Composition

The work of N.A. Nekrasov constitutes an entire era in the history of Russian literature. His poetry was an expression of a new time, when the outgoing class of nobles in social life commoners came to the country. For the poet, the concepts of the Motherland and the working people - the breadwinner and defender of the Russian land - merged together. That is why Nekrasov’s patriotism is so organically combined with a protest against the oppressors of the peasants.
In his work, N. Nekrasov continued the traditions of his great predecessors - M. V. Lomonosov, K. F. Ryleev, A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov - who considered the “civil rank” to be the highest.

Back in 1848, in one of his poems, the author compared his poetry with the image of a peasant woman. His muse is close to troubles and suffering ordinary people. She herself is one of many thousands of disadvantaged and oppressed:

Yesterday, at about six o'clock,
I went to Sennaya;
There they beat a woman with a whip,
A young peasant woman.
Not a sound from her chest
Only the whip whistled as it played,
And I said to the Muse: “Look!
Your dear sister."

With this poem, Nekrasov began his path in poetry, from which he never turned back. In 1856, the poet’s second collection was published, which opened with the poem “The Poet and the Citizen,” printed in a larger font. This seemed to emphasize the role of verse in the collection.

“A noble and strong thing. So the motive of his entire muse hums,” wrote one of the poet’s contemporaries A. Turgenev, having become acquainted with the works of this book.
“The Poet and the Citizen” is the most vivid, clear and definite expression of Nekrasov’s civic position, his understanding of the goals and objectives of poetry... The poem is a dialogue between the Poet and the Citizen, from which it becomes clear that the Citizen is sensitive to the changes taking place in society.

“What a time it is,” he says enthusiastically. The citizen believes that everyone has a duty to society not to be indifferent to the fate of their homeland. Moreover, this is the duty of a poet, whom nature and fate have awarded with talent and who must help discover the truth, ignite the hearts of people, and lead them along the path of truth.

“Boldly smash the vices,” the Citizen Poet calls.

He tries to awaken the indifferently sleeping soul of the Poet, who explains his social passivity by the desire to create “real,” “eternal” art, far from the burning issues of our time. Here Nekrasov touches on a very important problem generated by the new era. This is the problem of contrasting socially significant poetry with “pure art.” The dispute between the heroes of the poem is ideological, a dispute about life position a poet, but he is perceived more broadly: not only a poet, but any citizen, a person in general. A true citizen “bears on his body all the ulcers of his homeland like his own.” The poet should be ashamed

In a time of grief
The beauty of the valleys, skies and sea
And sing of sweet affection.

Nekrasov’s lines became an aphorism:

You may not be a poet
But you have to be a citizen.

Since then, every true artist has used them to check the true value of his work. The role of the poet-citizen especially increases during periods of great social storms and social upheavals. Let's turn our gaze to today. With what passion, despair and hope, with what fury our writers and poets, artists and performers rushed to fight against outdated dogmas for the creation of a renewed, humane society! And even though their views are sometimes diametrically opposed and not everyone can agree with them, the attempt itself is noble, albeit with difficulty, making mistakes and stumbling, to find Right way moving forward. For them, the “rank of citizen” is as high as in Lomonosov, Pushkin and Nekrasov times.

Nekrasov called “Elegy,” one of his last poems, “the most sincere and beloved.” In it, the poet reflects with deep bitterness on the causes of disharmony in society. Life has been lived, and Nekrasov has come to a wise, philosophical understanding of existence.
But the powerless situation of the people, their life, the relationship between the poet and the people still worries the author.

Let changing fashion tell us,
That the old theme is “the suffering of the people”
And that poetry should forget her,
Don't believe it, boys!
She doesn't age
he claims.

Responding to all those who hesitate and doubt that poetry can somehow seriously influence people’s lives, he wrote:

But everyone go into battle! And fate will decide the battle...

And Nekrasov, until the last moments of his difficult life, remained a warrior, striking blows at the tsarist autocracy with every line of his works.
Nekrasov’s muse, so sensitive to other people’s pain and joy, has not laid down her poetic weapons even today, she cutting edge struggle for a free, happy, spiritually rich person.

Most of Nekrasov's lyrics are devoted to the theme of the suffering of the people. This topic, as the author states in the poem “Elegy,” will always be relevant. He understands that many generations will continue to pose the question of restoring social justice, and that while the people “languish in poverty,” the only companion, support, and inspirer will be the Muse. Nekrasov dedicates his poetry to the people. He affirms the idea that victory goes to the people only if everyone goes into battle.

Let not every warrior harm the enemy,
But everyone go into battle! And fate will decide the battle...
I saw a red day: there is no slave in Russia!
And I shed sweet tears in tenderness...

With these lines, the author calls for the fight for freedom and happiness. But by 1861 the issue of freedom for the peasants had already been resolved. After the reform of the abolition of serfdom, it was believed that the life of the peasants went along the path of prosperity and freedom. Nekrasov sees the other side of this aspect; he poses the question like this: “The people are liberated, but are the people happy?” This makes us wonder whether the people have gained real freedom?
In the poem “Elegy,” written at the end of his life, Nekrasov seems to sum up his thoughts on the topic of the purpose of a poet and poetry. Nekrasov devotes the main place in his poetry to the description of the life of the people, their difficult fate. He's writing:

I dedicated the lyre to my people.
Perhaps I will die unknown to him,
But I served him - and my heart is calm...
But still, the author is depressed by the thought that the people did not respond to his voice and remained deaf to his calls:
But the one about whom I sing in the evening silence,
To whom are the poet’s dreams dedicated?
Alas! He doesn’t heed and doesn’t give an answer...

This circumstance worries him, and therefore he sets himself the task of becoming “an exposer of the crowd,” “its passions and delusions.” He is ready to go through a difficult thorny path, but to fulfill his mission as a poet. Nekrasov writes about this in his poem “Blessed is the gentle poet...”. In it, he shames the lyricists who remain aloof from the most “sick”, most pressing and controversial problems of the peasantry. He ridicules their detachment from the real world, their head in the clouds, when such troubles are happening on earth: children are forced to beg, women take on the unbearable burden of being the breadwinner of the family and work from dawn to dusk.
The author claims that in any, even the most Hard times the poet is not free to ignore what worries the Russian people most. A real poet, according to Nekrasov:

Armed with satire, he walks a thorny path
With your punishing lyre.

It is precisely such a poet who will always be remembered, although they will understand late how much he did...
Poems on the topic of the purpose of a poet and poetry occupy an important place in Nekrasov’s lyrics. They once again confirm his boundless devotion to the Russian people, his love for them, his admiration for his patience and hard work, and at the same time the pain that the author experiences, seeing his inaction and resignation to his cruel fate. All his work is an attempt to “awaken” the spirit of the people, to make them understand how important and good freedom is, and that only with it the life of the peasants can become truly happy.

N. A. Nekrasov (1821-1877)

Poet is enthusiastic and passionate

Nekrasov's noble origins left an indelible imprint on his development as a poet. His father, a retired officer and famous Yaroslavl landowner, took the family to Greshnevo (family estate), where the patriotic poet spent his childhood, who, it was no coincidence, fell in love with Russian nature. Among the apple trees of a wide-spread garden not far from the deep Volga, which the young poet liked to call his cradle, the first years of his life passed.

Nekrasov always had vivid memories of the famous Sibirka, which he reluctantly recalled: “Everything that traveled and walked along it was known: postal troikas or prisoners chained in chains, accompanied by cruel guards.” This served as food for children's curiosity. Huge family (13 sisters and brothers), trials on the estate, neglected affairs forced Father Nekrasov to hire a police officer.

Having entered the Yaroslavl gymnasium in 1832, Nekrasov studied 5 classes, but studied satisfactorily and especially did not get along with the gymnasium leadership because of his sharp satirical epigrams, and since his father always dreamed of a military career for his son, the 16-year-old poet went to be assigned to a regiment St. Petersburg. The matter was almost settled, but Nekrasov met his gymnasium friend Glushitsky, who aroused in the poet an unknown thirst for learning: he even ignored his father’s threats to leave him without support. So Nekrasov enters the Faculty of Philology as a volunteer student.

However, his path was thorny: the poet suffered terrible poverty and hunger. There were times when he went to a restaurant where it was possible to read newspapers, pulled up a plate of bread and ate. Living from hand to mouth, Nekrasov fell ill and owed money on the room he rented from a soldier, after which he sent him to the street. The beggar took pity on the sick man and offered him shelter: here young Nekrasov found a living, for the first time writing a petition to someone for 15 kopecks.

Over time, things went uphill: he took up teaching, wrote articles in magazines, published in the Literary Gazette, composed fairy tales and ABCs in verse for popular print publishers, and even staged light vaudeville on stage under the pseudonym of Perepelsky. The first savings appeared, after which Nekrasov decided to publish a collection of poems in 1840 under the name “Dreams and Sounds.”

The best representative of the “muse of revenge and sadness”

As a passionate person, women always liked Alexey Sergeevich. The Warsaw resident Zakrevskaya, the daughter of a wealthy possessor, also fell in love with him. Parents flatly refused to marry their daughter, who received an excellent education, to an army officer mediocre, however, the marriage still took place without parental blessing.

Nekrasov always spoke of his mother as a victim of a harsh environment and an eternal sufferer who drank Russian grief. The bright image of the mother, who brightened up the unattractive environment of childhood with its nobility, was reflected in the poem “Mother,” “Last Songs,” and “A Knight for an Hour.” The charm of memories of his mother in Nekrasov’s work was reflected in his special participation in the difficult lot of women. Hardly any of the Russian poets could do as much for mothers and wives as this stern and supposedly callous folk poet.

At the dawn of the 40s, he became an employee of Otechestvennye Zapiski. Here Nekrasov meets Belinsky, who was imbued with the poet’s work and appreciated his bright mind. But Vissarion Grigorievich immediately realized that Nekrasov was weak in prose and that nothing would come of him except as an ordinary magazine scribbler, but he loved his poems, especially noting “On the Road.”

Poet-prophet

His “Petersburg Collection” gained special fame; “Poor People” by F. M. Dostoevsky also appeared in it. His publishing business was going so well that, in tandem with Panaev, he acquired Sovremennik by 1846. The first poem “Sasha” became a magnificent lyrical introduction and was a song of joy in returning to the homeland. The poem received high praise in the 40s. “Peddlers” is written in the folk spirit in a special, original style. Kuchelbecker was the first to call the poet a prophet.

Nekrasov’s most seasoned and famous work is “Red Nose Frost.” Representing the apotheosis of peasant life, the poet exposes the bright sides of Russian nature; however, there is no sentimentality here thanks to the filigree honing of the stately style. “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is written in the original size (over 5000 verses).

Nekrasov's poems, along with poems, for a long time provided him with one of the significant places in Russian literature. From his works one can compose a large work of highly artistic merit, the significance of which will not perish as long as the great Russian language lives.

About the purpose of the poet

Polevaya dedicated laudatory reviews to Nekrasov’s lyrics, Zhukovsky treated his poems with trepidation and reverence, even Belinsky was incredibly happy about the appearance of Nekrasov as a unique phenomenon in Russian literature. The magnificent style in the work “When from the darkness of delusion I called out to a fallen soul” was noted even by critics Apollo Grigoriev and Almazov, who were averse to Nekrasov.

The poet died from a serious illness in last days December 1877 Several thousand people, despite the severe frosts, escorted his body to the place of eternal rest in the Novodevichy cemetery. F. M. Dostoevsky said a few farewell words at the grave, putting the name of Nekrasov in a row with Pushkin and Lermontov.

Nekrasov Nikolai Alekseevich is a great Russian poet, writer, publicist, recognized classic of world literature.

Born on November 28 (October 10), 1821 in the family of a small nobleman in the town of Nemirov, Podolsk province. In addition to Nikolai Nekrasov, there were 13 more children in the family. Nekrasov’s father was a despotic man, which left a mark on the character and further work of the poet. Nikolai Nekrasov’s first teacher was his mother, an educated and well-mannered woman. She instilled in the poet a love of literature and the Russian language.

In the period from 1832 to 1837, N.A. Nekrasov studied at the Yaroslavl gymnasium. Nekrasov had a hard time studying; he often skipped classes. Then he began to write poetry.

In 1838, the father, who always dreamed of a military career for his son, sent Nikolai Nekrasov to St. Petersburg to be assigned to the regiment. However, N.A. Nekrasov decided to enter the university. The poet failed to pass the entrance exams, and in the next 2 years he was a volunteer student at Faculty of Philology. This contradicted the will of his father, so Nekrasov was left without any material support with his hand. The disasters that Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov faced in those years were reflected in his poems and the unfinished novel “The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trostnikov.” Little by little, the poet’s life improved and he decided to release his first collection of poems, “Dreams and Sounds.”

In 1841, N.A. Nekrasov began working in Otechestvennye zapiski.

In 1843, Nekrasov met Belinsky, which led to the appearance of realistic poems, the first of which “On the Road” (1845), and the publication of two almanacs: “Physiology of St. Petersburg” (1845) and “Petersburg Collection” (1846). In the period from 1847 to 1866, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was the publisher and editor of the Sovremennik magazine, which published the best revolutionary democratic works of the time. During this period Nekrasov wrote lyric poems, dedicated to his common-law wife Panaeva, poems and cycles of poems about the urban poor (“On the Street”, “About the Weather”), about the fate of the people (“Uncompressed Strip”, “ Railway", etc.), about peasant life ("Peasant Children", "Forgotten Village", "Orina, Soldier's Mother", "Frost, Red Nose", etc.).

In the 1850-60s, during the peasant reform, the poet created “The Poet and the Citizen,” “Song to Eremushka,” “Reflections at the Front Entrance,” and the poem “Peddlers.”

In 1862, after the arrest of the leaders of revolutionary democracy, N.A. Nekrasov visited Greshnev. This is how the lyrical poem “A Knight for an Hour” (1862) appeared.

In 1866, Sovremennik was closed. Nekrasov acquired the right to publish the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, with which he was associated last years his life. During these years, the poet wrote the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (1866-76), poems about the Decembrists and their wives (“Grandfather” (1870); “Russian Women” (1871-72), the satirical poem “Contemporaries "(1875).

In 1875 Nekrasov N.A. seriously ill. Doctors discovered he had intestinal cancer, and complex operations did not give the desired result.

The last years of the poet's life were filled with elegiac motifs associated with the loss of friends, awareness of loneliness, and serious illness. During this period the following works appeared: “Three Elegies” (1873), “Morning”, “Despondency”, “Elegy” (1874), “The Prophet” (1874), “To the Sowers” ​​(1876). In 1877, the cycle of poems “Last Songs” was created.

On December 27, 1877 (January 8, 1878), Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov died in St. Petersburg. The poet's body was buried in St. Petersburg at the Novodevichy cemetery.

→ Nekrasov Nikolay Alekseevich

Biography - Nekrasov Nikolai Alekseevich

The great national poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on November 28 (December 10), 1821 in the town of Nemirov, Vinnitsa district, Podolsk province.

Childhood

Kolya spent his childhood on the Nekrasov estate - the village of Greshnev in the Yaroslavl province. It was not easy to support 13 (three survived) children, and the father of the future poet also took the position of police officer. The work was not fun; Alexei Sergeevich often had to take his son with him. Therefore, with early years Nikolai saw all the problems of ordinary people and sympathized with them.

At the age of 10, Nekrasov was sent to study at a gymnasium in Yaroslavl, where he only completed his studies until the 5th grade. Some biographers of the poet say that the boy studied poorly and was kicked out, others - that his father simply stopped paying fees for his education. Most likely, in reality there was something in between - perhaps the father considered it useless to teach his son further, who was not particularly diligent. He decided that his son should make a military career. For this purpose, Nekrasov, at the age of 16, was sent to St. Petersburg to enter a noble regiment (military school).

Time of hardship

The poet could have become an honest servant, but fate decreed otherwise. In St. Petersburg, he met students who so awakened Nekrasov’s desire to study that he dared to go against his father’s will. The poet began to prepare to enter the university. It was not possible to pass the exams, but Nekrasov went to the Faculty of Philology as a volunteer student (he stayed from 1839 to 1841). His father did not give Nikolai a penny and for three years he lived in terrible poverty. He constantly felt hungry and went so far as to spend the night in homeless shelters. In one of these “institutions” Nekrasov found his first income - he wrote a petition to someone for 15 kopecks.

The difficult financial situation did not break the poet. He vowed to himself to overcome all adversity and achieve recognition.

Literary life

Portrait of N.A. Nekrasov. 1872, work by artist N.N.Ge.

Gradually life began to improve. Nekrasov found a job as a tutor, began to compose alphabet books and fairy tales for popular print publishers, submitted articles to Literaturnaya Gazeta and Literary Supplement to the Russian Invalid. Several vaudevilles he composed (under the pseudonym “Perepelsky”) were staged on the Alexandria stage. Using the accumulated funds, in 1840 Nekrasov published his first collection of poems, “Dreams and Sounds.”

Critics reacted differently to it, but Belinsky’s negative opinion upset Nekrasov so much that he bought up most of the circulation and destroyed it. The collection remained interesting in that it represented the poet in a work completely uncharacteristic of him - a writer of ballads, which never happened in the future.

In the 40s, Nekrasov first came to the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski as a bibliographer. This is where his friendship with Belinsky begins. Soon Nikolai Alekseevich began to be actively published. He publishes the almanacs “Physiology of St. Petersburg”, “April 1”, “Petersburg Collection” and others, where he also publishes best authors of that time: F. Dostoevsky, D. Grigorovich, A. Herzen, I. Turgenev.

Publishing business was going well and at the end of 1846 Nekrasov, together with several friends, acquired the Sovremennik magazine. A whole “team” of the best writers goes to this magazine together with Nikolai Alekseevich. Belinsky makes a huge “gift” to Nekrasov, giving it to the magazine a large number of material that he had previously “saved” for his own publication.

After the onset of the reaction, Sovremennik becomes more “obedient” to the authorities, it begins to publish more adventure literature, but this does not prevent the magazine from remaining the most popular in Russia.

In the 50s, Nekrasov went to Italy for treatment for a throat disease. Upon his return, both his health and his affairs improved. He ends up in the advanced stream of literature, among people of high moral principles. Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov work with him in the magazine. Are revealed and best sides Nekrasov's talent.

When Sovremennik was closed in 1866, Nekrasov did not give up, but rented Otechestvennye zapiski from his old “competitor,” which he elevated to the same literary heights as Sovremennik.

During his work with the two best magazines of our time, Nekrasov wrote and published many of his works: the poems “Sasha”, “Peasant Children”, “Frost, Red Nose”, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (finished in 1876), “Russian Women ”, poems “Knight for an Hour”, “Railroad”, “Prophet” and many others. Nekrasov was at the zenith of his fame.

At the last line

At the beginning of 1875, the poet was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. His life turned into a series of sufferings, and only the general support of readers gave him any strength. The poet received telegrams and letters of support from all over Russia. Inspired by the support of people, Nekrasov, overcoming pain, continues to write. In recent years, the following have been written: the satirical poem “Contemporaries”, the poem “Sowers” ​​and the cycle of poems “Last Songs”, unsurpassed in sincerity of feelings. The poet remembers his life and the mistakes he made in it and at the same time sees himself as a writer who lived his years with dignity. On December 27, 1877 (January 8, 1878) in St. Petersburg, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov graduated from his earthly path. He was only 56 years old at that time.

Despite the severe cold, a crowd of thousands escorted the poet to his final resting place at the Novodevichy cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Interesting about Nekrasov:

There were three women in Nekrasov’s life:

Avdotya Yakovlevna Panaeva, with whom he lived without marriage for 15 years.

Frenchwoman Selina Lefren, who abandoned the poet, having squandered a fair portion of his money.

Fyokla Anisimovna Viktorova, with whom Nekrasov married 6 months before his death.

Nekrasov, speaking modern language, was a real manager and entrepreneur - he managed to make two magazines the best, which before him were in a rather difficult financial situation.

The poet's father, landowner Alexei Sergeevich Nekrasov (1788-1862), served with the rank of lieutenant in the 28th Jaeger Regiment, stationed in the town of Litin, Podolsk province. In 1817, probably at one of the traditional officer’s balls, where neighboring landowners were often invited, he met the daughter of the Ukrainian nobleman Andrei Semenovich Zakrevsky, who then held the post of police captain of the Bratslav district. It is known that Zakrevsky at one time owned a fairly large estate in the town of Yuzvin (same district) with six villages assigned to it, and he also had other estates.

The poet's father belonged to an old but impoverished family of nobles, the Nekrasovs, who came from the Oryol province. Even in his youth, both he and his brothers chose a military career. There is a mention in the literature (mainly from the words of the poet) that Alexey Sergeevich took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, and his brothers died in the Battle of Borodino (However, this information is disputed by researchers.). During his service in the Podolsk province, he was for some time the adjutant of P. X. Wittgenstein, who commanded the army located in the south of the country.

Apparently, Alexey Sergeevich was a typical servant of the serf-owning nobles, one of those on whom the cruel laws of army life of that time relied. Confident in the justice of these laws, he was alien to any intellectual interests. Officer's adventures, unbridled revelry and cards filled his life in the hours free from duty.

One day, many years later, the son asked his father about the past of his family. Alexey Sergeevich replied:

Our ancestors were rich, your great-great-great-grandfather lost seven thousand souls, your great-great-grandfather - two, your grandfather (my father) - one, I’m okay, because there was nothing to lose, but I also loved to play cards...

Immediately upon returning to his estate (during these years he owned only a hundred souls of serfs of both sexes), Alexey Sergeevich began to establish strict order in it. By nature he had a despotic character, and his years of military service strengthened in him a tendency toward power-lust and a callous soul. In addition, he was deeply convinced of the inviolability of the sacred landowner's right to have complete control over the life and fate of serfs. He also firmly believed that peasants were obliged to take care of the welfare and prosperity of their landowner. Therefore, he introduced the most difficult corvee labor, in which the serfs had no time at all to work for themselves. “We worked all week for him, and for ourselves only at night and on holidays,” recalled one of the Greshnev peasants.

Among the incentive measures on the low-income Nekrasov estate, rods and fist violence predominated. All the Greshnev old-timers, whom the poet’s biographers managed to find and question at the beginning of our century, unanimously confirmed that punishments at the stables were the most common occurrence in Greshnev. Local resident Platon Pribylov confirmed that Alexey Sergeevich “often flogged peasants, especially for drunkenness.” It happened that during a hunt, the hounds would beat, on the master's orders, some hunter or huntsman for the smallest mistake.