Analysis of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (Nekrasov). ON THE. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”: description, heroes, analysis of the poem of Rus' to live well, analysis of heroes

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is one of the most famous works by N.A. Nekrasova. In the poem, the writer managed to reflect all the hardships and torments that the Russian people endure. The characteristics of the heroes are especially significant in this context. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a work rich in bright, expressive and original characters, which we will consider in the article.

The meaning of the prologue

The beginning of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” plays a special role in understanding the work. The prologue resembles a fairy tale opening like “In a Certain Kingdom”:

In what year - calculate

In what land - guess...

The following tells about the men who came from different villages (Neelova, Zaplatova, etc.). All titles and names are telling; with them Nekrasov gives a clear description of places and characters. In the prologue, the men's journey begins. This is where the fairy-tale elements in the text end, the reader is introduced to the real world.

List of heroes

All the heroes of the poem can be divided into four groups. The first group consists of the main characters who went for happiness:

• Demyan;
• Novel;
• Prov;
• Groin;
• Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin;
• Luke.

Then come the landowners: Obolt-Obolduev; Glukhovskaya; Utyatin; Shalashnikov; Peremetev.

Slaves and peasants met by travelers: Yakim Nagoy, Egor Shutov, Ermil Girin, Sidor, Ipat, Vlas, Klim, Gleb, Yakov, Agap, Proshka, Savely, Matryona.

And heroes who do not belong to the main groups: Vogel, Altynnikov, Grisha.

Now let's look at the key characters in the poem.

Dobrosklonov Grisha

Grisha Dobrosklonov appears in the episode “A Feast for the Whole World”; the entire epilogue of the work is dedicated to this character. He himself is a seminarian, the son of a clerk from the village of Bolshie Vakhlaki. Grisha's family lives very poorly, only thanks to the generosity of the peasants they managed to raise him and his brother Savva to their feet. Their mother, a farm laborer, died early from overwork. For Grisha, her image merged with the image of her homeland: “With love for the poor mother, love for all the Vakhlachina.”

While still a fifteen-year-old child, Grisha Dobrosklonov decided to devote his life to helping the people. In the future, he wants to go to Moscow to study, but for now, together with his brother, he helps the men as best he can: he works with them, explains new laws, reads documents to them, writes letters for them. Grisha composes songs that reflect observations of poverty and suffering of the people, and thoughts about the future of Russia. The appearance of this character enhances the lyricism of the poem. Nekrasov’s attitude towards his hero is clearly positive; the writer sees in him a revolutionary from the people who should become an example for the upper strata of society. Grisha voices the thoughts and position of Nekrasov himself, solutions to social and moral problems. N.A. is considered the prototype of this character. Dobrolyubova.

Ipat

Ipat is a “sensitive serf,” as Nekrasov calls him, and in this characteristic one can hear the poet’s irony. This character also makes travelers laugh when they learn about his life. Ipat is a grotesque character; he became the embodiment of a faithful lackey, a lordly slave who remained faithful to his master even after the abolition of serfdom. He is proud and considers it a great blessing for himself how the master bathed him in an ice hole, harnessed him to a cart, and saved him from death, to which he himself doomed. Such a character cannot even evoke sympathy from Nekrasov; only laughter and contempt are heard from the poet.

Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna

The peasant woman Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina is the heroine to whom Nekrasov dedicated the entire third part of the poem. This is how the poet describes her: “A dignified woman, about thirty-eight years old, broad and dense. Beautiful... big eyes... stern and dark. She’s wearing a white shirt and a short sundress.” Travelers are led to the woman by her words. Matryona agrees to talk about her life if the men will help in the harvest. The title of this chapter (“Peasant Woman”) emphasizes the typicality of Korchagina’s fate for Russian women. And the author’s words “it’s not a matter for women to look for a happy woman” emphasize the futility of the wanderers’ search.

Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina was born into a good, non-drinking family, and she lived happily there. But after marriage, she found herself “in hell”: her father-in-law was a drunkard, her mother-in-law was superstitious, and she had to work for her sister-in-law without straightening her back. Matryona was lucky with her husband: he only beat her once, but all the time, except winter, he was at work. Therefore, there was no one to stand up for the woman; the only one who tried to protect her was grandfather Savely. The woman endures the harassment of Sitnikov, who has no authority because he is the master’s manager. Matryona's only consolation is her first child, Dema, but due to Savely's oversight, he dies: the boy is eaten by pigs.

Time passes, Matryona has new children, parents and grandfather Savely die of old age. The most difficult years are the lean years, when the whole family has to go hungry. When her husband, the last intercessor, is taken into the army out of turn, she goes to the city. He finds the general's house and throws himself at the feet of his wife, asking for intercession. Thanks to the help of the general's wife, Matryona and her husband return home. It was after this incident that everyone considered her lucky. But in the future, the woman will face only troubles: her eldest son is already a soldier. Nekrasov, summing up, says that the key to female happiness has long been lost.

Agap Petrov

Agap is an inflexible and stupid man, according to the peasants who know him. And all because Petrov did not want to put up with the voluntary slavery that fate was pushing the peasants into. The only thing that could calm him down was wine.

When he was caught carrying a log from the master's forest and accused of theft, he could not stand it and told the owner everything he thought about the real state of affairs and life in Russia. Klim Lavin, not wanting to punish Agap, stages a brutal reprisal against him. And then, wanting to console him, he gives him something to drink. But humiliation and excessive drunkenness lead the hero to die in the morning. This is the price the peasants pay for the right to openly express their thoughts and desire to be free.

Veretennikov Pavlusha

Veretennikov was met by men in the village of Kuzminskoye, at a fair; he is a collector of folklore. Nekrasov gives a poor description of his appearance and does not talk about his origin: “The men did not know what family and rank.” However, for some reason everyone calls him master. This uncertainty is necessary for the image of Pavlusha to be generalized. Compared to people, Veretennikov stands out for his concern about the fate of the Russian people. He is not an indifferent observer, like the participants in the many inactive committees that Yakim Nagoy denounces. Nekrasov emphasizes the hero’s kindness and responsiveness by the fact that his very first appearance is marked by a selfless act: Pavlusha helps out a peasant buying shoes for his granddaughter. Genuine concern for the people also attracts travelers to the “master”.

The prototype of the image was the ethnographers-folklorists Pavel Rybnikov and Pavel Yakushkin, who participated in the democratic movement of the 60s of the 19th century. The surname belongs to the journalist P.F. Veretennikov, who visited rural fairs and published reports in Moskovskie Vedomosti.

Yakov

Yakov is a faithful servant, a former servant, he is described in the part of the poem called “A Feast for the Whole World.” The hero was loyal to his master, endured any punishment and performed even the most difficult work without complaint. This continued until the master, who liked his nephew’s bride, sent him to recruit service. Yakov started drinking, but still returned to his owner. However, the man wanted revenge. One day, when he was taking Polivanov (the master) to his sister, Yakov turned off the road into Devil’s Ravine, unharnessed his horse and hanged himself in front of the owner, wanting to leave him alone with his conscience all night. Such cases of revenge were indeed common among peasants. Nekrasov based his story on a true story he heard from A.F. Horses.

Ermila Girin

Characteristics of the heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is impossible without a description of this character. It is Ermila who can be considered one of the lucky ones whom the travelers were looking for. The prototype of the hero was A.D. Potanin, a peasant, manager of the Orlovs' estate, famous for his unprecedented justice.

Girin is revered among the peasants because of his honesty. For seven years he was burgomaster, but only once did he allow himself to abuse his power: he did not give his younger brother Mitri as a recruit. But the unrighteous act tormented Yermil so much that he almost killed himself. The intervention of the master saved the situation, he restored justice, returned the peasant who had been unfairly sent to the recruits and sent Mitri to serve, but personally took care of him. Girin then left the service and became a miller. When the mill that he rented was sold, Ermila won the auction, but he did not have the money with him to pay the deposit. The people helped out the peasant: in half an hour, men who remembered kindness collected a thousand rubles for him.

All of Girin’s actions were driven by the desire for justice. Despite the fact that he lived in prosperity and had a considerable household, when a peasant revolt broke out, he did not stand aside, for which he ended up in prison.

Pop

The characterization of the heroes continues. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is a work rich in characters of different classes, characters and aspirations. Therefore, Nekrasov could not help but turn to the image of a clergyman. According to Luke, it is the priest who should “live cheerfully and freely in Rus'.” And the first on their way, the seekers of happiness meet the village priest, who refutes Luke’s words. The priest has no happiness, wealth or peace of mind. And getting an education is very difficult. The life of a clergyman is not at all sweet: he sees off the dying on their last journey, blesses those who are born, and his soul aches for the suffering and tormented people.

But the people themselves do not particularly honor the priest. He and his family are constantly the subject of superstitions, jokes, obscene ridicule and songs. And all the wealth of the priests consisted of donations from parishioners, among whom were many landowners. But with the abolition of serfdom, most of the rich flock scattered around the world. In 1864, the clergy was deprived of another source of income: schismatics, by decree of the emperor, came under the tutelage of the civil authorities. And with the pennies that the peasants bring, “it’s hard to live.”

Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev

Our description of the heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is coming to an end; of course, we could not give descriptions of all the characters in the poem, but we included the most important ones in the review. The last of their significant heroes was Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, a representative of the lordly class. He is round, pot-bellied, mustachioed, ruddy, stocky, and sixty years old. One of the famous ancestors of Gavrila Afanasyevich was a Tatar who entertained the empress with wild animals, stole from the treasury and plotted the arson of Moscow. Obolt-Obolduev is proud of his ancestor. But he is saddened by the abolition of serfdom, since now he can no longer profit from peasant labor as before. The landowner covers up his sorrows with concern for the peasant and the fate of Russia.

This idle, ignorant and hypocritical man is convinced that the purpose of his class is one thing - “to live by the labor of others.” By creating this unpleasant image, Nekrasov does not skimp on shortcomings and endows his hero with cowardice. This trait is manifested in a comical incident when Obolt-Obolduev mistakes unarmed peasants for robbers and threatens them with a pistol. It took a lot of effort for the men to dissuade the former owner.

Conclusion

Thus, N. A. Nekrasov’s poem is filled with a number of bright, original characters, designed from all sides to reflect the position of the people in Russia, the attitude of different classes and government officials towards them. It is precisely thanks to such a number of descriptions of human destinies, often based on real stories, that the work leaves no one indifferent.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was begun shortly after the abolition of serfdom. And it can be assumed that it was this reform that gave impetus to the writing of the poem. The poet tried, in poetic form, to conduct his own investigation into what the abolition of serfdom gave to different segments of the population: the peasantry, the nobility, clergy, and officials. But only the priest (as clergy were casually called in the old days) and the landowner managed to talk about their lives before and after the reform.

The poem remained unfinished. According to the author's plan, it should have had at least 7 chapters - according to the number of disputants. And maybe the peasants would have been able to reach the tsar, if not for illness and censorship, which took the talented poet by the throat. The entire work is presented in the style of Russian folk art. A number of poems are written in the style of Russian folk songs and laments.

The main characters of N. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” and their characteristics:

Novel- a compassionate peasant freed the lark, entangled in the flax.

Demyan- The peasant is literate and can read.

Luke- a stocky man with a wide bushy beard. He was not very intelligent, he talked a lot, not to the point, he was eloquent and stupid.

Ivan and Metrodor Gubin- brothers-shepherds, lovers of alcohol.

Pakhom Onisimych- old man, beekeeper, cooper.

Prov- a burly, strong man.

Pop– The church minister believes that a person’s happiness lies in peace, wealth, and honor. And he immediately proves, using examples, that he only dreams of peace. First, the boy studies at school, then at seminary. Then you have to get up at any time of the day and go to the rich and the poor in order to perform a church ritual, to see, to empathize with people who are losing loved ones. Well, no peace.

Wealth? What wealth does a poor peasant have? So it turns out that for his work the priest often does not receive what he should receive. The landowners are also impoverished, they don’t give as before. As for honor and honor, and here the priest clearly shows that he sees almost no honor either.

Gavrila Afanasich- landowner.

Gavrila Afanasich does not miss the opportunity to take a drink. He even takes a bottle of sherry with him on the road. And having settled down to talk with the men, he ordered them to get a bottle. The landowner sees happiness in the noble family tree. The older the family tree, the happier the landowner. For him, time was divided into before and after. Before the decree on the abolition of serfdom and after it. Before the decree, the landowner had power over people, lands, and forests. The peasants bowed to the landowner to the ground. He was king and God on his land.

Vlas- old peasant. He told the wanderers about Prince Utyatin, about the courtyard Ipat. He noted that at one time he was a secular headman, but abandoned his position when the heirs begged the peasants to play along with the prince’s whims.

Ipat- courtyard of the Utyatin princes. Devoted to his masters, he did not want any will, and remained with the prince. Although the prince mocked Ipat a lot - and the prince harnessed him to the cart with his own hands, and dipped him into an ice hole in the winter, moved him with a sleigh, but the prince's favors were more valuable to the servant: a glass of vodka brought to him, clothes from the master's shoulder, when his prince picked up a half-dead man who had fallen from his horse on road.

Prince Utyatin- did not want to put up with the law on the emancipation of the peasants. Having learned about this law, he became so nervous that he had a stroke. Prince Utyatin really valued the rights of the nobility, and he really did not want to lose his power over the peasants. He accused his sons of betraying noble interests. The heirs were afraid that the huge inheritance would go to the prince’s side daughters, and they conspired with the peasants. Acting out a performance in front of him as if they were serfs. The heirs promised to give the peasant community flood meadows and pay for all the lordly quirks.

Every day the prince went for a walk around the fields, scolding the peasants in vain, even if the work was done conscientiously. So he forced dry hay to be scattered, only because it seemed damp to him, then he found fault that the ground was not plowed enough.

Klim- a man who asked to be burgomaster instead of old Vlas. The peasants did not like Klim because he was a drunkard, a horse-driver, friends with gypsies, and did not like to work. He was cunning and smart, but he didn’t know how to keep money. Klim was a competent man. He visited St. Petersburg, Moscow, and traveled to Siberia with merchants. The world decided that in fact Vlas remained the headman, and Klim was substituted in front of the prince.

Matryona Timofeevna - peasant woman By peasant standards, her childhood was prosperous. The parents were non-drinkers, hard-working, and loved their children. But from the age of five they began to accustom her to peasant labor. At first I brought food to my father in the field, tended ducks, and the older I got, the more responsibilities around the house appeared.

As she grew up, a groom appeared, but not from her native village, but from outside. He took her with him and lived with her parents. Since her husband beat her for no reason at all, her relatives set him on. A son was born, Demushka, whom she loved with all her mother’s love. She took him with her to the field so that the baby would be with her. It seemed to the mother-in-law that because of the baby she was not working well, she forced him to leave the boy with grandfather Savely. He fell asleep and did not look after the child. He was trampled and killed by pigs. The woman was bitterly worried about the loss of her only son. And then they started an investigation; an autopsy was performed almost before her eyes. It was hard and painful for Matryona to watch all this.

Grandfather Savely According to rumors, my grandfather is already a hundred years old. A strong, healthy old man with a thick beard, looking like a bear. He didn’t get along with his family and didn’t like his son. For the last 7 years I have repented and felt guilty for the death of my great-grandson.

Grigory Dobrosklonov – seminarian.

Face thin, pale

And the hair is thin, curly,

With a hint of red.

While Grisha and his brother Savva were studying, the world helped and fed them. The brothers paid the world with their work. Grisha began to compose songs that helped unfortunate people. He sang to them about happiness.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” remained unfinished. According to the author's plan, the wanderers were supposed to meet and talk with all seven representatives of happy Russian society. But they only managed to talk with the priest and the landowner. Nikolai Alekseevich

Introduction The problem of the main characters in the poem by Ermil Girin Matryona Korchagina Grisha Dobrosklonov Conclusion

Introduction

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is one of Nekrasov’s most famous and important works. It was conceived by him as the quintessence of his experience as a writer and public figure and was supposed to become a large-scale, detailed epic reflecting the life of all social strata of post-reform Russia. A short illness and death did not allow the author to fully realize his plan: what we have is only half

Nekrasov initially planned at least seven parts for the planned work.

However, in those chapters that are known to us, the scale and characteristic features of the folk epic are already visible.

One of these features is the absence of a clearly defined main character, whose figure would run through the entire narrative.

The problem of the main characters in the poem

The story begins with how seven peasants set off on a journey in order to find a happy man in Rus'. The names of these seven are Demyan, Roman, Prov, Pakhom, Luka, Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin. Despite the fact that at first they seem to be the main characters of “Who Lives Well in Rus',” none of them have any clearly defined individual traits, and already in the first part we see how they “dissolve” in the narrative and become their own a kind of “artistic device”.
Through their eyes, the reader looks at numerous other heroes, bright, expressive, who in reality are the main characters of the poem.

Below is a brief description of the main characters in “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

Ermil Girin

Community chairman Ermil Girin appears in the first part of the poem as the hero of a story that is told to wanderers in one of the villages. (A frequently used technique here is that in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” heroes are often introduced as characters in insert stories). He is called the first candidate for the lucky ones: elected mayor for his intelligence and honesty, Ermil served his position fairly for seven years and earned the deep respect of the entire community. Only once did he allow himself to abuse his power: he did not recruit his younger brother Mitri, replacing him with the son of one of the peasant women. But Yermil’s conscience tormented him so much that he almost committed suicide.

The situation was saved by the intervention of the master, who returned the peasant who had been unfairly sent to serve. However, Yermil left the service after that and became a miller. He continued to be held in high esteem among the peasants: when the mill he had rented was sold, Yermil won the auction, but he did not have the deposit with him; In half an hour, the men collected a thousand rubles for him and saved him from ruin.

However, the story of Yermil Girin suddenly ends with the narrator’s message that the former mayor is in prison. From fragmentary hints, one can understand that Girin was arrested because he did not want to help the authorities pacify the riot in his village.

Matryona Korchagina

Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, nicknamed the Governor, is one of the most striking female characters in Russian classical literature.
Matryona is a middle-aged woman “about thirty-eight years old” (considerable age for a peasant woman), strong, stately, majestic in her own way. In response to the wanderers’ question whether she is happy, Matryona tells them the story of her life, which is extremely typical for a peasant woman of that time.

She was born into a good, non-drinking family, her parents loved her, but after marriage she, like most women, ended up “on her maiden holiday in hell”; Her husband's parents forced her to work tirelessly, her mother-in-law and sister-in-law mocked her, and her father-in-law was a drunkard. Her husband, who spent all his time working, could not stand up for her. Her only support was her father-in-law's grandfather, old Savely.

Matryona had to endure a lot: the bullying of her husband's relatives, the death of her beloved first-born, the harassment of the master's manager, crop failure and hunger. Her patience broke when her husband was taken into the army without waiting in line. The desperate woman walked to the city, found the governor’s house and threw herself at the feet of his wife, asking for intercession.

Thanks to the help of the governor's wife, Matryona got her husband back. From then on, she received her nickname and fame as a lucky woman. However, it is unknown what awaits her in the future; as Matryona herself says, “The keys to women’s happiness/…/Abandoned, lost/ With God himself!”

Grisha Dobrosklonov

The clerk's son, seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov appears already in the epilogue of the poem. For the author, he is a very important figure, personifying the new social force of Russian society - an intellectual commoner, a native of the lower classes, who has achieved everything in life solely through his intelligence and efforts, but who does not for a moment forget about the people from which he came.

Grisha grew up in a very poor family, his mother died early, his father was unable to feed Grisha and his brother; It was only thanks to the help of the peasants that they were able to get back on their feet. Having grown up with a feeling of deep gratitude and affection for the common people, Grisha, already at the age of fifteen, decides to become their intercessor and assistant. People's happiness for him is enlightenment and freedom; in the Image of Grisha Dobrosklonov, the type of revolutionary from the people is clearly visible, which the author wanted to make an example for other classes.

It is obvious that through the lips of this hero Nekrasov expresses his civic position and his own worldview.

Conclusion

The system of characters in Nekrasov’s poem is quite peculiar: we see that most of the heroes appear throughout just one chapter, many of them are presented as characters in insert stories, and the seven peasants - the cross-cutting figures of the work - in fact, are not even its main characters. However, with the help of this scheme, the author, introducing us to numerous characters and faces, achieves an amazing breadth and development of the narrative. Numerous bright characters in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” help to depict the life of Russia on a truly epic scale.

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17. Plan Introduction Evolution of the concept of “happiness” in the minds of the main characters The image of happiness as freedom in the poem Conclusion Introduction “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?” Nekrasov asked this question, formulated in the poem “Elegy,” more than once. In his final work, “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the problem of happiness becomes the fundamental problem on which the plot of the poem is based. Seven […]...
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19. The result of twenty years of work was the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” for Nekrasov. In it, the author voiced the most important issues of the era and described the people's life in post-reform Russia. Critics call this poem the epic of folk life. In it, Nekrasov created a multifaceted plot and introduced a large number of characters. As in works of folklore, the narrative is built in the form of a path, a journey, but the main […]...
20. Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is a great Russian poet of the 19th century. The epic poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” brought him great fame. I would like to define the genre of this work in this way, because it widely presents pictures of life in post-reform Russia. This poem took 20 years to write. Nekrasov wanted to represent all social strata in it: from […]...
21. In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” Nekrasov is looking for an answer to the main question of his work, which is formulated in “Elegy”: “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?..” Therefore, in the center of the work is the collective image of the people depicted in crowd scenes and in personalized images. Positive heroes 1. Ermila Girin became famous for his extraordinary justice, only once in the seven years of his […]...
22. Nekrasov’s entire poem is a flaring up, gradually gaining strength, worldly gathering. For Nekrasov, it is important that the peasantry not only thought about the meaning of life, but also set out on a difficult and long path of truth-seeking. The “Prologue” begins the action. Seven peasants argue about “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” The men still don’t understand that the question is who is happier – the priest, the landowner, [...]
23. Types of peasants in the poem by N.A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'” I. Introduction The main character of Nekrasov’s poem is a peasant, a man. Nekrasov is interested in all aspects of the life of the peasantry: everyday life, psychology, ideals, etc. II. Main part 1. The peasantry in Nekrasov’s poem is not a faceless mass; in the author’s view, it is heterogeneous: a) peasants are truth-seekers and fighters. […]...
24. The people are the hero of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” In the center of the great work of N. A. Nekrasov there is a collective image of the main character - the people. Before us appear generalized pictures of people's life, the faces of people from the people. Some of them only flicker before us in a motley crowd; others talk in detail about themselves; the heroes of the poem talk about the third. Written […]...
25. 1. The best human qualities embodied in the images of people from the people. 2. The image of Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina. 3. Vulnerability and slaves. 4. “Peasant sin.” In his poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” N. A. Nekrasov shows a vast panorama of people’s life, characters and destinies. The motive of the journey of seven peasants, who set out to find out who “lives freely and cheerfully in Rus'”, […]...
26. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is an epic poem. In its center is an image of post-reform Russia. Nekrasov wrote the poem over the course of twenty years, collecting material for it “word by word.” The poem covers folk life unusually widely. Nekrasov wanted to depict all social strata in it: from the peasant to the tsar. But, unfortunately, the poem was never […]...
27. N. A. Nekrasov dedicates the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” to a symbolic search for a happy person in Rus'. The seven main characters, while traveling, learn about the life of different segments of the Russian population: the clergy, landowners, peasants. But the special theme of Nekrasov’s work is the fate of the Russian peasant woman. Nekrasov shows the life of a Russian woman in its entirety – from childhood to the moment when she […]...
28. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the result of Nekrasov’s thoughts about the fate of the Russian people after the abolition of serfdom. Nekrasov, a democratic public figure, was concerned about the issue of freedom and slavery. “Who can live well in Rus'” - the poem begins with this question. The poem resolves the most important question about the author’s contemporary reality, what brought liberation to the people and whether […]...
29. In Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, the main character of the great poet’s work – the people – appears more fully and brightly than in other works. Here Nekrasov draws various types of peasants, comprehensively showing their lives - both in grief and in “happiness”. One of the most striking in the poem is the image of Matryona Timofeevna, a typical Russian peasant woman, an image that embodied […]...
30. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is Nekrasov’s most powerful and amazing creation. This is not a poem in the traditional sense of the word, or even a novel in verse. This is a folk epic of modern times, absorbing the traditions of ancient Russian epics. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” embodies the original features of the Russian national character, its unshakable foundations, people's grief and people's happiness. My […]...
31. The tale “about two great sinners” sounded a call to fight against the oppressors. The robber Kudeyar is forgiven all his sins for killing Pan Glukhovsky. This means that the fight against the lords is a sacred matter. What is the meaning of the chapter “A feast for the whole world” in N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Russia”? The chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” shows the state of [...]
32. One of the main themes of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov’s work is the theme of the people and their difficult, unhappy life. The main work of this writer’s work dedicated to this topic is “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” This work reflects the events of the abolition of serfdom and the consequences of this. The poem begins with a meeting of seven men: On a pillared path, seven men came together... They immediately began […]...
33. The Russian people are gathering strength and learning to be citizens... N. A. Nekrasov One of the most famous works of N. A. Nekrasov is the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” glorifying the Russian people. It can rightfully be called the pinnacle of Nekrasov’s creativity. Written by the author in his mature years, it absorbed all his love for ordinary people, sympathy for […]...
34. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was the pinnacle of the poet’s creativity. In this monumental work, which can rightfully be called an epic of people’s life, Nekrasov painted a panorama of pre-reform and post-reform Russia, showing the changes that took place in the country at that time. The poem itself was written in the post-reform era, when all […]...
35. The poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was written by the author in poetic form. The poem consists of four parts. The first part of the poem consists of five chapters and begins with a prologue. In the prologue, the author tells the reader that “seven men” once decided to find out “who lives happily and freely in Rus'.” The argument gradually turned into a fight. On […]...
36. N. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was written after the reforms of Alexander II and the abolition of serfdom in Rus'. To some extent, the work repeats the plots of Russian folk tales, in which the main characters set off on a journey, trying to find happiness. The poem cannot do without a traditional self-assembled tablecloth and without birds speaking in a human voice. However, this work is a fairy tale […]...
37. Yermil Girin is an unusually honest man, everyone loved him for this, and people were drawn to him because of his sincerity and selfless attitude towards the people. This is evidenced by the case when Ermilo came to the auction, where he “fought” with the merchant for the mill. When he won, he owed a thousand rubles for the mill, but had no money with him. Then […]...
38. Time spent working on the poem (60-70s. Decline of the liberation movement and a new rise). The sources of the poem are personal observations, stories of contemporaries, folklore. The idea of ​​the poem is to wander around Russia in search of a happy person; Gradually, the wanderers from the idea of ​​finding a specific person come to the idea of ​​​​searching for happiness for everyone (here is reflected the growth of national self-awareness not only of seven men, but also […]...
39. The epic poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (1863-1877) reflected the painful thoughts of N. A. Nekrasov about the fate of the Russian peasantry. The reform of 1861 became a new form of economic bondage. Nekrasov sincerely sympathized with the plight of the Russian peasantry. He created a folk poem about the awakening of the people's strength. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” shows both ordinary representatives of the poor and […]...
40. This poem is entirely this question itself. The disputing men decide to go across Rus' to look for the answer. Of course, it can’t do without magic: here the magic tablecloth not only cooks for them, but also washes them. It was very interesting for me to follow these seekers of happiness. They thought that the rich man was happy. They were not going to ask peasants and soldiers about happiness. […]...

One of the most famous works of Nikolai Nekrasov is the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”, which is distinguished not only by its deep philosophical meaning and social acuity, but also by its bright, original characters - these are seven simple Russian men who got together and argued about who “ life is free and joyful in Rus'.” The poem was first published in 1866 in the Sovremennik magazine. The publication of the poem was resumed three years later, but the tsarist censorship, seeing the content as an attack on the autocratic regime, did not allow it to be published. The poem was published in full only after the revolution in 1917.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” became the central work in the work of the great Russian poet; it is his ideological and artistic pinnacle, the result of his thoughts and reflections on the fate of the Russian people and on the roads leading to their happiness and well-being. These questions worried the poet throughout his life and ran like a red thread through his entire literary activity. Work on the poem lasted 14 years (1863-1877) and in order to create this “folk epic”, as the author himself called it, useful and understandable for the common people, Nekrasov made a lot of efforts, although in the end it was never finished (8 chapters were planned, 4 were written). A serious illness and then the death of Nekrasov disrupted his plans. Plot incompleteness does not prevent the work from having an acute social character.

Main storyline

The poem was begun by Nekrasov in 1863 after the abolition of serfdom, so its content touches on many problems that arose after the Peasant Reform of 1861. The poem has four chapters, they are united by a common plot about how seven ordinary men argued about who lives well in Rus' and who is truly happy. The plot of the poem, touching on serious philosophical and social problems, is structured in the form of a journey through Russian villages, their “speaking” names perfectly describe the Russian reality of that time: Dyryavina, Razutov, Gorelov, Zaplatov, Neurozhaikin, etc. In the first chapter, called “Prologue,” the men meet on a highway and start their own dispute; in order to resolve it, they go on a trip to Russia. On the way, the disputing men meet a variety of people, these are peasants, merchants, landowners, priests, beggars, and drunkards, they see a wide variety of pictures from people’s lives: funerals, weddings, fairs, elections, etc. .

Meeting different people, the men ask them the same question: how happy they are, but both the priest and the landowner complain about the deterioration of life after the abolition of serfdom, only a few of all the people they meet at the fair admit that they are truly happy.

In the second chapter, entitled “The Last One,” wanderers come to the village of Bolshie Vakhlaki, whose inhabitants, after the abolition of serfdom, in order not to upset the old count, continue to pose as serfs. Nekrasov shows readers how they were then cruelly deceived and robbed by the count's sons.

The third chapter, entitled “Peasant Woman,” describes the search for happiness among the women of that time, the wanderers meet with Matryona Korchagina in the village of Klin, she tells them about her long-suffering fate and advises them not to look for happy people among Russian women.

In the fourth chapter, entitled “A Feast for the Whole World,” wandering seekers of truth find themselves at a feast in the village of Valakhchin, where they understand that the questions they ask people about happiness concern all Russian people, without exception. The ideological finale of the work is the song “Rus”, which originated in the head of a participant in the feast, the son of the parish sexton Grigory Dobrosklonov:

« You're miserable too

you are abundant

you and the omnipotent

Mother Rus'!»

Main characters

The question of who is the main character of the poem remains open, formally these are the men who argued about happiness and decided to go on a trip to Russia to decide who is right, however, the poem clearly states that the main character of the poem is the entire Russian people , perceived as a single whole. The images of the wandering men (Roman, Demyan, Luka, the brothers Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin, the old man Pakhom and Prov) are practically not revealed, their characters are not drawn, they act and express themselves as a single organism, while the images of the people they meet, on the contrary, are painted very carefully, with a lot of details and nuances.

One of the brightest representatives of a man from the people can be called the son of the parish clerk Grigory Dobrosklonov, who was presented by Nekrasov as a people's intercessor, educator and savior. He is one of the key characters and the entire final chapter is devoted to the description of his image. Grisha, like no one else, is close to the people, understands their dreams and aspirations, wants to help them and composes wonderful “good songs” for people that bring joy and hope to those around them. Through his lips, the author proclaims his views and beliefs, gives answers to the pressing social and moral questions raised in the poem. Characters such as seminarian Grisha and honest mayor Yermil Girin do not seek happiness for themselves, they dream of making all people happy at once and devote their entire lives to this. The main idea of ​​the poem follows from Dobrosklonov’s understanding of the very concept of happiness; this feeling can be fully felt only by those who, without reasoning, give their lives for a just cause in the fight for people’s happiness.

The main female character of the poem is Matryona Korchagina; the entire third chapter is devoted to a description of her tragic fate, typical of all Russian women. Drawing her portrait, Nekrasov admires her straight, proud posture, simple attire and the amazing beauty of a simple Russian woman (large, stern eyes, rich eyelashes, stern and dark). Her whole life is spent in hard peasant work, she has to endure beatings from her husband and brazen attacks from the manager, she was destined to survive the tragic death of her first-born, hunger and deprivation. She lives only for the sake of her children, and without hesitation accepts punishment with rods for her guilty son. The author admires the strength of her maternal love, endurance and strong character, sincerely pities her and sympathizes with all Russian women, for the fate of Matryona is the fate of all peasant women of that time, suffering from lawlessness, poverty, religious fanaticism and superstition, and lack of qualified medical care.

The poem also describes the images of landowners, their wives and sons (princes, nobles), depicts the landowners' servants (lackeys, servants, courtyard servants), priests and other clergy, kind governors and cruel German managers, artists, soldiers, wanderers, a huge number secondary characters who give the folk lyric-epic poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” that unique polyphony and epic breadth that make this work a real masterpiece and the pinnacle of Nekrasov’s entire literary work.

Analysis of the poem

The problems raised in the work are diverse and complex, they affect the lives of various strata of society, including a difficult transition to a new way of life, problems of drunkenness, poverty, obscurantism, greed, cruelty, oppression, the desire to change something, etc.

However, the key problem of this work is the search for simple human happiness, which each of the characters understands in their own way. For example, rich people, such as priests or landowners, think only about their own well-being, this is happiness for them, poorer people, such as ordinary peasants, are happy with the simplest things: staying alive after a bear attack, surviving a beating at work, etc. .

The main idea of ​​the poem is that the Russian people deserve to be happy, they deserve it with their suffering, blood and sweat. Nekrasov was convinced that one must fight for one’s happiness and it is not enough to make one person happy, because this will not solve the entire global problem as a whole; the poem calls for thinking and striving for happiness for everyone without exception.

Structural and compositional features

The compositional form of the work is distinctive; it is built in accordance with the laws of classical epic, i.e. each chapter can exist independently, and all together they represent a single whole work with a large number of characters and storylines.

The poem, according to the author himself, belongs to the genre of folk epic, it is written in unrhymed iambic trimeter, at the end of each line after stressed syllables there are two unstressed syllables (the use of dactylic casula), in some places there is iambic tetrameter to emphasize the folklore style of the work.

In order for the poem to be understandable to the common man, many common words and expressions are used in it: village, breveshko, fair, empty popple, etc. The poem contains a large number of different examples of folk poetry, these are fairy tales, epics, various proverbs and sayings, folk songs of various genres. The language of the work is stylized by the author in the form of a folk song to improve ease of perception; at that time, the use of folklore was considered the best way of communication between the intelligentsia and the common people.

In the poem, the author used such means of artistic expression as epithets (“the sun is red”, “black shadows”, a free heart”, “poor people”), comparisons (“jumped out as if disheveled”, “the men fell asleep like the dead”), metaphors ( “the earth lies”, “the warbler is crying”, “the village is seething”). There is also a place for irony and sarcasm, various stylistic figures are used, such as addresses: “Hey, uncle!”, “Oh people, Russian people!”, various exclamations “Chu!”, “Eh, Eh!” etc.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the highest example of a work executed in the folk style of Nekrasov’s entire literary heritage. The elements and images of Russian folklore used by the poet give the work a bright originality, colorfulness and rich national flavor. The fact that Nekrasov made the search for happiness the main theme of the poem is not at all accidental, because the entire Russian people have been searching for it for many thousands of years, this is reflected in his fairy tales, epics, legends, songs and in other various folklore sources as the search for treasure, a happy land, priceless treasure. The theme of this work expressed the most cherished desire of the Russian people throughout its existence - to live happily in a society where justice and equality rule.

The problem of happiness in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”?

“Who Lives Well in Rus'” is one of the most incomprehensible poems in the school course, since the author touched on a very important and controversial topic - the topic of human happiness. It is very difficult to talk about this objectively, especially speaking on behalf of all of Rus', because everyone has their own understanding of happiness. However, Nekrasov found a way out of the situation and created such a multifaceted system of images that could accommodate the points of view of all the main class representatives. They understand life differently, their positions sometimes contradict the author’s, so it becomes even more interesting to read. How do they all represent happiness?

The author himself, Nikolai Nekrasov, agrees with the point of view of the only lucky person in Rus', Grisha Dobrosklonov: happiness lies in helping your people “become citizens” who have rights, and not just responsibilities. Serving your people at the cost of self-sacrifice is what leads the soul to true harmony. It sounds, of course, paradoxical: how can self-denial promise happiness? But this is the true nature of the bliss we all want to achieve. The author contrasts personal, selfish pleasure from life with national, universal happiness and comes to the conclusion that caring for one’s well-being will not bring spiritual satisfaction, and without it a person degrades and, as a result, lives incompletely. The fact is that spiritual thirst can only be quenched by serving something greater than yourself. For example, making all of Rus' happy is a global idea; it will take the whole person, but will not leave him with doubts, loneliness and inner emptiness. People in such service feel needed and belong to a common cause, and therefore are in a state of harmony with the world, despite the gloomy prospects of “consumption and Siberia.”

What will happen if a person cares only about his personal happiness? This activity will bring momentary satisfaction, but it will not give meaning to life. The human soul is too broad; it cannot be curbed and exhausted by such a petty and vain thought as ensuring one’s own well-being. The answer to this question allows us to understand why the other heroes of the poem are not happy. Before us are people who are sympathetic to the author, but who are incapable of serving a global idea that could explain to them the meaning of life and give them strength to fight life’s difficulties. They think like slaves: if the grief turned out to be not as terrible as it could have been, this is already happiness. They have no higher spiritual needs, no ideals or goals other than the simplest everyday needs.

However, one cannot generalize. Nekrasov's heroes, in my opinion, are divided into two categories: people who have not come to terms with the slave lot - these are Savely, Matryona Timofeevna and Ermil Girin - and their antipodes - the servants of rich landowners who sell their dignity for a cozy place. Saveliy, Matryona and Yermil are not slaves, they have the will to freedom. They have the right to personal happiness, they try to achieve it, but they do not go further than their huts, which are “on the edge” and “know nothing.” However, we, like the seven men, at least sympathize with their unenviable peasant lot. Maybe they are not yet ripe to serve the people. But the lordly tyranny and habits of the servile class are disgusting both to seekers of truth and to readers. These people are inveterate slaves of their prejudices; the very concept of happiness is inaccessible to them, and, as a result, the meaning of happiness laid down by Nekrasov.

It has long been known that life is good for the person who feels needed, and it is good for him only where he is needed. In Rus', from time immemorial, injustice has flourished, so the people needed an intercessor, they needed Grisha Dobrosklonov - an honest, selfless national character, whom people trusted, whom they could follow and fight for their rights. The happiness of the heroes is his happiness; he does not separate himself from them. That is why he is happy, that is why it is good to live in Rus': his life has acquired meaning not only for him, but for all his fellow citizens.