From 1863 to 1877, Nekrasov created "Who Lives Well in Russia". The idea, characters, plot changed several times in the course of work. Most likely, the plan was not fully revealed: the author died in 1877. Despite this, "Who Lives Well in Russia" as a folk poem is considered a complete work. It was assumed that there will be 8 parts, but only 4 were completed.

The poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" begins with the presentation of the characters. These heroes are seven men from the villages: Dyryavino, Zaplatovo, Gorelovo, Neurozhayka, Znobishino, Razutovo, Neelovo. They meet and start a conversation about who lives happily and well in Russia. Each of the men has his own opinion. One thinks that the landowner is happy, the other that the official. Merchants, priest, minister, noble boyar, tsar are also called happy men from the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia". The heroes began to argue, lit a fire. It even came to a fight. However, they still fail to come to an agreement.

Self-assembled tablecloth

Suddenly Pakhom completely unexpectedly caught the chick. The little warbler, his mother, asked the peasant to let the chick free. For this she suggested where you can find a self-assembled tablecloth - a very useful thing that will certainly come in handy on a long journey. Thanks to her, the men during the trip did not experience a shortage of food.

Priest's story

The next events continue the work "Who Lives Well in Russia". The heroes decided to find out at any cost who lives happily and cheerfully in Russia. They hit the road. First, they met a priest on their way. The men turned to him with the question of whether he lives happily. Then the pop talked about his life. He believes (in which the men could not disagree with him) that happiness is impossible without peace, honor, wealth. Pop believes that if he had it all, he would be completely happy. However, he is obliged both day and night, in any weather to go wherever he is told - to the dying, to the sick. Every time the priest has to see human grief and suffering. Sometimes he even lacks the strength to take retribution for the service, since people tear the latter away from themselves. Once upon a time, everything was completely different. Pop says that rich landowners rewarded him generously for funeral services, baptisms, and weddings. However, now the rich are far away, and the poor have no money. The priest also has no honor: men do not respect him, as evidenced by many folk songs.

Wanderers go to the fair

Wanderers understand that this person cannot be called happy, which is noted by the author of the work "Who Lives Well in Russia". The heroes set off again and find themselves on the road in the village of Kuzminskoye, at a fair. This village is dirty, albeit rich. There are a lot of establishments in which residents indulge in drunkenness. They spend their last money on drink. For example, the old man has no money left for shoes for his granddaughter, since he drank everything. All this is observed by wanderers from the work "Who Lives Well in Russia" (Nekrasov).

Yakim Nagoy

They also notice fairground entertainment and fights and talk about the fact that the man is forced to drink: this helps to withstand hard work and eternal hardship. An example of this is Yakim Nagoy, a man from the village of Bosovo. He works to death, "drinks half to death." Yakim believes that if there were no drunkenness, there would be great sadness.

The wanderers continue their journey. In the work "Who Lives Well in Russia" Nekrasov says that they want to find happy and cheerful people, they promise to give these lucky people free to drink. Therefore, all sorts of people are trying to pass themselves off as such - a paralyzed former courtyard who licked plates after a master for many years, exhausted workers, beggars. However, travelers themselves understand that these people cannot be called happy.

Ermil Girin

The men once heard about a man named Yermil Girin. His story is further told by Nekrasov, of course, he does not convey all the details. Yermil Girin is a burgomaster who was highly respected, a fair and honest person. He set out to buy out the mill one day. The peasants lent him money without a receipt, they trusted him so much. However, there was a peasant revolt. Now Yermil is in prison.

Obolt-Obolduev's story

Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, one of the landowners, told about the fate of the nobles after they used to have a lot: serfs, villages, forests. On holidays, nobles could invite serfs into their homes to pray. But after that the master was no longer the rightful owner of the peasants. The pilgrims knew very well how difficult life was during the days of serfdom. But it is also not difficult for them to understand that it became much more difficult for the nobles after the abolition of serfdom. And it’s no easier for the peasants now. The pilgrims understood that they would not be able to find a happy one among men. So they decided to go to women.

The life of Matryona Korchagina

The peasants were told that a peasant woman named Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina lived in one village, whom everyone calls a lucky woman. They found her, and Matryona told the peasants about her life. With this story Nekrasov continues "Who Lives Well in Russia".

A summary of the life story of this woman is as follows. Her childhood was cloudless and happy. She had a hard-working, non-drinking family. Mother cared for and cherished her daughter. When Matryona grew up, she became a beauty. Once a stove-maker from another village, Philip Korchagin, approached her. Matryona told how he persuaded her to marry him. This was the only bright memory of this woman in her entire life, who was hopeless and dreary, although her husband treated her well by peasant standards: she almost never beat her. However, he went to the city to work. Matryona lived in her father-in-law's house. Everyone here treated her badly. The only one who was kind to the peasant woman was the very old grandfather Savely. He told her that he had ended up in hard labor for the murder of the manager.

Soon Matryona gave birth to Demushka, a sweet and beautiful child. She could not part with him for a minute. However, the woman had to work in a field where her mother-in-law did not allow her to take the child. Grandfather Savely watched the baby. He once did not look after Demushka, and the child was eaten by pigs. We came to investigate from the city, in front of the mother's eyes, they opened the baby. This was a hard blow for Matryona.

Then five children were born to her, all boys. Matryona was a kind and caring mother. One day Fedot, one of the children, was tending sheep. One of them was carried away by a she-wolf. This was the fault of the shepherd, who should have been punished with whips. Then Matryona begged them to beat her instead of her son.

She also said that one day they wanted to take her husband into the soldiers, although it was a violation of the law. Then Matryona went to the city, being pregnant. Here the woman met Elena Aleksandrovna, the kind governor who helped her, and Matryona's husband was released.

The peasants considered Matryona a happy woman. However, after listening to her story, the men realized that she could not be called happy. There was too much suffering and misfortune in her life. Matryona Timofeevna herself also says that a woman in Russia, especially a peasant woman, cannot be happy. Her lot is very hard.

Survivor of the mind landowner

The way to the Volga is kept by peasant wanderers. Here is mowing. People are busy with hard work. Suddenly an amazing scene: the mowers are humiliated, they please the old master. It turned out that the landowner He could not realize what had already been canceled. Therefore, his relatives persuaded the peasants to behave as if it was still in effect. They were promised for this The men agreed, but were deceived once again. When the old master died, the heirs did not give them anything.

The story of Jacob

Repeatedly along the way, pilgrims listen to folk songs - hungry, soldier's and others, as well as various stories. They remembered, for example, the story of Jacob, the faithful servant. He always tried to please and please the master, who humiliated and beat the slave. However, this led to the fact that Jacob loved him even more. The master's legs gave out in old age. Jacob continued to look after him as if he were his own child. But he received no thanks for this. Grisha, a young guy, Jacob's nephew, wanted to marry one beauty - a serf girl. Out of jealousy, the old master sent Grisha into recruits. Yakov from this grief fell into drunkenness, but then returned to the master and took revenge. He took him to the forest and hanged himself in front of the master. Since his legs were paralyzed, he could not go anywhere. The master sat all night under the corpse of Yakov.

Grigory Dobosklonov - people's defender

This and other stories make men think that they will not be able to find happy ones. However, they learn about Grigory Dobrosklonov, a seminarian. This is the son of a sexton, who saw the suffering and hopeless life of the people from childhood. He made a choice in his early youth, decided that he would give his strength to the struggle for the happiness of his people. Gregory is educated and smart. He understands that Russia is strong and will cope with all troubles. In the future, Gregory will have a glorious path, the famous name of the people's defender, "consumption and Siberia."

The peasants hear about this intercessor, but they do not yet have an understanding that such people can make others happy. This will not happen soon.

Heroes of the poem

Nekrasov portrayed various segments of the population. Simple peasants become the protagonists of the work. They were freed by the 1861 reform. But their life after the abolition of serfdom did not change much. The same hard work, a hopeless life. After the reform, moreover, the peasants who had their own land found themselves in an even more difficult situation.

The characterization of the heroes of the work "Who lives well in Russia" can be supplemented by the fact that the author has created surprisingly reliable images of peasants. Their characters are very accurate, although contradictory. Russian people have not only kindness, strength and integrity of character. They retained at the genetic level obsequiousness, servility, readiness to obey a despot and tyrant. The coming of Grigory Dobrosklonov, a new man, is a symbol of the fact that honest, noble, intelligent people appear among the downtrodden peasantry. Let their fate be unenviable and difficult. Thanks to them, self-awareness will arise among the peasant masses, and people will finally be able to fight for happiness. This is what the heroes and the author of the poem dream about. ON. N. A. Nekrasov "Who Lives Well in Russia" was written with such sympathy for the people that today it makes us empathize with their fate at that difficult time.

The work of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is devoted to the deep problems of the Russian people. The heroes of his story, ordinary peasants, set off on a journey in search of a person to whom life brings happiness. So who lives well in Russia? A chapter summary and an abstract to the poem will help you understand the main idea of ​​the work.

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The idea and history of the creation of the poem

The main idea of ​​Nekrasov was to create a poem for the people, in which they could recognize themselves not only in the general idea, but also in the little things, everyday life, behavior, see their advantages and disadvantages, find their place in life.

The author succeeded in the idea. For years, Nekrasov collected the necessary material, planning his work entitled "Who Lives Well in Russia?" much more voluminous than it came out at the end. As many as eight full chapters were planned, each of which was supposed to be a separate work with a complete structure and idea. The only thing unifying link- seven ordinary Russian peasants, men who travel around the country in search of the truth.

In the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia?" four parts, the order and completeness of which is the cause of controversy for many scientists. Nevertheless, the work looks holistic, leads to a logical end - one of the characters finds the very recipe for Russian happiness. It is believed that Nekrasov finished the end of the poem, already knowing about his imminent death. Wanting to bring the poem to completion, he moved the ending of the second part to the end of the work.

It is believed that the author began to write "Who lives well in Russia?" in about 1863 - shortly after. Two years later, Nekrasov completed the first part and marked the manuscript with this date. Subsequent were ready for 72, 73, 76 years of the 19th century, respectively.

Important! The work began to be published in 1866. This process turned out to be long, lasted four years... The poem was difficult to accept by critics, the highest of that time brought down a lot of criticism on it, the author, along with his work, was persecuted. Despite this, "Who lives well in Russia?" was printed and well received by the common people.

Annotation to the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia?": It consists of the first part, which contains a prologue introducing the reader to the main characters, five chapters and excerpts from the second ("The Last One" of 3 chapters) and the third part ("Peasant Woman "Of 7 chapters). The poem ends with the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World" and an epilogue.

Prologue

"Who lives well in Russia?" begins with a prologue, the summary of which is as follows: meet seven main characters- ordinary Russian men from the people who came from the Terpigorev district.

Each one comes from his own village, the name of which, for example, was like this - Dyryaevo or Neelovo. Having met, the men begin to actively argue with each other about who really lives well in Russia. This phrase will be the leitmotif of the work, its main plot.

Each offers a variant of the estate, which is now flourishing. These were:

• priests;
• landlords;
• officials;
• merchants;
• boyars and ministers;
• Tsar.

The men argue so much the situation is getting out of hand a fight starts- the peasants forget what deeds they were going to do, they go in an unknown direction. In the end, they wander into the wilderness, decide not to go anywhere else until morning and wait out the night in a clearing.

Because of the noise raised, the chick falls out of the nest, one of the wanderers catches it and dreams that if it had wings, it would fly all over Russia. The rest add that you can do without wings, it would be something to drink and have a good snack, then you can travel until old age.

Attention! The bird - the mother of the chick, in exchange for her child, tells the peasants where it is possible find treasure- self-assembled tablecloth, but warns that you cannot ask for more than a bucket of alcohol a day - otherwise there will be trouble. The peasants really find the treasure, after which they promise each other not to part until they find the answer to the question of who is good to live in this state.

First part. Chapter 1

The first chapter tells about the meeting of men with a priest. They walked for a long time, they came across ordinary people - beggars, peasants, soldiers. The debaters did not even try to talk to those, because they knew from themselves that the common people did not have happiness. Having met the priest's cart, the wanderers block the path and talk about the dispute, asking the main question, who lives well in Russia, Are the priests happy.

Pop replies with the following:

1. A person has happiness only if his life combines three features - calmness, honor and wealth.
2. Explains that the priests have no peace, from how troublesome they get to the rank and ending with the fact that every day he listens to the cry of dozens of people, which does not add peace in life.
3. A lot of money now priests find it hard to make money, since the nobles, who used to carry out ceremonies in their native villages, now do it in the capital, and the clergy have to live off the peasants alone, with a meager income.
4. The people of the priests also do not pamper them with respect, make fun of them, avoid them, there is no way to hear a good word from anyone.

After the priest's speech, the peasants shyly hide their eyes and understand that the life of the priests in the world is by no means sweet. When the clergyman leaves, the disputants attack the one who suggested that the priests would live well. It would have come to a fight, but the pop reappeared on the road.

Chapter 2

The peasants walk along the roads for a long time, almost no one meets them, who can be asked who lives well in Russia. In the end, they learn that in the village of Kuzminskoye rich fair as the village is not poor. There are two churches, a closed school and not even a very clean hotel where you can stay. No joke, there is a paramedic in the village.

The most important thing is that there are as many as 11 innkeepers here, who do not have time to pour the merry people. All the peasants drink a lot. An upset grandfather stands by the shop with shoes, who promised to bring his boots to his granddaughter, but he drank the money. Barin Pavlusha Veretennikov appears and pays for the purchase.

Books are also sold at the fair, but people are interested in the most mediocre books, neither Gogol nor Belinsky are in demand and are not interesting to the common people, despite the fact that these writers are just protecting interests of ordinary people... In the end, the heroes get drunk to such a state that they fall to the ground, watching the church “stagger”.

Chapter 3

In this chapter, the disputants again find Pavel Veretennikov, who actually collects folklore, stories and expressions of the Russian people. Paul tells the peasants around him that they drink too much alcohol, and for those a drunken night is for happiness.

Yakim Naked objects to this, claiming that a simple the peasant drinks a lot not of his own desire, but because he works hard, he is constantly haunted by grief. Yakim tells his story to those around him - having bought pictures for his son, Yakim loved them no less, therefore, when a fire broke out, he was the first to take these pictures out of the hut. In the end, the money that he had saved for his life was gone.

Having heard this, the men sit down to eat. After one of them remains to follow the bucket of vodka, and the rest again go into the crowd to find a person who considers himself lucky in this world.

Chapter 4

Men walk the streets and promise to treat the happiest person of the people with vodka in order to find out who lives well in Russia, but only deeply unhappy people who want a drink to be comforted. Those who want to show off something good find that their petty happiness doesn't answer the basic question. For example, a Belarusian is happy that rye bread is made here, from which he does not have a stomach ache, so he is happy.

As a result, the bucket of vodka runs out, and the disputants understand that they will not find the truth in this way, but one of those who came says to look for Yermila Girin. Ermil is highly respected in the village, the peasants say that he is a very good person. They even tell a case that when Girin wanted to buy a mill, but there was no money for a deposit, he collected a thousand loans from the common people and managed to deposit money.

A week later, Yermil distributed everything that he borrowed, until the evening he tried to find out from those around him who else to go to and give the last remaining ruble.

Girin earned such trust by the fact that, while serving as a clerk from the prince, he did not take money from anyone, but, on the contrary, helped ordinary people, therefore, when they were going to choose the burgomaster, they chose him. Yermil justified the appointment... At the same time, the priest says that he is unhappy, since he is already in prison, and why, he does not have time to tell, since a thief is found in the company.

CHAPTER 5

Further, the travelers meet a landowner, who, in response to the question of who lives well in Russia, tells them about his noble roots - the founder of his family, the Tatar Obolduy, was skinned by a bear for the laughter of the empress, who in return presented many expensive gifts.

The landlord complains that the peasants were taken away, therefore there is no longer a law on his lands, forests are being cut down, drinking establishments multiply - the people do what they want, because of this they become poor. Then he says that he was not used to working since childhood, but here he has to do it due to the fact that the serfs were taken away.

In distress, the landowner leaves, and the peasants feel sorry for him, thinking that on the one hand, after the abolition of serfdom, the peasants suffered, and on the other, the landowners, that this whip had whipped all the estates.

Part 2. The last - summary

This part of the poem tells about the extravagant Prince Utyatin, who, upon learning that serfdom had been abolished, fell ill with a heart attack and promised to deprive his sons of the inheritance. Those, frightened by such a fate, persuaded the peasants to play along with the old father, bribing them with a promise to give the meadows to the village.

Important! Characteristics of Prince Utyatin: a selfish person who loves to feel power, therefore he is ready to force others to do completely meaningless things. Feels complete impunity, thinks that this is what the future of Russia is behind.

Some peasants willingly played along with the master's request, while others, for example Agap Petrov, could not accept the fact that in the wild they had to bow before someone. Finding yourself in a situation in which it is impossible to achieve the truth, Agap Petrov dies from the pangs of conscience and mental anguish.

At the end of the chapter, Prince Utyatin rejoices at the return of serfdom, speaks of its correctness at his own feast, which is attended by seven travelers, and at the end he calmly dies in the boat. At the same time, no one gives the meadows to the peasants, and the court on this issue is not over to this day, as the peasants found out.

Part 3. Peasant woman

This part of the poem is devoted to the search for female happiness, but ends with the fact that there is no happiness and you will never find such a thing. The wanderers meet the peasant woman Matryona - a beautiful, stately woman of 38 years old. Wherein Matryona is deeply unhappy, considers himself an old woman. She had a difficult fate, joy was only in childhood. After the girl got married, her husband left to work, leaving her pregnant wife in her husband's large family.

The peasant woman had to feed her husband's parents, who only mocked and did not help her. Even after childbirth, they were not allowed to take the child with them, since the woman did not work with him enough. The baby was looked after by an elderly grandfather, the only one who treated Matryona normally, but because of age, he did not look after the baby, and the pigs ate it.

Matryona also gave birth to children afterwards, but she could not forget her first son. The peasant woman forgave the old man who had gone from grief to the monastery and took him home, where he soon died. She herself came to the governor's wife on demolitions, asked to return her husband because of the plight. Since Matryona gave birth right in the reception room, the governor's wife helped the woman, from this the people began to call her happy, which in fact was far from the case.

In the end, the wanderers, not finding female happiness and not receiving an answer to their question - who lives well in Russia, went on.

Part 4. Feast for the whole world - the conclusion of the poem

It takes place in the same village. The main characters gathered for a feast and have fun, tell different stories in order to find out which of the people in Russia live well. They talked about Yakov, a peasant who greatly respected the master, but did not forgive when he gave his nephew to the soldier. As a result, Jacob brought the owner into the forest and hanged himself, but he could not get out, since his legs did not work. Then there is a long debate about who is more sinful in this situation.

The peasants share different stories about the sins of peasants and landowners, deciding who is more honest and righteous. The crowd as a whole is rather unhappy, including the men - the main characters, only the young seminarian Grisha wants to devote himself to serving the people and their welfare. He loves his mother very much and is ready to pour it out on the village.

Grisha walks and sings that there is a glorious path ahead, a sonorous name in history, he is inspired by this, he is not even afraid of the supposed outcome - Siberia and death from consumption. The disputants do not notice Grisha, but in vain, because this the only happy person in the poem, realizing this, they could find the answer to their question - who lives well in Russia.

When the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia?" add optimism and hope at the end of the poem, to give "the light at the end of the road" to the Russian person.

N.A. Nekrasov, "Who lives well in Russia" - a summary

One of the most famous works of Nikolai Nekrasov is considered the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia", which is distinguished not only by deep philosophical meaning and social acuteness, but also by bright, distinctive characters - these are seven simple Russian men who got together and argued about who " life is free and merry in Russia ”. The poem was first published in 1866 in the Sovremennik magazine. The publication of the poem was resumed after three years, but the tsarist censorship, seeing in the content of attacks on the autocracy regime, did not allow it to be published. The poem was published in full only after the revolution in 1917.

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

Main storyline

The poem was started by Nekrasov in 1863 after the abolition of serfdom, therefore its content touches upon many problems that arose after the Peasant Reform of 1861. There are four chapters in the poem, they are united by a common plot about how seven ordinary men argued over who lives well in Russia and who is truly happy. The plot of the poem, which touches upon serious philosophical and social problems, is built in the form of a journey through Russian villages, their “speaking” names perfectly describe the Russian reality of that time: Dyryavina, Razutov, Gorelov, Zaplatov, Neurozhaikin, etc. In the first chapter, entitled "The Prologue," the men meet on the high road and start their own dispute, in order to resolve it, they are taken on a journey across Russia. On the way, the peasants-disputants meet with a variety of people, these are peasants, and merchants, and landowners, and priests, and beggars, and drunkards, they see a variety of pictures from people's lives: funerals, weddings, fairs, elections, etc. ...

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

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

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

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

« You and wretched

you are abundant,

you and omnipotent

Mother Russia!»

Main characters

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

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

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

The poem also describes the images of landowners, their wives and sons (princes, nobles), depicts landlord servants (lackeys, servants, servants in the courtyard), priests and other clergy, good governors and cruel German managers, artists, soldiers, wanderers, a huge number secondary characters that give the folk lyric-epic poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" that unique polyphony and epic breadth, making this work a real masterpiece and the pinnacle of all literary work of Nekrasov.

Analysis of the poem

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

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

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

Structural and compositional features

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

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

In order for the poem to be understandable to an ordinary person, many common words and expressions are used in it: a village, a log, a yarmonka, empty dance, etc. The poem contains a large number of different samples of folk poetry, these are both fairy tales and epics, and various proverbs and sayings, folk songs of various genres. The language of the work was stylized by the author in the form of a folk song to improve the ease of perception, while the use of folklore was considered the best way of communication between the intelligentsia and the common people.

In the poem, the author used such means of artistic expression as epithets (“the sun is red”, “the shadows are black”, the heart is free ”,“ poor people ”), comparisons ( “The earth is lying”, “the warbler is crying”, “the village is seething”). There is also a place for irony and sarcasm, various stylistic figures are used, such as appeals: "Hey, uncle!", "Oh people, Russian people!", Various exclamations "Chu!", "Eh, Eh!" etc.

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

Illustration by Sergei Gerasimov "Dispute"

Once, seven peasants - recent serfs, and now temporarily liable from adjacent villages - Zaplatov, Dyryavin, Razutov, Znobishin, Gorelova, Neyolova, Neurozhayka, too, converge on the high road. Instead of going their own way, the peasants start a dispute about who in Russia lives happily and freely. Each of them judges in his own way who is the main lucky person in Russia: a landowner, an official, a priest, a merchant, a noble boyar, a sovereign minister or a tsar.

During the dispute, they do not notice that they gave a hook thirty miles. Seeing that it is too late to return home, the men make a fire and continue the argument over vodka - which, of course, gradually develops into a fight. But the fight does not help to resolve the issue that worries the men.

The solution is found unexpectedly: one of the men, Pakhom, catches the chick of the warbler, and in order to free the chick, the warbler tells the men where to find a self-assembled tablecloth. Now the men are provided with bread, vodka, cucumbers, kvass, tea - in a word, everything they need for a long journey. And besides, the self-assembled tablecloth will repair and wash their clothes! Having received all these benefits, the peasants give a vow to inquire, "who lives happily, at ease in Russia."

The first possible “lucky man” he met on the way was a priest. (It was not the soldiers and beggars who we met to ask about happiness!) But the priest's answer to the question of whether his life is sweet disappoints the peasants. They agree with the priest that happiness lies in peace, wealth and honor. But the priest has none of these benefits. In haymaking, in harvesting, in a deep autumn night, in severe frost, he must go where there are sick, dying and born. And every time his soul hurts at the sight of funeral sobs and orphan grief - so that the hand does not rise to take copper dimes - a pitiful reward for demand. The landowners, who previously lived in family estates and got married here, baptized children, buried the dead, are now scattered not only throughout Russia, but also in distant foreign lands; there is no hope for their retribution. Well, about the priest's honor, the peasants themselves know: they feel embarrassed when the priest blames obscene songs and insults to priests.

Realizing that the Russian priest is not one of the lucky ones, the men go to the festive fair in the trading village of Kuzminskoye to ask the people about happiness there. In a rich and dirty village there are two churches, a tightly boarded-up house with the inscription "school", a medical assistant's hut, and a dirty hotel. But most of all in the village there are drinking establishments, in each of which they barely manage to cope with the thirsty. Old man Vavila cannot buy goat shoes for his granddaughter, because he drank himself to a penny. It is good that Pavlusha Veretennikov, a lover of Russian songs, whom everyone for some reason calls "master", is buying the coveted present for him.

Peasants-pilgrims are watching the farcical Petrushka, watching as ofeni pick up book goods - but by no means Belinsky and Gogol, but portraits of fat generals unknown to anyone and works about "stupid my lord." They also see the end of a brisk trading day: general drunkenness, fights on the way home. However, the peasants are outraged by Pavlusha Veretennikov's attempt to measure the peasant by the master's measure. In their opinion, it is impossible for a sober person to live in Russia: he will not be able to withstand either backbreaking work or peasant misfortune; without the booze, a bloody rain would have fallen from the angry peasant soul. These words are confirmed by Yakim Nagoy from the village of Bosovo - one of those who "works to death, drinks to death." Yakim believes that only pigs walk on the ground and do not see the sky for centuries. During the fire, he himself did not save money accumulated over his entire life, but useless and beloved pictures that hung in the hut; he is sure that with the cessation of drunkenness, great sadness will come to Russia.

The wanderers do not lose hope of finding people who live well in Russia. But even for a promise to give water to the lucky ones for free, they fail to find those. For the sake of gratuitous booze, both an overstrained worker and a paralyzed former courtyard who licked plates with the best French truffle at the master's for forty years, and even tattered beggars are ready to declare themselves lucky.

Finally, someone tells them the story of Yermil Girin, the steward in the patrimony of Prince Yurlov, who has earned universal respect for his fairness and honesty. When Girin needed money to buy out the mill, the peasants lent it to him without even demanding a receipt. But Yermil is now unhappy: after the peasant revolt, he is in prison.

About the misfortune that befell the nobles after the peasant reform, the ruddy sixty-year-old landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev tells the peasant wanderers. He recalls how in the old days everything amused the master: villages, forests, cornfields, serf actors, musicians, hunters, who completely belonged to him. Obolt-Obolduev tells with emotion how he invited his serfs to pray at the master's house on the twentieth holidays, despite the fact that after that they had to drive women from all over the estate to clean the floors.

And although the peasants themselves know that life in serf times was far from the idyll drawn by the Obolduevs, they still understand: the great chain of serfdom, having broken, hit both the master, who at once lost his usual way of life, and the peasant.

Desperate to find a happy one among the men, the wanderers decide to ask the women. Nearby peasants remember that Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina lives in the village of Klinu, whom everyone considers a lucky woman. But Matryona herself thinks differently. In confirmation, she tells the pilgrims the story of her life.

Before marriage, Matryona lived in a teetotal and prosperous peasant family. She married a stove-maker from a strange village, Philip Korchagin. But the only happy night was for her when the groom persuaded Matryona to marry him; then the usual hopeless life of a village woman began. True, her husband loved her and beat her only once, but soon he went to work in St. Petersburg, and Matryona was forced to endure grievances in her father-in-law's family. The only one who felt sorry for Matryona was grandfather Savely, who in the family lived out his life after hard labor, where he ended up for the murder of the hated German manager. Savely told Matryona what Russian heroism is: it is impossible to defeat a peasant, because he "bends, but does not break."

The birth of the first-born Demushka brightened up Matryona's life. But soon the mother-in-law forbade her to take the child into the field, and the old grandfather Savely did not keep track of the baby and fed him to the pigs. In front of Matryona's eyes, the judges who came from the city performed an autopsy on her child. Matryona could not forget her first child, although after she had five sons. One of them, Fedot the shepherd boy, once allowed the she-wolf to carry the sheep away. Matryona took upon herself the punishment assigned to her son. Then, being pregnant with her son Liodor, she was forced to go to the city to seek justice: her husband, bypassing the laws, was taken into the army. Matryona was then helped by the governor's wife Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying.

By all peasant standards, Matryona Korchagina's life can be considered happy. But it is impossible to tell about the invisible spiritual storm that passed through this woman - just like about unrequited mortal grievances, and about the blood of the firstborn. Matryona Timofeevna is convinced that a Russian peasant woman cannot be happy at all, because the keys to her happiness and free will are lost from God himself.

In the midst of haymaking, wanderers come to the Volga. Here they witness a strange scene. On three boats a noble family swims up to the shore. The mowers, who have just sat down to rest, immediately jump up to show the old master their zeal. It turns out that the peasants of the Vakhlachina village help the heirs to hide the abolition of serfdom from the out-of-mind landowner Utyatin. Relatives of the Evident-Utyatin promise the peasants floodplain meadows for this. But after the long-awaited death of the Follower, the heirs forget their promises, and the whole peasant performance turns out to be in vain.

Here, near the village of Vakhlachina, pilgrims listen to peasant songs - corvée, hungry, soldier's, salty - and stories about serfdom. One of these stories is about the exemplary serf Jacob the faithful. Yakov's only joy was the gratification of his master, the small landowner Polivanov. The tyrant Polivanov, in gratitude, beat Yakov in the teeth with his heel, which aroused even greater love in the lackey's soul. By old age, Polivanov lost his legs, and Yakov began to follow him like a child. But when Yakov's nephew, Grisha, decided to marry the serf beauty Arisha, Polivanov out of jealousy gave the guy to recruits. Yakov started to drink, but soon returned to the master. And yet he managed to take revenge on Polivanov - the only way he could, in a lackey's way. Having brought the master into the forest, Yakov hanged himself directly above him on a pine tree. Polivanov spent the night under the corpse of his faithful slave, driving away birds and wolves with groans of horror.

Another story - about two great sinners - is told to the peasants by God's wanderer Jonah Lyapushkin. The Lord awakened the conscience of the ataman of the robbers Kudeyar. The robber for a long time atoned for his sins, but they were all forgiven him only after he killed the cruel Pan Glukhovsky in a rush of anger.

Peasants-pilgrims also listen to the story of another sinner - Gleb the elder, who for money hid the last will of the late admiral-widower, who decided to free his peasants.

But not only peasant wanderers think about the people's happiness. The son of a sexton, a seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, lives in Vakhlachina. In his heart, love for his deceased mother merged with love for all of Vakhlachina. For fifteen years Grisha knew firmly to whom he was ready to give his life, for whom he was ready to die. He thinks of all mysterious Russia as of a wretched, abundant, powerful and powerless mother, and expects that the invincible strength that he feels in his own soul will still be reflected in her. Such strong souls, like those of Grisha Dobrosklonov, are called by the angel of mercy to an honest path. Fate prepares Grisha "a glorious path, a resounding name for the people's defender, consumption and Siberia."

If the peasant wanderers knew what was going on in the soul of Grisha Dobrosklonov, they would probably understand that they could already return to their home, because the goal of their journey has been achieved.

Retold

Poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Who lives well in Russia", on which he worked for the last ten years of his life, but did not have time to fully implement, cannot be considered unfinished. It contains everything that made up the meaning of the poet's spiritual, ideological, life and artistic searches from youth to death. And this “everything” has found a worthy - capacious and harmonious - form of expression.

What is the architectonics of the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia"? Architectonics is the “architecture” of a work, the construction of a whole from separate structural parts: chapters, parts, etc. In this poem, it is complex. Of course, the inconsistency in the articulation of the enormous text of the poem gives rise to the complexity of its architectonics. Not everything is finished, not everything is uniform and not everything is numbered. However, this does not make the poem less striking - it shocks anyone who can feel compassion, pain and anger at the sight of cruelty and injustice. Nekrasov, creating typical images of unjustly ruined peasants, made them immortal.

The origin of the poem -"Prologue" - sets a fantastic tone for the whole piece.

Of course, this is a fabulous beginning: who knows where and when, no one knows why seven men converge. And a dispute flares up - how can a Russian person be without a dispute; and the peasants turn to wanderers wandering along an endless road in order to find the truth, hidden either behind the next bend, or behind a nearby hill, or not at all attainable.

In the text of the Prologue, whoever does not appear, as if in a fairy tale: both the woman is almost a witch, and the gray hare, and the little ones grumble, and the chick chick, and the cuckoo ... Seven owls look at the wanderers in the night, echoes echo their cries, an owl, a cunning fox - everyone has been here. Groin, examining the little birdie - the chick of the warbler - and seeing that she is happier than the peasant, decides to find out the truth. And, as in a fairy tale, the mother warbler, rescuing the chick, promises to give the peasants plenty of everything they ask for on the road, so that they only find a truthful answer, and shows the way. "Prologue" is not a semblance of a fairy tale. This is a fairy tale, only a literary one. So the peasants vow not to return home until they find the truth. And the wandering begins.

Chapter I - "Pop". In it, the priest defines what happiness is - "peace, wealth, honor" - and describes his life in such a way that none of the conditions for happiness is suitable for it. The troubles of the peasant parishioners in the impoverished villages, the revelry of the landowners who left the estates, the desolate local life - all this is in the bitter answer of the priest. And, bowing low to him, the wanderers go further.

Chapter II wanderers at the "fair". A picture of the village: “a house with the inscription: school, empty, / Crammed up tightly” - and this is in the village “rich, but dirty”. There, at the fair, a familiar phrase sounds to us:

When a man is not Blucher

And not foolish milord—

Belinsky and Gogol

Will they carry it from the bazaar?

Chapter III "Drunken Night" bitterly described the eternal vice and consolation of the Russian serf peasant - drunkenness to unconsciousness. Pavlusha Veretennikov reappears, known among the peasants of the village of Kuzminskoe as "master" and met by the wanderers there, at the fair. He records folk songs, jokes - we would say, collects Russian folklore.

Having written enough

Veretennikov told them:

“Russian peasants are smart,

One thing is not good

What they drink to the point of stupor

They fall into ditches, into ditches -

It's a shame to look! "

This insults one of the men:

There is no measure for Russian hops.

And did they measure our grief?

Is there a measure of work?

Wine pours down the peasant

Doesn't grief bring him down?

Doesn't work bring down?

A man does not measure trouble,

He copes with everything,

Whichever comes.

This peasant who stands up for everyone and defends the dignity of the Russian serf is one of the most important heroes of the poem, the peasant Yakim Nagoy. This surname - speaking. And he lives in the village of Bosove. The story of his incredibly hard life and ineradicable proud courage will be learned by the pilgrims from the local peasants.

Chapter IV the wanderers walk in the festive crowd, bawling: “Hey! Where is the happy one? " - and the peasants, in response, who will grin and who will spit ... Pretenders appear, burying themselves on the drink promised by the pilgrims "for happiness". All this is both scary and frivolous. Happy soldier that he was beaten, but not killed, did not die of hunger and survived in twenty battles. But for some reason this is not enough for pilgrims, although it is a sin to refuse a soldier a glass. Other naive workers also cause pity, not joy, and they humbly consider themselves happy. The stories of the "happy" are getting scarier and scarier. There is even a type of princely "slave", happy with his "noble" disease - gout - and the fact that even though it brings him closer to the master.

Finally, someone directs the wanderers to Yermil Girin: if he is not happy, then who is it! Yermil's story is important for the author: the people raised money so that, bypassing the merchant, the peasant bought himself a mill on the Unzha (a large navigable river in the Kostroma province). The generosity of the people who give their last for a good deed is a joy for the author. Nekrasov is proud of the men. After Yermil gave everything to his own, the ruble remained unremitted - there was no owner, and the money was collected enormous. Yermil gave the ruble to the beggars. A story follows about how Yermil won the people's trust. His incorruptible honesty in the service, first as a clerk, then as a lordly manager, his help over the years created this trust. It seemed that the matter was clear - such a person cannot but be happy. And suddenly the gray-haired priest announces: Yermil is sitting in prison. And he was planted there in connection with a riot of peasants in the village of Stolbnyaki. How and what - the pilgrims did not have time to find out.

Chapter V - "Landowner" - a carriage rolls out, in it is indeed the landowner Obolt-Obolduev. The landowner is described comically: a plump master with a pistol and a belly. Note: he has a “speaking” name, as is almost always the case with Nekrasov. "Tell us in a divine way, is the life of a landowner sweet?" - the wanderers stop him. The stories of the landowner about his "root" are strange to the peasants. Not feats, but disgrace to please the tsarina and the intention to set fire to Moscow - these are the memorable deeds of the glorified ancestors. What is the honor for? How to understand? The landowner's story about the delights of the former master's life somehow does not please the peasants, and Obolduev himself remembers the past with bitterness - it is gone, and gone forever.

To adapt to a new life after the abolition of serfdom, you need to study and work. But labor - not a noble habit. Hence the grief.

"The Last One". This part of the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" begins with a picture of haymaking in flooded meadows. A noble family appears. The look of the old man is terrible - the father and grandfather of a noble family. The ancient and evil prince Utyatin is alive because his former serfs, according to the story of the peasant Vlas, conspired with the noble family to depict the old serfdom for the sake of the prince's peace of mind and so that he would not deny his family inheritance due to an old age's whim. The peasants were promised to give the flooded meadows after the death of the prince. The "faithful slave" Ipat was also found - at Nekrasov's, as you have already noticed, and such types among the peasants find their own description. Only one man Agap could not stand it and scolded the Afterbirth for how much the light was worth. The feigned punishment at the stable with lashes turned out to be fatal for the proud peasant. The latter died almost in front of our pilgrims, and the peasants are still suing for the meadows: "The heirs with the peasants are struggling to this day."

According to the logic of the construction of the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" then follows, as it were,second part entitled"Peasant" and having its own"Prologue" and their chapters. The peasants, having lost faith in finding a happy one among the peasants, decide to turn to the women. There is no need to retell what and how much "happiness" they find in the share of women and peasants. All this is expressed with such a depth of penetration into a woman's suffering soul, with such an abundance of details of fate, slowly told by a peasant, respectfully named "Matryona Timofeevna, she is the governor", that at times it touches her to tears, then makes her clench her fists in anger. She was happy one of her first women's night, and when that was!

The narrative is interwoven with songs created by the author on a folk basis, as if sewn on the canvas of a Russian folk song (Chapter 2. "Songs" ). There the wanderers sing alternately with Matryona, and the peasant herself, remembering the past.

My hateful husband

Rises:

For a silk whip

Accepted.

Chorus

The whip whistled

Blood spattered ...

Oh! cherished! cherished!

Blood spattered ...

The married life of a peasant woman matched the song. Only her husband's grandfather, Savely, pitied and consoled her. “He was lucky too,” recalls Matryona.

A separate chapter of the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" is dedicated to this powerful Russian man -"Savely, the bogatyr of the Holy Russian" ... The title of the chapter speaks of its style and content. The branded, former convict, heroic build, the old man speaks little, but aptly. “To endure is an abyss, to endure is an abyss” - his favorite words. The old man buried the German Vogel, the lordly manager, in the ground for atrocities against the peasants. The collective image of Savely:

Do you think, Matryonushka,

A man is not a hero?

And his life is not warlike,

And death is not written to him

In battle - but a hero!

Hands are twisted with chains,

Iron feet are forged,

Back ... dense forests

We walked along it - we broke.

And the chest? Elijah the prophet

It rattles-rolls on it

On a fiery chariot ...

The hero endures everything!

In chapter"Dear" the worst thing happens: the little son of Matryona, left at home unattended, was devoured by pigs. But this is not enough: the mother was accused of murder, and the police opened the child in front of her. And it is even more terrible that the innocently guilty one in the death of his beloved grandson, who awakened the suffering soul of his grandfather, was Savely the hero himself, a deep old man who fell asleep and did not look after the baby.

Chapter V - "She-Wolf" - the peasant woman forgives the old man and endures everything that is still left in her life. Chasing the she-wolf who carried the sheep away, the son of Matryona Fedotka the shepherd takes pity on the beast: the hungry, powerless, with swollen nipples, the mother of the wolf cubs falls on the grass in front of him, suffers beatings, and the boy leaves her a sheep, already dead. Matryona accepts the punishment for him and lies under the whip.

After this episode, Matryona's singing lamentations on a gray stone over the river, when she, the orphan, cries out for help and consolation, complete the story and create a transition to a new year of disasters -Chapter VI "A Difficult Year" ... Hungry, "Looks like the kids / I was at her," recalls Matryona the she-wolf. Her husband is without a time limit and is not in turn shaved into the soldiers, she remains with her children in a hostile husband's family - a "parasite", without protection and help. The life of a soldier is a special topic, revealed in detail. Soldiers in the square are whipping her little son with rods - you really don’t understand why.

A terrible song precedes Matryona's escape alone on a winter night (the head of the "Governor" ). She threw herself back on the snowy road and prayed to the Intercessor.

And the next morning Matryona went to the governor. She fell at her feet right on the stairs to bring her husband back - and gave birth. The governor's wife turned out to be a compassionate woman, and Matryona and the child returned happy. They nicknamed the Governor, and life seemed to get better, but then the time came, and they took the eldest as a soldier. “What else do you want? - Matryona asks the peasants, - the keys to women's happiness ... are lost, "and cannot be found.

The third part of the poem "Who lives well in Russia", not so called, but having all the signs of an independent part - a dedication to Sergei Petrovich Botkin, an introduction and chapters - has a strange name -"A Feast for the Whole World" ... In the introduction, some semblance of hope for the freedom granted to the peasants, which is not yet visible, illuminates the face of the peasant Vlas with a smile for almost the first time in his life. But its first chapter -"Bitter time - bitter songs" - presents either the stylization of folk verses, narrating about hunger and injustice under serfdom, then the mournful, "drawn-out, sad" Wahlak songs about the inescapable involuntary melancholy, and finally, "Corvette".

Separate chapter - story"About an exemplary servant - Yakov the faithful" - begins as if about a serf peasant of the slave type that interested Nekrasov. However, the narrative makes an unexpected and abrupt turn: not enduring the offense, Yakov first started drinking, ran, and when he returned, he brought the master into a swampy ravine and hanged himself in front of him. A terrible sin for a Christian is suicide. The wanderers are shocked and frightened, and a new dispute begins - a dispute about who is the most sinful. Says Ionushka - "the humble mantis".

A new page of the poem opens -"Wanderers and pilgrims" , for her -"About two great sinners" : the tale of Kudeyar-ataman, a robber who killed an uncountable number of souls. The story goes in an epic verse, and, as if in a Russian song, conscience awakens in Kudeyar, he accepts hermitage and repentance from the saint shown to him: to cut the age-old oak with the same knife he used to kill. The work is many years old, the hope that it will be possible to complete it before death is weak. Suddenly, before Kudeyar, the well-known villain Pan Glukhovsky appears on horseback and tempts the hermit with shameless speeches. Kudeyar does not stand the temptation: the knife is in the pan's chest. And - a miracle! - the century-old oak has collapsed.

The peasants start a dispute about whose sin is heavier - "noble" or "peasant".In the chapter "Peasant Sin" also in epic verse Ignatius Prokhorov talks about the Judas sin (the sin of betrayal) of the peasant headman, who was tempted by the heir's bribe and hid the owner's will, in which all eight thousand souls of his peasants were set free. The audience shudders. There is no forgiveness for the destroyer of eight thousand souls. The despair of the peasants, who admitted that such sins are possible among them, is poured out in the song. "Hungry" - a terrible song - a spell, the howl of an unfulfilled beast - not a man. A new face appears - Gregory, a young godson of the headman, the son of a sexton. He consoles and encourages the peasants. After crying and thinking, they decide: It's all to blame: strengthen!

It turns out that Grisha is going “to Moscow, to the novorsitet”. And then it becomes clear that Grisha is the hope of the peasant world:

“I don’t need any silver,

No gold, but God forbid

So that my fellow countrymen

And to every peasant

Lived freely and cheerfully

In all holy Russia! "

But the narration continues, and the wanderers witness how an old soldier, thin as a splinter, hung with medals, drives up on a cart with hay, and sings his song - "Soldier's" with a chorus: "Toshen light, / There is no bread, / There is no blood, / There is no death ”, and to others:“ German bullets, / Turkish bullets, / French bullets, / Russian sticks ”. Everything about the soldier's share is collected in this chapter of the poem.

But here's a new chapter with a peppy title"Good time - good songs" ... The song of new hope is being sung by Savva and Grisha on the Volga bank.

The image of Grisha Dobrosklonov, the son of a deacon from the Volga, of course, unites the features of friends dear to Nekrasov - Belinsky, Dobrolyubov (compare the names), Chernyshevsky. Such a song could be sung by them too. Grisha barely managed to survive in hunger: the song of his mother, sung by the peasant women, was called “Salty”. A piece watered with tears of a mother is a substitute for salt for a child dying of hunger. "With love for a poor mother / Love for all Vakhlachina / Merged - and about fifteen years old / Gregory already knew for sure / That he would live for happiness / A wretched and dark native corner." Images of angelic forces appear in the poem, and the style changes dramatically. The poet moves on to marching three-lines, reminiscent of the rhythmic tread of the forces of good, inevitably pushing the obsolete and evil. The "Angel of Mercy" sings an inviting song over a Russian youth.

Grisha, waking up, goes down into the meadows, thinks about the fate of his homeland and sings. The song contains his hope and love. And firm confidence: “Enough! / Finished with the last settlement, / Finished the settlement with the master! / The Russian people gathers strength / And learns to be a citizen. "

"Rus" is the last song by Grisha Dobrosklonov.

Source (abridged): Mikhalskaya, A.K. Literature: Basic level: grade 10. At 2 o'clock, Part 1: uch. allowance / A.K. Mikhalskaya, O. N. Zaitsev. - M .: Bustard, 2018