“Who can live well in Rus'?” - the poem begins with this question. The heroes who go looking for “who lives happily and freely in Rus'” ask questions to representatives of different classes and receive different answers. Sometimes we are presented with opposing ideals of happiness. However, the main goal of the heroes is to find “peasant happiness.” Who are they, happy ones? How to combine personal happiness with public happiness? The author poses these questions to himself and his characters.

For the landowner Obolt-Obolduev and Prince Utyatin, happiness is a thing of the past. These heroes regret the times of serfdom: “fortification” allowed them to be self-willed, to spend time in idleness and gluttony, the fun of hound hunting... “Peace, wealth, honor” - this is the formula of happiness that the priest deduces, but in reality it turns out that there is no peace, no wealth, no honor in the life of a clergyman.

The peasant world appears before us in the chapter “Happy”. It would seem that now, judging by the title of the chapter, we will receive an answer to the main question of the poem. Is this true? The soldier’s happiness lies in the fact that the poor fellow was not killed in battle, nor beaten with sticks, punished for “great and small” offenses. The stonemason is happy because, by working, he drives need away from his family. The Belarusian peasant, having suffered from hunger in the past, rejoices in being full in the present... Thus, happiness for these people consists in the absence of misfortune.

Further in the poem, images of people's intercessors appear. A clear conscience, the trust of people - this is the happiness of Ermila Girin. For Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, endowed with fortitude and self-esteem, the idea of ​​happiness is associated with family and children. For Savely, happiness is freedom. But do they also have what they say?..

No one has a good life in Rus'. Why are there no happy people in Rus'? Is one to blame? serfdom, habit of slavery? Will the country move towards happiness if memories of serfdom disappear? Grisha Dobrosklonov is inclined to think so. But for Nekrasov this is only part of the truth. Let us remember “Elegy” (“Let the changing fashion tell us...”): “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?..”.

The author translates the problem of happiness into a moral plane. The key theme of the poem is the theme of sin. Numerous peasant sins, combined with the master’s sins, fall heavily on Rus'. Everyone is sinful, even the best: Ermila Girin shielded his brother from recruiting at the cost of a widow’s tears; Savely responded to oppression with murder... Is happiness possible at the expense of another? And what are they anyway - the paths leading to people's happiness? True happiness is the struggle for the people's good. Living for others is the ideal of Grisha Dobrosklonov. From the author’s point of view, the only possible path to happiness is the path of redemption, sacrifice, and asceticism. Matryona Korchagina falls under the lashes, Savely exhausts himself with a vow, Ermila Girin goes to prison, Grisha chooses “the glorious path, the great name people's defender, consumption and Siberia."

Despite everything, the ending of the poem is optimistic. The author leads us to the conclusion that, firstly, the happiness of the people will be possible only when they become the rightful owner of their land. Secondly, only those who fulfill their duty to the people can be happy, who sees the purpose of life in their liberation from the sins of slavery, servility, poverty, drunkenness, savagery, and therefore in universal happiness. Only in the struggle “for the embodiment of the people’s happiness” can a person “live freely and cheerfully in Rus'.”

In February 1861, serfdom was abolished in Russia. This progressive event greatly agitated the peasants and caused a wave of new problems. Nekrasov described the main one in his 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'” a lot was selected genre definitions. 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 argumentative men who went to look 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 entire 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, in the person of seven men, created a conditionally allegorical image of the people.

Problems that Nekrasov raised in his poem are very diverse and relate to the lives of different strata of society: greed, poverty, illiteracy, obscurantism, arrogance, moral degradation, drunkenness, arrogance, cruelty, sinfulness, the difficulty of transitioning to a new way of life, boundless patience and thirst for rebellion , depression.

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, it follows main idea poem: this feeling can be fully felt only by that person who is ready to devote his life to the struggle 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 a 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'”

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 was abolished 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 for a just cause to the end.

Genre, genus, direction

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

1. Epic component. There was a turning point in the history of the development of Russian society in the 1860s, when people learned to live in new conditions after the abolition of serfdom and other fundamental transformations of their usual way of life. This difficult historical period was described by the writer, 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 the author's digressions and typically poetic symbols, means of artistic expression, and features of the characters' confessions.

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

Composition

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

1. Exposition (Prologue). The meeting of seven men - the heroes of the poem: “On a pillared path / Seven men came together.”
2. The plot is the characters' oath not to return home until they find the answer to their question.
3. The main part consists of many autonomous parts: the reader meets 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 has several large and independent inserted episodes, some of which are even included in autonomous chapters (“The Last One,” “The Peasant Woman”).
4. Climax. The writer calls Grisha Dobrosklonov, a fighter for people's happiness, a happy person in Rus'.
5. Denouement. A serious illness prevented the author from completing his great plan. Even those chapters that he managed to write were sorted and designated by his proxies after his death. You must understand that the poem is not finished, it was written by a very sick person, therefore this work- the most complex and confusing of all literary heritage Nekrasova.
6. The final chapter is called “A Feast for the Whole World.” All night long the peasants sing about the old and new times. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings kind and hopeful songs.

What is the poem about?

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

On the road they meet a priest, a peasant woman, the showroom Petrushka, beggars, an overextended worker and a paralyzed former servant, an honest man Ermila Girin, the landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, the insane Posledysh-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 identity 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 character 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 serving the truth. The character feels a calling to be the people's leader and singer of Rus'. He is happy to sacrifice himself to a high idea and help his homeland. However, the author hints that 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 the military leader’s wife for her husband (he, the only breadwinner of the family, was supposed to be recruited for 25 years). However, the woman's life story reveals not luck or fortune, but grief and humiliation. She experienced the loss of her only child, the anger of her mother-in-law, and everyday, exhausting work. Her fate is described in detail in an essay on our website, be sure to check it out.
4. Savely Korchagin- grandfather of Matryona’s husband, a real Russian hero. At one time, he killed a German manager who mercilessly mocked the peasants entrusted to him. For this, a strong and proud man paid with decades of hard labor. Upon his return, he was no longer fit for anything; the years of imprisonment trampled his body, but did not break his will, because, as before, he stood up for justice. The hero always said about the Russian peasant: “And it bends, but does not break.” However, without knowing it, the grandfather turns out to be the executioner of his own great-grandson. He did not look after the child, and the pigs ate him.
5. Ermil Girin- a man of exceptional honesty, mayor in the estate of Prince Yurlov. When he needed to buy the mill, he stood in the square and asked people to chip in to help him. After the hero got back on his feet, he returned all the borrowed money to the people. For this he earned respect and honor. But he is unhappy, because he paid for his authority with freedom: after a peasant revolt, suspicion fell on him about his organization, and he was imprisoned.
6. Landowners in the poem“Who lives well in Rus'” are presented in abundance. The author 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 freedom- rests on the problem that the Russian peasant did not know what to do with it, and how to adapt to new realities. National character is also “problematic”: people-thinkers, people-seekers of truth still drink, live in oblivion and empty conversations. They are not able to squeeze slaves out of themselves until their poverty acquires at least the modest dignity of poverty, until they stop living in drunken illusions, until they realize their strength and pride, trampled upon by centuries of humiliating state of affairs that were sold, lost and bought.
• Happiness theme. The poet believes that a person can get the highest satisfaction from life only by helping other people. The real value of being is to feel needed by society, to bring goodness, love and justice into the world. Selfless and selfless service to a good cause fills every moment with sublime meaning, an idea, without which time loses its color, becomes dull from inaction or selfishness. Grisha Dobrosklonov is happy not because of his wealth or his position in the world, but because he is leading Russia and his people to a bright future.
• Homeland theme. Although Rus' appears in the eyes of readers as a poor and tortured, but still a beautiful country with a great future and a heroic past. Nekrasov feels sorry for his homeland, devoting himself entirely to its correction and improvement. For him, his homeland is the people, the people are his muse. All these concepts are closely intertwined in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The author's patriotism is especially clearly expressed at the end of the book, when the wanderers find a lucky man who lives in the interests of society. In the strong and patient Russian woman, in the justice and honor of the heroic peasant, in the sincere good-heartedness of the folk singer, the creator sees the true image of his state, full of dignity and spirituality.
• Theme of labor. Useful activity elevates Nekrasov's poor heroes above the vanity and depravity of the nobility. It is idleness that destroys the Russian master, turning him into a self-satisfied and arrogant nonentity. But the common people have skills and true virtue that are really important for society, without them there will be no Russia, but the country will manage without noble tyrants, revelers and greedy seekers of wealth. So the writer comes to the conclusion that the value of each citizen is determined only by his contribution to the common cause - the prosperity of the homeland.
• Mystical motive. Fantastic elements appear already in the Prologue and immerse the reader in the fabulous atmosphere of the epic, where it is necessary to 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. “The Wide Road” is a symbol of the open ending of the poem and the basis of the plot, because on both sides of the road travelers are presented with a multifaceted and authentic panorama of Russian life. The image of an unknown fish in unknown seas, which absorbed “the keys to female happiness,” is symbolic. 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, 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 its 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 the anapest, abandoned on Olympus, out of oblivion and for many years made this heavy but flexible meter as common as the airy and melodious iambic had remained from the time of Pushkin to Nekrasov. This rhythm, favored by the poet, reminiscent of the rotational movement of a barrel organ, allowed him to stay on the boundaries of poetry and prose, joke around with the crowd, speak smoothly and vulgarly, insert a funny and cruel joke, express bitter truths and imperceptibly, slowing down the beat, in more solemn words, move into floridity.

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

Nekrasov himself constantly “visited Russian huts,” thanks to which both soldier 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 really was in highest degree original and, indeed, came with a “new word”.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The theme of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (1863-1877) is a depiction of post-reform Russia for ten to fifteen years after the abolition of serfdom. The reform of 1861 is extremely important event in Russian history, because it radically changed the life of the entire state and the entire people. After all, serfdom determined the economic, political, and cultural situation in Russia for approximately three hundred years. And now it has been canceled and normal life has been disrupted. Nekrasov formulates this idea in the poem as follows:

The great chain has broken,
Torn and splintered:
One way for the master,
Others don't care. (“Landowner”)

The idea of ​​the poem is a discussion about human happiness in modern world It is formulated in the title itself: who lives well in Rus'.

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

A short exposition of the plot is placed in the prologue of the poem:

In what year - calculate
Guess what land?
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together:
Seven temporarily obliged,
A tightened province,
Terpigoreva County,
Empty parish,
From adjacent villages -
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razugova, Znobishina,

Gorelova, Neelova,
Bad harvest too.

The men met by chance, because each was going about his own business: one had to go to the blacksmith, another was in a hurry to invite the priest to a christening, the third was going to sell honeycombs at the market, the Gubin brothers had to catch their stubborn horse, etc. The plot of the poem begins with the oath of the seven heroes:

Don't toss and turn in the houses,
Don't see any of your wives.
Not with the little guys
Not with old people.
As long as the matter is moot
No solution will be found -
Who lives happily?
Free in Rus'? (prologue)

Already in this dispute between the men, Nekrasov presents a plan for the development of the plot action in the work - who the wanderers will meet:

Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
Luke said: ass.
To the fat-bellied merchant! —
The Gubin brothers said,
Ivan and Metrodor.
Old man Pakhom pushed
And he said, looking at the ground:
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister.
And Prov said: to the king. (prologue)

As you know, Nekrasov did not finish the poem, so the planned plan was not fully completed: the peasants talked with the priest (chapter “Pop”), with the landowner Obolt-Obolduev (chapter “Landowner”), observed the “happy life” of the nobleman - Prince Utyatin (chapter "Last One") All the travelers’ interlocutors cannot call themselves happy; they are dissatisfied with their lives, everyone complains about difficulties and deprivations.

However, even in the unfinished poem there is a climax in the meeting of the men in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” (in different editions the title of the chapter is written differently - “A Feast for the Whole World” or “A Feast for the Whole World”) with a happy man - Grisha Dobrosklonov. True, the men did not understand that they saw a happy man in front of them: this young man looked very unlike a man who, according to peasant ideas, could be called happy. After all, the wanderers were looking for a man with good health, with income, with a good family and, of course, with a clear conscience - that’s what happiness is, according to men. Therefore, they calmly pass by the beggar and unnoticed seminarian. Nevertheless, it is he who feels happy, despite the fact that he is poor, in poor health, and, according to Nekrasov, has a short and difficult life ahead of him:

Fate had in store for him
The path is glorious, the name is loud
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia. (“Feast for the whole world”)

So, the climax is literally in the last lines of the poem and practically coincides with the denouement:

If only our wanderers could be under their own roof,
If only they could know what was happening to Grisha. (“Feast for the whole world”)

Consequently, the first feature of the composition of the poem is the coincidence of the climax and denouement. The second feature is that, in fact, the entire poem, excluding the prologue, where the plot is located, represents the development of an action constructed in a very complex manner. To the one described above general plot The poem strings together numerous life stories of heroes encountered by travelers. The individual stories within the poem are united by the cross-cutting theme of the road and the main idea of ​​the work. This construction has been used more than once in literature, starting with Homer’s “Odyssey” and ending with N.V. Gogol’s “Dead Souls.” In other words, the poem is compositionally similar to a motley mosaic picture, which is made up of many pebble pieces. Collected together, individual stories heard by wanderers create a broad panorama of post-reform Russian reality and the recent serf past.

Each private story has its own more or less complete plot and composition. The life of Yakim Nagogo, for example, is described very briefly in the chapter “Drunk Night.” This middle-aged peasant worked hard and a lot all his life, as his portrait definitely indicates:

The chest is sunken; as if pressed in
Stomach; at the eyes, at the mouth

Bends like cracks
On dry ground...

He bought it for his son
Hung them on the walls
And he himself is no less than a boy
Loved looking at them.

It is Yakim who gives the answer to Mr. Veretennikov when he reproaches the peasants for drunkenness:

There is no measure for Russian hops,
Have they measured our grief?
Is there a limit to the work?

More detailed stories with a detailed plot are dedicated to Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina; Saveliy, the Holy Russian hero; Ermila Girin; Yakov the faithful exemplary slave.

The last hero, the devoted servant of Mr. Polivanov, is described in the chapter “A feast for the whole world.” The plot of the action is outside the scope of the story: even in his youth

Yakov had only joy:
To groom, protect, please the master
Yes, rock my little nephew.

The author briefly describes the thirty-three years of the wild life of Mr. Polivanov, until his legs became paralyzed. Yakov, like a kind nurse, looked after his master. The climax of the story comes when Polivanov “thanked” his faithful servant: he gave Yakov’s only relative, his nephew Grisha, as a recruit, because this fellow wanted to marry a girl who the master himself liked. The denouement of the story about the exemplary slave comes quite quickly - Yakov takes his master to the remote Devil's Ravine and hangs himself in front of his eyes. This denouement simultaneously becomes the second climax of the story, since the master receives a terrible moral punishment for his atrocities:

Hanging
Yakov swings rhythmically over the master,
The master rushes about, sobs, screams,
One echo responds!

So the faithful servant refuses, as he did before, to forgive the master everything. Before death, Jacob awakens human dignity, and it does not allow killing a legless disabled person, even one as soulless as Mr. Polivanov. The former slave leaves his offender to live and suffer:

The master returned home, wailing:
“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!
You, master, will be an exemplary slave,
Jacob the faithful
Remember until judgment day!

In conclusion, it should be repeated that Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is compositionally constructed in a complex way: the overall plot includes complete stories that have their own plots and compositions. The stories are dedicated to individual heroes, primarily peasants (Ermil Girin, Yakov the faithful, Matryona Timofeevna, Saveliy, Yakim Nagoy, etc.). This is somewhat unexpected, because in the dispute between the seven men, representatives of all classes of Russian society are named (landowner, official, priest, merchant), even the tsar - everyone except the peasant.

The poem was written over about fifteen years, and during this time its plan changed somewhat in comparison with the original plan. Gradually, Nekrasov comes to the conclusion that the main figure in Russian history is the peasant who feeds and protects the country. It is the mood of the people that plays an increasingly noticeable role in the state, therefore, in the chapters “Peasant Woman”, “Last One”, “Feast for the Whole World” people from the people become the main characters. They are unhappy, but have strong characters (Savely), wisdom (Yakim Nagoy), kindness and responsiveness (Vahlaks and Grisha Dobrosklonov). It is not for nothing that the poem ends with the song “Rus”, in which the author expressed his faith in the future of Russia.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was not finished, but it can be considered as a complete work, since the idea stated at the beginning found its complete expression: Grisha Dobrosklonov turns out to be happy, who is ready to give his life for the happiness of ordinary people. In other words, while working on the poem, the author replaced the peasant understanding of happiness with a populist one: the happiness of an individual is impossible without the happiness of the people.

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 adjusted, and the travelers themselves receive not only the necessary life experience, but also the pleasure of your 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, Grigory Dobrosklonov.

The concept and composition of the poem

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,” related to each other both in plot and in 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 grants noble honor (strangers call the landowners “scoundrels”), and the landowner himself received 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 mercilessly beaten 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, Saveliy 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 hard labor...

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'?”