Features of the composition of the poem by N.A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
I. Introduction
Composition is the composition, arrangement and relationship of the parts and elements of a work of art. (See Glossary for details.)
II. main part
1. The main plot core of the poem is the search for “happy” by seven peasants. This storyline seems to pass through the destinies of many people and ends with the image of Grisha Dobrosklonov, who gives the answer to the question posed in the title of the poem.
2. In the process of searching for happiness, seven peasants meet many people, listen to numerous stories, and themselves take part in some events. The motif of wandering and travel makes it possible for Nekrasov to expand the scope of the original plot, to introduce many inserted plots (see Glossary), images and destinies into the composition of the poem. Thanks to this compositional structure, the poem truly becomes a kind of “encyclopedia” of Russian peasant life.
3. In Nekrasov’s poem there is actually no main character, or rather, the entire peasant world and partly other classes that come into contact with it become such a hero. The most important characters can be called Matryona Timofeevna, Savely, Ermil Girin, Yakim Nagogo, Grisha Dobrosklonov. But along with them, there are many minor and episodic characters in the poem, without whom the picture of Russian village life would be incomplete. These are the elder Vlas, Klim Lavin, the landowner, the priest, the nameless peasants from the chapters “Happy”, “Drunken Night”, “Lastly”, etc.
4. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was written a short time after the abolition of serfdom, so comparisons of pre-reform and post-reform life occupy an important place in its composition. This opposition runs through the entire poem and is most clearly expressed in the parts “A Feast for the Whole World,” “Last One,” and in the chapters “Pop” and Landowner.
5. A special compositional originality characterizes the part “A feast for the whole world.” In it, Nekrasov widely refers to the genre of song, sometimes stylized as folk, sometimes purely literary. The genre of legend-parable also appears here (“About the exemplary slave - Yakov the Faithful”, “About two great sinners”, “Peasant sin”). These genre inclusions are important because they directly or indirectly raise questions that are key to understanding the life of post-reform peasant Russia: about slave and free nature, about sin and truth, about the prospects for the development of the Russian village, etc.
III. Conclusion
The composition of Nekrasov's poem is complex and original. In terms of the variety of elements included in it and the significant role of inserted plots, it can be compared with such works as Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” and Gogol’s “Dead Souls.” The compositional features of the poem corresponded to Nekrasov’s main task: to present as fully as possible the life of a Russian village at the turn of two historical eras.
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The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is the pinnacle of N. A. Nekrasov’s creativity. He himself called it “his favorite child.” Nekrasov devoted many years of tireless work to his poem, putting into it all the information about the Russian people, accumulated, as the poet said, “by word of mouth” for twenty years. In no other work of Russian literature have the
The same is true of the characters, habits, views, hopes of the Russian people, as in this poem.
The plot of the poem is very close to the folk tale about the search for happiness and truth. The poem opens with a “Prologue” - the most rich chapter in folklore elements. It is in it that the main problem of the poem is constant: “who lives cheerfully, at ease in Rus'.” The heroes of the poem, seven (one of the traditional significant numbers) men, go to the “Unworn province, Ungutted volost, Izbytkova village.” The seven men who argued in the “Prologue” are endowed with the best qualities of the people’s character: pain for their people, selflessness, and a burning interest in the main issues of life. They are interested in the basic question of what is truth and what is happiness.
The description of what the truth-seekers saw during their wanderings in Rus', the stories about themselves of the imaginary “happy” ones to whom the peasants turned, constitutes the main content of the poem.
The composition of the work is built according to the laws of classical epic: it consists of separate parts and chapters. Outwardly, these parts are connected by the theme of the road: seven truth-seekers wander around Rus', trying to resolve the question that haunts them: who can live well in Rus'? And here one of the most important motifs of Russian folklore sounds - the motif of wandering. Even the heroes of Russian fairy tales went to look for common happiness, to find out whether it even exists - peasant happiness. The very nature of the poem is also combined with a Russian fairy tale. The journey of the Nekrasov peasants is, in essence, a spiritual journey.
The first chapter of “Pop” opens with the image of a “wide path.” This is one of the important poetic symbols of Russian literature, which embodies the idea of movement, striving forward. This is an image of not only the life, but also the spiritual path of a person.
The meeting with the priest in the first chapter of the first part of the poem shows that the peasants do not have their own peasant understanding of happiness. The men do not yet understand that the question of who is happier - the priest, the landowner, the merchant or the tsar - reveals the limitations of their ideas about happiness. These ideas come down only to material interest. It is no coincidence that the priest proclaims the formula for happiness, and the peasants passively agree. “Peace, wealth, honor” - this is the priest’s formula for happiness. But his story makes men think about a lot. The life of the priest reveals the life of Russia in its past and present, in its different classes. Like the laity, among priests only the highest clergy live well. But the clergy cannot be happy when the people, their breadwinner, are unhappy. All this indicates a deep crisis that has gripped the entire country.
In the next chapter, “Country Fair,” the main character is the crowd, wide and diverse. Nekrasov creates paintings in which the people themselves speak, talk about themselves, revealing the best and most unsightly features of their lives.
creates pictures in which the people themselves speak, talk about themselves, revealing the best and most unsightly features of their lives. But in everything: both in beauty and in ugliness, the people are not pitiful and petty, but large, significant, generous and
In the next chapter, “Drunken Night,” the festive feast reaches its climax. From the depths of the folk world emerges a strong peasant character, Yakim Nagoy. He appears as a symbol of working peasant life: “There are splinters at the eyes, at the mouth, like cracks in dry earth.” For the first time in Russian literature, Nekrasov creates a realistic portrait of a peasant worker. Defending the sense of peasant pride through labor, Yakim sees social injustice towards the people.
You work alone
And the work is almost over,
Look, there are three shareholders standing:
God, king and lord!
In the image of Yakim, the author shows the emergence of spiritual needs among the peasants. “Spiritual bread is higher than earthly bread.”
In the chapter “Happy” the entire peasant kingdom is involved in a dialogue, in a dispute about happiness. In their miserable life, even a tiny bit of luck already seems like happiness. But at the end of the chapter there is a story about a happy man. This story about Ermil Girin moves the action of the epic forward and marks a higher level of the people's idea of happiness. Like Yakim, Yermil is endowed with a keen sense of Christian conscience and honor. It would be given that he has “everything that is needed for happiness: peace of mind, money, and honor.” But at a critical moment in his life, Yermil sacrifices this happiness for the sake of the people's truth and ends up in prison.
In the fifth chapter of the first part, “The Landowner,” the wanderers treat the masters with obvious irony. They already understand that noble “honor” is worth little. The wanderers spoke to the master as boldly and uninhibitedly as Yakim Nagoy. The landowner Obolt-Obolduev is most astonished by the fact that former serfs shouldered the burden of the historical question “Who can live well in Rus'?” As in the case with the priest, the story of the landowner and about the landowner is not just an accusation. It is also about a general catastrophic crisis that engulfs everyone. Therefore, in subsequent parts of the poem, Nekrasov leaves the intended plot scheme and artistically explores the life and poetry of the people.
In the chapter “Peasant Woman,” Matryona Timofeevna appears before the wanderers, embodying the best qualities of the Russian female character. Harsh conditions honed a special female character - independent, accustomed to relying on her own strength everywhere and in everything.
The theme of spiritual slavery is central to the chapter “The Last One.” A terrible “comedy” is played out by the characters in this chapter. For the sake of the half-mad Prince Utyatin, they agreed to pretend that serfdom had not been abolished. This proves that no reform makes yesterday’s slaves free, spiritually valuable people.
The chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” is a continuation of “The Last One.” This depicts a fundamentally different state of the world. This is people's Rus' that has already woken up and spoken at once. New heroes are drawn into the festive feast of spiritual awakening. The whole people sings songs of liberation, judges the past, evaluates the present, and begins to think about the future.
liberation, judges the past, evaluates the present, and begins to think about the future. Sometimes these songs are contrasting to each other. For example, the story “About the exemplary slave - Yakov the Faithful” and the legend “About two great sinners”. Yakov takes revenge on the master for all the bullying in a servile manner, committing suicide in front of his eyes. The robber Kudeyar atones for his sins, murders and violence not with humility, but with the murder of the villain - Pan Glukhovsky. Thus, popular morality justifies righteous anger against the oppressors and even violence against them.
According to the original plan, the peasants had to make sure that it was impossible to find a happy person in Rus'. But he appeared in life - “a new hero of a new era,” a democrat commoner. The author introduces a new face into the poem - the people's intercessor Grisha Dobrosklonov, who sees his happiness in serving the people. Despite the fact that Grisha’s personal fate was difficult (“Fate had prepared for him a glorious path, a great name for the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia”), he believes in a bright future for the people as a result of the struggle. And as if in response to the growth of popular consciousness, the songs of Grisha begin to sound, knowing that people's happiness can only be achieved as a result of a nationwide struggle for the “Unflogged province, Ungutted volost, Izbytkovo village.”
The poem, conceived about the people and for the people, becomes an accusatory act against the landowners.
GENRE ORIGINALITY OF THE POEM
This task - to comprehensively explore the life and existence of the Russian people, to penetrate into the depths of their souls - largely determines the genre originality of the poem. We have to agree with L.A. Evstigneeva, who determines genre “Who lives well in Rus'”- How " epic review, montage of various kinds of events subordinated to the development of the central thought of the author" “The consistent implementation of the plot scheme outlined in the Prologue,” writes the researcher, “Nekrasov replaces with a sequence of analytical judgments about the people, their present situation, the fate of Russia and the future of the revolutionary movement. An innovative plot is born, later called centrifugal, which brings Nekrasov closer to the literary process of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.”
The exact definitions of the poem are "encyclopedia of folk life" or "The epic of people's life"- suggest not only the writer’s ability to draw a generalized portrait of all classes of Russian society, but also to give a kind of “philosophy of life” of the people, to recreate the national character in the poem. The author’s focus on polyphony is subordinated to this task, the topic chosen by the author. In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” a significant place is occupied by dialogues of often unnamed, undescribed characters, polylogues, each of which can be developed into a separate narrative. But the extreme brevity of the dialogues and polylogues does not prevent one from imagining the character of the interlocutors or even their fate. The desire to recreate the life and existence of the people determines the multi-heroic nature of the narrative: each hero enters the narrative with his own destiny and with his own intimate story.
Folklore genres - riddles, proverbs, sayings and - most importantly - songs play a special role in the narration. It is known how Nekrasov perceives songs: “folk poetry for Nekrasov was not only the custodian of the poetic ideas of the peasantry, but also the result of the life of the masses as a whole, the focus of national artistic thinking, the best expressive of the Russian national character.”
The people in Nekrasov’s poem cry out their pain, complain and grieve, open their souls to the reader and themselves try to understand the secrets of their soul and their heart.
COMPOSITION OF THE POEM
This issue is also debatable. First of all, because researchers do not have a common opinion in deciding the question: what principle to adhere to when forming the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - whether to take as a basis the time of creation of the parts or the chronology of the peasants’ journey. Considering the time of writing the parts, they should go in the following sequence: Prologue; First part; "Last One"; "Peasant Woman"; "A feast for the whole world." But such a composition is contradicted by the author’s will: according to Nekrasov’s notes, “The Last One” and “A Feast for the Whole World” are plot-related: the poet classified both of these chapters as the second part, and “The Peasant Woman” as the third part. Thus, the composition should be different: Prologue, First Part, “Last One,” “Feast for the Whole World,” “Peasant Woman.”
There is another justification for just such a composition - the duration of action of the parts. The men's journey was supposed to cover several months, and time in chapters, as V.V. showed. Gippius, “calculated according to the calendar.” The Prologue takes place at the beginning of spring. “In the chapter “Pop,” the researcher noted, “the wanderers say: “and the time is not early, the month of May is approaching.” In the chapter “Rural Fair” there is a mention: “The weather only stared at St. Nicholas of the spring”; Apparently, the fair itself takes place on St. Nicholas Day (May 9). “The Last One” also begins with the exact date: “Petrovka. It's a hot time. Haymaking is in full swing." This means that the chapter is valid on June 29 (old style). In “A Feast for the Whole World” the haymaking is already over: the peasants are going to the market with hay. Finally, in “The Peasant Woman” there is a harvest and, as K.I. Chukovsky, in the draft versions there is even the name of the month - August.
However, not all researchers agree with this composition. The main objection: such an arrangement of parts distorts the pathos of the poem. As K.I. wrote in the comments to the poem. Chukovsky, “demanding that we finish the poem with “The Peasant Woman,” V.V. Gippius first of all ignores the fact that in “The Peasant Woman” (in its last chapter) “notes of liberal servility” were heard, contrary to the entire content of the poem.<...>. This chapter is called “The Governor’s Lady.” After all the curses on the hated system, which caused so much suffering to the enslaved peasant woman, in this chapter a noble aristocrat appears, the wife of the governor, who saves the peasant woman from all her torments.<...>The entire poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” will be completed with a hymn to the benevolent lady<...>. And then to Nekrasov’s question: “Where are you, the secret of the people’s contentment?” - there will be only one answer: in lordly affection, in lordly philanthropy.” K.I. Chukovsky proposed another version of the composition: Prologue and first part; "Peasant Woman"; “The Last One” and “A Feast for the Whole World.” This composition is adopted in most publications, although both the author's will and the time calendar that underlies the parts are violated.
Objecting to Chukovsky, researchers point out that “The Peasant Woman” ends not with a hymn to the “governor,” but with a bitter “Woman’s Parable” - a kind of conclusion in thinking about the inevitability of tragedy in the fate of a woman. In addition, ideological arguments, of course, should not determine the composition. Guided, first of all, by the time of creation of the parts, the author’s will and the logic of the development of the author’s thought, some researchers propose publishing the chapter “Peasant Woman” after “The Last One,” but ending the poem with “A Feast for the Whole World,” pointing out that the “Feast” “directly is connected with the chapter “The Last One” and is its continuation.”
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is known throughout the world for his folk and unusual works. His dedication to the common people, peasant life, the period of short childhood and constant hardships in adult life arouse not only literary, but also historical interest.Works such as “Who Lives Well in Rus'” are a real excursion into the 60s of the 19th century. The poem literally immerses the reader in the events of post-serfdom. A journey in search of a happy person in the Russian Empire reveals numerous problems of society, paints an unvarnished picture of reality and makes you think about the future of a country that dares to live in a new way.
The history of the creation of Nekrasov's poem
The exact date when work on the poem began is unknown. But researchers of Nekrasov’s work drew attention to the fact that already in his first part he mentions the Poles who were exiled. This makes it possible to assume that the poet’s idea for the poem arose around 1860-1863, and Nikolai Alekseevich began writing it around 1863. Although the poet’s sketches could have been made earlier.
It is known that starting in 1866, the first part of Nekrasov’s work tried to see the light of day. For four years, the author tried to publish his work and constantly fell under the discontent and harsh condemnation of censorship. Despite this, work on the poem continued.
The poet had to publish it gradually in the same Sovremennik magazine. So it was published for four years, and all these years the censor was dissatisfied. The poet himself was constantly subject to criticism and persecution. Therefore, he stopped his work for a while, and was able to start it again only in 1870. During this new period of the rise of his literary creativity, he creates three more parts to this poem, which were written at different times:
✪ “The Last One” - 1872.
✪ “Peasant Woman” -1873.
✪ “A Feast for the Whole World” - 1876.
The poet wanted to write a few more chapters, but he was working on his poem at a time when he began to fall ill, so his illness prevented him from realizing these poetic plans. But still, realizing that he would soon die, Nikolai Alekseevich tried in his last part to finish it so that the whole poem had a logical completeness.
The plot of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
In one of the volosts, on a wide road, there are seven men who live in neighboring villages. And they think about one question: who lives well in their native land. And their conversation got so bad that it soon turned into an argument. It was getting late in the evening, but they could not resolve this dispute. And suddenly the men noticed that they had already walked a long distance, carried away by the conversation. Therefore, they decided not to return home, but to spend the night in the clearing. But the argument continued and led to a fight.
Because of such noise, a chick of a warbler falls out, which Pakhom saves, and for this the exemplary mother is ready to fulfill any desire of the men. Having received the magic tablecloth, the men decide to travel to find the answer to the question that interests them so much. Soon they meet a priest who changes the men’s opinion that he has a good and happy life. The heroes also end up at a rural fair.
They try to find happy people among the drunk, and it soon becomes clear that a peasant doesn’t need much to be happy: he has enough to eat and protects himself from troubles. And to find out about happiness, I advise the heroes to find Ermila Girin, whom everyone knows. And then the men learn his story, and then the master appears. But he also complains about his life.
At the end of the poem, the heroes try to look for happy people among women. They meet one peasant woman, Matryona. They help Korchagina in the field, and in return she tells them her story, where she says that a woman cannot have happiness. Women only suffer.
And now the peasants are already on the banks of the Volga. Then they heard a story about a prince who could not come to terms with the abolition of serfdom, and then a story about two sinners. The story of the sexton's son Grishka Dobrosklonov is also interesting.
You are also poor, You are also abundant, You are also powerful, You are also powerless, Mother Rus'! Saved in slavery, the heart is free - Gold, gold, the people's heart! People's power, mighty power - a calm conscience, a tenacious truth!
Genre and unusual composition of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
There is still debate between writers and critics about the composition of Nekrasov’s poem. Most researchers of the literary work of Nikolai Nekrasov have come to the conclusion that the material should be arranged as follows: prologue and part one, then the chapter “Peasant Woman” should be placed, the content should be the chapter “Last One” and in conclusion - “Feast for the whole world”.
Evidence of this arrangement of chapters in the plot of the poem is that, for example, in the first part and in the subsequent chapter, the world is depicted when the peasants were not yet free, that is, this is the world that was a little earlier: old and outdated. The next part of Nekrasov already shows how this old world is completely destroyed and perishes.
But already in Nekrasov’s last chapter, the poet shows all the signs that a new life is beginning. The tone of the story changes dramatically and is now lighter, clearer, and more joyful. The reader feels that the poet, like his heroes, believe in the future. This aspiration towards a clear and bright future is especially felt in those moments when the main character, Grishka Dobrosklonov, appears in the poem.
In this part, the poet completes the poem, so it is here that the denouement of the entire plot action takes place. And here is the answer to the question that was posed at the very beginning of the work about who, after all, lives well and freely, carefree and cheerfully in Rus'. It turns out that the most carefree, happy and cheerful person is Grishka, who is the protector of his people. In his beautiful and lyrical songs, he predicted happiness for his people.
But if you carefully read how the poem ends in its last part, you can pay attention to the strangeness of the narrative. The reader does not see the peasants returning to their homes, they do not stop traveling, and, in general, they do not even get to know Grisha. Therefore, a continuation may have been planned here.
The fabulousness of the composition is easily visible in the work. The text contains many elements that can easily be attributed to folklore. Throughout the journey, the author inserts his own lyrical digressions and elements that are completely unrelated to the plot.
Analysis of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'”
From the history of Russia it is known that in 1861 the most shameful phenomenon - serfdom - was abolished. But such a reform caused unrest in society, and new problems soon arose. First of all, the question arose that even a free peasant, poor and destitute, cannot be happy. This problem interested Nikolai Nekrasov, and he decided to write a poem in which the issue of peasant happiness would be considered.
Despite the fact that the work is written in simple language and refers to folklore, it usually seems complex to the reader, since it touches on the most serious philosophical problems and questions. The author himself sought answers to most of the questions all his life. This is probably why writing the poem was so difficult for him, and he created it over the course of fourteen years. But unfortunately, the work was never finished.
The poet intended to write his poem in eight chapters, but due to illness he was able to write only four and they do not follow at all, as expected, one after another. Now the poem is presented in the form and in the sequence proposed by K. Chukovsky, who carefully studied Nekrasov’s archives for a long time.
Nikolai Nekrasov chose ordinary people as the heroes of the poem, so he also used vernacular vocabulary. For a long time, there were debates about who could still be considered the main characters of the poem. So, there were assumptions that these are heroes - men who walk around the country, trying to find a happy person. But other researchers still believed that it was Grishka Dobrosklonov. This question remains open today. But you can consider this poem as if the main character in it is all the common people.
There are no accurate and detailed descriptions of these men in the plot, their characters are also unclear, the author simply does not reveal or show them. But these men are united by one goal, for which they travel. It is also interesting that the episodic faces in Nekrasov’s poem are drawn by the author more clearly, accurately, in detail and vividly. The poet raises many problems that arose among the peasantry after the abolition of serfdom.
Nikolai Alekseevich shows that each hero in his poem has his own concept of happiness. For example, a rich person sees happiness in having financial well-being. And the peasant dreams that in his life there will be no grief and troubles, which usually await the peasant at every step. There are also heroes who are happy because they believe in the happiness of others. The language of Nekrasov’s poem is close to folk, so it contains a huge amount of vernacular.
Despite the fact that the work remained unfinished, it reflects the entire reality of what happened. This is a real literary gift to all lovers of poetry, history and literature.
Nekrasov began working on the poem in 1863, when “Frost, Red Nose” was written, and continued until his death. But if the poem “Frost...” can be compared with a tragedy, the content of which is the death of a person in a heroic struggle against elements beyond his control, then “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is an epic where an individual person finds the meaning and happiness of his existence in unity with the world of people and the world as God's creation. Nekrasov is interested in the holistic image of the people, and the individual images highlighted in the poem are given as episodic, the history of their lives only temporarily surfaces on the surface of the epic flow. Therefore, Nekrasov’s poem can be called “ folk epic", and its poetic form emphasizes its kinship with the folk epic. Nekrasov’s epic is “molded” from various folklore genres: fairy tales, tales, riddles, proverbs, spiritual poems, work and ritual songs, drawn-out lyric songs, parables, etc.
Nekrasov's epic had a clear social task. In this sense, his work is quite topical and relevant. In the 60-70s, the movement of “going to the people” began, the practice of “small deeds”, when the Russian intelligentsia voluntarily went to villages, organized schools and hospitals, tried to rebuild the life and work of peasants, and lead them on the path of education and culture. At the same time, interest in peasant culture itself is increasing: Russian folklore is being collected and systematized (the image of such a collector, Pavlusha Veretennikov, is in the poem). But the surest way to study the situation of the people was statistics, a science that at that time received the most rapid development. In addition, these people: teachers, doctors, statisticians, land surveyors, agronomists, folklorists - left us a series of wonderful essays about the life and everyday life of post-reform Russia. Nekrasov also makes a sociological cross-section of village life in his poem: almost all types of the Russian rural population pass before us, from the beggar to the landowner. Nekrasov is trying to see what happened to peasant Russia as a result of the reform of 1861, which upended the entire habitual way of life. In what ways has Rus' remained the same Russia, what is irretrievably gone, what has appeared, what is eternal and what is transitory in the life of the people?
It is generally accepted that with his poem Nekrasov answers the question he posed in one of his poems: “The people have been liberated, but are the people happy? “In fact, this is a rhetorical question. It is clear that he is unhappy, and then there is no need to write a poem. But the question that became the title: “Who can live well in Rus'? “—translates Nekrasov’s quest from the philosophical and sociological areas to the ethical area. If not the people, then who is living well?
To answer the main question, “strange” people, i.e. wanderers, set off on the road - seven men. But these people are strange in the usual sense. A peasant is a sedentary person, tied to the land, for whom there are no vacations or weekends, whose life obeys only the rhythm of nature. And they set off to wander, and even when - at the most difficult time! But this strangeness of theirs is a reflection of the revolution that all peasant Rus' is experiencing. All of it has moved, started from its place, all of it is in motion, like spring streams, now transparent, clean, now muddy, carrying winter debris, now calm and majestic, now seething and unpredictable.
Therefore, the composition of the poem is based on motives of the road and search. They allow you to walk throughout Rus' and see it in its entirety. But how to show all of Rus'? The author uses the technique of panoramic image, when the image is created by a series of generalized pictures, crowd scenes, from which individual persons and episodes are selected.
