The poem “Forgotten Village” was written by Nekrasov in 1856 and published in the collected works of 1856. It was originally called “Barin”.
Literary direction and genre
The poem belongs to the genre of civic poetry and raises the problem of forgotten villages abandoned by landowners. After the publication of Chernyshevsky’s review in Sovremennik No. 11 for 1856, the censor saw an allegory in the poem: in the image of the old master they saw Tsar Nicholas I, who died in 1855, the new master was Alexander II, and the forgotten village was all of Russia. But the poem should be interpreted more broadly.
Nekrasov as a realist poet chose for epic heroes the brightest, typical images peasants Nenila’s grandmother is the embodiment of peasant need and dull patience, Natasha reflects the plight of a peasant woman who does not belong to herself and depends on the whim of the manager, the free tiller Ignat is forced into the army due to the imperfection of the laws, and because of a bribe, the land is taken away from the peasants. Representatives of power are also typical. The master not only does not interfere in problems and is not interested in them, but also does not remember his village, in which he is destined only to be buried. The compassionate German chief manager manages the destinies of the peasants at his own discretion, not allowing Natasha to get married and pursuing his own goals. The burmistr (village elder) thinks about his own benefit, and not about the peasant’s, the bribe-taking official is bribed by a covetous neighbor.
Theme, main idea and composition
The poem consists of five stanzas, each a separate episode from the life of a forgotten village. In the first three stanzas, the peasants hope that the master will come to their village and help them in their troubles. In each stanza the refrain sounds: “The master will come.”
The fourth stanza describes the village after a long period of time: the old woman Nenila, who needed wood to repair her hut, died, a piece of land taken from the peasants by a neighbor brings high yields, Ignat, who wanted to marry Natasha, “ended up as a soldier.” In this stanza one can hear disappointment, emphasized by the refrain: “The master still doesn’t come.”
The fifth stanza is also distant in time from the previous one. She describes the arrival of the master on the funeral cart in a coffin. Now the master cannot solve not only those problems that have not required solution for many years, but also new ones. And the new master, who came to the funeral, “wiped his tears” and left the forgotten village for St. Petersburg. The refrain changes again: the master arrived in a coffin, even the hope for change died.
The theme of the poem is reflected in the title: a forgotten village, abandoned by the landowner and peasants dependent on him, whose lives pass in unfulfilled expectations.
The main idea of the poem: debunking the myth of the good master whom one can hope for. The life of a serf peasant is of no interest to the landowner. To summarize: peasants have nothing to hope for help from above.
Paths and images
Nekrasov describes the peasant woman Nenila using diminutive suffixes: grandmother, old woman, hut, hut. The same suffixes are used to describe peasants or their property: a joint of land, Ignasha, Natasha, boys.
Representatives of the authorities are described with negative epithets or application-characteristics: covetous greedy, rogue neighbor. The German manager is called compassionate (irony). Nekrasov uses colloquial verbs, conveying the living peasant language: he pulled it off, we’ll wait, he’ll reread, he ended up as a soldier, he’s not crazy about the wedding.
The master himself as a creature inaccessible to the peasants is not described, and the epithets describe his coffin (tall, oak).
The poem is a segment of the life of a forgotten village, during which generations have changed, children have grown up and adults have aged. The reader sees what is happening through the eyes of the peasants and perceives events through the prism of their consciousness.
The idea of the poem is close to the idea ancient Greek tragedy: a person’s life completely depends on the will of the gods; he is unable to change either circumstances or own life, can only submit. The refrain of the first three stanzas sounds like replicas of the heroes of the tragedy, hoping for help from higher powers (the master). In the third stanza, the peasants unite into a chorus, which, like the ancient Greek, indicates the omnipotence of fate (the master). In the fourth stanza, the heroes and the chorus lose hope, and in the fifth, something unprecedented happens in ancient Greek tragedy: the death not of a hero, but of a god. Thus, Nekrasov shows the tragedy of a person whose fate is controlled by nothing, the world of dead gods. Oblivion is the worst punishment for a person.
Meter and rhyme
The poem is written in a dolnik with four stresses per line. The proximity to tonic verse emphasizes nationality and songfulness. The stanzas consist of 6 lines with paired female rhymes, most often banal, as in folk poetry.
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N.A. Nekrasov is a poet-fighter who knew how to ignite the hearts of others. He was the first who, in his work, openly spoke out for a fair world order and consciously sided with the people.
Nekrasov painted painful pictures of peasant life in his poem “The Forgotten Village.”
The story behind the creation of the poem “The Forgotten Village” is as follows. It was written by Nekrasov on October 2, 1855. Published in a collection of his poems in 1856 and in the Sovremennik magazine (1856). In the eleventh issue of the Sovremennik magazine, N.G. Chernyshevsky placed it (Nekrasov was abroad at that time), along with other socially sensitive works by Nekrasov, which became the reason for a real surge in censorship, and led to the threat of closure of the Sovremennik magazine " A ban was imposed on discussing Nekrasov's collection of poems in the press and its republication.
IN literary circles there was an opinion that Nekrasov wrote “The Forgotten Village” under the influence of D. Crabb’s poem “Parish Lists”, but the similarity of “Forgotten Village” with the corresponding passage of “Parish Lists” is insignificant, the main plot
- This is Nekrasov’s original development.
In the poem “The Forgotten Village” the poet managed to truthfully show real life Russian people, focus our attention on their characteristic features: long-suffering and boundless faith in the good gentleman-defender.
main topic works - the theme of peasant life, the difficult lot of rural working people, and the fate of Russia in general.
In the work there is no lyrical hero reflecting on duty and responsibility, indignant and grieving. This poem is a story with ironic intonations.
In the first stanza of the poem, we meet grandmother Nenila, whose hut had fallen into disrepair, and she asked the mayor Vlas (a peasant elder) to give scaffolding for repairs. He refused her. What is the old lady’s reaction to this? The grandmother thought that “the master will come,” he will judge everyone, and he himself, seeing that her hut is bad, orders it to be given to the forest. The old woman firmly believes that in the near future she will receive what she needs.
The poet Nekrasov was outraged to the depths of his soul by the blind faith of the peasants in some kind of higher justice. This rare feature of the village mentality caused great concern, bitter irony and justified indignation in the poet. Nekrasov clearly understood that the landowner did not care about the fate of the serfs.
If in the first stanza Nenila’s grandmother plays the role of the deprived, then in the second - the peasants, from whom the “greedy greedy man” “grabbed” part of the land; in the third - the farmer Ignasha and his dear friend Natasha.
All these peasant people, whose requests remained unanswered, sincerely believe that local managers are self-willed, and a good gentleman will come and do everything he can for them.
The fourth stanza tells about sad events: Nenila ended up in another world, the farmer was sent to serve as a soldier, Natasha abandoned thoughts of marriage. The problems have not been resolved. How will they decide if “the master is still missing...”?
The final stanza of the poem dots all the i's. The master, whom everyone had been waiting for, would not come, he had faded away, and the new master, brushing away a tear, “got into his carriage and left for St. Petersburg.”
The poem “The Forgotten Village” is dedicated to debunking peasant illusions. The master has nothing to do with the people. The author mercilessly ironizes about the belief in the “good” master, which is firmly ingrained in the village consciousness.
Nekrasov's contemporaries perceived this poem as a political denunciation. By the old master they meant Nicholas I, by the new one - Alexander II, by the “forgotten village” - serf Rus', in which such “forgotten villages” are countless.
The main idea of the poem is to stigmatize serfdom, draw attention to the arbitrariness of the landowners, and show the tragedy of the powerless situation of the peasants.
the main idea poem “The Forgotten Village” - the liberation of Russia from serfdom depends on the activity of the peasantry itself. It is naive to believe in a kind master, a kind king, who will solve all their problems.
The cross-cutting motif, which first appeared in the fourth line of the first stanza, is repeated in the same positions in the second and third stanzas - “The master will arrive.”
Issues the poems are much broader than the problems of individual people that Nekrasov tells us about. The problems raised in the work are the problems of the people as a whole. They concern the essence of national character.
Conducting detailed analysis poem “The Forgotten Village”, we can conclude: simple human happiness is impossible under serfdom.
The poem is written in trochee. Each line has six feet. The stanzas in the poem are six lines. The rhyme scheme is adjacent (aabbvv), using a feminine rhyme (stress on the penultimate syllable).
Facilities artistic expression poem "The Forgotten Village":
Epithets - “greedy greedy man”, “in a roguish manner”, “free tiller”, “stranger to the land”, “compassionate German”.
Exclamations - “The master is coming!”
How do I remember Nekrasov’s poem “The Forgotten Village”?
A clear demonstration of Rus'. Individual events from peasant life, poetically connecting with each other, create a monolithic image of long-suffering Rus'.
I remember this poem because it is not just the poet’s response to a pressing topic of his time, but also a kind of testament to his descendants. You shouldn’t be passive, rely on someone good, you need to be able to fight for your own happiness.
I liked this poem by Nekrasov because it resembles a folk song with its folk rhythm and content.
Plan for analysis of the poem “Forgotten Village”
1. Introduction
2. The history of the creation of the poem “Forgotten Village”
3. The main theme of the poem
4. Summary poems, its essence.
5. What is the poem about?
6. Main idea
7. The main idea of the poem “The Forgotten Village”
8. Cross-cutting motive
9. The main goal pursued by the author when creating this work
10. Problems of the poem “Forgotten Village”
11. Poetic meter
12. Means of artistic expression
13. Conclusion
14. What do you remember, what did you like about the poem?
This was only a small part of what truly outraged the writer. Most of all, he hated the blind faith of the peasants in some higher justice. Oddly enough, most of them considered their landowner almost a god on earth. Their opinion on this matter was the same - the landowner is really wise, fair and does a lot for the sake of his charges. It’s all the officials and managers who don’t give life to people.
Creation of the "Forgotten Village"
This unique feature of the peasant mentality caused bitter irony and strong indignation in the writer. He, unlike the peasants, understood perfectly well that the landowner did not care at all about the serfs. The only thing that worried him at that moment was the correct payment of their quitrent. Everything else didn't concern them.Nekrasov, trying to debunk the myth that landowners were supposedly excellent people, created the work “The Forgotten Village” in 1855. In it, he literally ridicules the naivety of the peasants, shows the real power and state of affairs as they really are. The landowners really have full power in their lands, but everything is managed by the managers, and the peasants are the lowest link in the chain, from which each subsequent one only profits, becoming stronger.
The poem begins with an old woman addressing the mayor. She needs some wood to restore her old hut. This is a completely ordinary request, which she refuses. The mayor directly states that: “there is no forest, and don’t wait - there won’t be!” But the elderly woman is sure that the master will come soon and will sort everything out, she shouldn’t worry about anything. She naturally desires that she will soon get what she wants.
Thus, Nekrasov speaks of the naivety of all peasants. All petitioners, without exception, who want to achieve some kind of justice and who are trying to defend their rights, invariably find themselves in such a situation. The peasants, in their naive faith, are convinced that they need to wait a little, and everything will be done for them, they will decide over time, they will help, supposedly the landowner is about to come and solve their numerous problems, which are only increasing over the years.
The history of this work, like most others created by Nekrasov, is very sad. As you might guess, with these poems the writer was trying to reach not the peasants, who would never have read them anyway, but the landowners, the upper class. It is not difficult to guess how they accepted such irony towards themselves. The work caused only a lot of reproaches from representatives of the upper class. The same fate befell many other poems with a pronounced social overtones.
“Forgotten Village” N. Nekrasov
1
“The mayor Vlas has a grandmother Nenila
She asked me to fix the hut in the forest.
He answered: no to the forest, and don’t wait - there won’t be!”
“When the master comes, the master will judge us,
The master will see for himself that the hut is bad,
And he tells us to give it to the forest,” the old woman thinks.
2
Someone next door, a greedy greedy man,
The peasants of the land have quite a joint
He pulled back and cut off in a roguish manner.
“The master will come: there will be land surveyors!”
The peasants think. - The master will say a word -
And our land will be given to us again.”
3
A free farmer fell in love with Natasha,
Let the compassionate German contradict the girl,
Chief manager. “Wait a minute, Ignasha,
The master will come!” - says Natasha.
Small, big - it's a little bit of a debate -
“The master is coming!” - they repeat in chorus...
4
Nenila died; on someone else's land
The rogue neighbor has a hundredfold harvest;
The old boys have beards;
A free farmer ended up as a soldier,
And Natasha herself is no longer raving about the wedding...
The master is still not there... the master is still not coming!
5
Finally one day in front of the road
The drogues appeared like gears in a train:
There is a tall oak coffin on the road,
And there’s a gentleman in the coffin; and behind the coffin is a new one.
The old one was buried, the new one wiped away the tears,
He got into his carriage and left for St. Petersburg.”
After reading, a completely natural question arises - why did Nekrasov call the work “Forgotten Village”? The whole point is that the owner does not care about the people who live there. What needs the serfs experience is completely unimportant. As a result of such neglect, the old woman who needed a new roof simply dies without waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. The deceived peasant is already watching how another person is harvesting on a piece of his former arable land. A courtyard girl named Natalya has already stopped dreaming of a wedding altogether, since her groom was taken to serve as a soldier for 25 years. 
The writer says with some irony and regret that the village is truly forgotten. She does not have a real owner, honest, wise, who would become reliable support to their serfs, at least partially. As a result, the village is gradually falling into disrepair.
However, the moment finally comes when he finally appears in the village, but in a luxurious coffin. He bequeathed to his successor to bury him there, in the place where he was born, and he, in turn, who was born far from rural life, is not going to deal with the problems of the peasants. The only thing he did was “wiped his tears, got into his carriage and left for St. Petersburg.”
Nekrasov is trying to tell the peasants that practically no one cares about their problems, or rather, to open the eyes of the landowners to this truth, who almost all, without exception, did not care about their serfs. All the landowner wanted to receive from his estates was income. And no matter how the serfs prayed for their master, he, as a rule, had nothing to do with it.
Conclusion
Why did Nekrasov choose the theme of serfdom for his poem? It was very a big problem at one time, and almost all of the landowners in the 19th century were like those described in this work. There were a huge number of such “Forgotten Villages” in Russia at that time. Owners of luxurious estates have always tried to settle in the city, believing that such rural life– not for them. They're all trying to get closer to high society, social life, gradually forgetting about ordinary people.
In some villages, the situation was completely out of the ordinary - the peasants did not see their landowners for decades, which seemed to others to be the norm. They became very accustomed to this, accepted this state of affairs as given, as if it was how it should be, and no other way. They considered a manager who purposefully plundered the lord's property to be their king and god.
Nekrasov understands perfectly well that by creating this work, he will not reach the peasants, for the simple reason that they are not destined to read poetry. The writer is trying to say with his work that the owners of serf destinies themselves should cease to be selfish, appealing to philanthropy, because their ego can simply deprive many destinies of life, in fact, what is said in the work.
As you might guess, this poem and many others with a certain irony towards the upper class were received with hostility. A pronounced social coloring has never enjoyed great popularity among upper strata, because for the most part, it darkened them. In their opinion, such “peasant poems” simply disgrace Russian poetry, although we know very well why they did not like them.
Nekrasov perfectly understood the significance of his creations. Contemporaries could not evaluate his work unambiguously, although he was often met with hostility. A society that is truly mired in vices and passions will never be happy with the kind of truth that Nekrasov spoke about in his poems.
Nikolai Alekseevich did not set out to re-educate the high society, he simply tried to reach the hardened souls of landowners and officials. Your contribution to the formation public opinion he undoubtedly contributed. That is why his contribution to Russian literature is rightfully considered invaluable.
N. Nekrasov was an opponent of serfdom, considering this phenomenon unacceptable for the country of his time. After all, in those days Russia aspired to be a European state. The poet's belief in the justice of their landowners evoked a bitter smile and indignation in the poet. The poem “The Forgotten Village,” written in 1855, is an ironic vision of peasant life, the purpose of which is to open eyes to the truth.
The theme of the analyzed work is rural life without decoration, the trust of peasants in their master. The author shows that one cannot blindly rely on someone who has power, especially if his justice is not confirmed by words.
The poem “The Forgotten Village” is divided into 5 parts, each of which is a laconic sketch of the situation taking place in the village. The first three stanzas are devoted to describing injustices in different areas life of peasants. The last two verses expose the master, showing what the futile expectations of the defense led to. Lyrical hero does not manifest itself in any of the parts. He is just an observer. However, in the last parts his irony reaches its peak.
In the first stanza, the reader watches the conversation between grandmother Nenila and the mayor Vlas. The mayor refuses the old woman's request to repair her hut. The answer is simple - there is no forest. Nenila doesn’t answer Vlas, calming herself with the thought that the master will judge everything. The second part tells about the illegal appropriation of land by a “covetous greedy man.” And again the peasants put their trust in the master. The third part shows that they rely on him even in love affairs.
The fourth part is the denouement of all the situations described: the grandmother died, the rogue neighbor is still reaping a rich harvest on someone else’s land, and the lovers are forced to part, since the “free” guy has now “ended up as a soldier.” No one ever saw the master.
In the fifth part of the poem it turns out that the master nevertheless visited the forgotten village, albeit posthumously. The old landowner was buried, and a new one took his place. He did not greatly regret the death of his predecessor; as soon as the funeral service was performed for the dead, the new master “got into his carriage and left for St. Petersburg.” With this episode, N. Nekrasov not only reveals the “secret” of why the old master did not go, but also shows the bitter truth: none of the owners will take care of the peasants.
There is not much in the poem “Forgotten Village” artistic means, which is explained by the plot and system of images. Most of all in the text there are epithets that allow you to characterize individual images and display emotions: “bad hut”, “greedy greedy man”, “free farmer”, “compassionate German”. The popular vernacular gives the text a folk flavor: pulled it off, cut it off, raves. The author emphasizes the irony with the help of diminutive words: hut, joint, zemlitsa, zemlitsa.
Work by N.A. Nekrasov consists of five six-line poems. The author uses parallel rhyme, which makes the story simple and unpretentious. The poetic meter is hexameter trochee.
Analysis of Nekrasov's poem Forgotten Village
Plan
1. History of creation
2. Genre
3.Main theme
4.Composition
5.Size of the piece
7.Main topic
1.History and time of creation. “The Forgotten Village” was created by Nekrasov in 1956. Initially, the poem was called “The Master”. The poet's work is characterized by an acute social orientation. He was especially indignant at the preservation of serfdom in Russia and constantly advocated its abolition. The poem is imbued with an anti-serfdom spirit. The censors saw in it an allusion to the death of Nicholas I and the accession of Alexander II (the replacement of the old master with a new one).
2. Genre of the work - civil lyrics. Nekrasov tended to write poems, imitating peasant speech and using common expressions. Therefore, “The Forgotten Village” can be called a small folklore story in verse.
3. Main theme and idea- absolute lack of rights for serfs, completely dependent on the master's managers. The whole tragedy of the situation is that the people have a deep sense of reverence for their masters, comparable to the veneration of the king and God. The Russian serf was sure that all his troubles and misfortunes were due to the clerks and the laws they misinterpreted. The highest power - the master - simply does not know about the oppression of his servants. Faith in his appearance and a fair trial is the peasant’s main hope. In fact, serf owners, with rare exceptions, did not care at all about the plight of the peasants. They were only interested in timely income from their estates. All management of peasant farms was transferred to clerks, who felt like real masters.
4. Composition. The poem is conventionally divided into three parts. The first consists of three stanzas that list the various troubles of the peasants and their hopes. The refrain “the master will come” is of great importance. In the second part (fourth stanza) all the hopes of the peasants are destroyed: the expected troubles occur, but “the master still does not go.” Finally, in the fifth stanza, the master’s happy arrival takes place, but... in a coffin. This was the only way the owner could get into his possessions. The young master, shedding a tear, also transfers all matters and leaves for the capital.
5. Work size- six-foot trochee with feminine rhymes.
6. Expressive means. Nekrasov uses diminutive forms of words (“old woman”, “hut”, “zemlitz”), peasant expressions(“pulled away”, “let’s wait”). Lively samples of conversation are woven into the poem ordinary people. This brings the work closer to folk songs.
7. main topic poems - the disappointment of serfs in their hopes. Nekrasov is ironic about the folk myth about the “good master.” It shows that the people have nothing to hope for the help of their masters, who are only concerned with receiving money.
