with sticks,” but I remained alive. The old woman is glad that she will not die of hunger, since many turnips were born “in a small ridge.” The bricklayer, who overstrained himself at work, is glad that he finally made it to his native village:

Hey, man's happiness!

Leaky with patches,

Humpbacked with calluses.

In the concept of happiness, the people are content with little, taking even minor luck for it. The gallery of the happy among the people ends with an ironic paradox: the parade of the “lucky” is completed by the beggars, for whom happiness lies in receiving alms.

But the peasant Fedosey from the village of Dymoglotov calls the wanderers happy - Ermil Girin. At first he is a clerk, then he is elected mayor. He retreated from the truth only once, saving his “little brother Mitri” from conscription, but then he publicly repents, receives forgiveness, successfully fights for the mill with the merchant Altynnikov, collecting money from everyone, and then honestly returns it to those who donated. The end of Girin’s story is shrouded in mystery: he was called upon to help pacify the peasants of the “landowner Obrubkov,” and then it is reported that “he is sitting in prison” (obviously, he was on the side of the rebels).

In the chapter “Peasant Woman,” Nekrasov creates a wonderful image of Matryona Timofeevna, who has gone through all possible trials for a Russian woman: family “hell” in her husband’s house, the terrible death of a child, public punishment at the whim of a tyrant landowner, her husband’s soldiery. But she continues to rule the house and raise children. The author saw the happiness of the Russian peasant woman through the eyes of wanderers in unbending perseverance and great patience.

Another “lucky one” is Savely, the Holy Russian hero: “branded, but not a slave!” - he endured and endured, but his patience came to an end, however, after 18 years of humiliation. For cursing the German manager, nine men, led by Savely, bury him alive in the ground, for which he receives years of hard labor. Having served his sentence, Savely becomes an involuntary culprit in the death of his grandson, goes to wander, repents and dies, having lived to be “one hundred and seven years old.”

There are three paths for men:

Tavern, prison and penal servitude...

Only in the epilogue does a truly happy character appear - Grigory Dobrosklonov. Growing up in the family of a sexton, he lives an ordinary difficult peasant life, but with the help of his fellow villagers he enters the seminary and chooses his own path, in which the main weapon is the word. This is the path of the poet - the people's intercessor.

Nekrasov’s happiest person turns out to be not a tsar, not a drunk, not a slave, not a landowner, but a poet who sings radiant hymns about people’s happiness. The songs composed by Grisha are one of the most powerful places in the poem.

Thus, following Gogol’s questions “Rus', where are you rushing?”, Herzen’s “Who is to blame?”, Chernyshevsky’s “What to do?” Nekrasov poses another eternal Russian question: “Who can live well in Rus'?”